#Shelflove: Share Your Sources for Free Books

This month we're talking about free books. Who doesn't love freebies, right? Here are my sources for free books:

• Charity shops - There's a charity shop near my house that has a box right at the entrance, full of free books. The only obligation you have is that you pick up just one and that if you have a book you want to donate, you put it there. Also, most charity shops have really cheap books, some of them in very good conditions, so I check out their shelves too (not free, but almost free).
• Library - Same as before. A lot of them have books that they give away for free. Actually, a few of the books on my #Shelflove list came from a library that was giving away free books.
• BookBub - A very cool website where you can find a ton of freebies from many genres. All you have to do is sign up (it's free) and it will send you daily emails with freebies. Also bargains.
• The Fussy Librarian - Same as the previous website, you just sign up for free and you'll receive tons of free books and bargains on your mail. 
• eBookSoda - Another website with free subscription.
• Pixel of Ink - A website full of Kindle freebies and bargains. They update their site daily. You can either subscribe with your email address or you can follow them on Facebook.
• eReader Love - Same as before, you can either subscribe or follow on Facebook, where they post daily about the freebies/bargains they discover on Kindle.
• eReader News Today - Yet another website that has Kindle freebies. 
• Pulseit - A website owned by Simon & Schuster. They feature two free books each week. You can't download them, but you can read them online. Oh, the cool part? In December they have the 31 Days of Reading, when they have a free book EACH DAY! So that's awesome. 
• FeedYourReader - Awesome website full of Kindle freebies and bargains. 

Phew. I think that's it. Yeah. I hope this helps you feed your bookish addiction and help you save some money. 

Book Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Dark Elements #1
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: February 1st 2014
My Rating: 5 cups
Blurb (from Goodreads):

One kiss could be the last

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world>

You know what I love? When an author shows me again and again why I love their work and why I can trust them. Armentrout is pretty much on my "forever buy" list. I remember when the news about this new, exciting series came out and I was so happy. I mean, GARGOYLES. I've never read anything with gargoyles and the only time I saw gargoyles and liked them was in the animated series Gargoyles. I'm ignoring the funny companions in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I wanted hot gargoyles.

I loved White Hot Kiss. It definitely wasn't what I expected, at least not based on the prequel, Bitter Sweet Love. I can always trust Armentrout to write sassy, funny characters. Just as I can trust her to write creepy bad guys. The other thing that I can trust about her is that she'll write about "good" guys that are rotten to the core and "bad" guys who can make the right thing. I love that. I hate it when the guys on Team Evil are always bad and same goes for Team Good. 

Layla was an interesting character. She was sheltered growing up, but what really made me love her was her struggle with her self image. She was brought up to hate the "bad" half of her, as if somehow she was responsible for who her parents were. I really wanted to punch some of the people in her family (if I dare call some of them that). I don't know if she's more reckless at times or more brave than anyone around her thinks, but I do like that she stands up for herself when she needs to. And I like that by the end of the book she's starting to accept that part of her that everyone fears. Not completely, but a little each day is all that matters, right? 

Zayne is the boy our heroine grew up with. She's kind of in love with and he really doesn't notice her. At all. And that part kind of pissed me off. Let's be honest here, how blind do you have to be to not notice that this girl has a crush on you? It wasn't as if she was that great at hiding it.

Which brings me to Roth. Oh man. I am obsessed with him. The one thing that I absolutely love him for is that, unlike Zayne, he accepted her other half (in this case, her Warden half). He didn't make her feel like she was at fault for her parents' relationship, just like he didn't make her seem like a freak for being able to suck someones soul out. Of course, I will be honest and say that I was kind of weary of him at first. Yes, he was hot, really dangerous, flirty and a smart-ass, but at the beginning I was expecting for him to show his colors so to speak. He was a demon, so he had to be one of the bad guys. But then he does something for her, something that completely blew my mind and made me realize he really wasn't the enemy here. Which is probably why the ending crushed me so much. Oh, and let's not forget about the tattoos, shall we? He has awesome tattoos. And great names for both of them.. *swoon*

The ending blew me away and made me want to curl up in bed and cry. I did not see that one coming. I am sad that this is only a trilogy. Of course, you might wonder how many times can the world be in danger in this series, but I am so not ready for "The End". Anyway, this book was amazing and I really am keeping my fingers crossed for my boy Roth to win the girl.

Obsessed With Covers #17: Six of Crows, Listen, Slowly & The Eterna Files

Y'all know how much I love a pretty cover. I think about...40% of the books that end up on my shelves (be they physical or digital) do so because of the covers. Call me shallow but you have to admit that a pretty, shiny cover will catch your eye faster than a dull, boring one. Two, simple rules that I'll follow:

• 1, 2 or 3 (no more than 3, though) covers per week;
• books should be new-ish; no more than 2 years old.

Oh, before I share the covers that made me drool or want to stare at them for hours and hours, I have to say something. This is a semi-original idea. Why semi? Because almost every book blogger has something similar. The only thing I came up with was the title. If by any chance there's another blogger with a similar feature with the same title, I assure you I'm not stealing your idea. I'm just THAT bad with titles. Believe me, I'd love to be smarter and have a witty name for this feature, but I don't. So, no copyright infringement/theft/steal or anything of the sort was desired. All I can say is sorry :P

So, here are the prettiest covers I've seen this week.

There are so many amazing things about this cover. There's the cloudy sky, the buildings that are separated by the feathers, the feathers that are so full of detail, and the gorgeous font. I just love this cover so much, that I have to see what the book is about.











Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

This cover is hauntingly beautiful. I love that the background is so colorful and so... happy, I'd say, while the two characters are just silhouettes. It makes me wonder if this book ends on a happy note or not.

Listen, Slowly - Thanhha Lai

Okay, I have a confession. I have a thing for crows. I love them. No, really. They are so gorgeous. And black. And...yeah, you get the point *clears throat* Anyway. This cover is quite simple. Scary, but simple. And the crow...man, I really want to know if there's a crow in the story. Sometimes simple covers are so beautiful, like this one.










The Eterna Files - Leanna Renee Hieber

Taylor Swift Book Tag

I discovered this tag about a month ago on Youtube and I've seen some of my favorite bloggers do it to, so I decided to join in. I love Taylor's music and I think this is actually a cool idea. The tag was created by Sarah @ The Book Life.

So, here we go.

1. For ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ pick a book (or book series) that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with.

This one is easy. It's Divergent by Veronica Roth. I read the first book and LOVED it. Read the second book and I wasn't that impressed. I have no interest in reading the third book. And not because of the ending. Yes, I read the spoilers. Funnily enough, the ending actually kind of makes me want to read the last book.

I felt like instead of seeing Four and Tris mature and grow in Insurgent, they became the characters that I would've expected to meet at the beginning of their journeys.

2. For ‘Red’ pick a book with a RED cover.





This is my favorite book so far with a red cover. It is AH-MAZING! I love Roth. *swoons*







3. For ‘The Best Day’ pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic

I was a kid when this book came out and it basically became the center of my universe for a long period of time. I am part of the generation that grew up with this series, so it's hard not to get a little bit nostalgic when I read it. But then again, this is the only book I've ever read in my life that manages to take me back to that moment in time when I first read it and it makes me feel like a kid again.

4. For ‘Love Story’ pick a book with forbidden love.

This series is...wow! I do not even want to think about the fact that it has ended. I just refuse to acknowledge that little detail.

5. For ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ pick a book with a bad character you couldn’t help but love.




Sometimes authors do something so incredibly magical and fantastic and makes me love them more. They write a series about good vs evil, where the evil is just that. And the magic happens when they write a book for a character from "the other team". And that's just pure awesomeness and I love it. Same thing happened with Obsession.  






6. For ‘Innocent’ (written b/c of Kanye West!) pick a book that someone ruined the ending for.

I don't know if I've told this story before or not, but back in middle school, about the same time that the 1st Harry Potter movie came out, a classmate and I were reading The Three Musketeers at the same time. I was a bit behind though, because back then I was a slow reader (think snail-like speed). We used to take the same subway on the way home, and we'd start talking about random stuff and when we realized we were reading the same book, we chatted about it. I kept asking him questions about where he was at, so in all fairness, it wasn't his fault that he spoiled the book for me. He would always start saying how I should read it myself and not ask him, but by then he'd already started telling me stuff, so the will to read it kind of disappeared. Maybe one day I'll try reading it again and see for myself how it ends.

7. For ‘Everything has changed’ pick a character from a book who goes through extensive character development.

Hmmm...This one is a bit tough, but I'll point to the Bloodlines series above and to Adrian Ivashkov. He grows up in this series. A lot.

8. For ‘You Belong With Me’ pick your most anticipated book release.

I need this book like I need to breathe. I NEED MY ROTH FIX!!!












9. For ‘Forever and Always’ – Pick your favorite book couple

I really, really can't choose one. There's just too many book couples that I love to choose from. However, the most recent one has to be Layla & Roth from the Dark Elements by Jennifer L. Armentrout (I choose to believe that they'll end up together).

10. For ‘Come Back, Be Here’ pick the book you would least like to lend out, for fear of missing it too much.

Yeah, no one is ever touching this puppy but me. EVER! And if that sounds mean then so be it. Come to think of it, no one can touch his brother's book, Acheron, either. Just... not an option.

This was so much fun! I'm bad at tagging people, so if you read this and want to give it a go, consider yourself tagged :D

#Shelflove: Finance

Fist of all, I haven't read a single book for this challenge. I am horrible, I know, but there's a good reason for it. Besides the never-ending thesis that I hope I'll finish before the zombie apocalypse starts *fingers crossed*. I started reading one of the books from that list immediately after signing up. However, the more I read, the more the book disappointed me. Now, usually, as you all know, I just DNF it and move on to the next one without blinking. However, this time, this particular book is breaking my heart, because it's written by one of my all time favorite authors. So I'm now having a dilemma: keep reading or DNF it, even though it's heartbreaking and painful and sad, just sad. I did get to read half of it, but I just don't know....*sighs*

Anyway, finances. So far I haven't spent much on books. I did hoard tons of Amazon/Smashwords freebies , to be fair. I can't wait to start reading them. I do promise to read a book from my list this month.

How about you? Did you get to read any book from your Shelf Love list?

Cover Reveal: From Origins by Mary Ting

Skylar, Mason, and the other descendants embark a deadly quest to the underworld to confront the evil Hades, who has been plotting to kill off the descendants of all the gods.

On this journey, they soon discover that the ancient gods are not dead as once believed but are held captive in a secret location. In order to save the world from destruction at the hands of Hephaestus, the descendants must set out on a crusade to rescue the gods.

In the process, Skylar learns more about her bloodline and her powers, but there is also a heavy price to pay. The darkest forces known to man are about to return to reclaim their stolen kingdom. 

TEASER

Seeing nothing but darkness through door one heightened my awareness, and the mist that slowly crept out like thin layer of clouds, spreading and covering our feet, brought another level of fright. The ground started to shake, then a sound like thunder boomed, getting louder…louder…until it sounded more like a stampede.

My imagination got the best of me as I envision buffaloes charging for us. Roaring sounds burst in the air when a dozen of the Cerberuses tried to charge through at once. I would have preferred the buffaloes, but instead, we got Hades’s guard dogs.

Their glowing red eyes were what I saw first, then their vampire like teeth, and last three heads to a body. With serpent’s heads on the tips of their tales and lion like claws, they looked like they could rip us to shreds as they dashed for us as if we were a gourmet meal.

“Cerberus. I should have guessed.” Zara quaked, standing next to Tara. Extending both of their arms up, they were creating a shied. Blazing light engulfed us.

“You should have guessed sooner, but I don’t think it would have mattered.” Nick’s eyes glowed, ready to fight. “Here puppy, puppy. Let’s play.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mary Ting resides in Southern California with her husband and two children. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Writing her first novel, Crossroads Saga, happened by chance. It was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother, and inspired by a dream she once had as a young girl. When she started reading new adult novels, she fell in love with the genre. It was the reason she had to write one-Something Great. Why the pen name, M Clarke? She tours with Magic Johnson Foundation to promote literacy and her children’s chapter book-No Bullies Allowed.

Website | Facebook | GoodReads | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest