Book Haul [34]

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My "Weekly Book Haul" is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

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Woah! It's been 4 months since my last Book Haul post? Boy, have I been neglectful. Sheesh! Sorry about that.
It's been kind of hard to find time to blog during the past few months and I'm only recently trying to catch up on all my book review backlogs, I didn't have enough time to post book hauls.

So, I'm making up for lost time. I'll be posting all the books I got since my last post by batch. Without further ado, here is the first batch:

BOOK HAUL BATCH 1

NETGALLEY TITLES

DIGITAL ARCs [TO READ]:

DEEP BLUE by Jennifer Donnelly

THE KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary E. Pearson

THE WIZARD'S PROMISE by Cassandra Rose Clarke

THE BREAK-UP ARTIST by Philip Siegel

THE GIRL WITH THE WINDUP HEART by Kady Cross

GRIMM FAIRY TALES: OZ by Joe Brusha

NIL by Lynne Matson

ALPHA GODDESS by Amalie Howard

GRIM edited by Christine Johnson

THE HUNT by Stacey Kade

Shinobi by Cole Gibsen [ARC REVIEW]

TITLE: Shinobi (Katana #3)
AUTHOR: Cole Gibsen
PUBLISHER: Flux
PUB DATE: Mar 8 2014

Rileigh is ready to celebrate.

Things have been quiet (as quiet as life can be for a reincarnated samurai), she's graduating high school, and her boyfriend, Kim, has finally regained his lost memories. But the urge to celebrate is short-lived when she realizes that if Kim can remember, chances are her (im)mortal enemy, Sumi, can remember as well. Sure enough, it's not long before the reincarnated ninja attacks Rileigh and her friends. But in the aftermath of the fight, Rileigh discovers that Sumi has performed an ancient ritual that allows her to switch bodies with Rileigh . . . and it's draining her ki. Hunted by the Network (who believe Rileigh is Sumi), Rileigh must track the vengeful ninja down before her own powers completely vanish.

- Source: Goodreads

Rating:

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“A person’s true self isn’t something that can be seen, but rather how the world around them is affected by their presence.”

In my review of Senshi, book two of Cole Gibsen’s Katana trilogy, I mentioned that the ending was bittersweet and it was one of the things I found interesting about Rileigh’s story. Ah, but then I come across Shinobi, the third and last instalment, and - *POOF* went that heartbreaking moment. I thought Rileigh or Q would need to use their powers to alter Kim’s memories to bring them back or something. But it came back all on its own. Watching Rileigh having her lonesome moments felt short-lived. It was kind of a letdown… or so I thought.

I didn’t read the summary beforehand, so when I started leafing through Shinobi, I didn’t know there was some other adventure in store for Rileigh and Kim. That plot twist was a rather genius move!

Book Haul [31]

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My "Weekly Book Haul" is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

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Hello lovelies! How have you all been? Did you get any interesting books to read this week?

I have a few ones to show you that I'm really excited about. Here they are:

(from Netgalley):

THE IRON TRAITOR by Julie Kagawa
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill
COUNTDOWN by Michelle Rowen
THE ART OF THE LAST OF US by Rachel Edidin (Editor)

(from the Book Depository):

SENSHI by Cole Gibsen (read & reviewed)
REPLICA by Jenna Black
CROWN OF MIDNIGHT by Sarah J. Maas
REBOOT by Amy Tintera

(from Pinoy Book Tours):
THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW by Amy McCulloch (currently reading, for review)

I can't wait to start on Crown of Midnight, but since I have a some books for review scheduled for this month, I have to wait a little longer before I can start on that. Nevertheless, I'm so happy I got even before its release date! Weeee!!!

What do you think? Do you find any of these books interesting?
Also, let me know what you got and I'll be sure to check it out! Happy reading! :)

Senshi by Cole Gibsen [ARC REVIEW]

TITLE: Senshi (Katana #2)
AUTHOR: Cole Gibsen
PUBLISHER: Flux Books
PUB DATE: Mar 8 2013

Summary from Goodreads:

"Is Rileigh’s only hope for salvation to team up with her sworn enemy?

>Rileigh Martin just wants to do normal teenage things, like go on romantic dates with Kim, her boyfriend and past life soul mate. Although that seems impossible when she’s the reincarnation of Senshi, a fifteenth century samurai warrior. After a ninja ambush leaves her unable to control her ki powers, Rileigh vows to get them under control before her friends lose more than their eyebrows. But when Kim leaves her for his past life betrothed and the other samurai stop talking to her, Rileigh realizes she doesn’t have any friends left to worry about.

As the ninja attacks increase, Rileigh learns that the reincarnated kunoichi, a powerful female ninja, wants to kill her in order to reclaim her destructive powers. Alone and with increasingly unstable powers, Rileigh’s only offer of help comes from Whitley, her sworn past life enemy. Rileigh knows she doesn’t stand a chance against the kunoichi by herself, but Whitley’s sudden allegiance might be hiding a much deadlier agenda."

Rating:

Being introduced to Rileigh Martin in Katana [book one of this series] didn’t exactly leave a memorable impression on me. I enjoyed reading the book but I voiced out a lot qualms about it in my review of Katana. The thought of having fun reading it was enough to make me give Senshi [book two] a try.

I expected nothing special from Senshi. In fact, the first parts were rather annoying to me that I was beginning to feel like I didn’t want to continue reading anymore. I question a lot of Rileigh’s decisions. Like, this is probably petty but I couldn’t get it off my head, when she broke the car interior light so that it wouldn’t turn on once she opens the door [so it wouldn’t give away her location to the ninja]. Uh, hello?! From what I know all cars nowadays have that off switch for that? No need to break the little thing. Sheesh! Then again, she wrecked the entire car using her ki anyway so, never mind.

Another thing I noticed was the simile she used to describe her pain, this probably another petty thing but I couldn’t help myself. She said, “Pain blossomed under my skin like an angry flower...” – which flower are we referring to and how exactly does it get angry? LOL. I’m sorry, I’m being sarcastic. Okay I’m going to stop there on the insignificant complains. Let’s move on to something else...

Katana by Cole Gibsen [REVIEW]

TITLE: Katana (Katana #1)
AUTHOR: Cole Gibsen
PUBLISHER: Flux
PUB DATE: Mar 8 2012

Summary from Goodreads:

"Skater girl or supernatural samurai? Rileigh Martin wants to believe that adrenaline gave her the strength to fend off three muggers in the mall parking lot. But adrenaline doesn't explain the voice in her head giving her battle tips and warnings.

While worrying that she's going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she's harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.

Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana--a deadly Japanese sword that's also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she's always been and embracing the warrior inside her."

Rating:

I’ve been a constant victim of book covers. Really. I just never learn. When I chanced upon a copy of Katana, I was immediately drawn to the kick-ass cover. How awesome are those swords, yeah? And the synopsis was just as awesome: A reincarnated samurai warrior, a promise of relentless fighting and swords clashing, and a twist of eternal love. Well, I can’t say Katana didn’t live up to its promise, but the way it was accomplished wasn’t exactly what I expected, and there were elements that just didn’t seem to add up.

It’s no question that Rileigh truly is a reincarnated samurai, even though at first I just thought it was simply case of schizophrenia rather than an awakening. At least Rileigh and I were on the same page on that one. What I loved most was the story of Rileigh’s past life. As short as it was, the flashes were enough to make me adore Senshi (Rileigh’s name in the past). But I wish I could’ve seen the skater side of her more just as well. It was so focused on her samurai side that the skater part of her seemed to be side stepped and deemed irrelevant.

Book Haul [17]

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My "Weekly Book Haul" is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

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Hello everyone! How was your week? I hope you had a good one.

I am so eager to show you what I got this week. I'm so giddy about them, I had to stop myself from forming the idea of posting my haul at the middle of the week. If I did, then I'd have nothing to post for today. Yeah, over-excited, much?

So here are the books that I got this week:

These are the ones that came in the mail from the Book Depository. Most of them are books I've already read via Net Galley, blog book tours, and/or review requests but I didn't have printed copies yet.

Book Haul [3]

I haven't thought of a name for a weekly meme of book hauls so let's just go with what's posted above. 

For now, I'll call this the "Whatever it's called" Book Haul. It's only temporary, I swear. I just haven't thought of a clever name for it. So this is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren and This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

Hello everyone! Did you have a good week? I hope you did.

Here's my haul for this week: