re·view : A Million Suns by Beth Revis

A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2) by Beth Revis

4 Stars.

syn·op·sis 

Godspeed was once fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. 

It’s been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. Everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceshipGodspeed.

But there may be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to act on his vision—no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder learns shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a mystery that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier. Their success—or failure—will determine the fate of the 2,298 passengers aboard Godspeed. But with each step, the journey becomes more perilous, the ship more chaotic, and the love between them more impossible to fight.

Beth Revis catapulted readers into the far reaches of space with her New York Times bestselling debut, Across the Universe. In A Million Suns, Beth deepens the mystery with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

re·view 




Really a 3.5, maybe 4..
Urgh. Feelings. Way too many of them.

I just put this down. 
I'd like to say I freaking love the whole idea of the story. The mission, the ship, everything still fascinates me to no end. Give it to me now.
But, and this is a big BUT, I started to dislike Amy and Elder. Amy is just whinny and pushy. Elder just does everything she says or the first thing that comes to mind without thinking about it.
When I was about 100 pages to finish the book, I wanted someone else to tell me the story, I still love the plot, I was just over the voice that was telling me the story. 
Speaking of the plot, there are so many revelations! So many mind blowing moments!

I also love the descriptions here, there is food, smell, looks. It appeals to every sense, it is beautifully done.

The pacing is as good as ever, I could not put it down, if there was urgency in Across the Universe, you won't believe what they need to figure out on this one!

characters : I must say I freacking love Orion and the whole egg hunt. Argh so good. 
One this book we get to know a little more about the characters. And why everyone behaves the way they do.

There was half a star knocked of because of Elder and Amy and another for the food thing.
I can not get over that. I won't go in to it because I don't want to spoil it, but *ARGH*.

I will be reading the next one, but not exactly running to the bookstore. Well, maybe doing some power walking.. 

re·view : Inferno by Dan Brown

Inferno (Robert Langdon #4) by Dan Brown

4 Stars.

syn·op·sis 

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

re·view 

I freacking love this conspiracy-type books, I eat this shit up! And Brown is one of the best one at it.

I think I said this before, that with fantasy I love hidden worlds within ours and in a way, that is what Brown does with the whole secret society thing. 

I don't really get why Dan Brown has this cloud of polemic around him. It's fiction and is fun. :)

 "I do something very intentional and specific in these books. And that is to blend fact and fiction in a very modern and efficient style, to tell a story. There are some people who understand what I do, and they sort of get on the train and go for a ride and have a great time, and there are other people who should probably just read somebody else."

Also, this isn't exactly a series, its just a different story with the same character. This one takes place in Italy again and while I love Italy, I agree with what people said that he could explore other countries and cultures a little bit. The Italy thing doesn't bother me too much though.

Robert is the Robert we learned to love and everything, exempt he doesn't have his memory, which I think is a good twist. He also always has a genius companion, on Inferno is Sienna.

Sienna is this woman genius, that keeps trying to help. There is this mystery about her that Robert thinks is the genius thing, but maybe not?

Anyhoo..

She is also no genius though.. which bothered me a lot. She was really slow figuring stuff out. Lagdam had to literally spell out certain things to her. Not a very good genius in my opinion. 

Oooh.. twists. So many twists. Turns out amnesia is really good for that. Some I saw coming 5 miles away, most I didn't. They were SO good!

haul : recent purchase.

Which is also my TBR, so reviews should be coming soon.

Succubus Dreams (Georgina Kincaid #3) by Richelle Mead

Succubus Heat (Georgina Kincaid #4) by Richelle Mead

     More Richelle Mead, do I need to say anything? :D

Boundless (Unearthly #3) by Cynthia Hand 

     Needed this in my life, the first 2 books are SO good!

Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis

     Same as the last one, awesome first books, need to read the next.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

     This one just has amazing reviews, it is also a book about bookstores, so.. it is my weakness. 

Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

     Oooh, feelings. This series has all the feelings.

re·view : Across the Universe by Beth Revis

 Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis 
5 Stars.

syn·op·sis 

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

re·view 



So, First reaction was:

ooh.. so. many. feelings.
I'll write a review when I get my brain back.
but you sould just read it.

Now that I got my brain back, I figured I would try this again. Remember that my coherence is relative though.. :P

So, imagine that your parents are going on a space mission to populate another planet and they are taking you with them. You are going to be chriogenicaly frozen for 300 years and wake up when you are there. Something goes wrong though, and you wake up in the spaceship 50 years before your due date. 

That is the gist of the story.

The world building is amazing, and there is not that much information dumping, since their whole world is the space ship.

What is interesting though, is how we get most of the information. As a teenager, when Amy agreed to this trip she was too depressed thinking about her frieds and boyfried to actually think about the logistics of their travel.

Turns out that the ship works as a small town, they have farms, a little downtown, where artisans are, a hospital, a library and then the actual command center of the ship. 

If you don't work for them, you just work and take care of your life for generations, since families are suppose to populate the ship for 300 years.

I dont need to say that the plot is fantastic, so rich and interesting.

The pacing is just right, because of the thriller aspect, (someone is defrosting people, for crying out loud!) the reader is kept on the edge of the sit the whole time!

The point of view which the story is told, is divided between Amy and Elder. Elder is the boy who found Amy and he is also the mayer/commander in training of the ship.

I love that POV aspect, you get to know both of them and their struggles so well. Amy is the new girl, who doesn't integrate and has to find out what is going on. Elder is the boy who want to help Amy out very badly, but still struggles with his position on the hierarchy.

The side characters are SO entertaining! I love everyone from the hospital, especially Harley.

Just go read it, it is awesome. ;*

re·view : Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Magic Study (Study #2) by Maria V. Snyder
3,5 STARS.

syn·op·sis 

YOU KNOW YOUR LIFE IS BAD WHEN YOU MISS YOUR DAYS AS A POISON TASTER...

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better....

Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training—especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies....

re·view 

To be honest, I LOVED the first book, so the screw up would have to be massive to make me not like this one.
It started great, first 300 pages went just like I expected for the writing, plot, pacing.. Yada, yada, yada.. It was all awesome, could not wait to keep reading. It really felt like a continuation of the last book.

And omg, I love Kiki. Want her now. I'll keep her on the balcony, she will bond with my dog, it will be perfect. But daydreaming aside, It went down hill from there..
The thing I loved the most in Poison Study was that Yelena wasn't stupid, I didn't get frustrated with her. But after those 300 pages, I wanted to whack her every other chapters.
The whole "do the first thing that comes to mind and expect it to be fine" did not work for me.

Other thing that bother me is the whole violence/rape scenario that was used again in this book. It felt like the subject was well explored on the first book, no need to do it twice.

And finally, Snyder makes me wait 250 pages for Valek and when things get interesting she is like "sorry folks, lets jump to the morning after" wait, whaat?
I don't want sordid details, but throw me a bone, eh?


After all of this, somehow the woman managed to tie up the story in a way that I can't wait to see what happens next. How did that happen?

I just need to know. Now. Give it to me.

book STORAGE ideas. #2 . Wine crates

.

DIY shelving.


So, this week I finally finished my shelves and after posting a picture at Instagram ( @ritaly btw ), a lot of people asked me how I did it. Since I posted the first book storage post idea with easy places to buy shelves, I decided that number 2 would be mine.

This is what it looks like:

The husband works in a restaurant that is very big on wine, so he got the crates for me there. When I was looking up in to it, I also saw a lot of people selling them on Craigslist.

Other option is to use regular wooden crates, like this one on Home Depot:

Home Depot Wooden Crate

 Here is a side view, they are staked up and I tried to make the books fit tightly inside the boxes so it is well supported.

 I could have reinforced them or screwed them together, but we are planing a move soon, so it doesn't make sense to do that and risk damage the crates or make the move harder since I would have to put it apart.

 It fits perfectly in the corder of the bedroom and any overflow goes in a expedite shelve that has a table attached to it. I use it as a makeup table, but there are still books on the little cubes.








 The next pictures are just closeups of the little nooks.
 I loved the result, It's grate storage and they are very skinny, so it saves a lot of space. I also used some of the crates on the closet, stacked them and use them as shoe shelves.

 If there is any doubt, I'll be happy to talk about it.

re·view : Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1) by Gail Carriger

syn·op·sis 

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore.

re·view 

I got this because of a review I saw on youtube, and thank God I did!

I really like it, I have been disappointed with YA recently, but this is such a good idea, can't wait to read her adult series!

The whole finessing school setting is just so interesting, and I just couldn't help but make myself some tea every time i was about to start the next chapter.

Did I say I loved the pacing? Yeah, I love it, there is always something happening, which made putting the book down to do little things like sleeping very difficult, but who needs it right?

Also, I really appreciate that I don't want to scream at Sophronia at every turn, she wasn't frustrating at all.

The plot also evolved in such a natural way, Carriger made me believe in stuff that otherwise I would just laugh and snort at. Flying school? Evil genius?
Yes please.

The story is witty and charming, will be waiting, not so patiently, for the next one. Meanwhile it made me really think I'm missing on the steampunk thing, since I never gave a second thought before. Now I got to get me some more.

Oh, well. At least I have the whole adult series to go though. :)