Me on A Celebration Giveaway!

Hi all! It's time to celebrate! Me on Books turned 5 a couple of weeks ago, and tomorrow my 500th review goes up.

5 years. 500 reviews. That's a lot of time spent reading, spent writing reviews, spent writing up other posts, spent on social media talking to other bloggers and readers, spent at book events and meet-ups. It's been hard at some points, easy at others, but I still love the little piece of the community I've fallen into.

And so without further ado, this is my top 16 (because it's so hard to narrow it down) of the last 5 years:

• Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
• In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang
• The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
• Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
• The Story of Owen by E.K. Johnston
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
• Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
• Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston
• A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
• Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
• The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
• Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

All of these are books that've thrilled me, saddened me, made me think about the world, about people, about history and how we'll always be doomed to repeat it. About strength and conviction of character, about the horrible things we do to others in the name of truth or fear. About hope. About love. About time travel and far-flung futures where we travel to stars beyond our own.

I want to share these books that I've loved, so 2 winners will each get their choice of 1 book and 1 winner will get a bunch of swag that I've collected over the years, things like bookmarks and buttons.

(There might be a slight issue if 1 of the winners wants a copy of Bleeding Violet or Harmonic Feedback, both are a bit tricky to find in print. Your local library would definitely have them, and they are available on e-book sites like Kindle and Kobo. I know I could've just not added these books, but they were some of the first I read when I started reviewing. Both are rather honest when it comes to mental illness and how the world is seen through their eyes.)

The giveaway will go on until the end of the month and is open internationally as long as Book Depository ships free to your country. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Me on This Week's Book Week (179)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Hi all! It's been cold and rainy here. The wet puppy smell lingers these days.

Christmas is slowly starting to vomit all over the Halloween things. There's really no delay between the two anymore here. In the US at least there's a bit of a barrier with their Thanksgiving at the end of November, but with ours in October, the Christmas ads start to smack you in the face when November starts.

I'm sort of getting back to reading what I should be, still trying to work out when to read at different times. I should read more on the weekends. I miss having a buffer so I'm not panic-reading on Mondays and Thursdays. I'm looking forward to the Christmas/New Year's break where I'll hopefully get a head-start and build up a buffer again.

Reviews going up the coming week will feature Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (Tuesday) and A Pocket Full of Murder by R.J. Anderson (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry (e-galley from Algonquin)
Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger (e-galley from Hachette Book Group Canada)
Check Please! Year 1 by Ngozi Ukazu (Kickstarter reward)
Black Iris by Leah Raeder (borrowed from the library)
Cam Girl by Leah Raeder (borrowed from the library)

Me on Soundless

Title: Soundless
Author: Richelle Mead
Release Date: November 10, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin imprint)

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei's home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Soundless is a mystery in the mountains and a search for the truth, a journey down below the clouds for answers. But will Fei find them, or will she only find despair as her village continues to starve and suffer?

Fei is a cautious girl who worries about the well-being of her sister, a creative girl who dreams of painting gorgeous pictures filled with bright colours instead of the daily report of what's going on in the village. Like everyone else in the village, Fei cannot hear, relying on a signing language and writing in order to communicate. But when her hearing does return, things change. With the village in decline, with her sister's health suffering, she knows something must be done. And so she and a companion head down the mountain, using her hearing to keep them safe from rock slides. But the land below the mountain is a strange one, hiding secrets about those living above and in the mines.

A village where no one can hear. How intriguing. It's there in the sign language, in the writing out of the day's news, in the machines that shake the beds awake. There's a moment where Fei sees a bird open its mouth and another bird flies in to sit next to it. As she couldn't hear then, she wonders what the bird did to attract its mate. It's intriguing to see how the village adapted to their lack of hearing over the years, how they're able to get on with their work and their lives. How some still wonder what it would be like to hear the sounds around them.

The book begins with a soft, quiet tone that belies the urgency the villagers face. They're slowly going blind. They need to see and mine if they want food from below the mountain, if they want to survive. As the book progresses, as Fei and her companion travel and learn, the sound builds as Fei hears more of the world around her. The tumble of the rocks down the mountain, the wind rushing past, the bustle of the township, the sounds the traders and townsfolk make when they open their mouths. It all builds, rushing towards the climax. I found this to be a rather sweet sort of mysterious fantasy story with a strong heroine. Fei is frightened, yes, but she would do anything, go anywhere, to keep her sister safe and healthy. She would fight back. I would recommend this to those looking for a softer kind of fantasy tale, to those looking for a story with roots in Chinese folklore.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Penguin Random House Canada.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (251)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: The Winner's Kiss
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks.

But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?

I really really want to know how this trilogy is going to end. It's going to be brutal and harsh and wreck everyone. I hope they end up together, or in some form of together like not killing each other or dying horribly. Like, if they could both be alive and talking to each other at the end. As 'epic' and 'star-crossed' as they are, this series is about so much more than the romance. It's about secrets and empire and colonialism and entitlement and survival and fear and war. And hope.

Me on The Conjurer's Riddle

Title: The Conjurer's Riddle
Author: Andrea Cremer
Release Date: November 3, 2015
Publisher: Philomel Books (Penguin imprint)

Charlotte leads her group of exiles west, plunging into a wild world of shady merchants and surly rivermen on the way to New Orleans. But as Charlotte learns more about the revolution she has championed, she wonders if she's on the right side after all. Charlotte and her friends get to know the mystical New Orleans bayou and deep into the shadowy tunnels below the city–the den of criminals, assassins and pirates–Charlotte must decide if the revolution's goals justify their means, or if some things, like the lives of her friends, are too sacred to sacrifice.

The Conjurer's Riddle is a look into revolution and rebellion, the secret-gathering and the spying, the hard journeys and the dangers. The heavy cost.

Charlotte is driven, soft-hearted, and passionate about her chose cause, about saving her friends. But doubt lingers, as it always does. Things aren't the same as they were in the Catacombs or in the Floating City. On their journey west, in New Orleans, Charlotte learns how different things are. How duplicitous and two-faced. How her ideas and reasons for fighting back might differ from other members of the resistance.

In terms of the romance, I still feel that Jack is the only option for Charlotte. I still don't understand why a love triangle was added in the first book why Coe suddenly went from person Charlotte barely knew to romantic entanglement. Charlotte is still drawn to Jack, still attracted to him, still hating him and worrying about him, while Coe just seems there. But there wasn't much time for Charlotte to worry about her feelings for most of the book. She was far too busy travelling, learning secrets, or trying to stay hidden and alive. The romance takes a back seat to Charlotte's journey and the still hidden mysteries of Grave. So hidden, so mysterious.

The Resistance is still fighting back against the Empire, fighting to be free from an oppressive ruler from across an ocean. When you fight back as part of a rebellion, you fight for your beliefs, your friends and family. But at what cost? Destruction of property? Injury? Death? Is revolution the only answer? This book, this series, will always scream America to me. Their idea that freedom is a right, that no one can take it from you, but if it ever is taken you can fight to regain it. Is violence ever the only answer? As a Canadian, it feels so American to go in guns blazing to fight for freedom. It feels like it's all they have, like their identity as American is based on freedom and without it they're nothing.

I'm still intrigued by this world, I think the building of it is creative. To speculate on what a country would look like had a major event in its history not happened, if someone else was still in control. If it was a mixture of colonies and disputed territories. It's a dangerous world Charlotte's in, one filled with deception and the impossible. I want to know more. What is the Resistance's endgame plan? What are Grave's secrets, the ones that even he doesn't know? What else is out there for Charlotte to discover? A great follow-up to the first book.

(I received an advance copy of this title from Penguin Random House Canada.)