Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

TL;DR magical civil war

TBR #1512, added Mar 8 2016

library ebook (no hold) 8/21/16

finished 9/1/16

I wasn't expecting to get my hands on Siege and Storm for at least a few more months. I figured I'd be reading the physical copies at the library, or that I'd wait to get my hands on more paperback copies since I already owned Shadow and Bone. 

I'd read a Google Play sample of Siege and Storm back towards the spring, so it was really easy to jump back into the story. It was also memorable enough that I remembered the events of the last book without needing too much narrative prompting. 

The story is ... dark. I think it's actually pretty honest, because there's a lot of doubts about what's going on and what their future will look like, and there's a lot of loss as well. It doesn't hold back with the brutalities of a civil war. (... I'm not entirely sure civil war is the correct term for what's going on, but I can't come up with anything else.) 

There's some really good character growth over the course of the book and compared to where they started from. It definitely propels and strengthens the plot and the overall morals of the story. The morals did feel a little heavy-handed at times but that might've also just been me. There's definitely a lot to be said about what's going on around them and what everyone's various choices mean for their future outcome. 

I waited three weeks to write this review. In case you couldn't tell.

This series is definitely ranking close in my favorites to The Lunar Chronicles, which is no easy feat. I'm looking forward to continuing the story and I know I'll probably be sad once I finish. That said, my ebook had a significant preview of Six of Crows at the end, so I know I don't have to leave the world just yet. I'm going to pace myself and not read the Ketterdam books until I finish Ruin and Rising. (Which I already have as a Kindle ebook! My claim on it expires around October 8th so I'll definitely have it finished by then.) 

TL;DR I'm making my way through this series a lot faster than I was expecting, and my only saving grace to that is that it feels so worth it, and there's another series following in its footsteps. Leigh Bardugo is definitely earning her place in my favorites ranking. 

CWs: death, injuries, torture, loss of autonomy, and probably a lot of others I've forgotten. Nothing's really held back. Proceed with caution. 

The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova

TL;DR Percy Jackson without the Greek gods, almost

TBR #396, added May 1, 2013

library ebook hold placed 8/23/16; #1

finished 9/8/16

I never really expected I'd get my hands on The Vicious Deep since it didn't seem like the kind of book my library would carry. (I was partially wrong; we do have an ebook of it.)

I don't know that I really looked at the blurb again before I got my hands on the book and dove in (lol I'm funny). I'm not sure what I was expecting, but TVD didn't go in whatever direction that was. Definitely made for a wild ride.

Tristan definitely had some of the same charm as Percy. He was pretty endearing, and I'll definitely give him bonus points as a main character for taking the whole merman thing in stride. (Well, the first couple chapters where he didn't were good, too. But I'm glad he didn't go all broody about it.) He came off as a pretty realistic teenage boy, and I feel like we don't get enough guy main characters in supernatural / urban fantasy YA books. Extra bonus points there.

The premise of the story was good: simple, but interesting. There weren't a whole bunch of plotlines mixed in and I found myself enjoying what was going on despite how many questions I had about the overall world and history of the events that lead up to the story.

So, that said, the worldbuilding was interesting but not necessarily the best put-together. I liked the direction it took but there were still a lot of things that were included without ever getting much of an explanation. (But also, thank you for making the magical world bigger than the scope of the story! I hope we get to see more aspects in the future. And some more explanations.)

The general cast of characters didn't feel particularly deep but I still liked them. They at least all had their unique qualities, and hopefully they get some good character growth as the series goes on. And hopefully we get to see more of Layla and Tristan's family. I want to see so much more of powerful friendships and family in YA books.

The biggest drawback for me is that the plot didn't feel like it had a solid direction. I was all excited for the quest that was set up, and then they just ... went back to school? Like they didn't have a deadline?? I mean, I guess they did have appearances to uphold, but it felt like the entire second half of the book was stalling. Things were happening, but they weren't really advancing the plot.

I get the sense that this quest might be spread out over the whole series (which I'm hoping isn't actually the case), but like I hinted above, I'm still interested in continuing the story if I get the chance. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance based on my library, so I haven't added the next book to my TBR (or even looked at it tbh), but I won't turn down an opportunity to get my hands on it.

TL;DR it was a nice read and I'm pretty optimistic for the series as a whole, but not really of my chances of getting to continue reading it anytime soon. I think this is definitely something I'd recommend to someone looking for something a little less "girly" than YA tends to be.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

TL;DR The Selection but with even less forward movement

TBR #757, added Feb 12 2014

library ebook requested 8/21, #12 in queue; received 9/6 at #4

finished 9/14/16

I've been interested in The Jewel for a while, but never enough to buy a copy of it, and I don't know that my library has any physical copies of it. I happened to find it in the ebook system and figured "heck, let's do this."

I should mention right here that I'm learning I really don't like dystopians. Yet I keep picking them up anyway. I think part of my problem with them is that they became a fad and burned out for me really quickly. The only one I've really loved is The Lunar Chronicles, and I think it set the bar so high that most other dystopians fall flat lol.

In looking around on Goodreads, I found a lot of people comparing The Jewel to The Selection series, and I totally agree with that. They read about the same -- Violet's narration was easy enough to read through without any issue, but I also didn't enjoy her voice as much as I wanted. She wasn't the most compelling narrator (but she was less annoying than America).

Honestly I felt like the world and overall concepts of the plot were underused or under-explored. There are so many questions I still have about how their world actually functions. (Though I will admit that two of them were answered by the end of the book.) I'm really tempted to pull out my AP Human Geo notebook from 11th grade and figure out if their country (?) would actually be sustainable as more than an idea.

I think the Auguries were a cool concept, but I don't think they were a good fit for The Jewel's story. There wasn't enough explanation for why they should fit into the story, and they didn't serve much of a purpose other than to make these girls ~special~. The story still could've functioned without the Auguries.

(Something else I found on Goodreads that's worth mentioning: how were these girls actually prepared for being surrogates if they have no idea what's gonna happen to their bodies?? Did they not get any health classes?? That seems like it'd be the number-one priority, especially if these girls are the royalty's only hope of having children that will survive. It would've made more sense for these girls to only learn about how to make those children practically inhumanly perfect.)

I think Violet was too idealistic and naive for the world she grew up in. Part of this might just be disbelief on my end that this system of theirs would last for hundreds of years without even rumors about what's going on.

Also, I find it hard to believe that the Duchess would wait so long to have Violet even start meeting the doctor. If this system really were as terrible as it was supposed to be, she and all the other ladies of the houses wouldn't have waited at all -- they would've started immediately and would've been even more ruthless.

Like, sure, all the women are snide to each other, but they weren't as evil as I thought they were supposed to be. I was expecting the surrogates and the companions to be treated the same as their servants. There's an excessive amount of money being spent on these girls and their lives aren't as bad as I was expecting; why would you pamper these girls and then wait months to start using them for what you bought them for? Well--Raven's life sucked. And the lot #200 girl, whatever her name was. Violet's life really wasn't bad considering she's known this was coming and was supposedly prepared for it.

The romance was poorly set up and the only attraction they had to each other was really that they were never allowed to have their own relationships otherwise. It was never good and I'm honestly glad that they got the result that they did -- the only reason they made it to the end of the book was to make it into a cliffhanger for the next book. They never should have lasted that long in their society.

Also, Ash was a poor excuse for a heartthrob character. He was bland. Their cliffhanger was contrived and honestly is just making me less interested in continuing than I had been before that last chapter.

The plot revolving Lucien was interesting but it wasn't as key to the overall story as I was hoping. Most of the story is the Duchess toting Violet around to social events, being saccharine one moment and Lady Tremaine the next, and Violet trying to get into as much trouble in the palace as she could. Nothing really happens other than her trysts with Ash, which were more annoying than anything.

I think the story could've been a lot better if there were more unrest going on, more than just Violet's "oh, I hate my life" and all the royal women trying to oust the Electress (or whatever they were trying to do against her). There was so much potential for an uprising, or at least a movement against the current system, both from the peasant classes and the royalty themselves. I find it really hard to believe that everyone in the circles outside the Bank just accepts this life, and that the royal women are just sitting there talking smack about the Electress without any other action. There was only one instance we saw of anyone rebelling against the system, and it was a passing glimpse at that.

It would've been a lot better to see more of what the heck Lucien was trying to scheme, but honestly, I have to agree with him 100% about not telling Violet everything, because she's an idiot.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to read The White Rose, because Goodreads is suggesting Violet and Ash are even more annoying and more useless, but I found The House of the Stone in my library system and I am planning on reading that. I think Raven's story has much more potential, based on the little glimpses we got through Violet's narration, and there were some ... divisive reviews on Goodreads that made me curious lol. I'm hoping that it's going to be grittier than The Jewel was.

(I never expected admitting to wanting more grit in a story.)

TL;DR I was disappointed that most of the story was filler, and that there wasn't much potential written in for anything to happen. There's not much to anticipate and Violet really didn't add any positive characteristics to the story as a whole.

CWs: loss of autonomy, abuse / torture (physical / mental), blood, injuries, and things along those lines. Blood loss is a very reoccurring CW.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

TL;DR two kids against an oppressive empire

TBR #1099, added Nov 14, 2014

library ebook hold placed 8/16/16; #10 in queue*

finished 9/13/16

*Somehow I got the ebook when it still said I was #7?? I'm still trying to figure out how my library ebook system really functions.

I actually didn't expect to finish this book. I had it for a couple days before I started it, and I was making slow progress, so I figured it would expire out of my library before I had any chance of reaching the end. The only reason I did finish it was because I purposefully sat down during a free afternoon to see if I could do it before Amazon took it back from me.

(I totally have my priorities straight.)

This was definitely a unique story and setting, but it was a little too dark for my normal reading tastes. I mean, it was good, but the horrors of their world weren't really compelling me to continue reading on. Some of it was a little hard to stomach.

(For whatever reason, I want to classify this as a winter book, and I have absolutely no idea how to explain that.)

I liked that Laia was brave but also felt weak and second-guessed herself and what she was doing, and that Elias did what he thought was right even though there were consequences. The Commandant was terrifying, honestly. The secondary characters all felt human and that they had their own motivations outside Laia's story (though the Rebellion leader felt a little weak to me in that respect). Actually, I love Izzi the most. She's the best.

The romance was pretty standard. I appreciate that they weren't all heart-eyes for each other, and that it kept more to passion / lust than standard YA "I'll sacrifice everything for you for no reason". (Saying I appreciate lust over romantic stuff is ... strange for me.) I also liked the fact that it wasn't a straight-forward romance -- both of them had other love interests, too, and I did appreciate the fact that it didn't turn into a double love-triangle like it could've.

I think I'm okay with this romance aspect more than in other books because it didn't feel like it overtook the plot. Neither of them listened to their heart over their head (much).

Serra was an interesting setting and I think it worked well within the glimpses we got through the story. I had clear pictures of Blackcliff and the areas that Laia lived in / visited on errands as a slave. The culture of both communities that we got to see were interesting, both in comparison to each other and to what I learned in Ap Human Geo. There were some good explanations of how the Martial / Scholar history had influenced both groups' cultures and their traditions by the beginning of the story.

Initially I didn't know if I was going to continue with the series, but I learned that my library already has an ebook copy of A Torch Against the Night, so I did add it to my TBR. I'll probably wait a while before I pick it up, though. I feel like I need some fluffier books in the meantime.

I'm hoping that A Torch Against the Night will continue exploring the magical aspects of the story. I wasn't really expecting it from An Ember in the Ashes, and I'm going to be disappointed if I don't learn more of why it did end up in the series. Not that I'm complaining. I thought it was cool.

TL;DR I'm weak and couldn't enjoy this as much as I could've because of the harshness of their world, but I liked the characters and the world is interesting enough that I'm willing to continue with the series eventually.

CWs: death, injuries, torture / abuse (physical, mental), and sexual assault, among other things. The Martials are really awful to the Scholars (and to each other, honestly).

The Rose Society by Marie Lu

TL;DR three-way war

TBR #1542, added May 8 2016

library ebook (no hold) 8/21/16

finished 8/31/16

I finished The Young Elites back in May and I'm actually surprised that I managed to get my hands on The Rose Society so soon after finishing it. (Although I do realize it came out last year ... The Penguin Teen twitter posts a lot about The Midnight Star and I think that's what's making me feel like it's so much more prominent.) 

I've gotta say, this has been a wonderful series so far. It's a little darker than I normally like reading, but the universe and characters are so good. I think it's definitely worth it. 

I really liked the layers and plot twists (of sorts) that were revealed in The Rose Society. It adds a lot more to the overall story and made me care even more about what was going on. I liked the experience of learning about what was going on as the characters figured it out, too, and that I didn't know everything there was to know about the universe when I finished The Young Elites. 

I also liked seeing the differences in all the characters between the two books. There's obvious character development and not all of it is positive -- there's a lot of foreboding about what's happening with the Rose Society versus the Daggers and their government. It's this three-way fight and honestly, I don't really know who's going to ultimately win. I think a Pyrrhic victory or a three-way loss would be interesting. Any way it goes down, the victory is going to come at a huge cost / compromise; there's not really a good end to it no matter what happens. 

There are a lot of gritty aspects to most of the characters -- their world is pretty gritty, and they're a product of their environment. I enjoyed reading about them but it can be kind of hard to get through at times, because they do showcase some negative aspects of human nature, and there's no sugar-coating.

I'm definitely gonna do my best to get my hands on The Midnight Star sooner rather than later, and I'm looking forward to seeing what directions Marie Lu is going to take in the future. 

TL;DR it was totally worth the read and I'm excited to see what The Midnight Star will bring.

CWs: death, unreality, injuries / blood, torture (I think), and more along these lines that I can't list off the top of my head. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

TL;DR New Adult high fantasy

TBR #1091, added Nov 14 2014

finished 8/21/16

ACOTAR was the reason I started getting ebooks from my library again lol. I'd found some boards on Pinterest that made me super intrigued in the series, but I knew the hold queue for the physical library books would take forever and I couldn't justify buying it right before Otakon. So I placed a hold on the ebook and waited to see if I ended up buying it off Amazon first.

Luckily my patience won out and I managed to get the library ebook without too much of a wait. I'm really glad I decided to push through getting it instead of just waiting for a copy to fall into my hands, but I think I threw myself a little too into the series and burned myself out already lol.

The biggest reason for that is that Pinterest has a ton of spoilers, and because of the couple boards I looked at, I already knew a couple things that would happen over the course of the story. I also already know what's generally going to happen in the second book, which doesn't make me as [grabby hands] for it. I looked at a lot more Pinterest boards after I finished reading ACOTAR and got a little sick of it.

The whole book in itself is pretty good. The beginning is a little slow but once the plot started moving along I was invested in seeing how what I'd learned from the internet fit into the book overall. All the characters were pretty good, though at the same time I can also say I'm not as invested in them as I'd wanted to be. I'm more invested in the worldbuilding.

Like, my main interest in the second book now is seeing what more of the world looks like, not necessarily what Feyre's story is going to be. Which maybe isn't the best thing, because I should probably be more interested in the characters. Even in ACOTAR, I was a little more biased towards the worldbuilding and the whole setting outside of Feyre's story than necessarily Feyre's story itself.

Also, this is definitely not a book to read when there's a chance of someone reading over your shoulder. There are some ... steamy sections. I'd actually say the entire second half of the book is questionable reading in public. I'm still a little conflicted about the romance itself, because it's not quite insta-love, but I can't really otherwise say what attraction they really do have to each other. And also because Pinterest kind of ruined the outcome of the second book for me.

(Based on the romance and the fact that Feyre is nineteen, I'd classify this as more New Adult-ish than as a YA.)

(I'm the same age as Feyre. Holy crap.)

I am still planning on continuing with this series, and based on Goodreads' listings, it looks like it's going to be a long one. Which could be good or bad, I guess. I'm going to try and knock out a few other books on my TBR and get through all the currently-available ebooks at my library before I request A Court of Mist and Fury.

TL;DR I was too interested in this too quickly and burned myself out, but it's a good read and I think it's worth the popularity it currently has.

Fall Book Recs - Sept 2016

I'm back with another collection of book recs! This one is in honor of pumpkin spice season (even though it's been record-hot here the past few days). I'll also have another post coming in October focusing a little more about Halloween, with a few overlaps.

Most of these were based on how they feel -- a little cold, like good bonfire nights; a little creepy; set primarily in the fall; or a mixture of all of the above. I'm still trying to put into words how books have specific feels to me that can be separate from what the book actually is about.

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor  (my review)

This is probably the most out of place on this list, because technically Night Vale is in a desert, and would otherwise only be related to fall through Halloween. (The WTNV series can get creepy.) I associate the book a lot with fall because I associate the podcasts with Alaska and cold, foggy weather because that's where I listened to them first.

This is about a town in the middle of a desert which has a lot of ... interesting events transpire. The storyline is new to the universe based on where I left off listening to the podcasts (which was .... a while ago OTL) but I'm pretty sure the characters and storylines introduced in the book also make an appearance in more recent podcast episodes.

This is also really cool because it's a multi-media series. The narration is so on-point that I heard Cecil's voice the entire time I was reading, and it was wonderful.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl takes place over Cath's first semester of college, which means it takes place during the fall. I associate it a lot with the smell of heated air and how cold tends to seep through cinderblock walls. (I'm not sure if those have any relation to anything that happens in the book.)

I identified a lot with Cath when I read it in the spring of my junior year of high school. I've already been through my freshman year of college, so I'd love to go back and re-read this to see how my expectations of college (especially in comparison to the book) hold up against how it really went last year.

This is a standalone, but Cath's fanfiction also lives as its own book, Carry On, which could maybe be added to this list as well.

Jackaby by William Ritter  (my review)

This is a supernatural-historical fiction (which in retrospect I'm learning is a good combo for me). Supernatural books tend to be a little creepy, or at least unsettling, and historical fiction has almost a similar aesthetic in its age. Maybe it's just me that finds old things easily creepy in the right lights.

For its creepy / unsettling aesthetic at times, it's actually pretty light-hearted. The aesthetic was perfect for me in that it got the point across but was never enough to deter me from reading.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld  (my review)

If I remember correctly, Darcy's part of the book takes place as she's writing Afterworlds, which would put it during November. I associate this a lot with cold, rainy weather (maybe because I read this during February). It's also a little creepy with the side of the story that's Darcy's writing since that plot deals a lot with life and death.

I didn't particularly enjoy this book as much as the others in this list, but I think it's a good mention in case anyone else will find it enjoyable.

This is also a standalone, but technically it's got two stories within it, so it's like getting two for one?

Devil and the Bluebird by Jennifer Mason-Black  (my review)

I'm not sure whether to classify this one as urban fantasy or magical realism. It definitely doesn't sugar-coat anything, which for whatever reason makes it feel like fall weather to me. I know that at least part of the story takes place during the winter, which may have accounted for a little bit of that.

I had some trouble getting through the middle of the book because it was fairly depressing, but I'm happy with my decision to stick through it and read to the end.

This is a standalone book.

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Gray  (my review)

... I don't remember why I added this to the list, but I feel like it fits. I think it's also that urban fantasy / magical realism thing. This one's also a little depressing, but I don't know that it was as hard for me as Devil and the Bluebird.

In re-reading my review I found my comparison between The Girl at Midnight and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. I think the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series is a little more winter-ish, or closer to the fall-winter transition in November and December, but that it's also worth noting here.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black  (my review)

This had a very similar feel to the Modern Faerie Tales series of Black's that I read back in elementary school, which was creepy to me back then. (In a good way. I know I tried to read the books more than once.) Just the title alone suggests a cool and isolated location, like wandering so far into a forest that you're hopelessly lost and have no sign of civilization left.

(I'm a city person.)

This also explores various character motivations and human nature, and within the context of the story it's pretty somber. It's almost like kicking up leaves that have been on the ground for a while and have started to decompose (if that makes sense).

This is a standalone book, but if you like the aesthetic I'd point you to Tithe.


So there we go! Hopefully you found some interesting new books to read in the next month or two. Like I mentioned at the top, I'll have another similar post next month about more Halloween-specific books. I'm hoping to make a trend out of themed book recs and right now my plan is to make a new post next year instead of coming back to retroactively update this one.

Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George

TL:DR Dracula but with werewolves, too

TBR #1262, added Jun 17 2015

library Kindle copy, finished 8/19/16

I got a lucky break again with the library catalog in that the ebook for Silver in the Blood didn't have a wait! In fact, I think there were two copies available when I nabbed mine. It's kind of surprising to me considering now long the hold lists can be on newer books -- but then again, I've see the hardcover copy pretty consistently on the shelves at my branch.

Which I think is a shame, because Silver in the Blood was so good. I'd downloaded a sample from Google Play and was intrigued by the aesthetic, even though it cut off before anything good could really happen. I'm not usually one for historical fiction, but dang am I on board for some more of this.

I'm going to admit right here that I waited two and a half weeks to write this review from the time I finished reading. I don't remember a lot of clear details anymore because I've finished four other books in that span of time -- a lot of this review is my lingering feelings and they're probably amplified.

(You'd think I would learn not to do this. And yet I have yet to really touch the drafts for the other four books I've finished. Forgive me.)

The premise and execution were unique, even for toeing the line of common supernatural YA tropes. It took directions I wasn't expecting (based on the tropes of the genre) and stood out wonderfully by going back to the roots of Dracula. The setting was great, too, but I'm going to admit that it looked a lot like Paris in my head instead of Romania.

(I've been to neither. I don't know if this was specifically a lack of imagery on the books' part or an abundance of Parisian imagery from other books that completely overshadowed it.)

Dacia and Lou were such great main characters. They seemed pretty standard for late 19th century girls at first, but their character arcs were amazing. I was surprised by how they changed (ha) and I appreciated that they were strong but also vulnerable. There were also some interesting dynamics with the rest of their family, and I wish we could've seen more of it.

Goodreads is telling me that Silver in the Blood is currently a standalone with a possible potential to be expanded on. I'm sooo crossing my fingers for some more of this world and these characters in the future. Like, I need it. I love the fact that it's such a great standalone but I am craving the development into a series so much.

TL:DR it's a supernatural-historical fiction YA, two genres that are normally somewhat off-putting to me, and somehow combined like this they were perfect. I need more people to discuss this book with. Please try it out.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

TL;DR blurring childhood fantasy and reality together

TBR #970, added Sept 5, 2014

finished 8/20/16

I read bits and pieces of Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales back in elementary school. It probably wasn't what I should've been reading back then (not that it ever stopped me) but what I remembered of the series stuck around with me all this time. I was actually a little hesitant about The Darkest Part of the Forest because I knew what her aesthetic tended to be, and I wasn't sure I was in the mood for it once I got my hands on the library Kindle copy. 

I took the plunge anyway and managed to knock it out in about 24 hours. It was such a compelling read and the story unfolded so wonderfully and so much more complexly than I was expecting. The mystery of the story is great and kept me intrigued, and it was woven so wonderfully and wrapped up even better than I was hoping for. 

The characters were all great and all so varied. They all had their own motivations and I loved seeing how all of them affected the progression of the story. They all felt like real people. (I'd say they all felt human, but some of them aren't, so I guess that's a bad analogy.) 

The setting and worldbuilding was great, and even though this August has been sunny and humid, I got lost in the feeling of a small town in the woods and the faerie realm. (It was a nice relief from the weather lol, even if it was all in my head.) I also liked the glimpses of how their town fit into the world as a whole almost like a Pennsylvania version of Night Vale. With a little less death and destruction. 

I would totally love to revisit this world at some point, but The Darkest Part of the Forest is also a great standalone. I'll totally jump on the chance of a sequel but I'm also going to enjoy its status as is; I feel like urban / fantasy standalones are rare and a totally under-utilized subgenre. 

TL;DR this was a great read for the end of the summer and has a good mystery aesthetic without being creepy, and the story and characters are so good. 

CWs: injuries, (probably blood, too), death, neglect, unreality, and maybe a few other things along these lines. It can get pretty dark at times. 

Google Play Samples - July / August

I didn't think I would have another one of these posts for a while, but I somehow got through a small number of them over the past two months.

I've figured out how to get e-books through my library, so I think the frequency of these posts is going to die down in the future, at least until I catch up with the available books. (The wait lists on ebooks can be 60+, which is weird, because it's not like we're all vying for a single physical copy.)

The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash, TBR #1625

Never Ever by Sara Saedi, TBR #1362

Cure for the Common Universe by Christian McKay Heidicker, TBR #1626

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson, TBR #1282

Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George, TBR #1262 ^

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, TBR #1101 ^

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, TBR #939 ^

The last three on the list were ones I placed library holds on after reading the samples, and so far I've actually read Silver in the Blood. (I totally recommend it.) I've got my copy of An Ember in the Ashes but haven't touched it yet, and I don't expect to get my hands on Red Queen until at least December ...

One thing I do have to say is that reading the sample actually put me off of Never Ever. I really like the story of Peter Pan but the narration didn't work for me and I wasn't very impressed by what was included in the sample. (Which is strange, because Google's sample is lengthier than the one on Goodreads ...) The narration felt very MG and way too young for the characters. I don't know if this was to try and feel like fairy tale/childhood story narration or if it just missed the audience mark. And maybe it's just me. Most of the first-page reviews on Goodreads are positive.

This was actually my first experience where reading the sample made me question my decision to add something to my TBR. As a general rule I don't delete books off my TBR, and I'm probably going to read it regardless if I can get my hands on it, but it was still strange for me. I guess that's the downfall of sampling books - I was bound to encounter one that didn't agree with me eventually.

I changed around my class schedule for this semester, so I won't have much down time on campus. I don't know that I'll be going through a lot of samples like I did in the spring. (Though I read most of those samples waiting for the bus, and I have my car now, so that's still a moot point.) I guess we'll see what happens.

If you guys have any opinions / experience with any of these books, let me know! I'd love to hear more thoughts about them.