Review: The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Title: The Glimpse
Author: Claire Merle
Publisher: Faber & Faber (UK)
Release Date: June 7th 2012
Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe.

EDITORS' PICKS for Best Books of the Month (June) AMAZON UK

The second and final part of The Glimpse Duet will be available in June 2013.

Detailed Review: What do I love about this story? 

Hmm... I thought this book was absolutely good - clear story and easy-going characters (except the fact that the main character, Ana is going crazy). The start of the story is the start of a girl called Ana who is a sweet girl. Well you know... The girl who's always good, listens to her dad, takes their advice and tries not to get noticed. Until the day that crushed her identity. Ana then gets sent to the headmaster's room and finds out she's a Sleeper. 

One small step to the big disease - An Active. An Active is someone who has a psychiatric problem, a mental disorder. Ana is yet on the verge with herself being one. It kept me thinking about it's mysterious plot and sole adventure of Ana, how she delves deeper into her past of her family and into the abyss of the Crazies world. 

ANA - she's a girl whom you can trust-ish. Living in the world she sees now, there's no going back to; playing princess, living the large life, falling in love with someone who she doesn't love anymore. Now Ana is the girl who is fighting for everything she wants and more. The boy who has stepped into the present. 

JASPER - a boy living in the high end, he is simply betrothed to lovely Ana. Until he disappears into the world where old men fear little girls. Shockingly, he mysteriously wanders into a Crazies's world, why? He found a secret that could topple the empire, the world's enemy - Ana's father. He's being electrocuted, tortured and many other ways to make him talk. What will happen then? Will he resist the unresistible? 

COLE - he's seen something through The Glimpse. A project in which allows you to see the future. At the same time, he gets captured by a group who wants Jasper as well and brought to court. There he meets Ana for the first time - the person who he's going to love and already has - you'll see why... As he helps Ana - his 'soul mate' - through the spiralling world of The Crazies - she has started to see through her eyes where the impossible is the possible with a little help from Cole himself. 

ASHBY - the evil, cynical man who has designed the drug and company (his shield and sword) to implant the thought of being Crazies. He is a psycho mad man who will stop at nothing until everyone bows down to him including his family. Well, to say one thing - Ana is his daughter. Guess what? You'll find out soon...

I thought that the author's writing was very fluid as she tells the stories of her characters. I especially loved the main character, Ana - she was a really good and developed character from a girl who lived in the rich world to a world that she has never imagined. It was funny to see how the character's personality changed within one book. From Quiet Ana to Wild Ana, there we finally see the whole plot developing as well as the romance between Cole, her 'soul mate'. 

'Her dressing gown flew apart. Her hands burnt as they rubbed the rope. Her heart leapt wildly. 
At the top of the wall she grabbed a pointed iron pole. Then she slid through the thin gap between spikes, gathered up the rope and dropped it over the other side. Beneath her, scattered between the thicket of horse chest-nuts, oaks and sycamores were a thousand bluebells. Their deep violet-blue heads bobbed in the dappled sunshine. Ana smiled. With a last look back at the quiet Community road, she gripped the rope and abseiled into the Project.' 

I was really excited at the end! I am desperately waiting for more - check out for the second book, The Fall where Ana and Cole takes another leap into adventure, romance and many more! 

Brief Review: 'It was entertaining, admonishing and deeply within fiction of mystery and adventure. The Glimpse is a wonderful read where it gets you excited about the characters and it's plot. Merle's writing is very fluid, easy-going and fun - I can't wait till the second book The Fall comes out!'

My Rating: 4.5/5   'Really Liked It!'

Your Reviewer: 

TGIF - Feature and Follow Friday #122

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY is a blog hop that is designed to provide as much exposure towards other bloggers as well as yourself, and to expand following. It's hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each whom feature a chosen blog for a week, it's also an interesting way to get to know one another bloggers.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: 

Do you mind books with similar ideas to other books? Similar concepts, backgrounds, retellings or pulled-to-publish fanfic? 

One thing is... I don't mind. I mean, reading about similar ideas make the story even more challenging for the authors. It makes it exciting for readers like me who love the skills a writer can control. Well, if a book sounds horrible or similar to another story that someone has told me about, it makes me want to read it - why? Because it's a whole lot more fun to see the duel between author-to-author. But seriously, it's no big deal  :)

Challenges make life fun. 

Ish...


DON'T FORGET TO...

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Review: Butterfly Porcupine by Susan Francis

Title: Butterfly Porcupine

Author: Susan Francis

Publisher: Primeda eLaunch

Release Date: 14th March 2011

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Kai is an extravert. He likes making friends and hangs out with the close-knit group of teenagers who live in Aintree Court, West London, most of whom have grown up together and attend Aintree High School. At the end of the school term Kai's summer was all planned out: party, date the hottest girl around, play football, play basketball and pursue his hobby, taking pictures with his camera. He lands a job working for a professional photographer, and gets to spend the last weekend of summer at the Reading Music Festival. 

Life is good. That is, until a new arrival to Aintree moves into the house across from his....

If Tasha could pick a superpower, she wouldn't have to think about it. It would be invisibility. Tasha is not a people person. At the end of term she leaves her old school, her mother and her friends behind and moves to Aintree to live with her estranged father, his second wife and their son, Marc. Tasha’s summer was all planned out too: settle in her new home, bond with her father’s family and (hopefully) keep a low profile. She soon discovers that not everyone in Aintree is thrilled to have her around. 

Homesick and unable to fit in, life is not exactly great. That is, until she receives an unexpected, genuine offer of friendship… or is it?

Detailed Review: Somehow, the author's simplicity seems to fit in well with the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the name of the book was what initially sparked my interest in reading it. I thought that it was a really good name for this book after I'd read it. I've just started contemporaries last month, since my all-time favourites are still fantasy/paranormal.

The story shows how two people are affected by each other, and with the help of their friends and family backgrounds, they find themselves twining slowly together.

Natasha Wood comes from Trinidad, somewhere in the Mediterranean islands to complete her A levels. She's sad to leave her old friends and school, but particularly her mother. She has been planning to go back to visit her father in London, who'd divorced with her mother and married another woman instead. 

Kai Hansen has good looks and a girlfriend he's been wanting for ages. But since Tasha's appearance, he and Phoebe are slowly pushing away each other. There's just something that's innocent about her... not to mention that she was very pretty.

They live opposite each other in a close-knit community that's meant to nurture the best and is founded by the Marshalls, who were very selective in those who lived in Aintree.

A relationship starts to bloom between the two of them, and whether they liked it or not, especially Tasha, they seen develop feelings for each other. Tasha has been pushing away everybody who've been trying to help her after her best friend's death, but after a phone call from Kai, she starts to open up, letting him in. The porcupine is starting to shed its bristles, as I would put it. 

But then, everything shatters. Kai's a photographer and one day he managed to take a picture of Tasha looking sad and mournful without her knowledge. His uncle, also a photographer, urged him to enter it for a competition. And so he did. He didn't let the model know. 

Their relationship starts to grow into something more, but guess what? 

Kai's photo wins first prize and this time there's no hiding his guilty secret. He doesn't even mean to hurt Tasha and finally managed to screw everything up because of her father. He's really strict and asked Kai to apologise to Tasha in front of their dads and told him relinquish his prize. But there was no use, the deed was done. Tasha had already moved on, leaving Kai and his friends behind, slipping from his life. 

But then in the end they still got together.You'll have to really read this book to know what happened to put them together. I'm sorry, but I don't want to spoil too much of it if not NOBODY would ever buy this book to see how good it actually is.

 It's actually quite good that the author could make a simple storyline so GOOD. This book far exceeded my expectations. So...

Brief Review: I was happy to find out that this was the first book in a series called Aintree Tales! Can't wait to read the next book. I recommend it to anyone who don't like it too overwhelming and is simple but entertaining.

Final Rating: 4/5 'Really Liked It"

Your Reviewer: 

Waiting on Wednesday: Paper Valentine

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by us, that highlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: Paper Valentine

Author: Brenna Yovanoff

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: 8th January 2013

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Description: The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

This book's intricate cover totally gripped me. Think of how much effort the designer must have gone through, putting the complex designs that go with the girl's dress, which is especially gorgeous. The heart in the middle completely suits the name, Valentine, don't you think? Also, the story line is completely intriguing. I've recently requested for it on Net Galley and hope that the publisher would approve it! 

Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

Title: Switched
Author: Amanda Hocking
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: 3rd January 2012
Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth—and he’s come to take her home.

Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…

Detailed Review: Wendy is not ordinary, no matter how much she tries. After the day that her mother tried to kill her, that truth has been haunting her. She doesn't like most processed foods. She doesn't seem to fit in with her life- her school and her family. Her mother's action has convinced her the same of what her mother had thought about her: a monster.

Ok, this was actually quite entertaining. But then it started moving on, everything changes.

A boy in school has been continuously staring at her and she doesn't like it. But then when he appears outside her bedroom window, she knows there's something different about him. Or maybe he was just insane. Besides, he'd just rejected her at the school's dance. So why was he there?

He then springs a story of how she was a changeling and why she was different from other people. He's a tracker come to retrieve her back to her real home, Forening. She's a troll but not the one that fairytales depict with green skin and short statures. She's a Trylle. Finn leaves her with two choices; to follow him back to Forening or stay with his beloved aunt and brother, Maggie and Matt.

In the end she chooses to stay and Finn promises not to bother with her anymore.

But then the odds change. The Vittra intervene. It happens one night, when she thought Finn was watching her from outside her house but instead is captured by two Vittra trackers. But... enter Finn. He chases them off with his martial arts and strength.

There's no choice but to follow Finn now, since her life is at stake and so she goes to Forening and meets her mother Elora there. But then she doesn't know what she was yet to know. A very important fact.

She's the PRINCESS. Her mother's the queen, who seems cold and uncaring for how Wendy was treated during her childhood. She criticizes her on the way she acts, the clothes she wears.

Finn has repeatedly saved her from many scoldings by training her. He is patient and guides her through everything before her welcome party. Though not without any consequences.

Finn falls in love with her. But he leaves her before her party has even started. 

Then the inevitable happens. On the day of the party, the palace is attacked by the Vittra. They swarm everywhere, causing severe damage. All they want though is one person in return for this bloodshed: Wendy. 

In the end though Finn appears and saves her but he almost dies as he tries to stop the tracker who tried to catch Wendy before, if not for Tove, Aurora Kroner's son, otherwise known as the highest-ranking Marksinna in Forening, and next in line to the throne, if Wendy doesn't claim her rightful place. 

But what Wendy chooses in the end is the normalcy which she always dreamed of having, and this time she's going back with the person who's switched with her at birth, Rhys, Matt's true brother.

Brief Review: I think this book was really worth the talk and there's a sense of originality which I really like. Now I really know why so many people are fussing over this book!

Final Rating: 4/5 'Really Liked It'

Your Reviewer:

Review: Rift by Andrea Cremer

Title: Rift
Author: Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel
Release Date: August 7th 2012
Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Chronicling the rise of the Keepers, this is the stunning prequel to Andrea Cremer's internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Sixteen-year-old Ember Morrow is promised to a group called Conatus after one of their healers saves her mother's life. Once she arrives, Ember finds joy in wielding swords, learning magic, and fighting the encroaching darkness loose in the world. She also finds herself falling in love with her mentor, the dashing, brooding, and powerful Barrow Hess. When the knights realize Eira, one of their leaders, is dabbling in dark magic, Ember and Barrow must choose whether to follow Eira into the nether realm or to pledge their lives to destroying her and her kind.

With action, adventure, magic, and tantalizing sensuality, this book is as fast-paced and breathtaking as the Nightshade novels.

Detailed Review: From the very start of the first Nightshade series, I seriously loved Andrea Cremer's writing. It was intriguing to learn about the start of it all. If you haven't read the Nightshade series, don't worry! It doesn't apply to this. You can simply read one before the other or the other way around. The story is about a girl called Ember Morrow. From the cover you can already tell that this is going to be an interesting story...

Well, Ember is a girl who fights like a warrior (ish) and is friends with a boy called Alistair. He is somewhat a character who 'wants' to be desperately in love with Ember but she meets another character called Barrow Hess. He's a man who fights warriors easily with ease and fast fearsome moves. 

'As the warriors moved around them roared for blood, the men within the ring began to move. Barrow kept his sword low, watching his opponents. Gordon bellowed, rushing at Barrow, his halberd aimed to impale. Barrow sidestepped, letting Gordon's spring carry him past the point of attack. As Gordon blew past him, Barrow twisted and brought flat of his sword on Gordon's skull. The crack of steel on bone made Agnes shriek.' 

So... as you can see, Barrow can fight really well. I thought the book was really interesting due to her writing style - it's easy and fluid to understand so it's able to make the book, Rift a much more entertaining read than normal. 

EMBER; a girl full of surprises and easily (not so) foolish and completely in love with Barrow. She is a girl born to banish the darkness and be in the light. 

BARROW; the fearsome warrior, ready to protect someone he loves (Ember) and focused on tasks that set him against others in war. 

ALISTAIR; a boy yet still to learn, he is someone who wants Ember's affection and love - though lost her love from the very beginning of the story... 

All kinds of twists and turns will leave the reader completely intrigued and excited in this fast-paced novel that has written once again by the bestselling author of the Nightshade trilogy, Andrea Cremer!

'Ember pulled his face to hers, kissing him again before she said, "Your strength gives me courage." He smiled gently. "No, Ember, that is all your strength and none of mine." She balked, but he kissed her, murmuring against her lips, "And that is why I love you." 

Brief Review: 'Absolutely entertaining, enlightening and seriously addictive. I found Rift to be quite the read of something so unusual to something so fresh and exciting - it's a new adventure, ready to be taken on with love and war.'

My Rating: 5/5   'Totally Amazing!' 

Your Reviewer: 

TGIF - Feature and Follow Friday #121

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY is a blog hop that is designed to provide as much exposure towards other bloggers as well as yourself, and to expand following. It's hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each whom feature a chosen blog for a week, it's also an interesting way to get to know one another bloggers.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
What is a deal breaker for you in a book? For example, do you abhor love triangles? Or can't deal with bad editing? 

Let's see, bad editing? - I haven't seen much. Love triangles... YES! Absolutely! It's like -for example- in the first book, the main character (possibly a girl) be falling in love with the first guy then suddenly you get to the next book (the second book), a new guy comes into the picture and voila! You get an infamous love triangle - meaning the main protagonist (possibly a girl) falls in love with that character too! 

It's simply frustrating when you see the main character getting wooed by two guys... I have a few books in my mind - but I'm not going to spell them out because you might have a little small picture in your mind of which book I'm probably talking about.