February Book Haul

I just uploaded my February Book Haul! Enjoy 🙂

And for those of you Norwegian followers: I’ve uploaded an introduction video to my Norwegian YouTube channel as well. Click HERE to see it 🙂

Eramane by Frankie Ash – REVIEW

I’m warming up to the Blood Soaked Ashes Book Tour that Geek Heaven will be a part of (4th of March) with a review of the first book in the Eramane Saga Trilogy.

In the village of Eludwid, seventeen-year-old Eramane Fahnestock goes about her life, cheerfully disregarding a prophecy made to her parents that she would have a great gift. Eramane craves adventure but when she is invited by a handsome Lebis she has no idea how much her life will soon change.

While she’s preparing for her date, Eramane finds herself hypnotized by a strange and scary voice that tells her that he’s coming for her that night. She is unsettled by the voice, but doesn’t want anything to come in the way from her date with Lebis. On their picnic, a darkness falls over the forest and a beast emerges and turns the beautiful date into a horrific scene. Eramane is captured and taken away to a mountain hideaway. She awakes with her memories almost lost.

Evil is summoned to the mountaintop, forcing a young woman to discover her magical gifts and exact revenge against a beast determined to destroy everything she has ever loved.

***

The Writing:

Frankie Ash tells a griping and beautiful story and I really like the way she describes the people and the settings of this story.

The chapters shift between Eramane (written in first person) and other characters (written in third person). This threw me off a little in the beginning and I found it a bit confusing, but as the story progressed I got more used to the writing style. It was different.

There were some minor grammar mistakes and such, but not so many that it ruined the reading experience.

The Characters:

I enjoyed Eramane as a character. She was really driven and smart in most of her choices. I also felt like she had a very nice development as a character throughout the book.

The Nameless One is a character filled with frightening mystery and that is something I enjoy very much!

There are lots of other characters in this book as well that were veery well written into the story. And I think Limearsy is one of my absolute favorites. He has such a loving, yet dark and mysterious personality.

The Plot: 

The whole story started off with a POW! It gripped me and held me tight for most of the time.

I do wish that I could have gotten to know more of the world this story is in, but I found that I got more of that in book two.

The story was quite original and different. A page turner. And I did not find it cliché in any way.

***

I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it!

Want your own copy? Click on the Amazon or BookDepository logo below:

  

And don’t forget to check back on the 4th of March to read my review for the Blood Soaked Ashes Book Tour!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman- REVIEW

The Graveyard Book is a middle grade fantasy novel. The story starts with Jack (Also known as “the man Jack”) has murdered an entire family except for a toddler. When Jack goes upstairs to finish his mission he finds the toddler gone. The toddler has crawled out of his crib and outside to explore. He finds himself at the nearby graveyard and surrounded by ghosts.

The ghosts of the graveyard are uncertain of what to do when they realize that the child is alone and hunted, but when the Lady on the Grey appears and tells the ghosts that “the dead should have charity” and the baby be kept in the protection of the graveyard. Mr. and Mrs. Owens take him in as their own son and he grows up in the graveyard, protected by the dead.

This boys name is Nobody, but his dead friends call him Bod. He’s under the protection of Silas, a man that is neither dead nor living. Bod is a normal boy, but the protection of the graveyard makes him different. There are adventures both inside and outside of the graveyard for Bod to discover, but he has to be careful. The man Jack is still looking for him. He wants to finish what he started so many years ago.

***

The Writing

Neil Gaiman is a master of captivating and magical writing. His words formed into beautiful pictures in my mind. They grabbed me and held me tight from beginning till the end. This is one of those books that I wish I’d discovered sooner. Gaiman has a playful way of writing about the dark and scary that just turns it into something extraordinary. This is my second Neil Gaiman book to read and I really look forward to reading more of his work.

The Characters

Bod was such a funny and different character. I loved that we got to be along for the ride as he grew up in this very unusual place. He felt very relatable in spite of his very different lifestyle. One could easily recognize the curiosity and wonder of growing up and into ones teens. The frustration of feeling left out and wanting to belong and explore.

My two favorite characters in this book (except for Bod) was Silas (Bod’s protector) and Elizabeth Hempstock (un-justly executed witch). Both of them brought something very special and unique to the story. Silas wrapped in mystery and Elizabeth being the sassy sidekick.

The first time I met his tutor Miss Lupesco in the book she annoyed me a whole lot, but she grew on me and by the end of the book I wanted to be a part of the graveyard family myself.

The Plot

This story starts with a bang and as I read about the murder that was committed I had my thoughts about this being a book for children. But then again, children’s literature today isn’t the same as it was when I was a child. And when the story progressed I found it to be very intriguing, exciting and beautiful.

The man Jack’s hunt made for a thrilling story, but the most wonderful part of this story is Bod and the way he grows and develops throughout the story. And all of those wonderful characters blend into one collection of delightful personalities that made this a fantastic read.

It took a hold of me from the beginning and I loved every part of it. Had me curious and anxiously waiting from beginning to the end.

***

There are so many things that I loved about this book! And I really do look forward to reading this for my son when he’s a little older. It’s different and wonderful! And the artwork by Chris Riddell is gorgeous!!

Highly recommend!

Want your own copy? Click on the BookDepository logo below:

***

Do you have a favorite Neil Gaiman book? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, Toodles 🙂

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner – REVIEW

This Shattered World is the second novel in the Starbound trilogy. You can read my review of These Broken Stars (the first book) HERE 🙂

In the second book we meet Jubilee “Lee” Chase, captain in the forces that was sent to the terraformed planet Avon to keep the rebellious movement under control. Lee is different from the others who comes to Avon. She has her own personal reasons for fighting the rebels and for some reason she is still sane after staying on a planet that slowly drives so many others insane. We also meet Flynn Cormac, leader of the rebels. A man who wants to find peace for his home planet without having to resolve to violence and war.

Lee and Flynn were never supposed to meet, but when their paths cross one day Flynn does the only thing that makes sense to him. He takes her as a prisoner and brings her back to the rebel base hoping to exchange her for medicine and other valuables much needed, but instead he makes a decision that changes everything. When the rebels want to execute Lee to send a message, Flynn escapes the base together with her and suddenly they find themselves caught between two sides of a senseless war.

On the run they also discover that there’s something horribly wrong with Avon.

***

The Writing:

I enjoyed the writing just as much in this one as in These Broken Stars. The fact that they shift between the perspectives of Flynn and Lee throughout the book gives us a good insight to two different sides of the same story. The short in-between chapters also adds to the mystery of the book, but felt kind of confusing in the beginning.

Kaufman and Spooner paints beautiful pictures in these books that makes you feel like you’re right there beside them on Avon.

The Characters:

Lee is a strong, independent and mysterious female lead. I enjoyed her sassiness and how she wanted to be in control of every situation that was thrown towards her. As we get to know her past and how she grew up, she really grows as a character.

Flynn had the classic rebel charm to him and I did not feel like there were as many surprises to his character as Lee’s, but I did like him a lot. He’s a rational thinker that wants peace and understanding.

They were both strong protagonists that worked well together in this story.

The Plot:

Let’s just air the frustration that so many had when we found out about the plot of This Shattered World:

No more Lilac and Tarver??!!?!?!

I was (as so many others) disappointed to read that the characters from the first novel would not be the lead characters in this one. I was very curious to find out what would happen next with them.

But do calm down, they are not left out of the trilogy even though they are not the lead characters of this novel.

The mystery of the planet I found very intriguing. Something is clearly wrong. And I was also very interested in finding out what made Jubilee different from everyone else. Why doesn’t she get the dreams that most do right before going insane? What happened to her as a child to make her into such a tough-hearted soldier?

I found the romance part of the novel to be a little too predictable. You kind of expect it from the very beginning of the story. But even though there’s a fair share of romance in This Shattered World it doesn’t have the same focus  on romance and passion as These Broken Stars. This story is much crueler and harsher in comparison, but that also made it less predictable in some ways.

***

All in all I really liked This Shattered World and I’m still very curious to see how they will wrap it all up in the third and last novel Their Fractured Light (expected publication: December 29th, 2015)

Still there was something about the second novel that did not take as strong a hold on me as the  first one did. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but I just didn’t LOVE this one as much, but still I would highly recommend it!

 Want your own copy of this beautiful book? Click on the Amazon or BookDepository logo below:

  

The Perfect Gift by Christina de Vries – POEM

On my wish list you will not find diamonds or pearls 

I wish for trips to outer space and new worlds

To be shown memories, dreams, places not yet found

See witches do magic and queens be crowned 

Swim with mermaids and fly with birds

Fight beside superheroes, crack codes with nerds

*

Get hot and heavy with a perfect stranger 

Having a demigod save me from danger 

Be an important part of an epic new war 

Discover a magic portal in a hidden door

Go to the school with the most gifted teachers

To learn magic and to fight deadly creatures

*

Explore the darkest of corners, befriend a ghost

Sneak onboard a pirate ship, travel from coast to coast

Fall in love with a an alien or a vampire

Listen to stories from trolls told around a campfire

Ride into the sunset on a unicorn 

Fight battles, die and be reborn 

*

Hide from monsters and humans even worse

Go to the end of the world to reverse a curse 

Get my heart broken and fall in love yet again 

Go through every kind of emotion and not complain

Challenge myself and face my fears 

Embrace the giggles as well as the tears 

*

The perfect gift: it doesn’t really matter how it looks

What matters is what can be discovered inside the books.

*

©Christina de Vries – Geek Heaven

Meet Our Pet Rats

Love Is A Drug

Valentine’s Day is upon us! So in the spirit of love Shots of Awe released this video today.

Enjoy!

Popular by Maya Van Wagenen – REVIEW

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek is a memoir written by Maya Van Wagenen. In 8th grade her father gave her a book that he’d found at a thrift shop before she was even born. Reading “Betty Cornell’s Teen-Age Popularity Guide” became an experiment that Maya documented throughout the school year in her journal.

Finding herself at the bottom of the social ladder and struggling to get new friends she started picking out one chapter for each month and commit to go though with them all and see if they will indeed make her popular.

***

I found Maya’s writing to be extremely good and witty! To write this well at such a young and age is impressive and I definitely look forward to read more of her writing.

Popular is an inspiring book that takes a good look into bullying and the social ladders that we all recognize. I could definitely relate to Maya and her situation and I think that was what made it out to be such an amazing read for me.

I also loved that there were pictures and notes throughout the book which made it feel like you were getting a private tour into a young girl’s diary and private thoughts.

A fast, easy and beautiful read! Definitely recommend it!

Want your own copy of Popular? Click on the Amazon or BookDepository logo below:

  

January Wrap Up 2015

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven – REVIEW

All The Bright Places is a YA contemporary novel. We meet Finch who is obsessed about death and suicide. He constantly think about suicides and how he should go through with his own but something good always comes up when he’s about to finally do it.

Violet counts the days until graduation and the time when she can finally get out of the town and away from all the memories. Her older sister died in a car accident and Violet no longer knows what to do with her life without her sister there. All of the things she used to love suddenly no longer matters.

Finch and Violet meet each other on the ledge of the school bell tower and it is uncertain who rescues who from taking the leap.

Then they pair up to work together on a school project where they are supposed to discover the wonders of their home state they both learn so much more from each other.

But no matter how lovely a time they’re having, Finch can’t shake off that dark monster that lurks in his brain.

***

Wow.. Where do I start here? This book was an amazing read and one that got me warm and fuzzy and sad at the same time. I haven’t felt that way about a book since I read The Fault in Our Stars. Gosh I bawled my eyes out and I giggled.

A great story about an important subject of depression and feeling different.

I enjoyed both Violet and Finch as characters and I loved the dynamic between them and how that grew and changed throughout the book.

Warm, beautiful, heartbreaking, lovely, funny and so sad. All at once, neatly wrapped in a gorgeous little package!

If you want something to read that gives you all kinds of feels then this is the way to go!

Highly recommend!

“He says, “ ‘Lovely’ is a lovely word that should be used more often.”

                                   – All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

***

Would you like your own copy of this lovely book? Click on the Amazon or BookDepository logo below: