My Spin On Books: May 2014

Thursday, May 29, 2014

May Wrap Up

Hey everyone! I really shouldn't be doing my wrap up right now since I am supposed to be writing a 3000 word essay due tomorrow, but I can't find the sources I want so I am taking a break! This month I didn't get too many books, I've borrowed a lot which won't be below but some new review copies are! Next month's wrap up will be exciting with PTA Live Sydney in the middle of the month which I will be attending again!

Review Copies (ARC & E-ARC)

Flirty Dancing by Jenny McLachlan
Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (OMFG THIS BOOK KILLED ME)

Thanks 100x Bloomsbury Australia for all three of these books!

Bought- Physical:

The Selection Stories by Kiera Cass
The One by Kiera Cass (which has only just been sent -.-)
Breakable by Tammara Webber

Bought- E-books:

All Lined Up by Cora Cormack
Read, Write, Love by Melissa Foster
Slope of Love by Melissa Foster
Crazy Love by Melanie Shawn
It Happened One Wedding by Julie James
Chasing Olivia & Tempting Rowan by Micalea Smeltzer
Camp Payback by J.K Rock

So that is pretty much it for the books that I have bought, I have read more but I borrowed them & you can see those books in my Goodreads challenge which I have had to change to 300 because I am sitting of 250 books already this year! So soon it will be up to 350 books... I don't know how this has happened.

Keely xx

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Review Time #59

The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Firstly before I get into this review I have some news! At the start of The Immortal Crown a bit of my review of Gameboard of the Gods appears at the start! Now I don't know how this happened but I can't believe it and I never thought something I wrote would ever end up in a book, especially a Richelle Mead book!

Now the review! What a fantastic squeal to Gameboard of the Gods! As soon as I was approved for this book I was reading it and being amazed, shocked and jumping up and down all in one from Mead's writing. The Immortal Crown just added to everything that we have already learnt from Gameboard of the Gods and just turned everything upside down and inside out.

Last book we were taken into the provinces of RUNA, this time around we get the world building of Arcadia, a place where women are treated horribly and pretty much only used for cleaning, cooking, sex and providing children. Just to even get Mae into this country she has to pretend that she is Justin's "concubine" which is what they call these women. I just loved how much their relationship has changed since the start of the first book to now the end of the second book.

Mae: Mae's mission in Arcadia has a dual purpose since she found out that her niece is more than likely where she is going and Mae being Mae wants her back. You get to see a lot of Mae's interaction with her new god as she tries to find out where her niece is. The interactions between them is showing us that Mae is now slightly accepting that her god can help her in ways that she needs the god to do.

Justin: We learnt of his predicament in Gameboard of the Gods and now it is even more than before because it's Mae. His god is on his back to finally accept him & for him to give in to the agreement that they have for him to be bonded. Justin's powers develop a lot which is great because he is slowly accepting his fate & the fact that also like Mae he can help others with these powers.

Tessa: After changing into a new school Tessa is trying to find her calling, and she thinks that it could be journalism. The journalist that Tessa is with will do anything for a story and I am not a fan of her. After recent events Tessa has a bodyguard whilst Mae and Justin are out of town and I really liked him because he was helping Tessa understand not everyone has good intentions like she believes them to have.

Overall The Immortal Crown is just the beginning of what is to come in this world of Gods & Goddess playing chess with the Elect with Mead's writing anything can happen between the characters and the world that they are apart of. The cliffhanging ending is a sure way to be desperate for the next instalment of the Age of X series because what happens will make your head spin.

Thanks Penguin Australia for the E-ARC on Netgalley!

Rating: 4.5/5

Keely xxx

Monday, May 5, 2014

Review Time #58

Covert Cover Cracked by Missy Marciassa

When 23-year-old Elle can’t explain why her job as an Information Scientist at the Library of Congress keeps her so busy (because she’s actually a CIA operative who just became field rated), her boyfriend dumps her, so she decides to focus on her career and enjoy a fling.

Navy SEAL Reese Beckwith seems like the perfect fling material except the more he sees Elle, the more he wants to know about her, and she can’t resist him. Things get complicated when Reese spots her with her CIA partner, a known womanizer. His questions for Elle get more pointed: he sees the potential for more than a fling, and once he sets an objective, failure is not an option.

Yet Elle tries to keep Reese in the “fling” category as her first major assignment heats up, becoming more personal with each development. When her personal and professional lives collide, Elle is put to the test. Does she have what it takes to be a covert operative? Will she have to choose between love and her career?

This is the third book in the Covert series and it would have to be my favourite beating the first one. It has been a year since Elle went into basic training to become field rated and her first assignment after being field rated has put her in dangerous situations again.

Preston is back and he is partners with Elle on this mission and well as to be expected Elle isn't too happy to partnered up with him. Lyle well I was never a fan of him and well I'm glad he was out of the picture after chapter 2. Elle decided that she needed a fling to get over Lyle and put what Preston told her about a fling to use. After what should have been a one night stand with Reese, a Navy SEAL who is set to be deployed in a weeks on a 6 month assignment, she never expected to run into him again.

I really liked how her relationship with Reese progressed during the book, while she was lying a lot about what she does and how she knows what she does they still managed to get along. However, Preston making appearances when she is at "work" didn't help her case that they weren't sleeping together. The mission once again hits home with Elle with someone she knows being taken hostage to keep hacking into the NSA, CIA, FBI etc. for these terrorists.

The fast past action really showed you how much Elle has changed from the first book when she didn't even know she was working for the CIA. The final few chapters when the rescue mission took place showed us that they she can do anything and that she is no longer just an analyst for the CIA but an agent. The epilogue really set it up for the next two books and the danger that Elle is going to be facing from now on and I'm excited to read more!

Rating: 5/5

Keely xx

Friday, May 2, 2014

April Wrap Up

Hey everyone! I know that I have been very MIA this month but uni has decided to drown me in assignments & I have exams to prepare for so I haven't been writing many reviews. Hopefully that is about to change but sport has also kicked up with Hockey starting and Waterpolo getting ready for the finals coming up (fairly sure my team is 1st because we have won every game by a good 10 goals). Plus with my college sport duties taking up a lot of my spare time as well, but it won't be as bad this term.

Review Books (E-ARC & ARC):

Getting By by Claudia Y. Burgoa

Thanks to the publisher for this copy!