{Audiobook} Review: Stray by Elissa Sussman

Title: Stray
Author: Elissa Sussman
Narrator(s): Caitlin Davies
Series: Four Sisters, book #1
Length: 7 hrs 49 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Source: audiobook received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

I am grateful for my father, who keeps me good and sweet. I am grateful for my mother, who keeps her own heart guarded and safe. I am grateful for my adviser, who keeps me protected. I am grateful for the Path, which keeps me pure. Ever after.

Princess Aislynn has long dreamed about attending her Introduction Ball, about dancing with the handsome suitors her adviser has chosen for her, about meeting her true love and starting her happily ever after.

When the night of the ball finally arrives and Nerine Academy is awash with roses and royalty, Aislynn wants nothing more than to dance the night away, dutifully following the Path that has been laid out for her. She does not intend to stray.

But try as she might, Aislynn has never quite managed to control the magic that burns within her-magic brought on by wicked, terrible desires that threaten the Path she has vowed to take.

After all, it is wrong to want what you do not need. Isn’t it?

I love revisiting old fairy tales that are given a refreshing new take. But while Stray was unique, it wasn't like any of the fairy tales I've read before. It does focus on princesses and fairy godmothers and evil queens...but in the most confusing mash-up ever.

"The Path" just seemed like a regimented way for a young princess to act and should she stray from it, via any number of allegations of gross misconduct on her part, she would become, well, a stray. Or find that her "path" no longer led her to a prince and a happily ever after but instead to a life of indentured servitude, by way of becoming a fairy godmother. That's essentially what happens to Aislynn...she can't control her magic and finds herself being whisked away to become fairy godmother to the Crown Princess at another academy.

I'm still not sure why or how girls who have magic of their own even need fairy godmothers, though. The magical system -- those who had it and how they used it -- left me frustrated, as did the lack of world-building. I was just left with soooo many questions when I finished this story. I know it's only the first book in the series, but it should have given me enough information to make me want to come back for the next book...and I'm not sure that I do.

I loved Caitlin Davies' performance of the End of Days series by Susan Ee, so I immediately thought this would be a winner, as far as the audiobook went. And it probably would have been, had I connected to this main character the way I did Penryn in Angelfall and World After. But because I found Princess Aislynn so annoying and her actions so foolish, I found it difficult to get into this audio even one iota as much as I did that other series.

This book was just entirely too slow for me, with none of the explanations I needed. There was also very little romance to be had. And when I find a protagonist as exasperating as Aislynn, there's little likelihood that I'm really going to enjoy the book in the end. I wish I'd liked the story more, but I think this is just one of those cases where I let my expectations get the better of me.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Elissa Sussman is a writer, a reader and a pumpkin pie eater.

Her debut novel, STRAY (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins), is a YA fantasy about fairy godmothers, magic and food. She received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and in a previous life managed animators and organized spreadsheets at some of the best animation studios in the world, including Nickelodeon, Disney, Dreamworks and Sony Imageworks. You can see her name in the credits of THE CROODS, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG and TANGLED.

She currently lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and their rescue mutt, Basil.

Find Elissa:

Website | Twitter| Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Pinterest

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Labels: audiobooks, disappointments, elissa sussman, fairy tales, fantasy, four sisters, harper-collins, reviews

Top Ten Tuesday: Our Winter Must-Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish. Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =) We're game.

This week's topic is the Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR.

April's Picks:

These five books are me books. Golden Son and The Ruby Circle both come out early 2015 and I will be pouncing on them. They are drop everything kind of books. Well, drop everything as in, other books, not real life responsibilities unfortunately. Jellicoe Road and Outlander, I own the audio for as well as kindle, so I'm really hoping to get to those this winter. And The Winners Curse, it's been recommended to me by everyone and their mother. So I am really looking forward to it. :)

These are the top five arcs I'm looking forward to reading. I've kinda thrown the whole "keeping up with my arcs" motto out the window the end of this year. Mood reading will do that, but these five, they are calling to me, so hopefully I'll get to them soon. :)


Jen's Picks:

I split my top ten into two categories because I'm a mood reader and I need options. =) The first group is contemporary reads. Most of these I've had copies of for weeks now, and I'm not sure how I've managed to keep from reading them yet because they sound so good. And I've really been in the mood for contemporary reads lately, which is so funny to me because up until a couple of years ago -- maybe even last year? -- I hardly read realistic fiction. Go figure...now I love it!

And these are the fantastical tales I'll be reading this winter, for sure. Again, I can't believe that most of these have just been occupying space on my shelf or on my Kindle, that I didn't start reading them the second I got my hands on them.

I don't think I could pick the one that I'm most looking forward to because they are all going to be amazing reads...I just know it!


What books are tops on your Winter TBR? :) Be sure to share a link to your TTT post so we can visit!

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Labels: TBR pile, top ten tuesday, winter

Review: The Sweetest Thing by Jill Shalvis

Title: The Sweetest Thing
Author: Jill Shalvis
Series: Lucky Harbor #2
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: January 1st, 2011
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Two Men Are One Too Many . . .

Tara has a thousand good reasons not to return to the little coastal town of Lucky Harbor, Washington. Yet with her life doing a major crash-and-burn, anywhere away from her unfulfilled dreams and sexy ex-husband will do. As Tara helps her two sisters get their newly renovated inn up and running, she finally has a chance to get things under control and come up with a new plan for her life.

But a certain tanned, green-eyed sailor has his own ideas, such as keeping Tara hot, bothered . . . and in his bed. And when her ex wants Tara back, three is a crowd she can't control-especially when her deepest secret reappears out of the blue. Now Tara must confront her past and discover what she really wants. If she's lucky, she might just find that everything her heart desires is right here in Lucky Harbor.

Ahhh! So I didn't wait too long before jumping into book two! I have to say I'm glad I went right into it. I really enjoyed The Sweetest Thing and I'm quickly falling in love with this series. I wasn't sure how I would feel about Tara's point of view because she's kind of rigid. 

She warms up in this installment and I loved seeing things from her point of view. I loved reading about her romance with Ford Walker. <3 He is dreamy. And they have quite a past, let me tell ya. Also, enter Tara's Ex the NASCAR driver, and things get a little sticky. Not too sticky though, those of you who fear love triangles need not worry. Tara's heart belongs to Ford and you pretty much know that before this book even gets started. 

Again, I love the small town stuff. It's funny, everyone being up in their business and such. Unrealistic, yeah, but if I wanted realistic I'd read non-fiction. And honestly, even some of that shit is questionable. lol. 

One big thing happens in The Sweetest Thing. Something from Tara and Fords past, I won't say anymore on it, but that was by far my favorite part of this book. I had tears ladies, but I was pms'ing too to that could have contributed to my mushiness. 

I'm really looking forward to diving into book three, because it follows the third sister, Chloe. She is my fav, and I know just who the love interest will be. I can't wait to read about how that will go down! 

About the author:

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras with her family and far too many assorted quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental.

Look for Jill's latest, ONE IN A MILLION, on shelves and e-readers now, and get all her bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold.

Visit Jill's website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Find Jill:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: adult, fluffy goodness, jill shalvis, lucky harbor series, reviews, simply irresistible, the sweetest thing

Stacking the Shelves # 43

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is a way to share with everyone all the goodies you've received through out the week. 

Just click the covers to be taken to their goodreads pages. 

Purchased

 

I decided to use this months Audible credit on a holiday read!!! And I'm glad I did, because this book is such a fun listen so far. :) 

And it's been great motivation for baking and decorating! Bring on the cheer!

 The stockings are ready. A little early but whatevs. 

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Have a great week. 

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Labels: stacking the shelves

The Weekend Update - 11.22.14

So, since my end-of-the-week post isn't just about what I got in my mailbox or on my Kindle each week -- though that is a big part of it, I won't lie -- I decided to change up the title and intro a bit.  I might tweak the format a bit over the next few weeks, but for the most part, it'll contain the same stuff: stuff I got, stuff I did, and stuff that's coming up on the blog.  Plus, I get to use the awesome GIF you see here and blow kisses to all the people who sent me lovely books and bookish things.  Oh, and I've started linking up to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews since I'm not using a specific meme title anymore.  April's also doing her own Stacking the Shelves posts on Sundays.  Stop by and say hi!  =)

Yay, it's almost Thanksgiving! Which means Christmas decorating is in full force around my house this weekend, haha. Funny how that goes, huh? We alternate which holiday we spend with the family each year because of everyone else's familial obligations, so this year will be a quiet Thanksgiving and a rowdy Christmas. I'm not complaining, though. ;0) Jerrod's trying to talk me into heading to the deer lease again the day after Turkey Day, but I ended up with strep after the last time, so I'm not too excited about going back until the weather's warmer. :P

Oh, we've got plans to go see Mockingjay later today since it's just going to rain and be generally yucky. Are people going to give me looks for taking my 6yo, though? She watched the first one with me at home the other day, and she asked questions but she understood that it was just a movie and that those kids weren't really killing each other, so she should be okay, right? Right? I don't want to traumatize her, but I also don't want to get a sitter since we'll be spending the rest of the day doing holiday stuff.

The lucky child is out of school for a whole week, too, for the holiday! I remember we only got three days off for Turkey Day...when did that change? Change makes me feel old. :(

Anyway, here's what I scored this week:

For Review:

via Edelweiss

When Joss Met Matt by Ellie Cahill - I still haven't read a Liz Czukas book yet, but I'm about to devour them all at one time, including this NA written under her pseudonym! :D
Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2) by Rob Thomas - Gaaaaaahhhhh! I cannot, absolutely CANNOT wait to read this. Please let them make more movies, too, though.
Rebound by Noelle August - Loved Boomerang and I anticipate I'll enjoy this companion just as much, even if it is about two characters that I wasn't all that interested in from the first book. ;0)

audiobooks

Stray by Elissa Sussman - Eh, already listened and it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I actually can't even remember the ending very well. And it's going to be a series? Hmmm...
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch - Loved this when I read it earlier this year, and I'm keen to see if the audio is just as good...or better!

Library:

A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers -- ★★

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr -- ★★★

Purchased:

Nothing, yay!

Won:

Nada.

So, that's my haul. How about you? What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• Unraveled - audio (Jen)
• A Little Something Different - audio (Jen)
• Silver Shadows - audio (April)

Current Giveaways: 

                   Check back soon!!!

Promotional/Discussion Posts:  

• Book Buddies - April discusses a reading program that's helped her daughter in school
• Sequels We Need YESTERDAY - the top ten sequels we can't wait to get
• Waiting on Wednesday - this week we're waiting on The Ruby Circle & The Conspiracy of Us
• The Great Book Purging of 2014 - in which Jen tries to decide which books to keep and which books to let go of

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

At the time of this post, I'm between books and having a hard time picking exactly which of my new reads I'd like to start. These two are definitely in the running, though. Just not sure whether I should start another fantasy -- urban as it were -- or if a contemporary might fit the bill better.

Upcoming Reviews:

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm), stacking the shelves, the weekend update