In My Mailbox (51)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren!

For Review: 

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Slated by Teri Terry

Bought:

Spartacus: Swords and Ashes by J M Clements

(Click the links to buy or preorder the books from Amazon!)

Have any of you read any of these? I really enjoyed Silence, and despite the comparisons to Supernatural I have heard great things about Anna Dressed in Blood! Feel free to post your links below so I can see what you got this week!

Rivals by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

Rivals by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur
The Ivy #3
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Rating: Essential

Callie Andrews returns for her second semester at Harvard determined to do better than the previous fall, where those Bs on her report card seemed pretty good compared to the state of her extracurriculars (F, as in if at first you don’t succeed, you should probably stop trying), friendships (C-minus, since she and former BFF Vanessa are still on thin ice), and love life (D, as in don’t even go there). But various campus rivalries soon threaten to thwart Callie’s resolve. Will Callie ever be a match for Grace Lee, the take-no-prisoners managing editor; Alessandra, the gorgeous transfer student; Clint, the guy who might just be too perfect and Gregory, the guy who may never be perfect enough.

Callie will face some of the toughest choices imaginable: in friendships, in loyalties, and in love. The pressure to pick a side—and a suitor—has never been higher. But will she and her friends choose well? - Goodreads

I'm not sure where this book rates in the series so far, because I absolutely love every single one of them. I'm not sure if I ever want this series to end.

I love Callie and her character growth since the first book has been amazing. I can't wait to see where she goes in the future.

I won't spoil you on what happens between the characters, but I love what happened with several of the relationships in this book. The characters that I hated turned out to be the bad guys, which was awesome because it kind of gave me an excuse to want to kill them. I absolutely love Gregory, and I am dying to know what happens with him in the next book.

As always, I love the little sections from the magazines that were at the beginning of each chapter. They were hilarious, and I really like trivia like this.

This is a great spring and summer read, especially as all the characters went away for Spring Break and we got to see what they got up to then. After the ending of this, I am now SO BLOODY EXCITED for the next book. Is it the final one? I don't know, but I certainly hope not.

The Ivy series: 

1. The Ivy

2. Secrets

3. Rivals

4. Scandal

Follow Friday: Battling in the Arena

Today's featured bloggers are Amy's Book World and Word Spelunking. Go and follow those guys, 'cause they're both awesome!

Q: Fight! Fight! If you could have two fictional characters battle it out (preferably from books), who would they be and who do you think would win?

I know it says 'preferably from books', but I can't talk about characters battling without bringing up Gannicus. For those of you who don't know, Gannicus is a gladiator/rebel from Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and Spartacus: Vengeance. I think you can see why I need to include him. Now, I'm not sure who I could even pick as a worthy opponent, because Gannicus could slay pretty much everyone. I'm not going to go with the obvious - Spartacus - so I guess I'll pick Dimitri from Vampire Academy. I think he would at least stand SOME chance, albeit very small! 

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting
The Body Finder #3
Release Date: March 29, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Headline
Rating: Essential

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice.

When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye... - Goodreads

The Last Echo is just as good - if not better - than the previous installments in this amazing series. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I adored Kimberly Derting's story and characters as I always do.

Like with the first book, there were lots of creepy chapters in which we were inside the killer's head. A lot of other people found this incredibly creepy as well, and this is one of the things I most enjoy about this series. These chapters, along with sending a chill down my spine, gave some background information on the killer that added lots of depth to his character, even though we didn't know who he was until the end.

Violet was as awesome and as badass as ever. Her scenes at the end were beyond amazing, and I was holding my breath for her. She's a great protagonist, and a great example of the badass female characters in YA.

Jay wasn't in this book as much as he is in the others. Violet and Jay's relationship takes a back seat in this novel, and I liked that. As much as I missed him, I loved seeing Violet on her own for the majority of the book.

We did, however, see lots of Rafe, who I adore. We learn a lot about his character in this book, which I loved, because he became more than a two dimensional brooding badboy.

I actually really like the potential of the love triangle in this series, which is surprising! This is one of the love triangles that is done right. Both guys are good for Violet, but in different ways. They both attract different sides of her character and I love it. And if you're worrying about Violet cheating on Jay then don't! Violet isn't like that.

The ending was so, so shocking! What was that!? Like I said above, I was holding my breath throughout the whole thing. It certainly changed the entire dynamic for the rest of the series and it was FLAWLESS.

The Body Finder series:

1. The Body Finder

2. Desires of the Dead

3. The Last Echo

4. TBD

Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins

Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
Hex Hall #3
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Hyperion
Rating: Essential

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late? - Goodreads

I am so, so pleased with this fantastic finale to one of my favourite trilogies! Usually I'm a little disappointed by the final book in a series, but Spell Bound left me feeling content about the whole thing.

As always, Sophie is such a great female lead. I love her courage and determination, and I love her awkward jokes when she's in uncomfortable situations. Absolutely hilarious. We learn more about her mum's side of the family in this book, and I really enjoyed that. We see that strong will and determination runs in the family!

I did feel that a little too much time was spent on romance rather than saving the world from demons. If the world is about to come to an end, you don't fool around! I also didn't think that the story had that urgent feel that it should have had; it just cruised along. That said, it was still a fast paced book and it had almost non-stop action. I just didn't feel as though the world was going to blow up, if that makes sense.

Like I said above, I was extremely pleased with the ending. This isn't another Harry Potter, where characters die left and right, so I was a little disappointed by that (I like suffereing, okay?) but overall I think Rachel Hawkins did a brilliant job wrapping up her trilogy and also leaving room for more.

As for my favourite book in the trilogy, I can't say that this is it. My favourite is definitely Demonglass, because that was one explosive book. Spell Bound was still excellent though, and I'll definitely be treasuring this trilogy and recommending it to everyone!