Sunday, December 9, 2012

Interview with Victoria Schwab

Here is a short interview with Victoria Schwab, the author of The Near Witch and The Archived coming out in January 2013! Hope you enjoy!

What is your favorite author of all time?
 
--Neil Gaiman. Not only for his stories, but for his kindness and ability to be genuine and grounded despite his fame.
What is your favorite actor/actress?
 
--Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hiddleston, and Scarlet Johansson
Do you prefer dark chocolate or milk chocolate?
 
--Dark chocolate! I won't touch the milk stuff.
Do you have any pets? If so, what animal is it?
 
--Haha, I have five. Six if you count the dog I'm fostering. If you don't count him, there are three dogs, and two cats.
What is the farthest place you've ever been?
 
--The Loire valley in France is probably the farthest geographically (I lived in northern England for a few months while writing THE ARCHIVED).
What is the most exciting part of being an author?
 
--It's a tie between seeing your story in book-form (there's nothing like holding a finished copy), and getting to talk to readers and fans.
 
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
 
--I am actually an only child.
Are you an early riser or night owl?
 
--Unfortunately for sleep, a bit of both.
What is your favorite book this year that you have read?
 
--I loved loved loved a book called DEATHLESS by Cat Valente.
 
What is your hobby?( besides writing)
 
--I'm a bit of an exercise addict. I have to be, to make up for the hours spent sitting at the computer and the dark chocolate, but truth be told, for me, exercise = sanity.
 
 
 
Victoria SchwabAbout the author
Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say "tom-ah-toes," "like," and "y'all."

She also tells stories.

She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems.
 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

Top Ten Tuesday-It is a meme created by aime at The Broke and the Bookish where you create a list of your top ten favorite of any given category.  This week we are creating a list of our favorite new authors from 2012! I'll list the first book that I read by them that made me fall in love with them!

1.Fiona Paul-I just recently read her debut book and absolutely loved it! Go check it out! I dare you to...
Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose, #1)
2.Julie Kagawa-I know this probably comes to a surprise for some of you, but I actually just started reading her books back in January and have just loved all of her stories from The Immortal Rules to The Lost Prince.
The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1)
3.Andrea Cremer-I loved Nightshade so....OF COURSE I have to list her!
Nightshade (Nightshade, #1)
4.Marissa Meyer-Cinder was such a creative and interesting twist on Cinderalla that I fell in love with it right away!
Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)
5.Veronica Rossi-Under the Never Sky was just...I'm speechless really.
Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1)
6.Kathleen Peacock-I usually don't enjoy werewolve books very much, but Hemlock was not one of those corny love stories and was written very well! I enjoyed it immensely!
Hemlock (Hemlock, #1)
7.Sarah Rees Brennan-Do I even have to explain? If you haven't read this, then you haven't LIVED.
Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)
8.Alison Goodman-Her books were so complex and descriptive...I mean, just WOW.
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (Eon, #1)
9.Cassandra Clare-I know this is EXTREMELY surprsing, you know, since City of Bones is becoming a MOVIE, but I just started reading her books somewhere around February or Marchish area.
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
10.Rachel Hawkins-Even though, this series were, at some points SO cheesy, I loved it all the same. It was one of those easy series to like(at least for me!) and talk about.
Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Review: Scarlet

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Page Number:464
Publisher:Feiwel & Friends
Source:Won

Description:
Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.


Review:
I was absolutely stunned when I finished this book. Somehow, Marissa Meyer has got me to love this book even more than Cinder, and that is saying alot. Cinder was probably within my top 5 books of 2012, and man, Scarlet is probably going to BE the top pick of 2013, unless some other book SOMEHOW manages to blow be away even more than Scarlet did.

It starts off right after Cinder ended, except you have a different main character: Scarlet. Now, Cinder is still pretty important( I mean, of course she is, since she's the freakin' key to EVERYTHING!), but you only get to see her viewpoint about 40%. There are also different characters viewpoint's thrown in there, pretty much at random, like Thorne, Wolf, and EVEN Queen Levena! Yes, that was a pretty interesting chapter. I really liked being able to see in different people view's, since it let me inside their heads and undertand their feelings and emotions. So, that was just ONE small detail that I loved. Unfortunately for you, my dear readers, I still have many other things to talk about and fangirl over!

Back to the story, so Cinder is on the run and Scarlet( your new main character, hence the name of the book!) is trying to find her grandmother, since the police decided to stop looking due to the lack of evidence and because her grandmother left without a trace. Scarlet runs into a person at a bar/restaraunt with a tattoo on his elbow. She later realizes that that tattoo happens to be the key to finding her grandmother. So, of course she asks for his help( ERM...not exactly ASKED for helped, but you get the point) and she goes on her journey with Wolf to find her grandmother.
 Yeah, that is a very shortened up version, and it sounds much lamer than it actually is. Trust me though when I type this! IT BLEW MY MIND AWAY! There was so many surprises and the plot and characters were all amazing! And now I will continue on to tell about the new and old characters.

Cinder-She was as awesome as ever, except she is now on the run and desperately trying to get her powers under control. I seriously, love Cinder. How could you not? She is a kick-ass heroine and is a cyborg! So, don't worry people! Just because there is another heroine in the book doesn't mean that Cinder doesn't have her fair share of time in the book!

Scarlet-Ahh, the other kick-ass heroine in the book. I really loved her from start to finish. She was strong, intelligent, and had red hair! I did think that she may have been a little too impulsive, but her other characteristics made up for it. Overall, I thought she was a great new addition in this series, and hope to see her in the next two books!

Wolf-He was a very quiet and mysterious person at first. He was big and dangerous looking, but shy all the same. I'm not quite sure what to say about him. I liked him alot, but I guess I didn't love him in the beginning. I just thought he was an important character in the story. Later though, I started understanding him and ended up LOVING him for who he truly was.

Kai-What dissapointed me most about this book was that you don't get to see alot of Kai. I seriously loved Kai in Cinder, and it saddened me to find out that there couldn't be any romance between Cinder and Kai, because they are supposed to appear as rivals to the people. Kai is supposed to care about his country more than Cinder, and I do understand that, but it doesn't make me any less sadder.

Thorne- My first thought about him was that he was a moron, and I still think that. All the same, he was a hilarious new addition in the book! He always made horrible circumstances funny, and just had a fun vibe to him.

Ok, I know there are MANY other characters in the book, but it would take me forever to put my emotions for them into words, so without further ado I will talk about the plot.
Wow, Marissa Meyer did it again with her magical writing powers. The plot was intense, fast-paced, and kept me reading until the very last page. There were so many unanswered questions from the previous book and I was reading furiously to find them out! The plot was probably my most favorite thing about this story!

The ending, THANK GOD, was not a cliffhanger. At least, not in my opinion.
There are still many unanswered questions, but it isn't what you would call a cliffhanger. Nonetheless, I will be watching like a hawk for the third book! And there was still a thrill of excitement left in my veins that had me acting all gushy inside...even though I should be sad, since I WON'T get to read Cress, for more than a year!