Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Title:  Throne of Glass Author:  Sarah J. Maas Genre: Fantasy, young adult My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness. In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught. Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted? Celaena Sardothien is insufferable . There, I said it. I absolutely cannot stand the main character. As the author (and Celaena herself) tells us repeatedly, she is intelligent, gorgeous, witty, observant, and the best assassin in the realm. I'm sur...

Title:  Written in Red Author:  Anne Bishop Genre: Urban fantasy, adult My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others. Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow. This book was more fun than I was expecting. Written in Red is set in a parallel universe whe...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish .   This week's theme: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Me To Read The hard-to-read because they were boring/annoying/frustrating 1. This is a book I'm currently reading, and it's so painful. The author is trying really hard to be scientific about the supernatural elements, but all the science is spectacularly flawed. The main character's father is in the FBI, and the MC has a ridiculously easy time hacking into all his classified information. And the dialogue is just painful. The only reason I'm still reading is because I need a "U" book for my A-Z Challenge. 2. Hoo boy, I had a lot to say about this book. Everything from the writing style to the selfish and vain MC to the really bizarre plot twists (plot holes?) bugged me. At least the ending redeemed it...kind of... ( unapologetic review here ). 3. This book was really hard for me to finish. Relivin...

Title:  Unraveling Author:  Elizabeth Norris Genre: Young adult, science fiction My rating: 2 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared. And that was before she died... and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet. The only reason I finished this was because I needed a "U" book for my A-Z challenge this year. You would think that a story about radiation-melted bodies showing up around the area would be very intense, especially when ev...

Title:  Words of Radiance Author:  Brandon Sanderson Genre: Fantasy My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary The eagerly awaited sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Way of Kings. Having met the challenge of a posthumous collaboration with the great Robert Jordan to complete his classic, bestselling fantasy series The Wheel of Time® with three #1 New York Times bestsellers in a row, Brandon Sanderson is at last free to return to the decade-spanning task of creating his own multi-volume epic, one that he hopes will make a comparable mark on the field. That epic is The Stormlight Archive and it began in 2010 with Tor’s longest, most elaborately embellished novel ever, The Way of Kings. In that first volume, we were introduced to the remarkable world of Roshar, a world both alien and magical, where gigantic hurricane-like storms scour the surface every few days and life has adapted accordingly. Roshar is shared by humans and the enigmatic, humanoid Parshen...

Title:  The Martian Author:  Andy Weir Genre: science fiction My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome th...

Title:  Champion Author:  Marie Lu Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult, Science fiction My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : He is a Legend. She is a Prodigy. Who will be Champion? June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling ...