Mundie Moms

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Weekly Round Up in the Stacks (IMM #157/ STS #20)

Hi and welcome to this week's edition of my Weekly Round Up in the Stacks. This weekly meme was inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox and Tynga Review's Stacking The Shelves. I hope y'all have had a lovely week. I fell a little behind on blogging this week, as my son was home from school with strep throat for much of the week. There were a few really excited things that happened this week:



 The CLOCKWORK PRINCESS book trailer revealed! You can check it out here



I also kicked off our Clockwork Prince Read Along happening HERE! Come join the daily discussions  about each of the chapters. You can check out the schedule here




Sometime this past week the blog hit 2 MILLION visits! I am totally shocked! Since I'm already giving away a huge box of ARCs for our 4th Bday Bash here, I only had two new 2013 ARCS to giveaway as a THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by the blog. Go HERE to enter to win an ARC of The Elite and Life After Theft. Good luck! :)

For Review: There were fabulous surprises this week from Harper Teen! Can I just say they have some AWESOME releases this year. 



Harper Teen
Knopf Books
NAL
Kiki Hamilton
  • The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Thank you to: Harper Teen, Random House, Kiki Hamilton, Putnam and NAL for this week's awesome reads. What goodies did you receive or purchase?

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This week on the blog: Here's what we featured this week on the blog. 

Cassie / TMI Movie News:
Book Reviews:
Blog Tours:
Cover Reveal:
Thanks for stopping by & have a lovely week!

Clockwork Prince Read Along Day #5: Chapter 4



Welcome to Day 4 of the Clockwork Prince Read Along. You can follow the entire read-a-long and find each of the day's posts here. Remember there's no right or wrong way to participate. Your comments can be as long or a short as you'd like them to be. You can answer one or each of the questions asked, it's totally up to you, BUT, in order to be entered into the CP giveaway (which you also had to sign up to win), you do need to be actively participating in the read-a-long. 

Today's discussion is about: Chapter 4
  • I find the quotes Cassie's uses with each chapter fascinating and fitting given they often give us a hint about what we can find in each chapter. I love the quote w/ this chapter, "Friendship is one mind in two bodies."- Meng-tzu I immediately thought of Will and Jem. In this chapter we learn what means their bond, parabatai, means. Why do you feel it was significant for us to better understand Will and Jem's bond? 
  • I love Will and Tessa's bantering in this chapter. I've read/re-read CP a few times now, but on this re-read it dawned me, that even though Tessa loves both Jem and Will, I can finally see the differences in that love she has for both guys. It's the different ways she displays her mannerisms towards both Jem and Will up to this point, that made me see that. Has anyone else picked up on that? 
  • I have to admit I'm a little surprised over Gideon's comments to his brother Gabriel in talking about Charlotte and why they're there. Up until this point I haven't much cared for either of them, but I'm curious to get to know more about Gideon. What do you guys think about him?
  • What do you make of Jem telling Tessa about Shadowhunter marriages? I feel like there's a reason why Jem felt the need to explain how they work, and how a Shadowhunter could ever marry a mundane, given the chance that, that would ever happen. 
Please DO NOT POST SPOILERS. There's some fans who are joining the read-a-long who are reading Clockwork Prince for the first time. 

Book Review and Giveaway: VORTEX by Julie Cross

By: Julie Cross
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Series: A Tempest Novel (#2)
Source: ARC provided by author

Buy: amazon | IndieBound | Barnes and Noble
Vortex (Tempest, #2)
Rating: 5 out of 5 action packed stars

Synopsis: Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

I adored the first book in this series, Tempest (review)  , and usually the second book in a series drives me a little nuts because let's face it, especially in a timeslip plot, the couple have to be separated. And we know this is going to be the case just from the ending of Tempest, but what I didn't expect in Vortex was the heart-thumping plot line that Julie delivered which distracted me from the will-they-ever-be-together-again jitters.

This review is hard to write without spoilers (I'm going to use the synopsis as my guideline). I have to admit that I am completely biased when it comes to time travel stories, I simply love them. In this installment, Julie turned up the action by using secret divisions within the CIA. The best part of this plot twist is that you're never entirely sure which group is the good guys. For Tempest readers who found Jackson's jumps a little tricky to follow, there's a great explanation in Vortex that visually presents the timelines he's created. Again, readers will be surprised by the results of these timelines.

Can you tell that I'm trying hard to not give anything away? Okay, one more thing I can add, Julie always writes in these touching moments between family members and Jackson witness an important moment in his life on one of his travels back in time. One of my favorite parts in an action oriented plot is when the author pauses to show us something important in the lead character's back-story. This moment resonated with me.

After reading Vortex, I realized that Jackson cannot trust anyone. Truly not a soul. This sets up the final story in the trilogy rather nicely because all I really want to know is how it will all end. For me, that's the sign of a great series.

If you're in the mood for intrigue, time travel and a character who is on a journey of self-discovery that leads him into more questions than answers, pick up the Tempest series. There's a reason why I created the hashtag -- #hottimetravelers, and there's a reason why Jackson consistently makes my Top Ten Fic Boys list. Before I forget, if you read my reviews purely for this answer -- yes, there's kissing. Just wait until you read what I dubbed the Frenemy Kissy Scene (pages 58-60 in the ARC). Holy hotness.

Julie graciously signed a paperback of Tempest for us to give away; you can enter by logging on to the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway is for U.S. mailing addresses only and ends on March 3rd at midnight CST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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