December 31, 2013

Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner


Title: These Broken Stars (Starbound #1)
Author: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release date: December 10th 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 4.5/5

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It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

This is one of those books that I was draw in because the cover is really beautiful. And when I started reading it, I just knew that  it was a science fiction story set in space, so I had a nice surprise when I start reading it and realize that it was a romance about two young people  which due to the spacecraft they were traveling crashed on an unknown planet, they must join forces to survive in an unknown habitat, but not only that because one of them begins to hear whispers which are incomprehensible, so both begin to doubt her sanity, if is cause due stress or if she´s really losing her mind.

I must comment that the time they spent in space is very little and most of the story takes place on a planet where the escape pod crashed, there they must search a way to send a distress signal and hope to for their rescue because the planet they crashed is different from the other terraformed planets by the company LaRoux .

In regard to romance, it´s sort of love at first sight at first, but after their second encounter they simply end up enduring the presence of each other and the truth is that at first Lilac is quite difficult and I didn´t like her much, since she behaves a little haughty and looking askance at poor Tarver, since he is not from a wealthy family, but gradually she stated winning me over and I ended up liking her character.

The book is told from the point of view of Lilac and Tarver, alternating between one and the other, which I liked a lot in various books because I can see what they´re thinking about each other. Tarver is major Tarver Merendsen, a war hero, trained to survive in harsh environment, he´s strong, intelligent and good-hearted and likes to antagonize with Lilac environments during the first part of the book, but all that gradually turns into romance. Meanwhile Lilac is a rich girl, the only daughter of the richest and most powerful man in the universe, at the beginning she´s arrogant and above all and always remembering that she´s a LaRoux, so she can´t give up, but she's not just a pretty face because she knows a lot about electronics and that knowledge allow her more than once save their lives.

Overall, this book is a story of romance with a bit of science fiction and survival, with some interesting and  unexpected twists and turns to the third part of the book and in this part my emotions were on a roller coaster. I loved These Broken Stars, I really enjoyed it because I love this kind of romance that´s not instant love. And I can´t to read the next book This Shattered World in the Starbound trilogy, which have different characters, but will be in the same galaxy. And I hope to learn more about the world where this story takes place. I highly recommended for those who like a good romance book.

Top Ten Tuesday (28): Books I Read In 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books I Read In 2013
(This list is from books released in 2013)
(in no particular order)
1. Golden by Jessi Kirby (My Review)


9. These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner (My Review)

10. Spirit (Elemental #3) by Brigid Kemmerer (My Review)


What are your favorite books of 2013?
Leave me your link in the comments.


Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:
2nd Year Blogoversary Giveaway (INTL) - HERE.

December New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

December 30, 2013

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Click on the image to look description in Goodreads.

Finished reading


What I´m going to read next?


What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!

Have a great week!


Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:
2nd Year Blogoversary Giveaway (INTL) - HERE.

December New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

December 27, 2013

Review: Pawn by Aimee Carter


Title: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)
Author: Aimee Carter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: November 26th 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed, and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

I have read several dystopian books and I ´m still one of those that see a dystopian novel without even reading the synopsis and immediately add it to my wishlist and that was the case with Pawn, and in the truth I did not have any preconceived ideas about the book or had great expectations about it, I just knew that it was a dystopian novel and I had to read it.

The idea of Pawn is really interesting, is about a world where society is divided in ranges from I to VI, I being the lowest and VI the most you can hope for and your job is assigned according to your range and that´s the job that you will do for the rest of your life. And all citizens have a clean slate until their seventeen birthday when all citizens must take a test that will decided their rank.

So the story begins on Kitty´s seventeen birthday, she receives a III as a result of her test, and she´s assigned to do a job in another city but because of her boyfriend Benjy she doesn´t want to leave, so she is willing to do anything to stay and wait for Benjy´s seventeen birthday and to be together. So when someone offers her the option to stay in town and change her III to a VII, she immediately accept it., because only a Hart can have a VII and the Harts rule the country.

What I liked about the story is that is entertaining and immediately begins with the action, I didn´t feel it slow-pacing and has several situations that had me wanting to know what would happen next. What I didn´t liked was that Kitty is too naive or she´s just happier without knowing what really happens in her world, since she lives in a very strict government where stealing an orange can earn you a bullet in the head, where the Is are sent "elsewhere ", the citizens can only have a child and if they have an "extra " he/she is sent to a group home or "elsewhere ", etc.; plus many of Kitty´s actions I saw them a little illogical or contradictory, since her priority is to keep her boyfriend Benjy safe, but more than once she does things that put him in danger.

Overall, it is a okay dystopian novel with a lot of potential, as the idea is interesting but reminds me of other novels of the same genre. Pawn has a bit of suspense, a light romance mainly because Benjy and Kitty had been dating since before the story begins, but the book is entertaining and at least kept me interested until the end because I wanted to know what would happen with Kitty.

Book trailer

Top Ten Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2014


Top Ten  Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2014
This list should be comprised ONLY of books released in 2014
(in no particular order)

SEQUELS OR FINALES
2. Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) by Richelle Mead
4. Split Second (Pivot Point #2) by Kasie West

7. Burn (Pure #3) by Julianna Baggott
8. Sunrise (Ashfall #3) by Mike Mullin
9. Opposition (Lux #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
10. The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa

STANDALONE OR FIRST BOOK FROM A SERIES/TRILOGY
1. Alienated (Alienated #1) by Melissa Landers
2. Uninvited (Uninvited #1) by Sophie Jordan
3. Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige
4. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 
5. The Taking (The Taking #1) by Kimberly Derting 



6 Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover 
7. Breakable by Tammara Webber
8. On the Fence by Kasie West
9. After the End (After the End #1) by Amy Plum
10. Talon (Talon #1) by Julie Kagawa


Honorable mentions: 

Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer 
Ashes to Ashes (Burn for Burn #3) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Secret (Elemental #4) by Brigid Kemmerer

¿What books are you looking forward to in 2014?
Leave me your link in the comments.


Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:
2nd Year Blogoversary Giveaway (INTL) - HERE.

December New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

December 26, 2013

Top Ten Best Book Boyfriends of 2013


Top Ten Best Book Boyfriends of 2013
MUST be a book released in 2013. 

1. Adrian from The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead
Adrian is MY No.1 book boyfriend from YA books, I love him since Frosbite, and I´m really happy for him that he finally is getting his HEA.

2. Zeke from The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa
I´m melting!! Zeke is one of my many book boyfriends but I think that he´s on my top 10 of all time from YA.

3. Ryan from Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry
I love good guys and Ryan is swoon worthy.

4. Josh from The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
I love all about Josh Bennett, he´s a great guy.

5. Will from This Girl (Slammed #3) by Colleen Hoover
Will Cooper is one of my favorites book boyfriends from NA novels.

6. Trevor from Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1) by Kasie West
I´m Team Trevor! and I love this book but it didn´t make my other top 10s because I read this book in 2012.

7. Bennett from Time After Time (Time Between Us #2) by Tamara Ireland Stone 

8. The Merrick Brothers from Spirit (Elemental #3) by Brigid Kemmerer
I´m sort of cheating with this one because this is Hunter book but my favorites are the Merrick brothers (Nick, Gabriel, Chris and Michael).

9. Jem from Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare
I´m Team Jem! He´s so sweet, cute and a great guy.

10. Holder from Losing Hope (Hopeless #2) by Colleen Hoover
After reading Losing Hope that told from Holder´s POV, I just love him!!


Honorable mentions: 
Tarver from These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Hector from The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns #3) by Rae Carson



Leave me your link in the comments.


Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:
2nd Year Blogoversary Giveaway (INTL) - HERE.

December New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.