Manga Review: Doubt by Yoshiki Tonogai

Doubt
by Yoshiki Tonogai

(Whole series review, no spoilers)

Maybe it was a bad idea to read this right before going to bed. Firstly, because I started thinking I will only read volumes 1 and 2 but then ended up reading the whole thing, and picking up the creators next series. Once you start this make sure you have all the volumes because you will need to know who the wolf is.

Okay, let me explain the game that this series is about, Doubt Rabbit. There is a group of people (the rabbits) but amongst them there is a hidden killer (the wolf). Every night the wolf will kill one of the other rabbits. Every day the rabbits will decide to kill one of their group, the one they believe is the wolf. The wolf will try to manipulate them into killing each other until he is the only left. And that's Doubt Rabbit. Kind of reminds me of Palermo, if you know the game.

Anyways, in Doubt a group of people that actually play the game online get trapped and are forced to play the game in real life. With a real killer and real victims.

I had one suspect from the very first chapter and even though I was right, this book had so many more surprises I didn't see coming. Really creepy, gave me a lot of chills and made me look under my bed. So, if you pick this one up, be prepared for a wild ride.

Showcase Sunday #53 - September 2015 Weeks #2,3,4

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

~Vicky @ Books Biscuits and Tea

Hello guys! It's been a while since I posted a book haul and as you will soon find out it was not for lack of books but mainly due to lack of time. Still I managed to get quite a few new books these past few weeks, mainly manga, since I was in a huge manga mood. So here are all my new loves.

Doubt | Judge | Blue Exorcist | Endurance | Trapped | Midkemia | Under My Skin 

The Other Life | A Question of Proof | Good Omens

Where to begin? See? I got so many books. Well, I've already read all the manga and loved them all. Doubt and Judge are complete series from a new (for me) artist so I was extra excited to read them. They are horror and really amazing, sick stuff. Other horror reads in this haul are Trapped and Endurance, I loved Kilborn's other book, Afraid, so I am looking forward to more scares. 

I finally got a copy of Good Omens, and a beautiful one at that, I've heard some amazing things about this book and I read a few pages in the Underground and all I can say so far is that the hype is real. Also read The Other Life, really good post apocalyptic book and I am currently buddy reading A Question of Proof with Vicky from Books Biscuits and Tea. I also bought another book By James Dawson, Under My Skin, I love his books so far. 

And finally, the one book that I am most excited to finally own is Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug by Raymond E. Feist. Feist's Riftwar Cycle (30+ books) was the first Epic Fantasy series I've read so I am emotionally attached to it and this is a beautiful book for all fans of Midkemia.

Book Review: Cracked (Soul Eater, #1) by Eliza Crewe

Cracked (Soul Eater, #1)
by Eliza Crewe

Meda is a bad-ass girl that eats people's souls to survive, but having a guilt conscience she only targets bad people. All her life she grew up thinking she was the only one who could do something like that but one night, when she is at an asylum in order to get her next meal, she comes across others like her, people who eat souls. But unfortunately they don't seem very friendly, on the contrary they are trying to kill her. Meda is saved by Crusaders, people that are hunting down things like Meda. The lucky part is that they thing that Meda is the good guy, a beacon that those demons were after and she gets to come along with the Crusaders in order to be protected. Meda sees that as an opportunity to finally learn what she is but she is about to find out more than she bargained for.

This book was brilliant. It had an amazing cast of characters. Chi, Jo and Meda are pretty much the perfect trio. I especially enjoyed Chi's and Jo's interaction, because they are fighting all the time but you can pretty much tell they are perfect for each other. And for once, the MC didn't really have a love interest, this book centered around the friendship she had to develop with everyone, finally letting her guard down.

This book gave me all the feels. It reminded me of great the mangas I read. It was hilarious yet profoundly deep. It made me laugh out loud and crying my eyes out. It was full of action and mystery. I don't think I could have asked for anything more, besides the second book.

Cover Reveal: The Immortals Part Two: Allies & Enemies

Book Title: The Immortals Part Two: Allies & Enemies

Genre: Fantasy 

Release Date: TBD (currently approx. late October)

Goodreads (Books 1)

Synopsis/back cover blurb:

A mortal who believes in a different god.
A spy who once betrayed an entire tribe.
Who are their allies and who are their enemies?

Ivo, Jaeger, Jadeth, and Emaranthe are tasked with locating a lost city and to find it they need a map long held by their enemies. Traitors and rebels have flocked to join the Dro-Aconi, taking sides in a war meant to end all wars. When our heroes are joined by a spy seeking redemption, and a mortal seeking his destiny, the quest becomes one of life and death, love and loss, deceit and hope. Will they find the map in time? Or will they discover enemies among allies?

Shadows & Starstone (The Immortals #1)

Goodreads

A thousand years ago the gods known as The Four created the Immortals to protect and defend their world against an invader known as the Dro-Aconi—and then vanished. Left to fend for themselves, the three races of Ein-Aral and the Immortals banded together to save the world.
Part One: Shadows and Starstone
Ivo, Jaeger, Jadeth, and Emaranthe must protect a desert village and its hoard of Starstone, a power source that can aid the Dro-Aconi’s plans for the dominion over Ein-Aral. Can the companions battle inner demons long enough to defeat legions of enemies and keep the enemy from seizing the Starstone?

Biography:
Cheryl lives in Southern California with her husband and 2 sons. Her books The Unknown Sun and The Immortals Part One: Shadows & Starstone are both young adult fantasy and available at Amazon. Part Two: Allies & Enemies will be available soon!

She has a MFA in Creative Writing and enjoys games, reading and, of course, writing. She currently has a flash fiction story published online at The Prompt Magazine.

Her favorite genres to write and read are fantasy, paranormal, science fiction, space opera, and steam punk.

Please feel free to contact/follow/engage with her on face book at www.facebook.com/writezalot, twitter @writezalot, and her website www.csmackey.com

#BookBuddyAThon TBR

Hello everyone. I am once again taking part to a read-a-thon. This one is very different than the others, since it's a buddy read-a-thon. So all you have to do is get a book buddy and then complete the challenges of this read-a-thon.

My book buddy is Vicky from Books Biscuits and Tea. And, since she will at vacation for half of the read-a-thon and neither of us reads very fast, we decided to spread out the duration of the read-a-thon to 3 weeks.

So the challenges for #BookBuddyAThon we have to:
1. Pick 3 books and let our Buddy decide which one we will read.
2. Buddy read a book
3. Read a book with your buddy's favorite color
4. Read a book your buddy gave 5 stars
5. Read a book you want to

And here is my TBR for the first 4 challenges
1. We Were Liars
2. A Question of Proof
3. Give a Boy a Gun
4. The Other Life
5. I still haven't picked a book but I am sure I will read one more in the next 3 weeks

I am looking forward to read all of them. Some of them are very different from what I usually read but that doesn't mean I can't love them. :)

Book Review: Moby Clique (Bard Academy, #3) by Cara Lockwood

Moby Clique (Bard Academy, #3)
by Cara Lockwood 

Junior year at Bard Academy is not going to be everything Miranda hoped for. This time around her little sister Lindsay is coming to Bard too. And Miranda is not so happy about that. Lindsay always tries to follow the in crowd which leads her to befriend Miranda's nemesis Parker. Also, Heathcliff is back but she is forbidden from being involved with him which seems almost impossible. Moreover, Ryan, her ex, seems to be taking an interest in her little sister which brings confusing feelings to Miranda. Before she even has time to decide what she is feeling for either boy, Bard students are starting to disappear and Miranda's sister is one of them. On a desperate attempt to save her Miranda and her friends, along with Heaftcliff, Ryan and Parker will go a trip through the forest searching for Lindsay which will lead to them uncovering yet another plot of a ghost to leave Bard.

The thing that frustrated me most about this book was that Miranda couldn't make up her mind about Ryan and Hearhcliff. I hate it when there is so much boy drama and especially when the main character can't just say 'To hell with both of them, I have a sister to save'. It made Miranda act a bit out of character from the previous books. But thankfully all that was resolved by the end and we got to experience quite a lot of pirate action.

Showcase Sunday #52 - September 2015 Week #1

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

~Vicky @ Books Biscuits and Tea

Hello guys! Welcome back to this week's book haul. I didn't expect to get so many books this week. But, as it turned out, me going to Coventry for a workshop only brought me more shopping. If you didn't know, Coventry is the home of Lady Godiva. You know, the lady that rode naked through the streets to oppose her husband (there was a Charmed episode about it, that's mainly how I know about who she was).

Anyway, back to the new books. A trip to charity shops in my old neighborhood, another one to the charity shops of Coventry and finally going to watch a movie close to a shopping center helped me obtain all the following books.

4:50 from Paddington | The Bunker Diary | The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray | The Night Stalker

Burial Rites | A Dance with Dragons Part 2 | Agent to the Stars

I am oh, so excited about every single one of them. I've already read The Bunker Diary and it was pretty intense. It really messed me up. If only there was some more at the ending it would be a 5 star read.

Book Review: The Scarlet Letterman (Bard Academy, #2) by Cara Lockwood

The Scarlet Letterman (Bard Academy, #2)
by Cara Lockwood

After 3 years had gone by I finally decided to pick up book 2 in the Bard Academy series. Sometimes when it has been such a long time I would either lose interest in the series or won't be able to easily go through the next book, because I would have forgotten a lot of details. But after reading the first few pages everything that happened in book one came back to me (with a little help from the author) and once again I found myself wondering the halls of Bard Academy.

It's the second semester that Miranda has to spend at Bard Academy but this time around she knows a lot more than she used to. For one thing, her teachers are the ghosts of classic writers that had gone to an early grave and the island where Bard is located is their purgatory. Also, characters can come out of books, like Heathcliff, who is after Miranda's heart. But not all of them are good, like Dracula who Miranda and her friends had to face on her first semester or the mysterious monster that attacks students at night.

This time around Miranda's life is very different she has a cute boyfriend, Ryan Kent, and luck seems to be looking up. Until the rumors about her and the reason she wears Ryan's letterman jacket start to spread. Having to go through that all the while trying to also find out what is attacking students and wondering if Heathcliff is ever coming back to Bard is going to keep Miranda and her friends very busy.

This was such a great read. It had everything I loved in the first book, a lot of action, some hilarious moments (Miranda and her friends are hilarious) and some literary adventures. Once again one of the ghosts has a plot to get out of purgatory and destroy the world at the same time and Miranda and the gang have to stop them. I love how since I haven't read the classics I get to learn a lot about them through this series. Also I loved how this book ended.