May Round-Up and Book of the Month!

May's BoTM is Adorkable by Sarra Manning 

I LOVED THIS BOOK! This is the kind of book that I like to think of as a "Jess Book" meaning that for me personally it couldn't get any better! This book ticked all the right boxes for what I look for in a good contemporary romance. There's a swoonworthy book boy, a strong yet imperfect heroine (a tough balancing act indeed!) there's sexy times and giggles and a whole bunch of smarts and dorkytimes. It was slick and funny and romantic and if I were you (You.Yes.You. The Reader!) I would snatch it up and read it immediately. For an in-depth look at what I thought you can check out my 5 star review here.

Books Read in May
35.) Adorkable by Sarra Manning (5*)
36.) Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (4*)
37.) Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton (4*)
38.) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (4*)
39.) The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting (4*)
40.) Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon (4*)
41.) Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (4*)
Total Books Read = 7 
Thoughts: Seven books is a bit low for me but considering I was ill for a week and didn't get any reading done seven isn't so bad. This month it was all about the quality over quantity, as you can see all four stars and even one five! I did a lot of series catch up reading which I really enjoyed and it's something I may do as an official month challenge for everyone to join in later this summer so stay tuned for that! ;)

This Months Book Awards
Best Plot: Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon
Best Writing: Adorkable by Sarra Manning
Best Cover: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Best Characters: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
Best Ending: Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton
Best Romance: Adorkable by Sarra Manning
Most un-put-down-able: The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting
Most Memorable: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Best Moral: Adorkable by Sarra Manning

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: Adorkable, Life Eternal, Emma Hearts LA AND Second Chance Summer tied, I can't choose between them!

Books I’m Looking Forward to Being Released in June
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Flirting in Italian by Lauren Henderson
Rapture by Lauren Kate (x1000!!!)
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (x1000!!!)
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris
(Links lead to books Goodreads page for more info!)

 Have you read any of the books I’ve read this month? What were your thoughts on them? Do you want to see a particular review for any of the books I’ve read this month sooner rather than later? Leave me a comment and let me know and don’t forget to treat yourselves to Adorkable – you won’t regret it! Here’s to another month of fab reading ahead!

Review for Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer 
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Release Date: 5th July 2012
Genre: Fairytale, Crossover, Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"Delilah knows it's weird, but she can't stop reading her favourite fairy tale. Other girls her age are dating and cheerleading. But then, other girls are popular. She loves the comfort of the happy ending, and knowing there will be no surprises. Until she gets the biggest surprise of all, when Prince Oliver looks out from the page and speaks to her. Now Delilah must decide: will she do as Oliver asks, and help him to break out of the book? Or is this her chance to escape into happily ever after? Read between the lines for total enchantment..."

Review 
I’ve read almost all of Jodi Picoult’s adult books over the years and have loved all of them. I’d definitely consider Jodi to be one of my very favourite authors so when I heard that she was venturing into the ever popular Young Adult market with something completely new I was excited especially with YA being my favourite genre to read. Little did I realise that this novel was co-written with debut author Samantha Van Leer who just so happens to be Jodi’s teenage daughter.

At the beginning of the book is an author’s note from Jodi explaining how this book came to be about. At the young age of fourteen Sammy came to her with an idea for a book and over a span of two years they worked on her idea together. Sammy must have inherited her mom’s talent for storytelling because the idea behind this story is a wonderful one. Despite the ever trending topic of paranormal romance in YA Sammy and Jodi have gone down a different route and have created a story that reads as part contemporary part modern day fairytale.

The book itself is about Delilah a teenage girl who instead of dating, shopping and experimenting with make-up would much rather be reading a good book (a girl after my own heart!) particularly Between the Lines a fairytale she came upon in her school library. Delilah can relate to the hero of the story Oliver in a way that she can’t with other boys her age and like Oliver understands how it feels to grow up without a dad. Delilah’s read this book countless times and knows the story by heart so one day when there’s a subtle chance that anybody else probably wouldn’t notice Delilah does and so begins an enchanting adventure about a book that is so much more than your average fairytale.

Between the Lines is told alternately between Prince Oliver who wants much more from life than what the author of his story gave to him and Delilah who feels a real connection with Oliver and so try’s to help him escape from his story into our world. In between their chapters is also the fairytale itself and some gorgeous illustrations of not only the fairytale but also of Delilah’s life in the real world too. I loved the idea behind this book of a story that’s real. A place that really has magic and our favourite characters, who have a whole life of their own outside of the story as we know it. And although I loved Delilah and Oliver’s chapters I found that the sections I most enjoyed were the chapters of the fairytale itself it was so well imagined and I know I would have loved to have read it when I was younger as a fairytale in its own right.

Overall I found Between the Lines to be an enchanting, magical read it’s a modern day fairytale that has all the wonder and excitement of the original fairytales I grew up with. This is a book with huge crossover appeal that can be enjoyed by tweens, teens and adults alike. I enjoyed the seamless combination of this mother daughter duo and hope there will be more books by both Jodi and Sammy in the future.

Letterbox Love (4)

Hi guys! Just wanted to leave a quick update on this post for those of you who’ve been wondering where I’ve got to this week. I’ve had the worst summer cold, just as the weather’s started to get really nice here in England as well! This is why I haven’t posted over the last few days. I’m starting to recover now though and although my brain still feels a bit too headachy and icky to write a coherent book review, I do feel well enough to post something so decided I’d share with you the wonderful books I’ve received this week! They certainly cheered me up and put a smile on my face when I was feeling miserable and the rest of the UK was so cheery and enjoying the sunshine, summer colds really are the worst aren’t they?

Letterbox Love is a new meme hosted by Lynsey @ Narratively Speaking for UK based book bloggers to showcase the book’s that they’ve received each week.

 Review Books

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin (Proof Copy) I've heard nothing but great things about this book from US bloggers, this is defintely a book that is creating quite a stir in the book world already and it sounds right up my street, I have a feeling that I'm going to love this one so I'll defintely be reading this sometime over the summer!

The Reckoning by Alma Katsu I really enjoyed the first book in this series The Taker so I'm excited to get to this one soon!

Soul Fire by Kate Harrison (Proof Copy) This is the sequel to Soul Beach a book that I absolutely loved when I read it last summer, very excited to read this next instalment it will make for a thrilling beach read that's for sure!

The Vampire of Highgate by Asa Bailey This is a vampire story based on true events and is set in the UK! I do love books set in my own country so I'm looking forward to checking this one out.

Summer Nights by Allie Spencer You guys know that I love a bit of chick-lit to break up some of my YA reading especially beachy, fun, romantic, summer reads! This one looks like it's going to tick all of those boxes so I look forward to reading this over a sunny weekend in my garden.


So those were all of the wonderful books I was lucky enough to be sent for review this week. As always HUGE thank you's to the lovely publishing people who have sent me these brilliant new titles. If you’ve read or are looking forward to any of the books I got feel free to let me know what you thought about them or request reviews and such in the comments. And if you decided to do a Letterbox Love, Book Haul, IMM, Mailbox Monday or whatever else featuring the books you got this week leave me a link as I’d love to check out your books too! ^_^ Hopefully things will be back to normal next week and I can bring you some reviews for some excellent books that I've been reading lately but until then happy reading till next time folks!

Review for Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

WARNING
This is the third book in the Seven Kingdoms trilogy. Although this review will contain no spoilers from Bitterblue by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first two books (Graceling and Fire) in the series.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: 1st May 2012
Genre: Fantasy, Crossover, Fiction
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Bought

Amazon Summary:
"Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past. Whatever that past holds. Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart..."

Review 
Fans of Kristin Cashore’s bestsellers Graceling and Fire have been waiting for this much anticipated companion novel for years. Bitterblue has been one of my most anticipated reads for the longest time and after such a long torturous wait I had only the highest expectations, so did it meet those expectations? Eh, not as much as I hoped, but expectations aside it was still a good read.

My main beef with Bitterblue is that I was expecting more of a plot. With King Leck being dead for a good eight years now as much as I love to hate Leck and his twisted little mind I was really looking for Bitterblue to move away from that storyline but instead Leck’s ghost and terrifying grip he had over Monsea reins on and whilst that’s understandable after the horrors he put his people through it didn’t really do anything for me plot wise as it felt very much like we were covering old ground without the story moving forward. Bitterblue is a huge book coming in at five hundred and thirty nine pages and because the book is very character driven there where sections that although were great for character development didn’t really move the plot along and so I’d find myself getting bored at times. Some sections certainly could have been edited down and I found the book to be overly long and lagging in places. The revelations at the end regarding Leck’s secrets didn’t offer much in way of plot development and I felt didn’t add anything new to the story from what we already knew at the beginning. The revelations of Leck’s past seemed to be for Bitterblue’s own personal growth to become the queen she needs to be and nothing more.

That being said I could never not like this book. I fell in love with this world and these characters long ago and nothing was ever going to change that. What I loved most about this book was that it felt like I was catching up with old friends. Characters that we got to know and love in both Graceling and Fire have a part to play in this book and although Bitterblue is a companion novel and not a direct sequel to either book I would recommend reading Graceling and Fire first for the ultimate experience and a better understanding of the world and the events of the past. Along with all of our old favourites there are new characters to get to know and love too particularly Teddy, Death and Hava my personal favourites. Whilst all of our much loved characters return the most interaction we had (Bitterblue aside) was with Prince Po who is very much a main character in this book. Po has always been my favourite character in the series and I grew to love him even more in Bitterblue. In a way we get to know Bitterblue all over again too this time as a queen and young woman rather than the little girl we met in Graceling. As always the characters are warm, vibrant and fully visualised her characters are one of Kristin Cashore’s strongest attributes as a writer and I loved being able to catch up with them.

My only other complaint about the book is Bitterblue’s love interest Sapphire whilst nice enough he didn’t really stand out to me as this great love interest and was by far overshadowed by Po, a worthy book hero, and even Giddon whose relationship with Bitterblue although not romantic I much preferred over hers and Sapphire’s. Don’t get me wrong Sapphire was nice just a little ordinary and personally I felt that Bitterblue could do better.

That being said I enjoyed everything else about this book it was brilliantly written and full of characters that you fall in love with and although the plot was slower than what I was expecting and felt a little bit undeveloped for my tastes especially compared to my favourite of the series Graceling it was an interesting read never the less with ciphers, old journals and family secrets to boot. Although Bitterblue wasn’t quite the amazing book I was expecting it is still a worthy read for fans of the series.

Letterbox Love (3)

Letterbox Love is a new meme hosted by Lynsey @ Narratively Speaking for UK based book bloggers to showcase the book’s that they’ve received each week.

 Proof Copies

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley (Out 2nd August 2012, I don't know much about this one but have heard some great things!)
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (Out 6th September 2012, Yay for the first Strange Chemistry proofs a new YA publisher! 114 people mysteriously disappear on Roanoke Island two teens may be the key to bringing them back )
Shift by Kim Curran (Out 6th September 2012, ditto on the Strange Chemistry! This one's about a boy who can undo any decision he's ever made but there are consequences sounds very The Butterfly Effecty a film that I love so excited to get round to this!)

 Finished Copies

Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton (I read a proof of this last weekend and absolutely loved it, was only talking about the pretty foiled finished copy with Keris and some blogger buddies when one arrived in the mail, so pretty!)
The Selection by Kiera Cass (Two of my favourite colours, a pretty dress, and a dystopian style The Bachelor? This has my name written all over it!)
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (Was SO excited when this dropped through my letterbox I LOVED Amy and Roger and our UK cover is so fun and funky and eye catching! I'm on the blog tour for this which you can find more info on in the sidebar :-) Can't wait to get to this one!)
Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris (I've heard some amazing things for this book from US bloggers so excited that were publishing in the UK! Am excited to get to this one soon y'all know how I love me my dystopians!)

I wasn't planning on doing a Letterbox Love this week as I only do them every other week but I got so many good books that I just couldn't wait till next week to share with you guys! As always HUGE thank you's to the lovely publishing people who have sent me these books this week, once again I got so, so lucky and I'm really grateful. If you’ve read or are looking forward to any of the books I got feel free to let me know what you thought about them or request reviews and such in the comments. And if you decided to do a Letterbox Love, Book Haul, IMM, Mailbox Monday or whatever else featuring the books you got this week leave me a link as I’d love to check out your books too! ^_^

 Happy reading for another week everyone!