Winner: Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop

And the winner of the Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hope (a copy of ttyl by Lauren Myracle and Blood Oath by T.L. Clarke) is.....

Summer McDaniel

Congrats Summer!  I have already e-mailed you. If you don't reply within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Acquired: Won
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 80% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

My Thoughts::
It happened to me once again guys. I had the wrong idea of what this book was about. For some reason I had it in my head as a dystopian read. Corrupt government, forcing people to race in these deadly races and there was no choice about it. The summary just sounded like this. I couldn't understand until I read the book why people would choose to be in the races year after year. Since I love dystopian and that was what I was hoping for, I was a little let down. But not for long.

Once I got used to what the book was ACTUALLY about, I started to enjoy it. Learning about the island culture was really cool and I was able to see why people would choose to be a part of the races even thought they were so dangerous. Though I couldn't help but be mad when people didn't want to include Puck. Tradition is important, but I didn't see a reason for them to not what women to be involved. This added to the conflict in the story and made it more interesting. Even though we do get a little bit of history, I wish we were told more about the water horses and what the world is like.

Puck and Sean were both really great characters. It's easy for me to read about characters and make connections to their likeliness of characters in other books. But it was harder this time. The dynamic of their lives were more old fashioned along with their interests. Plus I've never read a book like this before. Puck's younger brother was so adorable and I loved whenever he was there. I also enjoyed the American horse buyer from Sean's chapters. It's rare to find side characters that you can connect with and get to know along with the main characters.

Overall I think that the plot was new, the love felt real, and the characters were genuine. Though a bit boring at times, I liked this book.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Summer TBR List

 

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

This week's top ten is...

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR List

1. A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger. I'm already hearing good things about this book and I can't wait until next month when I plan to devour it!

2. Hollowland by Amanda Hocking. This book sounds so interesting and it was free, which is fantastic. I'm afraid that I'll forget about it and it'll fall to the wayside, so I really want to read it this summer before things get too busy.

3. Vertigo by Kristina Dunker. I plan to read this one in a week or so. It sounds so creepy and I love that kind of thing in the summer.

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I want to read this book as soon as possible! But I'm trying to be smarter with my reading so I don't get behind on review books, so it'll have to wait until the end of summer.

5. The Calling by Kelley Armstrong. I love these books soooo much! As soon as I can I'm going to get right into this.

6. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz. I'm doing a good job getting caught up with this series and I hope to get a couple steps closer to the last book this summer.

7. Gone by Lisa McMann. It has taken me soooo long to finally finish this trilogy and I'm ready to do it!

8. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I'm working hard to finish series that I've started, but I can't help but want to start this very much loved one as well.

9. Revived by Cat Patrick. I read Forgotten last summer, and I am excited to read this newest book buy Patrick this summer!

10. Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty. I know I'm getting through these books slowly, but I like feeling as if I've grown up a little between each book.

The Line by Teri Hall

Title: The Line
Author: Teri Hall
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 71% or C-
Buy It: Amazon

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

My Thoughts::
This was one of those books that I saw all over the place and became very very interested in. But because I rarely have extra money to spend on books, it got pushed to the wayside and lingered a long time in my Amazon wishlist. Eventually though I got Christmas money to spend and used it to buy books, including this one. But since I've wanted it for so long, it was in my wishlist for so long, and it took me so long to read it, I mostly forgot what it was about. This wasn't good.

My mind was all hyped up for this great dystopian book that a lot of people seemed to enjoy, but it kind of fell flat for me. I can usually jump right into books like this and speed through them. They are what I use to pull myself out of a reading slump. But this one was just so dull...almost boring. The world building was great, at least when it was actually mentioned. Thank goodness her mom was so intense with the history lessons, or we wouldn't have learned anything. Nothing really happens until the end of the book. It was pretty short so I thought it would have a faster flow. But mostly it was just a build up for the next book.

Rachel was a fine main character. Nothing she did made me dislike her, but I didn't really like her that much either. She added to the whole "meh" ness of the entire book. I will admit that there were interesting bits here and there where I would get excited, but they were too few and far between. By the time that I was almost finished I didn't want to read the next book. BUT..then there was the ending..And I think the ending intrigued me enough to read what happens next.

Overall I think that The Line had a very interesting world, I just wish that we would have seen a lot more of it. The characters and the plot didn't really do it for me but the ending made it worth it.