Blogaversary Contest! (INTERNATIONAL)

TODAY IS MY ONE YEAR BLOGAVERSARY!!! *throws confetti*
On this day in 2010 I created In the Library of LadyViolet and although I didn't really blog consistently until May I'm still counting this date as my starting date. It's crazy to see how far I've come since then and I'm really excited to be going into my second year as a book blogger.

During the past year I have gained over 270 followers which is amazing and as a thank you to everyone who has been with me through 2010 I'm having a contest where there is a choice of *TWO* books for Two lucky winners. The prize books are:

The UK edition of Last Sacrifice and Crescendo!

Also If I hit 300 Followers while the contest is running I will add a Third book to the prize pool!!

Ze Rules

1. 1 entry per person 
2. Don't have to be a follower to enter (although it would be nice :D)
3. Contest is INTERNATIONAL!
4. Closing date for entries is the 16th February 2011 
5. On the 17th Feb TWO winners will be chosen via random number generator and emailed to request a mailing address.
6. If there is no reply from one or both of the winners after 48 hours, new winners will be selected.
7. If I reach 300 followers before the contest ends then I will add a Third book to the prize pool and at the end I will draw a third winner and the same rules apply.

So if you're interested in winning one of those books then fill out the form below!! If/when we hit 300 followers I will get a third book to add to the pool and I will announce it on the blog so everybody knows about it.

**CONTEST NOW CLOSED**

If you want to tweet/blog/shout from the hilltops about this contest then please feel free, I really appreciate it :D

Happy Blogaversary!!!

LadyV

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In My Mailbox #36

Hey everyone Sunday has rolled around once again (seriously how are we already half-way through January?) so you know what's coming next.

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie



Books Acquired this Week
Reading like a Writer by Francine Prose *snort*
Across the Universe by Beth Revis *snuggles* LOVE IT! Review forthcoming
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
Firespell by Chloe Neill
Birthday book for JessHeartsBooks (Not Shown)


So a pretty decent haul this week, and I'm looking forward to reading my library books soonish.
Important News: Keep your eyes peeled for a special post later today! *hint* It could be to your benefit! Super Cool Special Post


That's what I got, What's in Your Mailbox This week?
LadyV

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Book Review - The Radleys

*doing a jaunty little dance* Keepin' up with re-view-oos! Keepin' up with re-view-oos! This is something I can do-oo! *jazz hands* Ahem...

Title: The Radleys
Author: Matt Haig
Date: 11/1/2011 AM
Source: Borrowed from Library
Description: Meet the Radleys 
Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

It's a bizarre thing that I can't quite remember what I expected this book to be like, for some reason I have a vague thought of it being humorous although I don't know where I got this idea. I found this book quite dark at times with some morbidly snarky moments which were quite amusing.

The Radley family is one of those families who looks to be quite normal on the outside but as you get closer just how weird they are becomes apparent. Peter who's trying to resist that which he's denied himself for 17 years, Clara who is trying to be a vegan and because of her family's well-kept secret (so well-kept the children don't know about it) she's feeling really bloody ill, Rowan the eldest child is getting seriously frustrated with his damn allergy to the sun which makes his skin break out in a nasty rash cos it's earning him a *lot* of flak from the cool kids at school and he really wants the new girl Eve to notice him. 


The most outrageous character of the book was Will Radley, the bonafide blood-sucker of the family and a source of extreme discomfort to Helen for reasons unknown. Will was a real bad-ass Byronic sort of guy who really needed to curb his murderous blood-drinking habit. I thought he was rather twisted and unpleasant and potentially a bit unhinged.


In terms of plot I quite liked the idea of these two kids growing up not even knowing they were vampires and I found the history of the Radleys to be fascinating. I enjoyed the story but was kinda under-whelmed by the book as a whole, I don't quite know what it is but thinking about it after the fact I'm feeling kinda "meh" about it. I just wasn't very attached to the characters and for me that can be a deal-breaker with a book that could be otherwise excellent. I know some of the people who have read it recently really liked it but it wasn't all that great for me I'm afraid.


It was a solid read but for me it was not outstanding. Definitely a unique take on the YA Vampire genre and more macabre than most. It's worth a read but unless you're sure I'd stick with a library copy.


My Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5


I will say that my original rating was 4 stars but I've realised that I'm rather lenient with how often I dole out 4 star ratings so I downgraded this and I shall maybe have an overhaul of my rating system because I think I need to adopt a new method that doesn't have a massive number books with the same "pretty good but not fantastic" rating. If people have any suggestions for Rating Systems I could try then please leave a comment :)


Have a Happy Saturday y'all
LadyV

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Book Blogger Hop #12

Well dang it's been a while since I've done a hop! And since I don't know what else I ought to be doing this Friday afternoon (I really *should* be doing something though) I thought I'd go hopping for the first time since early November.

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books where bloggers can post their links and hop around nearly 200 different blogs, meet new people, and find fab new blogs to follow.

Every Week a question is asked of the Hoppers; this week the Question is:

Why do you read the Genre you do? What draws you to it?

I tend to read predominantly YA fiction with smatterings of Adult Fantasy, Historical Fiction and Classics here and there. I think that my reading has been influenced by a desire to escape the real world and to stay as far from it as I could. That's why I love High Fantasy novels which don't resemble our modern world in the slightest. I still really like Urban Fantasy but for a true escapist it's just not far enough from reality. The fact that I read YA is because it's what I can relate to - hell I'm only 20 but I reckon that even when I'm 25 I'll still be reading YA since most literary fiction and chick-lit has never appealed to me because I can't relate to the characters and how much I like a book is heavily based on my feelings about the characters. 

So come on into the Library! Sit yourselves down and make yourself at home! Peruse the shelves, have a drink whatever you fancy! There's a lot here you can have a nosy at, I'm trying harder this year to review more books since last year's ratio of books read:books reviewed was pathetic. A new review went up just this morning - The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, if Epic Fantasy is your thing then check it out!

I hope you enjoy your visit to the library, if you want to come back again then please comment and follow!

Thank you muchly

LadyV

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Book Review - The Final Empire

I've got a little bit behind on reviews (mostly because I've read like 5 books in a week so it's my own fault really) so the next week will have several reviews going up. Starting with this one.

Title: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Date: 10/1/2011 PM
Source: Gift
Description: For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the Sliver of Infinity, reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Rulers most hellish prison. Kelsier snapped and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. Kel's plan looks like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed. (Description taken from Goodreads)


My Review
I'd been hearing about this trilogy for a while when I asked for it for Christmas, I'd heard only good things and as far as Epic Fantasy series go - this is one of the great ones. 600+ pages has never seemed so short. I almost read this in one sitting - only the fact that I was utterly shattered and my eyes were sore as hell stopped me from reading it straight through the night.


The premise of the series is a complete 180 on the usual Epic Fantasy story - in the Mistborn trilogy the Hero who was Foretold *didn't* succeed and the Dark Lord actually won and took control of a vast continent, ruling for 1000 years and slowly suppressing the Skaa (peasant) population until all rebellion, all thought of freedom, hope and individuality had been crushed out of them. The Lord Ruler has moulded what was once a vast collection of separate nations each with their own unique religion and culture into one unified and Final Empire.


Along with a fantastic idea comes an even more brilliant magic system. Sanderson has created a system called Allomancy where the Mistborn (those gifted with these powers) swallow and "burn" certain metals each producing a different power that can affect either the internal or external world. There are 8 basic metals and 2 Higher metals and only the Mistborns (whom are very rare) can burn all the metals. There are Mistings who can burn just one metal although those are still fairly uncommon. I loved how complex and well-though out the Allomancy was and what's even greater is that we don't fully know about all aspects of the magic by the end of this book and we have no idea how or when it appeared so I'm really looking forward to learning more in the later books.


Now to actually talk about the characters! I will say that apart from the 2 main characters and 2 or 3 of the secondary characters most of the characterisation was limited although on the whole that didn't really affect the story's quality. Kelsier is the first character we meet and he is glaringly different to the impression of the Skaa that we get within the first chapter or two. He's bold, intelligent and bizarrely cheerful for a man who really should be dead. Throughout the book he keeps surprising us with his mad schemes and more vulnerable sides so we almost can never predict what he is planning to do next. 


Vin is the young Skaa girl who trusts no one, expects betrayal at every turn and is completely taken aback when Kelsier strides into her life and tells her that she is a Mistborn. I really understood her wariness to entrust her safety to a group of thieves when her whole life has been blighted by the people who should love her the most, betraying her trust. As she starts to learn to control her Mistborn skills she becomes pretty bad-ass - I mean it is damn cool to be able to jump from building to building without ever touching down whilst wearing an uber-floaty ribbony cloak. It's a really great, vivid image like a wraith drifting silently through the mists.


I found the story fascinating and I loved finding out little titbits about what the world used to be like before the Ascension of the Lord Ruler. Although we don't find out in this first book what happened to cause the Ashmounts (that's volcanoes in common parlance :P) to erupt and cover the continent in ash for centuries, I'm hopeful that more about the history of the world will be revealed when I read the next book. The Mistborn battles were amazing, you really got a impression of all the metal flying about the combatants- if anyone was brave enough to make this trilogy into a series of films then those scenes would the most epic to watch.


Overall I have very little, if anything to complain about. I loved the premise, the magic system, the characters were fab, the main plotline for this book was resolved nicely although I'm still anxious to know more about the world and I have a feeling that something big is coming in the second book Well of Ascension. If big Epic Fantasy novels are your bag then this is a must-read, even if they're not I say it's still worth picking this up because you might be pleasantly surprised at how fast those pages fly by!


My Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5


Eek that rambled on a bit - apologies I shall try and cut down the waffle on my next review which hopefully will be up tomorrow so keep and eye out for that!


Anyways ta-ra for now!
LadyV  

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Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them #5

Howdy all tis another Thursday and that means it's time for more lip-smackingly gorgeous covers!

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

This week's pick is a tad different because it doesn't actually look like a photographed cover (I don't know whether it is or not but that's my impression). Either way I really love the cover for the second book in this Fantasy series. 

When you look at it in person the picture almost looks like it was painted and the colours are fabulous and rich. Plus I think the women's dress is fantastic and the hook is rather bad-ass - I wonder if it actually has significance in the book? (I haven't read it yet so I don't know). It's one of those covers that you *know* is for a fantasy book without being hideously cheesy and gaudy. 

All the covers for this series have the look of being paintings rather than photographs and they're all gorgeous but I especially love the green of this cover. It's also a really good series - I thoroughly enjoyed The Thief and I'll probably be starting this book shortly.

So that's What I'm Licking this week, head over to Jess's blog to find out what she's Licking This Week

Adios amigos!

LadyV

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Book Review - Anna and the French Kiss

This was my first book finished of 2011! And what a fab book to kick off the year with!

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Date: 5/1/2010 AM
Source: Bought
Description: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited? (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

Considering how many people have raved and gushed about this book it was highly likely that I would enjoy it, if not make it one of my favourite books of the year. And you know what? It probably will stay as one of my favourite books of 2011 for the rest of the year (it'd have to be something *really* awesome to kick it off the list). It's a shame almost that I read it so early in the year but you can bet your baguette that I'll be re-reading it at least one over the next 12 months.

The premise of the novel is simple and so fantastic - it would be equal parts exciting and terrifying to be sent to a boarding school in another country even if you did speak the language but for Anna it's even more alien because she barely speaks a word of French. So it's a good thing really that her school is specifically for Americans.

Anna as a main character was wonderful, she felt so realistic with her narration and all her quirks and flaws made her so likeable that you couldn't think too badly of her when she did something vaguely reprehensible. That being said she was rather naive at times and made assumptions which nearly screwed a *lot* of things up for her. Despite that I still loved her and her neat-freakish ways.

Now there's not much I can say to sum up how amazing I found Etienne. Although I'm mostly immune to cute British accents  (when you have one yourself it doesn't have the same impact. *not* that I'm claiming to have a cute accent, that'd be up to you guys to decide :P) I'm sure I would still get a tad swoony around St Clair with his mix of English, French and American accent and generally gorgeous scruffiness. He's funny, kind and oh-so-adorable! He's also got an intensity to him that really gets your heart racing so it's not surprising the effect he has on Anna!

The way the relationship developed between Anna and Etienne was so tingle-inducing and yet so frustrating at the same time. I'm sure most of us have felt that feeling of "god why doesn't he notice me?" and with Anna being his friend as well she has the extra barrier of "just friends" between them to make things even harder. You find yourself urging Anna to "bloody *do* something!" when she's alone with Etienne and sometimes I did want to shake him for being a daft bugger as well.

Steph Perkins has done a absolutely fantastic job creating a romance that is passionate while still being reasonably chaste (by that I mean no clothes go flying) and that's believable as well so hats off to you! Also I absolutely adore all the quirky phrases that had me giggling while I was reading - there's nothing like a scene about shiny wangs to put a smile on a girl's face :P (Yes, I *am* that crude).

Overall I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book, I kept wanting to slow down to make it last but at the same time wanted to speed up and find out what happens. Even as I'm writing this review I had to pick it back up and re-read the first few chapters- it took a fair bit of willpower to not read the whole thing again. It's one of those books that you smile about days after finishing it, that you just wish you could keep re-reading even when you have as massive a TBR pile as I do (200 books and counting!). I'm determined to get my sister to read this even if I have to beat her about the head with it and I'll tell anyone who asks me for recommendations to READ THIS BOOK!

I cannot *wait* to read whatever Steph Perkins writes next although I would love to read another book about Anna and Etienne. But I'm sure anything she writes will be awesome and I'll devour it happily.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars!


So if you haven't already read this then I strongly suggest you get your hands on a copy or I'll tut at you in French whenever I see you :P

Jusqu'a demain mes amies
LadyV

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