eARC Review: Ours Is Just a Little Sorrow

Title: Ours Is Just a Little Sorrow
Author: Gwen Hayes
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Format: eBook
Pages: 79

The colony of New Geneva has risen from the ashes of her dying mother planet, Earth, by rebuilding a society based on a time before everything went horribly, horribly wrong...the Victorian Era...

Violet Merriweather first sets eyes on Colonel Winston when he purchases her at auction from Witherspoon Academy, the orphanage where she’d been raised after her rescue from Earth. Dutifully, as she was taught, Violet pushes away her fear of the monstrous, forbidding Thornfield Abbey, and throws herself into her work as governess to the Colonel’s youngest son.


But the Colonel's elder sons have other ideas.

John and Gideon Winston are as different as night and day, and each wants to claim Violet for his own. John immediately charms her with his intelligence and cordial demeanor, while Gideon, the dark rogue, delights in flustering her at every opportunity, awakening a yearning she doesn't understand and most assuredly does not want. She tries to deny her pull to both men, but an uneasy midnight bargain with one forges a new alliance as she’s dazzled by an underground New Geneva she hadn't known existed. And temptations she cannot resist.

But something is preying on the women of New Geneva, something that threatens to unleash the ghosts of Thornfield and drag them all into hell. And that something wants Violet most of all.

Books I Want to Read: Part 2

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Breaking Point by Kristen Simmons

The second installment in Kristen Simmons's fast-paced, gripping YA dystopian series.

After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.

Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….

Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.

With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?

American Gods by Niel Gaiman

After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the days, then the hours, then the minutes, then the seconds until his release tick away, he can feel a storm building. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in apparently adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr. Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But they are being pursued by someone with whom Shadow must make his peace... Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Neil Gaiman's epic new novel sees him on the road to finding the soul of America.

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers. 

When I was fourteen, I made a decision. If I was doomed to live in a trailer park next to an airport, I could complain about the smell of the jet fuel like my mom, I could drink myself to death over the noise like everybody else, or I could learn to fly.

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Books I Want to Read: Part 1

Books I Need To Read:

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.


Partials by Dan Wells

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials--engineered organic beings identical to humans--has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them--connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low. 

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Everneath by Brody Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

"Everneath" is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

Film Friday: A Book I Would Love To Be Adapted

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons. It is almost as epic as the Hunger Games, and as romantically frustrating as The Host. If there was one book for the rest of the year I could choose to be adapted, it would Article 5 by Kristen Simmons. This book will make you gasp, squeal, giggle, and love. And that is without the images on screen.

I suppose I am somewhat reluctant when it comes to movies adapted from books. I always feel like movies can never do an author's writing justice.

However, I could just imagine Article 5 being AHHMAZING on screen. I could also imagine myself fangirling over the amazing Chase Jennings.


Amber Skye came up with the perfect choice of actor for Chase:

Books I Adore

These are some of the books I could talk about 24/7... If you haven't read them, you should.

Delirium: Young love, people trying to tear them apart, overall greatness. I absolutely love this book. The sequel was really disappointing, but the first is too good to abandon. I think I could read this book a million times and love it all the same every single time.

Harry Potter: It's Harry Potter, do I really have to explain?

The Hunger Games: Normally I am not a huge fan of the gory, fighting, and death. However, Suzanne Collins is such a genius about the way she weaves the death in with love and life, that I could not help falling in love with her book. Not only is the first book incredible, but the subsequent books do the series justice too.

Jane Eyre: This is my favourite book. There is no explanation for the love of Mr. Rochester and Jane. The crazy woman in the attic is slightly scary, but the story of a woman making her life better is just crazy good.

Article 5: If I could put the emoticon with hearts for eyes on here, I would. At first, I was skeptical about my friend's love for Chase Jennings. She kept telling me I would fall in love with him, and all I could this was "This girl is crazy." Yet, I was proven extremely wrong. I am now a believer in the amazing-ness of Chase Jennings, and I CAN'T WAIT for Breaking Point, the sequel.

The Host: Ahhh. I know Stephenie Meyer's Twilight has gained a bad reputation, but her novel The Host, has changed my perspective completely. The beginning of the book was a little confusing for me, but I am so glad I persevered. The rest of the story was so enjoyable. It made me want to laugh, cry, gasp, and read it over and over and over.

City of Bones: My ridiculous love for Jace Wayland has made me giggle and squeal in fangirl-iness you wouldn't believe. The plot twists and turns keep me on my toes, and lead me to believe that Cassandra Clare is an absolute genius.

Clockwork Prince: The sequel to the somewhat disappointing Clockwork Angel proves my hypothesis: Cassandra Clare is a genius.

My Imaginary Cast: Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

After finishing Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince (and impatiently awaiting Clockwork Princess),  I have been trying to decide who my perfect cast could be. Well, I had no idea. When I did the Mortal Instruments cast with my affiliate, Amber, I had such a good idea about the main male characters, but I didn't with this one. The characters in books for me never have a real face. They are a blurred vision of what I feel like they look like, but I can't quite get the picture in focus. So, here is my imaginary cast after a lot of consideration. Keep in mind, they never match perfectly with the characters of the books, but I have tried to get it as close as possible for what I think they should look like!

Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Tessa Gray

Astrid Berges-Frisbey is a twenty-six year old actress from Spain. I know she is too old for Tessa, but I think she has an innocent and young air about her. You may have seen her is the latest addition to the Pirates of the Caribbean saga, On Stranger Tides, as the mermaid Syrena.

Alex Pettyfer as Will Herondale

I know, I know, I pick Alex Pettyfer for everyyy role. I'm just hoping that if I pick him for every boy role, he will be cast as at least one! In this picture, I think he has a Will air about him...plus, he's English already!

Ben Barnes as Jem Carstairs

I have had a ton of trouble trying to determine who I should choose for Jem. Jem is such an adorable character- my heart is being ripped into two trying to decide between Jem and Will. I ended up deciding on Ben Barnes, because he is so cute! Yes, yes, I know James Carstairs is supposed to be Asian, but for some reason my brain doesn't always picture what it's told. 

Darren Criss as Magnus Bane

I didn't change my opinion from when I cast the Mortal Instruments with Amber Skye. Darren Criss is my image of Magnus, and always was when I read the books.

Willa Holland as Sophie Collins

While reading Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince, I pictured Sophie as plain with big eyes. To me, she was quiet, but there was an intensity to her personality that she hides. Although I have never seen Willa Holland in any movies, such as Legion and Straw Dogs, I think she could be a great Sophie!

Mark Strong as Axel Mortmain

I would have chosen Mark Strong as Axel Mortmain. He was the perfectly evil mastermind in Sherlock Holmes, and I can picture him as my almost-ideal Mortmain. Apparently the Sherlock Holmes producers know where to find Hollywood's best evil actors, because Hodge is being played by Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes sequel. 

Gaspard Ulliel as Gabriel Lightwood

Gabriel is not my favourite character in the series, but I feel like Gaspard Ulliel could do a fantastic job of the cold, jealous character. Most of his movies have been French...and I do not understand French, so I haven't seen them, but Gaspard looks like my (almost) perfect Gabriel.

What do you think of my cast list? Let me know in the comments please!!



Comparing the Mortal Instruments Cast

Last year, my affiliate, Amber Skye, and I created our imaginary cast list for the upcoming City of Bones movie. I'm going to compare our choices with the official cast list. I'm excluding Lily Collins, because she had already been cast when we created the list.

Our Pick 

Official Cast 

Jace Wayland

So...I honestly just don't understand this one. How can the character described as the most beautiful guy in the world be played by Jamie Campbell Bower. He is, no offense to him, not very attractive. However, if you have read the rest of my blog, you may know that in my opinion, Alex Pettyfer is one of the most gorgeous actors. Ever. It doesn't make sense that he isn't Jace!

Simon Lewis

While I was reading the Mortal Instrument books, I always picture Simon as Logan Lerman, for some reason. He was absolutely adorable in Percy Jackson. He could be the perfect best friend-who-is-constantly-in-the-friend-zone. However...he wasn't cast. At first, I was disappointed in the casting of Robert Sheehan, but I have slowly start to come around after watching some of his interviews. :)

Alec Lightwood

Alec was a tough one for me to cast with Amber, because I never really fully connected with his character, to be honest. Amber was very good at coming up with her ideal Alec, and I completely agreed with her that Douglas Booth was our guy. Although, I am not too upset by the official casting... He's obviously not who I would pick, but I think Kevin Zegers will be able to pull of being Alec.

Magnus Bane

I know a lot of people saw the crazy, glitter-covered warlock portrayed by Adam Lambert. However, I always picture his old-but-young, quirky personality as Darren Criss from Glee. He is such a cute, bubbly guy who can play almost anything, I believe. I also think he background of theatre would be great for the theatrical role of Magnus. Anyway....Darren wasn't cast. Instead, Magnus will be played by Godfrey Gao. I honestly don't know how I feel about him yet, as I have never seen him act!