Contest Craze- Kidnap!

Time for another mini challenge in Princess Bookie's Contest Craze. This one was hosted by A Thousand Little Pages.

Here is the assignment:

You are now one of the fey, delighting in kidnapping the poor humans from their beds and bringing them into the faery realm. If you could kidnap anyone (fictional or otherwise), who would you kidnap, and what would you make them do for/to you?

Sidenote: I would really appreciate it if you could keep your answers PG13. I'm sure you know what I mean by that...

My answer:

This one's easy! I'd kidnap Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games and make her write more in a series. ME WANTS MORE!!!!!!!

Contest Craze- Who Should be a Couple?

Today on Princess Bookie's Contest Craze we have a challenge hosted by our grand host, Princess Bookie about who should be a couple that isn't, sounds fun!

The rules:Write up a blog post telling us who should be a couple but are NOT a couple. This can include tv, movie, music videos, or book couples. In a separate paragraph, tell us why you think they should get together. They can be characters from different shows or the same show. Be creative. Who would go well together? These are fictional characters, not the real actors.

Make sure you tell us which show you are going off of (if it's a show and your behind a season, tell us). If its two different shows, and two different characters, tell us. Details please! If it's a book, make sure you tell us what book it is from in your blog post. This is so people know not to ruin it by telling you spoilers from the next book or season!

Of course since I'm a bookish freak (or so I think) mine's going to be a match-up of a couple from two different YA books I've read recently...

Rhine from Wither by Lauren Destefano

and...

(Not exactly how I pictured him... but okay?)

Gale from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My reasoning:

Okay... I had to think about my choice for this challenge for a while. I was all over the map... I was thinking Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson, and The Mortal Instruments but none of them really worked out. Then my brain had one of those rare ideas and I was like BINGO! We have a winner. Rhine and Gale are both sorta wild and DO NOT like to be tied down. Also (spoiler for those who haven't finished The Hunger Games trilogy yet) he did screw off and run away during the final book... maybe he went to find Rhine, eh?

Glow (ARC)

Today I have an ARC review of a book that came out yesterday -- Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan.

Summary: What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

Glow is the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games, and promises to thrill and challenge readers of all ages.

My review: I really enjoyed this book, just going to say that first thing. The book starts with two sixteen year old lovers on their way to "New Earth" some 40 years or so after earth has turned to ruins. And somebody (we never quite found out who) decided to have people take tests and those who got the highest scores would have the opportunity to get on one of two spacecrafts (one for those who are religious, one who aren't) on a 50+ year trip to New Earth so the human race can survive.

This book had no back story. After about 10 pages in it's just "Wholly BEEP, we're under attack." We had no idea who the attackers were, nothing about why the ship was traveling in space and what their mission was. The back story just comes in fragments throughout the novel. And though I like books that get right to the action, I need a back story. Especially in dystopian novels like this. I need to know exactly what happened to society.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book! I like a lot of action in the novels I read, and boy, does Glow have a load of fast-paced, totally cool, futuristic action sequences. Though I say that books aren't all about the action, it's most certainly a highlight for this book. Ryan makes the action scenes really intense.

Another thing I loved about this book was Ryan's writing. It flowed along nicely and had a sort of a "Hunger Games meets Star Trek" feel to to it.

This book left me hanging at all the right moments. I'm waiting breathlessly for more and won't rest in until I get some! I don't normally read sci-fi but I made an exception for this book, and boy am I glad I did!

5/5

Cover Comments: I like the simplicity of this cover, nice black background too.

Wither

I've been seeing Wither by Lauren Destefano everywhere! And I have been meaning to buy it since it came out but didn't until last Friday. Before I start the review let's take 10 seconds to admire the cover.... Okay, on with the review.

Summary: What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb — males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape — to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Okay, where to begin? This book was amazing! From cover to cover. Rhine was very sweet, and didn't take it out on people whom she knew had no control of the situation. I think my favorite part of the book was probably Rhine's relationship with her sister wives. She was very motherly to them throughout the book. And also, the villains were so well developed. Destefano really made you think that these people had it in them to do such dastardly deeds. Another thing I loved was how the characters changed so much; you think they are villains to begin with and you end the book thinking, hey, they weren't so bad after all.

The setting, like everything else in this book, was wonderfully done, and every description was spot on, making it's own little masterpiece inside a greater one. Destefano crafts a book that will leave readers longing for more, a beautiful yet horrifying debut. A book fans of The Hunger Games and Matched will call their own.

5/5

Book Battle Update: Yay! This is my first book read in the book battle.

Matched

I've been hearing a lot about this book, every time I check the "New York Times Best-Seller List" it's near the top, and I've been reading lots of positive reviews, so finally I decided to read it. "Matched" is Ally Condie's debut, In the story everything is controlled by "The Society" who decide Who You Love, Where you Work, When you Die, and basically everything else in your life. Cassia has always trusted their choices, and when her best friend is her match she is confident he is the one. But when she sees a face before the screen flashes blank, she suddenly is doubting 'The Society" and their choices. She develops a relationship with this new boy, Ky, but she still has feelings for he Match Xander. She starts to doubt everything about the society, and what they stand for.

This book was a great read, I started six hours ago and just finished it a few minutes ago. Many people say it is just a imitation of "The Hunger Games" I however thought that it was very unique, though you could make connections to " Hunger Games" it was still really good। Even though her writing style wasn't original, it was very simple and matter-of-fact which made me want to keep reading. This book is supposed it be the first in a trilogy that will be the "Next Big Read" and I think it has that potential, if Condie keeps making them interesting, fun, and enjoyable. Though the book had a few flaws the good qualities deeply outnumbered the bad. All in all, a book that readers will eagerly devour and longing for the second.
5/5