Infinite ARC Giveaway Entry!

First of I want to say thank you to Jodi Meadows for the chance to enter in this giveaway. You can see her post here.

All of my adventures start off when I am going out of my state. Last spring, I got to travel to Austin, Texas in order to see my uncle's wedding. When I first arrived in the airport, I saw all these gigantic colored guitars. My dad and I decided to go hunting for as many as we could find!

Pretty sweet, right? The next few days were a blur. We had wedding rehearsals, places to explore, and the actual wedding! I had fun meeting new family members and being apart of their wedding. They had their wedding on a historic site, so that was really cool to see. I discovered I had a cousin that looked like Taylor Lautner! Across my hotel there was a motorcycle shop and my dad and I checked it out. They had the bikes that were in the movie, The Host. Being a huge fan of the books, I was so excited when the manager let me sit on one of them!

The next day we got to adventure around Austin (seeing the capital building and their bridges) on SEGWAYS! They are so much fun to ride! That made the sights of Austin even more thrilling! I can't wait to go there next time because I will get to meet my baby cousin. Since my aunt and uncle have moved since we were there, their new neighbor is Elijah Wood. Yes, the Elijah Wood. If you are unfamiliar with this actor, he was Frodo in The Lord of the Rings movies.

Incarnate Giveaway Entry!

First off, I wanted to say thank you to Jodi Meadows for this opportunity. Her story about new beginnings was lovely as well and you can see it here. Here is my entry for the signed Incarnate paperback!

The story I picked was my first day at a new school. I was only in third grade at the time and I transferred in the middle of November. It was not because I moved or anything like that, but my mom really disliked my old school, so she decided that I needed to change schools. This changed the course of my life completely. I got new friends, a different education, and a different environment.

I remember my first day crystal clear. I arrived at the school and there was a female student who had to guide me through the school. I thought the way they ran things was so strange and unfamiliar. For example, we had to wait in an amphitheater until eight o'clock. When it was eight, they let us out for ten minutes of recess. Their worn,wooden  desks were so different compared to the shiny, metal ones they had at my old school.

The girl who guided me around walked us to our new classroom. I was introduced to the teacher, Ms.Gruber. This whole time I had thought she was an older woman, but she was actually one of the youngest teachers on campus. She was an amazing teacher. She challenged me to my fullest potential and I wouldn't be who I am today without her guidance.

Ms.Gruber had put me next to the brightest girl in our class. She had dark skin and a braided pixie cut. She helped me get into the routine and helped tour me around. To this day, she is still my best friend and I am so thankful that she is in my life. This was only the start of my new life.

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

"It's Adrian Ivashkov logic. Don't try to understand it. Just roll with it."

I will warn you that this review will be a tad bit bias because I am absolutely in love with all of Richelle Mead's books. This review may also contain a few spoilers because these feels can not and shall not be held in!

If you have no clue what this book is about, I'll try to get you up to speed. This is the fourth book in the Bloodlines series, and that series is a spinoff to the Vampire Academy series. (Which I totally recommend because it's the best vampire series out there.) If you haven't read any of the previous books that lead up to this one, I recommend you leave now and go read them. You are totally missing out!

Summary:

In this book, Sydney has many complications. With her sister being around, that doesn't leave much time for much Sydrian action, much less time for Alchemist rebels. (But my dear Sydrian fans, you will definitely not be disappointed by this book.) There is a lot to deal with tattoos, tattoos that may save our favorites' lives.

Overall Review:

After immediately finishing this book, I was willing to give this book 5 stars. Now that I have had time to digest what has happened, I shall give it a 4/5 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this. It was such a thrill. If you don't remember what has happened in past books, don't worry. The first 10 pages or so will help you remember what this world is like.

The major change of this book is that it contains Adrian POVs. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I loved getting insight to Adrian's mind. He is a character we have know for years and it was interesting to live through his eyes. It was also very essential to this story, especially towards the end of the book. The problem I had was that Mead has a very feminine style of writing and that is why I did not like the Adrian POV. It was too feminine to be a male character. Mead also could have done a lot more with his character because Adrian is definitely one of the most sarcastic characters of all.
I did enjoy the Sydney perspectives as well. She has thrown all of the Alchemists beliefs out the window. I know, finally. It took three books to avoid Adrian's charm, but she has finally fallen over his spell. Mead did a fantastic job of showing the character development that happens with Sydney. It takes awhile to find the strength to go against what she has been taught her whole life.

I hope you found this review helpful. Please note that I purchased this book with my own money and that I am not being paid to make this review.

The Gift of Cinder!

Hello, I am entering in the Gift of Cinder contest! I absolutely LOVE Cinder! It is my favorite book of 2013 and I am DYING to get my hands on Cress! I was absolutely glued to Cinder when I first read it. Here is a picture of me being antisocial in order to read Cinder. (My friends are on the left and I'm glad they left me alone to read.)

I was also given the wonderful opportunity to meet Marissa Meyer in person and I can assure you, it was one of the best days ever!

I loaned my copy of Cinder to my friend Nicholas for the following reasons:

1) He is a fast reader.
2) He would be willing to write a review for Cinder.
3) Nicholas is just that cool.

My friend has already reviewed Cinder on his blog and you can see it here. I really hope I can win this ARC because it would mean the world to me!

Courage and Other Demons by Jill Daugherty

"Courage is choosing to put aside your fear in order to do what's right."

I really enjoyed reading this book. I was in a depressing reading slump before and this book got me out of it! A very good start to a new series! I recommend going into this book without reading the summary because it spoils a very major reveal that doesn't happen for about 100 pages. Just know that it is a fantasy romance novel with some Irish elements. This review does not contain spoilers.

Summary:

Courage and Other Demons starts off when Maggie O'Neill thinks about The Dream. The Dream consisted of the very dreamy Simon Brady, the new Irish student who looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. The only problem is Maggie has a boyfriend. Maggie can't think about other boys, let alone dream of kissing them. This Simon Brady is irresistible, but what is he hiding?

Overall Review:

4.5/5 Stars

What I liked:

I had so much fun reading this book. Not many books make me laugh out loud, but Ms. Daugherty had an excellent humor. 

This was a very cohesive novel. The author puts in clever foreshadowing details in the dialogue of the characters and I appreciated that. Not many authors can execute that. I also liked the references to real world matters like Charlie Brown and Harry Potter. The characters were very realistic and that surprised me considering this book deals with fantasy aspects.

What could have made it better:

I would have loved if the title was more related to the book. I know courage will be dealt with in later books, but I wish it was put in this particular one a bit more.

Characters: 

Maggie O'Neill

Maggie is the main character of this story. I found her to be a very appealing female protagonist. She is not annoying at all. She has good humor and I especially liked the fact that she kept referencing to her four dead goldfish. The developing of her character was well written throughout the novel. Her reactions to everything that she was dealing with were very realistic.

Simon Brady

Ah, Simon Brady. Where do I begin? Well let's just say I felt he was a little too perfect to be a teenage boy. (Okay, maybe he's not a teenage boy.) 

Brandon O'Neill

I feel like Brandon was my favorite character. Ms. Daugherty perfectly captured the personality of a little brother. His dialogue with Simon was so funny that I found myself laughing out loud. I definitely want to go to that DAM museum.

Lexie

Lexie was a great best friend in this novel. I really hope they reveal the secret to her at some point.

*Note: I received a free eBook from the author herself, but that does not affect my opinion in any way.

Reading Slumps and a Twilight Experience

I am currently going through a reading slump and it's quite depressing. I have started about five books, but I cannot bring myself to complete any of them. The only books that I want to read are ones I have already read and enjoyed. Like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I have even considered rereading Twilight (I read about seventy pages). Yes, I know. How would that get me out of a reading slump? I just feel like traveling to the gloomy world of Forks and vampires.

I have a very amusing story about a Twilight experience. I was in Washington (yes, the setting of Twilight) visiting my grandparents.They decided to take me and my sister to the movies. When we looked at the selection of movies, they decided we should watch Eclipse. My grandparents had no idea that this was not a nature film, but in fact a movie about teenage, vampire love. My grandfather especially was shocked when the movie started. I will spare you of his language. We got to watch the movie anyway. Definitely something I will never forget!

Welcome to Kiara's Book Blog!

Welcome!

I am not sure how you stumbled upon my book blog, but welcome! On here, I will review books I have read and discuss bookish things as well, like book-to-movie adaptations. I mainly read young adult fiction, so those are the types of books I will be reading. You may look below to see what kind of books I have read. This post is merely just an introduction to what I read and where you can find me.

My Favorite Completed Series:

The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Maximum Ride Series - James Patterson
Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
The Infernal Devices Trilogy - Cassandra Clare
The Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Across the Universe Trilogy - Beth Revis
Gone Series - Michael Grant

My Favorite Incomplete Series:

The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Heroes of Olympus Series - Rick Riordan
The Darkest Minds Trilogy - Alexandra Bracken
Throne of Glass Saga - Sara J. Maas
The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
The Bloodlines Series - Richelle Mead

My Favorite Stand Alones:

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chobsky

Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Eve and Adam - Michael Grant

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

My Links:

Goodreads

YouTube

Twitter