Follow Friday (33)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee

 

 

 

Q: We always talk about books that WE want. Let's turn it on its head. What books have you given other people lately?

 

Sadly, not many people I know love to read.  I got my dad The Hobbit for Christmas.  Does that count?

 

What about you?  Leave links!



Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Marissa Meyer proved how amazing of an author she was with her debut of Cinder last year, and she proves herself yet again in Scarlet. 

If there was anyone worried that Scarlet wouldn't live up to Cinder, then let me just tell you now:  You have nothing to worry about.  With Cinder's characters and a cast of new ones, plus the amazing plot, it would be hard to leave disappointed.

On the point of characters, the old favorites make a comeback, including Emperor Kai, Iko, Queen Levana, and of course, Cinder.  Along with them, new characters make their debut, the most notable being Wolf, Thorne, and the main character of the book, Scarlet.

At first, I will admit I didn't like Scarlet, due to her temper.  However, it didn't take long to warm up to her, and once I did, I really appreciated her character.  She was a nice balance of Cinder, who, while still being my favorite of the characters, is admittedly quiet.  It also took a little time for Thorne to grow on me, but he supplied a nice comedic character without being annoying or over comedic.  And Wolf was, out of the three new characters, the one I took the most liking to in the beginning.  However, even though I still liked him throughout the entire book, Scarlet soon took first place as the best of the new characters.

Cinder, who I mentioned above as my favorite character, definitely had less time in the book that Scarlet, but what time she did have supplied just the right amount of character growth and a nice look into what she was feeling.  I was very glad to see that Iko was making a re-appearance, as she, just like Thorne, lightens up the book without ruining the feel of it.  Emperor Kai and Queen Levana both each had just enough time in the book to make them still feel like an essential part of the story.

I was very pleased with the way Marissa Meyer handled the multiple POV changes.  You were never left wondering who was narrating the chapter, and she switched the narrator at just the right moments.

The plot still has many traces of Cinder in it, but also introduces new plot points, including Wolf's mysterious old gang, Cinder's escape from prison and her dealing with her new found Lunar abilities, and of course, Scarlet's grand mothers capture and the secrets that led to it.

The fairy tale the book was based around, Little Red Riding Hood, is definitely shown in subtle ways that I realized after the scene took place.  The best of these scene's would have to be the iconic scene with the Big Bad Wolf dressed up like the grandmother.

All in all, Scarlet lived up to my expectations and left me desperately waiting for the next book in the series, Cress.  Definitely get this book if you are a fan of fairy tales, Dystopians, and of course, if you enjoyed the first book in the series, Cinder.

Rating: 5/5

Market: YA
Language: Mild/None
Violence: Moderate
Sensuality: Moderate

In My Mailbox (27): Scarlet

Unfortunantly I haven't done one of these in a while (seriously- I got a boatload of books for Christmas and a few in between then and now) but today I got a book I've been waiting for for forever, so:

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren.

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

In My Mailbox I have:

Comment Change

Alright guys - I had to take off Anonymous comments.  I really am sorry, but I was getting a ton of spam comments, most of which didn't even show up on my blog but were flooding my email and comment section here.  You can still leave comments with OpenID and Google, just no more Anonymous.
Have a great weekend, and to the people lucky enough to get Monday off, President's Day!

Follow Friday (32)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee

Q: Happy Mardi Gras! If they were throwing the HOTTEST books off of a Mardi Gras float -- what would you do to have them throw to you…?

Hottest like popular...?  Then a few would be Scarlet (Marissa Meyer), The Fault in Our Stars, Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, Elite (Kiera Cass), and a lot of others I can't think of right now.

What about you?  Leave links!

I was Nominated for the Liebster Award!

Thank you to Magic for the nomination!

Rules

- Tell 11 things about yourself.
- Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
- Post 11 questions for those who will be nominated by you.
- Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
- Get in contact with those 11 bloggers in order to inform them that you nominated them
 

11 things about me:

-My favorite of the Harry potter books in Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban.

-I'm 5'11 (and apparently I'm supposed to grow another inch).

-Around Christmas all my grades changed from A's to F's.  Turns out my gradebook was tampered with.  I ended up getting (mainly) B's (with a couple A's) even though that's not really the grades I earned, since they couldn't find my original grades.

-Because of this I am majorly behind on my Goodreads Challenge.

-I'd like to be a published author at someday.

-I will be doing PSEO next year, which means I will be taking some college classes.

-As of this month I can get my Temps and learn how to drive.

-I recently changed schools.

-My favorite subject is Literature, but I also like History and Science.

-I love animals, especially dogs, owls, and otters.

-My dogs are all named after Batman characters.

Questions I Answer:

-Favorite book made into a movie.
Harry Potter is my favorite book made into a movie, but The Hunger Games is my favorite movie made from a book.

-Favorite book that SHOULD be made into a movie

SO MANY GOOD BOOKS.  Um...I love every book by Jessica Day George, and Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is AMAZING.

-What's your Favorite place to go?

The Library, and I also love the beach.

-Favorite food to eat

Apples, and dessert in general.

-If you could eat one food for the rest of your life; what would it be?

Apples?  Oreos?  I don't know!

-What do you do when your not reading?

School...Play with my brothers...Horse back riding...Skiing...

-If you could meet a character from a book who would it be?

Probably Hermione Granger.

-if you could live in a book which one would it be?

I swear all my book answers have to do with Harry Potter.

-Were there any books that you couldn't stop thinking about weeks after you read it?

Seraphina, the book I mentioned above, and many other that weren't so recent.

-Favorite book Genres

Fantasy and Historical Fiction.  Added bonus if it's a Historical fantasy.

-favorite movie.

This one I honestly can't answer because there are just to many good movies out there.

Questions Nominees Answer

-What's the best book you've read in the past month?

-What character do you think you are the most like?

-What are you reading right now?

-What book that comes out in 2013 are you most looking forward to?

-What is your favorite genre(s)?

-Do you have any pets?

-If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

-What is your favorite type of Heroine/Hero in a book?

-What is a type of book you wish could be found more (i.e. fantasy, superhero, etc)?

-Have you ever been nominated for/gotten an award before (through blogging)?

-Do you have a book that you can read over and over again without it getting old?

My Nominees

The Bookworm Is Here!

Ink and Tea Reviews

Miss Check Out

Lost In The Pages

Love Life and Reading

(Unfortunately for me, it appears that most of the blogs I follow have over 200 followers.  Good for them!)