Reading Right Now! (#4)

So this week, I'm reading two books kinda at the same time. I say kinda, because one of the books is actually a bind up of two books. I plan on finishing the first book in the bind-up and then moving on to a different book. Anywayssss....

Title: Deathnote Black Edition #1

Author: Tsugumi Ohba

Art: Takeshi Obata

I'm on page 150 which makes me about 77% of the way through the first book.

So I am a fan of Japanese manga. I used to read more of it when I was in high school, but somehow ended up taking a break from reading them. Maybe they were just easier to get my hands on in highschool or something. I've heard so many great things about the Deathnote series. So many people love it and recommend it all the time. When I first started it, I wasn't sure. The Shinigami Ryuk is just so ugly. That face man, that face. I wasn't sure if I would be a huge fan of the artstyle, but Light is a cutie so it's okay :)

Light is an interesting character too. Is he good or bad? Is the Deathnote twisting him into a truly evil person, or was he already twisted in the first place? Does he seriously think he's going to rule the world? And how is he not evil when he's committing murder? Just because he's killing off criminals, doesn't mean he's still not committing a crime himself. Just a bunch of questions about Light. I wondered how the story would continue for so many volumes. I thought the story would peeter out eventually, but in the middle of the first volume, everything got good. Everyone who's recommended this series so far has been right! I can't wait to finish this one and then hopefully be able to pick up the subsequent volumes. Why does manga have to be so expensive :(

Title: I Hunt Killers (#1)

Author: Barry Lyga

I haven't started this one yet, but I'm excited too!

As soon as I finish the first volume of DeathNote, I plan on starting I Hunt Killers! I'm super excited about it too. I love dark, creepy tales involving serial killers and questionable youths. I love Dan Wells I Am Not A Serial Killer series, and I hope for this series to be in kind of the same vein. I guess I should really worry about myself, enjoying books about serial killers and stuff. But it's interesting!!! So I've heard good things about this one too and can't wait to start it.

So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! Tell me what your Reading Right Now! in the comments below if you want to. I see comments as a great way of interacting with other book lovers and this is in no way a push just to make my blog more profitable. So yeah, hope everyone has a great time with whatever your reading!

Review of: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Title: Vicious

Author: V.E. Schwab

Published by: TOR

Released: 2013

Summary: Victor and Eli, gifted college roommates and best friends. Working on their final thesis, they become interested in EO's (ExtraOrdinarys). 10 years later, Victor is escaping from prison and determined to kill his arch nemesis Eli. Eli has his own mission, to hunt and kill every last E.O. he can find. As Victor and Eli make their way to the ultimate battle, the future of E.O.'s hang in the balance. A story of revenge, awesome abilities, and how two best friends can turn into mortal enemies.

My Thoughts: This book was AWESOME!!! I loved, loved, loved every minute, every page of it. I was hooked from page one until the very end. I didn't want it to end and was sad when it did. It's pretty obvious that this review is just going to be a gush fest, so I'll just keep going. I loved everything about this book. I loved the concept of Extra Ordinaries and how they came to be. I loved the characters. Victor and his gang were my favorites. I loved how Victor wasn't necessarily a good guy. In most cases, Victor would probably be a pretty bad guy. I couldn't help rooting for Victor though. I loved his little team of Sydney, Mitch, and Dol. I think my like fro Victor increased because of how he cared and took care of his friends. Victor had some sparks of definite good in him that offset his bad, mean tendencies.

It would have been interesting to see if I felt that same way about Victor if we had started in Eli's POV instead. I think I would still have found Victor the better of the two characters though. I really enjoyed how there were no pure good guys or pure bad guys, but characters that fell in between.

It's obvious that I love this book. My only disappointment is upon learning that it is a standalone. I want more of this world! More of Victor, Mitch, Sydney, Dominic, and Dol. I want to see what adventures they get up to next. I also think it would be cool for Detective Stell to team up with Victor and his gang too, but who knows if that could ever happen. I love this book! Pure awesome. I recommend everybody go read this and then bug V.E. Schwab for a sequel!

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 5/5

Super Awesome, Super Fun, Super ExtraOrdinary!

Reading Right Now! (#3)

Title: A Fatal Likeness

Author: Lynn Shepherd

So what I'm Reading Right Now is A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd. There's actually a funny story behind this book. I checked it out from my library because I thought it looked interesting and the feather in her hair really called to me. After I checked it out, and it had been sitting on my shelf for about a week, I saw a video on youtube by the YARebels. In the video it was talking about this article where the writer pretty much said J.K. Rowling needs to stop writing books if she cares about writing at all. It was pretty much a sour grapes article where she author was complaining that nobody was buying her books or other lowly authors books because of the hype surrounding J.K. Rowling's books. She wanted Rowling to stop writing because it wasn't fair to other lowly authors or something. The author of the article also put down adults reading YA books because they weren't "stimulating" enough or some such nonsense. I'll link the full article here in case you are interested in reading it.  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lynn-shepherd/jk-rowling-should-stop-writing_b_4829648.html

So the article kind of annoyed me on many levels and I was interested to see what the author of the article had wrote herself. And lo and behold, I had checked out one of the books she had written and it was this one.

So I'm trying really hard to not judge this book just based on the stupid article the author wrote. I think how you feel about a book should be based on what's inside rather than what the author is like in real life.

I'm not very far in this book, only on page 30 or so. So far, it's just an okay book. The writing is very stylized and weird. The narrator will offer asides to the reader that is kind of jarring. Also, I'm trying to get sucked into this historical, Victorian London world and the writing style keeps pulling me out of it by jumping to what a certain street really looks like in 2013. Maybe I'm being overly judgmental and looking for things to nitpick.

So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! Tell me what you're Reading Right Now! in the comments below.

Review of: The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

Title: The Ice Princess ( Fjallbacka #1)

Author: Camilla Lackberg

Translated By: Steven T. Murray

Published by: Pegasus Books

Released: 2010

Summary: It's like the scene from a horror movie; a girl laying in a bathtub, slits in her wrists, blood on the floor, and frozen with icicles in her hair and eyelashes. This is the sight Erica Falck stumbles across. Not only is the girl dead, but she also used to be a best childhood friend of Erica's. Determined to solve the mystery of Alex's life and death, Erica teams up with detective Patrik Hedstrom to uncover the dark secrets that hide in the town of Fjallbacka.

My Thoughts: This book took me a little while to read, not because it was bad or boring, it just went along in a little bit of a slow way. It also could have taken me a little while to read it because of me being distracted by other things.

I enjoyed this book. I'd already read one of Camilla Lackberg's mysteries before, and thought I'd better start at the beginning of the series. Her mysteries are enjoyable, with lots of twists and turns and surprising who-done-its. I also really like this Swedish town that her series is set in. I've become quite a fan of these Swedish mysteries hitting the English market. My favorite character in this book was Patrik Hedstrom. He just seems like such a nice, fun, easygoing guy and he does some pretty good police work. I don't always enjoy Erica Falck. She can be quite a grump and a bit of a know-it-all, Nancy Drew type.

The mystery aspect of the book was pretty good. I figured out some things leading up to the conclusion, but was totally thrown for a loop on who the actual killer was. I very much enjoyed this mystery and plan on reading the rest of the books in this series.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Crimetastic!

You won't know who-done-it until the very last page.

Reading Right Now! (#2)

So, this past week and weekend, I tried to read two books at once and really failed miserably. I just don't know how to stop at one story and jump right into another. There are two books that I am Reading Right Now! with one book being the main priority and then the other book being picked up as soon as I finish the main one.

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Author: Ransom Riggs

I'm on page 268 which makes me 76% done with the book.

This is the book I'm focusing most of my reading attention on. I'm sure a lot of you already know what this book is about and probably have already read it yourselves. I bought this book a couple of years ago, but I have this problem where I check out books from the library and then never end up reading the books that I have bought. Luckily, my friend Ali (of the youtube channel Alison Murfitt: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHFB_m9xeyzDpcaZC5lhNmw ) noticed my problem and suggested we read this book together, and I'm glad she did. 

I'm loving this book. It's such an easy one to get sucked into. I love the incorporation of all these creepy pictures and all these peculiar children traipsing through the pages. This is a book that has gotten tons of hype, so I was a little worried about being disappointed, but so far that ain't happening. It's really fun and I'm glad Ali made me read it. I do wonder how everything is going to turn out in the end and what Jacob is going to do. I can only imagine that something big is going to happen that will force him to make the decision.

For those that don't know, Miss P's is about a boy named Jacob who grew up listening to his grandfather's fantastical stories about an orphanage, an island, and some very peculiar children. As Jacob got older, he thought that his grandfather was just pulling his leg. When his grandfather dies, Jacob is heartbroken and at the suggestion of his therapist goes to this mysterious island. What he finds there is his grandfather's stories come to life and all the children too. Now Jacob is finding out about his grandfather's past and his own role in the story.

Great book. Go Read It!

Title: Hallowed (Unearthly #2)

Author: Cynthia Hand

I'm on page 30 which makes me 7% done with the book.

This is the book that I had to set on the backburner for Miss P's. I tried to read both of them at once and ended up just failing miserably. It seems I can only keep my attention on one book at a time. This is the second book in the Unearthly series, which is about a half-angel named Clara who must complete her destiny. All half-angels are given a mission to do in their life, and after sort of failing at her mission, she is now trying to figure out what comes next. It's been awhile since I read Unearthly, so I don't remember all the minor details or even major ones. I'm sure I'll get it together once I get farther in the book and more sucked into the story. I'm enjoying this book. This series has beautiful covers and an interesting storyline. I think it does fall more on the highschool, younger side of YA with the whole gushy romance and teen problems, but there are two hot boys in here and I'm interested in the story.

So that's it for my Reading Right Now post for the week. I know I'm so off and on with these. Also I decided to number them just to make life more interesting. So tell me what you guys are Reading Right Now!

Review of: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate 1) by Gail Carriger

Title: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate 1)

Author: Gail Carriger

Published by: Orbit / Hachette Book Group

Released: 2009

Summary: Alexia Taribotti has many things working against her, Italian blood, spinster with no prospects, brash and aggressive manner, and she was born without a soul. In the hustle and bustle of Victorian London complete with vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Alexia Tarabotti will take no prisoners. When Alexia inadvertently kills a crass and lisping vampire, she's thrust into a serious situation. Using her politeness and preternatural abilities, Alexia must cope with the handsome and bossy Lord Maccon, a plethora of bad hats, and people who are out to kill her. A true Victorian adventure.

My Thoughts: A very funny, witty, and highly enjoyable read. I wasn't sure I'd like this book when I first started, but after I got through the first chapter, I was hooked. The characters are what really make this story. Alexia, Lord Maccon, Professor Lyle, Ivy Hisselpenny, Lord Akeldama, and even Floote are such fun personalities to get to know. The humor is also evident and highly enjoyable in this story. The plot and action were top notch with a tiny bit of romance and romantic tension sprinkled in. Just a great, highly enjoyable adventure that will leave one breathless for more. This is a series I will definitely continue with.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

I really want to know what happened with that hedgehog. Oh to be a fly on that wall :)

Reading Right Now!

Title: Deadline (Newsflesh #2)

Author: Mira Grant

I'm on page 160 of 581 pages which makes me 28% done with this book.

So this weekend I'm reading Deadline by Mira Grant. This is the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy. I read Feed quite awhile ago, it was actually the first book that I reviewed on this blog. I think it might have been 2 years ago that I read it, but I saw this book at my library and thought why not continue on with a series that I've already started. I've heard a lot of good things about this series in the booktubing world. When I read Feed, I remember liking it, but not loving it. I thought too much importance was placed on the news, and the truth, integrity, blah blah blah. The characters of Georgia and Shaun were semi-irritating, since Georgia was kind of a know-it-all and Shaun was just doing what I considered stupid things to do during a zombie apocalypse. I really enjoyed the world building in Feed though, that part was super interesting.

So... I'm having a little trouble getting into Deadline. I think it has a lot to do with what irritated me about Feed. There's just this off-putting, melodramatic air to it that I'm really not enjoying. I know drama is to be expected, because it's the end of the world zombie apocalypse after all, but this kind of melodrama just feels like a soap opera or even 7th Heaven to me. I like action in my zombie books. Doing what has to be done in order to survive. Maybe that's what irritates me about these books, because this whole blog/news thing really has nothing to do with survival or trying to fix the world and cure the zombie plague. It just seems like people being overly serious about things that don't really matter that much and being really focused on fame and views ( I realize this could apply to me and booktubing/ book blogging, so I could just be the biggest hypocrite, oh well).

 This book is hard for me to talk about without spoiling the first one, so I'll try to not give anything away. I will just say that the "voice" inside Shaun's head is just weird. I think if Grant had wanted a certain character to still be a relevant part of the story, she shouldn't have killed he/she off in Feed. That just seems like bad planning.

I'm definitely gonna push through this book and finish it and I also definitely plan on reading the last book in the trilogy. I'm sorry this is such a negative Reading Right Now! post, but the sad truth is that you won't like every book you read. Who knows, I could be blown away by the end, but right now it's just meh. So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! Tell me what you're reading in the comments below. Lets interact!!