Stacking the Shelves: Evanescent Innocence Severed by Ravens in Silence

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


My post is a bit late this week because I had ordered some books and went to the store this morning to get them, and I wanted to include them in this week's haul. Here they are:

Sever, by Lauren DeStefano

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

Where Silence Gathers, by Kelsey Sutton

I'd meant to read Sever for a long time. I loved Wither but felt conflicted about Fever, but I still need to see how this series ends. The Raven Boys is a book I should have read forever ago. As for Where Silence Gathers, I'd gotten an eARC of the first book last year, loved it, but somehow never got around to reviewing :/ I still feel bad about that. I felt too guilty to request the second book so I bought it instead because I need to see how the story goes. I just started reading it and I really love it so far.

I also got a few ebooks, many of them cheap or for free on Amazon

House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innoence, by Edith Wharton
I read The Luxe by Anna Godbersen last weekend and it made me want to read more about 1890s New York. I'd always meant to read Wharton during my studies but never managed, so I thought when if not now?


Ephemeral, by Addison Moore
Evanescent, by Addison Moore

I got these two spontaneously because they were free and I remembered reading some good reviews a while back.


So, that's it from me for this week. There's an eARC where I'm still waiting for approval or denial so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. What do you think of my haul? Have you read any of them? And please link me up to your own post :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Worlds I would NEVER want to live in

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


Hey guys :) This week's top ten is about book world's we'd NEVER want to live in, no matter how much we liked the actual story. Or about character's whose shoes we'd never want to walk in. I'll give you 5 of each.


World's I prefer watching from the outside

Fever series - Karen Marie Moning
After the walls come down and the dark fey enter the world, most humans die. No power, little food, lots of baddies... I'd be toast.

Blood of Eden - Julie Kagawa
Either donate blood to your local vampire or live on scraps and be backstabbed or killed by rabids? Again, I'm not the most physically fit person. I wouldn't make it for too long. And it's a very bleak and hungry kind of life.

Wither - Lauren DeStefano
To be kidnapped on the street and sold to some old rich dude to bear his babies, then die at 18? Can't imagine anything much more horrible. Pregnant over and over, then death *shudders*

Any totalitarian regime that restricts knowledge and burns books
Book burning is one of the worst things ever, and one that makes me the angriest. Destruction of knowledge, of beauty... no. Think Fahrenheit 451. Definitely not a society I'd want to live in.

Coldtown - Holly Black
I'm actually divided on this one. Living in a Coldtown is very dangerous. You can never get out. Law is barely existent.You need connections, and you need your wits. Vampire slaying skills are advisable. And yet... I do feel the allure of the place. The never-ending parties. Immortal creatures. Desire. Passion. I admit, I feel torn. In the end I wouldn't make it though.



Characters I wouldn't want to trade places with

Cassel from the Curse Worker series by Holly Black
If you can't even trust your brothers or you mom, life is bleak. Loving the daughter of the biggest crime lord around, also not good. Having an ability everyone wants to use to strengthen their own position? Yeah, better make sure they never find out...
Seriously, ma heart ached for Cassel :(

Karou - Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
The things that girl is forced to do... and her position is even worse at the end of that book than it was at the beginning!

Juliet - Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Slandered, beaten, bullied, put away into asylums and detention centers, isolated, forced into electroshock therapy... there's pretty much nothing that girl hasn't been subjected to. And her touch kills. Everyone. Apart from maybe the son of her worst enemy, who used to hold her prisoner.
Yeah, being Juliet truly sucks, despite her incredible powers.

Kaylee - Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent
That girl never gets a moment of peace. Some hellion always wants her soul, or her loved one's souls, or is possessing innocent strangers... her love life isn't a piece of cake either. Though I sure wouldn't mind spending some time with Tod ;)

Matthew Swift - Urban Magic series by Kate Griffin
That dude. Always in over his head! Made Midnight Mayor against his will. Always some crazy sorcerer or fey queen or other strange personified part of the city to deal with. Not to mention the annoyingness and not quite trustworthiness of his own Aldermen. Let's not even talk about the women in his life. The guy doesn't stand a chance. I feel this strange affection for him though. Can't resist the scruffy reluctant hero type with awesome magic, I suppose.


This was actually harder than I thought! What do you think of my picks, and what/who made your list?

Top Ten Tuesday: new-to-me authors read in 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week is about new-to-us authors read in 2013 that we really grew to love

Many of those had books out before this year, but I just didn't get to them or was to stupid to see just how amazing they were.



Brenna Yovanoff - The Replacement / The Space Between
Definitely one of my favorite 'discoveries' of the year! The Replacement really tore me apart. I ached inside while I read this book, and yet I'm desperate for a re-read! Brenna's writing is simply breathtaking and her stories have a new, eerie feel to them. I didn't like The Space Between quite as much as The Replacement, but I'm still determined to read everything she writes.

Michelle Hodkin - The Mara Dyer series
Seriously, how did the cover/description for this ever put me off?! Was I mad? Mara wonders about that question too. She's such an unusual girl protagonist for YA! And then there's Noah. And the agonizing wait for book 3. Sigh. I read book 1 in a day. One year of waiting for one day of reading... the balance is a little insane :P

Kimberly Derting - The Pledge
One of my favorite dystopians. Also, I read it at exactly the right time - I was writing a paper on queenship and how queens exercised their power. The world building was amazing - can't wait for The Essence to come out in paperback next month!

A.G. Howard - Splintered
Wonderland, insanity, art, Morpheus, weird scariness and beautiful writing... what's not to like? I was looking forward to this one so much, and it didn't disappoint!

Brent Weeks - The Night Angel Trilogy
I totally re-discovered my love of epic fantasy this year, and this series... holy hell! It's over 1500 pages and I read it in a WEEK (pun not intended). The savagery, the reluctant heroism, the magic, the vastness and complexity of the world and the characters... just wow. I'm really sad it's over though. I hope Weeks writes another series set in the same world.

Veronica Roth - The Divergent trilogy
I know, another one I'm late to the party for. But Divergent electrified me. It made me feel so incredibly alive, as if I was right there alongside Tris! I know many liked Insurgent and Allegiant less, but I thought they were logical consequences of what happened before, and I have major respect for Veronica Roth ending the series as she did.

Tahereh Mafi - Shatter Me
Everyone said this was great, but for some reason I never believed them. I kind of lumped this one in the 'nope' pile together with Mara Dyer. And again I was WRONG. This book is so fantastic! The writing, the imagery and tropes felt new. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with a simile that hasn't been used a thousand times over?! I've got book 2 on my kindle and I'll probably read book 3 just after it comes out. So glad I won't have to wait forever to read the next one!

Lauren DeStefano - Wither
Again, I was blown away by the writing most of everything. The world building was great too, but it was the writing that really kept me hooked. Sadly, I thought Fever dragged too much, but I still plan to read Sever and see it all through to the end.

Karen Marie Moning - The Fever series
Another series I just breezed through. It took me a book or two to take to Mac as a heroine, but damn does she undergo some development! And then there's Barrons. For book after book, I kept wondering - just what the hell is he?!

Katja Millay - The Sea of Tranquility
I thought I should at least include one non-fantasy/paranormal/dystopian author, and Katja Millay made me cry like a baby. This book straddles the border between YA and NA but it's one of the most real (and thus painful) contemporaries I've read. Utterly absorbing.


Do we have any books in common on this list? What did you think of them? Want to berate me for waiting so long to read them? :P And what awesome new authors did you discover?

Waiting on Wednesday: Perfect Ruin, by Lauren DeStefano

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine to spotlight upcoming book releases that we're excited about.


This week's pick:

Release date: October 3, 2013
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Format: Paperback, 352 pages

Goodreads description:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy: On the floating city of Internment, you can be anything you dream. Unless you approach the edge.

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find – or whom she will lose.


First off, can I say how much more I LOVE the UK cover?! The city is actually on it! And it doesn't look like a Middle Grade book!
Anyway, back to the facts. I loved Wither. The writing was fantastic and elaborate. I wasn't as blown away by Fever, but I'm still going to read Sever when it's out in the right edition. I'm really curious about this new Dystopian series! I've never read a book set in a city in the sky. I'm also interested in seeing how DeStefano will handle the suicide issue that I think is hinted at.
What do you think of Perfect Ruin? Does it sound like your cup of tea? Are you a fan of the Chemical Garden trilogy?

Stacking the Shelves: Delirium and Fever visit the Carnival of Assassins to hunt Serial Killers

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This week was great for me in terms of books, which I'm really glad about because otherwise it wasn't so awesome. I couldn't find a new apartment in time (Zurich is terrible like that) so I have to temporarily move back in with my parents (definitely not in Zurich. Think village with 700 people). That means we had to move allll my furniture, books, and other stuff, which was rather stressful and, for me, painful. So when I wasn't hauling around stuff or boxing stuff, I was reading a lot to forget about everything.

Netgalley:

Delirium (Debt Collector episode 1), by Susan Kaye Quinn
Carniepunk, by Rachel Caine, Jennifer Estep, et al

After participating in the book blitz for Delirium, I was really curious so I snagged it on Netgalley when it showed up. You can read my review here or click the banner in the left sidebar to win it :)
Carniepunk I've been hoping would show up on Netgalley for a really long time, so I'm beyond happy that I got accepted ^^ I love anthologies!


Bought in print:

Faefever, by Karen Marie Moning
Fever, by Lauren DeStefano
I Hunt Killers, by Barry Lyga
Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers

After reading Darkfever and Bloodfever I had to have Faefever right away! I even went to buy it at the bookstore even though I cost almost twice as much as ordering online. I've already read it. Same goes for Fever, which unfortunately I didn't love as much as Wither :(
I've been drooling after I Hunt Killers and Grave Mercy for months and can't wait to get around to them!


Ebook:

Don't Hate the Player... Hate the Game, by Katie Ashley

After reading a review and then the kindle sample, I was so hooked by Noah's voice and the narration that I spontaneously bought it :) It was only about a dollar, but I don't know if that's still the case.


So that's it form me... I had a great bookish week if nothing else and can't wait to get started on those I haven't read yet! I also have a couple giveaways going on, just click the covers on the left sidebar, and I was part of a tour yesterday for Darkness of Light. You can check out my review plus an international giveaway here.
What do you think of my haul? Have you read any of these books? And what new pretties did you get this week?