Waiting On Wednesday.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Furious

by Jill Wolfson 

Three high school girls become the avenging Furies of Greek legend.

We were only three angry girls, to begin with. Alix, the hot-tempered surfer chick; Stephanie, the tree-hugging activist; and me, Meg, the quiet foster kid, the one who never quite fit in. We hardly knew each other, but each of us nurtured a burning anger: at the jerks in our class, at our disappointing parents, at the whole flawed, unjust world.

We were only three angry girls, simmering uselessly in our ocean-side California town, until one day a mysterious, beautiful classmate named Ambrosia taught us what else we could be: Powerful. Deadly. Furious.

Expected publication: April 16th 2013 by Henry Holt and Co. BYR

Nameless (Tales of Beauty & Madness #1)

by Lili St. Crow, Lilith Saintcrow

A dark and eerie retelling of Snow White from Lili St. Crow,
New York Times bestselling author of the Strange Angels
series.

Sixteen-year-old Camille doesn’t remember her life before she was adopted by the powerful Vultusino family—the missing childhood years that left her scarred and silent. Now she lives a life 
of luxury, protected by the supernatural Mafia Vultusinos, specially Nico, her adopted brother.

But Cami knows that she is not really Family. She is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. And it’s not until a mysterious boy approaches her and reveals scars of his own that Cami begins 
to uncover the secrets of her past . . . to find out where she comes from and what danger she now finds herself in.

Expected publication: April 4th 2013 by Razorbill

Written in Red

by Anne Bishop

The first in an urban fantasy series about the Others.

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

Expected publication: March 2013

Book Review (120). Pure - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pure (Covenant #2)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Publication: 3rd April 2012

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Pages: 329

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

*Warning Review Contains Spoilers From Previous Books In The Series*

There is need. And then there is Fate...

Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome--especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom--so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do--and sacrifice--for her.

When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies--lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon... and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude... or killing her.

When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

My Thoughts.

This series is fast becoming one of my favourites, it's addictive and I can't get enough!

I love the world that Armentrout has created in these books and her characters are fantastic, especially our heroine Alex a kick-ass chick who makes no apologies for who she is and isn't afraid to say the first thing that comes to mind.

I am a huge fan of an Alex-Aiden pairing but in this book Seth has jostled himself into place for a possible pairing with Alex as well, we don't seem to see so much of Aiden in this book which is a pity as he's one of my favourite things about the series especially his scenes with Alex.

But that's not to say Alex and Seth's scenes aren't extremely entertaining, I love their verbal sparring back and forth, I ended up laughing out loud more times than I can remember.

Seth and I weren't getting along at the moment. In our last training session, he'd "accidentally" hit me with a blast of pure energy and I'd "accidentally" thrown a rock at his head.

"Maybe if you're good-and I mean, really good-we can come play in the labyrinth." I rolled my eyes. "Gee really?" He nodded. "You have to eat your dinner, too."

The book continues on from the first book Half-Blood, Alex is training with both Aiden and Seth, the council hearing is coming up where Alex is to appear to testify to the upcoming plans the Daimons have to take over all the Covenants, the plans of which were relayed to her via her Mother before Alex killed her.

With her eighteenth birthday fast approaching and the reality that she will turn into the second Apollyn, Alex has a lot on her plate, add to the fact that Aiden is staying away from her, stops their training together  and tells her that he doesn't have any feelings for her leaves her heartbroken.

But someone doesn't want her reaching her next birthday, and they will stop at nothing to make sure she's not alive to receive her Apollyn powers.

I love love, love this series, everybody needs to read it, it is sooo good!

I give this 5/5.

In My Mailbox (39).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Kristi The Story Siren.

Review...

Alice In Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) - Gena Showalter (Harlequin Teen Australia)

Brought...

Something Strange And Deadly (Something Strange And Deadly #1) - Susan Dennard
Endlessly (Paranormalcy #3) - Kiersten White
Thirteen (Women Of The Otherworld #13) - Kelley Armstrong

Book Review (119). Half-Blood - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half-Blood (Covenant #1)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Publication: 18th October 2011
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Pages: 281
Genre: Fantasy/Mythology
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

My Thoughts.

What can I say about this book and author that hasn't been said before?

I love this series, this would have to be my favourite new series (well new to me) that I've read this year, and Armentrout is fast moving up my list of all-time favourite authors.

I love the characters in this series Alex and OMG Aiden! I love him and there's nothing I like better than reading stories with a forbidden romance included.

My eyes snapped open as the freakish sixth sense kicked my fight or flight response into overdrive.

Alex is back at the Covenant, her Uncle is now Dean and subsequently let's her know where she stands, if she can't get up to par in her training (having missed three years after being on the run with her Mum) by the time school starts she'll either become a Pure's slave or be thrown out.

So Aiden a Pure and a Sentinel, and who Alex has had a crush on for years (but because she's a Half-Blood and he's a Pure they can never be together) is to train her and get her up to speed.

"Down the hall is a gym. You should visit it... often." My mouth dropped open. "You're far too skinny. Right now a ten-year old could take yo u."

I love the banter between these two and I have so many favourite quotes I could add to this review, instead I'll just add a few.
"You need to work on your upper body strength, Alex. Not your motor speech skills."
I glanced down at the dumbbell and pictured it flying across the room-at his face. But it was such a nice face, and I'd hate to ruin it.
"Alex stop staring at me and do some cardio." He flipped another page. I blinked. "I hope that book of yours is on charm and personality skills."
I propped myself onto my elbows, scowling. "How come you smile when you knock me down?" He offered his hand. "It's the little things that make me happy."
These two have such amazing chemistry together, and even though you know that they can't be together, I did nothing but wish for it the whole book through, and fingers crossed my wishes will eventuate and I will be an extremely happy girl!
The fact that you know that Alex and Aiden belong together makes it harder to wait, but I'm positive that somehow they will find a way.
We also have the arrival of Seth the Apollyon (a Half-Blood who has all the elemental powers plus a fifth one), at the Covenant, he will end up changeing Alex's life forever!
Alex and Seth have quite a few of their own hilarious comments.
"Um... sorry, I didn't see you." "Obviously. You were staring at the ground as if it had done something terrible to you."
I shot him a warning look. "I don't care if you can shoot lightening from your hand. I will kick you in the face."
I could go on and on with all of the quotes I loved in this book, Armentrout's writing is simply fantastic and I can't seem to get enough.
There were so many twists and turns in this book which kept the story fresh and exciting, and had me rushing through the pages.
I can't recommend this book highly enough, please do yourselves all a favour and pick this series up, you won't be sorry!
I give this a huge 5/5.

Book Review (118). Daimon - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Daimon (Covenant 0.5)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication: 10th May 2011

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Pages: 75

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards... and that she'll never be prepared for that duty. 

According to her mother, that’s a good thing. 

But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return—the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill.

The daimons have found her.

My Thoughts.

Why I have never picked up a book by Armentrout before now is completely beyond me, I have heard so many good things about the author and everybody seems to absolutely love the books, since I got sent the third book for review it gave me a reason to finally pick this series up and start reading, and boy I wasn't disappointed and I can see why these books have such a big following!

Although this book is really short (out of the 75 pages only 62 is the story) I was completely absorbed and wanted to dive straight into the next book, which luckily I had on hand.

She smelled like mothballs and death.

And so begins the story of Alexandria 'Alex' who for three years has been on the run with her Mum from the Covenant a place for Pure's and Half-Blood's (descendants of the greek gods), Alex has a knack for getting herself into trouble and has had to move school's and town's quite often.

Actually, I was prone to random acts of stupidity. I considered it to be one of my talents.

While around mortals Alex has to watch herself and not let on that she is anything out of the ordinary, and so has to hide her true self. Alex and her Mum are also always on the lookout for Daimons (Pure's who have been turned into Daimons who only care about killing, and sucking the Aether out of mainly Pure's but Half-Blood's as well).

But what happens when Daimons find out where Alex and her Mum live?

I love this series already and I can already tell I'm going to be a big fan, now to read on and see what happens to Alex next!

I give this 5/5.

Feature And Follow Friday (37).

Q: Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

My mood doesn't affect the genre of what I read, as long as it's a good book I can read it through any mood swing.

Book Review (117). Survive - Alex Morel

Survive

by Alex Morel

Publication: July 2012

Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont

Pages: 259

Genre: Action/Adventure

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Jane is running away from everything. From the facility she’s been living in, from her pain, from her guilt, from life. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination isn’t important – she doesn’t plan to be alive when the plane lands.


Jane has devised the perfect suicide. She’ll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. But as she’s reaching for her pills in the tiny bathroom, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black.

Jane wakes amid the charred wreckage of a plane crash on a snowy mountaintop, and discovers just one other survivor – a boy named Paul. Lost in a perilous, icy landscape, with little food and water, their chance of survival seems small. But as the pair unite against the vast wilderness, Jane discovers a reason to fight for her life.

My Thoughts.

I loved that Morel didn't end this book the way that most Y/A  books do in the sense that not every story has a happy ending and it just adds more realism to the story.

This book does touch on serious topics such as depression and suicide but is done in a tasteful manner and it explains a lot of back-story concerning Jane.

This book is action packed pretty much from the get go, and you never know what will happen next.

It's not that far into the story when the plane crash occurs, just as Jane is about to ingest the pills in the bathroom the plane nosedives and starts it's plummet towards the ground, when she wakes up she finds the plane crashed on a mountaintop in three pieces, everybody is dead except for Paul, a boy who was seated in the seat next to hers.

At first their relationship is a bit love/hate and their comments to each other had me laughing to myself.

'What if you fall?" I call down. He looks up and smiles. 'It'll be romantic, Jane. We'll die together, like Romeo and Juliet.' I take a big gulp of air and breathe out. What an ass.

'Jane Solis,' he shouts, still flat on his back, 'you pull like a donkey.' Like I said, what an ass.

'No-one's ever touched them before. I mean nobody I didn't pay to touch them.' 'You employed some male hookers to touch your scars?' 

It's not long before Jane and Paul start to depend on each other and slowly start to develop feelings for each other, you wish nothing will come to harm for these two and that they make it off the mountain and that they both make it home safely.

But with the huge possibility of hypothermia, no food and treacherous conditions in the snow and freezing cold the odds are against them.

This book had me on the edge of my seat, and if that wasn't enough it even had me in tears, this book took me on a roller-coaster ride and it was hard at times to put the book down.

I loved this book and can't wait to see whats up next for Morel.

I give this 4/5.

A Big Thanks To Hardie Grant Egmont Australia.