Reading RoundUp #22

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

You can tell I spent the whole week at my sister's house, I got so little reading done and it was a complete fail on Bout Of Books 7.0. For the next one I'm locking myself in the house and making no plans! I've also been really lax in keeping my book journal so I've lost track of what I've started and what I've finished. Another reason why I shouldn't spend so much time at my sister's without my journal, or my books...

Finished

Life After Life -Kate Atkinson

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Witchstruck - Victoria Lamb

Midwinterblood - Marcus Sedgwick

Chantress - Amy Butler Greenfield

Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris

Still reading

Wickedness - Deborah White

A Clash Of Kings - George R R Martin

Started

Undone - Cat Clarke

I think that's everything I've started and/or finished, I'm sure at the end of the year when I'm updating my Goodreads I'll more than likely think of quite a few that I've missed over the year. In other exciting bookish news, last Sunday I went to a book signing for the first time since a certain Jasper Fforde last year and got to meet the lovely Raymond E Feist! He was very nice and signed my copy of Faerie Tale and of course, Magician's End, which is the whole reason he was touring the UK. I've got two more really exciting signings/talks coming up over the next month, one by a strange chap by the name of Neil Gaiman! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Book Haul #25

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews, In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Mod Podge Bookshelf and Letterbox Love is a UK edition hosted by Narratively Speaking. Here we can share what new books we've picked up this past week. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

I have had an excellent week this week! A few freebies on the old Kindle Fire, monthly library day and one or two lovely surprises...

Kindle Freebies

Silver - Cheree Alsop

Falling - Amber Jaeger

Cursed - Casey Odell

The Mystic Wolves - Belinda Boring

Kindle Buys

The Forgotten Ones - Laura Howard

Storm - Brigid Kemmerer

From the author

Year Of The Great Seventh - Teresa Orts

From the publisher

Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope - Anne Plichota & Cendrine Wolf

Library Books

The Girl In The Flammable Skirt - Aimee Bender

Willful Creatures - Aimee Bender

Undone - Cat Clarke

Working Stiff - Rachel Caine

Two Weeks' Notice - Rachel Caine

Such Wicked Intent - Kenneth Oppel

Black Arts - Andrew Prentice

Killing Rachel - Anne Cassidy

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Hysteria - Megan Miranda

A Kiss At Midnight - Eloisa James

Princess Of Landover - Terry Brooks

The Glimpse - Claire Merle

What did you get this week?

Thorn Abbey - Nancy Ohlin

Thorn Abby - Nancy Ohlin @Twitter
ISBN - 9781442464865
Publisher - Simon Pulse @Twitter
Release date - May 7th 2013
Find - Book Depository/Goodreads

'Becca was the perfect girlfriend: smart, gorgeous, and loved by everyone at New England’s premier boarding school, Thorn Abbey. But Becca’s dead. And her boyfriend, Max, can’t get over his loss.

Then Tess transfers to Thorn Abbey. She’s shy, insecure, and ordinary - everything that Becca wasn’t. And despite her roommate’s warnings, she falls for brooding Max.

Now Max finally has a reason to move on. Except it won’t be easy. Because Becca may be gone, but she’s not quite ready to let him go…' - Goodreads

This is one I've been looking forward to since the day I first read about it. I have had an almost lifelong love of Daphne Du Maurier's work and Rebecca was the first of her novels I ever read so it has a special place in my reading history.

The action moves from a creepy mansion by the sea named Manderley to a creepy looking boarding school by the sea named Thorn Abbey, complete with cliffs, sailing and a general air of menace. The main character, Tess, is a new student at the school, completely out of her depth and out of place at prestigious Thorn Abbey. She doesn't look right, she doesn't wear the right clothes and she doesn't know the right people. Her new room-mate Devon veers between making her feel welcome and making her wish she'd never come to the school.

Tess meets Max, a fellow student, in one of her classes. She locks eyes with him in front of Franklin, Max's best friend, and that's it - she's in love! This where I started to not care quite as much what actually happened to Tess or whether she got the guy. We've all been there, met someone's eyes and thought yes, they're the one but, in my case at least, not the point of instant obsession that Tess develops. Every waking moment is spent thinking about and this only gets worse when she discovers that in a way she has become a replacement for Becca after her tragic death, living in her old dorm room and sharing with her old room-mate. Tess is quiet, unassuming, sorely lacking in confidence in her new surroundings and quite frankly needs to start making different new friends when Devon & the other girls tell her she's fat and start controlling what she eats! She's so busy worrying what Max, Devon & all the other students think of her and so intent on becoming better , becoming more beautiful that she loses sight of the fact that Tess is fine just as she is. Max actually says this to her at one point, that he likes her for who she is but of course Tess can't actually accept this and goes back to obsessing over whether her boyfriend is thinking of his dead girlfriend every time they kiss!

A ghostly retelling of Rebecca sounds like the perfect story to me but it never really got there, it wasn't quite creepy enough and although I will willingly admit I didn't see that ending coming, it was far too abrupt. It just finished, the end. I wanted more from the whole book if I'm being honest, I wanted more build-up to Tess & Max's romance, I wanted to know more about why everyone warned Tess to stay away from Max, I wanted to know more about Killian and especially more about Franklin. I'm half hoping there isn't a sequel or companion novella because maybe it should just end the way it did but on the other hand, maybe there should be something that lets us into the world of Thorn Abbey in more depth, a novella from Max's point of view or even Devon's - I think something is needed to get that extra layer of detail that is missing.

Even though it wasn't what I was expecting I did enjoy Thorn Abbey and will look out for anything else Ms Ohlin writes, I've already read Beauty which she wrote using the name Nancy Butcher and has just been reissued. Worth reading but definitely not as creepy or gothic as I was expecting sadly.

Circle Of Lies - Sara Dailey & Staci Weber

Circle Of Lies (Red Ridge Pack #2) - Sara Dailey & Staci Weber
ISBN - n/a
Publisher - Boroughs Publishing Group
Release date - December 20th 2012
Find - Goodreads

'Aiden Wright is trying to figure out who he really is, but the truth could cost him his true mate—or his life.

Life has always been easy for Aiden Wright. He’s smart, athletic, funny, and the ladies adore him. But when tragedy strikes, Aiden discovers the truth about who he really is and his whole world comes crashing down around him. Aiden thought that being a teenage werewolf was going to be awesome, but it might just cost him the one girl who could make him whole.

Since her mother’s disappearance, Teagan Rhodes’s life has been littered with her father’s empty beer cans and his hollow promises to change. Convinced that others would only let her down, she keeps everyone at arm’s length—but resisting Aiden’s charm is proving to be more difficult than she thought. Throw in a psychotic werewolf hunter out to terminate the species and one wrong move, one wrong decision could destroy everything.' - Goodreads

This review may contain spoilers!

Circle Of Lies picks up right where Pack Of Lies finishes and, as I was hoping, is all about Aiden. Seriously injured in the rescue of his sister, his quick healing does prove that he is a werewolf and not defective as he likes to call himself. Whilst recovering he discovers something about himself and his parents which rocks his whole life. His father Paul is not his biological father, that man is Marcus, the alpha of the pack who is now desperate for Aiden to acknowledge him as his father and, rather shockingly, take over as alpha even though Cade has been groomed for that his whole life.

Like Pack Of Lies, Circle Of Lies is narrated by three different characters. Peter, a drifter who comes to town, Teagan (Alli's friend from the first book) and Aiden himself. Aiden finds himself strangely drawn to Teagan whilst going through a huge personal upheaval, Teagan though wants nothing to with him or any of the so-called beautiful people because she's been hurt before. Not even the fact that Aiden is Alli's brother makes her feel better about him wanting to date her and her home life certainly isn't helping. She came to Red Ridge with her father in the hopes that they would both move on from losing her mother, things never really go as you plan though. 

Aiden is dealing with finding out his dad is not his father, his father wants him to be the next Alpha, his sister's boyfriend is his brother and original choice for Alpha and learning how to be a werewolf. The only thing keeping him sane is his pursuit of Teagan, it's obvious from the start that there is something between them and eventually Teagan gives in, discovering that Aiden maybe isn't like the others and allows herself to fall in love with him. Things don't always run smoothly in the path of true love though and soon enough, Peter, the stranger in town, is whispering in her dad's ear, convincing him (and others) that the pack are actually a cult and Teagan is in danger! Peter knows that werewolves exist, he watched one kill his uncle but was put into an institution after trying to persuade people that's what happened. He's out now, and looking for revenge. Uncle Raymond is his imaginary mentor, guiding his every move and telling him what to look for in a werewolf!

I think I preferred Circle Of Lies to the first book, I certainly liked Teagan better as a character than I did Alli and found her to be a stronger, more independent girl who knew her own mind, more than likely down to her upbringing and her relationship with her father. Aiden though turned out to be nothing like the arrogant, cocky boy we're introduced to in the first book and genuinely cares for Teagan before he knows that they too have the 'true mate' bond, even though she is human and he's a wolf. 

The action in this one seemed more believable, I loved how Peter recruited for his 'kill the werewolf' campaign by using the cover story of a cult, completely possible given the isolated way the pack live and Teagan's father would have quite possibly believed anything if it meant finding out what really happened to his wife. By the end of the book we're introduced to a couple of new issues which I'm hoping are hints and clues about book three, one being the conflict between Cade and Aiden over who is the next Alpha and, because of this situation, the news that there may be trouble ahead for the whole pack. I was also glad to see that Teagan is no longer in the dark about who or what Aiden and his family are, given that he promised to always be honest with her, seeing your boyfriend morph into a giant wolf would be quite stupendous - and not in a good way! The only bit that jarred for me was that in the first book (also in the beginning of this one) we're led to believe that Cade doesn't really care about being Alpha so I'm confused as to why it's suddenly a huge issue between the two brothers by the end, especially as we really only see one conversation between them about the subject.

A hugely enjoyable second instalment, even with a plausible form of insta-love, I'm looking forward to reading what happens next in Red Ridge and getting to know more of the members of the pack.

*My copy of Pack Of Lies was very kindly sent to me by the publishers, thank you!

Love in Bloom Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the Love in Bloom Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and Portrait of a Book. The winner of this hop gets to choose a lighthearted and/or contemporary Young Adult Romance or a clean Adult Romance from the Book Depository. The giveaway is open to anyone who lives in a country that BD will ship to, check out the list here. Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter and the giveaway runs from now through to midnight on May 22nd.

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Check out all of the other blogs taking part below for more chances to win! Thanks for entering and good luck!

Waiting On Wednesday #25

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is

One - Leigh Ann Kopans   @LeighAnnKopans
ISBN - N/A
Publisher - N/A
Expected Release Date - June 11 2013
Find - Goodreads

'When having two powers makes you a Super and having none makes you a Normal, having only one makes you a sad half-superpowered freak.

It makes you a One.

Sixteen-year-old Merrin Grey would love to be able to fly – too bad all she can do is hover.

If she could just land an internship at the Biotech Hub, she might finally figure out how to fix herself. She busts her butt in AP Chem and salivates over the Hub’s research on the manifestation of superpowers, all in hopes of boosting her chances.

Then she meets Elias VanDyne, another One, and all her carefully crafted plans fly out the window. Literally. When the two of them touch, their Ones combine to make them fly, and when they’re not soaring over the Nebraska cornfields, they’re busy falling for each other.

Merrin's mad chemistry skills land her a spot on the Hub's internship short list, but as she gets closer to the life she always wanted, she discovers that the Hub’s purpose is more sinister than it has always seemed. Now it’s up to her to decide if it's more important to fly solo, or to save everything - and everyone - she loves.' - Goodreads

This sounds like something I would love to read! 

May New Release Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the May New Release Giveaway Hop hosted by Book Twirps and Refracted Light Reviews! The hop runs from May 15 through to May 31 2013. Up for grabs is any new release this month up to the value of $15 from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here.

All you have to do is choose any new release published in May and leave me a comment stating what book you would like (you can change your mind later) and a way of getting in touch with you if you are the lucky winner (either an email address or Twitter) - following the blog via GFC, Linky or Bloglovin', Goodreads or Twitter is not compulsory, just nice!

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Check out the list below for lots more chances to win, thanks for entering and good luck!