Raquel Gabrielle's Reading Blog

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Book Review: To Walk the Night by E.S. Moore

Video review on my to be read pick of the month. I will be trying to do a video review on at least one book every month and hopefully that one will be the one I pick out of my TBR bag that month. But here is June's TBR book review.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Busy reading month / Writing updates

Another busy reading month for me. Right now I am working on reading through The Porcelain Child by Jessica Dall this is book 2 in the Broken Line series she did a cover reveal earlier this month.

This book will be available July 3, 2014.

Summary: With less than a decade of stable rule behind them, Lord Protector Richard Seymour has passed away leaving the country once again in turmoil. With her connection to the old regimes, seemingly on all sides thanks to her mother, Adela, Mary might find herself pulled into the heat of battle whether she wants it or not.

Book 2 of The Broken Line Series, The Porcelain Child picks up with the next generation thrown into the mix.

So far I am really enjoying the book and am liking Mary a whole lot more than I did Adela. I will have a written review of this coming soon.

Shortly after that I do hope to get to Blades of the Old Empire by Anna Kashina before the end of the month. Or at least start it. I am trying to get through the last little bit of Shadow's Edge by Brent weeks. So I can start on Blades of the Old Empire. I didn't know if I could read two fantasy's at the same time. Since most fantasy's have lots of hard names and places to keep straight I thought I would finish with Shadow's Edge before starting the next fantasy book.

Writing Updates:

I do plan to finish revising the rest of my first novel that I have completed. I hope to have that done by this Tuesday. That way I can have it done and get my two free paperbacks through Createspace. Then I can have my Aunt and a few friends read it. Then of course I will probably have to do more revisions after that before I am happy to possibly think about publishing it. I am also getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I have decided to only writ 10,000 words since I will be on Vacation and busy with other things. I hope to write more than that but we will see. I still haven't really decided what I will be writing on it will probably either be on Outcast or A Soul Forgotten. I might even try to write a short story but we will see what writing mood I am in.

So what are you're July plans?

Monday, June 2, 2014

May Wrap up

I have had a great reading month last month. I ended up reading 17 book/ short stories. I definitely needed this reading time kind of to get away from writing. This month I do plan to finish revising Echoes from a Hollow soul. I only have about a fourth left to revise. I do still plan to be reading a lot in June and then when it comes to July hopefully I can pass my 10K goal for Camp NaNoWriMo. Here I will name all the books that I read last month, on goodreads I do have a short review of these if anyone wants a longer review of it just let me know and I will write one up or do a video response depending on the book.

The School for Good and Evil: A world without princes by Soman Chainani
(Book 2)
I did do a video review of this and the first book as well, can be found under the review tab

Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love - TBR pick of the month
(Book 1)

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott - For a Goodreads group read
(Book 1)

Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
(Book 1)

Mila 2.0: Origins: The Fire by Debra Driza - Short story
(Book 0.5)

Reboot by Amy Tintera
(Book 1)

Rebel by Amy Tintera - Series Completed!
(Book 2)

Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta - I do have a longer written review of this, can be found under the reviews tab.

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza
(Book 1)

Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love - Short story
(Book 1.5)

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks - Buddy read on Goodreads.
(Book 1)

Mila 2.0: Renegade by Debra Driza
(Book 2)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer -For a Goodreads group read
(Book 1)

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer
(Book 1)

Glitches by Marissa Meyer - Short story
(Book 0.5)

Freak of Nature by Julia Crane - E-book
(Book 1)

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare- Series Completed!
(Book 6)

So those are all the books that I have read for the month of May, I ended up finishing two series that month and plan on finishing at least two more in the month of June. I will list out the books I have thought of so far to read for the month of June

I will finish the Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville books 2-4
The series Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber books 1-9
Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks book 2 for buddy read
Blades of the Old Empire by Anna Kashina book 1 for a review

Of course I will probably read other books along with these, but these are the ones that I feel I should definitely get done for the month of June.

What books have you been reading?

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Review: Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

Genre: Dystopian

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: June 10, 2014

Pages: 272

Source: I won an ARC of this book from Harper Voyager in a giveaway.

Synopsis: Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village.

But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship.

Imaginative and engaging, lyrical and poignant, Memory of Water is an indelible novel that portrays a future that is all too possible.

Review:

I really loved the idea behind this book, and one that could come true some time in our future. The novel is beautifully written. Though it did seem slow at times. It had a alot of description through out and I could picture and feel what she felt. I know some people like to skip over blocks of description but I liked that about this book. Since I didn't know to much of the culture and the going ons of a tea master it was interesting to learn about.

This novel was very slow to start. It just always seemed like the reader was waiting for something to happen and nothig major did. It's kind of sad if you think about it. Imagine you wanting to do something and making big plans to go against the government and not fulfilling it. That is kind of what happened here. Most dystopians have a strong character that goes against the government and changes it to make it better for the people. Though this is a dystopian nothing changes in the end really.

I would have liked to known more about the water police and the officials. Noria the main character of the story is left with little to go on and little understanding of these hardened water officials. Her parents did not ready her at all to be on her own, so I understand that she only could do what she had to work with.

I would have to say my favorite character out of this book would have to be Noria's friend Sanja. Sanja seemed like a tough character and kept working to help her family no matter the problems set up against her. She worked with her hands to build things and was a good friend to Noria. I liked that she got away in the ending.

I ended up on goodreads giving this book a 3 out of 5 stars. Though I did have some problems with this book I did enjoy the writing style and the characters. I also loved the whole concept and ideas put into this book.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Bout of Books 10.0 - Day 7 - Wrap up

Currently Reading:

The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks (Buddy read)

Books Completed:

Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
Orgins: The Fire by Debra Driza (Short story)
Reboot by Amy Tintera
Rebel by Amy Tintera
Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta
MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love (Short story)

Books To Read:

Renegade: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Possibly if I like the series)

Pages Read Since Last Update: 237

Total Pages Read: 1706

Time Spent Reading Today: About 3 hour

Thoughts:

Whew that was a great week of reading, got lots of books read. Finished up reading Mila 2.0 today and then finished the short story of Fire Bound. I didn't get far in The Way of Shadows, but I plan to read it all tonight and will try to finish it up by tomorrow. I got most of the books that I wanted to read off of my list. I hope to continue on with reading a lot and make it a great reading month. I have already finished 7 books and 2 short stories for this month so I plan to keep on going.

Things to come:

I will be having a written review for Memory of Water to come as well as a video review of The school for Good and Evil as well as Cinder when I do get to reading it for this month. So far this month I will have read 4 books that have been on my TBR pile for quite a while. So I am proud to say that I am finally getting to some of those books slowly but surely.

Hope you guys all had fun reading!