Book Review: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Of Beast and Beauty

By Stacey Jay

Release Date: July 23, 2013

Source: Publisher

Summary: In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Review: Oh Stacey Jay, how do you do it? I absolutely adored her Juliet Immortal series, so I couldn't wait to crack into this one. Not to mention I can't resist a retelling of Beauty and the Beast!

Princess Isra has been brought up under the dome knowing her fate as the human sacrifice to ensure her city's protection was close by. Isra was also taught that the Monstrous, those who live outside of the dome, are beasts who only want to destroy them. But when Isra's men capture a monstrous and she spends some time with him, she realizes he's not the beast she was brought up to believe. Then, Isra's sight is returned after living blind for years, and her eyes are open to a whole lot more than she could have ever imagined. Has everything she's been brought up on the whole truth? Or were things let out that could change everything?

Wow, I had no idea a retelling of Beauty and the Beast could be this cool. I loved Isra right from the start. I don't think I've ever read a book from the point of view of someone who is blind, but the way Stacey Jay wrote from Isra's point of view was just so perfect that you didn't miss out on anything. In fact, I feel like I got even more detail of Isra's world because she was seeing with everything but her eyes. And her world is so interesting. Living under a dome that's protected by a rose garden who demands a human sacrifice every 20-30 years? I love how the rose from the fairy tale was used that way. 

Not only was isra's character great, but I loved Gem. Since the chapters switched point of view, we actually got to see Gem change from the monstrous who hates anyone under the dome to someone who could actually start to care about the very being he was brought up to despise. Then, his journey to earning Isra's trust and starting to trust her back was great. Who knew a beast could have feelings for someone?

Not only was there some romance, but the action and suspense in this book was just awesome. At every moment I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next and guessing who to trust and who was actually the enemy. Even though this is a retelling, the story was so original and I completely fell in love. I already gave my sister my copy, insisting she reads it as soon as possible. And I insist all of you to do the same! You'll absolutely love what Stacey Jay has for you in her newest release. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Our Life As Bloggers Easier/Better

This is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where each week bloggers share a list of books for the prompt given. So hopefully I'll have a new list to share with you all each week!

This Week's Topic: Top Ten Things That Make Our Life As Bloggers Easier/Better

1. Goodreads. Pretty sure this one is going to be on EVERYBODY'S list. I found Goodreads about a month before I created my blog and it is absolutely life saving. You can keep track of books you've read, are reading, or want to read, and get any information about a book that you could possibly want. That website is absolute magic. 

2. Rafflecopter. Doing giveaways is so much easier now that I've discovered Rafflecopter. Now, all I have to do is press a button and voila, I have a winner!

3. The Library. I am extremely spoiled by my library at home. They always have the newest releases, so I can keep up with what's coming out in both YA and adult fiction without having to spend all of my money at the bookstore. Not to mention nothing beats spending hours just looking at books in the library :)

4. Netgalley and Edelweiss. My bookshelves are already bursting at the seams with all of the books I've accumulated over the years (especially the past two years since I've started blogging). Being able to request an ebook from these review sites has made life so much easier and I can get my hands on ARCs of books that I'm dying to read a lot faster. The only downside is that it's super easy to go a tad bit overboard and request too many. But then again, is there even such a thing as too many books? 

5. My Nook. This one definitely goes hand in hand with number four on my list. I actually got my Nook about a month after I started blogging because I realized how much easier being able to accept ecopies as a reviewer was. I am still completely in love with my Nook and I would have missed out on so many amazing reads without it. 

6. My mother. While I'm away at school, tons of books are still delivered to me back at home. Seeing as I go to school two hours away, I can't just stop by and pick up those books. So whenever a new package comes, my mom will open it for me, take a picture with her phone, and then send me a message showing me what goodies came that day. This makes keeping up with my requests and review books so much easier. Thanks for all of your help mom :)

7. Bloglovin. I still have no idea what's going on with all of the google ways to follow, but Bloglovin has made that situation so much easier. Now, people can simply follow me through Bloglovin and get an email with my new posts every single day. That takes a lot of stress off when it comes to keeping track of the ways people need to follow my blog!

I know that's only seven, but these seven things make my life incredibly easier when it comes to blogging. I don't know if I could even keep blogging without these. Well, I probably would, but it definitely wouldn't be as easy and fun as it is now! Hope you guys have a good Tuesday :)

Weekly Roundup [8/13-8/19]

I feel like I say this every week, but I can't believe it's Monday already! Today is my last day of work, then I have three days of summer left, and then I move into my apartment at school on Friday. So this is literally my last week of summer! Why does the time have to fly by so fast?

Book Reviews

The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig

How My Summer Went Up In Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Memes

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books With a Foreign Setting

Waiting On Wednesday (104)

Follow My Book Blog Friday (99)

Stacking the Shelves (62)

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl

By Rainbow Rowell

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Source: Edelweiss 

Summary: A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review: After reading Eleanor & Park, I fell in love with Rainbow Rowell's writing. The characters and story she created were so gosh darn amazing. So when I saw that she had a new book coming out, I got way to excited and made sure I could snag a review copy from edelweiss. Thankfully, my request got accepted right away and I was able to dig into Rainbow's newest creation. 

Cath has always gone through life with her twin sister Wren by her side, but when her sister decides that they shouldn't room together in college, Cath is on her own for the first time. And all she has to get her though it is Simon Snow, the biggest character in fiction. As a fan fiction writer, Cath's Carry On Simon has become an internet sensation and all Cath wants to do is write and live in her own little Simon world. But with her dad home alone for the first time and her fiction-writing professor hating on fan fiction, Cath has to get a grasp on college before she goes completely crazy. 

I was so excited that Cath was a twin and was going to college because I'm a twin and I go to a college 5 hours away from my sister. I could totally relate to Cath on that aspect, along with everything she goes through during her first semester in college. Unlike the perfect, glammed up college experience, Cath doesn't know how to fit in since she'd rather write all day than go to keggers and bars every night. I really liked Cath's character and how even though she had a ton of fans of her fan fiction, she still has her insecurities and is just a regular girl trying to make her way through college life. 

I really liked Levi's character too, because he's the adorable, quirky guy that make YA romances that much more fun to read. The only thing I didn't like about him, though, was how his relationship with Cath progressed. He did something stupid, and then it wasn't really addressed exactly why he did it. And it seemed like Cath got over it way too quickly. Then, the way Cath acts when she's finally in a relationship kinda makes her seem naive and a lot younger than she is. I don't know, it just didn't sit well with me how she thought about being in a relationship and her comments/thoughts about it. But that's just me. 

Overall, this story was cute enough but I was waiting for something more to happen the entire time. I really liked Cath, along with all of the other people in her life (her sister, her dad, her roommate), and the story was definitely original, with Cath being this all star fan fiction writer online. If you like Rainbow Rowell and a cute read, I'd say go ahead and check out Fangirl.

Stacking the Shelves (62)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where bloggers share what they got throughout the week!

From Half Price Books

Both of these were only a dollar and, I've got to say, I was really excited when I saw Out of the Easy in the clearance section. I saw this book all over the internet on other blogs when it came out in February and now I have my own copy. Hopefully I enjoy it!

From Library sale

Both of these were only a dollar and I was so happy when I saw Ellen's book on the shelf! I've been wanting to read her book for so long, and now that I have it I have no excuse not to. The second book just looked like a super cute read, so hopefully it turns out as good as it looks. 

From publisher

Some really exciting books came for me in the mail this week and I couldn't be happier. I was only expecting two of these and the other two were a complete surprise, so they definitely made my day when I opened the packages. I am in love with the cover of Gated, and Sharkopedia looks like the coolest book ever. I know it's not what I normally review, but how could I pass up "the complete guide to everything shark"? I can't wait to get into these!

That's it for me! What did you all add to your shelves this week? 

Book Review: How My Summer Went Up In Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

How My Summer Went Up In Flames

By Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Source: Library

Summary: First she lost her heart. Then she lost her mind. And now she’s on a road trip to win back her ex. This debut novel’s packed with drama and romance!

Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

Review: I've seen this one around for a while and it looked like the perfect summer read. So, I decided to pick a copy up when I was at the beach and spend a lazy summer day reading about someone else's summer adventures. 

Rosie's always been the type to act before she thinks, but this time she's gone too far. When she figured out her boyfriend had cheated on her, she set fire to his things in his driveway...only to catch his car on fire. Now, Rosie has one temporary restraining order and two very upset parents. The only way her parents can think to keep Rosie out of troubling is sending her on a cross-country road trip with their family friend Matty and his two friends. Rosie is not happy with how her summer has turned out to be, but things on the road start to heat up and the summer may not be as bad as Rosie first thought...

The premise of this book sounded like something I would love. A romance gone wrong, only to lead a newer, better romance on a road trip? Sounds like a perfect YA summer read. If only Rosie weren't so full of herself, maybe it would have been. For some reason, it was like every single guy in Rosie's life was in love with her, which got annoying after about the third guy. Rosie's personality was entertaining, but sometimes it was just a bit too much and a bit too unrealistic. 

I did, though, enjoy the guys on the road trip. Each one had their own personality and added something fun and quirky to the road trip. And the stops they made along the way to dropping one of Matty's friends at college were definitely unique (they stopped at Dollywood. How awesome is that?) and added a lot of fun to the story. 

While the road trip and characters were enjoyable, there wasn't a whole lot to this one. What you see is what you get, which is a fun summer read. How My Summer Went Up In Flames is also a quick read, so while it may not be amazing, it's still fun to knock out in one day.

Follow My Book Blog Friday (99)

This is a meme hosted every Friday by Parajunkee, where book bloggers answer a question each week and check out how others answered it. It's a cool way for bloggers and viewers to connect and learn more about each other!

Question: Share something you've learned about book blogging or just blogging in general in the last month. 

Answer: Well, I've been blogging for over two years now, so I've learned quite a lot since I started this blog. In the past month, though, the one thing I've learned is that book blogging is SO much more enjoyable in the summer. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love blogging. But when the school year starts up and I have tons of homework and school reading to do, I only get about two books for blogging read a week. And those books are typically ones sent to me to review. During the summer, I have SO much more freedom...I can read ANYTHING I want and then write all about it right here :)

Over vacation, I read a book a day and knocked so many books off of my to-read list that I didn't have to read from publishers or authors. It was absolutely glorious! With school starting in a little over a week, I really hope I can still read books I've been dying to read as well as my review books. Reading books I enjoy is the reason I love blogging so much. Hopefully that lasts forever :)