Book Review: Oath of Servitude

Goodreads summary:

This is the story of Teague and Cailin, two teenagers who have been brought together by fate. Teague, a human, struggles to come to terms with the consequences of a recent accident that has destroyed the happy life that he had once enjoyed. Cailin, a pixi, is trying to stay true to herself while fighting against forces beyond her control that have exiled her from her home into this strange world of humans. She fears the darkness. He cannot escape it. But when the two of them are thrown together, they begin to discover the light inside of themselves.

My review:

I enjoyed this unique tale about pixies.  It's so interesting and really drew me in.  Definitely a fun, original read!

The characters are all likeable and easy to sympathize with.  I felt sorry for Cailin, being away from her family and having to adjust to a new life living with humans.  And while I didn't like Teague right away, he turned into a wonderful character that I found myself rooting for.  I think he had the most character growth in the story, and I ended up really liking him.  I also liked the character of Owen (Teague's dad) and the role he played in the story.

I liked the plot a lot too.  I love the idea of a pixi living with humans, and both Teague and Cailin's struggles felt realistic.  A good portion of the story is spent on Teague and Cailin, as they slowly become friends.  Personally, I liked that the plot was more character-based, rather than full of action.  Although, there are certainly some exciting, tense scenes towards the last quarter of the book.

The only thing I didn't like was that, at times, I would get some of the minor pixi characters confused.  They were all a bit hard to remember at first.  Also, this book could use some editing.  There are a few instances where the phrasing sounds odd, and I spotted some places where proper punctuation or capitalization was needed.

But aside from that, this was an enjoyable read.  If you're looking for a fresh urban fantasy read, try Oath of Servitude!

* I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 7 out of 10 (3.5 stars)

~ The Bookworm

Waiting on Wednesday: Let the Sky Fall

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to read!

My pick is Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

Goodreads summary:

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this “charged and romantic” (Becca Fitzpatrick), lush novel.

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

My thoughts:

Please excuse me while I go drool over that cover.

Seriously.  I know I always freak out over covers that are gorgeous, but this cover is just so pretty!  And I am the only one who gets Adele's song "Skyfall" running through my head every single time I see this book?

Anyway, this book sounds so unique and original.  Plus, it's about sylphs!  How cool is that?  This sounds like an amazing story and I can't wait for March 5 to come so I can go get a copy and devour it.

Please leave links to your WoWs in the comments so I can go check them out!  Thanks for stopping by!

~ The Bookworm

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever

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 Most Frustrating Characters Ever."

My Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters:

1. Luce from the Fallen series.  Ooh, I just wanted to strangle her sometimes.  I thought she was an immature, annoying character and I seriously couldn't stand her.

2. Nora from the Hush, Hush series.  She made some incredibly stupid, naive decisions and was a total wimp.  I got so mad at her!

3. Simon from the Mortal Instruments series.  Okay, the Mortal Instruments is one of my favorite series ever, but Simon is the one character from that series that I've always disliked.  I always thought he was a wimp.  Guess he just doesn't compare to Jace. :P

4. Ever from the Immortals series.  I only read the first book in this series because I just couldn't make myself continue.  I thought Ever was a terrible role model and a flat, uninteresting character.

5. Bethany from Halo.  She was so naive!  I couldn't stand reading about her.

6. Ember from Article 5.  She whined so much.  I detest characters who constantly whine about their life; it just makes me want to shake them!

7. Skye from A Beautiful Dark series.  Eh.  She was a very meh character and I couldn't bring myself to care about her.  I got annoyed with how she was so indecisive and couldn't decide which guy to like.

8. Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty.  I liked Belly okay later on in the series, but she was just a terrible character in the first book!  She was super immature and kept whining and complaining nonstop.

9. A from Every Day.  I was unbelievably frustrated with this character.  Everyone else seemed to love this book, but A just struck me as self-absorbed and irritating.

10. Ethan from Beautiful Creatures.  This book was just very okay-ish.  I liked some of the characters, but I thought Ethan was totally unrealistic.  He didn't act at all like a guy should act...he was so wimpy.

Wow, it actually felt really good to vent about these characters, lol.  So leave links to your TTTs in the comments so I can go check them out! :)

~ The Bookworm

Book Review: Everbound

Goodreads summary:

Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love.

My review:

I'm pretty dedicated to this series.  Proof?  Well, on the morning I got my copy of Everbound, it had snowed a couple inches outside.  I was sitting near the window at the front of my house, doing my schoolwork and waiting for the UPS truck to arrive (yes, I had been stalking my package on UPS tracking so I knew when it would arrive).  So I see the UPS truck arrive, and what do they do?  The got the addresses of me and my neighbor across the street mixed up, and they delivered my poor Everbound package to my neighbor!

So I had to hike down my very long driveway and across the street, in the snow, and over to my neighbor's to get Everbound.  I'm sure I looked crazy to any other neighbors who saw me.  Ah, well.  It was worth it.

Because Everbound was absolutely AMAZING.  This is a truly well-written sequel that I think I might love even better than the first book, Everneath.  The worldbuilding is simply wonderful.  I loved watching Nikki and Cole as they traveled through the Everneath in search of Jack.  And I love how Brodi Ashton deftly mixes in the Greek mythology - it's so interesting and unique!

Oh, the characters.  While I liked Cole fine in Everneath, he is such a wonderfully complex character in Everbound.  It's so nice to learn more about him and his motives.  Although that ending is cruel.  Cruel, I tell you!  I seriously wanted to strangle Cole.  Nikki is so much stronger this time around, and I was rooting for her the whole time.  I feel bad for everything she deals with, from her family to Jack's mom, who is seriously mad at her.  And Jack...sadly, he's not in Everbound much.  *goes off into a corner and cries* I know, it's so sad!  But there are many flashbacks of Jack and Nikki, which I thought was adorable and sweet and cute, and it fit into the story very well.

My only complaint - and it's pretty small - is that it takes a little while for the story to really get started, as it takes some time for Nikki to convince Cole to take her to the Everneath.  But once they were in the Everneath, I could not put the book down.  There's so much going on and I sympathized all the characters and their struggles.  And the ending...major, major, major cliffhanger!!  I would have thrown my book against the wall if I didn't want to risk damaging it. :P It's going to be a very long year as I wait for the final book to come out. 

Highly recommended!  If you like Greek mythology, you must read this series.  In fact, even if you don't usually read mythology or paranormal books, you should still read this series.  It's original, stunning, and addictive.  Five stars without a doubt!

My rating:  10 out of 10 (5 stars)

~ The Bookworm

In My Mailbox (10)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

So this is my first time making a video - I usually just post pics of the books I got.  But Blogger has still been messing up lately whenever I try to upload my own pictures. -_- Anyway, hopefully the video turns out okay.

Books I bought/received:
- Everbound by Brodi Ashton
- Immortal by Gillian Shields

Books I got from the library:
- White Cat by Holly Black
- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
- Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
- The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse
- Vixen by Jillian Larkin
- The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski
- Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Please leave links to your IMMs in the comments! :) Happy reading everyone!

~ The Bookworm

Book Review: Shiver

Goodreads summary:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

My review:

I enjoyed Shiver, but it wasn't jaw-droppingly wonderful.  After hearing so much about it, I was sure it would be something brilliant.  Well, I was slightly disappointed, but overall I liked Shiver.

Let's start off with the characters, because that's always the most important part of a book for me.  I quite like Grace.  She's not some helpless, whiny young girl; no, she's very capable, stoic, and she takes matters into her own hands.  I really admired her character.  I loved one scene, towards the end, where Grace is captured and must use her wits to save herself.  She is a strong, likeable narrator.

Unfortunately, I didn't like Sam as well as I did Grace.  I wouldn't go as far as to call him a wimp.  However, his voice just never seemed masculine to me.  He's just very sensitive, and he also seems to lack a personality.  I didn't care for him much.

Also, the plot is slow-moving sometimes.  For a while, it didn't seem like there was much going on, but I was eventually drawn in to Grace and Sam's struggle to find a cure so Sam can stay human.  I haven't read a ton of werewolf books, but as far as werewolves go, I think the plot is pretty unique.  The last 100 pages or so are the best; there is a lot more plot development and action.

Finally, the writing.  I like Maggie Stiefvater's writing style a lot.  It's lyrical and moving, and she does a great job creating the atmosphere of the story.  I could picture the town, the snow, and the woods very well in my mind.

One little thing I didn't like was the fact that Grace's parents are so absent.  I know they are supposed to be kind of out of it, but I just thought it's very convenient that they're hardly ever around.  That got on my nerves.  Still, spite a few dislikes, I did enjoy Shiver.  I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Linger.  Can't wait to see how the story continues!

My rating:  7 out of 10 (3.5 stars)

~ The Bookworm

Waiting on Wednesday: Pivot Point

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to read!

My pick is Pivot Point by Kasie West!

 

Goodreads summary:

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

My thoughts:

I need this book!  I need it!  It sounds so absolutely amazing, and I've read some great reviews for it.  Plus, Kiersten White blurbed it.  So I seriously need to read this.

And the cover...did you see that cover?!  It's totally gorgeous!  I can't wait until Pivot Point releases on Feb. 12.  I'm dying to read it!

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Share links to your WoWs in the comments!

~ The Bookworm