BREAKING NEWS....to me anyways

So either I've been living under a literary rock these past few months, or this is new news! Cassandra Clare, one of my all time favorite authors has announced that there will be two..Yes TWO.. new series (spinoffs) from the original Mortal Instruments series! I cannot be more excited! The Dark Artifices, a set of three books, focuses a few years after the ending of City of Heavenly Fire. Book 1, Lady Midnight, is set to release in March 2016! RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! Furthermore, she is continuing on with the Infernal Devices spin off! The Last Hours will have three books as well and there is not a release date posted for the foreseeable future.

They have already released a synopsis for Lady Midnight and listed it as being 768 pages!!! The official date is March 8, 2016!


"The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses. Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions… Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it? Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series."


I am so beyond excited for these new installments of my favorite series!


Enjoy!
-Bookworm

Next Up. . .

Alright! After Snow Like Ashes, I have a few books readily available. I reserve the right to change the order in which I read them, but as of now, it looks like this:


1. The Young Elites-Marie Lu
2. The Death Code-Lindsay Cummings
3. The 5th Wave-Rick Yancey
4. The Book Thief-Markus Zusak


There's a ton more on my list but these are in the near future!


Enjoy!
-Bookworm

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

This week I started another newbie novel, Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch. I am about half way through and I am really enjoying it! I must be in a castles and knights mood lately because this book is about lost kingdoms and handsome princes...with a twist of course. Raasch's characters are so relatable and easy to like...and hate. Its easy to follow and keeps me interested. Here's a synopsis:

"A striking fantasy tale of dark magic, dangerous politics, and discovering your true self—perfect for fans of Game of Thrones, An Ember in the Ashes and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now the Winterians' only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter's magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.Orphaned as an infant during Winter's defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, Winter's future king—she would do anything to help Winter rise to power again.So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter's magic, Meira decides to go after it herself—only to find herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics—and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own."


If you are enjoying a miserably hot summer laying by the pool such as I, this is the perfect book for some excitement!


Enjoy!
-Bookworm


P.S. The next book, Ice Like Fire, is set to release October 13th 2015!!

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Alright! So Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard was my first summer read! It took just about all of June to  get through it due to my being in a wedding and all. But alas! I finished it! It was pretty good and as I was searching for the synopsis on Barnes and Noble I was trying to think of what to compare it to. I think I would say its somewhere between Marie Lu's Legend and Kristen Cashore's Graceling. It wasn't my favorite book ever, however I really enjoyed it...enough to give the second one a try. Here's the synopsis:

"Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal."


If you're in the mood for a good twist on kings and courts, give this a try. I believe this is Aveyard's first book so support!


Enjoy!
-Bookworm


P.S. The next book, Glass Sword, is set for release in February of 2016!!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Hey y'all! My summer has kicked off to a crazy start with the wedding of my best friend! Being her maid of honor left little time for posting or reading so I'm currently playing catch-up. I read this book as part of my Brit Lit curriculum and it was really good! It kind of had a Jodi Piccoult meets John Green feel to me. It is told from the perspective of a little boy who has special needs. It is seriously so good that it only took me two days to finish it. There wasn't a whole lot I could find synopsis-wise but here's a little snip-it.

"Christopher Boone is a fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a great deal about math and very little about human beings. When he finds his neighbor's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his world upside down."


This is such an easy read, however I will advise that there is some strong language.


Enjoy!
-Bookworm

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Hey guys! So irony of all ironies, one of the books for my current English class (the very ones I just said I wasn't that psyched to read) turns out to be one of the best post apocalyptic / dystopian-ish novels I have ever read. This book was published in 2006 and it has been on my 'to read' list for a really long time.

The Road.

You must all read this book. Immediately.

I am not going to lie to you and say this book is action packed and super exciting because it really isn't. However, it literally chills you to the bones as you read it. His vivid descriptions have changed the way I look at the world.

"A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation."

I've heard that the movie is not very good, but I have not seen it myself to tell you. However I think that the father is played by an actor from The Lord of the Rings. Again, not positive.

Anyways! You guys seriously go check this book out!

-Enjoy!
Bookworm

I'm Still Alive and Sending Lots of Love!

Hey y'all! I know its been months since my last posting! My semester is more crazy than I could ever have anticipated! I am reading about two books a week for my three English classes and while they are good in their own rite, they are not the kinds of books I am really itching to read. All semester I have been slowly accumulating books to read over my vacation which is even more slowly approaching. I so far have about 25 books on the official summer reading list, and a few that I may tack on if I have time, which hopefully I will. Last summer I managed to read about 17 books, however I had a job which had a LOT of down time to do said reading. Finals are in a month and if I make it that far without crapping out from exhaustion, then I will try to post my intended reading list so y'all can follow along! Thanks for being patient while my life goes in a million different directions! You guys rock! Stay tuned for a post about my current read!

Bookworm

It's Finally Here! Shutter By Courtney Alameda

Hey all!! A few months back I told you about my amazing friend and her new release SHUTTER. I asked you all to preorder it, partly because she's my friend and partly because I love supporting fledgling authors!  SHUTTER was released on February 3rd in the US. I had the opportunity to go to Courtney's California launch event in Palo Alto and it was so fun! She gave an amazing presentation about her inspirations and her writing/publishing process! She signed my book and gave out awesome bracelets and bookmarks! I just finished SHUTTER last night and I can honestly say (totally unbiased of course) that this book is one of the best things to come out of YA literature in a while! It is so creative and unique! It didn't really remind me of anything which made it that much better! If you don't know anything about SHUTTER, its based around the story of DRACULA. You don't have to have read DRACULA to read this book, but it helps to have some background knowledge because she often refers to it. ANYWAYS, it is about the descendants of the characters in DRACULA who are a part of a present day ghost hunting organization. If you've read the MORTAL INSTRUMENTS by Cassandra Clare, the structure of Courtney's organization is similar to that of the Clave just to give you an idea. This book goes from 0 to 100 in the first page and doesn't slow down at all! It is dripping with action and fight scenes! It has an amazing cast of characters, the main being a strong female protagonist which is definitely nice to see. Courtney just announced yesterday that she has been signed for a separate project and was given a two book deal with Feiwel & Friends. Her first book of this new set is due out next year sometime and based on the theme its going to be just as good!

Seriously guys, give this book a read. It will blow your mind!

Here is the official blurp for SHUTTER:

"Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat — a girl　who　sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With　an　analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain.　As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends　will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week."

-Enjoy!

Bookworm