Time for a Move!

Hello lovelies,

For an early birthday present, my husband has moved The Bibliophile’s Corner to a self-hosted site! Please take this time to go to www.thebibliophilescorner.com and re-subscribe via email or re-follow via your RSS feeder.

Also, if it would not be too much trouble, spread the word via any and all social networks. Thanks!

Pretty Little Covers: Steampunk

Pretty Little Covers is a new feature that was inspired by The Flashlight Reader feature, Cover Appeal. Each Sunday, I will be sharing images from around the internet that I feel would make brilliant book covers.

Click on the pictures to be taken to the artist’s page for more of their work.

Theme: Steampunk

Next Week: Angels

Book Review: Obsidian

Obsidian (Lux Series #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Pages: 361
Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
Format: Paperback
Reading Challenge: 100 + Books in a Year

Synopsis:

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring…. until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don’t kill him first, that is.

Cover Talk: Daemon is hot. End of story.

First Impressions: Dear, Jennifer L. Armentrout, I sincerely apologize for taking so long to read your books. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about them, but never picked them up. Bad book lover of the year goes to me.

First Few Chapters: Um…I read this book in three hours. In one sitting. Clearly the first few chapters rocked my socks off.

Characters: Katy is my homegirl. Seriously, I feel like I would have been best friends with her in high school. Would prefer books to people, reserved, but fun once out of the shell. Truly, I love Katy. I also love her intense loyalty and courage that she develops over this book. I cannot wait to see what is in store for her in book two.

Daemon is such as ass. An attractive ass. And according to Katy he has an attractive ass. But dear Lord, I wanted to punch this guy as much as Katy did. I did not like him until the last few chapters of this book. I can understand that everything he did and said to Katy, he had good reason. And that was to protect the only family he had left. But seriously. His douchebag-ery was killing me.

Dee is just the sweetest. Her twin, Daemon, describes her perfectly when he calls her a ball of sunshine. And she really is. Every time she entered a chapter, I just got so happy. I hate comparing things to Twilight, but she reminded me very much of Alice. (Alice is the only redeeming character in Twilight.) So this made me very happy. I love the sweet, sister character.

Plot: Dude! So, let me just start off by saying, the random bits of Katy’s hobbie, BOOK BLOGGING, made my heart so incredibly happy. I have never read a book about a character who was a book blogger. As a book blogger, I loved feeling like I had something in common with her. Even though I am much more mature and older….(yeah, right.)

I loved this book so much. Even the romance. Or the sexual tension, rather. But the most exciting part of this book is that it’s about aliens. Not vampires, not werewolves, not faeries, but aliens. Hell yes. And beautiful, non-insecty kinds. If we ever have aliens come to Earth, please let them be from Lux. Okay?

Also, I loved the relationships that Katy developed over the course of this book. With the exception of Daemon, I feel like every relationship was presented in this novel. The workaholic, but caring parent. The two polar opposite friends. The loyal, sweet best friend. And the bitch from hell.

My only, only complaint of this novel (and I still gave it a five star because the book was just too amazing not to) is the way Daemon treated Katy when they first met and her dislike-yet-lustful response back to him. I guess I just have never experienced this intense dislike, but lust after you kind of relationship. And while the steamy make out sessions was…um, well steamy…I have to say, I am glad I have never experienced it. I would think that I’m going insane.

Final Thoughts: I cannot believe I waited so damn long to read this series…I have got to go buy the rest of them. Today.

Book Review: Starlighter

Starlighter (Dragons of Starlight #1) by Bryan Davis
Pages: 400
Genre: YA Fantasy/Adventure
Format: Paperback
Source: Received via Charleen Famiglietti
Reading Challenge: 100 + Books in a Year

Synopsis:

What if the Legends Are True?

Jason Masters doubted the myths that told of people taken through a portal to another realm and enslaved by dragons. But when he receives a cryptic message from his missing brother, he must uncover the truth and find the portal before it’s too late. At the same time, Koren, a slave in the dragons’ realm, discovers she has a gift that could either save or help doom her people. As Jason and Koren work to rescue the enslaved humans, a mystic prophecy surrounding a black egg may make all their efforts futile.

Cover Talk: I really like this cover. It makes me happy when covers actually match what is going on in the book. The red head is wonderful. I must say, though I am a bit biased.

First Impressions: I was approached by Charleen to review the fourth book in this series since I enjoyed The Blue Door so much and I immediately accepted. But since I had not read the first three, she kindly sent me all of them.

First Few Chapters: I am a little bit confused on how to explain this book in terms of pacing. I read the first few chapters in one sitting and set the book down. I didn’t pick it up for a few days and I had a hard time staying focused on it. But once it got past the first half, I couldn’t set it down.

Characters: Jason is a true hero. I cannot explain him any other way. He is loyal, strong, courageous, and will sacrifice himself to save any one, friend or stranger. I really loved seeing him change his color (this makes sense you see because there is a thing that gets put inside of him that changes colors when he does heroic deeds) and grow into the warrior that he’s trained to be.

Koren is a wonderful counterpart to Jason. Though they are on two different planes (planets?) they are so much alike. Koren also will sacrifice herself to save anyone. And does so numerous times. I really love her ability, which I will not spoil because it was fun figure out.

As for the other characters, Elyssa, Randall, and Tibalt, I loved how fleshed out and real they were. Elyssa is such a sweetheart. She is such a kind-hearted, good-spirited person. I know she has a gift of some sort too, but I can’t remember what it’s called exactly. I’ll let you find out for yourself when you read the book. Randall and Tibalt are two characters that I grew to love. They both start off as characters who are probably not the smartest or heroic characters, but they certainly evolve. I can’t wait to see their roles in the future, Randall especially.

Plot: Like I mentioned earlier, it took a bit for me to get into this book. I honestly don’t know what it was because the book is written wonderfully, there was clearly a lot of detail and work put into it. But there were just certain parts that lagged a bit for me.

I loved the switching POVs. I know that it irritates most people, but I personally love it. I think it’s interesting to see in this book what is going on in the two worlds.

As far as world building goes, I cannot even being to praise it high enough. I have a thing for dragons, so I am a wee bit sad that they are the bad guys. I also loved seeing the similarties in both Jason and Koren’s worlds.

The religion and faith aspect of this book was nice too. I really like that it’s not pushy or over the top. Faith drives the characters, especially Jason and Koren.

Final Thoughts: Initially I had a hard time getting into this book, but once I was there, it was wonderful. This is a good first book to what is sure to be a great series. I can’t wait to start reading the next one.

Top Ten Books I Want For My Birthday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish because of their love of lists. Each week, they will post a new Top Ten list and everyone is welcome to join. 

I got today’s freebie topic idea from Bridget at Broke and the Bookish. Her birthday is this Thursday and mine is next Wednesday. So, without further ado (I hope my hubby and mom are reading this) here are the books I want for my birthday.

1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I have been wanting to read this one for a very long time. I have never actually read any book by Maggie Stiefvater, but I want to read them all at some point.

2. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer; The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about these books. First of all, they come highly recommended by one of my favorite book blogger, so I know I have to have them.

3. Struck by Jennifer Bosworth. This is just such a unique book and have never heard anything like it. I think this is probably the most “out there” book on this list.

4. Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs. Modern Greek mythology? Yes, please. Dear Lord Almighty.

5. Breathe by Sarah Crossan. I have a soft spot when it comes to books that deal with the end of Earth and environmental issues. Living in bubbles is pretty interesting.

6. Defiance by C.J. Redwine. This is one just of those books that I saw the cover, read the synopsis, and said, “Please be mine.” I cannot wait to read this one.

7. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. I am a fan of steampunk and this one is set in Japan, which is hard to find (at least hard for me to find). The cover of this book also caught my eye and I knew I had to own this one day.

8. Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst. I don’t know what it is about this one, but it just seems like something new and original. I’m also a huge fan of non-white cultures being portrayed in novels.

9. The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron. This is another steampunk novel that just seems wonderful. The cover is brilliant, the synopsis is really interesting. It almost reminds me of a Beauty and the Beast type thing, although instead of strangers and romance, it’s family and loyalty.

10. Origin by Jessica Khoury. This book just sounds freaking amazing. Amazon rain forest, an immortal race, and the price of freedom. I just can’t imagine anything better.