My fearful symmetry review

My fearful symmetry by Denise Verrico. Book three in The Immortyl Revolution.

What's it about?

A boy becomes a vampire and fights to become a man.
...Only the most gifted and beautiful Immortyls are chosen to serve Mother Kali as adepts of the ancient arts…

For nineteen-year-old Cedric MacKinnon, the promise of eternal youth and celebrity sounds like a dream come true. It becomes a nightmare when a master vampire plucks the boy from the London streets and spirits him away to India. In the fabled ashram of the adepts of the ancient arts, Cedric undergoes the grueling process of training as a temple dancer and courtesan. With the threat of revolution hanging over court, the chief elder employs the boy he names Shardul in dangerous games of seduction and intrigue. Hated by the chief’s mistress and abused by those he entertains, Cedric struggles with visions of a violent destiny that seem to come from Kali herself. The stakes are heightened when the rebel leader, Loki, is brought to India for trial and Cedric is forced to choose between the protection and patronage of a powerful elder and his love for a seductive female adept

My review:

3/5
I wanted to give this book 4/5 but because of what I felt was a bit of lull in the middle I marked it down to 3. In the middle was lots of politics and not really any action, but that's just my taste, and honestly some bits felt a little repetitive if I'm honest. HOWEVER, the rest of the book is excellent! I just wanted to get that nasty bit out of the way first. Right away I was endeared to leading man Cedric, he's funny and not afraid to say what he's thinking ever, though he's very naive and seems to just accept what's happening to him without fighting back, he's never really decided what it is he wants right down to his sexuality (he's bisexual fyi) but i loved him and was rooting for him all the way!
I was pulled into the book right away and found it hard to put down, it's beautifully written with lots of details that had me picturing the opulence of the Indian setting, though there was the quiet bit in the middle, it was very interesting to learn about the ashram of the adepts and the culture. The end was explosive and heartbreaking and I look forward to reading the next in the series, after I go back and read the first two!



My Fearful symmetry is now available to preorder on Barnes and Noble

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Thankful Thursday #6

Written as beautifully as it's covers the Wicked lovely series is up on my favourites. It's full of gorgeous, yet dangerous faeries. The description of feary itself makes me wish I could visit. The second book Ink exchange is my favourite, probably because it heavily features my favourite, and biggest book crush, character Niall, he's dark and dangerous but also passionate and protective, and (in my head) extremely sexy lol. Seth comes in close as a second character because of the lengths he's willing to go to to be with the girl he loves and protect his friends. It's a great series which I recommend to anyone

Titles in the series are:

Wicked Lovely

Ink Exchange

Stopping Time - An ebook nevella following the events after Ink exchange

Old habits - An ebook novella set between Ink exchange and Fragile eternity

Fragile Eternity

Radiant Shadows

Darkest Mercy

http://www.melissa-marr.com/

Dark swan: Storm born volume two review by Ninfa

"Dark Swan. Storm Born Volume 2" (Urban Fantasy Adult Comic).
by Mead,Alter and Hamann
published by Sea Lion Books.

Eugenie's story continues on Volume 2 of this amazing comic.
The artwork is still outstanding and the story still faithful to the book: Sexy,Fun and Kick Ass.
Eugenie is faced with some hard decisions and strange discoveries,and the guy she's just developing a crush for is not exactly what she expected him to be.
Can she trust anyone?
Volume 3 will be released next month and I cannot wait for the Graphic Novel to hit the UK stores later on this year (It's already on my XMas list!...Yes,I am very organized ;p)
Fantastic and packed full of action you will not be disappointed with Volume 2!

If your'e interested in finding out more about Storm Born,Richelle Mead or Sea Lion Books,here's a few handy links:

www.sealionbooks.com
www.richellemead.com

Also,you can find them on Facebook as
Richelle Mead
and
Sea lion books

Go get it Bookaholics!
Ninfa x

Wednesdays worldly covers - week 16

Check out these gorgous German covers for Plötzlich Fee - Sommernacht, which translates to Suddenly Fee - Summer Night, and Plötzlich Fee - Winternacht, which translates to Suddenly Fee - Winters nighit.Though you might know them better as The iron king and The iron daughter by Julie Kagawa. I adore the colours!

And as usual here's what they look like here in the UK and in the US.

So which do you prefer?

Top ten Tuesday #2

This week I'm listing my top ten kickass female lead characters, as suggested by Samantha McGrath, who has also listed her top ten.

My list:

1.       Yelena Zaltana – The study series by Maria V. Snyder

2.       RoseMarie Hathaway – Vampire academy series by Richelle Mead

3.       Katsa – Graceling by Kristin Cashore

4.       Faythe Sanders – The shifters series by Rachel Vincent

5.       Zoey Redbird – House of night series by P.C and Kristin Cast

6.       Bryn – Raised by wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

7.       Lily Parker – The dark elite series by Chloe Neill

8.       Stevie Rae Johnson – House of night series by P.C and Kristin Cast

9.       Jacinda Jones – Firelight by Sophie Jordan

10.   Sophia Mercer – Hex hall series by Rachel Hawkins

Samantha's list

1.       Kate Daniels – Kate Daniels Series – Illona Andrews

2.       Mac – Fae Series – Karen Marie Moning

3.       Rachel Morgan – Rachel Morgan Series – Kim Harrison

4.       Jill Kismet – Jill Kismet Series – Lillith Saintcrow

5.       Eugine Markham – Dark Swan Series – Richelle Mead

6.       Ivy – Rachel Morgan Series – Kim Harrison

7.       Dorina – Dorina Basarab Series – Karen Chance

8.       Cassie – Cassie Palmer Series – Karen Chance

9.       Riley Poe – Dark Ink Chronicles – Elle Jasper

10.   Rose – Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

I think it's interesting the difference in opinion, but then I haven't read some of the books in Samantha's list, maybe if I did my list might change, you never know!

Next week I'll be listing my top ten villains, if you want to join in then send your own list to bookaholics@live.co.uk by the end of Monday and it'll be included in the post. Also use the same address if you'd like to suggest future top ten topics.

Remember to include your name if you'd like to be credited for your list or suggestion.

Same difference #7

These are the covers for Trinity by Deena Remiel and divine by mistake by P.C Cast. They're not as obvious as some other cover couples but you can see they have the same model on them. I think I prefer the divine cover, the picture here doesn't do justice to the real thing, the colours are much brighter on the actual book : )



This next one was actually suggested to me via the form on the same difference tab above, unfortunately I can't credit the person who made the suggestion because they didn't include their name lol but thanks to annoymous! They're the covers for for Maximum ride: the Angel experiment by James Patterson and Kindred by Tammar Stein. Have to say I like them both

Which are you favourites?

My life as a book: How "Entangled" inspired me to share my experience

So you all know a few months ago I read and reviewed Entangled by Cat Clarke and was deeply moved by the book because I related to the character of Grace. So much so that it inspired me to want to write a more personal blog post about myself, but of course having a baby means I've had to wait a little while to get the time (and courage) to actually write it. I know some people couldn't understand why Grace cut herself, which by extension means they didn't really understand the character, I think, so I wanted to try my best to explain that and what it's like, so here goes...

Though it's not so bad these days and I'm not taking any medication, I've had depression come and go for the last ten years. I too used to cut myself, when I got particularly sad or angry (or both) or what's called an 'episode' I would grab a knife and start carving my arms. The physical pain I caused myself took my mind away from the emotional pain I felt and couldn't handle, it was a temporary reprieve. That probably sounds crazy but it's the best way I can explain it.

Depression isn't just feeling sad or down, it's struggling to find the will to even get out of bed in the morning, no energy to want to see your friends, fighting to try to keep control of your emotions and a general disconnect from yourself.
Some days I didn't feel like myself at all, everything seemed to move slower, like I was in a daze. I would cry uncontrollably, sometimes for no reason, small things would make me feel so angry I just wanted to smash everything up, and like Grace in the story I found it hard to talk about my feelings and what was wrong, I kept it all bottled inside until I couldn't hold onto it anymore and that's when I would start cutting myself, to let it out.
Though I had friends, though not any close ones, I felt lonely, I 'went' with men - mostly older men - because I thought I liked feeling wanted and the attention and, to be honest, it didn't occur to me that I could just say no to them, though it hurt when they didn't want to be my boyfriend after, or in some cases went home to their wives or girlfriends. I'm certainly not proud of that now, or a number of other things I did, that I won't talk about here.
I didn't always handle it with cutting though, I also drank a lot and used drugs (cocaine mostly), which, thankfully didn't turn into addictions, and, like I said there were men, and then some more men
Later when I started taking Prozac I'd double dose if I was feeling particularly bad, though the medicine did help most the time I did still have bad days.
Eventually I did settle down, especially when I had my first child, the anti-depressants did help a lot and my episodes were further apart, I was encouraged to talk about things and my feelings, even now I still struggle to talk about how I'm feeling. I was able to quit the pills for a time, I stayed in more and didn't drink so much and I stopped taking any kind of drugs permanently.
After my first child I did get depressed again so bad I had to quit work and started taking medicine again, but this time I had someone to support me and I got past it. Even now when I'm upset I sometimes get the urge to cut myself still but I stop and think about my three beautiful kids and of how happy they make me and how lucky I am and I feel stronger than ever and the urge goes away.
I have my 'down' days but they're completely outweighed by the good ones, so I'm proof that you can come out the other side of depression, maybe not completely unscathed, but I've learnt from my mistakes and will never be 'that' person again.
I stopped taking any kind of medicine a long time ago and have learnt ways to handle in by myself and recognise when I'm feeling 'bad.'

This was a really difficult piece to write because it's so personal so I hope it at least gets across what I'm trying to say. If you have questions, personal or otherwise, then please I welcome them...

Also if you know someone you think might benefit from reading this or would just like to share it, there are some share buttons down below, just before the comments box

Thankful Thursday #5

I'm thankful this week for Richelle Meads Vampire Academy series. It's a fantastic YA series that kept me hooked with each book. The protaganist Rose is a totally kick ass character, quite literally! She's funny, loyal to her friends and will fight for what she believes in. She's a natural leader, clever and passionate, I'd love her to be my best friend! If you haven't tried the series I urge you to, there's never a dull moment in these action packed books, my favourite of them all is book four Blood promise, which had me crying my eyes out by the end!
I'm really looking forward to the start in the spin-off series, bloodlines which is out in a few months

Winners

Both our giveaways are over and I'm here to announce the winners : )

To enter the Jamie Magee giveaway which was for some Swag and ebooks we asked you

What's your zodiac sign and which traits of it do you EMBODY the most?

I'm a Cancer and the traits I have are that I am very loyal to my friends and can be sensitive to mood swings!

Ninfa says: I'm a Capricorn and I guess the trait that I embody the most of my Zodiac Sign is the fact that I am very ambitious,and no matter how long it takes me to reach my goal,I will patiently work towards it until I succeed

So the bit you came here for! The winner is

Zoë Somers!

Congrats, check your email shortly for something from me.

And the winner of the 3000 FB followers giveaway, which was for your pick of one of our books of the month for the year so far is

Shelby Rodewald

Congrats to you to, an email is on the way





Wednesdays worldly covers - week 15

This is the cover for Die Tribute von Panem: Tödliche Spiele. which translates to The tribute by Panem: Deadly games by Suzanne Collins. Yes, it's the German cover of The Hunger games. I just love the colours in it! What do you think?

And on the other end of the creepy scale is the Italian version!

If your not familiar with the series or covers, here's what it looked like when released in the UK, you could choose who you wanted on the cover or, like me, just buy both!

But it's since been republished and now looks like this.

 So, I have to ask, which out of all these lovely covers do you like best?