Top Ten Tuesday (23)

Top Ten Books on My Summer To Be Read List!

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

In Honor by Jessi Kirby

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

Ferocity Summer by Alissa Grosso

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

In My Mailbox (24)

LIBRARY:

Frostbite by Richelle Mead

KINDLE:

Eve by Anna Carey

The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines

In Too Deep by Mandy Hubbard

Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

IMM is hosted by The Story Siren

Waiting on Wednesday (19)

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

(from goodreads.com)

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. 
Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.
Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive. 
Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. 
In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

Release date: January 22, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Top Ten Tuesday (22)

Top Ten Beach Reads:

Since I am not a beach person AT ALL (I wish I was! I really wish I was!) I had to imagine what others might want to read on a beach...which turned into me creating a list of beach-set or summer-centered books I have enjoyed over the years. People want to read books about beaches while they’re on them, right?

1. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
2. Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
3. Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
4. The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz
5. Summer Boys by Hailey Abbott
6. He’s SO Not Worth It by Kieran Scott (okay, so maybe this is the second book in a trilogy. It takes place at the beach and would be an awesome vacation book!)
7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
8. Sometimes it Happens by Lauren Barnholdt
9. Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser
10. Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Enjoy your beach books! For now, I’ll just be reading in my backyard.

  

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

In My Mailbox: BEA Edition

The City's Son by Tom Pollock (signed!)

Zom-B by Darren Shan

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang (signed!)

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (signed!)

Because It is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin (signed!)

Glass Heart by Amy Garvey (signed!)

When It Happens to You by Molly Ringwald (signed!)

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Sun of Apollo by Darab Lawyer and Clinton Libbey

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans (signed!)

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver (signed!)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (signed!)

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Feedback by Robinson Wells (signed!)

Partials by Dan Wells (signed!)

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson

The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison (signed!)
The Demon Catchers of Milan by Kat Beyer
Every Day by David Levithan
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (signed!)
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone (+Days of Blood and Starlight preview) by Laini Taylor
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce
Altered by Jennifer Rush
In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Chanel Bonfire by Wendy Lawless
Shadows by Ilsa Bick
The Diviners by Libba Bray (signed!)
Bootlicker by Steve Piacente (signed!)
Beta by Rachel Cohn (signed!)
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (signed!)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (signed!)
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (signed!)
Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas (signed!)


Also, that postcard holds Holly Black's autograph! She ran out of books, but I really didn't care about the book at that point.

The Theory of Everything by JJ Johnson(signed!)
Ferocity Summer by Alissa Grasso (signed!)
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce (signed!)
Entice by Jessica Shirvington
Bzrk by Michael Grant
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Jepp Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh
Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin
Every Day by David Levithan (signed!)
Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (signed!)
Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (signed!)
Skylark by Megan Spooner (signed!)
The Hollow City by Dan Wells
The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton (signed!)


KINDLE:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson


IMM is hosted by The Story Siren

Black Heart by Holly Black

DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW WITHOUT FIRST READING WHITE CAT AND RED GLOVE. I do not want to spoil the magic that is reading Holly Black’s Curseworkers series for anyone.

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon and Schuster)
Pages: 296
Series or Stand Alone: Book Three in Holly Black’s FLAWLESS Curseworkers trilogy
Summary: Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.
But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.

Review:
I have been looking forward to this book since the first time I read the last page of Red Glove. That is all.
Despite a remarkable criminal history as both a con artist and an assassin, Cassel Sharpe is attempting to turn his life around. Going against the community he grew up in, the girl he loves, and his own intuition, Cassel trains with the Feds in order to find a different use for his dangerous transformation powers. Only, it turns out that the Feds want exactly the same things from Cassel that the Mob did. With the help of Lila and his unreliable brother Barron, Cassel has to figure out who’s playing him and how he can possibly live free from ties to people who want to use him.
Just when you thought that the Curseworkers books couldn’t get any better, Holly Black slapped you in the face with the “gosh you’re wrong” stick and handed you a copy of Black Heart. Her characterization is flawless. Cassel continues being plagued by internal conflicts, with his crime upbringing battling with his desire to be a good person and help the Feds. This, of course, becomes even more complicated when the Feds begin to manipulate him and he no longer knows who is in the right. Does Cassel ever just sit around and brood about how difficult his life is, even though is one of the few characters I think might just deserve to? NO! He is constantly thinking about his situations, the people he cares about around him, and acting in order to preserve their safety (though not usually his own, as can definitely be evidenced by some of his choices). That’s why he’s so wonderful.
Then we have Lila. Fierce, used-to-be-a-cat-for-awhile-but-is-better-now Lila, who is now officially a part of the Zacharov crime family with a second smile to prove it. Now that she’s come out of her emotion working (thanks to Cassel’s mother) she’s pretty pissed, making her even more of a force to be reckoned with. But Lila also has a well expressed vulnerability that doesn’t get in the way of her totally kicking ass and taking names.
I was stressed out throughout a significant portion of this book. I find a high literary stress level to be a wonderful sign for a book--if I’m stressed out about a character, it means that I care immensely about them. It means I’ve forgotten that a character, say Cassel Sharpe, is entirely the figment of someone’s imagination and therefore has a future already outlined for him. With his situation with the Feds and his familial ties to organized crime, I could not figure out how Cassel was going to avoid being used as a transformation working pawn for the rest of his life. The story that results from this is a fantastic, action/mystery/magic-driven tale that made me hurt every time I had to put the book down.
With Black Heart, Holly Black proves that there’s a damn good way to create the perfect end to a trilogy. The entirety of Cassel Sharpe’s story is brilliantly executed with a well-imagined alternate world, awesomely grey characters (meaning not black and white-nothing is simple in these books), and plots that just don’t quit. In case you haven’t noticed, I would recommend this series to anyone and everyone.

Rating: 5 - woo!

Red Glove by Holly Black

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ WHITE CAT. WILD SPOILERS FOR THAT BOOK ABOUND.

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Simon and Schuster)
Pages: 325Series or Stand Alone: Book Two in Holly Black’s AMAZING Curseworkers trilogy
Summary: Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.
That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she’s human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila’s been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila’s love is as phony as Cassel’s made-up memories, then he can’t believe anything she says or does.
When Cassel’s oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can’t trust anyone—least of all, himself?
Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

Review:
I continue my reread of the Curseworkers series in preparation for reading Black Heart. I also continue to gush about how much I adore these books in an embarrassing fashion. Just kidding, you have to have book shame in order to be embarrassed about something like that. I support these books 100% and will continue shouting it from the rooftops in a shameless fashion.
Life just isn’t going Cassel Sharpe’s way. You think it would--he finally found out that he’s an incredibly transformation powerful worker, one of the rarest worker types that exists. Lila, the girl he previously thought dead, is very much alive and completely in love with him. Only the reason for Lila’s feelings is the magical touch Cassel’s mother gave her making her hopelessly devoted to him--and making it so Cassel now has to stay away from her. When Cassel finds out that his oldest brother Phillip has been murdered, he knows he has to find the killer. Problem is, both the Feds and various crime families want to recruit him for his extraordinary abilities. Cassel has to try to work outside of both in order to find out the truth--before more people are hurt in the process.
They just. Keep. Getting. BETTER. This was another re-read for me, but it was like I was reading the book for the first time. If I thought I really needed to know what happened at the end of White Cat, it was nothing compared to needing to know the answers to the questions in Red Glove. Who is Phillip’s killer? What does Cassel choose, helping the Feds or joining the Zacharovs in a life of crime (this time one he actually chose?)? All right, I knew the answer to these questions, but I raced through it to figure out how Cassel managed to get there.
While I’m here, bonus points for a murder mystery! Holly Black did the whole mystery thing right when Cassel tried to figure out his missing memories and what happened to Lila in the first book, but took it to a new level when Cassel had to figure out who killed his mob worker brother. SO GREAT!
Obviously, the characters are still amazing. I adore Cassel, who is still discovering pieces of missing memories (for instance, where his least favorite chair came from...) and dealing with staying away from Lila when all she wants to do is be near him for all the wrong reasons. Their relationship is painful and amazing. Lila is a strong female character despite being cursed into devotion to Cassel. I was happy to see more of Sam and Daneca, especially since more backstory and depth was given to Daneca.
Red Glove is the perfect continuation of the Curseworkers series by Holly Black. This is one series that I was happy knowing it was going to be a trilogy--one or two books with Cassel, Lila, and their companions is certainly not enough. I’m going to doubt that three will be enough for me, but I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion to Cassel’s story.

Rating: 5 - shelf of favorites