Everless by Sara Holland

January 30, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

Book Overview:

Author: Sara Holland | Series: Untitled | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: Eileen Stevens | Length: 10 hours, 1 min | Publish Date: January 2, 2018 | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: HECK YES

“Maybe I am a mystery— a secret— that needs unravelling…”

Oh. My. Gosh.

I can’t believe the kind of adventure I took while I read this book. I can’t even believe that I was lucky enough to get this book a little bit after its release date, although I only got to read it just recently. I had heard mixed reviews before I decided to dive into it, from absolutely loving it to thoroughly hating it.

I have to say that I’m on the absolutely loving it team.

So first of all, the concept of someone’s blood being used as currency was weird in and of itself. I had never heard of a book or TV show or anything that has done that before. But that’s not all! Their blood shows how much time they have left in their life. The more blood irons you own, and consume, the longer you will live. How crazy is that? They even had cases where people have lost all of their time because they owe too much of it, bloodletting their life source in order to pay for their taxes and rent and anything else they need to pay for. Of course, the only people that don’t really have to worry about it are the Gerlings, basically considered royalty and almost immortal. The main protagonist Jules and her father used to live in Everless, the home of the Gerlings, until they were banished by one of the Princes of Everless, a jerk named Liam. But when her father is about to lose whatever time he has left, she realizes that the only way to save him is to go back to Everless, and work as a maid to earn enough time to save him.

I honestly loved the concept of this book, and it made me really think about what I would do if my life was determined by how much time I had left, and what I would spend my “time” on when it was taken out of my body. We all know I love books, but would I even have enough time to spend on books if my time was limited? I don’t know! That’s such a scary thought, isn’t it?

It was so interesting to know that Jules’ life was not what she remembered. It was like her memory of her childhood, spending time with the Gerling boys before she was forced to leave, wasn’t entirely what it seems to be. When she moved up in her station in the castle, from working in the kitchens to being basically a lady in waiting for the future Queen of Everless, she learns about her origin story and has to deal with loss, an identity crisis, and some form of betrayal that may end up breaking her heart.

I can’t wait to read the sequel! Especially since the ending had me completely heartbroken and I wanted to cry. The way it left us hanging was terrible! In a good way, though… except for the fact that now I want to know what the heck is going to happen next!

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Website: http://sarahollandwrites.com

Twitter: Sara__Holland

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction

Goodreads Member Since: January 2011

Sara Holland grew up in small-town Minnesota among hundreds of books. She graduated from Wesleyan University and worked in a tea shop, a dentist’s office, and a state capitol building before heading to New York to work in publishing. These days, she can be found exploring the city’s bookstores or finding new ways to put caffeine in her bloodstream. EVERLESS is her debut novel.

Buddy Read Discussion: Dorothy Must Die with Trish

January 29, 2018June 4, 2019 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 1 Comment

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your patience! I know it must have been really exciting to see that I was doing a blog collaboration for the first time ever. I know I was excited about it, and I still am!

As you remember, Trish with WideAngledLife and I decided to do a buddy read for Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. Well, we both finished the book, and let me say that it was one hell of a ride!

* * * S P O I L E R S A L E R T * * *

Turn back now if you don’t want to be spoiled!

* * * * L E E L Y N N ‘ S T H O U G H T S * * * *

So when I was reading this book, all I could think about was how this book was totally not what I was expecting. I mean yes, reading the synopsis I know that this isn’t going to be the Wonderful Wizard of Oz with the singing Munchkins and all the bright colors and stuff. I knew it, but still. It just threw me off when Amy finally got to Oz.

This book definitely does not shy away from the death and violence. Paige introduces us to a potentially amazing character, a munchkin named Indigo who has a sassy attitude and a killer fashion sense, only to have her brutally killed by the Evil Tin Woodman! Like, are you kidding me?! I was so looking forward to Indigo’s sass and her telling off Amy for being so ignorant, but no. She goes and gets murdered because AMY decides to break the law and Indigo ends up being punished for it. It wasn’t fair, and I was so pissed off.

Like, very pissed off.

So then Amy gets taken away to the Emerald City, where she meets Dorothy who has definitely grown up to be a bad ass bitch, and not in a nice way either. She’s grown into her body, is seen as very sexual with her cleavage and short dress, and just doesn’t sound like a good person at all. Amy called it when she figured that Dorothy would want her destroyed. Since Amy is now the second girl to come from Kansas by way of a tornado, who’s to say that this won’t happen again? Especially since right now, Dorothy has all the power in Oz over magic and all of the inhabitants of Oz? She’s had hundreds of people and creatures killed during her reign, so clearly she’s not trying to be Good.

And what exactly was going on through Dorothy’s mind that she wanted to destroy the Oz that treated her so well? Like the Munchkins ever did anything evil to her! But she doesn’t care. She punishes and kills without remorse, only caring about herself and how much magic and power she can gain. Even the “Good Witch” Glinda has turned into an evil bitch, with this fake ass “perma smile” so that her face is forever creepy and nothing like what I remember.

I mentioned to Trish that I just felt like this book was sad. Not the crying kind of sad – although I did tear up a bit when I realized that Indigo really was dead – but the kind where you realize that the world is completely different from what you expected and it’s not going to change anytime soon. It was just… sad.

Like I said in my review, I really did enjoy this book. I just couldn’t get over how much Oz was destroyed by Dorothy. None of them deserved this, and when witnessing the deaths of those that actually want to change Oz back for the better, it makes me hate Dorothy even more. Amy has the mission to kill Dorothy, and she failed. Since there are more books to follow Amy in her journey, she better succeed in getting rid of this parasite.

Dorothy must die… along with her terrible and ugly friends.

* * * * T R I S H ‘ S T H O U G H T S * * * *

I just wanna say that I have no idea how this book has less then 4 stars on Goodreads. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about this book so I decided to read it for myself. I am super glad I did. I absolutely loved it! The writing style in this book is amazing. The world building was some of the best I have ever read in a book and that is really saying something. As I was reading I felt like I could vividly see everything in front of me. The characters were well developed and so unique in their own ways.

Check out Trish’s full review on her blog: wide angled life.

* * * * F I N A L T H O U G H T S * * * *

I hope you all enjoyed reading our thoughts about Dorothy Must Die. We plan on continuing the series and doing other buddy read posts so you can see what we think about everything! Feel free to leave comments on what you thought about Dorothy Must Die, and whether or not you plan on reading the rest of the series with us.

ttyl by Lauren Myracle

January 29, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Audacious author Lauren Myracle accomplishes something of a literary miracle in her second young-adult novel, ttyl (Internet instant messaging shorthand for “talk to you later”), as she crafts an epistolary novel entirely out of IM transcripts between three high-school girls.

Far from being precious, the format proves perfect for accurately capturing the sweet histrionics and intimate intricacies of teenage girls. Grownups (and even teenage boys) might feel as if they’ve intercepted a raw feed from Girl Secret Headquarters, as the book’s three protagonists–identified by their screen names “SnowAngel,” “zoegirl,” and “mad maddie”–tough their way through a rough-and-tumble time in high school. Conversations range from the predictable (clothes, the delicate high-school popularity ecosystem, boys, boys in French class, boys in Old Navy commercials, etc.) to the jarringly explicit (the girls discuss female ejaculation: “some girls really do, tho. I read it in our bodies, ourselves”) and the unintentionally hilarious (Maddie’s IM reduction of the Christian poem “Footprints”–“oh, no, my son. no, no, no. i was carrying u, don’t u c?”).

But Myracle’s triumph in ttyl comes in leveraging the language-stretching idiom of e-mail, text messaging, and IM. Reaching to express themselves, the girls communicate almost as much through punctuation and syntactical quirks as with words: “SnowAngel: ‘cuz–drumroll, please–ROB TYLER is in my french class!!! *breathes deeply, with hand to throbbing bosom* on friday we have to do “une dialogue” together. i get to ask for a bite of his hot dog.'”

Myracle already proved her command of teenage girl-ness with Kissing Kate, but the self-imposed convention of ttyl allows a subtlety that is even more brilliant. Parents might like reading the book just to quantify how out of touch they are, but teens will love the winning, satisfyingly dramatic tale of this tumultuous trio. (Ages 13 to 17) –Paul Hughes

Book Overview:

mad maddie: zoe, angela is her own worst enemy, you know.
zoegirl: i love her so much, but i do kind of understand what you’re saying. but i don’t know how to tell her that to her face. i don’t even know if i want to say it to her face.

I am so glad I was able to buy the entire series from Barnes & Noble, not to mention that I was able to get the 10th-anniversary edition! Trust me when I say that the story was different from what I remembered all those years ago. The 10th-anniversary edition updated the story to include current shows and trends, like Pinterest and Netflix, all while keeping true to what this journey was basically about.

I loved this book a lot because of its unique format. I remember when I first read this, thinking how it was so cool that the story was told entirely through IMs. I still love that aspect as I read it for the second time in my life. I especially liked that each girl – Zoe, Angela, and Maddie – had their own fonts customized so we could tell the difference between them visually. If you read this book and see the way they message each other, you’d be able to tell who is who easily.

This story takes place during the girls’ sophomore year in high school. It’s a big year for them, as they are getting to the age of being able to drive legally without any parental supervision. They are growing up, learning about love, friendships, betrayals, and everything else that comes with high school. It has been described as a coming of age story, and I can really agree with that statement. They still have some growing up to do, and they do need to learn that their friendship is more important than any arguments or fights they may get into, but I have a feeling these girls will be able to pull through whatever obstacles come their way.

I look forward to rereading the rest of the series, including the newest addition to the story, “yolo”. See? Lauren Myracle really has kept up with the times.

Author SpotlightCourtesy of Goodreads

Born: in Brevard, North Carolina, The United States
May 15, 1969
Website: http://www.laurenmyracle.com/
Twitter: LaurenMyracle
Genre: Children’s Books, Young Adult
Influences: Judy Blume

Lauren Myracle is the author of numerous young adult novels. She was born in 1969 in North Carolina. Lauren Myracle holds an MA in English from Colorado State University and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. she has written many novels, including the famous IM books, ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r.

Her first novel, Kissing Kate, was selected as one of ALA’s “Best Books for Young Adults” for the year 2004. It was named by Booklist as one of the “Top Ten Youth Romances” of the year, as well as one of the “Top Ten Books by New Writers.” Her middle-grade novel, Eleven, came out 2004, followed by its YA sequels (Twelve, Thirteen, Thirteen Plus One) .