Showing posts with label Beautiful Darkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beautiful Darkness. Show all posts

Friday, June 25, 2010

In My Mailbox (13)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board.

Every week we’ll post about what books we have received (whether they’re bought/borrowed, etc… you get the idea). Everyone participating will try and visit other lists to comment and possibly pine for the new arrivals everyone’s talking about. I’ve learned that it’s a great idea to really try and stop by at least two or three lists because I’m constantly finding out about new books that I’ve later added to my TBR list.

This week I got a few to add to my collection, and a few that I must pass on as part of the ARC tours, but regardless I'm super excited to get started!

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Star Book Tours)

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. 

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly [close]
crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

Hunger (Horsemen of the Apocalypse, #1) by Jackie Morse Kessler (We Love YA Book Tours)

“Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world.”

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power — and the courage to battle her own inner demons?

Perchance to Dream (Théâtre Illuminata, #2) by Lisa Mantchev (thanks to Young Adult Books Central)

The stuff that dreams are made on. 

Act Two, Scene One

Growing up in the enchanted Thèâtre Illuminata, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith learned everything about every play ever written. She knew the Players and their parts, but she didn’t know that she, too, had magic. Now, she is the Mistress of Revels, the Teller of Tales, and determined to follow her stars. She is ready for the outside world.

Enter BERTIE AND COMPANY

But the outside world soon proves more topsy-turvy than any stage production. Bertie can make things happen by writing them, but outside the protective walls of the Thèâtre, nothing goes as planned. And her magic cannot help her make a decision between—

Nate: Her suave and swashbuckling pirate, now in mortal peril.

Ariel: A brooding, yet seductive, air spirit whose true motives remain unclear.

When Nate is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Sea Goddess, only Bertie can free him. She and her fairy sidekicks embark on a journey aboard the Thèâtre’s caravan, using Bertie’s word magic to guide them. Along the way, they collect a sneak-thief, who has in his possession something most valuable, and meet The Mysterious Stranger, Bertie’s father—and the creator of the scrimshaw medallion. Bertie’s dreams are haunted by Nate, whose love for Bertie is keeping him alive, but in the daytime, it’s Ariel who is tantalizingly close, and the one she is falling for. Who does Bertie love the most? And will her magic be powerful enough to save her once she enters the Sea Goddess’s lair?

What did you guys get this week?  If ya guys got something good or have any recommendations you want to throw my way I'm always excited to add more to my ever growing TBR list, they're always appreciated!  

Have a great weekend and as always happy reading!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

ARC Tour & Review: Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles, #2) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.


When I tried to formulate my review for this book I was torn, and I kind of still am. I'm a big fan of Garcia and Stohl's writing and enjoyed the first installment in the Caster Chronicles series, Beautiful Creatures, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it's sequel. There were some elements that I loved and some that I didn't enjoy much at all. Let me try to make some sense of my ramblings.

To start off, I can say that while I found Beautiful Creatures to be slow in some parts, that was not the case with Beautiful Darkness. We did get more background and of course some histories and mysteries were cleared up, but at the same time the plot wasn't slowed down because of this. Ethan is back as our narrator and this time around he really (for me at least) became a stronger character. If anyone thought he and Lena's troubles/obstacles were over, they were wrong. In fact, their previous problems were nothing in comparison in my opinion. Garcia and Stohl upped the anti (so to speak) in this one and that aspect won me over and kept me reading. Ethan's personality came out more and I think readers will get the chance to see him as an individual as far as his feelings go and will only grow to love him even more.

Now for what I wasn't really loving about this book. We meet some new characters in Beautiful Darkness and they didn't really win me over like I expected them to. Garcia and Stohl gave us such an all star cast in Beautiful Creatures, maybe in my mind they just didn't stand a chance of measuring up, I don't know? But some of the original characters upset and disappointed me too. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone so I can't be specific, but when this book hits the shelves and readers get their hands on it, I don't think I'll be the only one feeling this way.

But to end on a good note, I did like the wrap-up Garcia and Stohl wove together in the end. All I will say is that the Caster Chronicles series can only get more interesting and I'm extremely curious to see what happens next. Cliffhangers vs. neatly tied up endings, which do I prefer? I'm not really sure, but what I do know is that I'm still a fan of Garcia and Stohl's writing and I'm looking forward to reading what the Caster Chronicles will bring us next.

I gave Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles, #2) 3 shamrocks!!!



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