REVIEW : Light by Michael Grant

"It’s been more than a year since every person over the age of fifteen disappeared from the town of Perdido Beach, California. In that time, countless battles have been fought: Battles against hunger and lies and plagues and worse, battles of good against evil, and kid against kid. Allegiances have been won, lost, betrayed, and won again; ideologies have been shattered and created anew, and the kids of the FAYZ have begun to believe that their new society is the only life they’ll ever know. But now that the Darkness has found a way to be reborn, the tenuous existence they‘ve established is likely to be shattered for good. Will the kids of Perdido Beach even survive?

Light, the sixth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Gone series (which has spanned more than 3,000 pages!) asks as many profound and provocative questions as it answers, while bestselling mastermind and author Michael Grant creates an unforgettable, arresting conclusion that readers won’t able to stop talking about."

Publish Date : April 2nd, 2013

Publisher : Katherine Tegan Books

Source : Amazon Kindle store

Format : Ebook

Synopsis and cover taken from Goodreads.

I've previously reviewed the first in this series, Gone. You can find that review here. Be forewarned that it is a bit spoiler-y.

The Gone series is one that I've loved from the very first page of the very first book. There hasn't really been a point where I've thought about not continuing with the series. Now that the series is over, I'm more than a little upset.

Light picks up soon after Fear ended. The kids inside The FAYZ are now visible to the parents, media, police, and military that are stationed outside the dome, and vice versa. Children are communicating with their parents, telling them what happened for the past year. The gaiaphage now has a body, the daughter of Diana and Caine. The kids are tired, hungry, and stretched too thin. They don't expect to escape the FAYZ alive, but aren't ready to give up yet.

I found this book more graphic than the previous five in the series, if that's even possible. I didn't think it was. According to my Kindle, I was 10% of the way through when I had to put it down to take a minute and digest. 

The characters that I've loved were all still huge players. Major characters died, ones that I've loved since book one. I think I actually teared up when two different people were killed. 

Light was a really solid ending to a really fantastic series. It didn't have a "happily ever after" ending, because this wasn't a "happily ever after" series. It was a series of death, of fighting, of pain, of anger.  I'm extremely glad Michael Grant didn't end it with something along the lines of "they all escaped the FAYZ, went back to school, and continued their lives without any problems" because it would have been unrealistic. 

I'm going to miss this series. I'm going to miss buying each book on it's release date. The FAYZ was a fresh story in the YA world, where there's a lot of the same stories repeating themselves. If you haven't read Gone yet, I suggest you do, and continue it all the way through to the end, Light.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.      

This week my WoW is Goddess by Josephine Angelini. First off, look at this BEAUTIFUL cover. I can't even stand it. This might be one of my favorite covers of 2013 so far.

The colors, the girl on the cover, all of it. So pretty.

"After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.

In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched"

Synopsis  and cover taken from Goodreads.

What's your WoW this week?

TOP TEN TUESDAY : Favorite Books I Read Before I Was a Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

"Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!"

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is "Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger".

Unfortunately, I never kept track of the books I read before I started blogging. So my list won't be the full ten, just five.

1. Obviously, number one will be the Harry Potter series. So I'll cheat a bit here and just add the whole series as one number.

2. The Hunger Games. Not necessarily the whole series, just the first book.

3. A Great and Terrible Beauty. Normally, I'm not one for historical fiction of any kind, but this book was just so good that I didn't care.

4. To Kill A Mockingbird. Probably one of the only books that I read for school that I actually enjoyed. 

5. The Giver. My very first dystopian! 

Leave the link to your Top Ten list so I can check it out!

DISCUSSION : Time Management and Blogging?

In the world we live in, people are busy. That's an understatement, and probably a pretty obvious one at that. We have families, we have work, etc. And then we have blogging on top of it, which is like a second job.

So, to be more specific to my current situation, let me give some details. I'm a full-time preschool teacher, working at least 40-45 hours a week. It's a half hour commute, which adds another hour on to my day. I have a husband who is cooking-challenged unless it's frozen pizza, so that's yet another hour a day to prep and cook dinner. Plus an hour of reading time, at least, in order to keep up with reviews and whatnot. So that's about 12 hours a day, just for the basics. If I add in some computer time, or some TV time (though it's rare), it all just adds up.

And now, I start my CDA classes today. If you don't know what that is, it stands for Child Development Associate. Luckily, it's all online so I can do it around my schedule, but it's still at least another 20+ hours a week of  commitment.

So I guess my question is, how do my fellow bloggers do it all? How do you have time to read, review, work, spend time with friends and family, and have a life? I'm trying to start queuing all my posts on Sunday, but even that is proving to be a challenge.

Any advice?

In My Mailbox/Stacking the Shelves

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

LIBRARY :

none

BOUGHT :

Oy, I definitely spent more than I wanted to.

PHYSICAL :

Due or Die by Jenn McKinlay

On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle

EBOOKS :

Light by Michael Grant - already read. MY FEELS! Will review later this week.

FOR REVIEW :

Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Accidents Happen by Louis Miller

Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton

Identity Theft by Anna Davies

Thin Space by Jody Casella

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Thank you to all publishers and Netgalley for providing me with all these amazing books to review!

Leave your links below so I can come check out your IMM/StS!

Bloggiesta March 2013!

It's here! 

So, if you don't know what Bloggiesta is, it's basically a weekend where book bloggers commit to one weekend of working on their blog. It can be a good time to catch up on reviews, update your layout, etc etc. Here's my list :

Review archive

Write/schedule 5 reviews.

Create a list of discussion posts for future reference

Add reviews to Goodreads?Netgalley if needed

Reply to ALL emails, then clean out my inbox

Create a specific blog email address (so my personal isn't so cluttered)

Comment back to people who've visited Booktacular

And that's about it. Short list, because I have 7 classes to take this weekend for work, plus a webinar (that starts in about 3 minutes) for college.

If you haven't signed up for Bloggiesta, make sure you do so here.

Have you signed up for Bloggiesta? Leave me a link to your starting post!

REVIEW : Breathless by Brigid Kemmerer

"Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic.

But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive.

His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark.

He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace"

Publish date : April 25th 2013/May 2013 - Goodreads has both dates

Publisher : Kensington Teen

Source : Netgalley

Format : E-ARC

                                                                          

Synopsis and cover taken from Goodreads.

When I was browsing Netgalley, looking for the next book to read, I saw this one and immediately requested it. Brigid Kemmerer is on my "Buy-ASAP" list, and anything she writes I will automatically get. I love her writing, and the Elemental series is one of my favorites by far.

Nick is yet another gorgeous Merrick brother. He's the twin of Gabriel, older brother to Chris, and younger brother to Michael. But he's been hiding a secret for years from his brothers, not to mention himself. In Breathless, he faces it head-on. 

It's hard to write a huge review on this, as much as I'd like to, because it was a novella. There isn't much to write about that wouldn't give too many spoilers, and I don't want to do that. So here's what I can say...

THE GOOD : One thing I really love about the Elemental series is that, despite that each book is from a different brother's point of view, the other brothers are all a crucial part of the story. That continued here, into Breathless. Gabriel, Chris, and Michael were all characters who interacted with Nick, not just remained in the background. 

I also really loved Quinn. I loved that she was hard on herself. It made her even more realistic and believable as a character. 

And then the secret. WHAT!?!?!?!? And that's all I'll say about that, except that I might love Nick just a tiny bit more than I already did. You go, Nick.

THE BAD : It was only a novella. Seriously! If Nick doesn't get a whole book to explore what happened in Breathless, I'll be so upset. I need to know!

4 shelves. If it was longer, it would be 5.