Stacking the Shelves (#37) & Recap

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

So, how was everybody's week? I had four surprise packages this week, which I'll leave until next weeks Physical StS, because Harper Collins strikes again (I have no self control), and Once Upon A Time happened. I. Am. Addicted. And it's all Elizabeth's fault.


For Review
Edelweiss:

,Don't Touch, Poisoned Apples,  Feral, Kiss of Broken Glass
 The Dolls (YESSS!) and Rites of Passage
(Thanks to HarperTeen, Greenwillow Books, Balzer & Bray
and Edelweiss)

Review: Dear Killer

Dear Killer
Author: Katherine Ewell

Publication Date:  April 1st 2014        
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

~An advance readers copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 

 

 

 

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Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

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Disclaimer: I always try to write a spoiler free review. In this case it's impossible to talk about it without some spoilers. Major spoilers and theories themselves, you have fair warning and are covered.

Dear Killer, where to I even start? Freaking hell. My head hurts.

I'll start by saying not everyone will love his book, i don't even know if I do love it, it's unethical, immoral and pushes a dozen of boundaries,  and most of the conversations seemed awkward and sometimes  unrealistic, but to put it simply.

It's fascinating.

Waiting on Wednesday (#37)

 "Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell
 

Expected publication: October 8th 2014 by Flux

 

 

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Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But try as she might, she can’t come up with a logical explanation for the recurring dreams that have always haunted her. Dark dreams. Dreams of a long-ago place filled with people she shouldn’t know…but does.

When her family moves to a New Orleans plantation, Lucy’s dreams become more intense, and her search for answers draws her reluctantly into the old city’s world of Voodoo and mysticism. There, Lucy finds Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. Lucy knows Alex is hiding something, and her rational side doesn’t want to be drawn to him. But she is.

As she tries to uncover Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home, and Lucy finds herself ensnared in a century-old vendetta. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her dreams before it all comes to a deadly finish.
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And I'm back with the voodoo.

What're you waiting on? :)

Review: Always Emily

Always Emily
Author: Michaela MacColl

Publication Date:  April 8th 2014        
~A copy was provided by Chronicle Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review~

 

 

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Emily and Charlotte Brontë are about as opposite as two sisters can be. Charlotte is practical and cautious; Emily is headstrong and imaginative. But they do have one thing in common: a love of writing. This shared passion will lead them to be two of the first published female novelists and authors of several enduring works of classic literature.

But they’re not there yet.

First, they have to figure out if there is a connection between a string of local burglaries, rumors that a neighbor’s death may not have been accidental, and the appearance on the moors of a mysterious and handsome stranger. The girls have a lot of knots to untangle—before someone else gets killed.


 

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• I confess, this is more of a mini-review.

I love Historical fiction, but it's one I always have to concentrate harder on than any other genre,  but Always Emily was different, though it had the feel and context of an historian. That could either be the way it was written or perceived, or mainly because of our MC's are not your traditional brand you'd expect from that century.  Emily's more headstrong and unconventional in what she wants, while Charlottes more diligent and conservative, but they both have one thing in common.

Review: Echo Boy

Echo Boy
Author: Matt Haig

Publication Date:  March 27th 2014
~A copy was provided by Random House Childrens via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

 

 

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Audrey's father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters.

Daniel is an echo - but he's not like the others. He feels a connection with Audrey; a feeling Daniel knows he was never designed to have, and cannot explain. And when Audrey is placed in terrible danger, he's determined to save her.

THE ECHO BOY is a powerful story about love, loss and what makes us truly human.



 

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Echo Boy was a complete surprise, but forget The Walking Dead, try my Walking Nightmare. It scared the crap out of me.

Have you seen Surrogates? If you have, I feel sorry for you, I mean, I feel sorry for myself. You haven't? Don't bother. Just read this, it's much better. It's not the same thing, since the "Echo's" are not you hooked up to a machine and mind controlling the robot body, and more Echo's are actual robots, created, made, signed, sealed and delivered all round technically human like advanced robots, but they are machines and nothing more.

Review: This Wicked Game

This Wicked Game
Author: Michelle Zink

Publication Date: November 14th 2013      
Publisher: Dial         

 

 

 



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Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.

The voodoo business.

Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.

She doesn’t believe.

Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans – and voodoo – when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.

But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo – and the families that make up the Guild – than meets the eye.

Including her own.

As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy – and the disbelief that may very well kill her.

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*Some spoilers ahead, since it's impossible to explain without them.

I can't believe I'm saying this but this wasn't good. I know,  it's about Voodoo, and darkness and curses and voodoo dolls and all those wonderful stuff that is just right up my alley. I love reading about it. And since it's set in New Orleans, the same as Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton, that though is more Greek Mythology than Voodoo, it's kind of a mixed one that I loved. I so wanted to love this one just the same...and didn't.