Review: Emmy's Song (The Maldito Series #1) by Christy Trujillo

Emmy's Song by Christy Trujillo

Copy Courtesy of Christy Trujillo
Already Released

Summary
Everything was going well until Cale showed up; he manages to butt himself into every aspect of Emmy's life, from her big solo to her dreams. Chris, one of Emmy's best friends, keeps warning her away from him while the other, Sarah, pines away for him. Who is he, and why do things feel like they are spiraling out of control?

Commentary
Emmy's Song has a interesting, believable, and personable main character, which made me want to like the story. The pacing of the story makes it hard to get into; events happen quickly and then are over before the reader has time to register what is going on. This, unfortunately was a big turnoff.

There is a romance thing going on between Cale and Emmy, but despite it taking center stage, it still feels somewhat shallow. I also have a tiny problem with Emmy taking Algebra as a senior although it does seem to be an artsy school so perhaps the studies there are lagging behind?

I do think this author has potential as writing a good main character is very integral, but this attempt has some issues. If you don't think too much about the story, you might consider reading it.

Star Rating: 2.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Emmy's Song at Amazon

Winner of Funniest Third Sentence

The trophy goes to Shannon at Books Devoured!

Her Sentence:

"The Devil was good about taking prenatal pills but grumbled about the inevitable constipation." - Undead and Unappreciated by Mary Janice Davidson

Review: Foundation (Collegium #1) by Mercedes Lackey

Foundation by Mercedes Lackey

Summary
Mags works in a mine. He is one of many orphans who are essentially slaves working to extract sparklies, and when he doesn't find enough of them, he is starved and beaten. His meager existence changes drastically when a Companion chooses him to become a Herald. He begins his training in the midst of the founding of the Herald Collegium.

Commentary
This is the beginning of the latest series in Lackey's Valdemar world, which has always been full of warm and fuzzy. I was actually somewhat disappointed by this return although I was really eager to read it because I remember loving Valdemar.

Perhaps it's simply that I don't remember all the references made to previous stories. The Companion was too smug and cuddly, and the main character Mags was too cookie-cutter or something along those lines. I just didn't enjoy this book as much as Lackey's previous works.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book because I did. It was heroic, good triumphs over evil, and exactly the way I remembered Valdemar to be. Unfortunately, that also made it somewhat formulaic. Hopefully, the rest of the series will turn out to be more interesting.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Foundation at Amazon

Book Blog Hop & Follow Friday (Dec 10)

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee!

What is the thing you like most about reading book blogs? Is it the reviews, author guest posts, articles, giveaways, or something else entirely?

Definitely meeting the other bloggers is the best part. The books help too though ^.^

The Week in Review

Third Sentence Thursday featuring Funniest Third Sentence!

Busting the Newbie Blues event hosted by Small Reviews

Reviews:
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


Do you have an under-noticed author that you think we should all know about?

Ted Chiang
He has only published short stories and novellas so far, but what he has published is amazing. His genre is sci-fi. You can read one of his short stories called Exhalation for free here!

You can get his latest novella called The Lifecycle of Software Objects from Subterranean Press ( once it sells out, it's gone, also I am not affiliated with Subterranean Press). I wrote a review of this novella that you can also check out here.

Epic Contest of Epic

Beth Revis is giving out 100 gift packs for Across the Universe (not all of them are books). Check it out here!

Third Sentence Thursday (#2)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/search/label/third%20sentence%20thursday" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png" alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png" /></a>

"A Jew celebrating Christmas is a bit like the family of Samuel Morse toasting the birth of Nokia" -How to Have a Jewish Christmas by Matt Kirshen

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme for uplifting the status of the third sentences of books/stories.

This week's theme is Funniest Third Sentence, at the end of the day someone will be crowned the Funniest Third Sentence Champ!

1) Find the funniest third sentence ever.
2) Post a link to your funny sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!
3) Visit some of the other blogs and post a comment to vote for the best sentence! (you're not allowed to vote for your own!)
4) Prepare for next week's theme.


Next week's theme is third sentence that best describes your mood.

Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Summary
A girl feels compelled to steal books. This is set during WWII. The girl is called Liesel, and she is a foster child. Her family is not rich. They hide a Jew.

Commentary
The entire book is written like the summary above with the narrator being a mysterious third party who is not revealed until the end. It's very difficult to keep reading as the prose is somewhat stilted although a lot of people find this style to be wonderfully artsy.

The unfolding of the tale is actually pretty well done once I managed to get past the writing style, which took about half the book. The tone of this book is mostly grey and is in keeping with other Holocaust books.

If you like artsy writing (or perhaps would like to try) and/or Holocaust books, this is worth a read.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Book Thief at Amazon

Edit:

This is now a Book Review Wednesday post~~

Teaser Tuesday (Dec 7)

"There was a good chance it would kill later that night. The prospect greatly facilitated patience and brought a certain anticipatory satisfaction, for it had been bred for such a purpose." -The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own teaser post or just the teaser if you don't have a blog.

Review: Angelfire (Angelfire #1) by Courtney Allison Moulton

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Copy Courtesy of Harper Collins and NetGalley
Release Date: 2/15/2011

Ellie is living it up as a wealthy suburban teen (think BMW's). Of course, she's also having nightmares and her grades are slipping. Turns out, that's not all she has to worry about; she also has to kick monster (reaper) butts because she's the Preliator (basically THE human that gets reincarnated over and over again to kick monster butts). The bonus is that she's got a hot sidekick called Will who likes to be mysterious about Ellie's past that she can't seem to remember at the moment.

This story somewhat reminds me of Bleach (an anime) - hero gets bigger and badder powers as s/he fights, in the modern world, bigger and badder monsters who eat human souls to save the world. A lot of time is spent trying to explain the back story of Ellie's previous lives, the conflict she is embroiled in, and battles, which are interesting, but these elements start to get tedious after awhile and seem to be overly complex (I'm not a huge fan of detailed battle maneuvers).

One thing that really threw me right at the beginning of the book was the fact that higher level reapers are called vir since I just finished reading the Night Angel trilogy, which defines vir as a vile kind of magic. This is an unfortunate coincidence and not the fault of the author, but it was part of my experience.

I enjoyed being inside Ellie's head though with her internal schizophrenia of being this ancient being as well as a somewhat spoiled teenage girl who is confused. She also has some philosophical dialogues which I'd like to see her pursue more vigorously.

I think this story could use more editing, but otherwise it is not bad.

Star Rating: 2.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Angelfire at Amazon

Busting the Newbie Blues

I consider myself quite a newbie in the book blogging world so I'm taking part in this awesome event hosted by Small Review. Go here to check out the details.

It comes with a survey!

When did you start your blog?
I started the book reviewing nature of this blog in September this year.

Why did you start your blog?
I had been looking for a topic I could blog consistently about because I want to work on my writing skills, and well, I love books. That's the topic that's been working the best ^.^

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Trying to build an audience takes up way more time (at least subjectively) than reading the books or writing the reviews.

What do you find most discouraging about being a new blogger?
The ups and downs of traffic are really discouraging.

What do you find most encouraging?
The fact that I'm building some traffic, and there are some nice people that come around and comment on what I'm writing about.

What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?
Hmm... I like what people have written for review policies and have definitely incorporated stuff for that. I liked that some sites have an index of just their reviews so I have one of those too... I haven't quite gotten around to putting together a list of challenges I want to take part in next year so definitely look for that to come out soon.

What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?
I dislike music on blogs and some blogs have so much stuff in their sidebars that it takes forever to load the pages. I really try to avoid scripts/paraphernalia creep in my sidebar, and I definitely don't have any music.

Any advice for other new bloggers?
Things take time, and other bloggers are generally pretty nice. They don't bite, so try to talk to them. (I promise I don't bite either ^.^)

Anything else you’d like to share about your experience?
Blogging is a lot more time consuming than I ever thought it would be, but it's been a fun learning experience for sure.

Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your blog?
I am picky about my books so I tend to grade them very strictly. You will often find that my ratings are a star or two lower than other people's reviews. I really only want to say I love books that I really truly love and will recommend without any reservations. Thus, 3 stars is not a bad rating.