A Book Obsession..

Stacking the Shelves (1)

, by KT

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Here's the books that I have received in the last few weeks:

For Review:

Thank you Blue Rider Press, Little Brown, NAL and Kensington!!

Bought:

Early Review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

, by KT

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
The Hunt #1

Don’t Sweat. Don’t Laugh. Don’t draw attention to yourself. And most of all, whatever you do, do not fall in love with one of them.

Gene is different from everyone else around him. He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood. Gene is a human, and he knows the rules. Keep the truth a secret. It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood.

When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him. He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?

Most people's mistakes don't have deadly consequences, but Gene is isn't like most people. In a world full of vampires, he is perhaps the only free human left, and has learned to survive by hiding in plain sight. He lives every day on the razor's edge of death as discovery would mean an instantly brutal death as his blood is incredibly intoxicating to the vampires. Yet, he still seems to have things under control. At least that is until he is selected as one of the few for the upcoming hunt for the last remaining humans. Discovery seems inevitable under the intense scrutiny of the other hunters as one false step will be his very last.

The Hunt has an incredibly chilling world where the vast majority are vampires, with very few humans left. In fact aside from the very few domesticated hepers for the hunt, our narrator, Gene is under the impression that he may be the very last free human left. He lives every day having to watch his every move and behavior to make sure he isn't discovered. While I do think his ability to fool the vampires for so long does stretch believability at times, I can't possibly imagine living in his position. When the only thing you really have to look forward to in life is that your inevitable death will be brutal, but quick, it is a wonder he hadn't long crumbled under the pressure. Granted, he is more than a little arrogant in his thoughts at times, but if that is how he hopes and survives then I can't really fault him for that.

At first glance, The Hunt looks like all the power is firmly in the hands of the "people" aka vampires rather than in the very few remaining hepers. However,there is just something about the way the vampires become slobbering idiots when hepers are even mentioned that sparks of a greater control over them. It is almost as if they have been conditioned to act this way in order to keep them all in a firm hand. The whole concept of the heper hunt seems to support that theory. If hepers are supposed to be such a delicacy, then why would they allow the last remaining few to be hunted to extinction. It just seems far more likely that they would have "domesticated" them, so that in the very least the hunt could continue on for years afterward. I'm still trying to figure out the Palace's angle on this as they seem to use the hunts to gain favor, but the hunt is supposed to destroy the last of the hepers. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel sorry for the vampires at all as they are quite violent and cruel, I just don't think they realize how much they are being controlled.

On a slightly side note I do have to express a little disappointment in the cover change. Granted, the new cover is nice, and does portray the more violent nature of the book. However, I felt the original one was quite stunning with the way it wrapped around from front to back. (The Hunt original cover image here). Getting back to the review, The Hunt is one of those books where you are so engrossed that you forget everything else around you. I just simply couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Even though you will have to suspend a little disbelief at times, The Hunt was an incredible ride from start to finish, and definitely is one of the best books I've read this year. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment. Violent, gritty, and quite original, The Hunt is sure to please even the most jaded genre fans.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Pre-order links:

Other Reviews:

T.G.I.F. (1)

, by KT

Hosted by GReads

This Week's Question:

Literary Vacations: If you could take a trip this summer to any place within a fictional book, where would you go?

Wow, that is a really hard question. I’ve read so many book that have really interesting locations. The problem is that I read mostly paranormal novels. I don’t know that I would really want to visit any of them as with the location comes the danger/action from all those paranormals. So honestly, unless I had some sort of immunity for the trip that made me invulnerable to harm, I think I’ll just keep content with reading. (Well that is unless I could find my own Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, because that would so be worth the risk!!)

Tell us about your summer dream vacation!

My dream NORMAL vacation would probably be to Hawaii. My Dad’s always wanted to see the volcanoes, so I’d love to pack up the kiddos and Hubby and take my parents for a summer vacation they would never forget. Who knows, maybe someday it will be possible!

Review: Revived by Cat Patrick

, by KT

Revived by Cat Patrick

As a little girl, Daisy Appleby was killed in a school bus crash. Moments after the accident, she was brought back to life.

A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been Revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and as she discovers the agency’s true goals, she realizes she’s at the center of something much larger—and more sinister—than she ever imagined.

Daisy's life has been nothing but normal since she died in a bus crash as a small child. She and several others on that fatal bus were brought back to live by a new secret drug called Revive. Since then, she's lived her life on a razor's edge knowing that she can be brought back each time, starting over in a new city with a new name. In fact in her fifteen years of life, she's been revived five times. However, everything changes after her fifth revival lands her in Omaha and she meets the McKean siblings who cause her to start to question everything she has ever known. Life isn't meant to be taken for granted, and she will quickly learn the harsh truths of life and death.

By far the best thing about Revived was the incredible character driven story. As I read mostly paranormal novels, the paranormal aspects and other outside forces typically hold most of the attention. However, in Revived, the reverse is true as the outside elements took a back seat to the characters and their story. There are so many different incredible dynamics in Revived. The bond between Daisy and Mason is quite profound as even though he is her handler he also is her father figure. There is this mutual respect and admiration between them that is as strong as any blood ties could have given them. Then you have Megan who isn't your typical character in that she is transgender, and I really loved her addition to the story. Of course, I can't forget about Aubrey and Matt, two siblings that taught Daisy so much about herself, love, and life itself.

Revived had an interesting premise, but one that required some suspension of disbelief. I know that we are talking about a drug that brings people back to life, so that should be somewhat expected. However, the whole idea that this type of super drug would have been handled the way it was rather than extremely locked down was almost too far of a stretch. Seriously, do you really think our government or military would let a drug that could bring people back from the dead be handled by the FDA? I guess I was expecting a whole lot more control, and the rather lax circumstances controlling the revived members of the program was baffling. I mean yes, they swore to never reveal their secrets, but there never seemed to be any threat if they did. Even if you put all that aside, the whole "God" thing about the head of the department was quite ridiculous, and frankly turned me off a good deal.

Unfortunately, in the end, Revived was only a mediocre read for me, which really is a shame because there was a whole lot of potential behind it. The concept was intriguing and I loved the characters. Granted, I had to decide to overlook some glaring realism issues early on, but the good still outweighed the bad, especially since it was a very character driven story. However, the ending left me extremely unsatisfied, as it seemed like there was no point to the book. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but when I finish a stand alone book, I expect to feel a sense of satisfaction or completion. I just wanted more out of Revived than what was given. So, in the end I'd still probably recommend Revived if for nothing but the incredible character driven story.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

Order a copy from:

Other Reviews:

Waiting on Wednesday (93)

, by KT

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights an upcoming release we are greatly anticipating.

My pick this week:

Struck - Struck #1

by Jennifer Bosworth

Publication Date: May 8th, 2012

Pre-Order:

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She's survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn't who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

2nd Blogoversay Celebration Giveaway

, by KT

May 4th marks two years since I started this blog. I just cannot believe it has been that long. Time really flies when you are having fun. These past two years have been a roller coaster ride full of oh so yummy books. I've really come a long way from the first few months and my ramblings. I've made so many friends that have really made this an experience for me. I am incredible grateful to all the publishing contacts I've made. But none of this would have been possible without my readers, and for that I am truly grateful. I wanted to celebrate with a huge thank you to all of you! So, here's to two years of bloggy awesomeness and hopefully many more to come!

At the minimum, there will be two US winners and 1 International winner. However, with every 200 followers gained via each method listed below, I’ll add another giveaway to the pot of any book (up to $10) from The Book Depository.

Stats: Start/End

GFC Followers 1095 -- 1259 (+164)
Linky Followers 181 -- 276 (+95)
RSS Subscribers 536 -- 618 (+82) (The Link doesn't work with Chrome- Click the subscribe button on your RSS reader and enter http://www.abookobsession.com/feeds/posts/default and the feed should show up. Sorry I know it is a pain to have to do it this way, but I can't get feedburner to work right either, so I'm out of options.)
Twitter Followers 472 -- 631 (+159)
Facebook Likes 23 -- 257 (+234) YAY! +1 to the giveaway pot

I’ll keep this updated periodically throughout the giveaway, and add more giveaways to the rafflecopter as needed.

US only portion:

Two winners will each get to pick two ARC copies from this list:

International entrants can win a book of their choice from the book depository (up to $15)

Also to help fund this giveaway, and future ones, I’m adding a new option to the rafflecopter giveaway. If you make a purchase of anything through my affiliate links via Amazon or The Book Depository, you’ll get 25 extra entries each time. (Once per day) Just email me a copy of your receipt(s) to kclapsadl (at) gmail (dot) com. So if you were planning on buying a book (or any other item from Amazon) anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you could use one of my links. It doesn't cost you anything, but helps me to support these and future giveaways. Thanks!

Here’s the links:

AmazonThe Book Depository

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Re-Read Review: My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

, by KT

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Soul Screamers #4

(Re-Read Review)

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can't just pretend nothing happened. But "complicated" doesn't even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn't just an ordinary girl. She's a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people's fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn't above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

Just like my first three re-read reviews for this series, I feel the need to start off with a warning that this post is NOT a traditional review, and will be quite spoilery. Also there will be a whole lot of ranting and bashing. I'm participating in the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge hosted by Fiktshun. You can either read the books for the first time, or re-read them, and I am doing the latter. I thought it would be fun to do a post of my thoughts about things the second time around with all of the knowledge of the following books. So again, I really would not recommend reading this review if you are not caught up in reading books one through five. You have been warned. ;)

Unlike the first three books, I had already written a full review the first time I read My Soul to Steal, so I had an even better insight into my original thoughts. You can check out that review here to see where my head was the first time around.

It's kinda funny because I was a little annoyed with Kaylee both then, and now, but for two entirely different reasons. I was annoyed with her last time because she wanted him, but wouldn't give him a chance. This time my annoyance is ten times worse because she won't let him go! I still cannot believe I wanted her to be with Nash. My only explanation is that once I pick a guy in a book, I'm pretty much stuck on him regardless of what he may or may not do. It is only in very very rare cases that I will change my mind. I just hate heartbreak and angst, so for me it's almost always gonna be the first guy that catches my "heart" in a book. I just don't have the ability to "break" up with them mostly. This is why I could never be an author. I couldn't put my characters through the hell required to make a book enjoyable. So getting back to the point of Nash and Kaylee, I know I had wanted them to stay together because of my extreme difficulty with letting go. However, I am now completely over it. I just wanna say "Here you go Sabine, he's all yours!"

I do have to admit that a lot of my ability to finally let Nash go was because of Tod. It is simply amazing to see just how much I missed the first time around because I was too focused on Nash. That talk he had with Kaylee about letting Nash go because he wasn't enough for her, and that their relationship would never be whole, really opened my eyes. In fact, I realized that so much of what he was saying and the emotion behind it was because of how much he loved her himself.

Here's a series of interactions between them that were so much more impactful the second time around.

"Like, maybe there’s someone better out there for him. And maybe there’s someone better for you."

Why yes, Tod, you are so much better for her!

“Just go away, Tod. I have enough to worry about without adding ‘taking stupid advice from a dead guy’ to the list.”

Tod blinked at me, and the smallest cobalt tremor of emotion rippled through his irises before he regained control. Before I could interpret what I’d seen. Then he sighed and blinked out of the room, pizza box and all."

Sighs, if only Kaylee knew how much he cared, than she would have realized how much she hurt him with that statement.

“So…you’re still mad about the other day?”

“Wouldn’t you be mad if I told you to give up on someone you care about? Just…hand her over to someone who doesn’t even deserve her?”

Tod gave me a strange, sad look I couldn’t interpret, and the blues in his irises shifted subtly for a moment before he got control of them. “Yeah. I guess I would.”

Again, if only Kaylee could see the truth. Tod is living this every day watching her with Nash, who absolutely does not deserve her one bit!

Then strong, warm arms wrapped around me from behind. “I’ve got you,” Tod whispered in my ear, as Avari charged us........

Tod squeezed me, then let me go, and I whirled around to face him. “Thanks. I totally owe you.”

“No. You don’t,” he said, and the blues in his eyes shifted slowly.

*Swoons*

I cannot wait to dive into the next installment to finally see some real Kaylee and Tod moments!