Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis
Hardcover, 328 pages
Published October 14th 2014 by Disney-Hyperion 

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival. 

“Brave is being scared and doing what needs to be done anyway”   

The first thing I need to say is this: people have compared this book a lot to Marissa Meyer's Cinder and while there are similarities such as the science fiction setting and a few other elements, Stitching Snow is not a rip off; it has its uniqueness and was utterly fantastic. It needs to be acknowledged that fairy tale retellings are bound to have similar themes and elements, there is no way to really escape that. 

Essie has built a life for herself on the planet Thanda, a planet of miners. However, the life Essie built for herself on Thanda does not involve mining, at least, not her mining physically herself. She is sort of a tech genius - she works on the drones in the mines and even helps repair a ship that crashes nearby. She has seven drones (get it, seven drones...Snow White retelling... ;)) all with adorably appropriate names (Dimwit being my favorite of the drones). Essie is also a kick butt heroine. To make extra cash, she fights the male miners in cage fights, and she nearly always wins. This is something I loved about Essie: she was spunky, had a mind of her own and knew how to take care of herself. She was not just some helpless damsel who let others protect her; no, she knew how to protect herself.

With the crashing ship I mentioned previously comes along Dane. I have to say, he just might be my favorite YA guy ever. He is so protective of Essie. Of course, there was some rough patches with this relationship (isn't there always?) and I cannot really go into detail about anything without giving spoilers but I will say that I feel everything that happened on both sides was justifiable given the circumstances and the hell that was breaking loose as the story went on.

Also, there was no love triangle!! I was so glad! The romance was so swoon worthy but did not detract from the main plot which was wonderful. I have a love/hate relationship with love triangles. Sometimes I am alright with them and can even see how they play an important role in the plot of a story. Though, a majority of the time I cannot stand love triangles especially when they add unnecessary drama and contribute nothing to the plot of the story. It was such a relief to not have to deal with that in this book because it would have completely ruined the story for me. Also, the romance was not insta-love, which is also a plus. 

The writing style was good and the story very fast paced. I was hooked from page one. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy tale retellings. But also, for those of you who love Cinder, just as I did, don't sit there comparing the two. There are similarities yes but Stitching Snow is its own story and is up there among my favorites whihc also includes Cinder.

5 out of 5

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Waiting on Wednesday (#22)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This meme highlights some of the books whose releases bloggers are most anticipating this year.

The book whose release I am most excited for this week is...

Damage Done

by Amanda Panitch

Expected publication: July 21st 2015 by Random House Books for Young Readers

22 minutes separate Julia Vann’s before and after.

Before: Julia had a twin brother, a boyfriend, and a best friend.

After: She has a new identity, a new hometown, and memories of those twenty-two minutes that refuse to come into focus. At least, that’s what she tells the police.

Now that she’s Lucy Black, she's able to begin again. She's even getting used to the empty bedroom where her brother should be. And her fresh start has attracted the attention of one of the hottest guys in school, a boy who will do anything to protect her. But when someone much more dangerous also takes notice, Lucy's forced to confront the dark secrets she thought were safely left behind.

One thing is clear: The damage done can never be erased. It’s only just beginning. . . .

The synopsis of this book had me very intrigued, which means it has done its job. The purpose of a synopsis is to attract readers and capture their interests and this book definitely has me curious as to what happened in those 22 minutes of Julia's life. While this is not a book I am dying to get my hands on, I will definitely pick it up if I see it on the shelf of my local library.

Waiting on Wednesday (#21)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This meme highlights some of the books whose releases bloggers are most anticipating this year.

The book whose release I am most excited for this week is...

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike #3)

by Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym), J.K. Rowling

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives. 

Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war.

I cannot express my full excitement for this book. 

We all know by now that Robert Galbraith is J. K. Rowling, no spoilers there. I much prefer this series over her novel A Casual Vacancy which was released under her real name. The Cormoran Strike series is full of mystery and suspense, which I just love! The cover is also gorgeous in my opinion.

If you haven't checked this series out by now, you should:

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Very Good Lives by J. K. Rowling

Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling
Hardcover, 80 pages 
Published April 14th 2015 by Little, Brown and Company 

In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives offers J.K. Rowling’s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life, asking the profound and provocative questions: How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?  
Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world-famous author addresses some of life’s most important issues with acuity and emotional force.

“It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.” 

Normally, the idea of spending $16 on a book this tiny that I could just read in the store in about five minutes would sound absurd to me and I would not do it, but its J. K. Rowling so of course I made an exception.

This was such a wonderful speech, and I expected as much from the queen herself. It really touched me and I can see myself reading this a hundred times over so I can justify the money spent on it.

Being in my last year of college, I fear the road ahead. It is terrifying to think about the future, of what is going to happen once I graduate especially because as an English major, I have been asked repeatedly, "What can you do with that? Are you going to teach?" The answer to the second question is no; I do not want to teach but rather be involved in the publishing world. The skepticism thrown my way has been rather disheartening, and the pressure to do something productive with my life has been building up. 

I read this speech during a time when I was beginning to seriously question and doubt everything about my life. All the fears and anxieties built up inside me were getting to be too much for me to handle. But this speech changed everything. 

Now, being a huge fan of J. K. Rowling, it may seem a tad bias to say that this speech had such a major effect on me because nearly everyone I have ever met in the book community have said that J. K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series have changed their lives, made them fall in love with reading, etc. And I am not afraid to admit, I am one of those people who says that as well. But this is not about just being a fan of an author; contrary to belief, one is not required to love every single idea that a particular author pens down. Rowling writing this speech is not what makes it special or so inspiring, it is the message she gets across.

After reading this speech, I felt better about all the things that had been causing me sleepless nights and endless worry. It gave me motivation I have been until recently been lacking, and high hopes for my future. I would recommend this to anybody; not just those who are graduating or soon to be graduating college. Its message is meant for everybody.It is beautifully written and the book itself is beautiful as well.

“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.” 

5 out of 5

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Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Published June 12th 2007
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One boy...
One dragon...
A world of adventure.


When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy as old as the Empire itself.

Overnight he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old story-teller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.

Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands.

I am glad I finally got around to reading this after years of it sitting on my shelf but I will admit I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I read it at a younger age and before I read books like A Game of Thrones.

Eragon, a fifteen-year-old boy lives in a rural/farm town in the land of Alagaesia which was once a place of glory where dragons and their riders kept peace across the land. However, he Empire is now ruled by Galbatorix who is not the man you would like ruling over you for he is cruel and only has his best interests in mind. Eragon though is more concerned with helping his family farm their and prepare for winter.

Eragon’s whole life changes when he finds, what he at first believes is a stone, a dragon egg. Suddenly, he gets swept up in a life full of adventure and danger, learning about dragons and magic, but more importantly, learning things about himself.

While the book was not bad, I found that I was not as in to it as I would have liked. I was not bored per say, but in some ways it was not hard to remember how young the author was when he wrote the novel. It is also full of all the typical clichés and reminded me a lot of other, older works of fantasy. I know lots of people say this series is a rip off of Lord of the Rings; I have yet to read the books but I have seen the movies and I can see where they are coming from. For someone his age to write something like this is still amazing, but reading it now at 21 after reading more high quality and mature fantasy, I was just like, “Ehhh.” I did not really connect with Eragon. He’s the main protagonist and clearly should be the most important character but I was more interested in other characters.

Overall, it was an okay book. Will I read the rest of the series? I am not sure. At this point, I feel like I am personally too old to properly enjoy the series, or more rather that there is just more and better books I would rather be reading. But I would recommend this to younger teens.


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Beyond Reach (True Calling #2) by Siobhan Davis

Beyond Reach by Siobhan Davis
Published April 30th 2015
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Back on Earth, Ariana is caught in a dangerous crossfire between clandestine rebel organization Clementia and the power-hungry government. Refusing to divulge the location of the secret information entrusted to her by her late father, she desperately tries to bargain for her Mom, Lily, and Cal’s rescue. She’s fighting a losing battle, and the clock is ticking.

Presented with evidence of her fiancé Cal’s apparent betrayal, she loyally defends him despite her concerns. With her emotions in turmoil, matters become even more complicated as she grows closer to her ex-boyfriend Zane.

When the stakes are raised, a succession of shocking revelations rocks her world, setting her on a path that will not only change her destiny but the fate of humanity.

Confronted by a memory so abhorrent comes a truth she would do anything to forget.

But some things just can’t be undone.

“Everything changed the moment I found you. I changed.”

It’s been so long since I’ve been this emotionally invested in a book/series. I cannot wait for the next book especially because that ending…cliff hanger!

I had thought the first book True Calling was pretty great, Beyond Reach was even more amazing. I would first like to thank NetGalley for approving me to receive this ebook ahead of its release, and would also like to thank the author Siobhan Davis herself for being in contact with me.

One of the things I really love about this series is the characters. It is impossible not to feel the pain, love and longing radiating from Zane. He continues to protect Ari and care for her even when it pains him to do so, even when he knows his feelings for her may be unrequited. Ari herself is just a jumble of emotions: she loves Cal, but at the same time, she cannot deny the feelings stirring inside her whenever she is with Zane; she may not remember being in love with Zane before her move to Nova, but the connection they had is still there even if the memories are not. Cal…I have always been a bit skeptical about him. Sometimes I like him, other times not-so-much. This is why I never like love triangles; I almost feel like I am the one caught in the middle of the two, trying to decide which guy I want to be with – its too much for a girl to handle, especially Ari who has other things she needs to deal with. However, Davis makes the love triangle work in this series. In other series, it feels as though love triangles are just thrown in for the heck of it, not really there to serve any real purpose to the plot but Davis does not do that, and that is really quite refreshing.

I could talk about this book/series forever; I have grown so attached to the characters and their story but if I were to keep talking, I would probably end up spoiling something which I really do not want to do. This second installment is fast-paced and heart wrenching. It is full of so many twists and turns, some you may see coming but also others that are like a huge slap in the face, completely unexpected. The world building was fantastic and I loved how we got to see more of what was happening down on Earth.

The only complaint I have is the ending – the huge, massive cliff hanger. I complain because I am dying to know what happens next and the thought of waiting for the next book is dreadful. However, it was a perfect place to stop because there’s no way someone can read that ending and decide, “I don’t want to read the next book.” This series has a little bit of everything and I highly recommend it.

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