Book Review of "Enders" by Lissa Price

Meh. I was interested enough to want to know what was going to happen (although it was fairly easy to see it coming), but I otherwise did not feel too passionate about this particular book. It kind of annoyed me if we are being completely honest here.

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

Book Outlet Unboxing / Haul Second July 2015 Order

 This is the second Book Outlet order that I had placed during this month. I am happier and happier with Book Outlet each time that I deal with them. I placed this order after placing my Amazon order and Barnes and Noble order, and I received this one first! Very fast on their delivery times. The books all arrived in perfect condition, half of them didn't even have a mark made in marker either. And I even received a $5.00 Book Outlet buck code for my next order.

This first picture features three books from the "Fairyland" series by Catherynne M. Valente. The first book in the series is "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her own Making", and this book is in a soft cover edition. The second book in the series is "The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There", this book is in a soft cover edition. The third book in the series is "The Girl Who Soared over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two", and this book is in a hardcover edition. There are five books in the series and I was able to get the first three books in the series this time around. I have read the first two books in the series, highly enjoyed them, but have not yet read the other three books in the series. The main reason being that my local library did not have any after the first two books.

"Siege and Storm", and "Ruin and Rising" by Leigh Bardugo. Books two and three in "The Grisha" trilogy. The second book in the series is a soft cover edition and the third book in the series is a hardcover edition. I have book one "Shadow and Bone" arriving from Amazon in a soft cover edition. I have not read these books but I heard a lot of good things about them, and I am excited to finally read them myself. My library did not have this trilogy.

And last is "NOS4A2" by Joe Hill (Aka Stephen King's son). I read this book last year, found it to be very entertaining and extremely creepy, and couldn't resist when I found it on Book Outlet. This is a hardcover edition.

That completes my Book Outlet orders. I always check in on Book Outlet to see if anything catches my eye, so there may very well be another Book Outlet haul before the month of July is over, but at the moment this is it. I have a Amazon order floating around out there yet, and one more Barnes and Noble order.

Barnes and Noble Book Unboxing / Haul July 2015

I had three boxes awaiting me when I arrived home from work today. Two were from Barnes and Noble, and the third was from Book Outlet (featured in a separate unboxing/haul). The first box contained this gorgeous "Daughter of Smoke & Bone" hardcover trilogy by Laini Taylor. I have had this trilogy on my to be read list for a while now, I heard great things about it through fellow bloggers and Goodreads members, and I sadly could not get it through my local library, so yes, I bought it. I really hope that I enjoy this trilogy if just for the sake of justifying the purchase. The first book in this trilogy is "Daughter of Smoke and Bone", second book is "Days of Blood & Starlight", and third book is "Dreams of Gods and Monsters".

The second box contained these two books. "The Archived" the first book in the "Archived" series by Victoria Schwab in a hardcover edition, and the second book in the Archived series "The Unbound" also in a hardcover edition. These books are really beautiful. I have read a Victoria Schwab book before now (A Darker Shade of Magic), really enjoyed her writing style, and these books sounded absolutely delicious. You may notice however that "The Archived" has damage to the top portion of the dust cover ... I contacted Barnes and Noble about this issue and am awaiting their response. I hate when books arrive damaged, it ruins my gleeful mood.

Book Review of "Starters" by Lissa Price

During the spore wars everyone between the age of twenty and sixty were wiped out due to the exposure and contamination of the artificially created spores designed by the enemy. Americans had some fore-warning and were able to develop a vaccination, but there was a shortage and only the young and the old were vaccinated in time for the first spore drop, everyone between the age of twenty and sixty were not vaccinated and therefore did not survive. Starters is the term used to describe the minors who survived the spore wars, parent-less but the lucky ones had either one, or more, grandparents to care and provide for them, the unlucky ones were cast out onto the street to provide for themselves. These Starters were termed as unclaimed and were in danger of being picked up by the marshal's or the institution, so they must remain in hiding. Enders is the term used to describe the elders were survived the spore wars. In this futuristic world a life extender has been created so these Enders are starting to live well beyond one hundred.

Our main character is Callie, a sixteen year old girl who lost both her parents in the spore wars. Callie has a little brother, Tyler, who is ill. Callie hears about a opportunity that will help her and her brother get off of the streets, and provide medical care for Tyler. It's called Prime Destinations. Prime Destinations is a hushed up organization that hires unclaimed Starters to rent their bodies to Enders who desire to experience being young once again. Callie, desperate for the money that this will provide for them agrees to be a donor, but the neurochip that they place in Callie's brain malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter. She soon realizes that things are not the way that they were supposed to be, and that she and all of the other donors are in trouble.

This was a fun fluff read. I'm kind of just in the middle on this one, not loving it but nor am I hating it. I had some issues with it, and it felt a little too teenager based for my tastes. Granted, it is YA but the writing itself just felt slightly immature in general ...

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Introducing The Newest Member Of My Family

I did it, I purchased a third bookshelf for my library. I bought it after work today, went home, promptly assembled it, and tore my library apart while re-arranging furniture, cleaning, dusting, and organizing books. It is still a mess, I still have books to sort through, I still have books arriving that will cause chaos in my shelf display and require all books being re-organized once again, but it is lovely. The room really does look wonderful in its new arrangement, and the three shelves now create a 'wall of books' affect that I am absolutely loving! And the best part? I now have so much empty shelf space for future books!

I will update shortly with a shelfie and a library tour via pictures, but I am holding off on that until the rest of my books have arrived through the mail. *Pssst* I believe that two orders will be arriving tomorrow, so stay tuned for a book haul as well.

Book Outlet Haul/Unboxing July 2015

Looky, looky I've got bookies! This box from Book Outlet was waiting for me when I arrived home from work today. This was the first time that I have placed a order with Book Outlet and I was very impressed with not only the speed of delivery but also the price of the books, and the overall condition of the books. The marks on the books were all very minor, some being only small dots. I have another order being processed right now, and I will be ordering from them again. I am very pleased with these books. Now let's dig in and take a look at these beauties! We have eleven books to go over.

These are the golden books out of all of the books in this order. "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman. A absolutely gorgeous hardcover edition of a really terrific book. I read this title last year and really enjoyed it. "Bird Box" by Josh Malerman. A stunning soft cover edition of a truly terrifying book. I also read this book last year and I will freely admit that this book scared me, but it was oh so good! I was so excited to find these two titles through Book Outlet, I have been wanting to add them to my library ever since I have read them.

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney soft cover edition, "The Drowned World" by J.G. Ballard soft cover edition, and "Something Wicked this Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury hardcover edition. I have not yet read any of these titles but they have been on my to read list for a while now.

"Beowulf" by Unknown hardcover edition, "Not a Drop to Drink" by Mindy McGinnis hardcover edition, and "The Bone Season" by Samantha Shannon hardcover edition. I have not yet read any of these titles but they are all on my to read list.

"Far Far Away" by Tom McNeal hardcover edition ($0.99!), "The Spindlers" by Lauren Oliver paperback edition, "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card soft cover edition. Again, I have not yet read any of these titles but they are all on my to be read list. I probably wouldn't of purchased "The Spindlers" given a take back opportunity, but at least it didn't cost very much.

It was so much fun to receive so many books in the mail, and it was like Christmas day getting to open the box and sort through them all!

Book Review of "Red Rising" by Pierce Brown

"Red Rising" by Pierce Brown is like the adult version of "The Hunger Games" all grown up, wiser, and more mature. I definitely saw elements of "The Hunger Games" in this book, but this book is also unique and stands on its own two feet, it is just so much more then that vague resemblance. I did have a difficult time getting into this book, but towards the middle of the book I was completely sold on it and I couldn't pull my nose out of it. It was almost like the two halves were written by different authors, and I hope that we get more of the better half in the second book of this series "Golden Son", although I also feel that if I were to go back and reread the book it wouldn't be the same as it was the first time around, finding it to be smoother now that I understand the world better, and wouldn't be stumbling over characters, races, or the unique vocabulary that exist throughout this book. All in all I found the characters to be strong and well developed.

In this book the different races are distinguished by hair and eye color. Red's being at the bottom of the pecking order, Gold's being at the top, many other colors between these two, all colors having a field of work that they are destined and trained for. The Red's were told that they were going to be the first to colonize Mars and make it habitable, this being necessary because they were told that Earth was a dying planet. Darrow is our main character here, a young Red of the age of sixteen. Red's are considered adults at this age and so Darrow is married to his equally young bride, Eo. Darrow is the Helldriver, operator of a massive piece of machinery being used to drill deep within the sulfurous bowels of the planet to harvest Helium3 so that one day the surface above will be habitable and the other races can join them there. The Red's have slaved away underground for many generations in the attempt to make this happen, never having been up on the surface. When someone rebels and starts to question this way of life the Gold's sentence them to be hung. When Darrow's young wife Eo rebels, she is put to death. Darrow uncovers the truth and learns that not only is Mars surface habitable, but has been for a very long time. A vast city exists up there, a city that they are not a part of, and never will be a part of. They have been lied to. Darrow joins those who wish to see the Gold's fall and restore equality to the races. He under goes a transformation physically, emotionally, and mentally in order to join their ranks. A right of passage to adulthood, a passage that will determine your ranking in the future, is his first mission. It is harsh, it is corrupt, and it is no more then a game and a source of amusement to the superiors. He needs to win in order to get closer to the heart of the Gold's dictatorship. He will destroy them from within. First he must win the game.

My Rating: 5 Stars