Showcase Sunday #54

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 month since my last SS post, so as expected a lot has happened since then. The most exciting being I got to visit the HarperCollinsUK HQ for an author event (thank you Vicky for inviting me). Their offices are amazing. They even have a whole made out of actual books!

See? I was joking. Those are actual books. I need this wall in my future home. Anyways,back to the books that I got this last month,

A Meditation on Murder | The Killing of Polly Carter | Pretty Baby | The Good Girl 

Behind Closed Doors | You | The Black Company | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 

Night World Vol.1 | Before I Go to Sleep | The Monogram Murders | The Girl on the Train | The Beast House Trilogy

I got A Meditation on Murder | The Killing of Polly Carter | Pretty Baby | The Good Girl  | Behind Closed Doors from the HarperCollins event. We also got to meet the authors who were all really nice and some of them really funny, and got our books signed. I exchanged a book I had and didn't enjoy for You at a lovely coffee shop. And of course I had to get the new, illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and also bought The Black Company for an upcoming readalong that I am so excited about. 

The rest of the books I bought out of a charity shop. They are all books I've been curious about for a while now.

Another, and maybe the most excited, thing I acquired this last month is the new Kindle Fire.

I only had the old Kindle 3 so far, with the keyboard and all, and I will probably use that for most of my ebook reading. But I really wanted a tablet like kindle and this was perfect. I love it. 

That was it for me. Did you buy any new books this week/month/etc? 

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon: Hour 24 Update: Closing Survey

So after 24 hours the read-a-thon is over. I didn't do a huge amount of reading, especially since I slept for 9 hours. But also I was not in a very reading mood. Still I managed to get through some things I wanted to. Now it's time for the Closing Survey

Which hour was most daunting for you?

None, it was a very relaxed read-a-thon for me.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

Manga are usually the ones that keep me reading. Any kind of manga.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Nope.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

I really enjoyed the challenges.

How many books did you read?

Two and a half.

What were the names of the books you read?

Which book did you enjoy most?

All of them are great.

Which did you enjoy least?

None

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

-

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

I will surely participate again, Hopefully I would be in a better reading mood. And of course I will be a Reader.

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon: Hour 10 Update

Hello everyone. If like me you are participating in today's 24 hour read-a-thon, then congrats! You made it to hour ten (Hopefully). Truth be told I don't feel much like reading today, so I mainly watched tv series and just used the read-a-thon as an excuse to get snacks and devour them. But I did some reading! So here is what I've read so far.

So far I finished these two beauties. I know they don't seem like much (they are barely 25 pages each, and mostly illustrations). These are two bilingual books in English and Korean. I started learning Korean a couple of weeks ago, but I already felt the need to practise my reading skills more. So getting to these two was really exciting. I loved them both and I am looking forward to my next bilingual read. 

I am currently reading Trapped. I started this one before the read-a-thon and so far I only read like 40 pages of it, but I am loving it. It is the perfect horror read. I don't see me finishing it by the end of the read-a-thon. Hopefully I can read 70 more pages until it is over.

Dewey's 24 Hour RaT: Introductory Meme

Less than an hour before the Dewey's 24h read-a-thon begins. Even though I know I won't be able to participate all 24 hours I am going to do my best. But before I start reading here is the introductory meme.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

London

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Trapped by Jack Kilborn. It's the one I am currently reading and I can't wait to finish it.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

All of them. Chocolates, Chinese appetizers, etc. I am fully prepared for this read-a-thon

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

Hmmm... I am a PhD student at Queen Mary university, here in London. But I've only moved in the UK last August. I am originally from Greece. Also, I have no idea what I want to do with my life, or late me rephrase that, I have too many ideas about what I want to do so it's hard to focus on one. Finally, another random fact, I recently started Korean, because I fell in love with K-pop.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I would probably not stress it that much. Any time spent reading is time spent well but I don't want to force myself to read. I will probably watch TV series and do some Korean homework during these 24hours. 

Book Review: The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers, #1) by David Estes

The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers, #1)
by David Estes

The Moon Dwellers is the explosive start to the Dwellers Series. This story takes place in a world where everyone lives underground. The closer you are to the surface the better your life. So we have the Sun Dwellers, the Moon Dwellers and the Star Dwellers. The Sun Dwellers are the rulers while everyone else is pretty much their slaves.

In this book we follow Adele, a Moon Dwellers that has been sentenced to life in prison for the crime of her parents' treason. While in jail she meets a couple of people and together they will try to escape and get her little sister back.

In the mean time this book also has the PoV of Tristan, the son of the President and obviously a Sun Dweller. In one of his trips in the Moon realm he sees a girl prisoner (Adele) and feels a mysterious, agonizing pain (did I forget to mention she does too? well she does). After that he will do anything to find her again, but with Adele's escape and everyone on the realms being after her it would become harder and harder to meet his mysterious girl once more and get some answers.

What I mainly loved about this book is the world building, Estes did an amazing job working out all the little details for the three realms and their residents. I also fell in love with Tristan, he is amazing, especially for being the President's son. Finally the action and mystery. This book is filled with fight scenes, running for your life moments and a lot more. There is also the great mystery behind Tristan's and Adele's connection. All in all a good old WTF is going on.

My only issue was the insta-love, or better yet insta-obsession. Because of the mysterious pain they felt when they first locked eyes both MCs became obsessed with each other (maybe I would too), but when they do finally meet they are suddenly suppose to have this insta-connection that I didn't really feel, it was mostly forced on us. But other than that this book, and hopefully the rest of the series, is kick-ass. If you are into Dystopian this is the book for you.

P.S. I listened to this one in audiobook and it was amazing. Both narrators were awesome. Definitely worth it.

Book Review: The Faerie Guardian (Creepy Hollow, #1) by Rachel Morgan

The Faerie Guardian (Creepy Hollow, #1)
by Rachel Morgan

This is the first book in the Creepy Hollow series. It is also the introduction of the main character, Violet, of the first trilogy. Violet is a Fae guardian in training and in her last mission she finds a human boy,Nate, that can actually see her and to top that he somehow manages to come with her to the Fae world where no humans are allowed. After that a crazy adventure begins, saving kids, discovering Nate's past and Violets own history in the Fae world are only part of it.

When I think of this book one thing comes to mind: non-stop action. Vi gets into so many adventures/troubles and has to fight her way through them. She is so kick-ass, I truly found her the perfect MC. Also, I fell in love with Ryn, her nemesis, he started out as a simple-minded jackass but ended up being my favourite character of the book.

My only issue was with Nate, Vi's love interest. I found his character a bit simple. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what Vi saw in him, especially since she was pretty awesome herself. I hope we get to see more of him in the future and maybe see another side to his character because so far he's been a bit one dimensional.

So, if you are up for a wild Fae ride, with a lot of magic and crazy situations, like a labyrinth and a Masquerade ball you are in for a treat. Also, I listened to the audiobook for this one and it was great, the narrator did an amazing job.

Book Review: Say Her Name by James Dawson

Say Her Name
by James Dawson

Say Her Name is the story of Bloody Mary, or better yet what happens when you call her. In the boarding school were Bobbie and Naya go to, the legend of Bloody Mary comes to life when, in a Halloween dare, they decide to say her name, along with a local boy. What follows is pure mayhem as they realize that Bloody Mary is actually a real ghost that will come for their lives after five days. In the mean time they all experience parts of Mary's lives. Seeing glimpses of her life, Bobbie decides that Mary is a ghost that wants her side of the story heard and probably her very own killer punished. So Bobbie and the other two embark on a mystery solving journey to figure out what happened to Mary and who killed her. All the while trying to avoid the ghost that wants to claim their lives.

I loved this book. It had pretty much everything I love in good horror stories. A terrifying ghost, with a mysterious past, funny moments, and a lot of running around to save your life, and a dash of romance in the mix. I really enjoyed putting all the pieces of Mary's past together.

As I've said before for me horror books don't need to have great characters or character development, if the horror part itself is good. So don't expect any memorable characters in this one, but do expect a fear of mirrors and any reflective surface.

Book Review: The Other Life (The Other Life, #1) by Susanne Winnacker

The Other Life (The Other Life, #1)
by Susanne Winnacker

Sherry and her family are in the middle of an apocalypse. For the past 3 years they've been living looked inside their bunker. But food has finally ran out and they have they have to come face to face with the new world, a world were a rabies virus has turned people to beasts (close to zombies). Sherry and her father decide to go out for a food run and they end up been attack by a bunch of Weepers, the infected humans. Sherry's father gets abducted and Sherry is saved by a mysterious guy with a gun a Lincoln, Joshua.

Almost ever since the rabies, Joshua has been living with a group of other survivors in a house called Safe-haven, where they have animals and a vegetable garden. To Sherry is seems like paradise but she still can't get the thoughts of her father out of her mind. So, Joshua and her leave Safe-haven on a crazy hunt for her father.

I really enjoyed this story. It was filled with action, as a good apocalypse story should be, also there were some cute moments between Joshua and Sherry that were adorable and didn't really draw my attention from the main story. The Weepers were very creepy at times and kept my heart racing. I think I wouldn't have made it a day in that world. Also the ending was great. I am so curious to see what will follow.

My only issue was that since being a fan of Winnacker's other series, Variants, I expected more of the characters. Because let me tell you Tessa from Variants is one of my favourite female characters ever. Otherwise this is a great thriller, post apocalyptic book.

Manga Review: Judge by Yoshiki Tonogai

Judge
by Yoshiki Tonogai
(Review for whole series, no spoilers)

The first three or so volumes were a bit slower from what I am used to with Tonogai's stories but once the revelations started there was no stopping.

Judge is a game of judgement (dah!). For Judge 9 players are abducted, each one has one of the 7 deadly sins to be judged for. Every 12 hours they have to vote for the one of them that will be killed. Simple, right? NO!

When 9 strangers are put together in an abandoned house (or whatever that thing was) and the rules of the game are laid in front of them everyone will do pretty much anything to survive. From fights to plotting devious plans and alliances, only four can make it out alive.

Judge was a very sick and twisted game, so of course I loved it. The beginning was a bit slower. There were a lot of arguments about how they should vote. They players never really did what the game master was asking them, which was to judge the sins of the other players. They never really talked about what each ones sin was and we only got see a few of their stories as flashbacks.

And as the story progressed and people started dropping dead it seemed like they might get what was promised to them but then there were like million twists and things went downhill pretty fast for our remaining players. I loved how things progressed, it only made sense that I couldn't tell who was the bad guy in this one. But I am proud of my mystery solving skills that I had the right suspect (almost) by volume 3.

If you are into manga and fast paced thrillers, sick stories and horror this is definitely one you should read.