Destiny's Fire Review

TITLE: Destiny's Fire
AUTHOR: Trisha Wolfe
PAGES: 219 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: January 10,2012 by Omnific Publishing
READ: March 3-6, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS: It’s the year 2040, and sixteen-year-old Dez Harkly is one of the last of her kind—part of a nearly extinct race of shape-shifters descended from guardians to the Egyptian pharaohs. Her home and her secret are threatened when the Council lowers the barrier, allowing the enemy race to enter the Shythe haven.

As the Narcolym airships approach, Dez and her friends rebel against their Council and secretly train for battle. Not only is Dez wary of war and her growing affection for her best friend Jace, but she fears the change her birthday will bring. When Dez’s newfound power rockets out of control, it’s a Narcolym who could change her fate… if she can trust him.

Dez’s guarded world crumbles when she discovers why the Narcos have really come to Haven Falls, and she's forced to choose between the race who raised her and the enemy she's feared her whole life. 

That was painful.  There wasn't much I liked about this book.  Yes, the premise was intriguing and the futuristic world that was created had promise and was interesting enough.  But the sterotypical YA aspects of this story just turned me off.  The love triangle was utterly annoying, Dez's blatant flip flopping was such a turn off for me.  I can appreciate a love triangle if I can respect the girl, but I just felt like Dez didn't have a mind of her own and that was irritating.  For instance when they were at the club their first night at the academy and she had a run in that made her angry, she wanted to go home to the academy and not be at the club anymore but felt she couldn't because Jace would get mad.  She thought "God, I hated that I could never do what I wanted, when I wanted." Newflash hunny, YOU CAN you are your own person! For me, my strong dislike for the MC made this book really hard to appreciate, one of the most important aspects of a good book for me is that you connect with the MC.   

This one didn't do it for me at all and I won't be recommending it to anyone looking for an Alluring Read. 

Before I Fall Review

TITLE: Before I Fall
AUTHOR: Lauren Oliver
PAGES: 282 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: March 2, 2010 by HarperCollins
READ: February 28 - March 3, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

"You know how rumours start? Because someone feels like it."

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is officially #1 on my favourite book list (ya I said it).  It is the most relevant book I have ever read. Reading it brought me back to the time in my life that I hated the most, high school.  That little blip in your life that, at the time, feels like the final stage of your life.  That's it, your an adult, who you are is who you are going to be for the rest of your life, who your with is who you will marry and who your friends are will be your friends till the end. But in the end, that's all it is, a little blip in your life that in the expanse of things doesn't mean much.  I hated high school with a passion, and it was all because of girls like Samantha Kingston and Lindsay Edgecomb.

The characters in this book are masterfully crafted.  I absolutely loathed the girls in the beginning of the book, they made me so mad that I actually felt angry.  But as Before I Fall goes on, the layers of them become exposed through memories Sam has of the past.  The transformation our MC goes through is beautiful.  We watch her come out of her little bubble and have some shocking realisations about her life and how her actions affect the people around her.  My feelings for Lindsay also changed throughout the book, at first I hated her guts, but by the end I just felt bad for her.

The issues presented are faced with an unflinching realism that brings you back to that place and makes you feel exactly how you did at that time in your life.  Everything from body image, to bullying and teen suicide is handled so well that I am in awe of Lauren Oliver.  This is a beautifully written book that every high school girl should be required to read just for the faint hope that something sticks.  I highly recommend Before I Fall to anyone looking for an Alluring Read.

Bookish Gifts For A Cause

Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a second to share with all of you a great cause I have found here in the blog world.  The name is Gone Reading and they sell some super cute products that fit all of us readers so well! The best thing about them, is Gone Reading International donates 100% of after-tax profits to provide new funding for libraries around the world. They offer book lights, t-shirts, book ends (which are adorable! I'm going to get some for my kids rooms), bookmarks and book journals.  If you want to learn more about their philanthropic mission check out their website.

Gone Reading helps to fund these incredible non-profit organizations:

Visit ethiopia READS

Visit READ Global

This is a really great cause, I couldn't imagine living in a place where opportunities to read weren't readily available.  These are products that we all buy anyway, so why not help out in the process! Anywho, thanks for taking the time to stop by!

The Hunger Games CapitolTV Exclusive Clip

It's almost upon us folks so there should be lots of little goodies like this coming our way in the next little while.  Here is the first official exclusive clip from The Hunger Games from CapitolTV.  Let the games begin!

Eeeeek! This is going to be AMAZING!  Such tension, I love every second of it! What do you think of the clip? Do you think Hollywood will get it right with this one??

Follow Friday (2)

 

It's that time of the week again! Blog Hop day! This weeks Feature & Follow question...

Q: What book would you love to see made into a movie or television show and do you have actors/actresses in mind to play the main characters?

  This is hard because generally Hollywood just ruins what I love so much about books.  IF PULLED OFF RIGHT...I would like to see Obsidian made into a movie because I think it would be really hot! I would love to see how they would pull of showing the Luxen in their true form, I think it would be gorgeous.  As for actors, I'm not too sure, I think a good Katie could be pulled off by Mila Kunis.  Daemon would be a tough one, because come on, who is that gorgeous!