Book Review: Shadows by Paula Weston

Author: Paula Weston
Series: The Rephaim #1
Publisher: Orion Children's
Release Date: January 3rd 2013
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

It's almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn't help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who's been appearing in Gaby's dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

*Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley and Hachette Children's Group in exchange for an honest review.

Shadows was one of those books that everyone around me seemed to read and enjoy, so I will admit that I was a bit nervous when I decided to read this book. I am glad I did it though, because I ended up liking it a lot.

Gaby is one of those characters that is full of surprises. I felt very sad for her and for her twin brother. She is a loyal friend and I liked how she was willing to do anything to protect her best friend. What was interesting about her character is how the author managed to make Gaby seem different than the person that Rafa and his friends tell her she was in the past. It was almost like reading about two different characters and that was something that I enjoyed a lot.

Rafa is a difficult character to like. Actually, half the time I wanted to smack him, while the other half I wanted to hug him, because his side of the story was sad too. At times he was infuriating, other times he was a charmer. He is loyal though and I really do want to know more about him and his story.

The plot was pretty well paced, not too fast and not too slow. There were a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming, a few scenes that I did anticipate but that I enjoyed. There was a very powerful scene near the end, a scene that really made me question what is actually going on. It kind of made me question a lot of the things that Rafa knew and that were presented by different characters throughout the book. But I also loved that it showed that the Rephaim were a true family in the end, and that even though they might not agree with each other or even fight each other, they would stand united against enemies. I really loved that scene.

I liked how the book ended. It seemed fast and it came out of nowhere to be honest, but that just made me even more curious about the rest of the story. I will definitely read the rest of the series.

Wednesday Chatter #12: The Struggle To Write A Decent First Paragraph

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday!

Last week I was trying really hard to get some book reviews done and I noticed something. I always have a problem starting the review in a semi-intelligent way. You know, something other than "OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD" or something similar. The funny thing, though, is that not all reviews are so difficult to write, for me. Oh no, my issue is with books I've received for reviewing. This struggle led to this discussion post and I really hope I'm not the only one that has this issue.

See, here's the thing. I've always felt the pressure of a perfect beginning when reviewing books that I'm supposed to review. This probably has to do with the fact that, in school, I was told that all essays should have a strong, good beginning. That a good start will always make the readers enjoy the entire article more than they would if the first paragraph is mediocre or bad. Is it true? I have no idea. Maybe, maybe not. I don't judge an article by how it starts, unless the first paragraph is full of typing errors that are really "in-your-face". But for me there's this huge pressure to sound intelligent and somewhat professional. Like I know what I'm doing. Which, spoiler alert, isn't always the case.

For some reason this pressure, this strange idea of mine regarding reviews and the first paragraph, only comes to me to kick me in the butt when I'm writing reviews for books I've received for review.

Do you guys have that issue? I know I need to loosen up a bit, I'm not denying that. But am I the only one really struggling with this? Also, do you have any tips? 

2016 Book Blog Discussion Challenge Sign-Up

One of my resolutions for 2016 was to post more regularly on my blog. But for me having a blog full of reviews and the occasional meme post isn't all that enjoyable. I also love discussion posts, but I suck at writing them. Last year I saw a lot of bloggers doing the 2015 Discussion Challenge, so I decided that if the challenge will be up and running in 2016 that I'd join in on the fun. And so here I am, joining in. See, I'm also socializing more. Two resolutions in the first month of this year. I'm growing up, guys!

This challenge is hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight. To read the rules or to sign up, click on the graphic above or click here. The challenge has 5 levels:

1-12 – Discussion Dabbler

13-24 – Creative Conversationalist

25-36 – Chatty Kathy

37-48 – Terrifically Talkative

49+ – Gift of the Gab

I'm aiming for 25-36 discussion posts. I want to publish a discussion post a week, every week, but I'll be honest with you and myself and say that that might not be always possible. So I'm choosing Chatty Kathy as my desired level. If I manage to post more than 36 discussion posts, I'll feel immensely proud of myself.

Obsessed With Covers #28: The Reader, Firstlife

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.

I absolutely love this cover. I love the color palette used, first of all. Blues and greens are my favorite combination in the world. I also like that the pages of the book seem to envelop the girl and some pages even seem to float away from the book. And the designs in the pages, they look like waves for the blue pages and leaves for the green ones. I am very curious to see how this cover looks in real life. I also hope there's some embossed elements on the cover.








The Reader - Traci Chee

It's no secret that Gena Showalter has some of the most gorgeous covers out there. This is one of them. I love hourglasses, which is the first thing I noticed when I first saw this cover. But I love how the image of an hourglass is used in this cover to show what it looks like an imminent threat to the beautiful, "heavenly" city, how the chaos and evil from the city from above is slowly enveloping the second city. Reading the blurb makes the cover even more interesting, because now I'm wondering why exactly it's an hourglass. What does it mean?

Firstlife - Gena Showalter

What covers did you see recently that you liked?

My 2016 Blogging and Reading Resolutions

Hey guys! I hope you partied hard last night and that you had an amazing time. And I hope that 2016 will be fantastic for you!

I saw a bunch of bloggers that I follow make posts about their 2016 resolutions (*waves at everyone*), so I thought I'd join in on the fun. Here are my blogging and reading resolutions for this year:

• Make a dent in my TBR pile.

Now, I know what you're thinking. I say this all the time. But this time I'm serious. I've signed up for the Shelf Love Reading Challenge and I plan on finishing it. Last year I had my thesis to write, so my free time was dedicated to sleep. Now I have a bunch of time on my hands (when I'm not working, of course) that I want to dedicate to reading. Or a part of it, anyway.

• Post regularly

This is another thing I need to correct this year. I need to plan my posts ahead and I need to blog regularly. Which is what I'm going to do.

• Comment, comment, comment

Being an insecure introvert means that I rarely comment. Not because I have nothing to say, but because sometimes I fear my comment my be sorely misinterpreted. So I end up deleting a huge and thoughtful (in my opinion) response to a blog post because of that. I will change that this year and push that "Post" button more often. And if I offend anyone, it usually isn't my goal, so I'm sorry. (If it is my goal to offend, you'll know).

• Be more active on social media

This includes Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (maybe), Goodreads and all the other fun sites a book blogger usually uses. I'm one of those people with an irregular online activity, but I really want to change that. Which I'll do this year.

• Keep an open mind

Last year I discovered comic books. I am hooked on them, to be honest (which is probably why I managed to not only achieve my 2015 Goodreads goal, but to surpass it). So I'll keep an open mind to new genres, new authors, new everything. (That still doesn't mean I'll try audiobooks though, sorry!)

So this is it, folks. These are my 2016 resolutions for my book blogging self. What are yours?

Comic Book Tuesday #4: Secret Wars #1 by Jonathan Hickman

Author: Jonathan Hickman
Series: Secret Wars
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: January 1st 2015
My Rating: 3 cups
Blurb (from Goodreads):

The final incursion is happening! The Marvel Universe is colliding with the Ultimate Universe, and neither will survive!

I think I may have chosen the wrong order in which to read comic books. The (short) blurb should have clued me in on the fact that this issue is probably one in a long story line within the Marvel Universe, but for some reason I decided to ignore my instincts and go ahead and read it. I have to mention that this issue was part of the 12 Days of Comics on ComiXology this year, so that's how I found out about the book.

The art is fantastic. The colors are rich and beautiful, the drawings themselves are gorgeous. There are certain panels in which I felt like I wanted the characters to have a little bit more variation to their various facial expressions. but all in all the art is beautiful and I could watch it all day.

The plot is interesting. Two Earths, with their respective heroes, fighting each other. The problem was that it was too full of characters. Too crowded. Maybe it's because I'm still new to comic books, but I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters in this issue. Also, it was kind of difficult keeping track on which character is on which side of the battle.

I did enjoy the idea of the two Earths fighting each other, which makes me wonder if there's a possibility to have two versions of each superhero in the final battle. I am curious to see who wins in the end, so I plan on reading the entire series.