Last year was a great year of books for me. I read lots of fantastic books and It was really hard to try to choose only thirteen. Last year I did a post which had my 12 favourite books but being as
though it was 2013, this time I've chosen thirteen favourites. I've cheated a little bit and picked a series as being one book on two occasions, well they were all favourites!
Here is my list of books from last year and reviews listing them from 13 through to 1.
Around the world, black
handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged
strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet
Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be
real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks
many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When
beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in
Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a
star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will
Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Review
What can I say that hasn't already been said? This is so beautifully written, I read it in about 3 sittings which could've been less but unfortunately I had to sleep and work. Laini Taylor has given a whole different take on the old fashioned feud between good and evil - Angels & demons.
Karou was such an interesting character, how can you not love someone with blue hair and able to kick anyone's butt with her mad fighting skills. She is a girl with lots of secrets, but there are also a lot of secrets going on that she doesn't know about. There's a lot of mystery shrouding Karou's birth and where she comes from. It was written really well and kept me guessing until everything was revealed.
I LOVED the backdrop of Prague - I felt like I have travelled there by the amazing way Taylor described all the different places. Anyone who has been there before may feel like they are reliving some of their moments there (sadly I've never been).
There's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, so I have already reserved the next book at the library, The third book comes out in April next year (2014) so I won't have to wait too long to finish the trilogy - thankfully! I'm glad I finally got round to reading this because it has lived up to all my expectations, maybe even surpassed my expectations.
On the cover
This is the cover I'm most used to seeing on the Internet, which I think is so awesome!! But I haven't actually seen it in person. I always wondered why the mask is blue but after reading I know. There are two other covers floating around that I've actually seen which is the one above and another one that looks like it has a door on the cover. All of these covers mean something to the story but I like the one of the left the best.
What I'm reading next: The Perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chboskyc
Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts
382 pages
Released: October 2010
Buy it @ book depository
It starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”
Violet
Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it’s hard to get too
excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death.
As if that wasn’t enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave
her with very real injuries. There’s a dark tattoo weaving its way up
her arms that wasn’t there before.
Violet is determined to get
some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy
she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a
secret: he’s only half-human—oh, and same goes for her.
A
centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of
humanity has chosen its new warrior. It’s a fight Violet doesn’t want,
but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. When
angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot
worse than betting on Violet Eden…
Review
I'm not a huge fan of angel books mainly because I hate how they sometimes push God & religion onto me but I didn't find that with this book. There were quotes at the beginning of every chapter and sometimes those chapters were from the bible but no matter where it was from it gave you a sense of what you are to expect from that chapter.
The main reason I decided to read this was because it was recommended to me and I thought I'd get it on Audio and see what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised. The story wasn't all that bad, the only issue I have is when Violet 'embraces' her guardian angel duties. I'm so used to reading books that have an epic quest before the main character is awarded their 'prize', in this case it's Violet proving herself to become a guardian angel. Well Violet's quest felt easy and anticlimactic. A simple jump off a cliff and walk through a desert to become someone who will guide over the human race...hmm ok!
Now we come to the love interests, Phoenix & Lincoln (yes another love triangle). Phoenix is your stereotypical bad guy, an exiled angel with opal coloured hair... while Linc on the other hand is the nice guy. Violet has awesome chemistry with Lincoln and he is also VERY cute! I usually swoon over the nice guy, I'm always rooting for them because most of the time "nice guys finish last" and I hate that! But don't let that make you think that Lincoln finishes last because maybe he doesn't...(I'm giving nothing away!) Something that bugged me a lot was how easily Violet gave her virginity away (which I also won't tell you who to). It did become part of revealing something really important later on in the book but I simply didn't like, my opinion.
I feel like all I've done is complain but I did enjoy this. I liked the idea of someone being a guardian angel, the author did a good job at making the idea more believable and easier to digest than other angel books. I plan on reading the next one in the series on Audio, hopefully the story will get a bit better instead of getting worse. On a side note: I had no idea this was written by an Australian, I like it when I know it's written in Australia because it makes me get all patriotic and want to love it even more.
On the cover
I love this cover! I think it's the purple and the smoky wings, they are so cool! Although Violet never actually gets wings and neither do any of the angels.
What I'm listening on Audio to next: Finnikin of the rock by Melina Marchetta
