Feature and Follow Friday #3

This is a weekly blog hop hosted by the wonderful Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Today's question is:

Q: Is there a song that reminds you of a book? Or vice versa? What is the song & the book?

I'm not really sure why, but Ben Howard Follaton Wood always Reminds me of The Hunger Games.

WWW #3

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

 You just answer these three questions:

What did you recently finish reading?

What are you currently reading?

What are you planning to read next?

What did I recently finish reading?

The Accident by Linwood Barclay 4/5 stars
This was the third book by Linwood Barclay that I've read. I loved them all and the endings are always a surprise, he's a great suspense writer and I cant wait to read another of his novels. I already have another two Linwood Barclay's on my bookcase but i'm going to space them out. I should be posting a review soon.

What am I currently reading?

 Desperation by Stephen King
I'm only 180 pages in but this book is very intriguing, it's seems a little bit religious but I can get past that when a books this good. I just hope it stays this scary, I wont be taking any road trips, ever, after reading this but I loved to be a little scared every now and then and Stephen King is the perfect author for that job.




What am I planning to read next?

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I want to read this book next because I want to read it before I see the film, but when the time for picking up the next book comes around I might feel like reading something else. I do really want to read this though.

Teaser Tuesday #5

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along. Just do the following:

Grab your current read.
Open to a random page.
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"Mary screamed again. Her fingers folded down against her palms and her hands against her mouth, and tried to bolt back down the steps."

Pg. 31 "Desperation" by Stephen King

Review: Kill Order by James Dashner

Kill Order by James Dashner  3.5/5

I was so excited to read the prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy, as it's one of my favorite series. This book was not any where near as great as the others. I was quite disappointed, don't get me wrong It was great to see where it all began but in my opinion this book was lacking. I know there fate was already sealed so I wasn't expecting big twists and turns from this book, but it was just a little blah. The books main purpose was to show how the virus was released after the sun flare destroyed most of the earth, but damn the plot that was structured around that was bad. It was very frustrating, the book started well but then it just got so ridiculous I felt like a child had decide what was going to happen and Dashner was just putting words to it. And how did the women who had survived for a year in a post-apocalyptic world suddenly become the weak heroines. Lana was supposed to be strong and trained but they couldn't last ten minutes without the men, really? it was very sexist in my opinion.

When I read the Maze runner trilogy I found that Newt and Minho were great characters but I had no attachment to the main characters Thomas and Teresa, In The Kill Order I didn't connect with any of the characters they were all way to cliche. Dashner has also put a lot of fighting in the book, understandable in a world of crazy people but it seem like Mark had the wind knocked out of him on every page and the fighting was described in great detail, which became rather boring and also I found the dialogue to be quite lacking. I felt this book really lacked the suspense and mystery of the Maze Runner series, just because the story had to lead to a certain place doesn't mean you cant mix it up a little. If like me you loved the Maze Runner then defiantly read it, despite it flaws it was great to see how it all began with the sun flare and the virus, but if you weren't a big fan then leave it.

Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the spine that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting for:

Below by Meg McKinlay

Secrets have a way of floating to the surface. . . . Mystery, compelling characters, and an abandoned town beneath a lake make for a must-read adventure.

On the day Cassie was born, they drowned her town. The mayor flipped a lever and everyone cheered as Old Lower Grange was submerged beneath five thousand swimming pools’ worth of water. Now, twelve years later, Cassie feels drawn to the man-made lake and the mysteries it hides — and she’s not the only one. Her classmate Liam, who wears over-sized swim trunks to cover the scars on his legs, joins Cassie in her daily swims across the off-limits side of the lake. As the summer heats up, the water drops lower and lower, offering them glimpses of the ghostly town and uncovering secrets one prominent town figure seems anxious to keep submerged. But like a swimmer who ventures too far from shore, Cassie realizes she can’t turn back. Can she bring their suspicions to light before it’s too late — and does she dare?

Expected publication date: May 14th 2013

Amazon

Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host by Stephenie Meyer 5/5

Okay, so it turns out Stephenie Meyer is a great writer, I would never of guessed that from the twilight films and now I'm actually considering reading the twilight books despite vowing never too. I loved The Host, it had me up till dawn reading. Its a pretty long book, the beginnings pretty slow but after about a hundred pages it gets really interesting and original, I couldn't put it down.I like how different the alien invasion was in this book, I loved the fact the souls didn't arrive with a huge space ship and a huge battle ensued, they slipped in and took control quietly without drawing any attention.  A little creepy when you think you wouldn't even see it coming, it seemed more realistic that way.

I teared-up a few times reading this I'm not going to lie, I loved way it made you think about what it means to be human. I was so surprised at how good the writing was and how much I liked the characters. My only problem with the characters was that Jamie was very immature, in my opinion he seemed more like a ten year old than a fourteen year old, and wouldn't a kid that's grown up the world he's supposed to have be a little more mature anyway. As much as I loved wanderers character I couldn't help thinking that if all souls are so loving and self-sacrificing as she say how did they invade so many planets - a pretty heartless thing to do. The souls were defiantly more selfish than she made out but I suppose she would see them as perfect. The way Wanda was torn between her kind and the human was very interesting and I also loved the way she changed the humans view of the souls and found Wanda and Melanie's relationship and their conversations a really intriguing story line. I'm very interested to see what would happen in a sequel and where Stephenie Meyer will take the story, if she ever gets around to writing it.

                                                                       Goodreads ~ Amazon


Dystopia challenge read count: 5 <3

Top Ten Tuesday #4

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

This weeks topic is Top Ten books you read before you were a blogger. I read a few of my favorite books before I was a blogger, but these are the ones that come to mind.

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin

This is still my favorite book, it showed me a whole other side of reading I didn't know existed and made me an avid reader. Before i'd read this I had only ever read true story books from my mums bookcase, it made me realize there were books I could really enjoy reading.     Amazon

2. The Hunger games by Suzanne Collins 

I knew I would love this series, as soon as I heard about it I went out and bought the series. It made me realize there what my favorite genre was and that there was a section in the book shop dedicated to YA books, which is pretty much where I get every book I read now.  Amazon

3. The Forrest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

This series was recommended to me because I love zombies, but the name put me off at first. But eventually I read it and absolutely loved it, I couldn't put it down. It only took me a couple of weeks to read the whole series.    Amazon

4. Ashes by Isla J. Bick

This book was an impulse buy, I picked this book up because of the cover and It was amazing. I loved it and I'm really looking forward reading the sequel.

Amazon

 5. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This was a series that took me by surprise the premise was so intriguing I had to buy it but I didn't expect to love the series as much as I did. I'm reading the prequel right now and its making me want to reread them all.

Amazon

6. Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Dystopia is my absolute favorite genre and this book is a great example of why. its so imaginative and capturing.

Amazon

7. Divergent by Veronica Roth

This was another impulse buy, it was marked in the shop as "For Fans of the Hunger Games." so obviously I bought a copy and loved it.

Amazon

8. Last Light by Alex Scarrow

I love apocalypse premise and this one was so scarily plausible I just couldn't put it down. I've finally ordered the sequel and I can't wait for it to arrive.

Amazon

9. Switched by Amanda Hocking

This book surprised me, i'd heard of it but I didn't think i would enjoy a book about trolls at all, it sounded a bit to fantasy for me but I got the whole series cheap secondhand and I love them. I'm saving the last one until my TBR pile is smaller.

Amazon

10. Autumn by David Moody

As a massive zombie fan I couldn't resist buying this book written by an English author. Its was so original it became a favorite right away.

Amazon

Cover Love: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

I saw a post called Cover love on another blog and I thought it was a great idea.  The post is dedicated to comparing UK and US covers.

For this post I want to compare the covers of Ashes. I loved the book and despite the fact I don't like having a characters looks in my mind before I read the book, I love the UK cover. Its the reason I picked the book up at a the shop even though I hadn't heard of it before. It really draws the eye and has a beautiful effect with the gold and black mixture.

UK Cover

Then there's the US cover which I wouldn't of picked up in the book shop, to be honest. Its not Exactly a bad cover I just don't think it catches the eye like the UK cover. If I'd of seen it I wouldn't of been inspired to read the blurb. What do you think?

US Cover

 Amazon ~ Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday #3

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

This weeks topic is Fictional character you’d crush on if you were also a  fictional character.

1. Elias The Dead Tossed Waves. He's strong, brave and kind, you can't help but love him.
2. Ky Markham Matched. Mysterious, selfless, brave and sweet.
3. Newt and Minho Maze Runner trilogy. I loved these two, they were both brave, selfless and funny.
4. Peeta Mellark Hunger Games series. He's loyal, strong, cute and loving.
5. Tom Ashes. He's brave, kind and protective.
6. Four Divergent. He's Strong and sweet.
7. Jack Blood Red Road. He's a survivor, mysterious and strong. A bad boy if I remember correctly.
8. Tal Whitman Phantoms. Tal was my favourite character he's was quiet, strong, modest, funny and loyal. Unfortunately he isn't in the movie though.
9. Ian and Jarred The Host. I'm only about 300 pages in but I love Ian, he's so cute and protective. Hopefully he doesn't change. I also love Jared but the way Melanie remembers him.
10. Peter The Passage Series. He's strong, determined, protective and kind. I love the way he looks after his loved ones and never gives up.