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Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE! – Books We Own and Can’t Wait To Read

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that other bloggers are welcome to join in, to create Top Ten lists on varying topics. This week it’s a freebie and we’ve chosen: Books We Own and Can’t Wait To Read

Paein

The wrath and the Dawn very british problems vampire academy Styxx mechanica

The problem with challenges is that you have to read the books IN the challenge and right now I have two yearlong one’s going on. If I’m to slip up along the next few months, it will be because of one of these books….

1 The Wrath and the Dawn

by Renee Ahdieh

Ms4Tune bought this for me for my birthday this year. I’d seen it about but the cover never encouraged me to see what it was about. Once it was mine however I was pretty please about this, because it sounds fantastic. Unfortunately my clearout reading challenge hasn’t progressed very well this year, so I’ve not had the change to sneak it in yet! I may just say “screw it” over Christmas and snuggle up under a duvet and read it.

One Life to One Dawn.
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
Inspired by A Thousand and One NightsThe Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end

2 Very British Problems

by Rob Temple

I’ve thrown this in as a wild card. But also because it looks fantastic and right now I could do with a little humour. Because I’m BRITISH and it’s hilarious how true these things actually are, despite Canada having inherited much of the British stereotype. I think the British YOB is getting far more common and this is terrible. This book sounds just the thing to re-establish what TRUE Brits are like. And if you can’t laugh at how much you fit your own stereotype, there’s something wrong with you.

There’s an epidemic sweeping the nation. Symptoms include:
*Acute embarrassment at the mere notion of making a fuss;
*Extreme awkwardness when faced with any social greeting beyond a brisk handshake;
*An unhealthy preoccupation with meteorology.

Doctors have also reported several cases of unnecessary apologising, an obsessive interest in correct queuing etiquette and dramatic sighing in the presence of loud teenagers on public transport. If you have experienced any of these symptoms, you may be suffering from VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS. VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS are highly contagious. There is no known cure.

Rob Temple’s hilarious new book reveals all the ways in which we are a nation of socially awkward but well-meaning oddballs, struggling to make it through every day without apologising to an inanimate object. Take comfort in misfortunes of others. You are not alone

3 Vampire Academy

by Richelle Mead

I’ve been desperate to read this since I saw the film, it’s silly. I’ve even promised myself that it will be the first of my series read next year, I even considered reading it early, but I’ve shifted my time for my read it or lose it challenge so that’s not happening till APRIL now and I’m sad about this.

ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES…

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires – the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger… and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever…

Styxx

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I’ve wanted to read this one since before I even knew it was going to be written and that’s the truth. Having read his brother’s book I just HAD to see his side of the story, especially the part when he starts to realise what it must have been like to be Acheron. (There are two sentences I can remember from books. One is the first sentence of a series I’ve read so many times, the other is the sentence in which his brother was named and I’ve read that book once.)  I LOVE stories where you get to see both sides of the situation they just fascinate me to no end. Also, styxx was a bit of an arse and I want to see him get his. Then I’ll probably feel sorry for him and love him as much as his brother…
Of course this is part of a series, so I need to re-read all of the ones before INCLUDING Acheron, and I’m actually looking forward to that too.

Just when you thought doomsday was over…
Centuries ago Acheron saved the human race by imprisoning an ancient evil bent on absolute destruction. Now that evil has been unleashed and it is out for revenge.
As the twin to Acheron, Styxx hasn’t always been on his brother’s side. They’ve spent more centuries going at each other’s throats than protecting their backs. Now Styxx has a chance to prove his loyalty to his brother, but only if he’s willing to trade his life and future for Acheron’s.
The Atlantean goddess of Wrath and Misery, Bethany was born to right wrongs. But it was never a task she relished. Until now. She owes Acheron a debt that she vows to repay, no matter what it takes. He will join their fellow gods in hell and nothing is going to stop her.
But things are never what they seem, and Acheron is no longer the last of his line. Styxx and Acheron must put aside their past and learn to trust each other or more will suffer.
Yet it’s hard to risk your own life for someone who once tried to take yours, even when it’s your own twin, and when loyalties are skewed and no one can be trusted, not even yourself, how do you find a way back from the darkness that wants to consume the entire world? One that wants to start by devouring your very soul?

5 Mechanica

by Betsy Cornwell

I think a lot of this one is to do with the fact that it makes me think of the Luna Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and I’ve still got forever to wait for the last of that series. AND it’s a fairytale retelling AND it’s a standalone, or so it seems.

Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home.

But on her sixteenth birthday, Nicolette discovers a secret workshop in the cellar and begins to dare to imagine a new life for herself. Could the mysterious books and tools hidden there—and the mechanical menagerie, led by a tiny metal horse named Jules—be the key to escaping her dreary existence? With a technological exposition and royal ball on the horizon, the timing might just be perfect for Nicolette to earn her freedom at last.

Gorgeous prose and themes of social justice and family shine in this richly imagined Cinderella retelling about an indomitable inventor who finds her prince . . . but realizes she doesn’t want a fairy tale happy ending after all.

..

Ms4Tune

 vicious fang girl wood angel shadow skin hunger

I have tonnes of books that I have yet to read so choosing just 5 have been pretty difficult. But now that autumn is setting in I’ve started to get that hunger, I always get, for a good old fantasy adventure! So here’s 5 I’d love to read right now but don’t have time to read yet…

6 Vicious

by V E Schwab

Ever since I finished The Darker Shade of Magic I’ve been dying to read more of V E Schwab’s work. Vicious was written before TDSoM but I don’t have any fear that it will be inferior in any way because its had so many good reviews! There is also a prequel called Warm Up.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

7 Fang Girl

by Helen Keeble

Paein bought this one for me when she was on holiday a few years ago but I still haven’t got round to it yet. It just sounded so funny and one of my Goodreads Friends recommended it to me. I really don’t know why I haven’t read it yet! Possibly because I have such high expectations??

Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:

1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A psychotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.

And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.

Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined…

Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more

8 Wood Angel

Erin Bow

I’d actually forgotten I owned this one but since The Scorpion Rule is making such a huge impression on Goodreads at the moment, and is due for release later this month, well I can’t help but think I should definitely read this one. I’ve heard its beautifully sad.

Plain Kate lives in a time afraid of magic. She has a gift for carving ‘lucky’ wooden-charms. Known as Witch-Blade, her unusual gift attracts dangerous attention in a place where witches are burned. When her village falls on bad times, suspicion falls on Kate. Scared for her life, she seeks the help of a mysterious stranger.

9 Shadows

by Paula Weston

The final book of the Rephaim Series was published this year and so it’s probably about time I read it. I have Shadows and Haze already. Here’s hoping this is a good Angel Series!

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

10 Skin Hunger

by Kathleen Duey

The cover is bewitchingly creepy, promising gruesome things and I’ve heard that Kathleen Duey doesn’t shy away from gore. With a hinted rumor that there may be a third book to this series soon, I’m quite intrigued to to see what this book has in store for me!

Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving poor villagers prey to fakes and charlatans. A “magician” stole her family’s few valuables and left Sadima’s mother to die on the day Sadima was born. But vestiges of magic are hidden in old rhymes and hearth tales and in people like Sadima, who conceals her silent communication with animals for fear of rejection and ridicule. When rumors of her gift reach Somiss, a young nobleman obsessed with restoring magic, he sends Franklin, his lifelong servant, to find her. Sadima’s joy at sharing her secret becomes love for the man she shares it with. But Franklin’s irrevocable bond to the brilliant and dangerous Somiss traps her, too, and she faces a heartbreaking decision.Centuries later magic has been restored, but it is available only to the wealthy and is strictly controlled by wizards within a sequestered academy of magic. Hahp, the expendable second son of a rich merchant, is forced into the academy and finds himself paired with Gerrard, a peasant boy inexplicably admitted with nine sons of privilege and wealth. Only one of the ten students will graduate — and the first academic requirement is survival.

Sadima’s and Hahp’s worlds are separated by generations, but their lives are connected in surprising and powerful ways in this brilliant first book of Kathleen Duey’s dark, complex, and completely compelling trilogy.

 

pamspaein pamsms4tune

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11 comments on “Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE! – Books We Own and Can’t Wait To Read

  1. Rhoda K

    Oooh Vicious and The Wrath and The Dawn are both books that are sitting on my shelves staring at me! Hope you manage to get to these soon. Really like your choice of topic this week! Happy reading. x

    1. Paein

      aww, I can’t wait! Last time I tried a re-read I got as far as #11 The Dream Hunter before I was distracted.

  2. Zezee

    Very British Problems looks like it will be funny. It’s the first one that caught my eye.
    I read Vampire Academy last year after watching the movie and it was okay. I think it was better than the movie though.

    1. Paein

      I’ve flicked through it and it’s a book of lots of little things, so I think it’s more a book to dip in and out of than a book to sit and read. Unfortunately I find myself nodding in agreement more than I don’t!
      Also, that’s heartening! and makes me even more impatient to read it…

    1. Paein

      I’ve heard comment on how it ends, so now I’m considering waiting till closer to book 2…. :/

  3. aentee @ read at midnight

    I adored Vicious, The Wrath and The Dawn, and Shadows, so I hope you’ll have fun with all of them!

    1. Paein

      Nice TTT, I’ve added some more books to my list…

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