In My Mailbox September 2013

Due to not having any money left after four months off uni I haven't bought many books this month. I did buy or download some free books for the kindle but here is what I got during September.

1. United We Spy - Ally Carter
2. Geek Girl Model Misfit - Holly Smale

Kindle

1. Inescapable - Nancy Mehl
2. Meghan's Wish - Amy Gamet
3. Descension - B. C. Burgess
4. Gateway to Faerie - M. D. Bowden
5. Vampire Shaft - Tim O'Rourke
6. You Belong With Me - Shannon Guymon
7. Undertow - Elizabeth O'Roark
8. Her Sudden Groom - Rose Gordon
9. A Walk in Heaven - Marie Higgins
10. Craved - Stephanie Nelson
11. Torn - Christine Hughes
12. Ocean of Dust - Graeme Ing

Review - Heist Society by Ally Carter

Release Date: February 9th 2010
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

I really liked Heist Society because it was different from the books I had been currently reading, I had never read any books about thieves and con artists before and I found I really enjoyed it. It was a light easy read with lots of plot twists and it was really hard to put down once I had started reading.

The characters were well written and they all had there own traits and secrets and it was fun getting to know each one of the characters. My favourite character is Hale but I am also a fan of geeky Simon.

I liked how you could tell right from the beginning (well when we get introduced to Hale) that Kat and Hale obviously have feelings for each other by all the detail that is in the book and by the images you get while reading the scene between them.

Kat has become tired of her life of crime and she now wants an education so she becomes a student at a respectable school. Without giving to much away, the book starts with Kat being expelled from the school for pulling a prank that she did not commit, her friends and family set her up because her dad is in trouble and they think Kat can help resolve the situation.

Kat's dad however did not commit the crime he is being blamed for and has an alibi but this doesn't stop the mobster from blaming him and demanding Kat does something no one else has ever done before... steal from the Henley Museum.

The best part of the book was the planning of the heist and pulling the heist itself. There are so many things that could have gone wrong while they were doing it that the book has you gripped to find out if they get caught or if they manage to get away with it.

I would recommend this to my friends and to anyone who likes a good quick read with a lot of fun plot twists and I cannot wait to get started on Uncommon Criminals.

Top 10 Tuesday

Hosteed by Broke and the Bookish

This weeks Top 10 is Top 10 Best sequels ever

1. Dreamland by Alyson Noel
2. Shadowland by Alyson Noel
3. Night Star by Alyson Noel
4. Blackwatch by Jenna Burtenshaw
5. Legacy by Jenna Burtenshaw
6. Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
7. Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
8. The Underworld by Jessica Sorensen
9. The Promise by Jessica Sorensen
10. Wicked Forest by V. C. Andrews

Wishlist Wednesday

Darkness Fades by Jessica Sorensen

Darkness Fades is due out September 30th

Top 10 Tuesday

Hosted by Broke and the Bookish

Top 10 books on my Fall 2013 TBR list (in no order)

1. Heist Society by Ally Carter
2. Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
3. Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
4. Until I Die by Amy Plum
5. If I Should Die by Amy Plum
6. Echo by Alyson Noel
7. Mystic by Alyson Noel
8. The Lost Soul by Jessica Sorensen
9. The Everescence by Jessica Sorensen
10. A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton

Review - Bittersweet Blessings by Ashley Salazar

Released: January 24th 2012
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

When high-school junior Ashley Salazar learned she was pregnant, she immediately started a blog to document the difficult, life-altering experience. Little did she know how life-altering it would actually be. Later, she applied online to be considered for the cast of MTV’s hit show 16 & Pregnant . The show responded quickly and her story will be told as the season 2 finale in a special 90-minute episode aired in December 2010. Her memoir takes the viewer further back and further forward, and chronicles the tortured indecision she faces as she decides whether its best for her baby to give her up for adoption or take the dramatic step toward motherhood.

I watched Ashley's episode on 16 & pregnant, and I felt for her and although I have no idea what Ashley went through, I could tell by reading her story and watching the episode that she struggled with her decision.

Ashley was honest through out, and she didn't leave anything out but she also didn't go on and on about it, she tells us more about how she felt before and after making the decision to have her daughter adopted and all about her pregnancy. Ashley's story shows her true feelings about giving her baby.

Ashley's story will touch other teen mums and maybe help them to make a decision that is good for them and their baby even if it isn't what they want to do.

I found this hard to put down and read it in a few hours, it even made me cry a few times. I think Ashley is really brave for telling her story and for ignoring what people were saying about her.

Wishlist Wednesday

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

The first installment in Heart of Dread series is due out September 17th

Happy Blog Birthday

Today is the blogs 3rd Birthday

It has been hard to keep this blog going this last year with being so busy
at university but I am so glad that I have managed
to keep it going.

Someone posted this on Facebook and I thought I would share it because I thought it was cool.

Top 10 Tuesday

Hosted by Broke and the Bookish

This Weeks Top 10 Tuesday is Top 10 books I would Love to see as a movie or T.V. show

1. Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw
2. Unremembered by Jessica Brody
3. Immortal Series by Alyson Noel
4. Revenants by Amy Plum
5. Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen
6. Evernight by Claudia Gray
7. Heist Society by Ally Carter
8. Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter
9. Plain Truth Jodi Picoult
10. 52 Reasons to Hate my Father by Jessica Brody

Review - The Karma Club by Jessica Brody

Release Date: May 24th 2011
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Madison Kasparkova always thought she understood how karma works. Do good things and you'll be rewarded, do something bad and karma will make sure you get what you deserve.

But when Maddy's boyfriend cheats on her, nothing bad comes his way. That's why Maddy starts the Karma Club, to clean up the messes that the universe has left behind. Sometimes, though, it isn't wise to meddle with the universe.

It turns out karma often has plans of its own.

Jessica Brody's first young adult novel The Karma Club (and the last novel of her's that I read) was a great and easy read, the plot keeps you reading, it seems to be based on the 'larger than life' philosophy about making your own luck. It took me just over a day to read which mean's it must have been a good book.

Maddy and her friends Jade and Angie are relatable character because who hasn't been hurt by a boy? making the characters relatable helps to keep the reader interested. The girls friendships were shown throughout the book by having them constantly being there for one another when they need the support.

At the start of the book Maddy want's to be popular and her article about her boyfriend ends up getting into the hottest magazine for teens she doesn't really end up being as popular as she wanted. I spent most of my time laughing at the book and I loved the names of the pranks that the Karma Club pull as payback for all the trouble the people who had wronged Maddy and her friends.

Although the pranks were the best part of the book, I also loved the guru from the spiritual clinic that Maddy's mum takes her to. The guru teaches Maddy all about karma - what comes around goes around - and this is where she gets the idea to start the Karma Club to help karma balance the universe while getting revenge. Maddy makes sure that the Karma Club isn't to just get revenge on Mason but to get revenge on the people who hurt her friends. 

After the Karma Club start all their paybacks on the people who wronged them things start to go wrong and Maddy learns that karma is not to be messed with. Maddy goes back and see the guru to talk to him and although he doesn't tell Maddy what she should do exactly, what he does tell her makes Maddy change the way that the Karma Club works.

If I was Maddy's I think I would have created the Karma Club too, I would like to help speed up karma to get justice.

I recommend the Karma Club to anyone who has been hurt by someone and is thinking of getting payback.

Wishlist Wednesday

This weeks book is:

United We Spy by Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

United We Spy is the final story in the Gallagher Girls series and is due out tomorrow September 5th

Top 10 Tuesday

Hosted by Broke and the Bookish

This weeks Top 10 is Top 10 books that I wish were taught in schools.

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa M. Klein
3. The Prime of Miss Jean Brody by Murial Sparks
4. Charlotte's Webb by E. B. White
5. Matilda by Roald Dahl
6. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
7. The Karma Club by Jessica Brody
8. The Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm
9. The Fault in are Stars by John Green
10. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult