Good evening! How are you doing? :) I can’t believe it’s Monday again! I’ve bought some books this week to share!

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is originally hosted by Marcia from A girl and her books and The Printed Page.

Stacking the Shelves is bought to you by Tynga from Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Requiem (Delirium #3) - Lauren Oliver

I have been reaaaaaally looking forward to finishing this series, it’s one that I’ve really enjoyed so far!

Battling against a society in which love has been declared a disease, Lena now finds herself at the centre of a fierce revolution. But the Wilds are no longer the haven they once were as the government seeks to stamp out the rebels. And Lena’s emotions are in turmoil following the dramatic return of someone she thought was lost forever…

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Lena and her best friend Hana,Requiem brings the Delirium trilogy to an exhilarating end and showcases Lauren Oliver at the height of her writing powers - emotionally powerful and utterly enthralling.

The Dead Girls’ Dance (Morganville Vampires #2) - Rachel Caine

I have he first book already and now I am slowly adding to my collection! I got this and the third book for $5 each which was pretty cheap! This is a series I really want to read!

Claire has her share of challenges. Like being a genius in a school that favours beauty over brains; homicidal girls in her dorm, and finding out that her college town is overrun with the living dead. On the up side, she has a new boyfriend with a vampire-hunting dad. But when a local fraternity throws the Dead Girls’ Dance, hell is really going to break loose.

Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires #3) - Rachel Caine

Morganville is such a nice place to live… And die. If you don’t mind that sort of thing.

When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy.

Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire’s past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.

Burn Bright (Night Creatures #1) - Marianne de Pierres

I’ve been a little put off by this by the amount of hype this book has received. It tends to scare me away! But I also haven’t ignored how popular this Aussie YA fiction series is and so I took the plunge!

Into a world of wild secrets and deadly pleasures comes a girl whose innocence may be her greatest strength. In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

Smoulder - Brenna Yovanoff

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

That is all from me this week, what did you receive in your mailboxes? Let me know - leave your links in the comments section below!

Hello readers! Welcome to another edition of nail art inspired by fiction. This weeks nail art is revisting Lord Of The Rings! Lots of manis online for LOTR… I’ve found some new ones to share!

Thoughts: I am not too sure what I think about this cover? I can’t say that I love it, the design isn’t really gripping me, but that being said this book SOUNDS like a winner. I am yet to read any of Kami’s work (however I am soon rectifying this with Beautiful Creatures) and I know she has a bit of a cult following. I expect Unbreakable is going to be quite a big release! It’s due out on October 1st.

Synopsis: I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels.

Release Date: February 28th
Published By: Macmillan
Pages: 303
Goodreads: Add it to your reading list

Rating: 3 out of 5

Synopsis: A catastrophic plan crash leaves one survivor: a girl with no memory.

Who is she?

Where does she come from?

Nobody knows and no one comes forward to claim her.

Haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember and plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, she struggles to recall who she is. But every clue leads to more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a boy who claims they were once in love.

Alone and on the run, who should she trust? And what if she discovers that she is safer with a past that stays unremembered?

Review: This was a really quick and easy read for me, which was aided by the fact that the plot itself is so action packed, so you just keep on reading “one more page” in order to see what happens next.

I enjoyed going on a journey with Violet. As a reader, you know about as much as Violet knows - which turns out to be nothing really. And with each page you learn a little bit more about her, as she is learning also. I felt like I was experiencing this with her as opposed to being an outsider with the information looking in. I loved the way Jessica Brody approached the plot and the style she wrote this in.

There were aspects of the story I liked very much and others I felt myself questioning. As a whole, the plot was good, but had some holes in it and could have been a lot stronger. I feel people will still really enjoy the book itself like I did though. It just could have been better.

Whilst I enjoyed the plot and the characters themselves, part of me wished for just something a little bit more. The characters I felt whilst were great on the surface lacked the kind of depth that I need to connect to them on an emotional level. So even though I wanted Zen to help Violet remember, I wasn’t invested in them as a couple.

That being said I feel the direction that this story is heading to exciting. The second book has so much potential and could be much better than this one now that the foundation has been laid. I still hold high hopes!

Quotes:

“Forgetting who you are is so much more complicated than simply forgetting your name. It’s also forgetting your dreams. Your aspirations. What makes you happy. What you pray you’ll never have to live without. It’s meeting yourself for the first time, and not being sure of your first impression.”

“The memories that really matter don’t live in the mind.”

Trailer:

It’s Wednesday which means it’s time to tell you what I have been up to for the past week! W..W..W.. Wednesdays is a weekly meme bought to you by MizB from Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Poison by Bridget Zinn - I’ve only just finished the first chapter, but I do love when I start a book and after the first chapter I feel curious to know more. This is really promising!!

What did you recently finish reading?

I last finished reading Unremembered by Jessica Brody. I loved the originality of this book and I am going to be posting a review of this tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

What do you think you’ll read next?

I next would like to read Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristen Bailey, Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley and also Nameless by Lili St. Crow. I’m planning reviews of all three, so again stay tuned!

What is everyone out there reading at the moment? Share your links below!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by Tahleen at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because due to a love of lists and what better way to celebrate lists than with book related ones?

This week…. Top Ten Books At The TOP Of My Spring Autumn 2013 TBR list!

Since it’s always opposites day in Australia, I am listing the top 10 books on my TBR list this Autumn! These are all new releases in March, April and May! These are listed in release order date also.

10. Legacy of the Clockwork Key - Kristin Bailey - March 5th

9. Poison - Bridget Zinn - March 12th

8. Nameless - Lili St Crow - March 20th

7. In The Shadow of Blackbirds - Cat Winters - April 1st

6. The Eternity Cure - Julie Kagawa - April 23rd

5. Belonging - Karen Ann Hopkins - April 30th

4. The S-Word - Chelsea Pitcher - May 7th

3. Reboot - Amy Tintera - May 7th

2. The End Games - T. Michael Martin - May 7th

1. Towering - Alex Flinn - May 14th

I am really looking forward to the books ahead! All of the books mentioned are ARC’s, so my aim is to have the review up just before the release date of each! Stay tuned for reviews!

Good morning everyone, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week! I’ve been flat out with work, my course and reading in the last week! Trying to keep my head above water these days. I received some amazing books this week, I can’t wait to show them off to you. :)

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is originally hosted by Marcia from A girl and her books and The Printed Page.

Stacking the Shelves is bought to you by Tynga from Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Unremembered (Unremembered #1) - Jessica Brody

Thanks so much to Pan Macmillan Australia for this copy of Unremembered! I love the Australian cover compared to the US one. Lots of colour and mystery. The girl on the cover has piercing violet eyes just like our main character. I have started this tonight and it’s great so far!

A catastrophic plan crash leaves one survivor: a girl with no memory. Who is she? Where does she come from? Nobody knows and no one comes forward to claim her.

Haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember and plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, she struggles to recall who she is. But every clue leads to more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them. Her only hope is a boy who claims they were once in love.
Alone and on the run, who should she trust? And what if she discovers that she is safer with a past that stays unremembered?

Hostage Three - Nick Lake

Thanks so much to Bloomsbury Australia for this review copy!

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing: a girl on a yacht with her super-rich banker father; a chance for the family to heal after a turbulent time; the peaceful sea, the warm sun …But a nightmare is about to explode as a group of Somali pirates seizes the boat and its human cargo - and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction. Hostage 1 is Dad - the most valuable. Amy is Hostage 3. As she builds a strange bond with one of her captors, it becomes brutally clear that the price of a life and its value are very different things …

Sweet Damage - Rebecca James

Thanks to Allen & Unwin Australia for this review copy! I am looking forward to reading Sweet Damage, it’s received some great reviews!

‘I still dream about Anna London’s house. In my dreams it’s as if the house itself has sinister intentions. But in real life it wasn’t the house that was responsible for what happened. It was the people who did the damage …’

When Tim Ellison finds a cheap room to rent in the perfect location in Sydney it looks like a huge stroke of luck. In fact the room comes with a condition, and the owner of the house, the mysterious Anna London, is unfriendly and withdrawn. When strange and terrifying things start happening in the house at night, Tim wonders if taking the room is a mistake. But then his feelings for Anna start to change, and when her past comes back with a vengeance, Tim is caught right in the middle of it.

Belonging (Temptation #2) - Karen Ann Hopkins

Thank you to Harlequin Teen Australia for this copy! Absolutely loved Temptation and I’ve been looking forward to this release for some time! Due out April 30th.

I left everything I knew behind. But it was worth it. He was worth it.

No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren’t even allowed to see each other. Not until I’ve proven myself.

If I can find a way to make it work, we’ll be NOAH & ROSE together forever. But not everybody believes this is where I belong.

Dirty Little Secret - Jennifer Echols

Thank you to MTV books and Edelweiss for this book. It’s my first Jennifer Echols read - I know she’s very popular but I’ve not read any of her books yet! Hoping I love this.

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

Fault Line - Christa Desir

Thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for this book!!

Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.

But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.

Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?

Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.

That is all from me this week, what did you receive in your mailboxes? Let me know - leave your links in the comments section below!

Hello readers! Welcome to another edition of nail art inspired by fiction. This weeks nail art is based on Dexter - one of my fave TV shows… I am yet to read the books!

This is something I struggled with so badly in the past, and even now, I don’t proclaim to be perfect at - but I can say I have a much better handle on how I determine what books need to be read next and balancing that with the ARC’s that I’ve been given to read also.

In the past, when I first started blogging, I basically just read what I wanted, when I wanted and so ARC’s that had deadlines would often go by the wayside because of this.

In 3013, one of my personal goals was to be more organised and set more of a routine with my blog. I try to review two books each week - one on a Tuesday and one on a Thursday or Friday. If you don’t see reviews on these days it’s usually because I’ve fallen behind or something else has taken priority.

I actually went out and bought a day to day diary for my blogging this year. Might seem strange, but it works for me. In it, I put the dates that books are being released, as well as any dates that I need to start reading upcoming ARC’s. I also jot down the posts I put up on my blog each day, so I can look back if I need to.

Since I’ve started doing that, it’s made my life so much easier! I used to guestimate when things where coming out or would have to constantly check. I was reading books either too early or too late, and never getting a chance to just read my own books because I was always reading review books. This system has given me the balance I needed. So far this year, I’ve read a healthy dose of books I’ve bought for myself to read as well as ARC’s that I have reviewed on time.

Like I said, I definitely wouldn’t say I have perfected this, since life comes first and sometimes I do fall behind, but when it does work, it really works smoothly! It’s helped me feel less anxious about the overwhelming amount of books I have to read, and whilst sometimes I still feel overwhelmed, I have a visual reminder in front of me that things are not that bad after all. :)

I’d be interested to hear how other bloggers manage their TBR piles also! Reply below or tweet me! :)

Release Date: January 27th 2013
Published By: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 291
Goodreads: Add it to your reading list

Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: The last thing Tegan remembers is the crack as the gun went off, intense pain, and everything fading to black. One hundred years later, she wakes up. A fast-paced near-future romance.

Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027 - she’s happiest when playing the guitar, she’s falling in love for the first time, and she’s joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.

But on what should have been the best day of Tegan’s life, she dies - and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened.

Tegan is the first person to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity - though all she wants is to rebuild some semblance of a normal life … including spending as much time as possible with musically gifted Abdi, even if he does seem to hate the sight of her. But the future isn’t all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future.

Review: Finally a sci fi book based SO close to where I live! How exciting!!! When We Wake is based in Melbourne in the future, which I thought was fascinating.

Tegan attends a protest with her best friend Alex and her boyfriend Dalmar on the steps of Parliament where the Prime Minister is attending. A sniper tries to take out the PM, but accidentally hits Tegan killing her. Until she wakes up 100 years later from being cryogenically frozen.

Confused and in grief for her former life, Tegan is thrown into her new surroundings, instantly becomes infamous - both a celebrity and a target for hate groups at the same time. Her only source of sanity are the people she meets at her new school. Bethari, Joph and Abdi - who she originally thinks is Dalmar, he looks just like him.

Tegan uncovers a top secret Government operation that relates to her - yet no one has answers for her. With the help of her friends, she digs deeper - and then has to immediately go on the run.

I found Tegan to be really likable - she’s just your average teenage Australian girl. When she first woke up and found out what year it was and what had happened, you really felt for her - mourning the deaths of her boyfriend, best friend and family, that she felt she had just seen earlier that morning - ripped from her.

The storyline itself was completely original and enaging. I know I mentioned it earlier, but yay for Australian sci-fi! I loved this, and I found it heaps more relatable being a locally based book instead of some of the overseas based ones where you need to use your imagination even more. Having been to a lot of these places myself I could see it all happening like a movie in my mind, and I loved this!

Fantastically written, it was a nice quick read - I’ll definitely be looking to get my hands on the next book when it’s out! Book trailer is below - my only gripe with the trailer is the girl has an American accent - which so goes against everything in this book, being an Australian title. But alas, the rest of it was really good!

Quotes:

“No matter how much money he’d been offered or how many glittering stars had requested duets, he hadn’t sung for them.
But he’d sung for me.”

Trailer:

Late last year I read and reviewed Burn For Burn, the first book in this series, and I really enjoyed it!! It was dramatic, and ended on a real cliffhanger! So I am really wanting to know where Fire With Fire takes us now!

No synopsis as of yet (Come on!!!!! lol) and we’re waiting until September for more, but at least we now have a cover! I can’t wait! I love the consistency with these covers and the same models!

This series has just had the most beautiful covers!! I read Alice in Zombieland last year, and I really enjoyed it - although it needed MUCH more Alice in it. I liked the quirky titles of the chapters, but the story itself bears no parallels with Alice in Wonderland. Knowing what I know about the first one, I am not expecting many parallels again in this one, BUT I do enjoy the story itself and I am hoping this one is just as good!

Synopsis: Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home. After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things. The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

It’s Wednesday which means it’s time to tell you what I have been up to for the past week! W..W..W.. Wednesdays is a weekly meme bought to you by MizB from Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading When We Wake by Karen Healey, and I am really into it so far. It’s set in Melbourne (like 45 minutes from where I live) and it’s set in the future. There are some really cool things about this book that I am liking so far, but I’m only halfway through it right now.

I am over halfway through right now to an audiobook also and this is Splintered by A.G. Howard. I am emjoying this, but unfortunately I took too long reading Ready Player One and so I have ARC’s that need to be read as a priority, so this is more when I get time to listen to it. It’s a retelling of Alice in Wonderland - one of my all time favourite classics.

What did you recently finish reading?

I last finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and the review was posted yesterday! Amazing, epic, fantastic… this book was all of the good words.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I next would like to read Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristen Bailey as well as Poison by Bridget Zinn.I want to continue with the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead also.

What is everyone out there reading at the moment? Share your links below!

Release Date: August 16th 2011
Published By: Random House
Pages: 374
Goodreads: Add it to your reading list

Rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis: It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune-and remarkable power-to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved-that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt-among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life-and love-in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

Review: Ready Player One is one of my favourite books of 2013 so far, and up there with one of my favourite YA books of all time. It offered me everything I personally love - video games (plus lots of trivia on games and consoles), pop-culture (mostly 1980’s - best decade to be born in! hehe) and one of the best worlds I’ve ever read in any book - the gaming utopia known as OASIS.

Whilst at first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking this book is all videogames and bubblegum, I think the most poignant part of this book is the social commentary Ernest Cline is making about the dangers of allowing ourselves to be a society that lives online more and more. In the future, everyone works in the OASIS, they attend school there, and people invest their money in matierial possesions and real estate in this online gaming world that is their virtual reality. People don’t seem to want to live in the real world - why bother when you can be anyone or anything you’ve ever dreamt of in OASIS?

I frigging love the guts of this book. Seriously, one of the most unique, imaginative storylines I have come across. I had already started telling my friends at work about this book when I was only half way through it! Lucky I loved it! haha

Wade is our protagonist. He is a gunter (an egg hunter), who is trying to find the ‘easter eggs’ (ie nerd speak for hidden clues) hiding within the epic huge world of OASIS. What’s in it for him? James Halliday, the co-creator of OASIS died, and has declared to all players that the first to find his three hidden clues will inherit all of his money - hundreds of billions of dollars worth. Wade is one of many gunters out for the main prize. He takes us on a journey through all kinds of worlds and maps and games along the way on his quest. And I really enjoyed every minute of it.

One thing that particularly stood out to me, aside from the incredible world building, was the characters themselves. Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, Shoto, and of course the absolute ruthlessness and depravity of I.O.I Innovative Online Industries and their team of Sixors who are out to snatch up the billions so they can reign control of the OASIS. The characters, whilst 2D in the online realm were far from being two dimensional themselves. We learn a lot about their personalities, their hopes, fears and insecurities, especially when we meet them in person and find out what they mask about themselves online.

When a story is as good at the start as it is in the middle and the end, it should be celebrated, and this is exactly how I felt about Ready Player One. I am keeping this one on the shelves, and am recommending it to anyone who is looking for a good nerdy YA fix!

Afterthought - this would make an incredible movie. Will we get to see this on the big screen some day?

Quotes:

“I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing ’80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn’t part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.”

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.”

“No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful”

“I felt like a kid standing in the world’s greatest video arcade without any quarters, unable to do anything but walk around and watch the other kids play.”

Trailer:

Good morning everyone! How are you going? I’ve had another really decent week in books - some books I ordered arrived during the week! Exciting! :)

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Mailbox Monday is originally hosted by Marcia from A girl and her books and The Printed Page.

Stacking the Shelves is bought to you by Tynga from Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Mind Games - Kiersten White

I am so looking forward to reading this! How mesmorising is this cover? The colours are beautiful and those eyes are piercing!

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

Sever (Wither #3) - Lauren De Stefano

I have been looking forward to reading this for such a long time now! The third and final book in The Chemical Garden trilogy… eeee! :) I can’t wait to see what happens!

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1) - Gail Carriger

I am saying it now - I bought this book entirely because of how much I love the cover. If this makes me a bad person, then I am willing to live with that title. Who wouldn’t want to read this book?!

Sophronia Temminnick at 14 is a great trial more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners — and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Her poor mother, desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady, enrolls the lively tomboy in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage — in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.

Pivot Point - Kasie West

Another book that I’ve been highly anticipating! I am hoping I’ll have a chance to read this shortly!!

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Breaking Point (Article 5 #2) - Kristen Simmons

I loved Article 5 so much!! I am hoping that by all accounts Breaking Point is as good as everyone has said - I’ve heard really great things about it!

After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.

Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….

Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.

With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?

That is all from me this week, what did you receive in your mailboxes? Let me know - leave your links in the comments section below!