Readiculous End of Year Celebration: Books I Should Have Read in 2013

So, for my second and last post as a part of the Readiculous End of Year Celebration organised by Shelly of Readiculous Reads, I'm going to highlight a few titles I really should have read this year. There are probably about a billion titles I could potentially mention, so I'm going to try limit it to ten-ish books. I'll try cover a range of genres too. Well, here goes.

ARC Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Title: The Impossible Knife of Memory
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: January 2, 2014
Source: Text Publishing. Thank you!

Goodreads rating: 4.26 out of 5.00 (140+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

For the past five years Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq.

Now they are back in town where he grew up so Hayley can go to a proper school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy's PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over?

Review by Nara

Readiculous End of Year Celebration: Best 2013 Releases

Hello everyone! This is Nara for a very difficult-to-write post, discussing the Best 2013 Releases as a part of the Readiculous End of Year Celebration (hosted by Shelly of Readiculous Reads). GUYS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS TO WRITE THIS POST. So many 2013 releases deserve to be on this list and it was such a struggle to narrow it down to the (relatively) small list I have here. Especially because I read so many books. Well, anyway, let's hope this isn't too long.

ARC Review: Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Taste of Darkness (Healer #3)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads rating: 4.26 out of 5.00 (200+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

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.

Review by Nara

ARC Review: Warrior by Ellen Oh

Title: Warrior (The Dragon King Chronicles #2)
Author: Ellen Oh
Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy
Release Date: December 31, 2013
Source: HarperCollins via Edelweiss

Goodreads rating: 4.17 out of 5.00 (30+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

First an outcast, now a hero.

But her fight rages on.

Kira, the yellow-eyed demon slayer who fiercely protected her kingdom—and the crown prince—has been proclaimed the Dragon Musado of the prophecy. With the defeated the evil shaman.

But it wasn’t enough.

Hansong is in chaos. The Demon Lord’s minions have infiltrated the city, treason is brewing among the military ranks, and Kira is buried by the overwhelming loss of her parents. She’s also plagued by the annoying feelings that blossom whenever she’s around Jaewon. But she is determined that nothing will stop her from finding the second treasure needed to fulfill the Dragon King’s prophecy. Not even the army of half-breed demons hot on their trail. If only she could learn to trust others…

Her father always said one person can change the world. Will it be Kira?

Review by Nara

Review: The Kensington Reptilarium by N.J. Gemmell

Title: The Kensington Reptilarium
Author: N.J. Gemmell
Genre: Children's Fiction
Source: RandomHouse Australia. Thank you!

Goodreads | The Reading Room

The Caddy Kids are home alone and they're having the best time ever. Until a stranger arrives with news...

This is the story of how four loud, grubby urchins from the Australian outback find themselves in London for the first peacetime Christmas after years of war.

But their new guardian hates children. He prefers the company of hundreds of snakes in his house- the Kensington Reptilarium.

Fate lends Kick, Scruff, Bert and Pin a helping hand when outraged citizens call for the Reptilarium to be shut down. With the police about to descend, can the Caddy kids warm Uncle Basti's heart- and have their Christmas wishes granted- before it's too late?

A feel-good tale that will have you cheering on these four fearless bush kids as they take on the world.

Review by Nara

ARC Review: The Art of Falling by Jenny Kaczorowski

Title: The Art of Falling
Author: Jenny Kaczorowski
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 19, 2013
Source: Bloomsbury via NetGalley

Goodreads rating: 4.33 out of 5.00 (12+ ratings)
Goodreads

For seventeen-year-old Bria Hale, image is everything. She’s a militant vegan with purple hair, Doc Martens and a permanent scowl. Kissing captain of the football team Ben Harris? Definitely not part of that image.

Now with each secret kiss, she’s falling deeper for the boy every girl at Oceanside High is crushing on. Throw in a few forbidden bacon cheeseburgers and she’s facing one major identity crisis.

Ignoring Ben should be easy, but when a flashy display of artistic spirit lands her in close quarters after hours with the boy she’s too cool to like, she can’t keep pretending those kisses meant nothing. With her reputation and her heart on a collision course, Bria must either be true to herself or to the persona she’s spent all of high school creating.

Review by Nara

Review: How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You by Tara Eglington

Title: How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You
Author: Tara Eglington
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Source: HarperCollins (thank you!)

Goodreads rating: 4.31 out of 5.00 (150+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Executor of the Find a Prince Program™ and future author, sixteen-year-old Aurora Skye is dedicated to helping others navigate the minefield that is teenage dating. Counsellor-in-residence at home, where her post-divorce ad-agency father has transformed into a NAD (New Age Dad) intent on stripping his life bare of ‘the illusionary’ (i.e. the removal of home furnishings to the point where all after-hours work must be done in lotus position on a hemp cushion) Aurora literally lives and breathes Self-Help.

When the beginning of the school year heralds the arrival of two Potential Princes™ who seem perfect for her best friends Cassie (lighthouse beacon for emotionally fragile boys suffering from traumatic breakups) and Jelena (eye-catching, elegant and intent on implementing systems of serfdom at their school) it seems as if Aurora’s fast on her way to becoming the next Dr Phil.

As Aurora discovers, however, Self-Help is far from simple.

Aurora’s mother arrives home from her extended ‘holiday’ (four years solo in Spain following the infamous ‘Answering Machine Incident’) throwing the NAD into further existential crisis. With Valentine’s Day drawing closer and the new Potential Princes not stepping up to the mark, Aurora is literally forced to take to the stage to throw two couples together. However, being cast opposite Hayden Paris (boy next door and bane-of-Aurora’s life) in the school production of Much Ado about Nothing brings challenges of its own. Not only does Hayden doubt that Cupid is understaffed and thus in dire need of Aurora’s help, but playing Beatrice to his Benedict throws her carefully preserved first kiss for a Prince into jeopardy. As Aurora races to save love’s first kiss and put a stop to the NAD’s increasingly intimate relationship with her Interpretive dance teacher (guilty of putting Aurora on detention for a ‘black aura’) she is left wondering who can a self help guru turn to for help? Can she practice what she preaches? And can long-assumed frogs become Potential Princes?


Review by Chantelle

ARC Review: The Sound of Us by Ashley Poston

Title: The Sound of Us
Author: Ashley Poston
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 19, 2013
Source: Bloomsbury via NetGalley. Thank you!

Goodreads rating: 4.51 out of 5.00 (30+ ratings)
Goodreads

America's favorite pop band, Roman Holiday, is done, dead, and so totally last year. For eighteen-year-old rockoholic Junie Baltimore, this is music to her ears. But when she discovers their sexy ex-lead singer hiding out on the boardwalk, her summer vacation becomes the cover story of the year.

She's willing to keep him a secret, but when a sleazy paparazzo offers her the cash she needs to save the bar her father left behind, could she sell out for the chance to save her future? Who is she kidding? That's a no-brainer...but she never planned on falling head over heels for the lead singer.

Review by Nara

Blog Tour + Giveaway: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Title: The Promise of Amazing
Author: Robin Constantine
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: December 31, 2013
Source: Balzer + Bray as part of blog tour

Goodreads rating: 3.38 out of 5.00 (160+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | The Book Depository

Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.

Review by Nara

The Search for the Panacea [2]

Time for the second Search for the Panacea post! I didn't have time to film in between September and now, so, really sorry, but it's ridiculously long. No worries if you don't have the time to watch it haha. I don't blame you :P

Also, that was a really feeble bye. Oh well. Couldn't be bothered filming it again because laziness. hahaha.

p.s. correction: Percy is 12 in the first book.

Review: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Satire
Source: Allen & Unwin Australia. Thank you!

Goodreads rating: 3.57 out of 5.00 (22,000+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Teen beauty queens. A lost island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email.
And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives deep in the heart of every girl, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.

Oh, the horror, the horror!

Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

Review by Nara

Attachments Final Discussion- SPOILERS

Okay, since this is the FINAL discussion post for the Attachments Read-Along- there will be spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Review: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Title: The Promise of Amazing
Author: Robin Constantine
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Source: HarperCollins & Edelweiss

Goodreads rating: 3.38 out of 5.00 (110+ ratings pre-release) Expected publication: 31st Dec 2013
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.

Review by Chantelle

ARC Review: Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Title: Rebel Spring (Falling Kingdoms #2)
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy
Release Date: December 3, 2013
Source: Penguin Australia via NetGalley

Goodreads rating: 4.42 out of 5.00 (100+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Love, power, and magic collide with war in the second book of the Falling Kingdoms series

Auranos has fallen and the three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now united as one country called Mytica. But still, magic beckons, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the world...

When the evil King Gaius announces that a road is to be built into the Forbidden Mountains, formally linking all of Mytica together, he sets off a chain of events that will forever change the face of this land, forcing Cleo the dethroned princess, Magnus the reluctant heir, Lucia the haunted sorceress, and Jonas the desperate rebel to take steps they never could have imagined.




Review by Nara

Roo-ah-rooo-ahhh! Attachments Mid-way Discussion (chp 1-45)

Hello!!!!! This is discussion post for the Attachments read-a-thon where hopefully most of you have read up to chapter 45. Firstly, profuse apologies for posting late (completely my fault i.e. Chantelle's fault), so if this has inconvenienced anyone, I'M REALLY SORRY! Secondly, as a reminder, roo-ah-rooo-ahhh, is the "Cute Guy Alarm" Beth makes up in chapter 19 but I'm going to use it and abuse it as the new Rainbow Rowell alarm :)

ARC Review: Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

Title: Fireblood
Author: Trisha Wolfe
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Release Date: December 17, 2013
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads rating: 4.19 out of 5.00 (70+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control.

When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father’s capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin.

Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult.

When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart’s twisted world, Zara’s path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara’s hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father’s evil nature, or they will take him out.

But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels’ command and where the prince’s heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she’s truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart.

Review by Nara

Attachments Read-Along: Thoughts Before Reading

Today is December 2nd, so we begin the first leg of the read-a-thon with Attachments!
(By the way, the Attachments read-along is hosted by both me and Chantelle, but Chantelle's name is probably not on the banner as it's too long haha)

Review: Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Title: Edenbrooke
Author: Julianne Donaldson
Genre: Young Adult Historical Romance

Goodreads rating: 4.38 out of 5.00 (11, 800+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she'll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry. From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will Marianne be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.



Review by Chantelle

The Rainbow Rowell Read-a-Thon Has Begun!

Hello again! It is now December 1st and the Rainbow Rowell Read-a-Thon has officially begun! As part of this introductory post, we thought we might share a few excerpts from each of her novels to convince you to join! By the way, it's not too late to sign up. The sign up post can be found here or if you click the button in the sidebar.