Book Spotlight: Falling From Eternity (+Giveaway)

Falling From Eternity by Megan Duncan

For William, life was as wicked and malicious as the beast he was trying destroy. Decades spent living a life of extravagance, domination and ravenous hunger haunted him. But when you live forever, the past never stays buried. And that which wishes to control you, will never let you go. William thought he found his escape, his one and only love, but the thing he fears the most could be the only thing that saves them. Or, it could doom them all.

 INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

2 E-books of the book (thanks to the author!)

Winners of the Falling from Eternity giveaway are... Mirlou & KimVa!! Congrats!!

Movie Review: Abduction

A thriller about a teen who finds himself in mortal danger after realizing that his entire childhood has been built on lies. Realizing that the people who raised him aren't his real parents after stumbling across a childhood photo of himself on a website devoted to missing children, the frightened teen flees for his life as FBI agents race to protect him and uncover the truth about his mysterious past.

Abduction
Released: 2011
Runtime: 106 mins
Rating: 5/5 stars (tsk tsk Nina :p )

REVIEW:

My last review for the year is one that I’d had to do long time before, especially, after watching the movie, when my memory was still fresh. Oh, well, I’ll do my best either way.

The reason I choose to see the movie is obvious: The lead actors. The story is simple, actually it is, because you have a teenager who finds out that his whole life was a lie and he has to, literally, fight for the truth. And, of course, a girl gets in the way.

From just the trailer, I knew that I would like the movie, or just enjoy to see Taylor Lautner in a movie other that the Twilight Saga. Now, I'm not one of those people that never heard of Taylor Lautner before the saga, because he was kinda famous already.

Back to the movie:
The story was interesting enough and it is a light action movie. There are the nice fighting scenes and the super-wow jumps that can be done by professionals.

Now, the directing part, I liked it. It was exactly what I was expecting to see. It was fast and adventurous. The acting was ok too. There weren’t any big emotions involved with which you can understand if the actor is a great or not. But, as I said, you saw what you were expecting to see: Acrobatic martial arts, speed, and a teenager getting away from bad guys with a girl hanging from he’s arm.

Bottom line, forget my boring tone above. I liked it. It was an adventurous movie, the type I like, with a young guy kicking asses. The end was interesting, especially because you know the actor who’s face we don’t see, and it makes you wonder if the movie is going to have a sequel or not.

Movie Review: Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Twilight Braking Dawn II
Released: 2012
Runtime: 115 mins
Rating: ?/5 stars

REVIEW:

From all the bloggers writing on this blog, I'm the only one who has no problem with the Twilight. So, as I did the previous times, I went to see this one on cinema with a friend who's more fan than I am. Needless to say, that we had problems with this one too. No, it wasn't the rain in the beginning of July, or the fact that we confused the hour and we had to cross the city to find another theater. This time,  my friend -in charge of the tickets- got there late and we were able found seats on the very first row. Yep, not the best, I know.

I remember saying in the previous review of part one, that I had so many things I wanted to say, for the phenomenon called Twilight, but the time has passed, and I have to admit, that I have forgotten what else I wanted to say.

Anyway, about the movie. After the beginning of the movie, it took me a while to get used of the huge screen so close to my face, but I did it.

The movie starts where the other finishes, basically, couple days later, and Bella is a vampire. We see many similarities with the book in the beginning, like the first hunt, and the bras-de-faire between Bella and Emmet. There were some funny moments and small scenes that weren't in the book, like when Jacob reveals his two-natured form to Charlie and the Christmas dinner. And there were big scenes that weren't in the book and gave a whole new meaning to the movie.

In the book you see some characters, but in the movie you see them in a whole different level. I liked that they shown them the way they did, it was really good to get to know characters that were meaningless in the book, to be played by known actors.

From the trailer you see that there is a fight scene, whereas, in the book there is none. And, wow, the fighting scene was amazing. It made the movie better. I was wondering why they need a second part, and this scene gave me the answer.

As for the acting it was the same. With the exception that Kristen Steward looked more beautiful and not as awkward and unbalanced as she did in the previous movies. Plus, there is a sex scene, way better and slightly more detailed than the previous one.

Bottom line, I liked it. I liked the end and the fight scene, and I think it was a very nice way to conclude the series. Some people don't like the fanaticism that existed throughout the series, but -guess what- it's over. Now, it's time to pick up a new series of movies to fanaticism ourselves.

Giveaway: Return to Arèthane (INT)

 Return to Arethane by Kelly Riad

16-year old Emily has accepted her fate with each weakening beat of her heart, but after her best friend's brother and sister arrive in town and turn out to be more than what they appear, Emily's life is turned upside-down. When their friendship includes confronting wizards who harbor dark secrets and dancing with an elf prince, Emily discovers there are some things still worth living for.

INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

1 PRINTED COPY

Winner Announced: Nenna

   

Book Spotlight: Remnants of Life

Legend of Darkness
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 181 (ebook)
Part of Series: Remnants of Life #1

Dangerous Saviors… What would you do if your life rested in the hands of something that really wanted to eat you? Come journey through the realms of the next world where everything you know about Good and Evil are put to the test.

Samantha Garrett lives and dies a good life in the human world. She awakens a new creature, Samoda, a vampire-like warrior in the army of Nuem. She is forced to realize that she has become a part of a world that humans believe to be only “Legends of Darkness.” Samoda finds her new life is entwined with the age old story of greed, love, betrayal, and vengeance.

Join our heroine as she battles not just for her own existence, but for the entire human race’s future.

Book Review: Finding Mia (+Giveaway)

Intelligent and fiercely independent, sixteen-year-old Mia Marchette has never had a childhood. After her father’s disappearance when she was six, she has alone borne the burden of her mother’s bipolar disorder.

When her mother is institutionalized after a failed suicide attempt, Mia is abruptly forced to live with the estranged father she has not known for ten years. She is shocked to discover that he has created a new, picture-perfect life for himself, and is now living with a stepmother and a half-sister Mia never knew she had. Together, Mia and her new family must face the bitterness, mistakes, and long-hidden secrets that threaten to destroy their precarious happiness.

Finding Mia follows Mia's journey as she searches to find the unanswered questions from her past, leading to her own self-discovery.

Ultimately, this is a story of confronting pain and finding freedom, of letting go and learning to search for love in unexpected places.

Finding Mia
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: ?? (ebook)
Part of Series: -
Purchased: Review for tour
Rating: 5/5 stars
Buy: Amazon (US) || Amazon (UK)

REVIEW:
I cannot remember exactly why I picked this book. I guess it looked cool and I had available dates on my journal and I thought that it would be a great book to finish this year's tours.

Starting the book, you feel a melancholic atmosphere. The way the author writes and expresses Mia's feelings and private thoughts in her journal. It doesn't take you long to enter the book, to become part of it and understand everything that is going on.

The author writes on the third person and what made this book different is that she doesn't focus only on Mia and Mia's problems, but also on the other characters too. The memories and the mistakes of the past. Except maybe Denise's, but there is a reason for that.

The author explores the hard side of life. Diseases, addictions, lost, everything that no matter how difficult they are, when they are over, they make us stronger and transform us in a way that we become different on the inside.

Bottom line, I liked it. It was one of those books that after you finish them, you have a voice in your head pointing at you which characteristic and decision  of yours, you have to change or look in an alternative perspective. I liked how it ended, though slightly sad. It was a ray of light in a cloudy day.

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Book Review: Betwixt (+Giveaway)

 Beautiful, wild-child Nicole Tepper is hit by a car and left for dead. But when she wakes the next morning, Nicole finds herself in bed without a scratch. Perhaps she was more intoxicated than usual, as her mother is giving her the silent treatment and her friends are ignoring her as well.

Things take a turn for the weird when Nicole soon discovers she is actually hovering between life and death. Her body is lying in the forest while her spirit is searching for anyone who can hear her. Unfortunately the only person who can is Dale Finnigan, the guy she publicly humiliated with a sharp-tongued insult that has left him branded.

Desperate, Nicole has no choice but to haunt Dale and convince the freaked-out senior to help her. Will he find her body before it's too late? Or will the guy who tried to kill her with his car, beat him there and finish her off before anyone finds out?

Betwixt
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 203 (ebook)
Part of Series: -
Purchased: Review for tour
Rating: 5/5 stars
Buy:  Amazon (US) || Amazon (UK)

REVIEW:
The book had a pretty decent summary and looked cute but I have to admit i did not expect to fall in love with it.

Even though the story it's not something super original or new, the writing makes it one of the best stories with "ghosts" i've ever read. The strongest aspect of the book is the feelings that portrays. Guilt, love, friendship, disappointment, dreams. The writing and the way all those feelings are described gave life to the story in a level i did not expect. I loved how the supernatural side of it, wasn't that important. It was just there to help the story and not the story itself. There were times i completely forgot that there was something out of the ordinary there.

I was in pain with Nicole and while she is a girl entirely different than me, i had one of the strongest connections with her that i ever had with a character. I was literally in her position and i believed every single thing was happening or she was feeling. Her scenes with both her parents and Dale were all freaking amazing. There were times she was just the observer but thanks to the author, you could completely not only understand but be one with the rest of her environment too. The progress of her relationship with Dale was so natural. It wasn't love at first sight. Or even friendship at first time. It took lot of events to go where it was headed, and as a result everything felt more real.

And in the end it was actually one of those books, that teach you something.Not just there to have fun with. Second chances, respect for yourself....now i'm not telling you more. I feel it will work differently for each one who reads it so go ahead...

Thumbs up for another awesome book!!! It's a yes from me! Beautiful :)

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Book Review: Always and Forever

Mia's first reaction is outright disbelief. Obviously, a mistake has been made. Sixteen-year-old girls don't die. But, when the diagnosis is confirmed, she dives headlong into anger. If she has to die, why should it be of cancer? In fact, anything would be preferable to cancer. Better for her to say when, where, and especially how.

Determined to meet death on her own terms, Mia devises scheme after scheme to get the job done. A “fall” down the basement stairs, driving her car off a bridge, and even a dance with a train all end in her survival.

And through it all, Mia keeps her family and friends at arms' length with her destructive and hurtful behavior. With each failed suicide attempt and burned relationship, she slowly realizes that it’s not the dying that she’s afraid of, but the life she’ll be leaving behind. Now, that life is in a shambles. As time begins to slip through her fingers and death is upon her, Mia fights to rebuild the bridges she has destroyed, but can she do it before the clock runs out?

Always and Forever
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 263 (ebook)
Part of Series: -
Purchased: Review for tour
Rating: 5/5 stars
Buy: Book Depository || Amazon (US) || Amazon (UK)

REVIEW:
This book is mocking you from the start ''I'm going to make you cry. Embrace yourself, I'm going to make you cry''. The synopsis screamed that to me, but as a curious creature, I accepted to read anyhow.

The writing is amazing. It tells you the story of a 16-year-old who has a disease that cannot be cured. So we follow her through the five stages of grief, from how she first denies it, to how finally she accepts it. And through that time, the only thought wondering around her head is how she wants to be in control of her life and not her disease.

I know I spoiled the end, but it's a well known fact from the first page. I found the story extremely true. It's something that happens around us, not in our family specifically, but generally, and it's sad and really makes your good mood go bad in an instant. I really don't know what else to say, except that I did cried at the end. I'm not very proud of it, but a book that makes you have such strong feelings is worth it.

Bottom line, I liked it. I cannot say that I can read books like this all the time, but for this once it was great. I have to say that at the end, I felt relieved and I realized that life goes on and that we have to live it to the fullest.

Book Review: Derailed

When you're lost, sometimes the only place you can go is home.

Broken over the death of her fiancé, Molly leaves law school to return to her childhood home in North Carolina. Expecting to lay low until she can figure out what else to do with her life, she finds herself in the arms of her high school sweetheart, the boy who represents everything from the past she tried to leave behind.

Looking for an escape, she instead finds a way back to the girl she almost forgot existed and a future she never dreamed possible.

Derailed
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 260 (ebook)
Part of Series: Clayton Falls #1
Purchased: Review for tour
Rating: 5/5 stars
Buy:  Amazon (US) || Amazon (UK)

REVIEW:
The reason I choose this book was because of the author. I never thought that a name would do that to me, but reading and reviewing a past work of Alyssa Rose Ivy, made me want to read more of her.

This story is simple. Not supernatural creatures here. It tells the story of Molly who one day quits being a law student and moves back into her hometown for a fresh start. The death of her fiance hunts her dreams and she believes that a change of scenery will help her. What she doesn't count on is the things she had left in her hometown before she left. Friends, ex-boyfriend and lots of memories.

The writing was easy. It wasn't difficult to understand and by using many dialogues, the author managed to make it vivid and closer to reality. There were not many descriptions of the places, but all the places are easy to find and construct an image of the city on your own.

If there was something I didn't liked that was how possessive Ben was sometimes. I get that they are in love, but Ben seemed to leave no choice to Molly to think otherwise. Also, there were some things Molly was talking about that sounded very weird, like that she was thinking she was a failure because of not having a job at her twenty-two years or the fact that she wasn't married yet. I mean, to me and my lifestyle, they do sound weird.

Botton line, I liked it. I had a nice time reading it. I was able to forget my problems and focus on someone else's life for a while. I liked how romantic it was and it made me jealous for not having that kind of love. I cannot wait to read the next book of the series, which will be very different from this one.

Newbies - November 2012

For the month of November

Nina didn't have any books this month, me on the other hand i got a bunch of new ones :)

(Gift) Skulduggery Pleasant 3-4-5-6 by Derek Landy: I started the series years ago in Greek but i never got the chance to continue with it. Thanks to my friend George, he decided to buy me all the books i was missing for my name's celebration :D Now, i just need the time!

(Gift) Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck: This book have been in my basket forever. Finiding it a bookstores too but always never buying because i needed another book more. So thanks again to George, it's finally in my hands. He was probably tired seeing me have the books in my hand but never buying it XD

(Bought) Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper: I had no idea what's that book was about really. A greek store had some offers and i wanted a few new good fantasy books so here we are...

(Bought) A Wizard Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin: Same as with the Songs of the Earth. I've seen the movie of this one though, and it was fun.

(For Review) Remnants of Life by Georgia Jones: Oh this one is for a tour!!! Thanks a lot to First Rule Publicity for sending it printed :D

(Gift) Deathnote: George or his girlfriend (i'm entirely confused here) had that volume of the manga twice. So they just gave it to me XD

(Bought) Broken Aro by Jen Wylie: I've read this one for a tour some weeks ago and it was simply so awesome i had to buy it!

(Bought) The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan: Well i think i mentioned this at my previous mailbox. I found a store with books at 5 euros and obviously i visited it again. As a result we have the first book from Trudi Caravan.

(Bought) The Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling: That's the same with the Trudi Canavan book.

(Bought) The Avalon Chronicles by Emma Vieceli: I've reviewed this from NetGalley months ago and i really really loved it. Now, i have it in my hands and can't wait for the next one too.

(Bought) Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff: From the time the cover was released i just couldn't wait to buy it. Hardback version of course because it's way too awesome for a simple paperback.

(Trade) The Long Look by Richard Parks: I don't really know those books but a friend of mine, didn't want them anymore so we traded.

(Trade) Blood of Ambrose by James Enge: Same as above :D

What your mailbox had inside? Feel free to leave your links at the comments :D