Room by Book//Mortal Heart

Room by Book is a feature done by yours truly where I bring my love of interior design and books.

Gravity Stool by Jolan Van der Wiel
Handcarved Menagerie Dining Table by Anthropologie
Eloquence One of a Kind Antique Armoire Flemish Pale Seafoam by Layla Grayce
Mortal Heart (bookcover) by Robin LaFevers (Goodreads)

Mortal Heart is set in the wind-swept and what I think is romantic land of Britanny. Now Britanny is a part of France, but still retains its individual culture, along with its own design heritage. The stool I originally saw in The Globe and Mail and was fascinated. The Gravity Stool would be something a nun would sit on as it looks like a rough, ancient stone stool. The Menagerie Dining Table represents the medieval time period with the animals the nobles would've hunted and the duchess would've loved the curious animal carvings. Annith is a lover of simplicity, but still would need a place to hide her weapons-- what better place than her seafoam dresser? These three components are not from one place in the book, but a lookbook from the entire Mortal Heart.

Book Club: Moon Over Manifest

The big news: my school has an 8th grade book club. How cool is this?! I was dead excited that we get to talk about books over lunch once Friday a month with some great muffins. The past month we read Moon Over Manifest.

One of the downsides of blogging is that you hardly ever, if ever, get to have a live discussion about a book. What I love about our book discussion is that we got to talk with my friends over a YA book in a facilitated discussion.

SPOILER ALERT for Moon Over Manifest

Some Points We Came Up With

• The three story lines of Moon Over Manifest (Abilene, Ned and Jinx's letters, Hattie Mae's newspaper column all enriched the story and without it the book would have been dreadfully boring.
• The background characters were not fully integrated into the story meaning that you would not remember them. When reading the book the characters seemed rather fluid and not entirely concrete.
• Shady was the ideal criminal for Abilene. He showed that even if one had done committed a crime of bootlegging a criminal could still love. Shady didn't become his crime, but rather he was a person.
• The Newberry Medal changes some people as writers. It is about finding a unique children's book, yet it is chosen by a bunch of adults.

Review Mortal Heart

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Amazon | Goodreads

Published by HMH Books for Young Readers November 4, 2014

444 Pages

#3 (Last) in His Fair Assassin Trilogy

Source: Library

Bookologist Analysis: The Mortal Heart was simply an avalanche of all things a book needs. It had the emotional tirade that made you cling to Annith. There was a reason to finally find peace in a world of assassin nuns. The answers to the questions I had suspected were answered. The maze we were lead down was something that I found love in. It was simply all that I had hoped for and more.

Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn't mean she has...

A labyrinth that is what Mortal Hart truly was. There was a string laid down by Annith that we followed to find her unique story. Annith, Sybella, and Ismae are all their own individual heroines— ones driven by a duty to Mortain and to find their own paths in life. Annith was a conflicted soul that was pushed like a baby bird into the air and her story was one of learning how to fly. She managed to find herself in the world that she had never seen outside of the covenant.

Annith is my type of girl— one who would be my best friend. She has a respect for authority, but still knows that she will leave the covenant knowing what is best for her. She meets men who have done terrible atrocities, yet still she sees there humanity and loves them for their choice to find redemption. Annith is not simply a girl, but a role model that I wish I could’ve lived with.

For me the book leapt out of from the pages and danced into a world. Mortal Heart explained the history of Britanny into something that made sense with the covenant’s presence. Mortain too in this book was more fully explained and we got to see his humanity.  The nuns as well didn’t see that far this time. They were people and had made mistakes, but had also raised plenty of strong-willed girls.  The hellequins (followers/hunters of Moratin), nuns, and Mortain all made a full circle in this book.

This book has made come to where I wanted to see Robin LaFever leave us. She left us with an open door she may decide to write more books with. She left us with three strong, feminist three heroines who all having different stories and trials are all inexplicably linked. The eloquence first starting with Ismae has become the dark Sybella to the willful Annith has come into a smooth, satisfying circle of love, death, and triumph.

Meet the Blogger//Things That Bother My Inner Reader

A continuation of my feature "Meet the Blogger" where my readers get to meet me. This is a list of things that annoy me when other people commit book-related crimes. These crimes are things that would be outlawed if us, bibliophiles, ruled the world... just wait till we do. We will become a reckoning (haha Ruin and Rising parapphrase).

Creatures of the Night Tag

I wanted to do a sci-fi/fantasy tag for Sci-fi November and then Anne @ Anne Books tagged me to do the Creatures of the Night tag, originally created by Katytastic  on Youtube.

Vampire

Confession Time: I’ve read a bunch of vamp books when I was younger (11-12). I honestly don’t know why I read them, rereading most of them I find that the plot and writing are not to be desired. I usually try to keep those books away from reviews on my blog in case of judgment. The most notable series with vampires would be the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer and Vampire Dairies by Richelle Meade.

Werewolf

I’ve never really read a book focused solely on werewolves. Most likely the most memorable one is once again the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer or Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

Zombie

Nope… zombies bring back too many memories of the Plants vs Zombie app. That game just ruined my perception of zombies.

Ghost

Ghosts… off the top of my mind the one that comes to me is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I simply adored Headless Nick and Rowena Ravenclaw. Ghosts are dead, so I’m not particularly drawn to them.

Witch/Warlock/Spellcaster

Here is the essence of fantasy the witches, warlocks, wizards, and spellcasters. My favorite is Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The classic portrayal is still what comes to mind first when I think of witches and wizards.

Fairy/Fae

————————————————————————————————————— ——————————— (blanking out)

Demon

My only books with demons in it are The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, both by Cassandra Clare. (same I have to agree with Anne)

Angel

The books I remember that feature angels most prominently is Hush, Hush by Becca Fritzpatrick, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Embrace by Jessica Shirvington, and Hidden by Marianne Curley (my favorite one based in Australia).

Alien

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (review here)! Great, amazing, phenomenal book series with aliens *-* (again have to revert to Anne’s original idea here)

Superpowered Human

Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me is the favorite superpowered human is the first sci-fi one I could think of. It is about Juliette who has superstrength and other gifts. After a little more pondering I can think of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs that is featuring Jacob and a slew of other children that are born with gifts like seeing monsters or a fire starting gift.

I tag:

Holly at Lost in a Library

Jack at A Note from the Margin

Hawwa at It Was Lovely Reading You

Mini Reviews: NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette

NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette by Nathan W. Pyle Goodreads|Amazon

Standalone Comic/Graphic Novel

Published April 15, 2014 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Source: Library Paperback

Bookologists Analysis: I sincerely loved this short little book about tips from large hometown.

Living in New York City for five years as a transplant from Ohio, illustrator and T-shirt designer Nathan Pyle was fascinated by the unique habits and unspoken customs New Yorkers follow to make life bearable in a city with 8 million people (and seemingly twice the number of tourists). Nathan decided to draw his favorite tips and etiquette lessons and post them on the internet, where his 12 original panels went viral immediately and became the basis for this hilarious illustrated book (check out the fully animated ebook, too!).

In NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette, Pyle reveals the secrets and unwritten rules for living in and visiting New York including the answers to such burning questions as, which cabs should I try to hail? What is a bodega? Which way is Uptown? Why are there so many doors in the sidewalk? How do I walk on an escalator? Do we need to be touching right now? Where should I inhale or exhale while passing sidewalk garbage? How long should I honk my horn? If New York were a game show, how would I win? What happens when I stand in the bike lane? Who should get the empty subway seats? How do I stay safe during a trash tornado? Each tip is a little story illustrated in simple black and white drawings.

Visitors and newcomers to New York will love it because the advice is smart, funny, and not condescending. New Yorkers will love it for its strategic and humorous approach to mastering the daily chaos of the city.

For me reading this book brought a lot “YES” shrieking moments; since I lived in New York when I was younger. This book was a short, cute book that was a quick read.  I was amused by the short little quirky suggestions that Nathan W. Pyle brought as a Midwestern transplant.

I managed to read the book all in one sitting. Some of the tips were a little obvious as they can be moved to any situation— simply they are manners for the metropolis. Maybe, someday we could all just write short little illustrated books about unique places we live.

Review Ruins DNF

 Ruins by Dan Wells Amazon | Goodreads

Published by Balzer + Bray March 11, 2014

464 Pages 

# 3 in Partials Sequence 

Source: Library Ebook Collection

Bookologists Analysis: I missed something. I just didn't find what I need in this book. Somehow I lost what I needed in terms of friends. I feel the need to apologize to Kira that I finish her journey with her.

Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment in the Partials Sequence, a series that combines the thrilling action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Blade Runner and The Stand.

There is no avoiding it—the war to decide the fate of both humans and Partials is at hand. Both sides hold in their possession a weapon that could destroy the other, and Kira Walker has precious little time to prevent that from happening. She has one chance to save both species and the world with them, but it will only come at great personal cost.

 

I had waited for Ruins in a momentum. At first I had finished the rest of The Partials Sequence in one big gulp. I had found the books one of the best sci-fi books that I had read in such a long time. I picked up Ruins because I had had nothing else to read from my library’s ebook collection and was flabbergasted that I had forgotten its release. I felt that Ruins had this tension that I was just waiting for all of it to explode into this book of eloquence and drama. The characters had spellbound me into this need for humans and Partials (engineered being to look humans but with superior DNA). I don’t know where all of this went wrong. The characters didn’t pull me in like they had before and I didn’t feel the requirement to keep on reading. For about two days I forced myself to keep on reading this book that I thought I would fall into bookish heaven with but I didn’t.  Ruins I felt started on to high of a note to demand any sort building into an explosion of plot. I think I missed something along the way. I’m disappointed in myself that I couldn’t find it myself to keep on reading the book that I had so desperately waited for. It’s a part of being a mood reader where you just can’t force it on yourself. I could not discover the necessity in me to finish Ruins. I highly recommend the Partials Sequence though because the plot is there. Somewhere along the way I missed the bomb going off. Rating: DNF

October Monthly Review

Wow, October was stressful. I did not see so many things coming up in school. I may have neglected my blog for a couple of days. I also had my blogoversary and spent some time with Summer and Anne on a panel. Overall, I managed to get out of a huge reading slump, have a loose schedule for blogging. But this month is Sci-fi Month hosted by Oh the Books! I plan doing a couple posts this month. Yay!

Posts this month:

September Monthly Review

Mini Reviews: Never Ending

If YA Were a School

Review Silver Shadows

Short Story: The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Blogoversary Panel

The Book Club: Graceling

Posts I Enjoyed This Month:

Could I Please be Quiet, Please? from Jack (A Note From the Margin)

101 Things I Love from Amber (The Mile Long Bookshelf