Dirty Little Secret (7)

Dirty Little Secret is a weekly meme hosted by Under The Covers.

The rules are simple:

1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image and copy instructions.
3. Answer the weekly question.

For more information and for signing up, go to the Under The Covers blog.


This week's question:

If you had 600 million dollars to spend, what would be the first thing you bought?

Oh my. What wouldn't I do with so much money??! Ummm...The first thing huh? I'd go find (and buy) my dream house: it's on the beach, with a special room just for my books - a reading room if you like (before you ask, yes, I have even the perfect idea for how that room should look like. I might even share my idea someday if you like :p ). In a perfect world, there would be a huge forest behind that house and I'd have enough money to have a wolf. I know normal people want a dog, not a huge wolf, but I never claimed to be normal (seriously, I'd insult the normal people if I said I was one of them :P)

Anyway, that's my answer. What's yours?

Early Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Blood Of Eden #1
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5 cups
Blurb: (from Goodreads)

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

This book blew me away. It really did. It was one of those books that keep you so focused on the story, that you don't even feel the need to move. You start reading and the sun is up in the sky and after about an hour, you lift your head up and realize it's dark outside and you check the watch and you realize hours and hours have past since you started reading. It's one of those books that make you want to read each and every sentence and really pay attention to what you're reading.

I loved Allie. She was a very complex character. What I loved about her was that you could see two different sides in her. She could be both fearless and scared, tough as nails and tender, she could mourn the loss of a friend and choose to kill another vampire just to save her human friends. I liked that about her. It made her look multidimensional. Of course, she has her bad moments, she makes some not so smart decisions, but everyone does. The fact that she's not perfect makes her even more like-able in my opinion.

I also loved the world presented in this book. It was my very first dystopian book and it made me ask myself why I waited so long to try this genre. It was amazing. I liked the fact that vampires weren't as indestructible as they normally are represented. They were just as powerless as the humans when it came to those zombie-vampire creatures.

Another thing that I liked was the fact that the author didn't take the easy, predictable way out. There were moments where I expected certain characters to do or say a certain thing and I was 100% sure they'd do it. And when those things didn't happen, it was so refreshing. It was amazing how each and every time I expected something to happen, those things didn't. Each page of this book was full or surprises and I loved that.

The book has it all: horror, action, suspense, romance, a little drama. Of course, I'm hoping we get to see Allie's vampire dad, Kanin, again.

I really can't wait for the next book to come out. I will probably reread this book soon, because I need to return to that world. And until I get my hands on the second book, what am I to do?

Recommended: If you like vampires, YA, fantasy, paranormal, horror, you name it, this book is for you. I do believe this is one of the books you HAVE to read.

Winners: The Awakening of Leeonwyn Blake by Mary Parker

Thank you all who entered the giveaway to win two ebook copies of The Awakening of Leeowyn Blake by Mary Parker.

The winners are:

• Cean
• Darlene

Congratulations! I will send you an email as soon as possible. Please respond to my email in 72 hours (3 days) or I will choose another winner.

Teaser Tuesday (19)

Teaser Tuesdays 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 this week is from The Immortal Rules by Julie Kawaga:

“Jeb regarded me with no expression. "Do you believe in God, Allison?"
"No," I said immediately. "Is this the part where you tell me I'm going to hell?"
"This is hell," Jebbadiah said, gesturing to the town around us.

I love this book! I'm about to finish it. I can't wait for book 2!

What's your teaser this week?

Cover Love (13)

This feature is hosted by Carmel @ Rabid Reads. The rules are very simple. Choose a cover (or two, or three), preferably new-ish, and share what you like about it. Grab the graphic or don't just so long as you link back.


My pick this week:

I've heard so, so much about the Iron Fey series, I feel like I HAVE to read that series. But back to the cover of The Immortal Rules. I love her blood-red eye and her blood tear. If that's not enough, I love the font of Blood Of Eden. And the air of complete creepiness that this cover has. Or that's how I feel. Or maybe I'm biased because I'm hoping the world would stop moving and the clock would stop ticking long enough for me to finish this book. Oh, and wake up tomorrow and have the second book out already. I don't think I can wait an entire year for the second book *sniffle*

What's your pick this week?

Book Review: An Untimely Love by Tendai Huchu

  

Author: Tendai Huchu

My Rating: 3 cups

Source: review copy offered by the author

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Love can find us in the most unusual of circumstances. This is what happens to Khalid Patel, a terrorist, when he falls in love with Smokey, a feisty and independent young woman who was to be Britain's first female suicide bomber. On what is meant to be his day of martyrdom, his violent worldview is thrown into turmoil. We share his thoughts as Death and Duty become irrevocably and movingly entwined with Love and Life.

I've never read a book where terrorists or suicide bombers were the main characters before. I have to say it was a really interesting perspective and I was actually surprised.  I liked Khalid's story and to see how he grew from the suicide bomber from the beginning of the novel to the man who sacrifices his freedom and happiness to save thousands of innocent people at the end of the book. The reader gets to see how Khalid transformed from an ordinary student to a trained terrorist.

For a while the story goes back and forth between Khalid preparing, along with his three other partners, to arrive at the train station and Khalid's past, where we see him learning to fish, to start a fire, to make bombs, to practice target shooting. Somewhere along the way, he falls in love with Selina "Smokey" Ashraf and they get married on their way to the train station. After that, the story focuses on Khalid, his struggle to kill the man who destroyed his life and, later, to find and rescue Smokey.

What I liked about the book was that it was filled with action and suspense. There is never a dull moment in this story. There were also moments where Khalid's internal struggle felt so raw and real, it was almost like it was right there in front of me.

What I would've liked to see more was the relationship between Khalid and Smokey, how they first met, how they fell in love. It didn't feel like this was a love story, even if it was doomed from the start, but more like it was Khalid's story and the story of his redemption.

Aside that, the book was really interesting.