A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

So, the read-a-thon ended Sunday and I'm just now getting around to updating. XD

I ended up finishing one book and starting two. I finished Wither by Lauren DeStefano. I am so happy that I finally got around to reading this book. I really enjoyed the book but at the same time it feels like a lot of it could have been cut out. I just hope that Rhine does not end up with Linden in the end.

Aside from finishing Wither, I also started reading I, Coriander by Sally Gardner and
A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare. I had some problems trying to read A Night to Surrender. I downloaded it from booksonboard and it would not let me transfer the file to my nook. So, I started reading it on the computer but now I have a new laptop and am having trouble accessing it on this new computer. I gave up and just started reading I, Coriander.

I think this was an okay read-a-thon. :p

A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon

I'm participating in the A Winter's Respite Read-a-Thon! Actually, it already started so I am a day late. Still, better late than never~

For this read-a-thon, you can choose any books that you want. I want to try and stick to a theme for this week. I want to read books that give me a kind of "wintery" feel either from the cover or summary. When I think of winter I think of snow, darkness, the cold, starry nights, dreams, love and other similar things.

I really like read-a-thong because they always give me an extra boost of reading motivation and I need that right now. XD

Here's my TBR pile:

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (the cover "feels" wintery to me)
A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare 
I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall
Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim 

Breathe Book Review

Title: Breathe
Author: Sarah Crossan

Breathe is the first book in a new dystopian series. In this world everyone lives in Pods and the government controls the oxygen supply because of The Switch. The Switch happened when massive deforestation occurred resulting in few trees, no animals, people dying and the controlling government moving selected people into Pods. So, the plot is a typical totalitarian government controlling everything verses a small group of rebels deciding to fight back only now the rebels are hippies.

I really did love this book though. Even though the story idea is not the most original thing in the world, the author did a good job making an interesting and original story out of it.

One thing I liked was how the love triangle was actually one guy and two women because I usually don't see that. it is usually two men fighting over the same girl. Another thing about the love triangle in Breathe is that there is no fighting over the main guy, Quinn. Bea doesn't hate Alina just because Quinn likes her. It is also nice to see Alina not give a damn about Quinn. So, really, it is not much of a love triangle. I'm kind of glad about this fact because it was refreshing to read a story that was more about the dystopian world and the action and less about the romance compared to many other Young Adult books that I've been reading lately.

I have to say though, I don't care much for Quinn. He has not really done much yet but I see a lot of room for his character to grow and develop.

I also liked how the author wrote the story from the three main characters' point of view. It is very interesting to read the events from the three different perspectives and it is not confusing at all to go back and forth between each character.

A lot of reviews that I have read mention that the ending felt weak and disappointing. I can see why some people are saying this. The ending was kind of a weird place to leave off but this is part of a series so I have hope that the next book will wrap things up better.

Breathe is very nicely written and if you love dystopian novels I would give this one a shot.

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota

Title: Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota
Author: Tracey Bateman

Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota is a good, clean, christian romance novel. It is/was also a freebie for the Nook which is why I picked it up. I am kind of in a mood for stories set in the Midwest/American Frontier right now. Normally I wouldn't post a review for a romance book in this blog but since this is a clean romance (no naughty parts~) I'm fine posting this review here.

The book starts off with Rosemary traveling to North Dakota to move in with her twin sister and her twin sister's husband. Their father had just passed away and Rosemary had no where else to go.

This started off fine but then just went downhill as the story continued. Rosemary became a complete Mary Sue.

Also, the love between her and Finn seemed a little rushed at the end. They get married because of some legal issues over the land Rosemary brought but I never felt like the issues between them were resolved before or after the marriage. Rosemary didn't want to marry Finn because she did not want to be a replacement for her dead sister and we are told that Finn doesn't think of Rosemary in that way but he never really convinced Rosemary of it. I also found it weird that the whole town right away wanted Finn and Rosemary to get married. His wife and her sister just died but omg they need to get married right now! Because it is like the proper thing to do!!!

One thing I liked about this book is that it made me want to move out west and  herd sheep! Wait... that's not right.

The setting of the story was very nice. I feel like the author did a good amount of research before writing the story. At the end of the book she does mention that she took some liberties with the setting and time period and gives her reasons why.

This book was not really for me though.I don't like the whole sibling marrying her dead sibling's husband. At least the two main characters had reservations about getting married too but I feel like it still was not resolved. I never really felt that Finn had moved pass just seeing Rosemary as a separate person and Rosemary never got over the fear that she was just a replacement.

Rating: 2 1/2 Cafe Lattes out of 5