The Gathering Storm (The Katerina Trilogy, Vol.I)
Blame it on cutting my teeth on LKH, but I love a good necromancer story. The Gathering Storm was a brilliant story about Russian royalty in 1888 with a paranormal flare added in. The protagonist, Katerina, is a Russian princess that suffers from the dark curse of being a necromancer in a society riddled with various paranormal factions mixed into the royal lines. Throughout the story we get to experience the shame Katerina feels concerning her abilities, the desire to keep them hidden, and then the choice to use them for the good of her family and country. There were a few confusing parts in the book with different background characters, but overall the writing was well done and had a decidedly Jane Austen flare to it that I adored. A 4 out 5 star read that has continued to stick with me days after finishing it.
A FIVE STAR READ! One of the best dystopian YA's I have the pleasure of reading. Beautiful in its simplicity, enthralling in its intimacy, and heart wrenching in its honesty. I devoured this book from cover to cover in one sitting. An absolutely fantastic book.
On a funny side note, I read this while I currently have the flu. Wrong time to read a book about a whole community being wiped out by a contagion.
Last year I read a book called Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff, it completely took me by surprise. The synopsis sounded like a lame mix of Survivor: Vampire Island Edition meets Hunger Games. It turns out that it's not a lame mix at all, and in fact it was rather freaking amazing. Total 5 star read.
Recently the sequel came out and to be honest I was worried it wouldn't be able to hold up to such a strong series starter. Those worries were completely misguided. Vampire's Kiss is delightfully delicious mix of everything I love in a YA book. The vampires are more scary then sexy (most times), the classmates are cut throat to the point of torturing and murdering each other for sport, and the friendships are so few and far between that you feel genuine in their appearance but apprehensive towards their futures. Add a dash of romance and teenage hormones, thrown in with a protagonist that is strong, incredibly smart, and slightly damaged with believable flaws and you have a winning YA combo. Another 5 star read for this series.
One of the few YA series that I would actually recommend buying to fans of the genre. Book 3, Blood Fever, is scheduled for release August 7th.
Hi - yes I know what you mean about trolling lol... I'm OLD but my daughter is 13 so we share books (besides some of the "adult" books tend to be a little too graphic (not that I'm a prude but I find some of them.. well a little tooo much - if you take out the sex there's like 10 pages to read 
lol.. (my sister on the other hand loves these...)
and if you all haven't seen the first in the Matched series is in the Bargain book for 2.99 today!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/matched-ally-condi
I just finished reading Shadow and Bone and I have to say that it is a distinctively captivating story that is going to be staying with me for weeks to come. It is a refreshingly unique addition to the genre with a strong heroine, entrancing storyline, touching love story, and one of the most intriguing and magnetic villains I have come across in YA. From start to finish this book had me in its clutches transfixed by the magic of the Grisha and the refreshingly unique world building of Bardugo’s Russia. I’m already placing the sequel on my must read list for 2013. Shadow and Bone easily places in one of my top 5 YA reads of the year.
**This is silly, but let me just state again - I loved this villain. There is a budding villain crush forming here for the simple reason that when I closed this book I actually went "I bet he is still redeemable." WTH? Umm....No, he is not. It's a bit like those women who are in love with the serial killers in jail. You can't figure out why they would want to be with someone who likes to wear peoples skin as a hobby, but they do. Albeit that it's not as dramatic as that, but still it was a new thought to me, and any book that can make me do something as out of character as that instantly proves to me what a good read it was.
3monstersmom wrote:
I just finished reading Shadow and Bone and I have to say that it is a distinctively captivating story that is going to be staying with me for weeks to come. It is a refreshingly unique addition to the genre with a strong heroine, entrancing storyline, touching love story, and one of the most intriguing and magnetic villains I have come across in YA. From start to finish this book had me in its clutches transfixed by the magic of the Grisha and the refreshingly unique world building of Bardugo’s Russia. I’m already placing the sequel on my must read list for 2013. Shadow and Bone easily places in one of my top 5 YA reads of the year.
**This is silly, but let me just state again - I loved this villain. There is a budding villain crush forming here for the simple reason that when I closed this book I actually went "I bet he is still redeemable." WTH? Umm....No, he is not. It's a bit like those women who are in love with the serial killers in jail. You can't figure out why they would want to be with someone who likes to wear peoples skin as a hobby, but they do. Albeit that it's not as dramatic as that, but still it was a new thought to me, and any book that can make me do something as out of character as that instantly proves to me what a good read it was.
That actually looks great, I'll have to check it out! And I do like me a good villain... especially in a YA book!
I've been reading lots of YA lately, not sure why. But I'm just about done now with Hourglass (Hourglass Series #1) . I got it on sale here at B&N for like $1.59 so I couldn't resist, despite the mixed reviews. I don't think I even read the description, because I was surprised (in a good way) that this series is about time travel. I really like this book! And of course the cover is what caught my attention right away...
JRC3 wrote:
I absolutely adore Cassandra Clare's work! Did you hear that she was going to make a third series about shadowhunters?
I'm a HUGE Cassandra Clare geek! And yes, I heard that she is doing a third series, about 5 or ten years in the future of the Immortal Instruments series- so there will be some cross-over of characters 
3monstersmom wrote:
JRC3 wrote:
What's Bloodlines about?
Bloodlines is the first book in Richelle Mead's new series which is an offshoot from her Vampire Academy series featuring the Alchemist Sydney, Jill, and a few other memorable characters from VA. Very enjoyable book.
Bloodlines is great- since it is a spin-off, you don't need to read Vampire Academy, but it really helps to set up the world and characters. The second book The Golden Lily (Bloodlines Series #2) just came out and it's towards the top of my TBR list!
ThirstyFlea wrote:
3monstersmom wrote:
JRC3 wrote:
What's Bloodlines about?
Bloodlines is the first book in Richelle Mead's new series which is an offshoot from her Vampire Academy series featuring the Alchemist Sydney, Jill, and a few other memorable characters from VA. Very enjoyable book.Bloodlines is great- since it is a spin-off, you don't need to read Vampire Academy, but it really helps to set up the world and characters. The second book The Golden Lily (Bloodlines Series #2) just came out and it's towards the top of my TBR list!
The Golden Lily was a GREAT read! Richelle Mead knocks it out of the park again. I'm still obsessing about this book days later. Let the count down to the release of The Indigo Spell on February 12, 2013 begin.
3monstersmom wrote:
ThirstyFlea wrote:
3monstersmom wrote:
JRC3 wrote:
What's Bloodlines about?
Bloodlines is the first book in Richelle Mead's new series which is an offshoot from her Vampire Academy series featuring the Alchemist Sydney, Jill, and a few other memorable characters from VA. Very enjoyable book.Bloodlines is great- since it is a spin-off, you don't need to read Vampire Academy, but it really helps to set up the world and characters. The second book The Golden Lily (Bloodlines Series #2) just came out and it's towards the top of my TBR list!
The Golden Lily was a GREAT read! Richelle Mead knocks it out of the park again. I'm still obsessing about this book days later. Let the count down to the release of The Indigo Spell on February 12, 2013 begin.
Well, I guess this means it needs to be next on my list to read!! Happy to hear it was good and you liked it!!
