Throwback Thursday

Hey all! I wanted to do a little Throwback Thursday post this week to highlight the book I was reading this time last year.

Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads Rating: 3.79
Pages: 449
Original Review

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Oh Julie Kagawa! I remember getting this book at BEA one year and my face being like....

It doesn't seem like it's been a year since I read this fabulous book by this equally fabulous author. Since Talon's release, she has come out with the sequel, Rogue, and has a third installment set to grace us in 2016. 

 (oh yea... I'm excited!)

I re-read my review for it, along with other friend's reviews of it, and find myself wanting to read it over again (I most definitely will before reading Rogue anyway). This was in a time period of review for myself where I wrote the review immediately after finishing the book. Now, I like to let the book stew for a day or so and then review notes that I make throughout reading the book to make sure my reviews cover all the emotions, feelings and such that I had while reading. My review with Talon I think should be changed slightly.

This isn't a bad thing at all though!! I still have fond memories and it's still probably one of my favorite books to read. I do remember there being more of a romancey side to the book that I wasn't overly thrilled about. The main character, Ember, I remember being just overly-gullible and naive (I remember often yelling at her for not seeing things that were blatantly in front of her face) I found myself doing this....

I attributed her gullible nature to her just being secluded her whole life but.... sometimes she really needed to follow her instincts. The ending I remember absolutely loving though, hence my overzealous review.

I gave the book 5/5 stars before and looking back, if I had stopped to absorb the book as a whole, it probably would get 4.5 stars from me.

HOWEVER!!! I am now beyond excited to re-read Talon to see if my re-thinking holds true and to pick up Rogue!

So Tell Us!!! What's your Throwback Thursday book??

Grim

Editor: Christine Johnson
Goodreads rating: 3.76
Pages: 480

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovon

Talon (Talon #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads rating: 3.95
Pages: 400
Format: Final Copy BEA14

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

The Immortal Rules

Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads Rating: 4.02
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 485
Reviewed by: Nicole

"In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity." Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of "them." The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.
But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

BEA Recap Day 3

Kristan and I with the pretty boys.

So day three was actually Wednesday for me. That day I had a friend who is an educator come with me, so I didn't feel alone. Little, did I know that this day of them all would be a day that I would feel the least alone. I started out the day with Kristan and Jamie and Lexie who I didn't get to see much of the day or any of the days really. It was there that we met Sylvia who turned out to be someone awesome to spend the day with. While we were waiting on line, two beautiful Angel boys started walking around talking about the cover reveal of the final book in the Hush, Hush saga.

We started out hitting booths that we really wanted and then Kristan and Sylvia and I meet up at the Harlequin booth for their Teen Hour signing. We had gone to their signing the day before and it was there that we found out we missed Alice in Zombieland, a book that went out to the first 50 people. We made sure we were the first 50 on Wednesday. We shows up 2 hours early and managed to convince them to hand out the books because I had to run over to Sarah J Maas's signing of Throne of Glass. I was super stoked that I got the books signed and was able to accrue so many more books in those two hours. Sylvia and I had a debate on how to pronounce Julie Kagawa's name, which she settled in my favor. I also got to meet Kady Cross who had bubblegum pink hair (which I loved) and she was rocking some great crowns on her person.

Our little group. Angel, me, Sylvia, Jamie and Kristan.

From there we went to gather a few more books, and then I sat in line for the Harper Teen signing, another two hours where everyone left their books with me while they ran around and got more. Not that I'm complaining, I got to sit while everyone else made a mad dash for other books. Kristan went to the Throne of Glass galley drop and grabbed me an extra for me to pass on to my co-blogger Amy. (Happy Birthday Amy!) Then it turns out that the 5th in our group, Angel grabbed another one for me, I wound up with three copies. Sylvia grabbed me The Name of The Star by Maureen Johnson because I was stuck holding down the fort.

After that there wasn't much else going on, I managed to grab Libba Bray's The Diviners signed with a really cool necklace as well. I think one of the best moments was when I managed to grab Eve and Adam after I missed getting it on Tuesday. That was a really great moment. My biggest regret is not taking more pictures to show you guys, I guess there is just so much going on that I didn't realize how much time I didn't have to do a lot of things.

On my way back from the Javits Center (alone since my friend left half way through the day), I saw that they were placing the space ship on the Intrepid and that was really cool to get to see. While on the ferry back to the mainland, I met Anna from Read Between the Lines who were also their way to their hotel. They didn't get a copy of Throne of Glass, so I gave them one of my other copies and a few secrets about what I learned through the day.

My mess of Day 3 on the Living Room Floor.