Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult

Grade: 95% or A
Buy It: Amazon

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Thoughts:: 
I will admit, when I accepted this book for review I thought that I wouldn't like it. I read the synopsis and was only slightly interested. Lately things with a mystical nature bore and annoy me, but I was willing to take the chance and hope that this book would prove me wrong.

Once I started reading and learned more about the story, I got very interested, extremely fast. The reality of wishes in the book made me never want to put it down. The plot was very complex and never left me bored. My mind was constantly thinking and trying to work out the mysteries that were put before me. To me that makes a book so much better, when you actually have to and WANT to spend a generous amount of time pondering the complexities and mysteries of a novel. It must be hard for authors to continue to try and bring something new to the table, but Taylor accomplished this.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I'm a stickler when it comes to characters, and that's where a lot of the books that I review lose points. I get annoyed by characters easily which can quickly ruin a book for me. Fortunately, these characters were pretty tolerable. Taylor did a great job of developing the characters naturally, so even though some romance was involved, I wouldn't say that anything seemed rushed or fake.

The only thing that I really wanted to do after finishing this book was to read the next one! There is no way that there can't be a sequel. This novel was a great opening to more books. A lot of times authors tend to drag out a story so it turns into a trilogy, but you won't have to worry with this one.

Overall I had a great time reading this book especially about its original ideas and thought provoking storyline. I'd recommend it to believers in magic, or just those who appreciate a book that brings something new to the table.

Waiting on Wednesday

The books that I am waiting on this week are...


Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins-- May 1st

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil.

Anna, a tender-hearted southern girl, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger,but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip forces Anna and Kai to face the realitythat hope and love are not options for their kind. When it's time for Anna to confront her demons, will she choose to embrace her halo or her horns?


Shadows Cast by Stars by Catherine Knutsson-- June 5th


Two hundred years from now, the great cities of the west coast of the United Americas are under water. Blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet – especially the blood of aboriginal peoples, for it contains antigens that protect them from the plagues that ravage the rest of the world.

Sixteen year old Cassandra Mecredi might be aboriginal by blood, but without a totem animal, she cannot make sense of her visions or walk the paths of the spirit world. When her family is forced to leave their reservation, they flee east to the Island: a mysterious and idyllic territory free from the depredations of industry and sickness and under the control of the Band, a group of guerrilla warriors. There, Cassandra will become the apprentice to a wise woman, fall in love, and find her destiny when the creatures of spirit claim her as their own. For the spirit world is angry... and they have chosen Cassandra to be their voice and instrument

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Read That Were Out of My Comfort Zone

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's top ten is....

Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone (whether I liked them or not). In no particular order...

1. The Plague by Albert Camus
2. Centuries of June by Keith Donohue
3. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
4. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
5. The Debs by Susan McBride
6. A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion
7. Perfect on Paper by Maria Murnane
8. Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
9. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
10. I Am J by Cris Beam

Cyberbully

Title: Cyberbully

Director: Charles Binamé

Writer: Teena Booth
Starring: Emily Osment, Kay Panabaker and Meaghan Rath
Grade: 78% or C+

My Thoughts::
When I first saw the previews for this movie on abc family, I was interested but our cable situation at the time was sketchy, and I didn't care enough to concoct a scheme to be able to watch it. Instead, I totally forget about it until I'm flipping threw the new arrivals on netflix.I was tired of trying to choose a movie, so I picked this one.

I wasn't expecting the movie to be that good because of the fact that it's a made for tv movie, but I often enjoy lifetime movies, so I wasn't too down on it. After about 30 minutes in, I was hooked. There were no more bathroom breaks for me. Taylor was such a real and average character that I think any teenage girl, or even boy, could relate to in some way. She was nice, funny, and funny, but also insecure and found herself lingering on what other people thought of her. If you didn't identify with Taylor, then you most likely identified with one of her friends...or even the bullies. The writers of this movie obviously wanted the viewers to see all kinds of people in this situation.

We all know that cyber-bullying occurs, but it's easy to ignore it and pretend that it doesn't. This movie was a real eye opener. Sure, at times it got a little to lecture and lesson intense. It was obviously trying to give teens ways to solve the problem, and the mom was running around talking about the law. That stuff got a bit annoying, but it was probably helpful to those who needed to hear it. Even though I really liked the characters and who they were, the actors did a less than stellar job. The emotions felt pretty false and the "mean girls" were laughable. Only Taylor and her mom seemed to pull it together.

Overall I liked the movie for what it was trying to do, even if they rubbed it in too hard and the acting could have been better. I would recommend this movie to people who think bullying is a thing of the past.