Monday, 23 September 2013

Review: The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot

The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: September 24th 2013.
My rating: 5 stars 


Heather Wells is used to having her cake and eating it too, but this time her cake just might be cooked. Her wedding cake, that is. With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather's already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather's sure things can't get worse—until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather's long-lost mother shows up. Heather has no time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. She has a wedding to pull off and a murder to solve. Instead of wedding bells, she might be hearing wedding bullets, but she's determined to bring the bad guys to justice if it's the last thing she does . . . and this time, it just might be.

The Bride Wore Size 12 is one of the reasons I love Meg Cabot so much. Her witty writing had me involved with the story from the very beginning, Meg has a great knack of making characters appear so realistic and real and she weaves the best romance and mystery in a story that you could ever ask for. When I first started the Heather Wells series I remember not being the biggest fan. Don’t get me wrong I adored the book, but I didn’t have a calendar made up and counting down the days until the next release. This didn’t happen until the third book. I was really actually feeling really gutted when it was announced that the third book would be the final book. What would I do without fun loving Heather around? But I didn’t have to despair for too long as two more books were announced and let me just say these were the best books in the series. They were actually that good that they had me rethinking my favourite series by Meg Cabot (Queen of Babble was at the top) I honestly don’t know how Meg does it, it’s like each time I come back to this fantastic series I fall in love even more with these fantastic characters all over again.

If you were expecting The Bride Wore Size 12 to be devoid from any drama with Heather’s wedding just around the corner then you couldn’t be more wrong. Heather’s entire wedding was put to the side once again for another murder investigation at Fischer Hall. Things were a lot different this time though as His Highness crown Prince Rashid Ashraf bin Zayed Faisal who preferred to be called Shiraz was also a resident of these halls. There was top level security lurking around where ever he went. And instead they had the bureau of Diplomatic security controlling the murder investigation because of threats being made to the prince!

It was great seeing the mystery behind the murder unravel slowly as the story progressed. One of the best things about this series is that not once have I ever been able to guess the true identity of the killer or his/her motive behind the killings. So it’s always a great surprise when Heather makes this discovery. Once again Heather had been warned by Cooper to not get involved in the case, but maybe it’s her mothering nature for these students (despite not having her own great role model) that Heather has always felt the need to take care of these students. And actually this time around, she actually found herself getting involved through no fault of her own.

Heather has come a long way since the Heather we were introduced to in 2005, she still finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation every single time but she has as many of her colleagues pointed out become a hardened character, which I truly appreciate. Ever since her success and fame people took too much advantage of her, but with unexpected visitors turning up in this book, Heather excelled in finally standing her ground. Heather is definitely one of the best MC’s that you could ever ask for, she’s witty, fun, always has the back of those closest to her covered and is renown to bring you a darn good time. I was actually very close to tears at having to say goodbye to such a fantastic character.

Of course The Bride wore Size 12 couldn’t be complete without the wonderful secondary characters. These characters have played such an integral role to this entire series that I don’t actually consider them to be secondary characters. They have participated in illegal activities when Heather needed them to, saved her in moments of need and have gone on to demonstrate what friends should exactly be like. Cooper as always stole a piece of my heart, if you all think you’ve met the best fictional crush then sorry ladies you haven’t met Cooper yet. Again he showed his love for Heather had no bounds, his scary threats to anyone who harmed Heather in anyway made me love him even more. Honestly his every appearance brought a huge smile to my face. And I couldn’t go without mentioning Gavin, Magda, Lisa, Julio, Detective Canavan, Hal, Pete and so many others who truly made this book a gem of a read.

The Heather Wells series has been a huge part of my life since 2005, with this series finally coming to an end it feels like the end of an era. Meg Cabot has truly created an unforgettable series which I’m sure will hold a special place in my heart and on my book shelf for a very long time.

On a side note, I don’t want to winge, but a special part of this book was actually ruined for me because somebody on Goodreads didn’t use the spoiler tags when discussing it and so it came up on my feed when I was scrolling through. I love Goodreads, but I love reading more and specially reading without being anything spoiled for me. So please in future please use spoiler tags. 



Friday, 20 September 2013

Box of Books Giveaway #3


Hello readers.  I can’t believe the summer is almost over!  I’m doing my last Box of Books Giveaway for a little while.  It's a US giveaway only.  I thought I’d share a photo of the Paris hotel library that my husband and I read in a few evenings when we visited back in March.  It was a cozy and warm place to read with the fire raging!  I want to go back!!



Our cozy reading space in Paris


Below you’ll see the photos of the books I’m giving away.  Fourteen books in total:





Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl-Hardcopy Signed
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl-Hardcopy Signed
Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl-Hardcopy Signed
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl-Hardcopy Signed
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer-Hardcopy
Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer-Hardcopy
Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer-Hardcopy
Surrender by Lee Nichols-Hardcopy
Betrayal by Lee Nichols-Hardcopy
Deception by Lee Nichols-Hardcopy
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han-Paperback
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han-Paperback
We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han-Hardcopy
 Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan-Hardcopy (signed by DL)


This giveaway is limited to US RESIDENTS ONLY.  Just fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win.  Thanks for visiting The Readers Den and good luck!
  
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Publication date: 20th August 2013.
My rating: 4 stars.


It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing. But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army. Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives. The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her.

Lately I’ve been quite lucky in picking up books which have received a lot of hype before their release dates. Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season had been promoted as the next Harry Potter and she had already signed a seven book deal even before The Bone Season had been released. As always I had my wary cap on before going into this book but after finishing this book I can safely say the faith that everyone had in Shannon in being able to deliver a stunning debut novel was fully justified. 

I did admit I did really struggle with getting into The Bone Season, I was really intrigued by the whole concept and found myself drawn to our strong MC Paige, but there was just so much to wrap my head around. I think that if I had realised in the beginning that there was a glossary at the end of the book this would have made my reading experience a whole lot easier. So it did take me until about 40% to really get into The Bone Season, but I’m glad I continued with this book because the second half was so worth it. 

The world that Shannon created in The Bone Season was just out of this world. The amount of detail she included to make this world appear so real was done wonderfully. I had no problem in imagining Paige practising with Warden in the fields, making her way through the woods or even battling her way through everything else. Some may say that Shannon added too much detail and created such a complex world, but I don’t think that this was the case at all. Without all of this intricate detail I don’t think this world would have been believable at all. 

Paige found herself in Sheol I, Oxford because of her ability as a dream walker, if there were any dream walkers around they were either pretty limited, so Nashira the blood sovereign to the rephaim was lucky to finally get her hands on one. Nashira was one of those characters who were quick to evoke feelings of anger within me. (The same could be said on Suhail and the rest of her cronies too). Every time she made an appearance all I wanted to do was to scratch her eyes out, but being the blood sovereign that she was and having five angels by her side I knew she was a truly unstoppable force to mess with. But I admired Paige’s courageousness to continue to find a way out. She was left battered and bruised so many times, but she never gave up on going back home to Citadel. What I also admired about her was that she did anything she could for her friends, even if this resulted in her getting a beating. Paige was a truly excellent character in just the first book, so I can’t wait to see how her character will strengthen and develop in the rest of the series. 

Paige’s relationship with her keeper Warden was a really complicated one. It didn’t help that Warden was such an enigmatic character, that I never realised until the very end what his real intentions were. But this rephaim definitely grew on me over the course of the book. What is it with big scary rephaim that always win you over afterwards?
Click to view spoiler!
I had an inkling of which way things would go with Warden and Paige, the way his character was slowly softening towards her, helping her out indirectly, believing in her in using her powers for herself, and so I think the way the romance developed was handled beautifully by Shannon, yes Paige did hate Warden with an intensity, but when this other side to Warden slowly began to creep its way through, I know I would have a tough time, rejecting his advances too. 

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What I also enjoyed about The Bone Season was the way Shannon gave us Paige’s back story. We were treated to small stories over the course of the book which helped us understand Paige’s character a whole lot more; how she had matured into this incredible character and why she was the way she was. It was also a great surprise in discovering in how we were getting “access” to Paige’s memories in the first place. 

The Bone Season was a brilliant start to what I believe will be a promising series. I would have loved to have the chance to get to know more about the seven seals, the glimpses we did get, were thoroughly entertaining. But I’m sure there’s plenty more to come from this fantastic bunch in the rest of the series. There’s nothing more for me left to say about this brilliant book but other than believe the hype.


Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Cover Fever #1


Hello readers! Jasprit and I love covers, so we're starting a new feature on the blog: Cover Fever.  This title will be a catch-all for any type of post we want to do that involves Book Covers: cover changes, covers from different countries, our favorite or most hated ones. This week we're featuring the a few of the covers from different countries of a book I recently read and loved: All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry. I'm picking a favorite and so is Jasprit.  Let us know your favorite and thoughts below in the comments!

         US Cover:                                      Australian Cover:



                               UK Cover:                                     German Cover:




Jasprit: Even though I haven't read this book yet, I find myself more drawn to the US cover, I like how fierce the MC looks on the cover and how they've got a sharp cut going through her mouth, it matches well with the title of the book and also what I've heard the book is about so far. Whereas the Australian cover is nice, I don't think I would ever be drawn to it if I saw it in bookstore. I'm normally disappointed with the covers that we get in the UK and I have to say that I that I don't find this one really appealing, it does seem that it would be targeted towards a younger reading audience with the cover that they've gone for. Although the German cover is really pretty and it reminds me of the autumn (my favourite season!) I think the US cover still stands out for me above the rest. 

Final Verdict: Definitely the US cover.

Rachel: I'm going to start with my least favorite first and it's a tie: The UK cover and the Australian covers just do not appeal to me at all.  The UK cover has a cartoonish feel to it, and doesn't match up with the story in my mind at all.  The story is a historical mystery/romance and the UK cover looks like a fairy tale.  I just don't like the Australian cover, which is a shock because I usually prefer their covers over all others.  It's just so drab to me.  I love the US cover! The girl looks intense, beautiful, and also a little broken which is perfect for the story.  I also love the German cover with the autumnal colors, it reminds me of the setting of the book and the girl, and dress look like they could fit in with the time period.  So I guess my favorite is a tie as well! 

Final Verdict: It's a tie between the US and German covers. 


Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Top Ten Tuesday #12: Top Ten Books on My Fall 2013 TBR List



Is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bloggers to share their lists on that topic.

Today's top ten topic is: Top Ten Books on My Fall 2013 TBR List.




Bucket list books seem to be bit of a trend lately, and I have to admit I'm really looking forward to diving into these books especially the two books above.



These three books have been in my TBR forever! And the reviews I've seen from my blogging friends has been nothing but great, so I can't wait to finally see why everyone has loved these books so much.



The Promise of Amazing and These Broken Stars have been two books that I've had my eye on for sometime, they both have such pretty covers and great premises, I have my fingers crossed that both books will be living up to my expectations.



More Raffe and Four do I even need to say anymore?



Cracked up to Be by Courtney Summers | Some Girls Areby Courtney Summers | Fall For Anything Courtney Summers

I know I kind of cheated here by listing three books, but Courtney Summers is an author whose books I've been promising to get around to forever, and with the Courtney Summers read-along I now have the perfect chance to do so.

Did any of these books make it to your Fall 2013 TBR list too? Feel free to leave a link to your Top Ten Tuesday posts and I will stop by later to check them out! 


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