Stacking the Shelves is hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. I haven't done one of these for a while so there is quite a few of them. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things and post these more regularly from now on.

Click the book covers for the Goodreads information on them.

Bought:

After reading and loving Looking For Alaska, I just had to go out and get more from John Green and my under stocked book shop only had these two, otherwise I would've bought a lot more.

Eve and Adam appealed to the feminist in me and the synopsis looks awesome. I've had my eye on Ultraviolet for some time and I just had to get it when I saw it was on sale!



I've read both of these and I am happy to say they were both 5 star books. Reviews coming soon...



The Raven Boys looks amazing and the Hush Hush series IS amazing so I suspect the final book will be just as much.



If Costa Coffee says it's good, who am I to judge?

Borrowed From The Library: 

This will probably be my classic of March!

For Review:

I love this series! Read my review of this here.

So what have you got recently?

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

Solar, Defeated By Diantha Jones

Series: Mythos #1, Oracle of Delphi #2.5
Genre: Young Adult, Mythology 
Release Date: April 23rd 2013
Source: ARC From Author
Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 5/5 Stars
Synopsis: From the moment Strafford Law saw Chloe Clever, he knew he was destined to love her forever. But a dishonorable past and a bleak future threaten to destroy him before he gets the chance. Looking back, he recalls his life before it came crashing down around him...a time when the one he now loathes most of all was the one he adored more than anything.

I'm not normally one for a novella but this one was different. The book centers on Strafford Law, aka the tortured soul, Demi-god we all love from the Oracle of Delphi series. The story follows him through flashbacks ranging from when he was a child to just before he met Chloe. I liked seeing him without Chloe in this because, although I like her, when she's not there the story is more focused on his relationship with his family which I loved.

As always I loved Strafford in this but Ace is still (and I suspect always will be) my favorite. And together they are one of my all time favorite siblings. Speaking of siblings, I really enjoyed seeing Strafford and Isolde's relationship. They has the perfect chemistry and Isolde was badass which is of course my favorite type of heroine. In the previous books I wasn't all that keen on Felicity but as I saw more of her, she grew on me and Teagan is adorable - plus I love her name. Solar, Defeated left me with many questions about Apollo and Isolde's relationship as well as many suspicions.

The story building in Solar, Defeated was amazing, I think I will love every book in this series no matter how high my expectations are. I absolutely cannot wait to learn more about Strafford's mysterious life (and there's always the extra of seeing more of Ace) in the books to come. This series rivals all other books in the mythology genre and it has already beaten most of the ones I've read. I would recommend this to anyone regardless of whether you normally like the genre or not.

My Favorite Quote:

"I'd seen books about some kid wizard named Potter sitting around the house and I'd spotted Felicity reading a book with someone holding an apple on the front, but I didn't see anything like those books in the library now."

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

The YA Handbook (Part One)

As promised here is the first part of the YA Handbook. The ultimate guide for creating the most stereotypical Young Adult novel in existence.

Rule One: Kill off one or both parents
As Seen In: Evermore, Series Of Unfortunate Events, The Hunger Games, The Vampire Diaries...

At least we can date vampires...

Have you ever read a YA book and wondered where the parents were while their teenagers were off hanging around with vampires or nearly being killed every other day? Then you remember that their parents were killed tragically in a car crash/doing the exact thing they always do. Their reckless behavior must be left over grief from their parents early demise, right?
Why do they do it? Because if the parents were around we, as readers, would start questioning their abilities as parents and we can't have that! So the solution is to just get rid of them so the children have excuses to rebel!

Rule Two: The Heroine has to be 'special'

As Seen In: Twilight, House of Night, Vampire Diaries, Need...

Have you noticed a common factor with the above books? If you haven't I'll help you out. Every book above has a heroine on my Top 10 worst female character's list. Coincidence? I think not! I believe the world is just not ready for a 'special' heroine, our jealousy would just be too much if there wasn't more negatives than positives about them. I mean look at Bella Swan, she has half the worlds teenage girls wishing they were her just so they could have Edward but imagine how huge that number would be if she actually had personality? Feminists everywhere hate her for setting women back twenty years but if they were on side... it doesn't bear thinking about.
Why do they do it? Because the world would explode if that many green eyed monsters came out when discussing Twilight, (which for many girls is about 95% of the time) so to prevent it the heroine is made horribly infuriating.

Friendless by choice?

Rule Three: The Heroine must not have any important relationships in her life other than the love interests
As Seen In: Twilight, Sweet Evil, Matched, Numbers, Mara Dyer... 
If YA books were accurate then the definition of love would be something along the lines of: 'A feeling which causes you to forget your friends and family exist so that you can stalk date someone who appears to hate you but is obviously as creepily obsessed in love with you as you are them'. 
Why do they do it? A far as I know being in love doesn't cause all of your friends and family to disappear so maybe the hero's 'get rid of them' - and hopefully will go onto rid the world of the soulless heroines highlighted in Rule Two.


Rule Four: Two guys must enter the heroine's life simultaneously (and be opposites) 
As Seen In: The Infernal Devices, Soul Screamers, Fallen, The Chemical Gardens, Vampire Academy...
You know the deal, there is coincidentally two new guys at school within days of each other or better yet the heroine is new to town and two guys immediately fall for her - normally for reasons I cannot fathom. These boys will always be opposites whether it's boring good guy vs hot bad boy or maybe hilarious vs serious. Either way the guys will always be polar opposites and the girl will always choose the one you don't want them to, or is that just me?
Why do they do it? I believe that the love triangle phenomenon came about when an author drafted two hero's and couldn't pick between them so just thought 'I may as well put them both in'. It's good in a way because everyone loves an underdog and for the underdog to exist we need an overdog.

Rule Five: Que mean girl/s
As Seen In: Morganville, Pretty Little Liars, Bloodlines, Before I Fall, Thirteen Reasons Why...

Anyone who claims not to have seen it lies!

No high school is complete without mean girls! They are normally cheerleaders but as long as they're blonde and Barbie like they can apply. This trend isn't as prominent as it once was and I can seriously say I miss it. I'm sick of everyone adoring the heroine!
Why do they do it? Since the success of Mean Girls I noticed the mean girls in YA increased too. I think it's physically impossible to display an American high school without cliques and mean girls because then whose going to spread gossip? Whose going to torture the wannabees? YA lit needs those catalysts to survive.

That's all for now but look out for Part Two next week and if you have any suggestions for the handbook voice them in the comments and I may put them in!

The Tower By Jade Varden

Series: Deck Of Lies #2
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Release Date: April 5th 2012
Source: Review Copy From Author
Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 2/5 Stars - I may or may not have thought it was a Dalek when I first saw it
Synopsis: Death brings some families closer, but it’s ripped mine apart. I wanted to convince the police that they had the wrong suspect...but I never expected them to start suspecting me. Now, I have no choice but to keep searching for the truth, even if all my relationships fall to pieces around me. Someone is trying to make me look guilty. I never thought my mission to prove my own innocence would lead me to more family secrets. I thought I had already discovered the truth about myself. But every answer raises more questions, and everything I think I know is about to change...again. I have to find the truth, no matter how much it hurts -- before I get charged with murder. 

I started this book with huge expectations after reading and loving the first book. And did it meet my expectations? No. It exceeded them. The second book in the Deck Of Lies series has all the mystery and twists that drew me to the first book but they're multiplied ten times over. There is not a dull moment in this book and although the turns can make you slightly dizzy it's well worth it. It would be difficult to describe The Tower without giving too much away so all I'm going to say is that the plot this time around revolves around a murder case, some huge family issues and of course there is romantic aspects.

I have about the same opinion on the characters as I did first time around apart from two slight differences: One, I like Sawyer a lot more than I did originally and two, I do not like Owen. At all. At the end of the first book he was beginning to creep me out but now that feeling has been amplified. Rain grew on me and I began to like her way more than before. My problem was there wasn't nearly enough River, I missed him!

Overall the book is one of the best, most exciting mysteries I have ever read. Jade has managed to lure me into thinking I know who the killer is but then she blows it all out of the water and to keep me from guessing takes a very gifted author. The story building is amazing and the plot is seamless. I would recommend this to people who enjoy just the right mix of entertainment and mystery with of course the cliffhangers that I am beginning to associate with this series. I can honestly say it's one of the best self published books I've read.

My Favorite Quote:
“Lucy?” 
“Sure,” Sawyer smiled. “That’s the re­cep­tion­ist’s name.” 
Von Shel­ton charm.

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK