Blood Witch (Sweep, #3), by Cate Tiernan

Blood Witch (Sweep, #3), by Cate Tiernan on Goodreads

Release Date: March 22nd, 2007 (1st published on 2001)
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Puffin

Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Series
Categories: Paranormal, Witchcraft, Religions, Wicca, Family Issues

Other Titles Reviewed in TCM: Book of Shadows (Sweep, #1), The Coven (Sweep, #2)
Challenge: 100 Books in a Year
Read in April 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Morgan knows that witchcraft can be dangerous and that her birth parents died because of their involvement. But witchcraft is a part of Morgan in a way she can't ignore, and now that she's practicing Wicca, her powers are increasing. Her boyfriend Cal is a witch, too. He believes that they are muirn beatha dans, witches who are meant to be together, to love one another. But the sudden appearance of Hunter, a stranger who claims to be Cal's brother, threatens to ruin everything. Hunter says that Cal is practicing dark magic. And Morgan feels unsure. Could it be true?

My Opinion:

I have to say, this series is becoming one of my favourites. It just gets better and better. Cate really knows her Wicca.

This review will be very short, because this is a short book. And since this is the third book, and the new bind-ups contain three books each, from now on I'll just review those bind-ups, because these books are so short, it'd be so much easier if I just did that, writing a review for three books at once.

What I have to say about Blood Witch:

• I don't like Selene Belltower. I started disliking her at the end of book two, and now it's getting pretty obvious where she's going, and that makes me dislike her even more. 
• I don't like Cal either. But that's because I kinda read a little spoiler, which made me change the way I see him. 
• I'm liking Hunter more and more, and I can't wait to see what happens with him.
• I'm dying to see what's going on with Bree and Raven and their coven! It feels like Bree and Morgan are both stubborn, and they both miss each other, but neither wants to be the one that apologises first.
• And although it sometimes felt like Morgan couldn't do anything without Cal's approval, I definitely see where that is going, and I'm sure -or I hope- that she'll be her own woman soon. There are fifteen of these books, so the third one is just like scratching the surface. 

The writing's magical, like in the first two books, and although Cate weaves a lot of made-up facts (of course she would, this is her fictional world!), her Wicca facts are very accurate.

I can't wait to see how this unravels! So many secrets and lies and drama!!! You should definitely start reading this series, if you already haven't.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part Two: Official Trailer!!!

How awesome is that? I watched it last night, and I was sure I'd get a heart attack! I squealed and awww'ed and sobbed, and my roommates were baffled. They can't understand why I love Harry (the series) so much. I've tried to explain to them everything it's taught me, but they just can't see why someone my age is crazy about "magic". They're not mean about it! They just don't get it.

Do you love the books as much as I do? Because I'd like to be your friend if you do. 

xo,
Ella

I'm featured on In Between Reading and Writing!

The lovely Jude Henderson is featuring me on her beautiful blog, In Between Reading and Writing, today!

You can learn more stuff about me there, so hop on over! Go to her blog post here. 

Jude, honey, you are ah-mazing. Enough said.

Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder

Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder on Goodreads.

Release Date: April 1st, 2010
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: NetGalley

Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Series
Categories: Dystopian, Science Fiction

Challenge: 100 Books in a Year
Read between March and April 2011


Summary from Goodreads:

Keep Your Head Down.
Don't Get Noticed.
Or Else.
I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

My Opinion:

What a great book to introduce me to the work of Maria V. Snyder! Truly amazing! Maria has created a whole new world, for lack of a better term, and it's incredibly exciting to see how it works.

When I started reading it, Trella explained how they lived in a place called Inside, and how it was built. She showed us where she was going in the pipes, but it was hard to keep up with her, I really needed a map! And guess what. I found a map of Inside, after reading the book. So now that I'm done, I can think back on it, and understand her movements better. I really think the map should have been included on the book, so we'd be able to keep better track of Trella's moves through the pipes.

Considered to be the Queen of the Pipes, and not because everyone loved her so much, Trella is a wonderful character, and I loved watching (reading) her evolution on the pages. She starts out as a closed-in character, with Cogon as her only friend (No one recycles Cogon!). But, as she realises how life on Inside really is, and how she has the power to change that, she takes a spin in the other direction. While she couldn't trust anyone before, now she's learning there's strength in numbers.

I loved Riley too. *swoon* He's the Upper who changes Trella's view of the world.

Basically, every single character is written to perfection. They all have their tempers, their characteristics, those things that make them unique, and I love that in a book.

What I love about Dystopian books are the revolutions. I get really excited about them, when I read them, because in the real world, we could really do with a few. And those that are set in motion need our support.

Trella needs to find Gateway, the door to Outside. She'll have a lot of help, a lot of it. The bad guys here are the Trava family, who rule Inside, spreading lies to the Scrubs and Uppers, so they won't unite against them.

The search for Gateway was one of the most thrilling things I've read this year. Trust and treason, friends and enemies, this book has it all. Even love, which I'm a sucker for. And I don't particularly like Sci-Fi, but man, I didn't even know this was a Sci-Fi until the end of the book! So brilliantly introduced! I'm in awe, seriously. 

I'm a new Maria V. Snyder fan, and I'm off to read Outside In. Can't wait to see what happens next!

In My Mailbox #7

This week I got a couple of books; a printed one, and a few eARCs:

Tierras de Esmeralda: La Esfera Mágica, by Pilar Alberdi.
(Printed. From Publisher.)

Summary from Goodreads (translated by me):

A land of leyend, where numerous characters face the darkness released by Ténebrus and his minions. While on the Lands of Esmerald, their inhabitants have understood that a book is worth as much as a library, and a person as much as all people, on the dark world beside them, evil lurks in shadows.

Can a group of teenagers and an elder restore hope to the villages? And what about those flying young people from Tilsmans?
To know that, just open this book, where it reads...
"Lands of  Esmerald or the lineage of the Smáragdos. Also known as the Land of the Three Kingdoms (Mytos, Circe and Artemisa), the three lineages and the three libraries." Submerge in a classical and medieval world, where the wondrous becomes real. A war between good and evil. This is just the beginning.

The Near Witch, by Victoria Schwab.
(eARC from NetGalley.)


Summary from Goodreads:
The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.

Starcrossed, by Josephine Angelini.
(eARC from NetGalley.)


Summary from Goodreads:

How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Populazzi, by Elise Allen.
(eARC from NetGalley. Author Interview and Giveaway to come!)


Summary from Goodreads:

Cara has always dreamed of being a Populazzi, one of the popular crowd. But it’s not until she changes schools that she gets a shot at it, thanks to her best friend Claudia’s crazy plan. The idea is simple: The rungs of The Ladder are relationships. First get a boyfriend who's ranked low, then climb up through more boyfriends until you're not just one of the Populazzi, but the Supreme Populazzi. Yet what starts off as a fairy tale turns into a somewhat dark comedy of errors. Just when Cara reaches the top, her life hits rock bottom. She wonders why she wanted to be popular in the first place—and if there’s any way to live happily ever after now.

I've got a bunch more on NetGalley, but I don't want to make this post uber-long. What did you get this week?

In My Mailbox explores the contents of my mailbox on a weekly -not so weekly!- basis. (This feature was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie and created by Kristi of The Story Siren.)