In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Kristi over at The Story Siren, where we get to share with our readers the books that we've gotten recently, whether it's in the mail, from the bookstore or the library!

Well, as you might know, I am a library kind of gal. Actually, I'm a librarian. So 95% of the books I blog about come from my local libraries (the other 5% are books from giveaways or from when I breakdown and buy something at Borders haha). This week was kind of slim because I got so many the week before! So here is what I got, with links to the books from Goodreads...

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Woohoo! Prisons, werewolves and fairies-- that's a good combination, right? So... now I have about 15 books in a pile by my bed. This could take awhile!

What is in everyone else's mailbox this week? Leave me a link in your comment so I can take a look :)

Book Review: Entwined

Author: Heather Dixon
Release Date: March 29, 2011
Pages: 480
Read it in: 4 days

Summary: Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her... beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing... it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

LC's Take: 

I LOVED this book! Where to begin? This was just an incredibly delightful read, from beginning to end. The narration, the dialogue, and the characters made this so enjoyable, and I found that I was giggling to myself over the quirkiness and whimsical charm of the story throughout.

Azalea ("Lea" for short-- how cool to read a book with my name in it!) is the oldest of eleven sisters who live in an old castle with their father, the King of Eathesbury. Even though Azalea and her sisters are princesses, the kingdom is poor and their castle is run-down. As the future queen, it is up to Azalea to find a suitable husband. Her father brings in many potential suitors, but Azalea only has eyes for the young Mr. Bradford, an awkward but adorable apprentice from town. (Ah! Mr. Bradford was TOO cute :)

Unfortunately, Azalea has bigger problems to worry about than just finding a husband. The princesses' mother recently died and now the entire house is in a year of mourning for the late queen. All of the things that once gave the princesses life and happiness are taken away- colorful dresses, walks in the garden-- and most importantly-- dancing. Without dancing the girls are perfectly forlorn and miserable.

But Azalea discovers a secret-- long ago, the castle had been magic, and traces of it still linger in the walls. Azalea learns of a secret passageway that takes her and her sisters to a magical silver forest with a pavilion, perfect for dancing. There, they meet Mr. Keeper, who watches over the forest-- and them. But all is not what it seems, and Keeper soon shows his true colors. Now it is up to Azalea to save her mother's soul, her sisters' lives, and the entire kingdom, ending once and for all the dark magic kept alive for so long...

Entwined had all the elements of a great fairy tale-- magic, suspense, romance, humor, and characters that jump right off the page. I loved Azalea as the heroine, and her eleven little sisters-- all named alphabetically after flowers-- were so cute! Even though there were eleven of them, Dixon manages to give them all unique and individual characters. I loved her sense of humor throughout the story as well-- all the quirky little things, the English-style dialogue with phrases like "I say!" and "corking good" and "Tut tut!" just made the book so much fun to read. Oh, and the magical tea set was hilarious. This is perfectly juxtaposed with the incredibly creepy villain, Mr. Keeper-- there were moments in the book where I actually got goosebumps from the sheer creepiness of this character! (Note: if you've ever seen the movie Coraline, the tones were similar to that-- cute with a mix of very dark creepiness.)

The only little complaint I have is that the ending was slightly anti-climactic-- I would have liked if there was a little more action there, but other than that, all the strings were neatly tied up and the story ended with a really sweet, happily-ever-after. This truly was a great book, thoroughly fun and entertaining, that provided a perfect mix of magic, suspense and lighthearted fun!

LC's Rating:

A cute, unique story that provides a refreshing twist on the classic fairy tale, Entwined was a delight to read! If you've been putting this one off, give it a shot-- I am sure you will find it as charming and fun as I did :)

Follow Me Friday (8)

Well, well, well... it is that time of the week again! Friday is ALMOST here, and the weekend can begin! Follow Me Friday is a fun book meme hosted by the absolutely fabulous Parajunkee over at Parajunkee's View. Have a book blog? You can play with us too! Just visit Parajunkee's site at the link above, be sure you are a follower of her blog and the blog she is featuring for the week, put your name in the Linky, create your own FF post on your blog, and then start commenting and following whomever you wish!

~Weekly Update~

I have been SUPER BUSY this week! This is my ONE week off for the summer and I have been spending it relaxing, reading, and giving my blog an amazing makeover... For those of you who haven't visited my site before, or if you simply forgot what my blog looked like, here is a "before pic" so that you can see what a dramatic transformation LC's Adventures in Libraryland has taken!

Click to enlarge :)

I know, right?!? Talk about a MAJOR change! I was a little scared to do such a huge renovation, but I am so happy I did-- now, my layout is much wider so I can fit more info on the page, and the entire thing is much lighter, brighter, and polished :) Plus, I am having a blast adding new things to my Alice in Wonderland theme, like buttons (I went totally button-crazy today-- see the side bar and grab your favorite!), ratings, meme pics, and of course my blog header! I'm proud to say that I did the whole thing myself, too :) What do you guys think? Feel free to leave your comments below-- so far I have been getting wonderful feedback from all my lovely followers :)

OK! Now onto this week's FF question:

Let's step away from the Besties... What is the worst book that you have ever read and actually finished?

Alright, I'm sure that this isn't the absolute WORST book that I've ever read in my entire life, but in recent memory I was REALLY not a fan of Wicked Lovely. Which sucked because I love that cover! The reason that I couldn't stand this book was that the writing and the plot was so confusing, and I felt like the characters were impossible to connect with or understand. I'm sorry if you like this series, but I just couldn't get into it-- in complete frustration, it ALMOST got DNF-ed, but I stuck it out to the very end, and then wrote a not-very-nice review for it haha. 

What is your worst book?? Leave me a comment below and I will try my best to get back to you! I am on an FF roll this week, lol, so odds are I've already stopped by to see you and comment/follow :D Have an awesome weekend everyone!!

(Major) Blog Redesign!

R.I.P. old blog design!

Hi everyone! Soooo... as you may have noticed, LC's Adventures in Libraryland is looking A LOT different these days! I decided that it was time to do a major overhaul with "my look" for a couple reasons. First, I have been wanting a wider layout for a long time now, but the background I had before was too narrow for it. Second of all, while I did like the darker colors from my previous design, I thought it would be nice to have something a little more light and airy-- hopefully, this is more readable as well! And then I have also been wanting to re-do my header for awhile now, too-- something a little more professional and polished that will also allow me to work more with my Alice in Wonderland theme... I do miss my White Rabbit-- I will try to incorporate him into my signature or my rating system at some point...

So anyways, I spent the good part of tonight doing a blog makeover and now I'm exhausted but I hope you like it! A few more tweaks here and there and it should be good to go... Now for bed!

Please let me know what you think-- your comments are always greatly appreciated :)

Book Review: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins
Release Date: July 3, 2010
Pages: 384
Read it in: 4 days

Summary: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the other districts in line by forcing them to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death on live TV.

One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen are selected by lottery to play. The winner brings riches and favor to his or her district. But that is nothing compared to what the Capitol wins: one more year of fearful compliance with its rule. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her impoverished district in the Games.

But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Acclaimed writer Suzanne Collins, author of the New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles, delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this stunning novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

LC's Take: 

I know, I know, I'm like the last person to read this book, but I finally got a hold of it! Honestly, this is a really hard book to review because there has already been so much said about it-- I don't plan on adding anything incredibly insightful that hundreds of other people haven't already mentioned about its sheer awesomeness, but here is what I thought...

Unlike a lot of other books I read, I went into The Hunger Games with an expectation that it was going to be incredible. I try not to start a book with any preconceived notions, but in this case I really couldn't help it after hearing so many people raving about it. All in all, I definitely was not disappointed! THG kept me in suspense from beginning to end, wondering what would happen next at every turn in this ultimate fight for survival.

Probably one of the things I liked most about this book was the unforgettable characters. Katniss, the female protagonist, was both believable and likable. She had flaws and struggled with things from her past, and this made her very human and very easy to relate to. I loved the fact that she was strong and independent, but she could be very vulnerable as well. As the heroine, Katniss not only fights tooth-and-nail for her life, she also fights against the oppressive regime that forces the Hunger Games on society. This fight for a higher purpose along with her unbreakable spirit brings deeper meaning to the story and makes you even more invested in the fate of the main character.

Peeta was a thoroughly likable character as well, even though he remained a mystery until about halfway through the story. It's hard to tell what his motives are right away. Does he really like Katniss or is he just playing The Game? I thought that the relationship between him and Katniss developed in a very natural way-- it wasn't at all forced. Here is one instance of a "love triangle" that was not contrived or just thrown in as a plot device to make things more "interesting." I really loved Peeta and can't wait to see how his character develops in the later books.

And can I just say? I loved Rue! **sniffle** I think that it is only a very talented writer who can make their secondary characters as memorable as the main ones, and this book had many! Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, Prim-- all of them, even though they played more minor roles in the story, had their own identity and added something to the plot. Gale was a little more difficult-- we don't really learn much about him in this book, so it was kind of hard to follow Katniss' dilemma about whether she liked Peeta or Gale more, but I'm guessing that we'll learn more about him in the next book of the Trilogy.

The action-adventure aspect of this book was AMAZING. This probably isn't too surprising, considering that the plot revolves around a fight to the death in order to keep yourself alive, but it was one of those books where the end of each chapter is just begging you to continue to the next! The Game itself was exciting and suspenseful, and didn't rely too heavily on shock-value to keep you interested.

I think that the ending was slightly predictable, but once again, I think this has more to do with the fact that I've already heard "snippets" from other people, and unless I lived under a rock, it would be hard to not have some idea about what was going to happen. The ending was still satisfying enough that I was fully engrossed in the story up until the last pages.

The only dilemma that I had with THG was at the beginning, where I had a difficult time understanding Katniss' reactions to becoming a Tribute in the Hunger Games. Maybe because she grew up under the reality of knowing that one day she might be chosen to battle to the death? I don't know, but I guess that if I were about to enter a "game" where I had to kill people before they killed me, and there was little chance of me winning, I would be a lot less concerned about the clothes I was wearing or the food I was eating or the guy I have a crush on. Or hey-- maybe all those things would start mattering even more! Still, some parts of the Games seemed really over-the-top, like with the stylists and the interviews. If I were Katniss, I don't know if I could have played along like she did. Granted, it worked to her advantage in the end... sigh, I guess I just over-think things way too much!

THG was a great dystopian fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. However, I don't think it's fair to say that this book is the be-all, end-all of this genre, and I don't plan on setting this as the benchmark to judge future dystopian books by. There are many, many good dystopians that I have read this year, including Ship Breaker, Wither and Divergent. I am just glad to be able to add yet another amazing book to my list-- it isn't hard to see why this has become an instant classic! 

LC's Rating: 

All in all, I thought that THG was an incredible read-- I will go ahead and say what so many people have said before me: I could not put this book down! I would recommend it to pretty much anyone, especially those who love action, adventure and dystopian fiction. If you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, make sure that you do at some point-- I am pretty sure that you won't be sorry :)

Teaser Tuesday (10)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

*****

This week I am finally reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I figured that since I'm a librarian and because I love YA fiction so much, I had to read what has become an instant classic :) Here is my teaser for this week:

"Perhaps that girl doesn't even remember me. But I know she does. You don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope. I pull the covers up over my head as if it will protect me from the redheaded girl who can't speak. But I can feel her eyes staring at me, piercing through walls and doors and bedding.

I wonder if she'll enjoy watching me die."

~p. 85

*****

Definitely loving this book so far! What is everyone else reading this week?

PS~ Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!!!!!

Book Review: Passion

Author: Lauren Kate
Release Date: June 14, 2011
Pages: 432
Read it in: 3 days

Summary: Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way...

Luce is certain that something-- or someone-- in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime... going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames... forever.

Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series.

LC's Take: 

Sigh... OK, ready for this? So, as you may know, the Fallen series is definitely not one of my favorites-- but I am inexplicably drawn to them like a moth to a flame and I keep reading, in the vain hope that someday, somehow I will finally understand what was going through LK's head when she wrote these books... so, here we go:

~Brief Synopsis~

At the end of the last book, Luce had had enough of absolutely no one telling her what the heck was going on with the curse between her and Daniel (OK, we were ALL fed up with not knowing what was going on) so at the last moment she peaced-out by stepping into an Announcer and back into her past lives to figure things out on her own. Passion follows Luce's "Quest" to find out why she and Daniel are cursed, so that she can break it. Along the way, she meets her new little Disney-sidekick Bill, who helps her while adding comic relief throughout. Luce and Bill travel from Moscow during WWII to England in the mid-1800's, to Versailles, to the Globe Theater during Shakespeare's time, to the Mayan civilization, all the way back to ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, Daniel goes back in time to try and find Luce and make sure she doesn't alter things permanently...

~Thoughts~

When I started getting into Passion, I was thinking, hey! So far, this isn't so bad! Not nearly as painful and cringe-inducing as Torment! The plot was moving along, there was a fun, new secondary character, we finally got to see Daniel's point of view and he wasn't such a tremendous butt-face, and even 2-D, cardboard Luce seemed to take on some life... and THEN there was the ending.

Oh good lord, the ending.

But before I get all down on the Fallen books again, let me say what I did like about Passion. And also, let me just state for the record, that this is definitely the best book in the series so far. Alrighty, let's do this in good old-fashioned bullet points, shall we?

• First, the prologue was mysterious and downright creepy. We realize that the Elders still exist (even though they fell out of the plot in the second book and then disappear again for the rest of this book) and they are now teaming up with the Outcasts to get their hands on Luce.
• Second, LK has FINALLY picked up the pace. The story line, while not heart-stoppingly amazing, was at least not as painfully slllllooooowww as the first two books.
• Third, we finally get to see things from Daniel's point of view. Up to this point he's been a self-centered, irritating, nasty, chauvinistic jerk-wad who you want to give a nice, swift kick in the crotch. Here we get to see another side of him-- awesome! Now he has two sides XD
• I personally liked snarky, fun, quirky, potentially gay, admittedly cheesy Bill-- um, that is, until the end. Don't worry-- that's not really a spoiler-- if you have half a teaspoon of brains, you have a pretty good idea from the get-go who "Bill" actually is... unless you're Luce Price. Let's just say she's definitely not the brightest crayon in the box...

But let's not get TOO carried away: there were definitely things about this book that left me with an unpleasant eye-twitch and something reminiscent of a bad hangover-- such as:

• We are still no closer to understanding WHY Luce and Daniel "love" each other, or WHY they ever even fell in love in the first place. Classic case here of telling and not showing-- we're told a bazillion times that Luce loves Daniel and Daniel loves Luce, but gosh darn it, we sure haven't seen anything yet beyond a bunch of goo-goo eyed stares and passionate lip-locking. Sorry, but if you want Me the Reader to believe in this magical, eternal bond of love between the two main characters, you need to give me something more to base it on than teenage sighs and making out. FAIL #1.
• To elaborate on my last point, when a "CERTAIN SOMEONE" asks Luce exactly why she loves Daniel so much, here is the response we get: "A million reasons. I just do." (p. 388) I just do?? REALLY?? So... you're telling me that after 1200+ PAGES this is the best explanation we get for why Luce loves Daniel?? She just does? So basically... they love each other-- because they love each other. **slaps forehead in TOTAL frustration** I am reeling from the inconceivable shallowness of this statement.  FAIL #2.
• As if this series wasn't confusing enough, now we have TIME TRAVEL thrown into the mix. And multiple versions of the main characters. AND other major characters and plot elements that have just completely disappeared altogether with no explanation for why they're no longer there. But the time travel was the worst-- it was just one big, inconsistent mess that leaves you staring blankly into the space-time continuum. Now, I'm no Stephen Hawking, but I'm pretty darned sure this isn't how time travel goes down. Seriously, by the last few chapters I was so freaking confused I had to pop a couple Tylenol PM just so that I wasn't up all night racking my brains over what the hell had just happened. And considering that this series already has more plot holes than I can count on fingers and toes, time travel just didn't seem like a really smart move to me. FAIL #3.
• Let's talk about Luce for a minute. Will poor Luce EVER learn that she has zero instinct or ability to read people? How many times now has her gullible butt been duped because she blindly skips after the bad guy like he's the freaking Pied Piper? She can pass quantum physics but she thinks following a creepy gargoyle who won't let anyone but her see him is a GOOD idea?? EARTH TO LUCE!! Stay away from the strangers trying to lure you to your death! They're bad-news bears, K?? Really, if she's going to be THIS stupid over and over again, do I really even care at this point what happens to her? Not to mention that, up to this point, Luce's sole existence is based on being head-over-heels in love with Daniel. That's it. End of story. The girl has no other purpose. Luce Price= FAIL #4.
• The writing style, while somewhat better, is still pretty sloppy, confusing, and all over the place. (I SWEAR I'm trying to not be a total jerk here! It IS better than the first two! There IS improvement!!) But still, the transitions between each chapter and each new time period visited are about as graceful as falling down a flight of stairs. Also, maybe an OUTLINE would have helped before just taking the write-as-you-go approach and then conveniently taking the easy way out with pretty much EVERY aspect of the plot. I'm not expecting this to be Shakespeare, but I would appreciate at least being able to follow some remotely logical series of events... FAIL #5.
• Speaking of which! Did you know that Luce knew SHAKESPEARE in another lifetime and SHE'S the reason why the Globe Theater burned down?? Hey! Neither did I!! Oh Lord, the history re-writing in this book just cracks me up... FAIL #6.
• Back to that "CERTAIN SOMEONE," all I can say is-- Wow. Congrats LK, on managing to take the evilest being of all time and turn him into a cliche villain about as scary and intimidating as one of those 1920's silent-film guys-- you know, the one with the monocle and top hat? He's all, MUAHAHAHA!!! Then cue a lot of eeveell pacing back and forth as he explains his eeveell plans... (which, by the by, ALSO make NO SENSE.) Are you kidding me? FAIL #7.  
• At the end of this book-- guess what? We STILL have NO IDEA what the EFF is going on. No joke! NOTHING is ever explained, and the ending contained about 297 plot holes. NO ONE has a motive in this series, NOTHING is ever given a logical explanation, and everything is all chalked up to DESTINY. Isn't this what we call a cop-out? Why yes, yes it is! The worst of it is, the book was set up to make it sound like we would FINALLY get some answers to major questions, and then the last few chapters just made no sense at all. Is this some kind of joke Ms. Kate?? Because after a thousand plus pages it just isn't funny anymore. What exactly was the POINT of Luce's "Quest"? What was she trying to find? So far, the whole plot is completely meaningless to the reader. I went back and tried to re-read whole sections thinking I must have missed something, and I'm STILL totally lost. I honestly want to believe that there is more to this plot and these characters than meets the eye-- but at this point, I'm not holding my breath. FAIL #8.
• This was literally my favorite line in the whole book: "Finally, things were beginning to make sense." (p. 400) Really? They ARE?? Could've fooled me! I'm seriously going to have an aneurism if I spend one more minute trying to make sense of this story. This is honest-to-goodness THE most convoluted mess of a plot I have ever read! Does the author even know what's going on here?? But I LOVED that line. It made me chuckle.  FAIL #9.
• Random question: Does the kiss you've been dreaming about your whole life include knocking your teeth into somebody else's? No? Huh, me neither. Just wondering. FAIL #10.
• We honestly can't get though a Fallen book without someone "waggling" or "wagging" their eyebrows-- seriously LK, why? What does it mean to "waggle" your eyebrows? Is this even physically possible? Are people going to look at me all crazy if I attempt this? I am so confused. FAIL #11.

*****

Please know that I'm not trying to offend anyone with my silly rants, and I totally respect people who love these books. And even though I like to poke fun, keep in mind that if these books really were beyond sucky, I WOULDN'T EVEN BOTHER READING THEM. But they are good enough and entertaining enough that I continue on! Don't take this review too seriously, I am not trying to discourage people from reading the Fallen series, I'm just stating my personal opinion. 

I read books for all kinds of reasons-- to inform me and make me smarter, because the writing is phenomenal, because they are classics, and because I just want some cheap, easy entertainment. Consider this series to be in the latter category of the previous statement :) So with that being said...

LC's Rating: 

Altogether, another utterly confusing masterpiece! Maybe it's just me, but there is precious little that makes sense in this series. If you have read these books and have figured out what the heck is going on, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm still entertained. AND this book was, despite everything, still better than the first two. Unfortunately, Passion is "unforgettably epic" for all the wrong reasons. That's all I've got.