Top Cuddles of 2012 Giveaway Hop

Welcome to Cuddlebuggery's Top Cuddles of 2012 giveaway hop! It's no secret that I maintain a lovely friendship with both Kat and Steph of Cuddlebuggery fame, so when they asked for giveaway hop participants, what else could I do but sign up? I can not really afford to give any more books away, but I say fuck it, I'm gonna do it anyway because it's the holiday and all that. 

I have TWO giveaways planned for you. Both are international. You have to enter using separate Rafflecopter forms. The winner of one giveaway will be able to choose a book from my top 2012 favorite books. The winner of the other giveaway will be able to choose a pre-order from my most anticipated books of 2013. *claps hands together* Let's go!

So you can choose one of these books if you win the first giveaway. These were my favorite books of 2012. There were many others, but these are the ones I found most memorable. It's international, and you can enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yum, books. Okay, it gets even better! Now you can enter to win a pre-order of one of my most anticipated 2013 books. Same rules as before, and yes this is international too. I will order from The Book Depository for my INT winners. Choose from the books below and enter using the Rafflecopter after the book covers!

There are SOOOOO many books I want in 2013 and these are just a few of them really. But these are the ones I picked for the giveaway hop. One of you gets to win a pre-order or one of these. Are you excited? Enter using the Rafflecopter below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Cuddlebuggery for hosting this giveaway hop. Hop on over using the links below to get to the next blog giveaway. I wish you luck, and most of all, have fun. And if I don't talk to you, Happy New Year!!

Stacking the Shelves #23

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. This is where we showcase books we have received or bought during the week.

Everyone is going to have these monstrous Christmas hauls this week and I look forward to seeing them, but I just got three books. One that I won in a giveaway from Christina at Reader of Fictions, one that was a Kindle Daily Deal (seriously, if you have a Kindle, subscribe to those emails), and one I bought with an Amazon gift card for being an Amazon Associates participant, . That's right. I finally got a ten dollar gift card LOLOL.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday this year. My Christmas went to shit because I had a migraine the 23rd-24th, and then on the 25th I had stomach problems. I'm still not feeling great today, but I am well enough to blog so here I am. So even though my Christmas stank and I stayed at home the whole time, I still hope you guys got everything you wanted. And I am looking forward to commenting on your hauls.

On to the books.

Middle Ground (Awaken #2)  by Katie Kacvinsky

This is book two in the series, and I was supposed to get a copy of Awaken too but it has not arrived yet. I hope they have not forgotten. But I will hold off on reading this one to see if they send it to me. But thanks for this go to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group and Christina at Reader of Fictions. 

With my Amazon gift card I bought a copy of Skylark by Meagan Spooner. I have been wanting this book for a while now, but the e-book is always too expensive. It still was $10.36, but because my gift card was for @10.39, I went for it. LOL and now I have three cents left over.

I also bought a copy of Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry because it was the Kindle Daily Deal and I think I am the last blogger on the planet who hasn't read it yet. The blurb never interested me that much, but all the raving reviews have me wanting to pick this one up soon!

And that's it for me! Leave me a comment with links to your awesome book hauls and I will come check them out! Until next week, happy reading!!

Book Review of Silence by Michelle Sagara

Publisher: DAW

Release Date: May 1st, 2012
Pages: 289
Genre: Young Adult-Paranormal
Source: I own a copy of this book.

Summary from Goodreads: It began in the graveyard…

Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death….

Emma was not quite like others teenagers. It was true that other girls had experienced grief. Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in a senseless accident. But though she hadn’t known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead. In fact, Emma could draw upon the essence of the dead to work magic. That was what Necromancers did. But Emma had no desire to be a Necromancer. She just wanted to help the ghosts who walked the streets of Toronto, unable to escape from the land of the living. And that was just as well, because had she chosen the path of the Necromancer, Eric would have had to kill her.

Instead, Eric and his fellow Necromancer hunter Chase found themselves violating every rule they were sworn to follow, becoming part of Emma’s group, helping her to stand against those who preyed upon the dead. But whether Emma and her friends could survive such a battle was anyone’s guess. And whether Emma could learn to use the magic of the dead against her enemies without herself falling victim to the lure of such power remained to be seen. Eric seemed to think she could, and her living friends would never abandon her. But only time would tell what Emma’s true destiny was….

Review: I fully did not expect to enjoy this book all that much, to be honest. I read a lot of reviews ahead of time (which I shouldn't do but I have no willpower) and the reviews for this book amongst my friends were pretty mixed. Usually when reviews are mixed, I fall on the 'dislike' side. Not this time. I'll admit that the first 120 pages were not wowing me because I found the pacing pretty slow, but even then I loved the writing so I stuck with it. I'm glad I did because this ended up being a book that I really enjoyed. Articulating why that is is going to be sort of difficult, however. So as in all my reviews, when my brain isn't functioning correctly, I do a list. 

• I thought the premise of the book was pretty original and that continued throughout the world-building, which by once I got to the end, almost left me breathless. I usually avoid paranormals for this reason because they tend to focus on the romance and less on the actual plot. Not here. I wouldn't even say there was a romance in this one.
• Which brings me to the next plus. I totally thought there was going to be a romance. And while there was a bit of flirting and a little sexual tension, ummm, that's it. And oh HOW refreshing that was. Dynamic characters, a potential future romance, but we didn't need to rush into anything. It's almost like this author has been listening to reader complaints. Thank you!
• The characters were pretty awesome, actually. Emma was a wonderful protagonist who felt real, was flawed but not annoying, and a protagonist I liked. (This is rare these days, I'm telling you.) Plus, there's a dog named Petal. A rottweiler who is like, awesome. He is totally my dog in so many ways. 
• I can almost guarantee that you will like the potential (but not yet) love interests. They are actually likable guys with personalities and depth. This could have potentially been ugly because they are both sent to kill Emma, but it totally doesn't play out in that cliché, tragic way. No, you won't be mad at these guys. It's not like Twilight and Edward always wanting to eat Bella in every scene they are in. 
• I loved the writing. The author has this vivid way of writing her prose that really made me picture every scene. I also really enjoyed the cadence and flow of the words. I found myself reading more slowly just so I could savor the text. This is always a good thing because I so rarely do it. 

That said, I have a few small complaints. I do think the setting could have been stronger. The lore and setup were wonderful, but I wasn't even sure where this book was taking place until some character ( I don't remember who) mentioned Toronto. Oh, Canada? Okay then. (Note: I just saw that Toronto was mentioned in the blurb. I forget details in blurbs a lot but I am laughing at myself anyway.) Haha. For a book that featured necromancers and graveyards a lot, it was suspiciously missing the creep factor. I just think if a little more time had been devoted to building the setting and imagery, the book would have had more of a punch.

Also, the pacing. The author really needs to watch that. Because I could have easily set the book down and walked away in the first hundred and twenty pages before it really got going. The book is not really that long and I am lucky I was patient with this one--I am not usually--because it was worth it. But how many people are going to stick it out through all the slow build up and 'he said, she said' crap?  But you will because I told you to, right? Right? ;)

I can't wait for the next book because this one was just so, so much fun to read. The ending was one of the most satisfying I have read in awhile. It wrapped up perfectly, left a tear in my eye, and opened perfectly for the next book without it being the type of cliffhanger that will piss you off. Hopefully the pacing in the next one will be fixed now that all the exposition is out of the way. Crossing my fingers for that one. 

4/5 Dragons

Buy Silence from Amazon

Lyn's Top Ten Books of 2012

Hey everyone!  Here we are, looking at the end of the year.  I made it to my goal of 75 books this year (I’m in my final stages of my schooling, and sadly, reading has to take a backseat to homework at times).  I decided to celebrate the end of the year with a list of my top ten reads from 2012.  I’ll note that I had to debate for a LONG time on my final decision.  I felt like a monster for cutting off 6 books that I wanted on the list.  However, here is the final result:

1. Nation by Terry Pratchett

2. Angelfall by Susan Ee

3. The Vampire Empire Series by Clay Griffith

4. Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

5. Seraphina by Rachael Hartman

6. The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley

7. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

8. Speechless by Hannah Harrington

9. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Some were new releases, and some books were old but awesome reads.  What were your favorite books that you read in 2012?

Follow Lyn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Heartless_Lyn

And on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3196419-lyn-the-heartless