Fire in Ice---Not Too Cheesy and All the Grits

picture courtesy of goodreads.com

*waves flag* Cheerio.

It's basically summer over here and I already hit the books. I am planning on some beach reads and definitely non-fiction.

And still talking about books: I just finished a fantasy book a few days back. All suspense, action, and a bad-ass female main character; Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs centers on Mercy Thompson, a were coyote, going on a rescue rampage yet again.

Married to an alpha werewolf, Mercy has her husband and a pack of wolves to worry about. She goes on an adventure to save her husband and the pack. Of course, as the series entails many are after her head and her life is now up for bidding to the highest bidder and the strongest fighter to fight her on a fight to the death.

I have followed this series for a while and have found myself an avid fan with all the action, back talking, supernatural characters, dark humor, and sweet romance. However in this volume Briggs cuts short. The plot involves conspiracy which is great but the conspiracy itself is a-typical and given to you the reader before you get the chance to figure out who it is. It's the equivalent of watching Dora and having Dora answer the question before you got a chance to answer back. Bad Bad. Swiping rights should be up when a book is 340 pages and it involves a typical cat and mouse chase like this one.

This book is perfect for a snack read, otherwise don't count on fireworks with this one.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Bonechiller (A Book Review)

pasted from goodreads.com

Holly ho everyone! Hope everyone is doing all right.

Currently I have been trying to catch up on this reading challenge of 50 books before the year ends and so far I have been able to squeeze in some books during the past two weeks. Which means: there are a couple of book reviews on the way.

And this is numero uno.

Written in first person narrative; this book tells the story of Danny, a teen boy, who has moved with his dad from Toronto to Harvest Cove; a small town where nothing ever happens.
One night while cruising with his new friends, he meets a "strange creature" that no one has ever seen before. He comes back home terrified and discovers legends around this creature. At first, Danny tries to disregard such a creature exists but as he tries to forget, he soon realizes he can't and now he will have to face it in order to survive and save his friends.

The creature itself was interestingly disgusting in description which helped in finishing the book. However, I don't like the way the author transitioned from the main character's normal routine to this creature. It is weak and barely visible. And the author could have done better.

Just for the monster, I won't label it as a bad apple. However, I would hesitate in recommending it to anyone unless any of you are monster lovers.



(check out the book trailer made by a fan.)




Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

Boneshaker (A Steampunk Book Review)

picture courtesy of bartsbookshelf.co.uk

January has been an interesting month for me. So far I have finished 4 books and I am currently on reading some other books along with venturing on some non-fiction.

One of the 4 books, I finished was Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.

Taken place in Civil War America, this steampunk story covers the journey of a kid who is trying to find physical evidence of who his father really was after 17 years of his life hearing all sorts of stories about him. So he goes underground to the other side of town where zombies, pirates, and all sorts of crazy action occur. Meanwhile, his mother goes after him worried he will die in the process.

There is quite some action in this book along with mystery and suspense. I loved the zombie parts and found myself engaged in some of the life-or-death situations. However, for some reason I found the book a bit bland. I finished it but felt like it needed more spice. The ending pretty much saved it from being "blah" (and the zombies too). Otherwise, I wouldn't really give it much thought.

Since it is a series, I am going to try the other books but I am still skeptical if it will be better or in the same line of "ok". Besides that, I'd say why not try it. Maybe you will find it greater than how I found it.


Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

P.S. Here is an excerpt of the audiobook. Courtesy of YouTube.

Merry 2013 and a New Start (book review) (possible SPOILER Alert!)

picture courtesy of bookequals.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR *honks the horn and dances in confetti* Wish you all the best on this year of
2013. Oh and lets not forget we survived the impending doom of an apocalypse! WOOOO!

And to start off 2013. Here is a book review I promised before:

The second installment of Beautiful Creatures that follows the story of Lena & Ethan Wate. Lena is a Caster and Ethan Wate a mere mortal. When Ethan met her, Lena was in the midst of a countdown in which she had to make a choice
that will compromise members of her family. And to top it all off, Ethan gets caught in the plans of one of the Dark Casters.


In Beautiful Darkness, Ethan & Lena begin to separate while Lena goes deeper in her grief after loosing a loved one in a Caster battle of powers. After the funeral, Lena starts to change little by little. When Ethan catches unto signs that things are going to get worse, Lena disappears. From there on it becomes a quest for Ethan to find Lena and help her decide where she belongs.


What was cool about this book, is that you see character development even through the eyes of Ethan. Beautiful Darkness is written in the first person narrative of Ethan Wate just as the one before it. However, the way it is written seems more third person narrative than first person. I was a little bored reading the beginning because of the whole relationship drama that came from the first book. But as I continued to read, the mystery and action that followed got me more interested. As a matter of fact, I actually finished this book after I was on my way home from New Years at Time Square (talk about hectic). When finished, I thought it helped to finish my night in the right way: reading a book. I know this book is nothing like the Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare but it sure is similar in the action and adventure aspect. I would still recommend it for those of you who love a good adventure with some romance. 




Til Next Blogpost & Happy New Year Wishes,
Miss Bobo

Stray (First Fall Book Review)

courtesy of rachelvincent.com

Hope you all are having a good week. The fall season has started and its time to collect some of those books for the time in between work and school.

And talking about books, today I finally finished an awesome adventurous one I was reading ebook style:

Written in first person narrative, Stray by Rachel Vincent is centered on Faythe, a girl doing her years in graduate school to escape her family life. Independent and stubborn, Faythe has spent her years in college studying and annoyed at the bodyguards her father sends to protect her. Being the only female daughter who is a werecat, she has always been a great concern of her parents. And as human girls start to appear dead within werecat territory, worry starts to bubble even more.

The concept of a “werecat” was interesting to find in this book since werewolves have been one of the famous fantasy archetypes along with the vampire. Here, werecats are very similar to werewolves in behavioral aspects but have different elements of stealth. For example, in this book werecats are impervious to silver.

I also found the main character, Faythe, to be a little too stubborn and crazy in the beginning but as the story progresses it becomes apparent the reason why she is that way and why she avoids her family. There is suspense in this book in which there are twists and unsuspected turns along with adventure and romance. And even the romance itself is intense and less sweet than your usual conventional one.

Finishing this book, I find myself highly intrigued and waiting for the next one since this book is the first in the series. However, I do have to say that this book was really graphic in the violence content and there were some scenes that I actually had to take a 2-day break before continuing reading. I definitely recommend to read this book for those of you who are shape-shifter fans and like some good suspenseful action. 

Beware: this book requires a certain tolerance to violence.

Til Next Blogpost,
Miss Bobo

City of Bones (update!!!)

picture courtesy of  http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/

So, while I am reading a few books and classes in between, I have just stumbled upon some crazy news: City of Bones has started filming and the cast is set. The official website is up, so you guys can check out the full cast on the website along with their character and a small blurb of information on the character.

And for those who want confirmation, here is a list of who is playing who:

Characters--------- Actors who will be playing them

1. Clary------- Lily Collins 
2. Jace---------Jamie Campbell-Bower
3. Simon-------Robert Sheehan
4. Alec---------Kevin Zegers
5. Isabelle------Jemima West
6. Magnus------Godfrey Gao
7. Jocelyn-------Lena Headey
8. Luke----------Aidan Turner
9. Hodge--------Jared Harris
10. Valentine----Jonathan Rhys Meyers

You can check out the whole cast on the highlighted link: (city of bones)

I am highly interested how this movie is going to turn out. According to a FAQ On Cassandra Clare's main website/blog, they might make another one if this first movie is successful.

I really do hope that this film won't mess up the book too much but still be creative on how they interpret the book. OF COURSE, nothing is perfect and assuming that this movie will be the best book-into-film that has ever been released is a little too much to expect. However, other's might think otherwise and that means all these people contributing & working towards the release of this movie should work their ass off to make it the best work they have done (my opinion) anyway. 

New Year's Cheer and a Ghost Breath in the Midst

Hello! I hope you all had an awesome holiday cheer and I wish you the best for this new year. Since I am on vacation for the holidays I took the opportunity to grab a handful of books to read and review. Unfortunately for Giacomo, I left him just when things got all Rubik's cube and so that book review is on hiatus. (BOO!)
However, I was able to begin and finish reading one of the novels I burrowed at the library titled Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen.

Taking place in South Carolina, this novel starts in the voice of Charlotte Silver talking about her life as the daughter of two paranormal researchers and the sister of a charming Annelise.

After dealing with a life of being on the road to haunted places with her parents, Charlotte gets a change of scenery and gets settled at a house near Charleston, South Carolina. From then on things get wacky as she ends up finding out she is haunted by a ghost that seems to have followed her from a recent trip to a haunted place with her parents in Charleston.

At first reading the novel, I thought it was going to be one of those stories of a plane Jane or a dorky girl being changed by an extreme paranormal event. As the novel progressed I realized I wasn't wrong.

Pertaining in the YA paranormal/fantasy genre, this novel gives a bit of a twist to the stereotypical ghost story.

Instead of having the main character being a random person, she ends up being the offspring of what she herself quotes as the daughter of "ghostbusters." I did find the narrative to be a bit reminiscent of Meg Cabot and a pinch of R.L.Stine and also found some interesting scenes of the novel; like when Charlotte encounters the ghosts and communicates with them.

Because I've read a lot of paranormal YA novels, I wasn't scared at all reading the novel. However, I would recommend this novel for teens who are slowly getting into the paranormal genre and don't want to get scared too easily. Besides that I would say it's "cute."

Dead is the New Black (Indeed)

A quick read is always needed when someone is on the go. And this one is just the adventure needed when say sitting in an office bench.

The adventure, or rather the story, starts exactly as it is happening. Written in first person narrative in the voice of Daisy Giordano, Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez; revolves around Nightshade, a town where strange happenings tend to occur. For Daisy and the rest of the inhabitants of Nightshade, these happenings are just part of everyday life; until a girl is found dead with unknown causes and the "it" girl, Samantha Devereaux, comes in Nightshade High sporting an outrageous new look. Things are not starting out good. Especially when Daisy's mom, a psychic who works on helping solve crimes, comes home in need of help on the case of the dead girl.

Trust this book to bring you back in that cozy Nancy Drew drive with a mystery that will remind you of Scooby-Doo. Although, there won't be any monster chase with multiple doors to imagine, there is quite a romance and your cliche of highschool dances to read and picture.

Til next review,

Eleanor Bobo