Sunday Post - 169 & Stacking the Shelves - 123

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~ It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

I cannot believe I am literally down to counting down the days instead of weeks until Baby Girl arrives. It blows my mind that I'm going to actually take my baby home from the hospital. In other news, Husband and I bought a new car this week. Then Friday night, we went on a date night. We went out to eat and to see The Martian, which I really enjoyed (haven't read the book in case you're wondering). We thought this might be our last opportunity for a date night before the baby comes. Plus we were celebrating Husband's birthday, which was yesterday. We did house work most of the day yesterday, and I prepped some freezer meals. But last night, we celebrated his birthday and our nephew's birthday with his side of the family. (Lots of October birthdays.)

THIS PAST WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of A Thousand Nights by EK Johnston ( Stars)
Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Things I Want to Stop/Have Stopped
Wednesday: Waiting on Unforgiven (Fallen, # 5) by Lauren Kate
Thursday: All Things Halloween Review of Deliverance (Defiance, # 3) by CJ Redwine ( Stars)
Friday: All Things Halloween DNF Review of The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, # 3) by Julie Kagawa

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

Monday: All Things Halloween Review of Ignite Me (Shatter Me, # 3) by Tahereh Mafi
Tuesday: Top Ten Author Duos I Want to See
Wednesday: Waiting on Wednesday
Thursday: All Things Halloween Review of The One (The Selection, # 3) by Kiera Cass

Don’t forget to sign up for the 2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge! You have until December 15, 2015 to sign up. Each month there will be a giveaway for those participating with an end of the year giveaway too! Click on the picture below or the link above to find out more!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

The Fill-In Boyfriend

By: Kasie West

Expected Publication: May 5th 2015 by HarperTeen

352 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Borrowed from library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

That's it for my shelves and recaps of my past and upcoming week. What did you add to your shelves this week? Any bookish news you want to talk about? Let me know!

All Things Halloween DNF Review - The Iron Queen

The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, # 3)

By: Julie Kagawa

Published: January 25th 2011 by Harlequin Teen

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fairies, Magic, Urban Fantasy

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The New York Times Bestseller

My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

I guess Julie Kagawa and I just aren’t meant to mesh. And this is a shame because I really love the covers and idea behind her newest series Talon. I’ve read 4 previous books by her and while there wasn’t much wrong with them, I just didn’t find myself hooked into them either. I read The Iron King and The Iron Daughter. I was interested in and enjoyed The Iron King, but The Iron Daughter felt like it would take FOREVER for me to get through. At the end of The Iron Daughter I really felt apathetic toward the series. I mean it wasn’t awful, but I just found myself in a place where I didn’t really care much about the characters or what happens one way or the other. At this point, I’m halfway through the series and I own the final two books. I feel a deep desire to at least try to complete the series. Yet The Iron Queen wasn’t calling to me at all. My friend Paula finished the series and said that she felt like The Iron Queen was the best of the series. So I figured I just needed to press on.

I’ve found that some books that I don’t enjoy spending my limited reading time on are much more enjoyable to me in audiobook versions where I can multitask and therefore not really feel like I’m “wasting” valuable reading time because this time would be spent doing some chore or other and now I’m killing two birds with one stone. Often times, books that seem to dddddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggg in print form really pick up pace in the audio medium. So I went in search of The Iron Queen on audiobook. Of course, the library didn’t have it, but I did find on YouTube (although I can't find it now when I'd like to link to it) a random (to me) girl reading The Iron Queen. She’s obviously not a professional and this was not a professional quality video, but it served my purposes. Unfortunately, it cuts off around the 55% mark (I believe). Since I do own the kindle version of this book, I said “well I can finish reading it from here.” But no. No I can’t. I made it an extra 9% to a whopping 64% total completed, and I had to put it down again.

Like I said, I can’t really pinpoint that there’s anything wrong with this book or the series or even Julie Kagawa’s writing except that I find myself disconnected from the characters and disconnected from the story. I find that I don’t care what happens, how things end, or that all of the characters survive or end up with their happy endings. I just…don’t…care. At all. I really did have all the intentions in the world of picking this book back up since I’ve read 64%, but after months and months of putting it off, considering picking it back up, and coming back to the conclusion that I’m perfectly okay with not knowing how things end, I decided to finally officially mark The Iron Queen as a DNF.

Have you read The Iron Queen? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my All Things Halloween event--a month of paranormal, supernatural, mystery/thriller, etc reviews and books.

All Things Halloween Review - Deliverance

Deliverance (Courier's Daughter/Defiance, # 3)

By: CJ Redwine

Published: August 26th 2014 by Balzer + Bray

480

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Fantasy

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Everything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.

Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.

Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.

But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?

It took me entirely too long to read Deliverance. *hangs head in shame* This is one of those times when I got request happy and didn’t really think things through. Deliverance was available for review, but I hadn’t even read Defiance or Deception when I requested it, even though both were already on my TBR list. None of these books are short. And none of them were books that I flew through. I’ve since learned that requesting the last book in the series for review before I’ve read any of the previous books is not very smart (you’d think I would have known that up front). But anyway…I trudged through. Despite having enjoyed these books, they did take a lot out of me to read due to length and content.

Deception left us where Rachel has been kidnapped by Ian. Not exactly the best scenario. Logan and Willow are held prisoner in Lankensire shortly after, and Quinn is almost killed while in pursuit of Rachel. There’s a lot going on, and slim to none of it is good. The Commander is camped outside Lankeshire demanding Logan and Rachel’s punishment while also demanding the device he believes has been stolen from him. The only way out of Lankenshire without Rowansmark knowing about their involvement and putting everyone in danger is for Logan to allow himself to get captured by the Commander making an uneasy and temporary alliance.

There is so much that goes on in this book, yet at the time it didn’t feel like it because the book felt so long to me. Logan has to travel to at least two other city-states seeking alliances to build an army strong enough to take on Rowansmark. And Rachel learns that Rowansmark is really just a trap for Logan and instead of escaping on the way, she’s going to have to survive the entire trip to Rowansmark and disable the trap before Logan gets killed.

If you’re all about romance and kissing books, then Deliverance isn’t the right book for you. Really this entire series isn’t. Rachel and Logan spend about 85% of the book apart as they are on completely different paths with missions all their own. And that’s one of the reasons why I struggled with this one myself. I don’t have to read about romance all of the time, but that definitely helps drive a story for me. I did enjoy the moral of redemption and forgiveness that permeated the entire series and especially Deliverance. It’s always nice to read a story that has a point I can get behind.

Favorite quotes:

-Now I know that sometimes, for better or for worse, people aren’t who they seem to be. Sometimes the thing you think will fix everything ruins it instead. And sometimes what hurts you has to tear you apart before it makes you stronger.

-“Justice and revenge aren’t the same thing.”

-Justice requires sacrifice.

-“I’m of the opinion that any leader who cares about his failings is a leader worth following.”

-“Healing is the hardest thing you’ll ever do.”

-Better to be honest about my fear than to see it come true.

-“Girls like to feel special. Protected. But there’s a fine line between feeling protected and feeling like a fence post being marked by a stray dog.”

I enjoyed Deliverance, but I won’t say that it blew me away. It didn’t quite suck me in. I really read it in 10% increments. And even there at the end I found myself almost apathetic and just wanting to finally be finished with the story that seemed to drag on a little too long. Yet there was nothing much wrong with it at the same time. I’m giving Deliverance 3.5 Stars. Have you read Deliverance? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my All Things Halloween event--a month of paranormal, supernatural, mystery/thriller, etc reviews and books.

Waiting on Unforgiven

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Unforgiven (Fallen, # 5)

By: Lauren Kate

Expected Publication: November 10th 2015 by Delacorte Press

400 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Angels, Supernatural, Demons

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--It’s the book FALLEN fans have been waiting for: Cam’s story, the brooding, bad-boy dark angel readers love.

High school can be hell.

Cam knows what it’s like to be haunted. He’s spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he can’t stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes.

Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails…there’s a special place in Hell just for him.

Tick-tock.

Spread your wings and cry as bad boy dark angel Cam finally reveals his anguished heart in the epic new FALLEN novel, UNFORGIVEN.

So normally I don't feature a book in a series past where I've actually read, but even though I have read Rapture yet, Unforgiven sounds like it would be fine to read as a standalone based off the description. Besides, I've always been intrigued by Cam. I want his story. What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Top Ten Bookish Things I Have Stopped/Want to Stop

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Bookish Things I Have Stopped/Want to Stop.

Already Stopped

1. Forcing myself to finish books I’m not enjoying.
2. Requesting every book that has a pretty cover.
3. Adding books to my TBR list because the author is popular even when I’ve not enjoyed his/her books in the past.
4. Trying to be the first one of my friends group to read every book ever published.

Want to Stop

5. Reading books that other people try to force on me.
6. Caring what other people think.
7. Requesting books that I’m unsure about.
8. Downloading freebies that I’m never going to read.
9. Buying physical books because I have no more space to store them.
10. Trying to exceed my goals. (Achieving my goals is great…but for some reason I always want to exceed them which just adds stress.)

What ten bookish things do you want to stop? Let me know!