by Kay | Jun 19, 2013 | Giveaway |
MIRA sent me two lovely copies of With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent, one of which I have hoarded away for myself, and the other which I am now sharing with the world! Yup, this giveaway is open WORLDWIDE – so, if you’ve been coveting a UK edition of one of her novels, this is your chance to get in on the action.
After spending the last year undead, Kaylee Cavanaugh has had enough of the paranormal creatures who have plagued her ever since she came into her banshee powers. Now she’s ready to take her school back from the evil hellions, once and forever.
To protect her friends, Kaylee will need to find a way to turn the living incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another.
Yet when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realises she can’t save everyone she loves without making some powerful sacrifices…
GIVEAWAY DETAILS!
The Prize: A finished UK copy of With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent
To enter (Terms and Conditions):
- fill out the form below.
- entrants must be 13 years of age or older.
- contest open WORLDWIDE (i.e. Lunar residents will be excluded)
- the winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to reply else a new winner will be chosen.
- the winner will have to share their postal address – shocking, but a necessary evil when using antique forms of contact such as mail.
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by Kay | Jun 19, 2013 | Reviews |
With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent
Series: Soul Screamers #7
Published by Harlequin Teen, MIRA
Pages: 377
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Received for review from publishers
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Rating:
Also in this series: My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save, My Soul to Keep, My Soul to Steal, If I Die, Before I WakeAfter spending the last year undead, Kaylee Cavanaugh has had enough of the paranormal creatures who have plagued her ever since she came into her banshee powers. Now she's ready to take her school back from the evil hellions, once and forever.
To protect her friends, Kaylee will need to find a way to turn the living incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another.
Yet when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realises she can't save everyone she loves without making some powerful sacrifices...
And so ends the Soul Screamers series. A series that quite genuinely surprised the hell out of me, delivering character development and plot turns that were utterly realistic and yet so rarely seen in the YA genre. Thank you, Rachel Vincent, for giving me a series I didn’t even know I wanted until I had it.
Let me just confirm that With All My Soul wrapped up the Soul Screamers series rather perfectly. Kaylee has spent the past six books two steps behind her enemies, but when things go from terrible to so-much-worse, she knows just reacting to attacks is not going to work. But with hellion demons being pretty much impossible to beat, and with no power or leverage to think of, what’s a girl to do? Vincent set up the perfect storm, and with it delivered the perfect solution. Every bit of Kaylee’s growth as a character culminated into her choices in this book. Book 1 Kaylee, Book 4 Kaylee and even Book 6 Kaylee would not have preserved… I love it when an author actually knows where they want a character to go – and then takes them there flawlessly. So, kudos, Rachel.
So while I loved that the series was tied up with a bow, I didn’t get the same emotional response to With All My Soul that I did from the other Soul Screamer books. Perhaps it was just me, but it felt like a lot of the “Big. Emotional. Scenes.” were ones we’d seen time and time again. Kaylee feels guilty and angsts! Nash lashes out at people who love him with unnecessarily cruel remarks! Tod and Kaylee profess their (literally) undying love! Adults randomly disappear and cause more angst! Sabine is Sabine! FEELS are meant to be HAD!
But not for me. I mean, intellectually, I understood that all of this was “Very. Important.” but it felt like a rehash of the last book, at least in terms of character interaction. Sure, the plot itself was solid, but the only real emotional development came from Kaylee – and even that was more “Oh look, Kaylee is finally stopping to think before blaming herself”. Perhaps that sounds unnecessarily harsh, but even when I enjoyed Kaylee, I could still admit her self-hatred was damn annoying.
Bottom line? This was an excellent wrap-up of a brilliant series. That said, it didn’t pack the emotional punch that I so loved in the other Soul Screamers books.
Want a copy? Click here to enter my giveaway of the book (open worldwide).
by Kay | May 5, 2013 | Book Haul |
Another month, another book haul a-la Stacking the Shelves (Tynga’s Reviews) / Mailbox Monday. Over this past month the books have kinda just kept coming – mostly due to my inability to pass up a good deal. So, to save my sanity and to avoid breaking the Goodreads servers while getting links, I’m separating the books I’ve received as of late. Let’s start with the books I’ve received for review; I’ll be back later with the (much bigger) stack of recent purchases.
For Review:
- With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent – Yup, I have 2 copies! That means… giveaway! (It will be up this month along with my review.)
- Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne – I received Heart-Shaped Bruise for review when it first came out, but still haven’t gotten to it.
- The Hit by Melvin Burgess – Not sure if this one will be my cup of tea, but intriguing premise nonetheless!
- Shipwrecked by Siobhan Curham – I am a wee bit confused by this synopsis… “Lost” meets “Gossip Girl”? What?! Could be brilliant – guess we’ll find out!
- Angelfall by Susan Ee – Yup – Angelfall! I bought the e-book of this eons ago but never got round to reading it. But this gorgeous UK printing by Hodder? It has be dying to get started on it. It is really rather shiny.
Read any of these? If so, let me know what you thought of them! I am always looking for first, second, third, fourth opinions. 😉
by Kay | May 3, 2013 | Monthly TBR, Shelf Absorbed |
One of my resolutions for 2013 was to “read my favourites” – the books from series I loved that I hoarded away for a “rainy day”. What’s the point in keeping those books if I am not going to read them, you ask? … Fair point.
So this month, I am going to read the final books from the trilogies and series that I’ve loved. A lot of these books are going to elicit the reaction “OMG YOU HAVEN’T READ THAT YET?!” but… don’t judge me! As I mentioned in my resolutions post: I kinda have a problem.
The ones that have been on the shelves… a while:
- Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead – This is one of those series I loved so much I physically couldn’t pick it up. Instead, I checked out spoilers when it came out because the Rose/Dmitri/Adrian thing was too painful to sit through. I should really know better by now!
- Forever by Maggie Stiefvater – Again, stop it with the judging.
- Endgame by Ann Aguirre – I don’t want it to end!!!!
- Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells – As above!
The new releases:
- With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent – Why no spin-off? Why??
- The Rising by Kelley Armstrong (not pictured) – I don’t know what my life is going to be like without a Darkest Powers/Darkness Rising release every year. No, really. I am rather at a loss.
Just putting this list together has made me rather emotional. Why must things end?? Why can’t writers just keep going and going and going? Why can’t my book series just continue on forever like Eastenders?? Why??
Michael Fassbender knows my pain.
To be honest, these aren’t even all my last-in-a-series books… I have more that I haven’t gotten to that I’ve left out out of fear of this post becoming a “confessions of book blogger”. On a happier note, if you are looking for a series/trilogy that I whole-heartedly recommend, check out any of these. They are all 5 star reads that deserve all the love they can get!
by Kay | Jan 4, 2013 | Reading Challenges |
2012 was actually a very busy year for me, reading-wise…. but not book-wise! I read a lot of fanfiction – 98% of it absolutely brilliant – and only a few books. Truth is, most of the books I picked up I did not enjoy. I have quite a big pile of books in my room half-read… including some from series I adore.
But there have been some great books in 2012. Here’s a wrap-up of them all with the help of The End of the Year Book Survey hosted at Perpetual Page Turner!
1. Best Book You Read In 2012?
There are three that come to mind immediately… but I’d have to say If I Die by Rachel Vincent. One of the reasons I loved this book so much was because it was such a surprise – I expected a good-or-just-OK novel, and instead got a brilliant one.
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Easy: The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams. God, this book was just so frustrating. I had read so many great reviews of the book but found riddled with cliches and featuring the most idiotic of love triangles. Never got round to reviewing it as I couldn’t face revisiting it…
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?
Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan – I enjoyed the first book in this series, but didn’t think it anything special. This book proved me wrong!
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?
The Soul Screamers series, by far.
5. Best series you discovered in 2012?
The Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas – I am not really a romance reader, let alone a historical romance reader… but the first two books in this series were just SO entertaining and well written.
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?
Again, Lisa Kleypas.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I’d say the Vampire Academy graphic novel. I was my first full-length graphic novel ever, and I really enjoyed it!
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
Instead of a single book, I’d say the entire Soul Screamers Series by Rachel Vincent. Even in my reading slump, I devoured these.
9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year.
Probably A Study in Scarlet by ACD – it’s a classic for a reason.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?
The UK cover of Muse by Rebecca Lim, by FAR.
11. Most memorable character in 2012?
I adored Mercy Thompson in River Marked by Patricia Briggs this year. She has always been exceptional, but she was even more badass in that book.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
Meh… none of them. All great – none “beautiful”.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?
I’d say Pure Blood by Caitlin Kitteredge… and not for a good reason. I loved the first book in this series, but this book made me want to hit things. That it came after reading two other UF novels with similar female leads didn’t help…
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?
Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre. I had adored the first two books in the Jax series, and I wish I had dived into the sequels sooner!
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.”
– A Study in Scarlet
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?
I think the longest book I read this year was actually only half a book: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I read the first 500 pages, but put it down as it was getting horribly depressing… The shortest would have to be Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs (graphic novel).
17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
The scene with Faythe and Jace in Prey by Rachel Vincent – I knew it was coming but… WTF?!
18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Vel and Jax in the Sirantha Jax series – I heart these two SO MUCH, even in spite of one of them being a bug alien… rather impressive, me thinks.
19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously.
River Marked by Patricia Briggs: the woman is a legend for a reason.
20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else.
It is really rare for me to read a book without first getting a recommendation from someone… so, all of them.
