In My Mailbox (10)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren; here we share with you, the lovely readers, what books came to us this week whether it be in the mail, from the library, purchased or borrowed.

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I bought...

The Hunger Games (Book 1)

Catching Fire (Book 2)

Mockingjay (Book 3)

After reading The Hunger Games when I checked it out of the library, I was immediately hooked and wanted to read Catching Fire but I was in a pickle because there were over 40 people in line! So with a giftcard in hand to Joseph-Beth Booksellers, I went in search of Catching Fire...only to find out it was out of stock from the publishers and the only copies were available in the box set. I went on a wild ride of "Should I buy the whole set? But I wanted Girl in the Steel Corset...but Catching Fire..." in the end I bought it to the pleasant surprise of being 20% off! With the gift card taken into consideration, I got the whole set for cheaper than 1 book!

From the library...

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Red Glove by Holly Black

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

The Dark & Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

I really only intended to check out the remaining Forest of Hands and Teeth books to fill my dystopian need but when all these other great titles are just there, how could I say no?

First Impressions Friday (3)

First Impressions is a meme hosted here at Within Pages where we take a look at all things, mostly booky, and reflect on our initial thoughts. Non-bloggers, non-book bloggers, and everyone alike can participate. Feel free to drop your links or thoughts in the comments!

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Recently, I posted my review of Holly Black's White Cat. By the time I finished the book, I enjoyed it considerably (it walked away with 3.5 stars). I thought it was interesting and funny though while I was reflecting back on my original thoughts when I first started the book that my first impression was different. This is a common occurance, it isn't like it is a rare situation, but I thought I would share my first thoughts (the whole point of FiF!).

OMGWTF!?IDONTGETWTHACURSEWORKERIS!ZOMG!

Other than that, I was mildly concerned about being able to get into the head of a con-man/boy/murderer that Cassel was set up to be in the beginning.

Be sure to check out my overall thoughts by the end of the book in the review; it was an enjoyable read!

Review: White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat by Holly Black

Gooreads | Amazon

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (May 4, 2010)

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages (Paperback): 310

Series: Curse Workers (Book 1)

Source: Library

ISBN-13: 9781416963967

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago. 

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. 

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

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After getting into this book, I began to really enjoy the story that was being told. Black has constructed an alternate reality of Curse Workers that extends back into the most ancient of histories; workers populate Australia and the United States pilfering jobs for crime families like The Godfather.

In this sense, I thought that the story had a hint of a dystopian concept even though it wasn't a dystopia. In a world of curse workers, everyone is forced to wear gloves; everyone lives in fear of getting worked. In Cassel's world, someone coming at you with bare hands can be more deadly than a sharpened knife.

Black also had strong familial themes that ran through this book. After his heinous crime against Lila and the Zacharov family, Cassel's brothers were there to help him and make sure his crime went unpunished; the big brothers cleaning up the mess. But then, we also see the insanely dysfunctional side of his family and the family he realized he always wanted but never had. With a mother in jail, living in the house of a hoarder, and being released from school, Cassel begins to unravel the truth about families; even a deep level of loyalty he can't seem to shake.

As the story progresses, we have the privilege to watch Cassel grow as a person. Bearing witness to character development is a strong part of this book as we see him go from leading a life of "normalcy" to honestly having and trusting friends. His intelligence surges as he realizes the biggest con of his life. From the roof, the only place to go is down, but when he hits rock bottom and finds the truth, the only place for him to go is up.

The one aspect that caused me to not really love the book was the easy-to-unravel plot. It wasn't hard for me to know what was really going on with Cassel as to what he was and what was happening to him. But even knowing what was happening, the read was still enjoyable and Black's writing was great. It was also the first book that had a character with a name similar to mine (the same as my nickname): Lila. But that was a personal little smile point, and not really important to anyone else, I'm sure.

In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren; here we share with you, the lovely readers, what books came to us this week whether it be in the mail, from the library, purchased or borrowed.

I happened to see the library a couple days this week and have a small new stack of books this week:

From the Library...

• White Cat by Holly Black - Goodreads
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - Goodreads
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - Goodreads
• Crave by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz - Goodreads

I'm pretty excited about all of these titles. I picked up White Cat because it is the first in The Curse Workers and I really want to read Red Glove. A Great and Terrible Beauty was a selection that I found while browsing the stacks, I didn't have this one in mind but when reading The Story Siren review on my iPhone Goodreads app (LOVE that thing!), I picked it up as it is the first in the series. I am going into reading Crave completely blind only having the synopsis to go on; this is an experiment, I know there are reviews out there for it. And last, the book on the top of my TBR due to its unrenewable loan status is The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I read great reviews on this series including the new and third book Dark and Hollow Places; unfortunately, this is not the series I was thinking it was, that being The Hunger Games which I really want to read.

Books Borrowed...

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen - Goodreads

My best friend let me borrow the books because she absolutely adores it; there is a moving starring Robert Pattinson releasing April 22 which is a movie to book adaptation of this selection. I can't say that I know a lot about it going into it other than it is circus related or something, and that knowledge comes mainly from movie trailers. This is not necessarily a YA book as it voices strong, mature themes.

Speaking of book to movie adaptations; I also bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I Special Edition DVD. If you haven't read this, do so; this movie really does the first half of the book a LOT of justice and is the best adaptation and best movie in the series! I also received an awesome exclusive Dobby button!

That's all I've got for this week! Be sure to let me know what you got in your mailbox!