Love for Reading

Teaser Tuesday (2)

2010-08-31T22:10:00.000+01:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. All you have to do is:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week my teaser is from Dido by Adèle Geras. (Released 7th May 2009 and published by David Fickling Books)

"Elissa ran back into the palace. She'd been enjoying looking after Ascanius, but still, she was happy to think she'd been chosen specially by the queen, and of course, wherever Dido was, Aenas would be there too, and this prospect made her somach turn ina peculiar way, as though her guts were trembling and churning." (Page 121 of the hardcover edition)

~Michaela~

IMM (2)

2010-08-29T18:05:00.001+01:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and inspired from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

OK it's been almost three weeks since I last did IMM, so I'll just put up what I've got since then, which isn't a lot due to the holiday, and unfortunately lacking YA books.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I won this from Bitten By Books. First book that I've ever won in a competition - I was so hyped when it arrived, I LOVE this book and I'm so glad I have my own copy now - mainly so I can stare at the pretty cover all day.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

I adored The Time Traveller's Wife so I was majorly looking forward to reading this. I'm almost finished so a review will be coming up shortly, I promise!

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

My sister passed this along to me with a very high recommendation - plus we;re both suckers for Jodi Picoult's novels.

I also got a book for school, The Iliad (for Classical Civilisation)

Do my new text books for Biology and Chemistry AS-Level count?

I hope you all recieved great books this week (and the couple before that...)
~Michaea~

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

2010-08-25T12:40:00.004+01:00

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Release Date: 1st February 2010

Publisher: HarperTeen

Description from Goodreads:

"Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love."

I loved Oliver's debut novel, Before I Fall, which I reviewed here. I think she is a fantastic writer so I'm very excited to read this when it comes out.

~Michaela~

P.S. I'm back from holiday now so I'll be back to posting, and replying to comments etc. :)

Waiting on Wednesday (1)

2010-08-11T09:00:00.003+01:00

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

Release Date: 22nd February 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Description from Goodreads:

"The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey.

Aislinn tends the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life.

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the faery courts, and in the final conflict, some will win…and some will lose everything."

I'm dying to read this book! Darkest Mercy is the fifth and final book in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. This series is the main reason I even started this blog, after reading the first three in this series I joined the Rath and Ruins Forum, from there I have met so many lovely people who also share my love for these books, as well as many others. I would never had thought of starting a book blog if I hadn't joined the Rath. Anyway enough of my gushing look at the beautiful cover!

~Michaela~

Teaser Tuesday (1)

2010-08-10T10:38:00.002+01:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. All you have to do is:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser from The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan (Released 23rd February 2009 and published by Orbit)

"Beyond the village, on the ridge above, a blue light was blinking slowly in and out of existence.

His blood went cold."

The Magician's Apprentice is the prequel to Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician Trilogy (which is AWESOME!)

~Michaela~

In My Mailbox (1)

2010-08-10T00:44:00.001+01:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and inspired from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

I went round to a few libraries today and got several books, YAY! So here's what I got:

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

I've heard so many brilliant things about this series, and I'm already half way through it - I love it!

Dido by Adèle Geras

Me reading this is helping me pretend that I'm preparing for the Classical Civilisation class that I'm taking next year

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Another series which has been highly recommended, I can't wait to get into it and I love the cover - I think I prefer it to the US one.

Across the Wall by Garth Nix

I wasn't planning on getting this book today I had completely forgotten he had written this collection of short stories so I was over the moon when I saw it! I love Garth Nix, especially his Sabriel series.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I know this is quite an old book but it's been on my TBR list for a long time (at least two years!) so I'm glad I've finally got it.

These books will hopefully last me the next couple of weeks, I'm going away and unfortunately I won't be able to blog (I know, I timed making this blog SO perfectly) but I have a couple of memes scheduled to go up. I hope you all have a good couple of weeks and I'll be back soon!

~Michaela~

Comparing Covers

2010-08-08T00:11:00.012+01:00

On the topic of Linger what do you think about the different covers for the US (left hand side) and the UK(right hand side)?

I think I prefer the US cover, I'm not a fan of the font for the UK cover of Linger, and I am very jealous of the green font in the American copy of Linger.

~Michaela~

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

2010-08-07T23:33:00.000+01:00

Description from Waterstone's:

"In "Shiver", Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in "Linger", they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping dangerous secrets. For Sam, it means grappling with his werewolf past ...and figuring out a way to survive the future. But just when they manage to find happiness, Grace finds herself changing in ways she could never have expected..."

My Review:

Linger was the fourth book by Maggie Stiefvater that I've read this year, and boy she never fails to impress. Her lyrical writing is beautiful and she does know how to break our hearts, well at least her characters' anyways.

At first I wasn't sure about the new narrators in Linger, Cole and Isabel, but they were added in seamlessly. Isabel is one kick-ass character, and though I personally wasn't much of a fan of Cole they were as perfect for each other as Sam and Grace were - but in an entirely different way.

Linger was beautiful and horrible all at the same time. It was a perfect middle novel for a trilogy; I must admit that I much preferred Shiver. It has definitely made me hungry for more and I cannot wait for the final instalment, Forever.

~Michaela~

Published: 21/07/2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Maggie Stiefvater's blog

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

2010-08-06T21:08:00.006+01:00

Description from Goodreads:

"What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined."

My Review:

It’s been a long time since a book has had such a great effect on me like Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver did. After I finished it, at half past two yesterday morning, I sat there staring at the book (which has the most beautiful cover). It really struck a chord with me, I think this line is one of the reasons why:

"So many things become beautiful when you really look"

As well as making the most of life this book has really reminded me to also appreciate the little things (yes, I like to dish up cheesyness).

The characters in Before I Fall were no way ‘nice’ but you couldn’t ignore them, I found it impossible to put the book down. At the start Sam was definitely a ‘mean girl’ but even as her personality stayed constant it was amazing to see how drastically different her actions were from day one to day seven. My favourite character in this book goes to Kent, hands down.

If I had one issue with Before I Fall (and I’m probably just being pedantic now) it would be that I found the student hierarchy a bit too exaggerated, though I tend to think this for a fair amount of books on secondary schools.

Lauren Oliver is a brilliant writer, and I cannot wait for her next book, a dystopian novel, Delirium. I’m not sure how to describe just how much I love this book but all in all I think it well deserves the full 5 stars. If you haven’t read Before I Fall yet, you should ASAP!

~Michaela~

Published: 22/07/2010 Publisher: Hodder Paperback
Lauren Oliver's blog

Welcome

2010-08-05T12:30:00.009+01:00

Hi! Welcome to my book blog, Love for Reading. I'm Michaela, I mainly read YA fiction but I'll read pretty much anything that's recommended to me. My favourite genres, I would say, are fanatasy and historical fiction. Though this blog will have mainly book related posts, once a week I may post about music, films, places - i.e. something unrelated to books.

I guess I should tell you a little about me. I'm a teenager living in London and I would say my main hobby, other than reading, is playing my classical guitar, which I love to bits!

I'm not quite sure what else to say but I'm sure you'll find out more about me later. So I hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

~Michaela~