What Kind of Reader Are You?

So on Twitter yesterday (yes, this is a spontaneous post), Random House Canada shared a link to this infographic that dissects the different kind of readers to help you figure out where you stand and I thought it was really fun.

Take a look:

Attribution for graphic to Laura E. Kelly .

Visit Laura-e-Kelly.com for more about books, reading, and authors. Graphic originally from this page.

While I am overwhelmingly a Book Worshipper, I do fit into other categories as well, like The Book Swagger, The Sleepy Bedtime Reader, The Book Clubber, and, occasionally, the Delayed Onset Reader (only because I always have so many to get through... would that make me a Book Hoarder as well? Probably).

So, I have to ask. After reading about all those possible categories (most of which I think are pretty accurate for some people), where do you fit in? Are you one type of reader, all the way? Or do you fit in a whole bunch of categories, like I do? I want to know what kind of reader you are!

Waiting on Wednesday #31: Canary by Rachele Alpine

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This is where you showcase an upcoming release you're anxiously awaiting!

This week, I'm waiting on:

Canary by Rachele Alpine.

Expected Publication: August 1, 2013
by: Medallion Press.

Goodreads Blurb:
Staying quiet will destroy her, but speaking up will destroy everyone.

Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete. 

But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes.

Canary is told in a mix of prose and verse.

Why I'm excited:
I'm not usually a contemporary girl, but when I am, it's for "issue" books, and this one sounds like it could be a great one. It has also received a lot of advance praise, so fingers crossed it lives up to it. I'm so thankful for Medallion Press sending me a copy because I plan to dig in very soon. Not too long until this one is out!

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.

Shatter Me #2.
Page Count: 461.
Published: February 5, 2013.
Published by: HarperCollins.
Source: Purchased.

Goodreads Blurb:
tick
tick
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it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

My Review:

I absolutely loved Shatter Me when I read it earlier this year, so I was very excited going into Unravel Me. While it wasn't perfect and I had a few character issues, it was very enjoyable overall and I was so glad to see progression of both plot and character development.

One of my biggest struggles with Unravel Me was Juliette. While I understand and respect that she needs to grow and is still on the way to accepting herself, her whining and hopelessness for the first 100+ pages of the book got irritating. For a while I understood because everything she experiences is new to her and she claims she doesn't feel welcome at Omega Point. However, after a while it was clear that she wasn't even bothering to try to fit in, instead simply sitting around moping. Juliette has so much potential as a character and I want to see her reach that, so I was tired of her "poor me" attitude. I was glad when she finally (after some prompting) picked herself up and actually made an effort. Seeing her growth from there on was much more rewarding for me. I also liked how Tahereh Mafi showed some of Juliette's growth through the visual appearance of the writing. As Juliette grows more sure of herself in this novel, especially from how she felt in Shatter Me, there are fewer lines crossed out in the text, showing her increased confidence. I thought that was a smart way to subtly show Juliette's improvement.

I was so glad that other characters got to grow and experience more this time around. While Shatter Me was very focused on Juliette, Unravel Me gives Adam, Warner, and Kenji a little bit more development and helps each of them come into their own some more. Unfortunately, Adam seems very distant, even as more is revealed about him. I was disappointed by his overall lack of significance to the plot. He had a few big moments, including a game changer and a shocking reveal, but it felt like he wasn't all that present overall. Warner, while interesting, is still not someone I see as a viable love interest. He's an intriguing and layered character, sure, but even as Juliette grows closer to him, she feels (and says so) as if for them to be together and be right for each other, she must be a monster. I don't think Juliette is a monster, nor do I want her to think that way, so Warner is not the right match for her in my opinion.

As for Kenji... Kenji was the star of the show in Unravel Me. Kenji becomes much more developed and shows that he is a deep, complex character who is absolutely essential to this story. Kenji not only becomes the glue that sticks Juliette to her fellow Omega Point comrades, but is the only one willing to give her the kick in the pants she so desperately requires to stop her moping and start striving to live up to her full potential. He is passionate and unfailingly loyal to what he truly believes in. He is serious when it comes down to business but has a playful, joking side that puts the others at ease. I was so happy to see Kenji become this charismatic, fierce, beloved guy who serves as a leader and a friend.

The plot was a little bit hit and miss for me, to be honest. More hit than miss, but still. I loved the Omega Point aspect, but since Juliette closed herself off to most interaction for much of the novel, I was left wanting more. During the moments when Juliette was being whiny I often felt the plot was very slow, but the later part of the book did make up for that. However, even the slow parts of the plot weren't too bad because I am still in awe of Tahereh Mafi's writing. The poetic stream-of-consciousness type style she uses in Juliette's head is beautiful. I love the rhythm and the ease with which the words flow and that is one of the things that draws me into the story. It provides a different feeling than with a lot of other writing, which I appreciate.

In all, there were aspects I loved even more than in Shatter Me and aspects I loved less. This one was just a little below its predecessor on my list.
4 stars.

Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee.

Penryn & the End of Days #1.
Page Count: 283.
Published: May 21, 2011.
Published by: Feral Dream.
Source: Library.

Goodreads Blurb:
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

My Review:

I have to start off by saying that I've seen tons of gushing reviews of this one. Its Goodreads rating is 4.29. At the same time, though, I don't usually like angel books, so I went in with mixed expectations. There is definitely a lot to enjoy in Angelfall, but honestly, I didn't love it the way everyone else seemed to. I was very encouraged by the beginning and for a while I thought the angel concept was working well, but it all later started to fall apart for me.

I did love Penryn, the main character. She is a perfectly imperfect female lead for the story. She is intelligent (her mental back-and-forth is so fun to read) and knows how to kick some butt, but sometimes she screws up like the rest of us do. Plus her qualities all have reasons behind them. She's strong and self-sufficient because since her father left her family, she has taken on the role of parent. She isn't a good fighter "just because;" she has been trained for years in self-defense because her mother is mentally ill and worried she'd snap and hurt Penryn. She was a realistic and relatable heroine who is capable of taking care of herself, but just doesn't always want to be alone. Hence her travelling companion, Raffe. Raffe I also enjoyed, despite the fact that he remains mysterious and closed off for much of the novel. While not much is revealed about him, I thought their occasional banter was realistic and fun. They both had separate motivations but I think they made a good team and really grew to care and look out for one another.

I also very much enjoyed the beginning of the book. The post-angel-apocalypse world was interesting to explore and at that point of the book I was still assuming I'd get answers to my questions about it (I didn't). The introduction to Raffe and the other angels was exciting and visual and, I think, very well done. It showed the fear the humans have of angels, the discord within the angel community (though, again, not WHY), that Penryn is kick-butt but still a normal and scared human, and it puts into motion the reason for the whole plot. The early scenes in this one really did a lot for me. The middle, even, where they come across the compound (not expanding on that because spoilers), was well done and intriguing.

Where the book really started to lack for me was in the plot in the last third of the novel. I was already getting tired of waiting for answers to some of my questions and a lot of them still hadn't come by the end of the book, which sometimes I'm okay with but in this case was just frustrating. The ending felt very overloaded with new surprises and information being introduced and that led to a jumbled and clunky sort-of resolution that clearly requires reading of the sequel for full acceptance. It really started to lose me with all that was going on at the end and I was left feeling detached and unsatisfied, which is nothing like how I felt at the beginning.

What started out with such promise and had really enjoyable characters ended in a jumbled overload for me. I did enjoy most of the book and I know a lot of people loved the whole story, so if it sounds like your thing I would encourage you to give it a try. I personally just didn't find it anything to get especially excited about.
3 stars.

Blog Tour Guest Post: Belladonna by Fiona Paul

I'm very excited to be hosting Fiona Paul on the blog today as part of her Canadian Belladonna Blog Tour! My gushing review of Belladonna went up yesterday, so if you haven't heard me express my love for this series yet (as unlikely as that is), you can head over to my review to get caught up. Now, onto the tour goodies!

First, a bit about Belladonna:

Goodreads Blurb:
Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he's arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass's life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose -- the only evidence that will prove he is innocent.

So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of corruption, secret soirees, and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who's working for the Order's eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself. 

Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time?

Nothing is as it seems in this seductive thriller, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.

I'm so excited that Fiona is here with a scene cut from Belladonna and a little explanation. Take it away, Fiona!

Fiona: Today on the blog tour I’m talking about the importance of killing darlings. Earlier in the USA tour, I mentioned how a certain scene was a favorite of mine because it showed Cass being clever to contrive permission from her aunt to go to Florence. It irks me when book narrators are like “MC so-and-so is very smart. See her study? See her quote philosophy?” but then she acts like a dunce. 

I know Cass does a certain amount of boy-following in Venom and much of that is intentional due to the historical setting, but I really wanted her to start driving the action herself in Belladonna. I purposely looked for ways to SHOW her ingenuity, but the problem with showing is that it often takes a lot more space than telling, which can be problematic. 

In the finished book, Luca tells Cass exactly where he has hidden a key for her. In the first draft, Luca leaves Cass a mysterious present—a lily necklace--before he is arrested, and Cass finds the key via a series of steps, like this:

As she fixed the cover back on the little golden box, her hand caught on a lump in the bed of velvet as she did. She ran a finger across it. There was something hidden beneath.
          Holding her breath, Cass peeled back a corner of the velvet to unearth a square of folded parchment.
          Her mouth went dry as she unfolded the page. Blood hummed in her veins Was this was Luca meant when he said he had left her something? The parchment contained just two sentences:

          This lily will always guide you home. Study it well and you will discover the knowledge it unlocks. 

          Cass touched the petals of the lily again. Study it well? She took the note and the golden box back to her bed chamber, slipped them into the drawer of her dressing table, and stood in front of her mirror. She probed each petal with her thumb and forefinger. Gently, she flipped the pendant over to consider the back. Solid silver. No secret engravings, no detachable parts. She ran one hand along the length of the chain, feeling for any imperfections, but it was flawless. What did Luca mean, study it well?
          Unless…
          She and Luca had played a game when they were younger. Luca liked to collect little trinkets: stones shaped like hearts, ceramic beads, pieces of wood turned almost to glass by the tide. He would hide these treasures for Cass and mark their location with a lily plucked from Agnese’s garden. Cass’s fingers went to the pendant around her throat. Maybe the pendant wasn’t a gift.
          Maybe it was a clue.
          Guide you home... Had Luca hidden something else inside the villa? He hadn’t even seemed remotely concerned when the soldiers tore apart his quarters, so Cass was certain there was nothing to find there. What about her own room? But no, Luca wouldn’t snoop through her things. He was too proper for that.
          But if not his room and not hers, then where? 

AND THEN, SEVERAL PAGES LATER

A breeze blew through the garden, rustling ivy and sending flower petals spinning across the grass. Cass watched as the silky white bloom of a lily tumbled past her feet.
          She thought again of Luca’s note: This lily will always guide you home. Study it well and you will discover the knowledge it unlocks.
          And then Cass knew. It was as Luca had said; he had spent the entire day at Palazzo da Peraga after his visit to Dubois. Whatever she was supposed to find was there. 

AND THEN, SEVERAL PAGES LATER

Siena followed her to the next room. Luca’s bedroom. Cass could tell as soon as she crossed the threshold. The room was dark-paneled and plain, with several books stacked on the floor next to the bed. Cass flipped through the volumes, looking for messages tucked within the pages. Nothing. Not a single underlined passage or folded page. Siena bent down to peer under the bed and Cass went to the wardrobe and threw open the doors. White chemises were stacked neatly on one shelf; colored doublets and breeches on another. Cass peeked beneath the piles of neatly folded clothes but found nothing except a sachet of herbs, tied with an orange ribbon. She picked up the small cloth bag and inhaled—citrus and spice. Tears sprung up from nowhere, hot at the corners of her eyes. Luca’s smell. She tucked the sachet into her pocket.
          Siena flopped down on the bed with a sigh. “We’ve got at least ten more rooms to go. Whatever he left for you—it’ll take forever to find it.”
          Cass wished she had brought the letter with her. She tried to remember Luca’s exact words. Study it well and you will discover the knowledge it unlocks.
          The words rearranged themselves in her head. Unlock...study... Suddenly inspired, Cass blurted out: “The study.” When she was a child, the thick wooden door had always remained closed, the voices behind it never rising above a whisper. Perhaps the da Peragas had their own share of secrets. She was already moving back into the hall. “We’re looking for a key, I’m almost positive. And it’s in the study.”

Fiona: Cass goes on to find the key as written in the published book. But I really, really liked the riddle part! First, Luca is all kinds of clever with the wording of the note and in hiding it in the gift box where the soldiers who came to search the villa wouldn’t find it. Then Cass mulls it over while she is doing other things and the answer slowly comes to her in pieces, much like we solve riddles in real life. The problem here is the word slowly. My Penguin editor expressed concern about how long it took to get to Florence where the meat of the plot takes place and she was 100% right. As much as it killed me to cut several pages and again let Cass get crucial information handed to her by a boy, the more important element here was to get the story moving more quickly.

Go Cass! I love seeing her smarts come through for her there. And of course it's always nice to get to see more of the characters we love, so thank you, Fiona, for sharing that with us!

Bio:
Fiona Paul is a writer and registered nurse from St. Louis, MO.

Fiona's Blog: fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com
Fiona's Twitter: twitter.com/fionawritesYA
Fiona's FB: www.facebook.com/fionapaulbooks
Belladonna on GR: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18042405-belladonna



Did you miss yesterday's stop on the tour? Check out the author interview over at Fantasy's Ink. Tomorrow, make sure to stop by Emilie's Book World for an excerpted teaser scene!

Review: Belladonna by Fiona Paul

Belladonna by Fiona Paul.

Secrets of the Eternal Rose #2.
Page Count: 352.
Published: July 16, 2013.
Published by: Philomel.
Source: Received an ARC from Razorbill Canada in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Goodreads Blurb:
In Renaissance Italy, love, lust, intrigue and secret societies converge to stunning results!

In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.

So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.

Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time?
Nothing is as it seems in this seductive thriller, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.

My Review:

My struggle here is trying to write a coherent and valid review when all I really want to do is melt into a puddle of swoon and emotions. Fiona Paul made me fall in love in Venom, but Belladonna is like the proposal and the wedding. Emotional, well thought out, and even stronger than what came before. Now I just hope Starling is like a long and happy marriage!

Belladonna is a fabulous second book for this trilogy. There is no sign of second-book-syndrome in sight! It is an excellent follow-up to the storyline of Venom, ensuring that what happened in the first carries through to the second. No dropped plot lines or big, important actions without consequences. It has action and mystery and feelings galore and proved to be everything I wanted and more.

Italy continues to shine as the setting of the trilogy and I loved seeing more of its beauty, this time in Florence. At the same time, though, Belladonna presents some of the creepy and dangerous underground that goes even further than in Venice in Venom. The change in atmosphere was immediate and strong upon Cass' approach to Florence and I thought it was excellent for the novel since Belladonna delves much deeper into the mystery of the Eternal Rose. It is honestly the perfect backdrop for a storyline that combines the beautiful with the creepy and off-putting.

Cass dives much deeper into the overarching mystery in Belladonna and I was very impressed with how it's playing out. I really feel like I'm being kept in the dark about a lot of the details, but only as much as Cass is so it's exciting instead of frustrating. We're introduced to many new pieces of the puzzle this time around and I want to know how they fit together! The beautiful Belladonna and the obsession in Florence with vampires were both intriguing aspects of the story that we get a taste of. Enough to whet your appetite and get you hooked, but not enough to reveal all the answers (no matter how much I wanted them). I also have to commend Cass for her growth so far. She is really starting to come into her own and prove that despite having been sheltered and privileged, she is smart and can take care of herself. It was great to see her take charge of the situation and work tirelessly to save Luca when it put her in such danger. She can be selfless to the point of recklessness, but it just goes to show her heart, her curiosity, and her determination.

When it comes to the boys of the series, I felt so torn while reading. All throughout Venom I was a Falco girl through and through. Luca was far away and didn't even matter to me when Falco and Cass were together. In Belladonna, though, it gets complicated. Falco and Cass get more swoons, which I absolutely loved, but Falco is really showing his not-boyfriend-material side while Luca, despite once again not being present for much of the book, has shown that he is so strong and reliable and loving and clearly the smart choice. This was so hard on me (in the best way possible, I mean), because there are two swoony Italian guys and my heart says Falco while my head says Luca and I just want them both. As for Cass and the boys, I was so glad to get more insight into why she feels so conflicted about them because not only did it help me become more conflicted (THANKS, Cass), but it also helped me understand where Cass is coming from in regards to them. I think she and I feel the same way about the boys: Luca is the smart choice who will love her and take care of her forever, and what girl doesn't want that? But Falco is the mysterious and alluring one who gets your heart pounding and turns your cheeks bright red. It's hard to choose between them, and I understand Cass' struggle so much more after Belladonna.

Belladonna not only has the excellent love interests down pat, but has upped the ante on the mystery, the stakes and the emotions. Paul has shown that she's not afraid to take some risks to make these books the best they can be and I think that's truly paying off.
A glowing 5 stars!

Waiting on Wednesday #30: Starling by Fiona Paul

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This is where you showcase an upcoming release you're anxiously awaiting!

This week, I'm waiting on:

Starling by Fiona Paul!

Expected Publication: March 20, 2014 by Philomel.

No blurb yet for this one, but oh my gosh do I ever need this book in my hands. Belladonna was... so many things. So many amazing and wonderful and awful things all mixed into an excellent book. My review is going up soon, so you'll see all my fangirling then, but honestly, this is right at the top of my 2014 Must Get list. And ARCs are in existence because Fiona has one, so...*grabby hands.* Luckily my Paper Lantern Lit family has me covered on this one and I absolutely love 'em for it!

What are you waiting on this week?