"Waiting On" Unbreakable

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating!

This week I am excited for...

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed? (From Goodreads)

So we're going from apocalypse to human trafficking?  Interesting twist there.  I like how it seems like we're going to get another countdown style book.  More importantly though, I can't wait for some more Ben.  Check it out April 23rd, 2013.  

Much love, Samantha 

Top Ten Tuesday: The Auto-Buy Edition

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful ladies over at

The Broke And The Bookish!

This week, the topic is...
Top Ten Authors on My "Auto-Buy" List

This is a fun topic.  My list is actually quite long, so I'm going with the authors who I would drop everything to go buy their books on release day.  These are the authors where eBooks just won't suffice, and I need a hard copy for my overflowing bookshelf.  The authors I have a hard time sharing for fear that I may never get my book back (I'm still crying over the fact that I can't remember who I loaned impulse to back in high school...).

Richelle Mead

Cassandra Clare 

Julie Kagawa

Jennifer L. Armentrout

J. R. Ward

Tahereh Mafi

Veronica Roth

Veronica Rossi

Beth Revis

Ellen Hopkins

BAM.  Easiest list ever.  Who's on your auto-buy list?

Much love, Samantha

Book Review: Rebel Heart by Moira Young

Published October 30th, 2012
Margaret K. McElderry 
432 pages (Hardcover)

It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.

What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion. (From Goodreads)

Rebel Heart was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012 (yes, this review is a little late..).  Maybe my expectations were a little too high, because it ended up falling a little short for me.

Problem #1: Not enough Jack.  I'm not saying Moira Young had to go and make everything easy for Jack and Saba, but come on.  There is so little Jack in this book!  Half of the fun of Blood Red Road was Jack's attitude and wit.  Now, I likely could of dealt with this but...

Problem #2: Saba has gone all sorts of crazy.  I really couldn't follow her for a good half the book.  She was all over the place with grief and turmoil.  Then there was that other crazy chick.  Yeah, I was just as lost as Saba was.

The plot itself had serious potential.  You've got the fam jam headed west, all trying to deal with everything that had just happened, and Jack off running is own mission, with a promise to return.  That could head in some awesome directions.  And I did like what really happened to leave us with no Jack for the whole book, but everything in the middle didn't get it for me.

Hopefully, this was just a case of the sophomore slump.  I did still enjoy parts of it, and fully recommend Blood Red Road.  Rebel Heart just didn't quite do it for me.  I will just have to sit here and wait, with slightly lowered expectations, for book three of the series, which isn't expected to be released until 2014.

Much love, Samantha
PS. I will say that I am loving these new covers though!

Book Review: The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Published February 12th, 2013
Razorbill 
432 pages (Hardcover)

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next. (From Goodreads)

While I did enjoy The Indigo Spell, this may be my least favourite book from Richelle Mead's VA and Bloodlines series.  I can even give you an exact reason why...

Action.  There was not enough of it.  Sydney was finally starting to make a name for herself as a badass, and then this happened.  For a series of books built off of hand-to-hand combat against evil vampires and the more recent development of magic, very little happened in this book.  I won't even start on the underwhelming Marcus Finch.  The guy is just a big talker.

The saving grace here was the fact that I am so deeply committed to this series that virtually nothing could turn me off.  She could have killed Adrian and I would have been pissed but still loved the book.

The building romantic themes was what I enjoyed.  It's nice to see Sydney becoming a little more human (for lack of a better word...).  The ending was also well done, and sets up for what should be an interesting plot in The Fiery Heart.

Overall, I was underwhelmed but not angry with the book.  I just wanted more kickass.

Much love, Samantha
PS.  Thank you Richelle Mead for the quick Rose and Dimitri cameo.  I appreciate it greatly.

"Waiting On" Infinityglass

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating!

This week I am excited for...

The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -­have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time trav­elers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn't an object. It's a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last? (From Goodreads)

I haven't actually read Timepiece yet, but look at this cover?!  IT'S SO CREEPY!  No joke, here is a case of me judging a book by it's cover.  Imagine walking into a room and seeing this?  I would scream then go find a stick (#FarmKidProblems).  

I'm going to have to get reading, since Infinityglass is out July 9th, 2013.  And I need to figure out what the frig' is happening...

So, what are you waiting on?

Much love, Samantha

Top Ten Tuesday: Paranormal Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful ladies over at

The Broke And The Bookish!

This week, the topic is...
Top Ten Characters in the "Paranormal" Genre

Fun fact: I watch a lot of ghost hunting shows.  I've loved the paranormal since a young age.  To this day, I would love to be a paranormal investigator or cryptozoologist (I'd specialize in Bigfoot and his cousins).  Here are my fave characters from paranormal books (most of these will shock no one).

Rose Hathaway

Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead

Daemon Black

The Lux Series - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Isabelle Lightwood

The Mortal Instruments series - Cassandra Clare

Magnus Bane

The Mortal Instruments series - Cassandra Clare

Sabine

Soul Screamers series - Rachel Vincent

Vishous

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series - J.R. Ward

Rhage

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series - J.R. Ward

Ethan Chase

The Lost Prince - Julie Kagawa

Kaidan Rowe

Sweet Evil - Wendy Higgins

Michael Glass

The Morganville Vampires - Rachel Caine

How do you feel about all this epic-ness?  Anyone you would have added?

Much love, Samantha

Book Review: Invisible Sun by David Macinnis Gill

Published March 27th, 2012
Greenwillow Books
384 pages (Hardcover)

Obsessed with MUSE, the clandestine project that created the AI in his brain, mercenary chief Durango draws the ire of the government when he steals part of the secret project data and hightails it with his lieutenant, Vienne, to an ancient monastery. There, he meets the monks who raised Vienne from an orphan and also encounters soldiers working for his old nemesis, the crime lord Mr. Lyme. Lyme controls the territory surrounding the monastery, as well as the datacenters housing the rest of MUSE. Undeterred, Durango and Vienne pull off an ill-advised raid on Lyme’s complex. During the ensuing battle, however, Vienne is captured, and Durango is beaten and left for dead. Now, wounded and shaken, Durango must overcome bounty hunters, treacherous terrain, a full scale civil war, and a warrior monk with an eye for vengeance (not to mention his own guilt, self-doubt, and broken arm) to find Vienne and free her from Archibald, a brain-washing pyromaniac with a Napoleon complex who wants to rule Mars--and kill Durango in the process. (From Goodreads)

I'm going to call this "sci-fi action for people that don't like science fiction".

In this sequel to Black Hole Sun (review), Durango and Vienne continue to be complete and total badasses, until it all backfires and Vienne ends up in the enemies hands.  I don't think there is anything quiet as painful as watching one of your favourite protagonist get beaten and broken down.  We gain a little more back story on Vienne and Durango in this book, and it explores their relationship a little deeper.  I like that the romance still didn't overpower the rest of the story, but was instead a nice undertone that fueled it.

In Black Hole Sun, it took me a long time to get used to the idea of Mimi.  This time round, I grew to really enjoy her.  The banter between her and Durango added a nice layer of humour to all the action that takes place.

I still don't get some of the minor details of the story, like why we are on Mars.  I think I missed something somewhere along the line.  However, the technological aspects of the story are well explained, which is greatly appreciated by a sci-fi newbie like myself.

If you're one to shy away from science fiction, I recommend giving this series a try.  Shadows of the Sun, book three in the series, will be out late March, and you know I'll be checking it out.

Much love, Samantha