First Lines : The Raven’s Head

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Karen Maitland.

“There is a secret stone, hidden in a deep well, worthless and rejected, concealed in dung and filth.”

The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland.

The first line sets up the whole book. It came sometimes determine whether or not you will read the book. I have decided to share the first line from some of my favourite books, books I plan to read or just a random book I find.

Would you read this book based on this first line? I would but I really do love Karen Maitlands writing.

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Review: Spearwood Academy Volume 3

In Volume Three , Avalon and the Boys escape to New York to try and cure her of her problem. Will the Sea Witch be able to help, or will more problems come up?

Okay so another great book in the series. Another cliffhanger ending making me buy the next one straight away. Who will she end up with? It’s going to be with one of those boys, we can rule out Amr and from the last page we can rule out Triton. I do not want it to Paden or Bullock. I am hoping for Dante. Not sure why but I think they would make a great couple, they have the fun teasing between them and she has admitted that he is good looking. I can hope right?

Triton, where to begin, I should have realised he would do this, look at where she first met him and he wasn’t originally in their group, he seemed to tag along. But why then would Roseman make her think she hates him? Hmmm, hopefully all will be revealed soon.

Also what’s up with her powers? Can she use them all? Or just most of them? Why are the ancients planning a war. There’s just too many questions. I have to get reading the next one.

4.5 stars out of 5

Review: Spearwood Academy Volume 2

In Volume Two, new alliances come into play. Avalon loses herself, and corruption rains down on Spearwood. Will they survive unscathed?

Wow, I am so intrigued, I have no clue how this is going to end. And right now I don’t want it to. I want this great story to carry on. I love the characters especially Dante and Triton. I love the dynamic although with the new additions I think these friendships are happening too fast.

The memory plot was brilliant, I was in awe at how clever it was and how smoothly it was carried out. Still not met the half brother, just wondering if it’s some-one we have already met or is it someone knew to the plot. What about Amr does he have something to with it or is he there to throw the readers off the scent.

What could Mr Roseman gain from all this? Why does he want Avalon to hate Triton, why not Dante? I have to say I found myself in stitches at the part when the boys first met Avalon after Mr Roseman interfered with her memories. I read it twice because it was so good. 🙂

Already bought the next one, think I will be reading all of the books today, oh well housework you will have to wait.

I added it on iflist, it would make a great tv series. you can see it here.

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Review: Spearwood Academy Volumes 1-5

Avalon Clementine, the first female of her kind, is painfully cursed to turn into her dragon form every night.

With the help of her boys, members of the secretive Vox, they will try to find a cure. All the while seeking to defeat the evil of her half-brother Aibek.

Can they succeed or will Greed, Jealously, and Love stand in their way?

At only 168pages, it was a nice short read, full of action and really interesting. I don’t read the synopsis of a book right before I read it if I bought it a while ago. So I was shocked when I found out the main character was female, I am guessing this was the authors intention. It was well done. The story itself is really well done and I am looking forward to seeing what happens. The writing is beautiful and definitely a book I will recommend.

The synopsis is a little misleading though, that’s a synopsis for the whole series not just this book. So I never met some of characters that were mentioned and don’t know what the secret group is yet.

I have already started the second set of books and looking forward to seeing what happens.

4.5 stars out of 5

Similar books in my opinion

 

Review: Savage Stone Ages

Read on for incredible information on nasty Neanderthals, awesome archaeologists and curious cave paintings. Find out about the truth of Stonehenge and what suffering scientists do with Stone Age poo.

I only read this one because it was in a boxset but the history was more exciting than I expected. It’s not my favourite era of history maybe because we know so little about it definitively. It was a well written book, about the little that is known about this era. The way they got food the games they played their beliefs were really interesting. It made me think of them as real people rather than Neanderthals.

I am looking forward to the next books.

3.5 stars out of 5.

Review: The Duff

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

I really wanted to read this before I watched the film. Kinda glad I did, kinda wished I hadn’t. It’s a nice story. But some of it bothered me. Bianca seemed like she was a good friend then she was acting horribly and ignoring her friends who were only trying to help. I know she was meant to cynical, but I do wish she had a little more self confidence, because with the little she had there would have been no way she would have kissed Wesley.

She should have told her friends about her dad, they could have helped, if not them, then their parents, they would have known what to do, how to help him.

Her friends seem nice, but I am not the biggest fan of people being portrayed as dumb. Least she wasn’t that dumb, just dumb enough to believe her friends’ lies.

I enjoyed the ending, just wish there was a little more, a little more about what happened after, what her friends thought, him meeting her dad and going back to school as a couple. Would have been a better ending for me.

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Arc Review: Every Ugly Word

When seventeen-year-old Ashley Watson walks through the halls of her high school bullies taunt and shove her. She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.

Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

Similar books in my opinion

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of this book really intrigued me. But then I started it and wasn’t that thrilled. I took me a while to get into it. But then at about a quarter of the way through I could not put the book down, I ended up finishing the rest in one sitting after having putting it off for a few days.

It took me a while to get used to the idea of Older Me in the mirror. I wasn’t sure how much it would effect the story. I started to really care for Ashley and dislike Matt. He seemed nice and all, but didn’t take Ashely’s word, his best friend, as truth.

Finn I despised her seemed the worst of the lot, I thought maybe he might have a crush on her.  Maybe the incident was going to turn out to be him doing something unthinkable to her. For this I was glad I was wrong about.

The story developed well, and by the last third of the book I could not have put it down if my life depended on it. I had to know what happened to Ashley, I had to know what the Incident was and if she was going to be with Matt.

My main criticism is that there were so many people bullying her and saying horrible things that I am surprised no teachers noticed and tried to stop it from happening. The art teacher should have stayed with her or at least kept her in view after something that horrific happened.

The end was amazing, it was everything I wanted and more. There was only one question I was left asking and that might have been on purpose by the author. Was Older Ashley real?

4 out of five stars

2015 Motif Challenge Sign-Up

This challenge is run by Bookmark to Blog. If you fancy trying out it out, sign-up here.

Welcome to the 2015 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge! For this challenge, each month is assigned a certain motif or theme. Your task is to read one book per month that fits in with the motif for that particular month. If you participated in this challenge last year you’ll see that some of the motifs are the same while others have been changed up or switched around.
 
This challenge is just for fun so please don’t worry if you have to skip a month or if you have to read your books out of order! If you don’t have anywhere to link your reviews- don’t worry about it. Just come back and comment telling us what you read and if you liked it! Just have fun with it!

JAN– Book to Movie or Audio
Read a book that has a movie based off of it. For an extra challenge, see the movie or listen to the audio book as well.

FEB– Award Winner
Read a book that has won recognition or a literary award.  Here’s a list of literary awards to help you get started on your search: Literary Awards.

MAR–  Genre Jumble Read a book in a genre that you’ve never tried or that you’re least familiar with. For example, if you typically reach for romance novels, try a mystery this time. Ask your local librarian for great suggestions on the genre your least familiar with.

APR– Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem

Read a murder/mystery book, a book in which someone dies of mysterious causes, or a book in which the truth must come out.

MAY– Library Love

Show your library some love and visit your local branch. Choose a book to read that they have on display.

JUN–  Take A Trip

Choose a book to read that takes place in a country different than the one you live in or choose a book written by an author that is from a country different than your own.

JUL– Standing Up

Read a book in which the main character stands up for themselves, stands against an enemy, or stands up for something they believe in.

AUG– Alternate Reality

Read a book that’s set in the future, on another planet, in another dimension, or in an unknown world. A Dystopian book will count this month as well.

SEP– Furry Friends

Read a book that includes an animal either as a main character or supporting character. Horses, cats, dogs, insects, bird, etc. The book doesn’t have to be about the animal but the animal needs to play some sort of role in the story or be mentioned several times throughout the book.

OCT– Goblins, and Ghost, and Ghouls, Oh My!

Cozy mystery ghost stories, paranormal creeptastic, funky fantasy creatures- it’s up to you!

NOV– An Oldie but a Goodie

Pick a book published before 2000 that you’ve always wanted to read, but just never got to. Or pick a book set in the past (before 2000).

DEC– That’s a Wrap

Finish a series you’ve been meaning to finish or read the next book in a series you started but never finished.

Have fun!!! (For an extra challenge, try pairing this with the Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge.)

If you do this challenge, good luck. 🙂

2015 Monthly Keyword Challenge Sign Up

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This challenge is run by Bookmark to Blog. Fancy signing up, click here.

Rules:
* The title you choose can be a variation on one of the key words. For example- your title could include the word ‘snowing’ or ‘snowflake’ even though the key word is ‘snow.’

* Key words can be tweaked. For example- You could read “Cinder” or “Ashes” for the key word ‘Fire’ and that would be just fine. If the key word is ‘family’ then your title could include the word ‘sister’ or ‘mother.’If the key word is ‘food’ then your title could include the word ‘cake.’

* Link up below to participate and add additional links any time you post about the challenge or post about a book you read for the challenge.

This challenge is just for fun so please don’t worry if you have to skip a month or if you have to read your books out of order! Just have fun with it!

MONTHLY KEY WORDS:

JAN- Bird, Girl, Ever, Silence, Bad, Truth, End

 

FEB- Key, Water, Lie, Chase, Heir, Once

 

MAR- Kind, Face, Power, City, Blue, Night, To

 

APR- Dream, Prince, Long, Wind, Rose, The, Rock

 

MAY- Ash, Road, Thief, Bend, In, Far

 

JUN- My, Together, Whisper, Win, Soul, Sleep

JUL- Sun, Unto, Energy, Fate, High, Look

AUG- Fall, Boy, Glass, Heart, Lost, Now

SEP- Color, Touch, Life, Day, How, Sweet

OCT- Ghost, Home, Beach, Away, Test, Number

NOV- Rise, Holiday, And, Little, Call, Dark

DEC- Space, Mirror, Over, Flower, Trap, Cold

Good luck if you take part 🙂

What’s in a name 2015 challenge.

This challenge is run by The Worm Hole Blog. This is my sign-up post.

The basics

The challenge runs from January to December. During this time you choose a book to read from each of the following categories (examples of books you could choose are in brackets):

• A word including ‘ing’ in it (The Time Of Singing, Dancing To The Flute, Lex Trent Fighting With Fire) My examples are verbs but you can of course use other words.
• A colour (The Red Queen, White Truffles In Winter, On Gold Mountain)
• A familial relation (Daughter Of Smoke And Bone, Dombey And Son, My Cousin Rachel) By all means include in-laws, step, and halves.
• A body of water (The River Of No Return, Black Lake, Beside The Sea)
• A city (Barcelona Shadows, Shanghai Girls, Under The Tripoli Sky)
• An animal (Black Swan Rising, The Leopard Unleashed, The Horse And His Boy)

Remember the titles I’ve given here are only examples, you can by all means use them if you want to but it’s not necessary. There are plenty of other books that will fit the categories and you may have some in mind already or even some on your shelves you can read.

Extra information

• Books can be any format (print, audio, ebook).
• It’s preferred that the books don’t overlap with other challenges, but not a requirement at all.
• Books cannot overlap categories (for instance my example of Black Swan Rising for ‘an animal’ could be used for the ‘colour’ category or ‘animal’ category, but not both).
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
• You don’t have to make your list of books beforehand, you can choose them as you go.
• You don’t have to read your chosen books in any particular order.

Like the sound of this challenge? Sign up here.

Good luck 🙂