Waiting on Wednesday (#23): In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and gives bloggers the chance to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo
Published: 29th April 2014 (Scholastic)

Buy: Amazon|BookDepository

Plot summary: From the remarkable imagination of acclaimed artist Jim Di Bartolo and the exquisite pen of bestselling author Kiersten White comes a spellbinding story of love, mystery, and dark conspiracy, told in an alternating narrative of words and pictures.

Cora and Minnie are sisters living in a small, stifling town where strange and mysterious things occur. Their mother runs the local boarding house. Their father is gone. The woman up the hill may or may not be a witch.

Thomas and Charles are brothers who’ve been exiled to the boarding house so Thomas can tame his ways and Charles can fight an illness that is killing him with increasing speed. Their family history is one of sorrow and guilt. They think they can escape from it . . . but they can’t.

I love the idea of an illustrated book! It definitely sounds like a book you'd want to buy and own a physical copy of. I've just read two of Kiersten White's books after having wanted to check her out for a while, so this one is definitely on my radar.

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments!

Belated Book Round Up! 25th February

 So my life has been a little crazy of late. I'm working irregular hours which means I'm not really sure when and where I'll be working, so any kind of blogging schedule has gone out of the window! But I've acquired a few exciting books lately I wanted to talk about, so here's a book round up to get caught up on everything.

Book Haul

I'll start with a book haul this week! I've had a few exciting books to review come my way recently that I wanted to talk about. A few weeks ago I was approved for Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon. I love YA sci-fi so I'm really excited to read this. Thanks Bloomsbury!

If you've followed the blog for a while then you'll know I'm a big fan of Amy Martin's In Your Dreams series. Book three - Before You Sleep-  has just landed on my Kindle and I couldn't be more excited! Thanks Amy. And another exciting sequel came my way in the shape of Unwoven by Jack Croxall, the sequel to Tethers - a book I really enjoyed. Thanks Jack.

What I've Been Reading

I'm currently reading Panic by Lauren Oliver which comes out in March. She's one of my favourite YA authors and I'm thoroughly enjoying this one. My review will be up in a few weeks! I also finished Paranormalcy by Kiersten White which was really good.

In the News

The cover for Take Me On by Katie McGarry has been unveiled over on Facebook. See it below. This is the US cover so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the UK version soon.

Cassandra Clare has opened up about her latest Shadowhunter series. The Last Hours will be a trilogy set between the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Read more over on FangirllDaily.

Ellie Goulding has debuted her song Beating Heart, taken from the upcoming Divergent film soundtrack, on Radio 1. The lyric video was also revealed on Entertainment Weekly. Watch it below.


J. K. Rowling has announced the title and release date of the sequel to her detective novel The Cuckoo's Calling. The Silkworm will be published in June. Read more over on Hypable.

Phew! I think I'm caught up. Plus I'm including this Vlogbrothers video which is Hank Green ranting about books because a) it made me laugh, a lot, and b) it is completely accurate.

Review: Banished by Liz De Jager

Banished by Liz De Jager

Author: Liz De Jager Website|Twitter
Published: 27 February 2014 (Tor)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Buy the book: Amazon|Hive|BookDepository
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Kobo

Source: Received free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Sworn to protect, honour and slay. Because chaos won’t banish itself…

Kit is proud to be a Blackhart, now she’s encountered her unorthodox cousins and their strange lives. And her home-schooling now includes spells, fighting enemy fae and using ancient weapons. But it’s not until she rescues a rather handsome fae prince, fighting for his life on the edge of Blackhart Manor, that her training really kicks in. With her family away on various missions, Kit must protect Prince Thorn, rely on new friends and use her own unfamiliar magic to stay ahead of Thorn’s enemies. As things go from bad to apocalyptic, fae battle fae in a war that threatens to spill into the human world. Then Kit pits herself against the Elder Gods themselves – it’s that or lose everyone she’s learnt to love.

My Review:
Banished was one of my most anticipated releases of 2014 so I was super happy when a copy popped through my letterbox! The book follows Kit Blackhart who is just getting used to her new supernatural life when her abilities are called upon to save her family.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book as we're introduced to Kit and her family. The real world, teenage life feel which made me instantly relate to Kit and provided a great balance to the fantasy side. I thought the magical side of the story and the world building was done really well. You were never overwhelmed with terminology, and at the start of each chapter were little exerpts from archives or history books etc. which provided you the history of Kit's world in nice bite-size chunks, without the need for exposition, which was incredibly smart and well done.

One of the real highlights of the book for me was the characters, particularly Kit and Thorn, and the developing relationship between them. The author has managed to carve out distinctive voices and personalities. There is a brilliant sense of humour weaved throughout the book that provided some really funny moments between all the characters. I thought Kit herself was particularly sharp and witty which drew me to her even more!

In terms of the fantasy side of the book, I loved the Banished had a little bit of everything. There were faeries, trolls and even dragons! (I was really, really excited when a dragon showed up.) It was just such a great mix of creatures and magic, all cleverly weaved into our own world. Even though there were a wide range of characters who come from different realms (the book takes place in two worlds; the Frontier which is the human world, and the Otherwhere) everything really flowed. Every character from every race fitted in perfectly with the story and everything was linked together really well.

I felt the first half of the book was a lot more focused on the characters, and on how Kit adapted to her situation. There was definitely that element of her going on a quest or journey to prove herself, and I love how she overcame the insecurities we see at the beginning of the book. The second half of the story is definitely more action packed, and although I probably enjoyed that first part more, it made for a well paced, exciting read throughout.

Banished will definitely appeal to a lot of readers. Fans of books such as Artemis Fowl and City of Bones will fall in love with the fantastic world Liz De Jager has created. The ending had me dying to read the next book and gave a good old tug at the heartstrings! I'm excited to see where things go from here.

Rating: 4*
What to read next: This is the first book in the Blackhart Legacy series
Books like this: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Waiting on Wednesday (#22): Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine and gives bloggers the chance to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

 Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Published: 5th June 2014 (Bloomsbury)

Buy: Amazon|Hive

Plot summary: Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.
So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

So I love me some YA sci-fi! This sounds like it has some great political stuff to sink your teeth into and I love books that explore class divisions. I'd chosen this book before I was approved for a review copy so now I'm even more excited that I'll be getting a chance to read it soon. Keep an eye out for the review nearer publication date! What are you waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons I Love Being a Reader/Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week we're talking the reasons we love reading and blogging. I'm sure there are hundreds of things I could have said but these were the first ten that came to mind. I'd love to hear yours so let me know in the comments!

Discovering new books

Being a blogger has led me to discover other blogs and that's where I get the best recommendations. I read a much wider range of books since I started blogging!

 

Strenghtening friendships

When I started my blog, it led me to start having more bookish conversations with my friends. They saw how much I loved reading and would come to me to ask for/give recommendations. There were friends I didn't realise loved books as much as me, despite knowing them years!

Chatting with authors

Authors are still kind of like rock stars to me, but through Twitter and email I've been able to chat with authors whose work I enjoy and respect, and that's pretty darn cool!

 

Recommending books

I just love sharing my recommendations. I can't keep a good book to myself! Having a blog is the best platform for being able to share those books you want to shout about from the rooftops.

Someone saying they love a book you recommended

This is literally the best feeling ever! It makes me so happy when someone enjoys a book I recommended and thanks me for it.

 

Supporting authors

Since I started blogging and widening what I read, I've discovered a wealth of authors I may not otherwise have come across, from indie and self-published authors, to debut authors. I love being able to support them and spread the word about their awesome work to others who may not have heard of them.

Writing

I love writing and starting my blog has given me a chance to share thoughts and feelings through things like opinion posts. Reading and blogging also motivate me to write my own novel one day!

Fangirling

A whole online community to fangirl over the latest YA books with? Heaven!

Meeting like minded people

It's so nice to be able to chat with people who care about books just as much as you do! Book lovers always have something to talk about.

 

Being comfortable with yourself

I don't think I'm the only person who was slightly embarassed about my reading habits at one point in my life. I was scared of talking about my love of books and my love of YA, but seeing how many other people share my passion has caused me to be more comfortable with myself and made me a more confident person.

The Weekly Book Round Up! 15th February

Welcome to the latest Weekly Book Round Up, a post where I recap the latest news stories and posts from the blog. Enjoy!

In the news

Waterstones have revealed the shortlists for their Childrens' Book Prize. In the 9-12 category, the shortlist is as follows:

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chaniani,
Darcy Burdock by Laura Dockrill,
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
Shiveton Hall by Emerald Fennell,
The Last Wild by Piers Torday
The Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves

And the teen shortlist is made up of the following books:

Geek Girl by Holly Smale
Our of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Butter by Erin Jade Lange
The Bone Dragon by Alexa Casale
Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

The winners of the prize will be announced on 3rd April. For more information and to read the shortlist in full, head over to the Waterstones website.

A rumour has appeared online that a trailer for Mockingjay Part One could be released in April. Read more over on FangirlDaily.

Robert Schwentke has been lined up to direct Insurgent, the sequel to Divergent, with filming set to begin in May. Read the story over on Hypable. In other Divergent news you'll soon be able to get your hands on Four and Tris dolls.

On the blog

On Monday I talked about reading slumps and shared a few of my tips for overcoming them. On Tuesday I got in the Valentine's Day spirit by sharing my Top Ten Books to Make You Swoon. Wednesday saw me waiting on Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katie Canon. And on Friday I shared the book trailer for Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith.

What I've Been Reading

I'm about halfway through Paranormalcy by Kiersten White which I'm really enjoying. I've been dying to read it ages and the main character, Evie, is fab! My friend lent me a couple of sporting autobiographies this week. It's nice to dive into something different every now and then! I've already started David Weir's Weirwolf, My Story and next up is the Brownlee brothers' Swim, Bike, Run.

What are you reading this weekend? Let me know in the comments!

Book Trailer: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

This week I watched this trailer for Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith, and it definitely has me intrigued! You can watch the trailer below and let me know what you think in the comments. Is it a book you'll be checking out?

Published: 27th February (Egmont)

 Buy the book: Amazon|Hive 

Add to Goodreads