Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday #71: Bound by Prophecy by Stormy Smith


Happy Wednesday, fellow book lovers! This week's "can't wait to read" is:


Bound by Prophecy
by Stormy Smith
Publication Date: November 12, 2015
Amelia Bradbury is finally free from Queen Julia and Cresthaven, but she isn’t safe yet. The Keeper power runs rampant inside her and it will take an ultimate act of selflessness to contain the darkness that threatens Amelia’s sanity and the future of the Immortal race.

Aidan Montgomery refuses to give up on Amelia. Once she’s rescued from the Keeper’s hold, he intends to prove his love is more than a side effect of the prophecy, even if doing so leads him away from his pack and on a journey that will irrevocably change them both.

When the past and the present collide and the shocking origin of the Immortals is revealed, Amelia and Aidan are forced back to Cresthaven to end a war that never should have started.
This series has been amazing so far! I have been lucky enough to read both the previous books before they were published, which is making this wait pretty awful! But... soon!


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday #65: author duos


Today's Topic: 
 Top Ten Five Author Duos You'd 
LOVE To See Write A Book Together


So... this is a really hard one. I haven't read many books written by multiple authors, but the ones I have read have been great! I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'm going to try really hard to come up with a few for today's list.


  



  



  



  



  



Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Monday, October 12, 2015

ARC Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff


Title: Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 608

Add to Goodreads
Reviews for book 2 & book 3

//I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review//

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

I love that Jay Kristoff calls Illuminae "a YA Sci-Fi... thing," because that's exactly what it was. This book has been on my radar ever since I saw who the other author was. Even though I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, Amie Kaufman's Starbound series is absolutely amazing and I will read anything she ever writes. Ever. I didn't know what to expect from this one, though. The synopsis sounds awesome, but it really doesn't reveal much. All I knew was that it would be really long, really weird, and really awesome. And I was really right. I feel like I can't say too much because this is a really easy book to spoil, but I'll do what I can!

This book starts off weird. It's a little jarring to be thrown directly into documents and emails and interviews. At first I didn't know if I'd be able to adjust - it was just way different than what I normally read. The writing style did make the reading go by insanely fast. I think I finished this book in two days in between a trip to Disney and 18 hours of driving. Once I started, it was really hard to stop!

Kady and Ezra are the two main characters throughout this reading experience (because it really is an experience). They are recently broken up and trapped on two different ships with only intermittent (and probably illegal) email and IM communications between them. It's really incredible that a relationship and a romance was able to exist in this kind of book, but my heart was totally invested in theirs. I loved what these two built amidst such dire circumstances.

Illuminae has it all - action, adventure, thrills, and romance. There was so much suspense building up to the ending... Artificial Intelligence is an area that both excites and terrifies me, and this book really plays on those fears. The AI is really frightening but is also sentient enough to have a distinct personality. Somehow the AI became a main character in Illuminae - one I actually found myself feeling for. And you know Amie Kaufman had to throw in one of her heart-stopping, tear-jerking moments that she is quickly becoming famous for (at least in my mind).

Amie Kaufman has struck once again and solidified my devotion to her beautiful books. I say again: I will read anything this woman writes. I've never read anything else by Jay Kristoff, but I certainly will be keeping an eye out for him in the future! Definitely check this one out no matter what your feelings are on Sci-Fi! I really doubt you'll be disappointed!


Sunday, October 11, 2015

Weekly Recap: 10/4 - 10/10



My Super Exciting Life 

It has been a hectic two weeks! I was out of town last Friday through Monday, but got stranded in Florida because of flooding and couldn't come home until this Wednesday. I found an (amazing) apartment in Orlando that I can't wait to move into and spent a couple unexpected days at Disney World. That's the good news!

Unfortunately, I found out on Thursday that I (probably) have Lyme disease and I'm now being treated for it and generally feeling like I got hit by a truck. Luckily, it was caught within a month of the apparent bite (I didn't even know I was bitten), so this treatment should clear it up completely with no long-term effects. If I'm a little more scarce than usual around the blogosphere, it's just because I don't feel up to being online. My reading speed has really slowed also because my brain isn't really working at normal capacity, but I'm hoping this is just an initial reaction to antibiotics and that I'll be back to normal soon!


New Books

Purchased:



From the library:

      


For review:




In Case You Missed It

Monday book review of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
The topic was DNF'd books & series for Top Ten Tuesday
I featured Revenge and the Wild for Waiting on Wednesday
The topic was hated books for Feature & Follow Friday
On Saturday I discussed being stranded at Disney World



This Week I Read

  



Upcoming Reviews


Saturday, October 10, 2015

Disney for the weekend: stranded


Welcome back to Disney for the Weekend!

This feature is all about Disney and I'll be posting things from Disney movie reviews to reviews of Disney restaurants.

Today I'm sharing a mini-trip report from a partially impromptu Disney trip I ended up taking earlier this week!

For those of you who don't know, I'm getting ready to move to Orlando in the very near future. Last Friday, I went with my husband (Coda) and my brother (Michael) to look at apartments. We drove down on Friday and arrived in Orlando that evening. But before the apartment search began we had a little fun planned! That night we had plans for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!


We got to the Magic Kingdom around 6pm and headed straight into the park. Michael had only been to Magic Kingdom once before and that trip lasted only a couple hours, so I was really excited to show him the ropes! Our first stop was for dinner. Michael grabbed a meal from Casey's and Coda and I had chicken pot pie at Columbia Harbor House.

Once our bellies were full, we jumped right to the rides! We rode the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World, Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, Space Mountain, and the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

  

We also did a ton of trick-or-treating, landing an entire backpack crammed full of candy (the good kind)! We saw the parade twice and the Hallowishes fireworks show was completely amazing! We ended up leaving around 1am, not getting to our room (first time using AirBNB) and to sleep until 2 in the morning!


The rest of the weekend was spent searching for apartments (we found one) and visiting Ikea for the first time ever! We spent some time at Disney Springs having Ghirardelli ice cream and watching the street performers and just having a generally awesome time! But then the hurricane happened and completely flooded all the roads leading back home to North Carolina. We were stranded.

Michael ended up buying a plane ticket home on Monday because he had to be at work and Coda and I were able to get a room at Disney World using our timeshare since so many people had to cancel due to weather. As far as places to be stranded, Disney honestly wasn't that bad! On Tuesday, we checked into Saratoga Springs Resort. We had a great view of Disney Springs from our balcony!



Once we were settled, we went to Epcot where the Food and Wine Festival was taking place. Coda tried some kind of honey craft beer and I had a Dole Whip with rum! Delicious! We rode Test Track, Spaceship Earth, The Seas With Nemo and Friends, Ellen's Energy Adventure, and Journey Into Imagination. We grabbed a quick dinner at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China and called it an early night. 

On Wednesday, we checked the weather and roads before heading down to the desk and booking another night, since it was apparent we couldn't drive home that day either. Then we hopped a bus to Hollywood Studios. The only rides we went on were Tower of Terror and The Great Movie Ride.


We had a salad at ABC Commissary and spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around and taking in the sights. We headed back to the room to relax (we were exhausted) and ordered pizza for dinner. The evening was spent roaming around Disney Springs, just a short walk away from our resort, before going to bed early in preparation for the next day's journey home.


We woke up bright and early on Thursday and got on the road home. We had to take a detour around the large chunk of I-95 that was closed, costing us about an extra two hours on the way home. We finally made it home and only saw one really scary river that was WAY too close to the bridge we were driving on. Our dogs were thrilled to see us and we were thrilled to be home, but we weren't too torn up over our two days stranded at Disney World!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Feature & Follow Friday #57: A hated book



Happy Friday, fellow book lovers! Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The goal of Feature & Follow is to meet new bloggers, make friends, and gain readers.


This Week's Question: 
Name a book you hated. 


How interesting that this fell in the same week as the top ten & series books I DNF'd... Anyway, a book I've hated (and finished)?


As always, I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion, but I couldn't stand Feed. I hated the characters and the story... You can read my review here if you're interested!