Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Publisher: Berkley
Released: April 6th 2010
Age group: Adult
Pages: 470
Author info: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress's rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life-that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

 As Lepida goes on to wreak havoc in the life of a new husband and his family, Thea remakes herself as a polished singer for Rome's aristocrats. Unwittingly, she attracts another admirer in the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But Domitian's games have a darker side, and Thea finds herself fighting for both soul and sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of the brilliant and paranoid Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's mistress.

Okay, so, I know I'm 5 years late to this one, but gosh, better late than never. Mistress of Rome was amazing - amazing. Beautifully crafted down to even the smallest sentence, the character development rich and the description visually stunning. Here's what I have to say about Mistress of Rome:

1) This novel was so full on. Though only 470 pages, it felt like it was 600. A story that takes place in the years between 81 AD and 96 AD. Over a decade, multiple characters perspectives and story lines, and yet it never looses the personal touch. I have great admiration for Kate Quinn's ability to do this, she is one talented woman.

2) I love all things historical, especially based on the ancient world, and Mistress of Rome is no exception. Ancient rome + amazing women = one very happy Eleanor. Thea, for one, is incredible. Her strength, which mostly originates from her tough backstory, sings from the story, and honestly makes the book for me. Her counterpart Lepida, is one hell of a woman. She knows how to manipulate men to get what she wants, and though not a generally nice person, she is definitely a badass, and not to be messed with. The two people who get their own first-person narratives are Thea and Lepida, so this is certainly a book about them.

3) This book is not for children - at all. The gore for one is pretty full on - but I just found that the blood and grit and death made it the more epic. This is a book about gladiators and corrupt emperors after all... The description of not only the gore, but the scenery, costumes, etc really helped me to get into the world, and was definitely a good representation of the time.

4) The relationship between Thea and Arius is definitely ship worthy. In fact, there are a few pairs in the book that will have you excited! The relationships are all well developed and not too in-your-face. There's scandal and romance and tragedy and some of it is even on the cliched side, but because of how well it's written and the fascinating storyline, I barely noticed or cared.

Kate Quinn is an amazing author, and yes, I've already ordered her other novels...

Mistress of Rome is book for any history lover, and adorer of strong women (just like me)! An emotional ride the whole way through, and fascinating for anyone wanting to learn more about Ancient Rome.

Buy the book:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Weekly Update + Stacking the Shelves

Happy Sunday ;)

Hey everyone! Had a good week? I know I did. Lots of great new books, yay! And I mean that when I say it, I got a LOT of new books. Which I certainly won't be complaining about :)

But, first things first, I should probably update you all on everything else happening...

What's been happening

Right now i'm helping my friend and complete and utter computer novice out with some stuff on her computer and my goodness - she has no idea what she's doing. It's adorable!

I went to school every day this week. Which is actually a really big achievement, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I've been sorting out all my books. I've recently moved them all from my dad's to my mother's, so I had box after box to unstack, and bookshelves to buy. But I've finally managed to sort them (relatively at least) so I can find certain books went I want to, which is a huge relief. That goodness that's done!

A lot of my time was spent on tumblr, which to be honest was probably a mistake. But oh well, at least I got some blogging done, right? ;) I only read two books this week, damn.

finished this week

Between The Lives was a fresh, interesting, and quite well written teen novel that I did really enjoy turning the pages of. Read my review here.

Wintergirls... Well, do I even have words for this novel? Powerful, strong, disturbing, amazing. This is the first novel I've read by Laurie Halse Anderson, but I'm definitely going to try Speak.

currently reading

Her Fearful Symmetry is definitely a wacky novel. From bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Wife, this story is not disappointing so far. It's certainly one I'm enjoying.

So that's all my updates for this week! It's been pretty full on, what with school and books and blogging ;) but here's what I've been adding to my shelves this week...

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's about sharing the books you've been adding to your shelves, either physical or virtual.

This week has been pretty full on. Books have been mounting up like crazy. Here's just a few that I've collected.

For reviewing/ ARCs

• The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• Tease by Amanda Maciel
• Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer
• Riot by Sarah Mussi
• All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park
• Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry

Dayum, some of these I truly am very excited to read! Thanks so much to the publishers who gave them to me :)

From the library

• Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I've been wanting to read both of these for a while now, so yay!

Phew! That's it for this week. So many books, I can hardly keep up. But it's all so exciting :)

What books did you guys add to your shelves this week?

Top Ten Book Covers I'd Frame As Pieces of Art

Top Ten Tuesday  is a weekly meme hosted by Broke And Bookish. I'd been seeing it around for a while, and I've just decided to join in the fun!

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Covers I'd Frame as Pieces of Art

This is certainly not a hard one to start out with, there are so many gorgeous covers out there. Maybe the tricky part would be only picking ten! But here's what I chose:

These are only some of the gorgeous covers that are being designed for equally as beautiful books.

Between The Lives by Jessica Shirvington

Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: May 1st 2013
Age group: Young adult
Pages: 336
Author info: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is...

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking? 

Between The Lines is an interesting and page turning novel that intrigued me by its complex plot and heart-breaking ideas. Honestly I didn't know what to expect when I started this, but I was pleasantly surprised by how I enjoyed it. As always my main points are here:

1) Between The Lives really reminded me of a mix of two other novels, all based on the idea of living two lives, or living a separate/ detached life that others are unaware of. Pivot Point by Kasie West was the first to leap to mind. Based around a girl, who like Sabine in this novel, lives in two different lives, and in both the people around her are unaware of the other. The other is Forgotten by Cat Patrick. The protagonist (just like Sabine), has a life altering moment every night at a particular time. I adore both books and although the idea didn't seem as fresh when I approached Between The Lives, I still really did enjoy it.

2) One thing that I noticed while reading was that Sabine's character changed a lot between her life 'Shifts', and one I quite strongly dislike. It was not just her family, friends and surroundings that change each night, she also seems to change her personality to suit her new life. This really bothers me as I feel like even though I am reading through the eyes of the same person, that they are different in a way. More like I am reading through the first person of two twins rather than the same person.

3) I found the finish rather unbelievable unfortunately. I won't say any more because of spoilers, but I was quite disappointed of the ending yet part of me was also satisfied with it which probably sounds like I am unsure of it, and truth be told I am. It causes a lot of mixed feelings about being relieved yet incredulous. Pretty disorientating. 

4) I grew quite an attachment to Sabine, she to me seemed to be a rather forward and strong minded character. I am really happy that the female protagonists I've been reading about seem to be that recently, and this woman was certainly no exception. What Sabine did to survive, to protect those she loved, and to prove of her double life to those around her was truly astonishing and definitely the strength of this novel.

Between the Lives certainly had its strengths. And although parts were fairly predictable or basic, I found myself been drawn to many of the characters, turning every page wanting to know what happened on the next.

Buy the book:
Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble (audiobook)

Weekly Update + Stacking The Shelves

Happy Sunday everyone!

I decided I'd start doing a weekly updates, maybe Saturday or Sunday to just wrap up the week and tell everyone a little bit what's happened, such as what I've been reading and doing.

This week I haven't been reading a lot, on the account of trying to get back into this blog. But, I have managed to finish two books.

finished this week

Water for Elephants is gorgeous. Its a poignant tale, of mystery and magic and intrigue and overwhelming nostalgia. Review coming soon.

Zac & Mia is a wonderfully written uplifting story about love and loss. I was lucky enough to have read such a beautiful novel by Australian author A. J. Betts.

Currently reading

The Orchardist is a rare and emotionally engaged novel, one which I am so far loving!

What's been happening

Right now I'm staying at my father's house with him and his girlfriend, for the next week. Unfortunately I'm not with my cat Aggie, which makes me really sad but It's only for a short while.

I'm having to study a novel in English which I truly disliked, but it's been fun to write a  critical analysis of it because I get to bag it out ;)

I saw the Divergent film. My goodness, I was so happy with how it turned out to be. I went in the cinema with 0 expectations as some recent YA adaptions have been pretty darn terrible (won't be naming names), but Divergent was fabulous. The acting was great, soundtrack wonderful, and the filming was beautiful. I kept dragging my family along to it!

Well, that's about it for my weekly wrap-up! Now on to the other fun part ;)

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme run by Tynga's Reviews. It's about sharing the books you've been adding to your shelves, either physical or virtual.

For reviewing/ ARCs

• The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
• Between The Lives by Jessica Shirvington
• Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski
• The Separation by Dinah Jefferies

I received all four for reviewing with excitement, hopefully I'll get to at least two of them. 

Purchased

• More Than This by Patrick Ness
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Both books I've been wanting to read for quite a while now, and I finally went out and bought them, so I've been very enthusiastic about adding those to my shelf.

Well that's about it this week. All up it's been rather productive. And hopefully I'll get to be reading my new books!

Need by Carrie Jones

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release date: December 23rd 2008
Age group: Young adult
Pages: 306
Author info: Website
My rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥  

Pain shoots through my head. Fireworks. Explosions. All inside my brain. The white world goes dark and I know what's about to happen. 

 Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.

She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.

 In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you'd have to fear.

I have not read Need in a fair while. Please bare in mind that this review was written two coffees, little sleep, and based off an old Goodreads review. But, I do remember loving this book. So, as always, here's what stood out to me the first time I read this intriguing novel (that I can remember):

1) I was truly suprised how much I enjoyed Need. When I first purchased this story, I had not heard much hype about it, so I was not expecting brilliance. I tend to lack affection for pixie or fae novels, except for a few exceptions, because most of the time I don't find them dark enough. Need has to be an exception. And although parts were fairly predictable, it had interesting and unique aspects to it that kept me reading.

2) The gorgeous Zara is strength of this novel. My goodness, she is such a wonderful character. She is fairly sarcasm (which I adore), and she is strong. Progressively through the book, she finds reason to force herself out of depression, and soon she no longer mopes, she does not find situation to seek out sympathy from others. Her character development is admirable. Unfortunately, I found her love interest to be a rather flat, two-dimensional character, although Zara herself kept me wanting to turn pages.

3) The phobia idea is truly fresh. I never had, and still have not, encountered a book so centred on phobias of others and ones personal deepest fears. I loved that every chapter title was a phobia, it's definition, and how it always had some sort of relevance to what occurs in that chapter. Zara's quiet chanting of phobia names to ease anxiety adds to her complexity, her unique character.

In relation to the phobias, I loved the deep seeded ideas of this novel. The fact made clear that humans are fearful of the unknown, and so naming what is feared helps overcome that fear. And of course, the idea of Autophobia - the fear of oneself, which is a powerful aspect of this story.

Buy the book:

Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Um how did this happen?

I was just filtering through my previous Goodreads reviews and I noticed I have quite a few that I never added onto my blog! So I think I may do that now... Sorry hehe.