Review Breathless by Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Breathless
Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Published: April 30th, 2013 
Publisher: Kensington Teen

Pages: 65

Source: for review
Series: Elemental #2.5

Too many secrets. Not enough time.

Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic.

But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive.

His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark.

He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace.

Brigid Kemmerer has done it again! If you visit my blog more often you know how much I love this series. It just has everything I love: an amazing writing style, romance, powers, and don't forget the HOT guys! Breathless has it all! 

This novella is about Nick. He's my favorite of the four brothers from the beginning of the series. His element is air and that's just cool to begin with! He's also the complete opposite of his twin brother Gabriel. In even more ways than you think! 

Although this novella has only 65 pages so much happens. I won't give any spoilers, but that kissing scene at the end of the story? So hot! 
But what I loved most about Breathless were the dancing scenes. Brigid Kemmerer just knows what I want. Dancing in my favorite series with cool powers and hot guys? I'll take that any day! 

Spirit, the third book in the series, is coming out in just a couple of months and I so can't wait! It can't get here soon enough! I just saw on Goodreads there will also be a book #4 and #5. YEAH! More books in an amazing series with hot guys on the cover. 
If you haven't read Storm (Elemental #1) yet I highly recommend it!

Read this immediately after it's published!

Review Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Title: Bunheads

Author: Sophie Flack

Published: March 1st, 2012 (Atom)

Pages: 294
Source: bought

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads: As a dancer with the Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward is living her childhood dream. She gets to be up on stage in front of adoring crowds every night. And while she might not be a prima ballerina yet, she's moving up the ranks and surely if she works hard enough she can make it happen.

But devoting her whole life to ballet leaves very little time for anything else: friends, family, school have all fallen by the wayside. Hannah doesn't mind, until a chance encounter in a restaurant brings Jacob into her life. He's cute, he plays guitar and he's offering a whole future that Hannah never considered. And now she must choose between her lifelong dream or what could be the love of her life...

Some of you might know that my second passion is dancing. Contemporary is my favorite, but classical ballet is my second choice. Books about dancing are special to me and I absolutely love them! There are way too many! 

But luckily there is Bunheads. An amazing book about Hannah Ward and her choice between dancing or a life outside the company. 

I've read some other books with a dancer as main character, e.g. Dancing for Degas. But often I got the feeling it was all a bit fake. I'm not a professional dancer, but I can't imagine that all dancers never eat and only dance. That's the first praise for Bunheads. The whole story felt real. Not surprising since Sophie Flack was a professional dancer herself. 

The second praise goes to the character building. That was so good! In the beginning of the story we meet Hannah, she wants to become a prima ballerina in her company and she can't imagine ever wanting anything else. Than she meets Jacobs, a musician, and he's the reason she starts doubting her decisions and sacrifices. At first I couldn't believe she thought about giving up her dance career, especially since she just met Jacob and hardly knows him. But as the story grew I switched. Why wouldn't she choose a "normal" life? The ending came as a surprise for me, but I agreed with Hannah's decision. I loved Hannah, she's such a sweet girl and I admire her ambition!

Sophie Flack has an amazing writing style and I couldn't put the book down!
If you love dancing, you'll definitely love this book! 

Review City of Swords by Mary Hoffman

Title: City of Swords

Author: Mary Hoffman

Published: July 5th, 2012 (Bloomsbury)

Pages: 368
Source: bought

Series: Stravaganza #6
Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads: Desperately unhappy, Laura has resorted to secretly self-harming. But Laura is a Stravagante, somebody who can travel in time and space. When she finds her talisman, a small silver dagger, she stravagates with it to sixteenth-century Fortezza, a town similar to Lucca in Italy, where she meets her Stravagante, who is a swordsmith. But Laura also meets the charming and attractive Ludo, and falls for him. Their love for each other is tested when Ludo lays claim to the crown of Fortezza, and Laura finds herself fighting on the side of the Stravaganti opposing him.

When I really love a book I find it far more difficult to write a review. City of Swords is one of those books. I’m totally in love with that book, but it’s so hard to put it in a readable review. But I’ll try!

So City of Swords is the sixth book in one of my all time favorite series, Stravaganza. There are so many awesome things about it: the world setting, the writing style, characters, covers.  I’ve loved every book in the series. In every story there’s another main character, and in City of Swords that’s Laura. She’s a self harmer and that’s the reason she gets chosen as a Stravagante when she picks up the small silver dagger from sixteenth century Talia, a country similar to our Italia. Every Stravagante has another city he or she is traveling to. Lauren city’s Fortezza, a city similar to Lucca.

The world setting is great with the traveling between our world and Talia, where the chosen Stravagante has a task to fulfill. Although they don’t know what kind of task beforehand. The other Stravaganti from the previous books also play a role in the next books. The characters are amazing, I love them all! Even the di Chimici. Seeing them return is so nice!

Mary Hoffman has a great writing style! The story is full of tension, so it’s hard to put down, but the writing style just makes it impossible! What I love more about this series is that the story is told from different perspectives. This makes the story very intriguing to read, because you know a lot more than when you only read it from Laura’s point of view. But there are still a lot of plot twists you don’t see coming.

And last but definitely not least: did you see that cover?! I could stare at it all day, it’s so beautiful! 

Best Books This Year (So Far)

I saw this post on some other blogs and I really liked them, so here's my version! I just came back from a lovely week on Rhodes, so I'm rested and have read some amazing books. But deciding what books I thought were the best this year was pretty hard. I totally love Goodreads for giving me a nice overview of all my reads and ratings. So I stared at all those pictures (68 so far!) and tried to make up my mind. 
And here's what came out:

1. Glitch by Heather Anastasiu (review)
I finished this book just before I left for my holiday and I haven't stopped thinking about it. This is one of the books you HAVE to read this year!

2. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The most amazing thing about this book is the writing style. Just for that you have to read this book. It's one of a kind. 


3. I Heart London by Lindsey Kelk
I read this book on Rhodes and it's definitely the best Chick Lit I've read this year. This books makes you laugh!


4. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Dystopians are totally hot right now and this might be one of the hottest! I thought it was amazing. 

5. Bunheads by Sophie Flack
Another one of my vacation reads. I love books about dancing and this is one of the best I've ever read. 


6. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (review)
Why didn't I read this sooner?! When am I going to learn?


7. The Curse Girl by Kate Avery Ellison (review)
An amazing retelling of Beauty and The Beast. One of the books that really took me by surprise!

8. Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling (review)
I love this series. The world setting is just so good. It makes me feel happy. 


9. A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton (review)
I love books about witches and this is a very good one! I'm going to start in the second book soon!


10. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
The third book in this series already got published in Dutch and let me tell you: it's a perfect ending. This books makes you laugh out loud!


What are the best books you've read this year?

Cover Love

Don't judge a book by it's cover, but in the end we all do. Well, I do. Call me shallow, but do you pick up a book when the cover doesn't appeal to you? To be clear I'm talking about picking up books you hadn't heard of before seeing it. Or maybe you make your choice based on something else? Of course, if I heard great things about a book, there's not much that can stop me from reading it, especially not an unappealing cover. I've even gone as far as reading books without liking the synopsis, just because the reviews were that good. 
This post is mostly about covers and a bit about the books behind them.


Beautiful covers, amazing stories

These are just two examples of many. I've read Under the Never Sky recently and I loved it. His Dark Materials I read a while ago, like two years, but I mostly choose this book for it's cover. In The Netherlands this isn't a book every child has read, so I didn't discover it until the movie The Golden Compass came out and I didn't really like it, but when I saw this cover I just couldn't stop thinking about it. So I bought it, read it and now it's one of my all-time favorites. 


Unappealing covers, beautiful stories

Another one of my all-time favorites: The Time Traveler's Wife, what an amazing story. I have cried for hours after finishing this book. It's so beautiful, complex and well written. But I never really liked the cover. The same with Finding Sky. The story is good, but that cover is just a bit weird. But luckily that didn't stop me from really loving these books, so hopefully I'm not that shallow after all. 


Beautiful covers, disappointing stories

And there's the other way around. I couldn't wait to read these books, especially Switched. I had only seen the cover and I just wanted to read that book! With The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove I already knew the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, but I loved this cover as well. And the stories were so disappointing. I had high hopes for the latter, and it just wasn't as great as Fallen. But Switched was so bad. When I started reading I liked it, but when I finished the first part it just got worse and worse. Beautiful covers can definitely be misleading!

Let me know in the comments what covers you love/like/dislike!

What's your favorite?

The most frequently asked, but difficult to answer, question about books is: "What's your favorite?"
I never really like this question, because I never have a real answer to it and I don't like to say: "there so many great books, so I can't choose". So my answer changes almost every day. But there are some books/series which I think are spectacular:




His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
There are some books everybody should've read and this is one of them. I haven't met a person yet who could honestly say about this book that they didn't like it. And for me it's impossible to imagine. You have to like this book. First of all, because it can be read by everyone from every age. The story has so many layers, so not everyone will read the same story. And that's what I love most about this book.










The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This is the book I'm still most impressed by. I can't say exactly why, but it just amazes me. Audrey Niffenegger made a complex work about time traveling. For me, it has all the facets I could want in a book: it makes me cry and laugh. It has romance and suspense. It's my personal favorite, but I don't think everyone will like it.

Stravaganza #1

Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman
Of all the series I'm currently reading this is the best. This is already a beautiful year, because the next book will be published, City of Swords. And I can't wait. Every two years there's a new book and every time the same things happens: I run (almost literary) to the bookstore, buy it, read it, love it and then I have to wait another two years for the next book to come out. The books can be read separately, because in every book there is another principal character. In the Netherlands it's a series that isn't really popular, but it should be!




So, what's your favorite?