Saturday, January 30, 2016

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {154}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)


Things of beauty:

From Trades:
This looks super cute and quirky. :)
A Salem Witch related story- told by a descendant of Cotton Mather? :D  I can't wait to read this. 

For review:
Eeee! I  adore this series, but I'll be sad to see it end.
Fairy story by one of my fave authors! This is a duplicate for me, though. 
Aaah, seriously one of my most anticipated books of this year! Also a duplicate. 
Looks creepy!
This looks fun, but eeek, tsunamis. If there's one thing I'm irrationally terrified of...
I've heard good things about this writer, but not sure this will be for me. 
This looks interesting! Sometimes I like alien stories, sometimes not, so I'm eager to try this one!
Again, not sure this will be my thing, but it looks like a heartfelt story.

Huge thanks to Harper Collins, Mary Weber, and my lovely trading partners! :D


The Weekly Nutshell:
{Wednesday} Waiting on Wednesday: Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter
{Thursday} Blog Tour Review: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

So has anyone else been wigged out by a sudden loss of blog followers? When I first saw that I'd lost nearly 40 in one night, I thought--Oh crap, who did I piss off? LOL  Then I did some digging and found that Google is behind it. I've lost nearly 300 at this point, and while I know followers are not something to obsess over, it was disheartening none the less.  Good ol' Google decided that they were going to delete anyone who used an alternate sign in to follow through GFC--whether by Twitter or Facebook or however---if it wasn't done with a google account, it was outta there.  In their statement, they say this will benefit everyone in the end, but honestly I don't see how that benefits anyone, not even them. This is not going to gain them more members--everyone who was kicked off my GFC is not going to run over and get themselves a google account just so they can follow a few blogs. So I'm not sure where the benefit of this action lies for anyone. :(   Anyhow, the point of my rant: if you happened to follow GFC with an account other than a google account in the past, I would love it if you'd like to keep following, but you'll have to follow me on Bloglovin or Twitter or some other way. I do so appreciate everyone who stops by my little corner of the internet! 

On the reading front, I'm reading an Egyptian mythology story right now called Annabeth Neverending.  It's pretty good, and I'm enjoying the Egyptian lore. I'll also be having the author on this week to share a cupcake recipe, so keep an eye out for that! I also started Heir and the Spare, which is just adorable and I'm enjoying so much! :) On the horizon is Passenger and I am, of course, excited to jump into that one. 

Happy reading, everyone! :D

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell {blog tour review & giveaway}


I'm super excited to be today's stop in the Rockstar Blog Tour for
Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell!

You can check out my review below and then don't forget to enter the incredible giveaway that Lisa has set up for you guys! So without further ado---

Off we go!! To Neverland!


by Lisa Maxwell
♦publisher: Simon Pulse
♦release date: February 2nd, 2016
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review/blog tour

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.

But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.

The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.

With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?
 


My review:
This is NOT a retelling of Peter Pan. :) It's dark, more sinister, completely twisted and creepy,..and so, so good. It's a whole new Neverland tale, more nightmare than adventure, where the inhabitants will play at their parts to mask the oncoming war.  

Before Gwen and Olivia are taken, they are the closest of friends, dependent on eachother for support is each of their unsatisfying homes. Gwen's mother seems to be grasping at her sanity, constantly moving them from place to place to escape the "monsters".  But Gwen will find out she's got more secrets that she could ever imagine.  When we meet her she's unhappy, she's confused and feeling trapped by her mother's mental state, but while she's away she definitely finds another side of herself. 

I loved how the author wove in the little bits of Neverland we all know so well, giving them a nightmarish twist until they were something that felt eerily nostalgic, but took a second to realize why they felt that way.  She reimagined not only the characters, but even the concepts of the original, like all the jealousy, the idea of never growing old, and forgetting where you come from---it was all there but in a completely terrifying way!

The story flowed along at a fast pace while still having a certain dream-like quality.  So romantic at times, and so danger-filled at others! I definitely think the infamous pirate will finally make his way into a few hearts with this one. I truly enjoyed my trip to Neverland, even if it leaves me with a few night terrors and my idea of Peter Pan will be forever changed! I loved it!



 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Maxwell is the author of Sweet Unrest, Gathering Deep (Flux, Fall 2015) and Unhooked (Simon Pulse, Spring 2016). When she's not writing books, she's an English professor at a local college. She lives near DC with her very patient husband and two not-so patient boys.




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GIVEAWAY!
Lisa is generously giving away a signed finished copy of Unhooked, a gorgeous map of Neverland, and a Hook Funko Pop character to one lucky winner!  5 more winners will also be selected for an awesome swag pack! 
US only
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.
Vassa in the Night 
by Sarah Porter

hitting shelves September 20th, 2016
from Tor Teen
In the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now—but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood.

In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yaga, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters—and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission.

But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair. . . .

Inspired by the Russian folktale Vassilissa the Beautiful and Sarah Porter’s years of experience teaching creative writing to New York City students, Vassa in the Night weaves a dark yet hopeful tale about a young girl’s search for home, love, and belonging.


My thoughts:  This looks like a delicious mix of fairy tales and legends  and all things magical and bizarre! Definitely my cup of tea!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {153}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)
The lovelies this week:
For Review:
In peeking at everyone's Macmillan hauls, I think I only saw one other person who'd requested this one! I don't know why---it looks so cool!
Aaaahh, I've been excited for this one for ages!
LOVED the first in this series so I can't wait to return to these characters!
Yes, I received a correctly bound copy! LOL Apparently some were misbound with a different book inside! 
Absolutely and insanely excited for more Tahereh creations!
Does this one really need explanation--it looks so amazing. 

Huge thanks to Macmillan, Penguin, & Harper Collins for the review copies!

Gifted:
Once Was A Time by Leila Sales
Time Travel, best friends, and 1940's Germany. This looks so good!
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
This book is so freaking good and I just swoon at this final cover!!
Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun
This sounds a bit like Perfect Ruin and Crewel, but still amazing!
And I Darken by Kiersten White
I've enjoyed every Kiersten White book I've read, so this one is a must-read!
Super tackle-hugs to my lovely friend Brittany of Brittany's Book Rambles for these!! ♥♥♥

Purchased (in Owlcrate)
World of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley
Historical fantasy featuring the Bronte sisters. Awesome. :)


The Weekly Nutshell 
{Monday} Blog Tour Review: Burn by Elissa Sussman
{Wednesday} Waiting on Wednesday: The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
{Friday} Audiobook review: Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger


Not much to say about this week, it was fairly quiet and I have to admit I'm grateful for a bit of lull. January usually feels like that for me---it's like the rush of the holidays just doesn't stop until after our birthday weekend! :) Birthdays were very fun--a weekend full of family, shopping, and yummy food. That's what it's all about ;)  Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes last week. You all made it so much brighter. ♥

This week I started (and am nearly finished with) Unhooked and am just loving it so far. I also started the audiobook edition of Winter. I feel like I put off reading Winter, even though I absolutely adore this series--I just haven't been ready for it to end. But the audiobook is wonderful--great narrator and with only listening in my car, it forces me to pace myself and really get to savor the story for awhile!

Hope everyone is having a great reading week, and I'm sending warm cozy thoughts to those of you dealing with blizzard madness!! 

Friday, January 22, 2016

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger {audiobook review}


Waistcoats & Weaponry
by Gail Carriger
♦publisher: Little Brown BYR
♦release date: November 4th, 2014
♦hardcover, 298 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Finishing School, book 3
  review of book 1: Etiquette & Espionage
  review of book 2: Curtsies & Conspiracies
♦source: purchased book, audiobook from library
Sophronia continues her second year at finishing school in style—with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown, of course. Such a fashionable choice of weapon comes in handy when Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and the charming Lord Felix Mersey stowaway on a train to return their classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. 

No one suspected what—or who—they would find aboard that suspiciously empty train. Sophronia uncovers a plot that threatens to throw all of London into chaos and she must decide where her loyalties lie, once and for all.

Review: This series just continues to be fabulous and absolutely the most fun of any steampunk adventure I’ve ever read. For this third installment, I decided to try out the audiobook and I have no regrets! Narrator Moira Quirk really brought this story to life and did a fantastic job relating the fast pace of the plot as well as sliding impressively from one voice and accent to the other. 

Sophronia and friends are back in action. I have come to really adore all of these characters, each with so much individuality, even her little reticule mechanimal dog sometimes steals the show with his personality! Every character is layered and adds so much to the story. This time the plot is very much centered around Sidheag and her family of werewolves, and it was great to get a dose of backstory on her, and ultimately on Felix and his family as well! 

Despite my continued love of this series, I did have a few issues this time around. Firstly, as Sophronia gets older the love triangle with Soap and Felix gets more prevalent. Generally love triangles are not deal breakers for me, but she was just so swoony and undecisive over both of them, it got a little tiresome after a while. Secondly, while the plot was full of excitement and held my attention completely without fail, this installment felt the most like a segue between books than any of the others. Still, a fun and excitement-filled adventure with all the cool weapons, the clever rescue plans, the loyal friendships...so much to love about this series and I can’t wait to dive into book 4!

One final note: THE FAN. I need the fan, people. This year, Sophronia learns to fight with a bladed metal fan (as you can see on the cover) and it lends to some really beautifully written fight sequences. While listening to the audio was an great experience, what I wouldn’t give to see this wild steampunk adventure series made into movies! They would be so beautiful! 


Find Gail Carriger online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Waistcoats  & Weaponry:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.
The Forgetting
by Sharon Cameron

hitting shelves September 13th, 2016
from Scholastic Press
Seventeen-year-old Nadia lives in Canaan, a quiet city in an idyllic world, hemmed in by high walls that are constructed of a material no one in her town recognizes. Every twelve years, the people of Canaan undergo a collective Forgetting, in the days before which the town devolves into a chaos of bloody violence, and after which the people are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, their lives. Nadia has never forgotten, however.

As the next Forgetting approaches, Nadia is determined to find out what causes it and whether there is any way to stop it. With the help of Gray, the handsome glassblower's son, she discovers that there is a devious plot afoot... one that keeps the people of Canaan permanently subdued. Will Nadia be able to solve the mystery before the people forget the truth? And before Gray forgets her?
A remarkable story of memory and loss, love and indomitable courage.
 


My thoughts:  WHAT?? How did I not know Sharon Cameron was coming out with this beauty?? And now this gorgeous cover?? The synopsis completely blows my mind and seeing this idea fleshed out by one of my favorite authors? NEED. NOW. 

Monday, January 18, 2016

Burn by Elissa Sussman {Blog Tour review & giveaway}

Very excited to be a part of the Rockstar Book Tour for BURN by Elissa Sussman today! I'll be sharing my thoughts about this lovely second installment of the Four Sisters series...and don't forget to enter the tour-wide giveaway at the end of this post! Also, be sure to click the banner above to follow the rest of the blog tour!


Burn
by Elissa Sussman
♦publisher: Greenwillow Books
♦release date: January 19th, 2016
♦hardcover, 272 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Four Sisters, book 2
   review of book one, Stray
♦source: from author for honest review
After helping to rescue Princess Aislynn, Elanor has finally rejoined the rebel camp she calls home. Stolen from her parents at a young age and forced into service by the Wicked Queen, Elanor now wants nothing more than to see the queen removed from power. But Elanor has secrets, mistakes she’s spent years trying to forget, and the closer the rebels get to the throne, the harder it is for Elanor to keep her past hidden away.
With fellow rebels on her side—including Princess Aislynn, Thackery, and the handsome and mysterious Matthias—it is time for Elanor to make a decision. Will she protect her secrets? Or risk everything to save the people she loves?
The thrilling companion to Elissa Sussman’s masterful and original fairy tale, Stray, that will appeal to readers of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and fans of Wicked, Into the Woods, and the Disney princess movies.

My Review:
Burn is another fast-paced, dark and twisty fantasy read in this fun series.  This time we get to know the character Elanor more---get to know her background and learn that she has a few secrets of her own.  She is a great character, feisty but loves her home, her gentle mother, Tamsin, and her precious little fox, Dagger. Her worlds starts to upend as things are changing in the camp and several people close to her make the decision to leave. 

When newcomer Matthias is brought to camp, she finds herself drawn to his mysterious background and the easy way they seem to have with each other. It builds into a romance but isn't without it's surprises! I loved that we see more of Aislynn and Thackery, and several more of the characters from the first book, though this one can easily be read on it's own. Even though this is a companion, we get to Aislynn's character develop quite a bit in the course of this story, too!

The storyline flashes back and forth and gives a look into Elanor's past, her life as Queen Josetta's servant and you start to see why she is so uneasy at the thought of facing her again, as her fellow rebels come up with a plan to kill the queen.  

 This time we go into a different perspective of the Four Sisters myth, as the rebels belief is very different from the way the Advisors taught the stories. Will that, and the fact that this ended with a few unanswered questions, I'm guessing there will be four of these lovely dark fairy tales and I'll definitely be reading every one of them! 



 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elissa Sussman is a writer, a reader and a pumpkin pie eater. She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and in a previous life managed animators and organized spreadsheets at some of the best animation studios in the world, including Nickelodeon, Disney, Dreamworks and Sony Imageworks. You can see her name in the credits of  THE CROODS, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG and TANGLED. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and their rescue mutt, Basil.


WEBSITE    TWITTER    INSTAGRAM   GOODREADS


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GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, January 16, 2016

New Shelf Goodies & Birthday Giveaway!! {152}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)


Here's what lovely things graced my mailbox this week! :)
For review:
So excited for this Peter Pan inspired retelling! Blog tour stopping here on the 28th!
Aaaa, this one is so gorgeous, plus MG high fantasy with bats♥_♥
Well...excited, of course!!!
This one looks so good---high hopes for it!
This looks really cute!

Huge thanks to Simon & Schuster, Disney Hyperion, St. Martins Griffin, and Crown BYR for these!

Cinderella, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
birthday gift from my bestie! :D 
An art deco version of Cinderella!!
This is so absolutely beautiful. 


The Weekly Nutshell
{Wednesday} Waiting on Wednesday: And the Trees Crept In
{Thursday}Old Books, New Looks
{Friday}Review: Their Fractured Light

*Sniff* guys, the Starbound trilogy is over for me. So sad. But the last book was so good. Now I'm nearly done with Burn and the blog tour will be rolling through here on Monday, so check back for that! Next up for me is Unhooked!! So excited for that one!
So a few exciting things happening this week! On Monday, I get to meet two amazing authors in San Francisco---Susan Dennard and Alexandra Bracken!! I am incredibly excited, most of all to get my entire Something Strange and Deadly series signed, as it's one of my very favorite series!
Also this week is my BIRTHDAY! :D  We always have an extended celebration since my hubby's birthday is the day before mine. Plus it usually coincides with MLK day, so it's a 3-day celebration! :D

So I'm spinning the birthday celebration around and it's going to be one of YOU who gets the gifties!!
Enter below to win these beauties!

(I have to keep this one US only, guys. Sorry! If I could teleport them to my international friends, I would!)

HAVE A LOVELY WEEK, ALL!


Friday, January 15, 2016

Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner {review}


Their Fractured Light 
by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
♦publisher: Disney-Hyperion
♦release date: December 1st, 2015
♦hardcover, 432 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Starbound Trilogy, book 3
  review of book 1, These Broken Stars
  review of book 2, This Shattered World
♦source: from publisher for honest review
A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

Review:  Sigh.  It's over. All done. No more wonderful adventures within this fantastic space fantasy world.  Despite my sadness at reaching the end, I really enjoyed this final installment. 

When I heard this one would be about Sophia, I was overjoyed. I loved the small bit we got to know her in This Shattered World and was excited to delve more into her story. I don't really remember Gideon from the previous book, but he was a joy to get to know and I loved the chemistry between these two. The two of them both have such faceted characters, and we get to see all their cleverness, their vulnerability, they major trust issues. And while the attraction might be there straight away, the closeness and real feelings between them develop slowly and make for some great swoony scenes. 

The first half read a little slow for me, but as a whole this story is incredibly exciting. There are some really gut-wrenching surprises and I loved seeing a few familiar faces, especially as story lines from this and the previous books start to come together. Once again we get the interjected voice of the alien "whispers" and again, while most of it is cryptic and mysterious, it helps the whole plot culminate into its final conclusions. In the end, it was their voices that brought me to tears. 

My small issue with this one was the point where this started to feel a little like a typical zombie survival story. It was really just one small part to everything that was going on, but seemed a bit ordinary and overdone in a story where everything else is unique and mind-blowing lol. One other small problem I came across was the alternating POV. For most of the story, it works beautifully and I love getting to see both sides of their story. But at the main cast got larger, it became harder to distinguish who was talking, so if I'd forgotten whose name was at the beginning of the chapter, I would sometimes get confused and have to back up a few pages. But perhaps that was just a "me" problem. :D

Despite either of these small issues, this was an incredibly exciting and fully satisfying finale to this series.  I can't wait to see these two authors working together again in the Unearthed series in 2017! 


Find Amie Kaufman online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Instagram
Find Meagan Spooner online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Tumblr

Purchase Their Fracture Light:  BookDepository  •  Indiebound  •  Amazon


Thursday, January 14, 2016

Old Books, New Looks {15}

Time again for another round of Old Books, New Looks, where I feature the covers of books that have already been released and their redesigned paperback counterpart! :) Sometimes I like the new better, sometimes I like the old. Here's a few that I've come across lately:



  The OLDIES   vs.  The NEWBIES 
Why? First one is really beautiful, gives you a sense of the story and the setting---you get none of that in the new cover, it's just very generic and plain.  

I like the original better on these, the simple silhouette against the giant moon---the new one is okay, though it looks just like the Elusion series. 

Both are okay, but I like how interesting the original was compared to the somewhat ordinary run-of-the-mill "glaring girl" cover. 

I don't like either. Maybe they make more sense after you've read the story?

Both of these are actually stunning, and while I do like the new just a little better, I think it makes it look like an adult novel. 

The first cover never really appealed to me, and I think I like this new one a bit better. Though the blood grosses me out a bit, it definitely hints that something is about to go horribly wrong with that sweetener. :) 

While the first cover was definitely prettier, the new one is definitely more interesting and gives more hint as to what the story is about. 


So what do you think? Oldies or Newbies?