Review 155. Kiersten White – Endlessly.

Title: Endlessly.
Author: Kiersten White.
Pages: 385.
Published: July 24th 2012.
Publisher: HarperTeen.
Sort: Last book in the Paranormalcy series.
Part 1. Paranormalcy. 
Part 2. Supernaturally.

Evie's paranormal past keeps coming back to haunt her. A new director at the International Paranormal Containment Agency wants to drag her back to headquarters. The Dark Faerie Queen is torturing humans in her poisonous realm. And supernatural creatures keep insisting that Evie is the only one who can save them from a mysterious, perilous fate. The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its fate rests solely in Evie's hands. So much for normal.

          Rating: 

There are no spoilers for the other books.

I’m trying to finish as many series as possible this year. Have you ever realised how many series there are? I’ve made a list with all the series I’ve read in 2011 and 2012: I’m stressed! So many! Some of them aren’t complete yet, but I hope to reduce my amount by finishing many completed series. 

I liked Paranormalcy & Supernaturally and this is the perfect conclusion. This is how you end a series! I can’t tell a lot about it, so you’ll have to do it with this vague description:

Evie is forced to return to IPCA by the new director, but she is enjoying her life as a normal teenager. That is until Lend is kidnapped by The Dark Faerie Queen from the Unseelie court. Evie decides to accept Reth’s and Jack’s help to get him back. In the mean time, Paranormals are asking her to open a gate for them. They want to return to their own world. Can Evie save Lend and is the ready to make a gate?

Evie was a good character, but I liked her more in Paranormalcy. She was a bit more whiny now, always busy with her and Lend. She was completely focused on saving him, but she was ignorant for other problems. Her mood swings were annoying too. She hates Reth, then she likes him, then she hates him so much she likes him – make up your mind!

So, conclusion: a good ending for this series, but nothing too special.

Showcase Sunday 29. Queen's day haul and Kobo Glo!

Hosted by: Books, biscuits and tea.

I have a huge haul to show you today! Queen’s day, birthday presents and Netgalley/Edelweiss approvals. So let’s get started.

Like I said, we recently had our last Queen’s Day and I bought some great stuff there! I bought many new dvd’s (another addiction) and of course books!
I will use the covers I bought, which means that some of them are in Dutch. The translation to English can be found in the links.

Review 154. Alex Flinn – Towering.

Title: Towering.
Author: Alex Flinn.
Pages: 304.
Published: May 14th 2013 by HarperTeen.
Sort: Part 3 of ‘Kendra Chronicles.’
Part 1: Beastly.
Part 2: Bewitching.
Source: Edelweiss & Publisher.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again. Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now.

Rating: 

The first thing I need to say is: why is this part of the Kendra chronicles? I really don’t get it. Kendra has nothing to do with this book and it doesn’t have any connection with Beastly and Bewitching. Strange.. And it was good, but was it as good as I expected? Not really.

EDIT: Alex Flinn posted this comment on my review on Goodreads:
Thanks for the review. I apologize for any confusion about Kendra. This book is a standalone book and was never meant to be part of any "series." In truth, even Bewitching is a standalone book in that you don't have to read Beastly to read it (The Kendra Chronicles was meant to be a SUBTITLE, not a series title). Apparently, someone not associated with my publisher posted on Goodreads that Towering was about Kendra. If you look at the book or the e-book, you can see that it's not. Perils of the information age. Sorry.

Top 10 Tuesday (29) Tags.

Today, it's our last Queen's day! (Netherlands) Her son takes the throne and they decided to change it to King's day. It's always a lot of fun. Everyone is dressed in orange and there are fairs everywhere. I always love to visit them together with my boyfriend and we end up with piles of good, cheap stuff. Yeey, this is a day I always look forward to.

                                         This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

Top Ten Tags That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book.

1. Fairytale (retellings). I don't think that this is surprising ;)
2. Dystopian. Everything that has to do with the destruction of earth and the society we know sounds interesting to me.
3. Scientific/Medical. I love experiments, because it is something that fits my interest. I'm doing a medical study for a reason.
4. Fantasy/Magic. You got to love a good fantasy story.
5. Tudors, especially Anne Boleyn; Historical fiction. There is just something about this period that fascinates me.
6. Asylum/Boarding schools. Great settings.
7. Victorian/Steampunk.
8. Vampires/Zombies/witches: paranormal. I still like them.
9. Juliet Marillier. If someone compare a book with this author, it's an instant read for me. I adore her work.
10. Mythology.

Leave a link to your instant-buy-words.

Review 153. Jessica Day George – Sun & Moon, Ice & Snow.

Title: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.
Author: Jessica Day George.
Pages: 336.
Published: January 8th 2008.
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's.
Sort: Stand-alone.
Other books:
-Princess 1: Princess of the midnight ball.
-Princess 2: Princess of Glass.

Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she’s known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servants. Only a gruelling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.

Rating:

Finally! I’m starting to find the good retellings again. I loved her other series, so I was excited to give this one a try. I’ve never read anything about this fairytale before and I liked it. I'm definitely going to hunt down some more retellings and I hope to read the original story soon.

Review 152. Emily McKay – The farm.

Title: The Farm.
Author: Emily McKay.
Pages: 420.
Published: December 4th 2012.
Publisher: Berkley Trade.
Sort: Part 1 of ‘The Farm’

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the unread monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other… And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible. Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help… Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

Rating:

This book surprised me. There are still original vampire stories! I liked this approach of the zombie-like bloodsuckers. The characters were a bit questionable, but the dark world-building made up for it.