Me on This Week's Book Week (195)

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. ;)

The weather's been nice this week, sunny and warm. It certainly doesn't feel like February.

On Tuesday I'll be heading off to Seattle, or close to it, to see Victoria Schwab at her book signing. There will be other authors there but I'm mainly going for Victoria. I always feel a bit like a jerk, only bringing books for some authors when they're in a group, but it happens. This might be the last trip down to the US for a signing for me for a while, which seems weird to say, considering the last one was 2 years ago, also for Victoria.

I'm feeling a bit rushed and burned out right now. I'm hoping to get two reviews up this week, but I haven't read the books yet because I've had to read others due to expiring e-galleys and blog tour question deadlines. At the very least, a review of A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro will be going up on Friday. :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz & Kat Helgeson (ARC from Raincoast Books)
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (ARC from Nafiza)
Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor (ARC from Nafiza)

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (e-galley from Raincoast Books)
Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun (e-galley from Harlequin through NetGalley)
Gotham Academy Volume 2: Calamity (E-galley from DC Comics through NetGalley)

Me on Their Fractured Light

Title: Their Fractured Light
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world's gaze. Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He'll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others dont dare touch. Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you're done noticing it, she's got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost. When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia's separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they're forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

Their Fractured Light is the last in a series that has traveled the stars, ripped apart planets, and revealed that perhaps humans are not alone in the universe.

Sofia is a lonely girl bent on revenge, determined to con her way up to the top and put an end to Roderick LaRoux and his less than ethical dealings. Make him pay for the death of her father. Gideon is a tech whiz, spending his days and nights searching out the secrets that LaRoux Industries hides from the rest of the known universe. Both are passionate, determined, scarred, and stubborn. Neither trust the other, not at the start. How could they?

The interludes, the memories and the words of the whispers, as Lilac calls them, are haunting and thoughtful. Here is an intriguing alien life form, a sort of consciousness, and their encounter with the human race. Through their words we see the highest points of humanity, our ability to love and laugh and create, and the worst. The hatred and the revenge. The warring, the imprisonment. The manipulation. The destruction. And it makes them wonder, it makes them curious. It makes them cautious. And it makes one vengeful.

Everyone comes together in this book, like they were all fated to come together. To learn the truth about the whispers. To help them. To stop their suffering. The fact that each book has focused on different characters shows that in something epic like this, it isn't just one or two people who fight back, who struggle. It's a group of people who all have parts to play, who all have hopes and dreams, who all suffer because of someone's megalomania. This book, this series, has been all about hope and faith and trust. About those parts of the human condition that we can't escape from. The parts that push us forward towards our goals.

(I borrowed a copy of this book from the library.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (267)

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

Title: Beast
Author: Brie Spangler
Release Date: October 11, 2016
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads:

A witty, wise, and heart-wrenching novel that will appeal to fans of Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan.

Tall, meaty, muscle-bound, and hairier than most throw rugs, Dylan doesn't look like your average fifteen-year-old, so, naturally, high school has not been kind to him. To make matters worse, on the day his school bans hats (his preferred camouflage), Dylan goes up on his roof only to fall and wake up in the hospital with a broken leg—and a mandate to attend group therapy for self-harmers. 

Dylan vows to say nothing and zones out at therapy—until he meets Jamie. She's funny, smart, and so stunning, even his womanizing best friend, JP, would be jealous. She's also the first person to ever call Dylan out on his self-pitying and superficiality. As Jamie's humanity and wisdom begin to rub off on Dylan, they become more than just friends. But there is something Dylan doesn't know about Jamie, something she shared with the group the day he wasn't listening. Something that shouldn't change a thing. She is who she's always been—an amazing photographer and devoted friend, who also happens to be transgender. But will Dylan see it that way?

I'm really looking forward to this. Like Of Fire & Stars, I'm looking forward to the books that are coming out that are new versions of fairy tales and fantasy novels. Books with gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender main characters. I do hope it's done well with this book, that Jamie isn't trans just to add in a trans character. That it works, that it makes sense, that it fits with how the story unfolds.

Me on Kill the Boy Band

Title: Kill the Boy Band
Author: Goldy Moldavsky
Release Date: February 23, 2016
Publisher: Point (Scholastic imprint)

Okay, so just know from the start that it wasn't supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near The Ruperts, our favorite boy band. We didn't mean to kidnap one of the guys. It kind of, sort of happened that way. But now he's tied up in our hotel room. And the worst part of all, it's Rupert P. All four members of The Ruperts might have the same first name, but they couldn't be more different. And Rupert P. is the biggest flop out of the whole group. We didn't mean to hold hostage a member of The Ruperts, I swear. At least, I didn't. We are fans. Okay, superfans who spend all of our free time tweeting about the boys and updating our fan tumblrs. But so what, that's what you do when you love a group so much it hurts. How did it get this far? Who knows. I mean midterms are coming up. I really do not have time to go to hell.

Kill the Boy Band is outrageous, full of four teen girls, their current obsession, and the lengths they'll go to to meet them. Only things go a bit weird and nothing goes according to plan.

This book is all kind of insane. I knew going it that it was going to satirize fandom, that it was going to highlight the dark dark DARK side of fandom. The obsessive side, the oblivious side, the nasty side. Everyone seemed like they'd lost their minds. That for the four teen girls, consequences didn't matter. Than they could kidnap a member of a boy band. That they could tie him up. That they could ransack his hotel room.

There's always going to be a dark side to being a fan, unfortunately. To be part of a fandom. There will always be people who spend all their time on their fandom. Who go to every concert or event. Who try to get backstage. Who follow them. Who send them creepy-sounding messages. It's not healthy. This book shows how unhealthy it is, what it does to people. It makes them vicious, like Isabel, or in denial, like Apple, or regretful, like Erin. Or thoughtful, like the narrator. The narrator, by whatever name she goes by, seems to be the most sensible. She's shocked at every turn when her friends do something crazy. Like kidnap Rupert P. Like go through his pockets. Like go up to the band's hotel room. But she still goes along with it. She wants to know. She wants to see.

I can see where many will find this book funny. It's outrageous, both in plot and in the different characters. In the beginning, I thought it was fun. But I kept waiting for common sense to kick in with someone, anyone, and it didn't. I think that's where I went wrong with this book, that I had to suspend my common sense, and I couldn't fully do that. This book just wasn't it for me. BUT. But. If you were already interested in reading this, if the summary grabs you, if you're looking for a dark comedy about being a crazed fan, then by all means give this a read.

(I received an advance copy of this title from Scholastic Canada.)

Blog Tour: The Winner's Kiss

Hello! Welcome to the blog tour for the final book in the Winner's Trilogy, The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski. :)

What book is your favourite literary kiss in? Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor (which might be cheating as it's a novella, but who cares?)

Who is kissing? Everyone's favourite diminutive sidekick and rabid fairy Zuzana, and Violin Boy, who's also known as Mik.

Why is it your favourite? It's a favourite because of who they are, because of the story they're a part of. While Karou is off searching, while Akiva and his siblings are hunting down doors, we have this brief interlude with Zuzana and Mik. These two completely normal human beings who are utterly enchanted by the other. These two, full to the brim with shyness and hope, with doubt and fanciful dreams of each other. These two, who just spent an evening wandering around a small part of Prague in the dark and the cold. An evening of treasure maps and riddles and Latin, of magically moving puppets and haunting violin serenades, of sinfully delicious chocolate cake. These two, who are finally talking to each other, actually exchanging words with each other after moths of watching, waiting, hoping. And after this night of magic, after peacock footprints in the snow, they kiss. And it was perfect.

Bonus question! What kind of kiss do you hope will happen in The Winner's Kiss? Hopefully one that doesn't turn me into an emotional wreck, but odds are they all will. Maybe a good concluding kiss, whether they end up together or have to separate because their roles demand more of them before they can try to actually be together. It's the ending I'm more worried about.

Thanks for stopping by today! And many thanks to Raincoast Books and Macmillan for letting me be part of the tour for The Winner's Kiss. :)