Book Review: You Are Mine

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. I know I did. Lots of family fun, mostly camping. Today I'' be reviewing You Are Mine by Janeal Falor. The author contacted me and offered me a copy of the book in return for my honest review. This in no way effects my final review of this book.

Title: You Are Mine

Author: Janeal Falor

Series: Mine #1

Publisher: Chardonian Press LLC

Original Publication Date: May 6, 2013

Format Read: kindle

Genre: YA Fantasy

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:
Serena knows a few simple things. She will always be owned by a warlock. She will never have freedom. She will always do what her warlock wishes, regardless of how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is. And if she doesn't follow the rules, she will be tarnished. Spelled to be bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life—worth less than the shadow she casts.

Then her ownership is won by a barbarian from another country. With the uncertainty that comes from belonging to a new warlock, Serena questions if being tarnished is really worse than being owned by a barbarian, and tempts fate by breaking the rules. When he looks the other way instead of punishing her, she discovers a new world. The more she ventures into the forbidden, the more she learns of love and a freedom just out of reach. Serena longs for both. But in a society where women are only ever property, hoping for more could be deadly.

Wow! I loved this book. I found it to be exemplary. The description sounded good and I sampled the first chapter before agreeing to read for review. When I was done, I was floored. I really don't know exactly how the author found me, but she really had me pegged. This book was almost perfect for me. There was really only one thing that I didn't understand, but if I were to pick out an ideal type of book that I love to read, this book would be one of them. I am looking forward to seeing where the author goes with this series. 

This entire book is from Serena's POV. She lives in a society where women are owned. Their value is based on how much magic there is in their blood. The higher the magic, the more they are worth. Women are basically used to breed more warlocks. Boys are tested early on in their childhood to see how much magic is in their blood. Girls are only tested after they have reach the eligible age for marriage and want to be put in the marriage pool. People without magic or that break the rules are tarnished, which basically means you are really low on the totem pole and have even less rights. 

Whether Serena wants to or not, her father enters her into the marriage pool and she is bought by a man at least as cruel as her father. He wants to meet her and her family, so they all travel to watch a tournament. Warlocks compete to see who is best. Those who die during the tournament have ALL of their possessions given to the warlock who beat them. Serena's intended does pretty good in the tournament until he goes up against a barbarian from Envadi, Zade, where he dies. 

Serena is clearly stressed out by being won by a barbarian and her father is not happy either. He works to try to get her back so he can sell her off to the next highest bidder. Serena is sent to one of the new homes that Zade has won. Like the description states she skirts and breaks the rules expecting to be punished, like her father does constantly, only for him to look the other way. Zade is not the barbarian she thought he was and he and the follow people from Envadi just might be more civilized than the one she lives in.

I really liked it, there was some predictable romance, a little coming of age and finding out who you really are, learning how to stand up for yourself, etc...The world the author came up with I thought was pretty interesting. I hope in the next book that Serena gets to go visit Envadi and see the country first hand. That could be interesting reading about her discovering the world beyond her country. 

The only thing that I don't quite understand is how the magic works. Clearly boys are trained on the use of magic, but I didn't hear of any girls accidentally discovering how to use their own magic. I would assume it would happen at least occasionally. I can also see the men in the country wanting to keep that secret from the women to make sure they stay in line. In the next book I would also love to see Serena actually being trained in how to use her magic. That could be interesting too. 

I also could probably have went for a touch bit more romance, but I think for that to have really worked, we would have also needed Zane's POV and that might have ended up giving away too much of the plot. He wouldn't have been the mystery guy anymore. 

If you find your tastes in books is similar to mine, than you will really like this book. You might even love it. I definitely recommend. I look forward to reading more of this series. 

My Rating: 

Book Review: Sapphire Blue

I just fell in love with Ruby Red when I read it, so I knew I needed to read Sapphire Blue to see where the story was headed. I did and here is what I thought.

Title: Sapphire Blue

Author: Kerstin Gier, Anthea Bell (translator)

Series: The Ruby Red Trilogy #2

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Original Publication Date: December 1, 2009 (by Henry Holt and Company October 30, 2012)

Format Read: hardcover

Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fantasy

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:
Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

Well, after reading the first book I already decided that I need to learn German, so I can actually read the last book in this series (just kidding, that would take me longer than the wait for the third book). After reading the second book, I still feel that way. I can't believe I have to wait until October 8th for the English translation of the third book, Emerald Green. It took me less than 24 hours (counting sleep, housework, etc...) to get through this book. It is a fairly fast-paced, quick read (or maybe that was just me wanting to know what was going to happen next). Sapphire Blue also contains the same little useful tidbits of information between chapters. I enjoyed them in the first book and continued to enjoy them here.

This book seems to fit very nicely in the middle of the trilogy (I haven't read the third, so I can't tell you will 100% certainty). You really need to read the first book before diving into this one, as it continues to build on the mystery from the first book. In this book we still have not gotten to the part where Gwen sees herself (in the first book). Plus more mysteries have been added in and Gwen is sent on more official missions back in the past. I just love the world Kerstin Gier has created. I also really like Xemerius that has been added into the story, I can see him continuing to be useful in the third book. You also find out a little bit more about Lucy and Paul and what they are up to. Not everything is answered though. 

I once again completely enjoyed my time escaping into Kerstin Gier's world. I can't wait to find out where this little gem of a series is heading and look forward to getting my hands on the final book later this year. If you liked the first book in the series you will like this one too!

My Rating: 

Book Review: Ruby Red

Happy Wednesday! We're halfway through the week! Today I'll be reviewing a book I picked up at a Scholastic Book Sale a while back. It's been sitting in my to-read pile for so long I forgot what the book was about, which is really sad. It's has a gorgeous cover with and even more wonderful story contained within.

Title: Ruby Red

Author: Kerstin Gier, Anthea Bell (translator)

Series: The Ruby Red Trilogy #1

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Original Publication Date: January 6, 2009 (by Scholastic October 2012)

Format Read: paperback

Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fantasy

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description on Goodreads:
English book series: Ruby Red Trilogy

Although I had never seen him before, I recognized him immediately. I'd have known his voice anywhere. This was the guy I'd seen on my last journey back in time.

Or more precisely, the one who'd kissed my doppelganger while I was hiding behind the curtain in disbelief.

Sixteen-year-old Gwen lives with her extended - and rather eccentric - family in an exclusive London neighborhood. In spite of her ancestors' peculiar history, she's had a relatively normal life so far. The time-traveling gene that runs like a secret thread through the female half of the family is supposed to have skipped over Gwen, so she hasn't been introduced to "the mysteries," and can spend her time hanging out with her best friend, Lesley. It comes as an unwelcome surprise when she starts taking sudden, uncontrolled leaps into the past.

She's totally unprepared for time travel, not to mention all that comes with it: fancy clothes, archaic manners, a mysterious secret society, and Gideon, her time-traveling counterpart. He's obnoxious, a know-it-all, and possibly the best-looking guy she's seen in any century . . .

First of all I clearly need to learn German STAT. I managed to get a copy of the 2nd book from my library, but the 3rd book doesn't come out in English until OCTOBER! OCTOBER! That is clearly way too long to wait. 

This book was originally published in German, not that you could tell. The translator did an excellent job. So far the book has been translated into multiple languages (seventeen according to the back of my copy) and has been on the German best sellers list for about 2 years or so. AND apparently a movie just came out (see trailer below). Now I need to figure out how to get a European film with English subtitles on it. 

Awesome, right? You can see a few more scenes if you watch this music video from the film.



Anyways, I'm not here to talk about the movie, but the book. The writing works well for the slightly younger crowd. The publisher recommends 12 and up. I would be more than okay letting a 12 year old read this and possibly even a 10 or 11 year old, depending on their level of maturity. 

The book starts off with a short prologue and then you are off into the story. If you are anything like me, then it won't take you very long to get sucked into the story. My copy was a little over 300 pages, so it took me less than a day to read, counting stopping to do things (only when I had to). 

I really liked the main character, Gwen. After her father died, her family (Mother, Brother, Sister and Gwen), moved in with the Montrose family, which is also Gwen's mother's family. Their family has a secret. They have a time-traveling gene that runs in the family. Not every generation time travels. It was believed that Gwen's cousin Charlotte had inherited the gene. Gwen and Charlotte are the same age. Since it was always been believed that Charlotte had the gene, she was treated as the better member of the family and had been introduced into the secret ways of time-traveling. They are both at the age, when the gene becomes active. They are on the lookout for certain symptoms to appear. 

The following is an excerpt from the book from between the prologue and chapter one:

"Uncontrolled time travel usually announces itself a few minutes in advance, but sometimes hours or even days ahead. The symptoms are sensations of vertigo in the head, stomach, and/or legs. Many gene carriers also speak of a headache similar to a migraine. 

 The first journey back in time ̶ ̶ also known as the initiation journey ̶ ̶ takes place between the sixteenth and seventeenth years of the gene carrier's life.

From The Chronicles of the Guardians, Volume 2: General Laws of Time Travel" 

Unfortunately for Gwen, she starts to experience these symptoms, but complete dismisses them, because she is NOT suppose to have the gene. She dismisses it all the up until she time travels for the first time. She is obviously confused. AND her family, especially her cousin is NOT happy with her at all. 

Besides the whole time-traveling thing, Gwen can also see ghosts. I wasn't prepared for this part of the story, but I was quite amused with the school ghost. We follow Gwen as she adapts to her new found role. Not only to be a time-traveler, but also a time-traveler with a specific purpose or task she is suppose to complete with her time traveling partner (who is a slightly misunderstood hottie). As she is not completely trusted we don't find out fully what that task is in this book.

In between each chapter is a little tidbit from one of the time traveling books that Guardians have or a quote related to time travel, etc...these were all interesting to me. Well, the whole book was really. I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable read and I think you will too.

If you want more time travel fun, you might want to consider checking out Waterfall (River of Time #1) by Lisa Tawn Bergren.

My Rating: 

Book Review: Into the Dark Volumes 1-4

Recently I was given the opportunity to get my hands on Into the Dark Volumes 1-4 for FREE in return for my honest review. While I came across the opportunity through the Never Too Old For Y.A. Books Group on Goodreads. However, I received the volumes directly from the author herself. 

Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 1 

Author: Milly Silver

Series: Into the Dark #1

Publisher: White Hot Books

Original Publication Date: November 16, 2012

Format Read: kindle

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:

Love the fast-paced action in The Hunger Games Trilogy?
Want to relive the romance of The Twilight Saga?

This new Young Adult series is for you!

"The only three people in the world who I truly loved were my best friend, Ben, my Uncle Spencer and his fiancee, Irene. I am now grateful for what I didn't know on that sunny afternoon. One of them would soon be lost to me. The other two, I was destined to kill without hesitation or remorse.
It wasn't premeditated.

It was what needed to be done.

So I did it."

Success means love. Failure a death sentence.

When seventeen-year-old Oxford student Emily Baxter steps forward to become part of the search and rescue team for her kidnapped family member, she sees it as her last chance to put things right. Despite her seizures and being ripped between parallel universes, Emily is determined to get back to living a normal life. But first Emily has to join forces with the mysterious Gifted & Talented set and the darkly beautiful Henry Seadon. And survive. Killing the Misery-Makers who get in their way is a necessary evil.

INTO THE DARK SERIES #1-4 by Milly Silver is a YA fantasy romance series. It's a story of family, love, loss, and being uniquely gifted.

This is an exciting brand-new four-part YA action adventure series by British YA author, Milly Silver.

My thoughts on Volume 1:

When I started reading this book, I didn't bother to go back and read the description and I didn't remember exactly what it was about, only that the description sounded interesting when I signed up for the Read 4 Review. Let me say this straight off MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL FOUR VOLUMES BEFORE YOU START READING!!!

The beginning of the book manages to suck you right in. You start out learning about what happened three and half years ago. We start out with Emily in someplace very dark and hiding from the Misery-Makers. I think they could be named better, but can't think of something off the top of my head. Anyways, if they get a hold of you they basically torture you very slowly and painfully. 

After the incident, we find out that in the real world Emily has blacked-out and had a seizure. Only, she doesn't really black-out when she has a seizure, she really travels to different parallel universe. Sometimes, it's one she has been to before and sometimes not. 

I like how the author shows us the differentiates between when Emily is in a parallel universe or in the real world by using a bold font when she is blacked out and regular font for the real world. It helped me keep track of where I was when one of my kids would distract me.

We find out that for an unknown reason, the blacking out has been happening to Emily since she was thirteen and have slowly been happening for a longer period of time. We also find out that Emily was basically abandon by her parents shortly after she started blacking out and having the incidents. She lives with and is home-schooled by her Uncle Spencer. She is also very close with Uncle Spencer's girlfriend Irene and her best friend Ben. They are the only ones who know what really happens when Emily blacks out. I feel the author does a pretty good job of establishing their close connection all within the first 15% of volume one before our story really kicks off. With one last black-out three and half years ago Emily accidentally drags Irene with her into the world of the Misery-Makers. We don't know how it happens, but it does and Emily panics and Irene is taken by the Misery-Makers.

Fast forward three and half years. Emily walks around feeling guilty all the time for what happened to Irene. However, Irene is NOT dead. She is merely in an unresponsive coma. With only a short period of time before Irene's family is planning on pulling the plug. Can Emily find a way to bring Irene back before time runs out? 

Emily is also trying out university and is attending her first year at Oxford. On her very first day she visits Irene and heads off to school on her bike only to almost get ran over by a mysterious hot guy in a fancy sports car. While yelling at him she is also drawn to him. You also meet quite a few more people in first volume that sets up the story.

Needless to say, the first installment in this four volume series that adds up into one full length novel really manages to suck you in. It ends on a little bit of cliffhanger. I thoroughly enjoyed it and went directly from volume one into reading volume two. 

Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 2

Author: Milly Silver

Series: Into the Dark #2

Publisher: White Hot Books

Original Publication Date: November 30, 2012

Format Read: kindle

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:

In this second installment, Emily becomes dangerously close to the intriguing Henry Seadon and his elite G&T group. As Emily tries to piece together what is happening in her life, she begins to see Henry as the key to saving Irene... and herself.

My thoughts on Volume 2:

I immediately started this volume after reading the first volume. In this part Emily continues making friends and is drawn into a relationship with the mysterious Henry Seadon. She also finds out a little more of the teen who she has been helping her when she is in the parallel universe. She also meets a little girl who tells her that Henry and The Logician are the key to helping Irene. Who is Henry really? Who is the Logician? And how can the two of them help Emily get Irene back?

This part is also a really quick read and is filled with a fair amount of budding romance/I'm instantly in love with you. I devoured it all in a very short period of time and moved onto volume 3, as volume 2 also ended on a cliffhanger.

Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 3

Author: Milly Silver

Series: Into the Dark #3

Publisher: White Hot Books

Original Publication Date: December 10, 2012

Format Read: kindle

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:

In this third installment, Emily learns from Henry how she is to become a crucial member of the G&T team. And that she is not alone in the quest to save Irene. As pieces of the twisted jigsaw fall into place, will Emily and Henry find a way to be together?

My thoughts on Volume 3:

Yea! I finally found out more about the G&T Team and what they do. All very interesting information. Lots of good stuff in this volume. I don't want to spoil, but you will want to read it one sitting if you have the time. I, unfortunately, I to go to bed in the middle of reading this. I started right back up the next day as soon as I could. Emily gets a seizure dog in this part and is recruited to be on the G&T team. I like the dog, Laisa. Although, she doesn't predict Emily's seizures a whole lot sooner than Emily feels one coming on herself.

Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 4

Author: Milly Silver

Series: Into the Dark #4

Publisher: White Hot Books

Original Publication Date: December 27, 2012

Format Read: kindle

Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from Goodreads:

In this final installment, Emily discovers Henry is not all that he seems. With her world crashing down around her, how will she rescue Irene? And as she faces the biggest decision of her life, will she have the strength to do whatever needs to be done? Find out how the exciting story ends!

My thoughts on Volume 4:

Overall, I liked the final installment in the series. I did feel that the whole fight with Henry was very contrived. I think a little more creativity could have been used to get where the author was trying to go. I was surprised to find out who the Logician really was. I wasn't expecting it to be the person it was. 

My Thoughts on the Series as a Whole:

I felt this was a very good book. I do wish the author would combine all four volumes into ONE ebook that people could purchase though. It is a very quick and engrossing read. If you do pick it up, you might want to try to have enough time to read it all in one sitting. It is a hard one to put down. The book is written by a British author, so you do have all of the British spellings, like colour, favourite, realise, etc...I find myself reading the British versions slightly different in my head, but it's not too distracting from reading the story. 

I thought Volume 3 was definitely the most exciting. Like I mentioned on my thoughts about volume 4, I was surprised about who The Logician really was. 

THIS happens, just like the author said it would: "The only three people in the world who I truly loved were my best friend, Ben, my Uncle Spencer and his fiancee, Irene. I am now grateful for what I didn't know on that sunny afternoon. One of them would soon be lost to me. The other two, I was destined to kill without hesitation or remorse.

It wasn't premeditated.

It was what needed to be done.

So I did it."

I like how the book didn't have a love triangle like almost every other YA book. Although, at the very end, it seems like it was opened up for one. You do end up with a nice conclusion, even though the story is left open enough for a sequel. I would recommend this book to others and definitely enjoyed reading it.

My Rating: 

Book Review: Throne of Glass

Today I'm going to be reviewing a book that has been showing up in lots of places. Based on the original description, it looked like a book that would be right up my alley. I got a copy and dove right in. 


Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Genre: YA Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon

In Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, you follow Celaena Sardothien. A year  into serving her life sentence of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier, eighteen year old Celaena is paid a visit by Prince Dorian. Prince Dorian offers her a chance at freedom. All she has to do is agree to be his champion in a contest to find the new royal assassin, win, and sign a contract to be the royal assassin for four years. At the end of the four years, her record will be scrubbed clean and she will have her freedom. She agrees and is the only woman in the competition among thieves, assassins, and warriors, each sponsored by a different member of the King's council.

After arriving at court, an undernourished Celaena is trained by the captain of the guard, Chaol Westfall. She finds the training to be very exciting as she works her way back into shape for the contest. However, outside of training, things are a little boring as her life at court is very limiting. Things start to pick up as the Prince starts to show more interest in her. As well as after one of the contestants is found dead, followed by another. Who is killing off the contestants? Can Celaena figure it out before she becomes the next victim?

Like I previously stated, based on the description, this looked like a book I would love. However, it ended up taking me a few tries to really get into it. I read a little bit here and there until I got up to about Chapter 8, then I really got into the story. I read from Chapter 8 until Chapter 30 in one sitting. At that point I realized it was one in the morning and time to go to bed. I got up the next morning and finished the rest of the book.

I really like the story idea that the author came up with. I liked the world where it took place, although I did have some trouble picturing exactly what the glass castle looked liked. I liked the main character, Celaena even though she was apparently good at everything and liked to rub it in your face. I think part of that was just trying to survive and work extra hard to prove herself against men who think less of women. I like Prince Dorian, who was a nice guy trying to work around a bad father/King. He ends up being Celaena's main love interest in the story. I liked Captain Westfall, who also seemed like a good guy. There is suppose to be some sort of standard YA love triangle between the three. Although, it didn't really seem like there was much of Westfall as the book blurb would have you to believe. He felt more like a big brother to me in the story. The story has some interesting twist and turns along the way too. 

What I didn't care for was how the story was written. It's written in the third person, which normally isn't a problem for me, but with this story it just read weird. I had trouble figuring out exactly who I was following at times. The author had little dots and breaks when we were switching, but even with that it was hard. I found myself having to re-read parts to figure out who exactly I was following. To confuse things even more it seemed like we sometimes switched who we were following within the sections. Some of the characters personal thoughts even read strange. When I got to the end of the story I found out the author wrote her original first draft when she was sixteen. I think that might be the culprit. I finally figured out what was bothering me. The writing reminded me of high school writing, when you still don't know that there are other, possibly better ways to tell the story. Clearly the editor did not help the author as well as they could have.

Now, that not to say, that I won't be reading further into the story. I fully plan on checking out the next book in the series when it comes out later this year. I just hope that the writing/editing skills will have evolved some since the first book. If not, then I will not be picking up the third book in the series, no matter how interesting the story idea is. 

I'm looking forward to Crown of Midnight and seeing where the story takes Celaena. While the mystery of who is killing off contestants is solved by the end of the first book, there are still mysteries to be solved about Celaena herself and what her true purpose is. Overall, I think this is a good start to what could be a very interesting series.

If you like this book, you might like, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson or Green Rider by Kristen Britain, both of which are 4 star reads in my book.
My Rating:

Book Review: Grave Mercy

I received Grave Mercy for free from Nicki Haylon on behalf of Robin LaFevers on Libboo. This is no way influences my review of this book, other than I'm happy I got a book I wanted to read anyways for free :) Bonus, if you are reading this the day I originally posted, you can get the book for $1.99 on Amazon as it is a Kindle Daily Deal (click below).




Follow fourteen-year old Ismae as she escapes from an abusive father and an even worse, but very short lived arranged marriage. Unknown to Ismae, she was being watched all her life. On the night of her arranged marriage she is rescued. The confused girl is brought to the convent St. Mortain. Here is is given a test and the option to train to serve Death Himself as an assassin. Ismae accepts the challenge and we fast forward over three years of training. 

Now seventeen, barely out of training, and not yet a full initiate into the order, Ismae finds herself in the high court of Brittany, where she discovers she is woefully unprepared for the task at hand. We follow her as she tries to navigate through the politics of court to complete her assignment. Who is the French Spy? Can they keep the duchess alive until she can be crowned? Can she trust Duval?

My thoughts: 
I found myself liking this book more and more as I read it. In fact, I've already decided to give it a 1/2 star bump from my initial rating thoughts. I don't read a lot of books that take place in the 13th century, but I certainly liked this one. I liked the added paranormal part to the story, how they are given gifts from Death Himself. There is action, mystery, love, adventure...The characters feel fairly well rounded to me. LaFevers does a pretty good job at descriptions too. It's not very hard to get sucked into the story. If you are anything like me, you will find yourself reading, most, if not all, of the book in a day, possibly even in one sitting. 

LaFevers does a good job of starting off Ismae as ignorant in some ways. As you go through the book, you feel like the character has a very natural progression in the ways that she grows and the things that she learns.

I like the relationship between Ismae and Duval. There are definitely some amusing moments there. I also really like the side character Beast. I'm not sure what else to say as I don't want to tell you the whole story, but let's just say it's a really good book and I think you should read it.

If you like this book, you might also like, The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1) by Rae Carson as well as Waterfall (River of Time #1) by Lisa Tawn Bergren.

My Rating: