Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2014

1. Read 304 Books in 2014
In 2013, I read 303 books, so I would like to read one more book than last year.

2. Read One Classic a Month
This will be helped along by Kayla’s and my participation in the Back to the Classics Challenge 2014 hosted by Books and Chocolate. We are starting this month with Night by Elie Wiesel. We have 6 categories that we must read, and then if we complete those, another 5 optional categories. Are you doing this challenge? Are you doing other challenges? Let us know in the comments!

3. Read One Award-Winning Book a Month
This is my own personal challenge. I’m starting this month with Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein which won several awards including being a Printz Honor Book. If you have any other great award winning novels that I need to read, let me know in the comments!

4. Finish Series That I Started

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1)
Author: Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: June 7, 2011
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather— were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

My Review

This review was originally posted on my Goodreads profile on November 21, 2011.

I love the YA genre, but I never thought that I would come across a piece of literary genius in its midst. Ransom Riggs brought one to us.

Jacob is a social outcast from a prominent and wealthy Jewish family. He does not seem to relate very well to anyone in his family, except for his grandfather, Abraham. Abraham always had fantastic stories for Jacob about his growing up at a school in Wales that he attended after fleeing Poland during WWII. All of the stories were extraordinary (in the sense that there was nothing ordinary about them) - some scary, some merely outrageous - and unbelievable once Jacob reached a certain age.

Review: Infinite by Jodi Meadows

Title: Infinite (Newsoul #3)
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: January 28, 2014
DESTRUCTION
The Year of Souls begins with an earthquake—an alarming rumble from deep within the earth—and it’s only the first of greater dangers to come. The Range caldera is preparing to erupt. Ana knows that as Soul Night approaches, everything near Heart will be at risk.

FLIGHT
Ana’s exile is frightening, but it may also be fortuitous, especially if she can convince her friends to flee Heart and Range with her. They’ll go north, seeking answers and allies to stop Janan’s ascension. And with any luck, the newsouls will be safe from harm’s reach.

CHOICE
The oldsouls might have forgotten the choice they made to give themselves limitless lifetimes, but Ana knows the true cost of reincarnation. What she doesn’t know is whether she’ll have the chance to finish this one sweet life with Sam, especially if she returns to Heart to stop Janan once and for all. With gorgeous romance and thrilling action, the final book in the Incarnate trilogy offers a brilliant conclusion to the compelling questions of this fascinating world, where one new girl is the key to the lives of millions.

My Review

You can read my reviews of the first two books, Incarnate and Asunder, by clicking on their titles.

I'll be honest - this series hasn't been one of my favorites, and I had no intention of reading past Incarnate until the opportunity recently arose to review Infinite. I think I decided to do it because Incarnate was one of my first review books and nostalgia. It's a good thing because Infinite made the series worth reading. It had tension that was not romance-driven (woot!), the stakes were (finally) high, Ana grew a backbone (!!!), and there was FINALLY a purpose to the story of Range and Heart.

Book Blast (Giveaway): Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers by Robert Gray

Title: Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers (The Nightmare Series #3)
Authors: Robert Gray
Blast Organizer: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
Release Date: October 26, 2013
So far, Eve's summer vacation has been uneventful, but when her grandparents—traveling all the way from the monster world known as Gravesville—appear at her doorstep, she learns that the URNS Director has gone missing. Worse, a new director, bent on destroying humans, has taken over URNS.

Eve and her family are no longer safe in the human world, and as they race to escape this new threat, Eve stumbles into a trap, which forces her back to Gravesville along with her family and friends. But once there, everything goes adorably wrong, and her best chance to get out of this mess is to seek out The Book of Shivers and the elusive author Sedrick Creach—the only creature who knows the secrets of the Nightmare Books. Unfortunately for Eve, searching for Sedrick and the next book in the series will reveal uncomfortable details about her own murky past.

Once again, Eve and her friends find themselves on an incredible adventure—one that involves underground battles with bloodthirsty creatures, a lightning-fueled train, and some unexpected new allies.

Hilarious and bone-chilling, this third book continues the story of an unlikely hero trying to save not one, but two worlds … This time around, though, Eve's not sure she can even save herself.

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble


Other Eve Hallows Books

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath (Everneath #1)
Author: Brodi Ashton
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: January 24, 2012
NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

My Review

This review was originally posted on my Goodreads profile on January 8, 2012 and was one of my first reviews.

Through Everneath, Brodi Ashton reminds me why I love and read books. Some authors and books can take you into another reality and set you down in the middle of that alternate world. I have been to Narnia, Middle Earth, and many other literary realms thanks to magical books and their word-spinning writers. Now I have been to Park City and the Everneath through Ashton’s masterful storytelling.

Blog Tour (Interview & Giveaway): Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder

Taste of Darkness Tour Schedule
Welcome to my stop on the Taste of Darkness Blog Tour, brought to you by Rockstar Book Tours. Today I will be featuring an interview with Maria V. Snyder about her writing, and there will be a tour-wide giveaway at the end of the post!



Title: Taste of Darkness (Healer #3)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Tour Organizer: Rockstar Book Tours
Release Date: December 31, 2013
She's fought death and won. But how can she fight her fears?

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

But there's a more immediate threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.

Author Interview

1. What has been the most fun part of writing the Healer series?

I had a ton of fun writing the interactions between the main characters. When Kerrick, Avry, Flea, Belen, Loren, and Quain are all traveling together and joking around, that was a blast. I also enjoyed writing Kerrick’s POV in Scent of Magic, it was something different for me and I had some fun with it.

2. Has there been any aspect of these (or any of your novels) that surprised you as you wrote them?

Review: Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

Title: Prince of Shadows
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: NAL
Acquired Via: First to Read
Release Date: February 4, 2014
In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona…

…And will rewrite all their fates, forever.

My Review

I requested this book because it was written by Rachel Caine and looked like historical fiction. I really wish I would have read the blurb before I requested it. I didn’t realize that it was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. If I had, I would not have requested it. I don’t consider Romeo and Juliet romantic; I think they were idiots. Apart from my initial struggle and dread at the beginning of the book, I enjoyed the book for the most part.

Waiting on Wednesday (35): Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy #1)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release Date: April 1, 2014
For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.


I haven't read a whole lot of books centered around trolls and this one seems really interesting. Plus, witches, curses and prophesies are some of my favorite story elements.

What are you waiting on this week?