Review for The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Warning 
This is a review for the third book in the Bloodlines series and so may contain spoilers from the previous books.

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead 
Publisher: Penguin
Release: 12th February 2013
Genre: YA, Vampires, Witchcraft, Paranormal Romance
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review





Goodreads Summary:
"In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next."

Review 
Reading any book set in the Vampire Academy/Bloodlines world is like coming home. After years of reading and loving these books the characters are so familiar to me that it’s like catching up with old friends and so each new novel brings a lot of excitement because I can’t wait to slip back into this story.

Straight off the bat I want to say that The Indigo Spell is my favourite of the Bloodlines series so far, and it had a very different feel to it than the previous books in the series. This book takes a step back from the vampire world and that whole plot line and instead focuses on witchcraft and magic as Sydney caves in to her magical calling and starts practising alongside Ms Terwilliger. Sydney’s power brings unwanted attention from Ms Terwilliger’s magic hungry sister Veronica who sucks the magic and life out of her victims leaving them in an aged comatose state from which they never awaken. This book is all about Sydney’s character growth, her coming into her magical abilities, and finding Veronica before she finds her.

With Sydney breaking so many alchemist rules in this book she’s also looking to find a way to get from under the alchemists grasp and so is hunting down a guy named Marcus Finch an ex-alchemist who can help Sydney break away from them and shed light on some of the secrets they’ve kept hidden from her. When I first heard about Marcus I was really worried that a love triangle would develop in this book so I was happy to find that there wasn’t one because I really don’t like love triangles and also couldn’t stand the thought of Adrian being in another one. I’m glad that Richelle decided to give the poor guy a break and I just hope that one doesn’t develop in future books.

What made The Indigo Spell stand apart from the other books in the series was Sydrian. Adrian and Sydney have grown so much since their Vampire Academy days and both characters are at their best in this book. There are so many magical moments between them which would just make my heart melt. This is by far the most romantic book of the series and Sydrian fans will not be disappointed!

Overall although the plot is still not up to the standard of Vampire Academy’s the romance certainly is and that’s what made this book my favourite in the Bloodlines series yet. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for one of my favourite book couples in the next instalment!

Letterbox Love (21) Book Bloggers Went a Book Buying!

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

So this week I got kidnapped up to Bakewell for bookish shenanigans with Rach and Ellie *waves*, and when book lovers get together we buy books! I had a lovely day visiting Ellie's bookshop, eating some delicious chocolate crackle in the office, talking books and everything else under the sun and painting Bakewell red nerd style! Raiding the charity shops and discount book shops, we know how to roll people! So of course I got a few bookish goodies that I'll share in this post but first let's get on to review books!

 For Review

 
Geek Girl by Holly Smale - This sounds like such a Jess book!
Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake - Excited to read this sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood.
The Hit by Melvin Burgess (Proof Copy)- This has such an incredible premise, sounds a little like the movie Limitless.
Between the Lines by Tammara Webber - Loved Easy so I'm excited to read this one.
Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan - I still need to read the first book but I'm glad to have the sequel on hand!

 Pre-Orders

Pivot Point by Kasie West - This sounds incredible! I wish I could see the outcome of my choices. Plus I've heard amazing things about it. One of my most anticipated books of the year!
Sever by Lauren DeStefano - The last book! *Le sob*

 Bargain Books From Bakewell

Graveminder by Melissa Marr - £2 bargain couldn't resist!
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall - I've wanted to read this one for such a long time so when I saw it in Ellie's shop I snatched this baby right up!
Pear Shaped by Stella Newman - Another £2 clearance bargain, I've heard good things about this and it's a foodie chick-lit - my favourite kind!
I Heart Vegas by Lindsey Kelk - So I haven't actually started this series yet BUT I have the first 3 books so when I noticed this was £2 I figured why not you know? I'll really have to get on to this series soon.

 Bookish Goodies!

Yeah, yeah, I got yet MORE bookmarks, I just can't help myself, I have a problem. I also got this lovely book journal I've had my old one for 5 years now and it's kinda falling apart and I fell in love with this one and it was the last one Ellie had in stock so I bought it with a generous discount from Miss Ellie ;). I also got some Geek Girl swag along with my copy and I've proudly attached the pin to my book bag along with my Nerdfighter pin, Mockingjay pin, and Time Turner Keyring. Coolest. Book Bag. EVER! 

E-Books For Review

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham - Gilmore Girl love! 

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa - EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD! 

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza 

 The Disgrace of Kitty Grey by Mary Hooper 

Towering by Alex Flinn 

Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith - This sounds like another Jess book 

Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider 

 Parallel by Lauren Miller

 That’s it from me for another week! If any of these books have caught your eye and you’d like to find out more about them simply click on the title and the link will take you to Goodreads for a full synopsis, reviews, and to add them to your wishlists. As always thank you to the lovely publishing folk for the review copies. If you’re looking forward to a certain book in particular and want to request a review feel free to in the comments and I’ll do my best to get around to the book sooner rather than later. And if you decided to do a Letterbox Love, Book Haul, IMM, Showcase Sunday, 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 till next time!

Stunning Cover Reveals From Gayle Forman, Lauren Kate, L.A. Weatherly and More!

There has been an abundance of stunning cover reveals lately so I wanted to group together a few of my favourites from authors I love to share with you guys in case you haven't seen them yet so we can fangirl together!

  Just One Year by Gayle Forman

My Thoughts: So at first I was kinda disappointed in this cover. I really wanted a mirror image of the last book with Willem wearing the watch in the cafe and although I still personally think that would make for the BEST cover I'm still a fan of this one. It's beautifully simple and understated like Just One Day and I love the reflections in the window like the last book. Just One Day is my favourite book of 2013 so far so needless to say I can't wait for this one!

  

Teardrop by Lauren Kate 

My Thoughts: Lauren Kate really lucks out in her book covers. Her Fallen series are some of my favourite book covers ever so her new novel Teardrop had a lot to live up to and whilst it's really different to the Fallen series it's just as beautiful and is probably my favourite cover reveal of this bundle. I adore the colours used, and the magical looking city in the background, but most of all the water dress. HER DRESS IS MADE OUT OF WATER! So stunning.

 

Angel Fever by L.A. Weatherly 

My Thoughts: Lee's Angel trilogy is my favourite out of the angel series that are out there and I can't wait for this final instalment! Seb joins Alex and Willow on this final cover and he looks very similar to how I imagine him. Like with Teardrop I love the colours used for the background on this one.

 

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin 

My Thoughts: Another final book to one of my favourite series! I'm a huge fan of the Mara Dyer covers. I still remember when I saw the cover for the first book and I was all of a flail over it. The way Noah is clutching Mara and with them hitting the bottom of the water now just seems so fitting for the final book and I absolutely love it!

 

Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne 

My Thoughts: I loved Tanya Byrne's Heart-Shaped Bruise and have been eagerly anticipating her next release. I think the cover works really well with this title as it looks like we're following the character into this dark forest. I love the colour of the Autumn leaves framing the image and think the bright orange gives a pop of colour to a gloomy cover whilst still keeping the dark and spooky theme.

These are the covers that have really stood out to me lately and they are all books that I'm really looking forward to being released. Are you loving any of these beauties? Which one is your favourite? I can't wait for them all to be released so that they can look gorgeous on our bookshelves!

Review for The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna 
Publisher: Definitions
Release: 3rd January 2013
Genre: Dystopian, Futuristic, Sci-Fi, Young Adult, UKYA
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Goodreads Summary: 

"Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination – an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her ‘other’, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known – the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love – to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive..."

Review 
The Lost Girl is a dystopian with heart and is so emotionally complex and developed. It still has a fascinating futuristic plot, life or death action, and the twists that make dystopian fiction so popular but it’s definitely an emotionally driven read which perhaps will make it appealing to contemporary lovers as well as the dystopian crowd. Being a fan of both genres made this book a winner for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Eva is an Echo. A man made human being who has been made in the image of Amarra a girl she’s never met who lives in India whose parents have had Eva made because they can’t bear the thought of losing their daughter. All her life Eva has been fed information and updates on Amarra so that she can live out her life in a mirror image all in preparation for if Amarra dies an untimely death and she should be called upon to take her place, which is of course what happens in this book.

What makes The Lost Girl such an emotional read is that I felt sorry for every single character in this book. The family that brought Eva up who have to let her go, Amarra’s family for their grief, Amarra for having to share her life and the thought of her being so easily replaced and of course Eva for having to spend her entire life acting like this person when all she wants is to be allowed to be herself. Even though I was always on Eva’s side throughout the book I could understand the other characters actions and felt bad for them too. The laws of the Loom created a lose lose situation for everyone and I loved exploring the issues raised in this book on what makes a person who they are, humanity, the fine line between love death and life, and what remains of a person after they’re gone.

Eva was such a strong heroine who wants so much more from life than living in somebody else’s shadow. The things she had to endure and the way she soldiered on was really admirable making her a fantastic heroine. There are so many characters to love in this book but Lekha, Sean, Nikhil, Mina Ma and of course Eva were my favourites. I especially loved that I loved Matthew - one of the bad guys, I do love a good villain especially one with a soft side!

The Lost Girl is set in both Britain and India. I love reading books based in my own country and Sangu Mandanna’s descriptions of India had me fully imagining the country. The only thing I found a little odd about this book was that England was so advanced as to make actual humans but nothing else about the book was very futuristic at all. It read like a modern day Britain and I found it a little hard to believe that whilst we were reading about a time where man can make people that nothing else seemed to have evolved at all. However I loved everything else about this book so much that this didn’t bother me too much and was more of a niggle than an annoyance.

Overall The Lost Girl was an incredibly moving and thought provoking debut. Although the story wraps up well enough to be a standalone, I loved these characters so much that I would love a sequel if Sangu Mandanna ever wanted to revisit this world.

The Fault in Our Stars Tour Live: Meeting John and Hank Green

Despite being a book blogger and getting invited to a lot of cool events I’ve never been able to actually attend one with them all being based in London and more importantly me having anxiety and panic attacks over traveling alone. I’ve always said that if I could meet any three authors they would be J.K Rowling, John Green or Richelle Mead, heck meeting any admired author would be fantastic, but these guys would be a dream come true. So when my best friend and fellow Nerdfighter Rachel text me all of a quiver because John Green and his brother Hank were touring the UK and did I want to go? My excitement and the prospect of traveling with a trusted friend far outweighed the anxiety and so we got straight onto booking tickets praying we’d get through to a busy box office and we did! The tickets were booked, the time and place Cadogan Hall, London, February 3rd 2013, 12pm.

The day came around and on the train to London Rach gave me some amazing Nerdfighter birthday presents (it was my birthday the week before) a ‘This Star Won’t Go Out’ bracelet, Nerdfighter Pin and Let it Snow the only John Green book I didn’t own as well as paying for my ticket to the event, needless to say I was spoiled! As our luck would have it our train was delayed by 1 hour so we we’re really worried we’d arrive late and wouldn’t be allowed in. It was a proper Cinderella moment as we flanked a cab and rushed to the other side of London before the clock literally hit 12 o’clock we got there just in time and sat down with moments to spare before John came on stage.

Maureen, Hank and John on Stage

The event itself lasted about an hour or so and was a mixture of John talking about The Fault in Our Stars, Hank singing his wonderfully dorky songs, the brothers teasing each other, answering questions and goofing around like in their Youtube videos. There was also a guest appearance from the wonderful Maureen Johnson who happened to be in London and is an author friend of John’s – as if this day wasn’t perfect enough already! I pretty much stalk John so knew a lot of the answers to the questions he was asked and I found myself mouthing the answers along with him but it was so brilliant to see him talking in the flesh about his incredible book which I already read when it was released in the US last year and loved. Hank sounded amazing live and I had his songs in my head for days after particularly “Accio Deathly Hallows” which is one of my favourites. It was so funny to see John mouthing along to “The Anglerfish Song” in the background; he knew all of the words! Maureen was so much fun and I loved how all of them were just as quick, intelligent, brilliant and funny in real life as how they appear online.    

Meeting John Green

The show ended with us all singing “The Proclaimers- 500 miles” which was an amazing experience. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to that song again without being reminded of that day. I knew from following the Twitter feed from the Swindon event that waiting to meet them could take hours but Rachel and I were determined not to leave the building without meeting our heroes and I think we waited for about an hour and a half which wasn’t all that bad. We passed the time talking with nerdfighters in the toilets and squeeing over what we’d just seen. Up until that point I was feeling pretty calm, I think because it felt familiar to me, it was kind of like watching another one of their vlogs but without the screen between us. When our row got called up and I edged closer to John and Hank and could hear them talking that’s when it really hit me that they were there right in front of me and I was about to meet two people I greatly admire and that’s when I started to get the sweaty palms, can’t stop shaking, is this actually real life? Feelings of nervousness and anticipation.

Meeting John Green went as follows…

Me: It’s nice to meet you Sir (why did I call him Sir!? *headdesk*)
Him: *Shakes hand* Hey thanks for coming along and waiting *noticing me wearing Esther bracelet* I like your Esther bracelet.
Me: Thanks *nods at Rach* my friend got it me for my birthday.
Him: Pretty awesome birthday present right?
Me: Yeah.
Him: *Hands books back signed* thank you.
Me: Thanks it was nice to meet you. *Shuffles off*

I then went on to meet Hank who I didn’t end up saying that much to which I regret because all that was buzzing through my head was I JUST MEET JOHN GREEN AND HE SHOOK MY HAND!!! I was also watching Rachel’s reaction to meeting him. With Hank it went a little like this…

Waiting to Meet Hank

Me: Can I get these Hanklerfished please?
Him: Of course! *takes books*
Me: Thank you it was great meeting you.
Him: You too sweetheart, thanks for coming.

After that me and Rach moved off to the side and fawned over our books and compared our signatures and what our hanklerfishes looked like. Then on the way out I bought one of the tour t-shirts which I wanted to get before but the line was MAHOOSIVE there wasn’t anybody there by the time we came out so I decided to snatch one up and also found some tattoos of Maureen Johnson which she randomly dispersed around the venue because she is awesome.

J-Scribble and Hanklerfish

We came out at half three and had enough time before our train to get some dinner in London and go to Foyles - a bookshop I’ve always wanted to visit. I was pretty sad that Maureen wasn’t available to sign books so you can imagine my glee when I found a signed copy of The Name of the Star in Foyles which I happily purchased along with some other bookish goodies.

Maureen Tattoo and Signature 

With achy feet, full tums, and happy hearts we caught our train home and the next day I woke up sad that today was just a normal day and every day couldn’t be like yesterday, I couldn’t hang out in one of my favourite cities with my best friend, oodles of Nerdfighters and our nerdy rockstars every day. Then later on I signed into Youtube and found videos of the day and new vlogs from John and Hank, and then I realised that the beauty of what John and Hank have created is that I *can* hang out with these awesome people who share the same interests as me and the same morals. Even with time and space between us the Vlogbrothers have created a safe and happy place for us nerds to talk and create and inspire one another to do awesome things and be true to ourselves and that was the beauty of it, of us, of them. I clicked on a video, and re-lived one of the best days of my life all over again.

Goodies from the Day!