Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My TBR List for Summer 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Broke and Bookish.  Each week, a new list topic is posted, and book bloggers fill in their choices.  This week's topic is "Top Ten Books on My TBR List for Summer 2013."

I split my list up - the first half are books releasing this summer, and the second half are books I own and plan on reading this summer.

1. Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout.  Need.  This.  Now.  'Nough said.

2. The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson.  So sad that one of my favorite series is ending, but super excited to read it!

3. Deception by C. J. Redwine.  Loved the first book, Defiance, and can't wait for this!

4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.  I wasn't able to get my hands on an ARC, but other bloggers have been saying it's an amazing sequel!

5. A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris.  Eep, I love Rachel Harris!  Her books are adorable and I can't wait for this one!

6. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.  This has been sitting on my bookshelf for ages, and I recently read and loved Bray's The Diviners, so I need to check this one out soon.

7. Mind Games by Kiersten White.  I'm a big fan of Kiersten White, and I just downloaded this on my Kindle, so I need to read it soon!

8. Eve by Anna Carey.  I've had this for ages but just never got around to it.

9. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris.  This is on my Kindle and I've been wanting to read it for a while.

10. Touch of Death by Kelly Hashaway.  Another Kindle book I want to read soon (can you tell I'm trying to read all my e-books this summer? lol).

What's on your summer TBR list?

~ The Bookworm

Recent Cover Reveals!

There have been so many awesome cover reveals lately, I decided to whip up a quick post with some of my favorites! :)

- Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano releases October 1, 2013

- Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Sherpherd releases January 14, 2014

- Evertrue by Brodi Ashton releases January 21, 2014

- Perfect Lies by Kiersten White releases February 18, 2014



Which of these books are you excited for?  I'm especially looking forward to Perfect Ruin!

~ The Bookworm

Book Review: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Goodreads summary:

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel.

My review:

Mila 2.0 has an awesome premise and is, in actuality, merely an okay-ish book.  The beginning is terrible, but once the action starts, the story gets a lot more exciting. 

First off, why is it nearly 500 pages long?  You could've chopped off a quarter or a third of the story and it would've flowed a lot better.  I think the first 150 pages should have been shortened - that's what I really had trouble with.  It starts off with lots of clichés: Mila and her mom have recently moved to a new town, Mila has a very overdramatic and irritating best friend, and Mila immediately falls in love with this cute new guy at school.

UGH.  What annoys me most about this is the fact that, in these first 100-ish pages, the story is set up so that you think it's along the lines of a contemporary, and that characters like her best friend, Kaylee, and the love interest, Hunter, are going to have an important role in the story.  But instead, Mila and her mom have to escape some bad guys and spend the rest of the novel on the run.  So what was the point of all those pages about school, friends, etc., when it has nothing to do with the rest of the story?

So yeah, I was a little disappointed that the action doesn't begin until a third into the book.  Yup, the first action scene in this "thriller" actually takes place after 150 boring pages of drama.  I don't think this book really qualifies as a thriller.



Thankfully, the story does pick up after the first third.  Like I said in the beginning, once the action starts, the pacing improves, there's more sci-fi type stuff and fight scenes, and it finally starts feeling like an action book.  So yes, there are eventually some fun twists and action. 

And we get some characters, like Lucas, who are actually interesting and not stereotypical(*coughcough* like Kaylee).  And I do like the relationship between Mila and her mom.  My only other issue is that I found Mila to be a little too bland and hard to connect with at times.  Sure, I was entertained by the fun action scenes in the second half, but I was never really rooting for Mila.

This would be a totally negative review if not for the second half of Mila 2.0, which I do think is a LOT better than the beginning.  That's enough for me to bump up the rating a little.  Still, I'm probably not interested in reading the sequel, unless the reviews for it are really good.

My rating:  2.5 out of 5 stars

~ The Bookworm

Book Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

Goodreads summary:

There are worse things than death, worse people too

The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.

My review:

What a fun read!  I thoroughly enjoyed Persephone.  While a lot of books based on Greek mythology can be melodramatic and/or depressing, Persephone is instead a lighthearted, refreshing take on the classic myth.  It reminded me a bit of the Percy Jackson books at times!

The main character Persephone is a great narrator.  She has a very real voice and is just your ordinary teenager...until she finds out she's a goddess!  I enjoyed watching her discover that she's a goddess, and I also thought her reaction to this news was really fitting and realistic.  It's easy to feel sympathetic to her and get caught up in her story.

I also liked Hades's character.  He's different than the typical Hades in Greek mythology stories; he's not as moody or prone to getting angry, as in some books I've read.  Instead, he's a lot more understanding and kinder than I'd expected.  I really liked this!  It made him stick out as a character - he was a great cross between a powerful god and a sweet guy.

And yay, there's no insta-love!  The romance develops at a longer pace, and I liked the way Hades and Persephone's relationship grew over time.  The plot is fast-paced and has many fun twists and turns.  The ending was especially exciting - lots of action scenes!

Persepone was an interesting read that I'd definitely recommend to fans of Greek mythology!

* I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.  Thanks!

My rating:  7 out of 10, or 3.5 stars

~ The Bookworm

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best Beach Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Broke and Bookish.  Each week, a new list topic is posted, and book bloggers fill in their choices.  This week's topic is "Top Ten Best Beach Reads."

My Top Ten:

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.  This is contemporary at its finest.  The perfect fluffy read for a day at the beach.

2. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks.  This is a great lighthearted summer read, plus a good deal of the book takes place at the ocean!

3. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler.  A thought-provoking story you won't be able to put down.

4. The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller.  Filled to the brim with humor and adorableness.  It's a fun, quick read.

5. My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris.  This is a delightful time travel story with a funny main character and swoon-worthy romance.

6. Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt.  This book alternates between hysterical and heartfelt moments, and it's just such a fun read.

7. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick.  The ideal summer read.  Really, I can't recommend it enough.  It's short, sweet, and packed with emotion.

8. Auracle by Gina Rosati.  This is a paranormal book, but it's a great beach read because it's super fast-paced, has a contemporary feel to it, and has lots of fluffy humor in it.

9. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard.  I'm actually bringing this with me to reread when we go to the beach in a few months; that's how good it is.  It's about a girl traveling the world and discovering herself.  So, so good.

10. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.  Like Auracle, this is a paranormal story, but it has so many laugh-out-loud moments and is really lighthearted and cute.

What books are on your TTT this week?  Comment with a link to your blog. :)

~ The Bookworm

Book Review: Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Goodreads summary:

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

My review:

My word, these books are so amazingly good.  Brigid Kemmerer never fails to disappoint, and Spirit is every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped it would be.  From the fast-paced plots, stellar writing, hilarious dialogue, and great character development, this series really sticks out from other paranormal books.

Hunter is such a great main character.  I mean, wow.  I never liked him in the previous books, but with Spirit, Brigid has managed to turn him into a sympathetic character that I grew to love.  I'm just blown away by her amazing talent to make you feel for these characters and root for them.  Hunter suffers a lot in this book, and I can't even count the number of times my heart broke for him. 

Of course, the rest of the characters are every bit as good.  It's interesting getting to see the Merrick brothers through Hunter's eyes.  I ended up loving Michael Merrick, in particular, even more in this book.  He's just such a support and a real friend for Hunter when he needs one.  And Kate?  She was awesome!  I didn't love her as much as, say, Becca or Layne, but she was still great.  I love how she and Hunter would text each other so much.  I know it sounds like it'd be annoying, but it was actually a quirk that made their relationship so cute and real.

I suppose the romance could be considered insta-love, but just like in the previous book Spark, it's written in such a way that it seems realistic rather than cheesy.  I'm so impressed with the way Brigid writes romance, she's seriously good at writing relationships.  And then there's the plot, which has so many surprising twists that I could barely keep up!  There was always something big happening, be it an action scene or character development.  I loved it.

Needless to say, I adored Spirit and can't wait to read more books in this series!  (Why does Michael's story have to be the last?  I need it nowww!)  If you haven't read this series yet, I highly recommend it!  There's so many great characters and exciting plots.  Amazing!

My rating:  9 out of 10, or 4.5 stars

~ The Bookworm

Stacking the Shelves (1)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. 

Here's my haul!  I know the picture is like, majorly crappy, but oh well:

Books I bought:
- Of Triton by Anna Banks
- Asunder by Jodi Meadows
- Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Books I got from the library:
- Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza
- The Archived by Victoria Schwab
- Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
- Doomed by Tracy Deebs
- Chasing Jupiter by Rachel Coker
- Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I've actually already read the top three, all of which are ones I bought.  I can't wait to dive into all my new library books, though.  They're all books I've been dying to read for ages!

What new books have you gotten?  Leave a link to your stacks in the comments!

~ The Bookworm