Review- Pledged by Gwynneth White

Goodreads Summary:

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient curse is tearing him away. And the demons who invoked it will stop at nothing – even murder – to claim him as their own.

How can she win against a curse so binding that it has damned countless others to this same fate – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a pledge.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya and confront the curse that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

REVIEW: 

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Pledged from author Gwynneth White in exchange for an honest review. We thank Gwynneth for the book! 

Pledged, for me, was something between historical fiction and young adult. I absolutely liked how the book started with Erin and Seth meeting at the airport. It seemed more contemporary to me, at that time. But obviously, as we move ahead, there's lots of stuff happening.

Erin and Seth have to travel back in time. From there, Pledged was like a journey into the unknown. Firstly, being set in very ancient times, there were so many interesting things to learn and so much of information to keep tab on. At times, I found myself getting a wee bit confused about what was going on.

I have mixed feelings about the two arch rivals, Gideon and Reuel, who each have their own strategies and prophecies that they are both trying to bring into focus. 

Erin and Seth both have large families and many friends who they meet in their time travel as well. Basically, the whole story revolves around Erin and Seth breaking a long living curse with the help of the Pledged diamond and all Guardians and Gefallen. There were plenty of side characters in Pledged, and they were all extremely unique in their own way and are well portrayed. As a protagonist, I could easily relate to Erin. She is a nice and really cool girl. She was just great! 

As for Seth, I do feel bad for him because of all that he has had to go through and all the secrets that come flying toward him later on. But as a guy, he was practical, though a bit too 'pushing away and no attachment' types. Having said that, I think from Seth's POV, it was totally understandable. 

The Erin and Seth scenes were a lot of fun to read. 

Pledged is set up in Shenaya, Africa. It was really cool to get to know about it. 
Overall, I think Pledged was a good read. Because of the length, I did think that it was dragged, but being a fantasy novel, I guess that's how it's supposed to be. Unlike many readers out there, I'm a huge fan of cliff- hangers, and so I really liked how Pledged ended. At the same time, however, I’m sure it’ll be fascinating to know what happens next. 

RATING:

X 3

Sarika

Sweet Evil Read Along: Week 1

 

                                                               

Things which make a road trip fun are:

1. Friends:

Its pretty obvious. You want to have a fun road trip, go with your friends or family. What better way to spend time on a road trip than chatting with your best friend?

2. Music:

Good music is a must on road trips or you'll get bored out of your mind. Music which makes you feel good without making you fall asleep and which can help you enjoy your drive.

3. Books:

There's no better way spending time on your road trip if you can read your favorite books. I love it when I read a book which later reminds me of the place where I read it while travelling.

4. Chocolates:

You really don't need a reason to eat chocolates but Road Trip is a good reason as any ;)

5. Beautiful Scenery:

You can thoroughly enjoy your road trip by gazing out at the beautiful scenery and enjoying it. It'll just make you feel content and happy.

                                                   My Thoughts so far:

I wanted to read Sweet Evil just because of its pretty cover at first but then its blurb interested me too. I don't know why I hadn't picked it up before but this read along seemed like a great opportunity. The book has started out okay for me. I am not a very big fan of Anna yet but I hope as the story continues I can understand her better. We have just got teases of Kaidan till now. I really want to know more about him. I haven't read a book with the whole angel demon thing in quite some time so I'm quite eager to go ahead and see what happens. I am tempted to finish off the book.

                    Janhvi

Waiting On Wednesday #7

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

                                                 Just One Day by Gayle Forman

                                              Publication Date: January 8 2013

Goodreads Summary-

A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

I loved If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. I hope Just One Day will be just as good. It looks really amazing. What are you waiting on?

    Janhvi

Review- Phoenix by Jennifer Mason-Black

Goodreads Summary:

Would you recognize hope if you looked into its eyes?

At sixteen, Tucker has nothing but the clothes on his back, the bruises on his ribs, and the truth about what happened between him and the band teacher. He left home looking to escape his memories, but all he’s found on the road are new bad ones to take their place.

Then he meets Gabriel, a beautiful hustler, and Kelsey, a fire-obsessed girl with a head full of fairy tales. After Gabriel rescues him from a pair of drunks looking for a fight, Tucker’s happy to join him in the abandoned factory he calls home. All he must do in return is help keep Kelsey safe.

But Kelsey’s not what Tucker thinks she is, and safety isn’t what she needs from him. To help her, he’ll have to face the secret he’s been running from, and the flames she’s running to find.

It's also a cool coincidence that I read and reviewed the book just in time for the LGBT Reading Event for the month of October, hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader. 

REVIEW: 

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Phoenix from Musa Publishing in exchange for an honest review. We thank the publishing house for the book! 

I was looking forward to reading Phoenix as it is my first proper LGBT read. Plus, 'phoenix' is such a pretty word and the book has such a fiery cover! 

The three adjectives that best describe Phoenix are- complex, mature and stupefying.
Tucker, Gabriel and Kelsey have their own fears, difficulties and complexities. Their lives are intertwined which makes them a composite trio. Spark, fire, thunder are words I like to associate with the protagonists. 
I have a feeling that whatever I have to say about Phoenix isn't going to be enough. It was just that amazing!
Tucker was such a sweetheart. He faced so much of humiliation and torture that at times, I found some things a little hard to comprehend. I loved how he explained the subtle blush on his cheeks and the the slight warmth in his body when he encounters other men.
The other two characters, Kelsey and Gabriel were like a spark of fire. Though they seemed confused, it was justifiable as they were still figuring things out for themselves. Their bond was strong and simply beautiful.
Gabriel is, as the summary aptly puts, beautiful. He had a very magnetic quality that made me want to get to know him better. As for Kelsey, I can think of the phrase 'setting fire to the rain' to describe her, and yet it won't be enough. She was magical and absolutely stunning.
Phoenix portrays abuse and homosexuality. It is a complex book. It's a little hard to explain everything about it. I think Phoenix should be read for the amazing style in which it has been written. 
Phoenix is from Tucker's POV. His voice is simply astonishing. The flow of his thoughts put into words is just beautiful. I loved loved loved author Jennifer Mason-Black's style of writing! It is different, refreshing and so in tune with literature. 
Though a complicated and mature read, Phoenix pulls you right into the focal point from the moment you begin reading it. The book has an intriguing aspect to it that makes it so irresistible. 
A very short read, I wish the book was a little longer and more detailed because I would have loved to keep going with it and read more about Tucker. 

"Somehow there's always a bird singing for me when morning comes." 

- Tucker

RATING: 

X 4

 Sarika

Teaser Tuesday #7

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser:

But my heart is dead. No. Worse. My heart has been ripped out of my chest, stomped on and is rotting away somewhere for the birds to pick at. I don't know where it is. 

-Sleeping Gods (Lunangelique #2) by Kristin R. Campbell 

Goodreads Summary: 

Alexis must pick up the broken pieces of her heart and pull herself together because she has a mission: To awaken the sleeping gods. When she is at the point of giving up, wearing her pretend smiles and feels like there is nothing left of herself, her friend becomes her savior. Patryck helps put Alexis back together again and in return Alexis sees him as something more than a friend… 

Together with her brother, Alex, her father, Edmund, and a team of angels they make their way to Mount Latmos, to awaken the gods. But obstacles are in their way, one of them being Cole, the traitor, the one who shattered Alexis’ heart. 

New friends and family she never thought she would meet will come to aid Alexis.

… And a love will blossom that will redefine the saying, “Love you forever.”

If you are interested, you can read my review of Lunangelique (Lunangelique #1) here.

What's your Teaser Tuesday?

Sarika

The Literary Others: An LGBT Reading Event by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader

The Literary Others: An LGBT Reading Event is an even being hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader that will go on for the entire month of October 2012 in honor of LGBT History Month (USA).

 We (The Readdicts) are so excited to participate! We've had a couple of LGBT books on our TBR since a long time now and this event is the perfect time to lay our hands on these books. 

What is LGBT? LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. For the purposes of this event, “LGBT” works will refer to those which are written by a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender author, or to those works whose major themes/characters are LGBT-centric (Books with a gay protagonist, books dealing with homophobia, poetry by a lesbian, stories where a character is dealing with gender identity issues or changes, etc.). 

-Adam @  Roof Beam Reader

The books that Janhvi and I plan on reading for this event are: 

Phoenix by Jennifer Mason-Black

Hushed by Kelly York

Gone Gone Gone by Hannah Moskowitz

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Details of the event can be found here. 

Happy reading, everyone! :) 

Sarika

Review- Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

 Summary-

   She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….


I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.I wish... Yeah, I wish.         

Review-

I am a HUGE Gena Showalter fan. I have read and loved her Lords of the Underworld series and her Intertwined series. The last book I read by her was The Darkest Seduction way back in Feb and so I was desperately craving a Gena Showalter fix which I definitely got from Alice in Zombieland.

Alice Bell or Ali as she likes to refer to herself now, loses her whole family in a tragic accident. She now has to move in with her grandparents and go to a new High School. With all the changes happening in her life she can't get over the guilt of thinking that the accident was her fault. Combined with the fact that Zombies are stalking her every move she has no choice but to fight back and avenge her family.

Then there's Cole Holland. He's the ultimate bad boy. He's the leader of their school gang which Ali finds out kills Zombies. He's possessive and protective and stubborn and hot. Like really hot. He's moody and brooding but we find out his reasons. Ali needs his help in learning the tricks of trade to killing Zombies. Its obviously not easy seeing to the fact that Cole keeps irritating her and trying to push her away.

I loved Ali's character. After everything she's been through, she's still strong and determined and compassionate. Cole just takes the word hot to a whole new level. Cole and Ali together burn up the pages with their chemistry. Their banter was fun. I loved Kat and Frosty and the gang. The whole cast of characters just made the book that much better.

I haven't read that many Zombie books yet but Gena Showalter's take on Zombies is fresh and unique. If you like your Zombies of the authentic mindless brain eating variety you will be a little disappointed. This book was filled with action, romance, interesting characters and great dialogue. The writing was superb as always. If you're looking for a unique YA zombie book with a little bit of everything, Alice in Zombieland is definitely the book for you.

 X 4.5

                                                           Janhvi