Christmas Book Haul

Happy New Year to you lovely folk. We are well into 2015 and I still haven’t posted a Christmas book haul. I got a lot of books both given to me and purchased by me so I wanted to share my nerdy excitement here!

1.       Scarlet and Cress by Marissa Meyer

My sister heard me cry out and came running to my room, asking me what was wrong. I said, “Cinder finished. And I don’t’ have the second one.” She bought me both sequels. My sister is the greatest. (Read my Cinder book review here.)

2.       I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Sometimes the world is horrid. I am saving this book for when I need to know how to survive human cruelty. Malala is a young woman standing up against the Taliban by going to school and speaking out on behalf of oppressed young women. At 17, she is possibly the greatest human alive with a Nobel Peace Prize under her belt and a survivor of brutal gun attacks. I already know this is going to be a massive book for me particularly as feminist literature.

4.       Landline by Rainbow Rowell

If you haven’t yet picked up a Rainbow Rowell book I really don’t know what you’re doing. I am seriously excited to start this one. This author has taken the young adult and adult contemporary genre by storm, particularly in 2014. Her novel Eleanor and Park remains my favourite youth fiction romance ever. Fangirl –omg Fangirl-  is incredible. Go read Rainbow Rowell.

5.       Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

A fantastic new addition to my bookshelf (one that I bought myself) in the form of a teen urban fantasy-suspense. I remember reading Westerfeld’s Uglies series in my early teens and being enchanted by his world-building and plot driven storyline. This is one book to watch.

6.       Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

I purchased this by suggestion of a friend who promised me a mighty heroine and a premise which would blow my mind. I’m hesitantly excited but I trust Richelle Mead – author of Bloodlines which I love - with my fragile fangirl life. I am always excited to start new series.

As always, you can follow the links of the books you like the sound of to Goodreads. Now the only question is: where to begin? Ciao.

Cinder by Marrissa Meyer - Book Review

Status: Have already purchased books two and three.
Rating: 7/5 stars.

I haven't had a book completely blow me away like this since The Fifth Wave or The Hunger Games. I went into this thinking it was a retelling of Cinderella and boy was I wrong. I was hooked from the first page. We are immediately introduced to a mechanic who has just detached her own foot. This is not your classic Cinderella. This is Cinder.

Cinder is a mechanic girl adopted by a horrible stepmother and living in New Beijing. She is first approached by Prince Kai to fix his personal android which contains important information not available on the imperial internet. Just a normal boy meets girl scenario. Except that Cinder is cyborg, 36% machine and a servant to society at large. She is volunteered by her stepmother to become a vaccine tester for medical research undertaken to cure the plague spreading to the Commonwealth. What follows is an epic adventure through a new world, government system and some bad ass  non-Disney princesses.

The novel was heavily reliant on dialogue to keep a fast pace. Not many witty one-liners but certainly lots of chemistry with Prince Kai and Iko. And the pace was what made this book for me. I was never bored and was always ready for the next mystery to present itself.

In short I ate this book up. I reveled in its creative homage to the classic fairytale and the fantastic twists and turns I never saw coming. The world-building was truly amazing and akin to the dystopian worlds I hope I can build for my stories in future. This is one series to keep on your YA fiction horizons.

Favourite quote: 
It was not her fault he had liked her. 
I was not her fault she was cyborg.
She would not apologize.