Kaniesha Reviews: Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham

Title: Scarlett Undercover
Series: Stand-Alone
Author: Jennifer Latham
Release date: May 19, 2015
Publisher: Little Brown
Genres: contemporary, action, mystery
Goodreads

Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks -- and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father's murder.

Jennifer Latham delivers a compelling story and a character to remember in this one-of-a-kind debut novel.

Kaniesha's April 2015 Roundup

Finished:

Bloodwitch by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Rating: 4/5 stars

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski Rating: 5/5 stars

Fake ID by Lamar Giles Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Scarlett Undercover Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Shadow, Shadow by V.B. Marlowe Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour Rating: 5/5 stars

Everneath by Brodi Ashton Rating: 5/5 stars

Gates of Thread & Stone by Lori M. Lee Rating: 5/5 stars

Started:

Rush by Silver Eve

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Still Reading:

None!

Dropped:

Elfin by Quinn Loftis

One word: bleh

Acquired:

When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling

Our posts from April:

Kaniesha's March 2015 Roundup (Posted late.. woops)

Read Play Blog: April 2015

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

Kaniesha Reviews: Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Kaniesha Reviews: Shadow, Shadow by V.B. Marlowe

Reading Challenge Update:

Flights of Fantasy: 13/25

Dive Into Diversity: 4/12

Debut Author Challenge: 4/10

Fairytale Challenge: 1/5

Summary:

I have read a LOT of books this month! I mean, eight's not a lot to other people but it is SO many to me. Possibly too many but I am really on a roll! The month started off okay, went a bit downhill but then it got great again! Fake ID, Scarlett Undercover and Shadow, Shadow were some weird books to read but they were alright. Click my Fake ID review for more of my thoughts on that one. I still haven't made too much headway into the Fairytale challenge, and right now I'm realizing I might've guessed on the fantasy one. I thought I read a LOT more fantasy but I don't know what I actually consider fantasy. I mean does high fantasy count? Why does it count? I don't know. It's pretty vague to me, really. So I'm just up to 13 by my own definition. How was everyone else's April? :D

Monthly Releases: May 2015

As of August 2014, Monthly Releases is a way for Heather and Kaniesha to spotlight their anticipated books for the upcoming month instead of the weekly Waiting on Wednesdays.

Kaniesha's:
     

Woohoo! Three of my favorite authors are releasing new books this month. I am beyond ready for Crimson Bound. I'm convinced Rosamund Hodge is flawless. Now, I LOVE Sarah to tiny bits and pieces but from what I've seen of A Court of Thorns and Roses.. I'm not exactly intrigued. I tried reading the three chapter preview a few months ago and granted, I read it on a night where I was not at all happy but the writing style seems a lot different than what she usually does. We'll see, I guess! Kasie West and Susan Ee = will likely not disappoint. Tiffany Schmidt and Naomi Novik will be new authors for me but I DID get the arc of Uprooted on Netgalley so look forward to a review soon :D

Heather's:
 

*Many apologies for not having books last month. I thought I had one, but someone on GR mucked up the release date so I thought it came out THIS month. >_>* I greatly enjoyed Life After Life, so I'm really looking forward to A God in Ruins. And ofc, I'd read anything Libba Bray put out!

Kaniesha Reviews: Shadow, Shadow by V.B. Marlowe

Title: Shadow, Shadow
Series: The Shadow Pines Trilogy
Author: V.B. Marlowe
Release date: February 15, 2015
Publisher: Indie
Genres: paranormal
Goodreads

"The four of you have been blessed with a great gift. Well, it's a gift for you, but a curse for someone else." 

Harley receives a mysterious gift on her sixteenth birthday--a shadow box. The box gives her the power to trade someone to the shadows, meaning they will disappear and cease to exist. Harley can't imagine doing such a horrible thing and is warned that using the box comes at a price. Unfortunately, not using the box can be even more costly. Harley must make this life-altering decision as she discovers frightening revelations about the town she calls home.

Kaniesha Reviews: Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Title: Fake ID
Series: Stand-Alone
Author: Lamar Giles
Release date: January 21, 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genres: contemporary, action, mystery
Goodreads

Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…

My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.

I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.

I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.

And I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.

But I’m going to.

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme created and hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week we're choosing the top ten authors we would classify as all time favorites!

1. Sarah J. Maas
Relatively new to the list, Sarah took two books and four novellas to become my most favorite author ever. I'm in love with her writing and her characters and her magic and Celaena..... I love Sarah so much that I've drafted making an entire blog post about her. I just don't know how to go about it.... heuh, she's so great!

2. Christopher Paolini
Paolini here was my favorite author up until Sarah did her thing. Eragon is my second favorite series (again, Sarah = Throne of Glass) and his books are what really got me back into reading in the first place. I was 13 when I read Eragon and I've been reading more or less since then.

3. Rick Riordan
The dude is magical. Demi-gods made my life so much better. I don't know what kind of person I'd be if I hadn't read his PJO and HOO books, honestly.

4. Kiersten White
I love Kiersten SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCHHHHHHHH. Every time I turn around people are giving her bad reviews and I'm just like What? Did we read the same thing? I don't understand how people hate her style. She keeps things (sort of) simple and swoony and that's perfect. Plus she's so versatile with genres and subjects. Kick-ass girls? Done. Cute boys? Done. Weird creepy myths? Done.

5. Cinda Williams Chima
Seven Realms series! One of the best series I've ever read. I've even started re-reading them this year. I've only re-read Sarah's and Christopher's books ever so this is very important.

6. D.J. MacHale
I really, really appreciate D.J. MacHale. His books are so different than books I usually read, he writes a really different perspective. His main characters are always boys and that's exactly what they feel like. I feel like I'm reading a story through a boy. It's pretty wonderful.

7. Rosamund Hodge
Now, I might be getting ahead of myself here, but I'm dedicated to this decision. Cruel Beauty put some sort of magic on my heart because I am still in love with it! Gorgeous!

8. Laini Taylor
Magic! Magicky magical magic!!!!! Laini writes so beautifully, I bet she could describe a wall and I'd love it.

9. Leigh Bardugo
Leigh isn't my favorite author in terms of characters but her world building, magic crafting, boldness?, fashion sense?... I don't know how to describe what it is that she does but it really inspires me to have my writing come to life. I feel like she's really good at what she does. I can see what she writes. Her visuals, her tumblr, her pinterest, everything she posts has this one related vision and it's fantastic and I really enjoy it. I can't wait to see if she does something different in the future!

10. Marie Lu
If you guys ever read my reviews, you'll know I wasn't a fan of the Young Elites. If you know me, then you'll know I am a HUGE fan of the Legend trilogy. Her brilliant use of characters, relationships, healthy separations, ACTION, cities...... Marie is truly a wonder.

Well, that wraps it up for top 10! Some more honorable mentions can be seen here. Share any ultimate faves with me? :D

Read Play Blog: April 2015

Read Play Blog is a meme about video games and books, posted every 16th of the month. Bloggers are encouraged to answer a discussion question, and recommend a video game that is similar to a book they liked. Hosted by Happy Indulgence & Read Me Away.

Do you own any gaming merchandise? Show them off, or tell us what merch you would most love to have!

I don't have anything too fancy, just a couple books, a couple posters and a couple plushes.

I love Endermen! Minecraft, Skyrim and LOZ. No surprise there. I bought a LOZ poster a couple weeks ago, it's just not up yet.

Currently Playing & Recommendation: Team Fortress 2

A beautiful free-to-play through Steam for PC players. I don't know about mac users. If you're not used to multiplayer, it's a hard game to get into. I originally started playing it almost exactly a year ago, and I hated it up until about last month. Now I've been more or less hooked. You just have to play the tutorials! Don't think you can't. Trust me, the people on this game will kick your ass if you go in thinking you can just figure it out.

*Sorry I skipped March, but my answer is basically along the lines if me not caring about whether or not a game is single player or multiplayer.

Kaniesha's March 2015 Roundup

Finished:

The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima Rating: 5/5 stars

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard Rating: 2/5 stars

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch Rating: 4/5 stars

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Rating: 5/5 stars

Jackaby by William Ritter Rating: 5/5 stars

The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury Rating: 5/5 stars

Started:

I finished The Sin Eater's Daughter on the 31st so none!

Still Reading:

None!

Dropped:

None!

Our posts from March:

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Books I Would Classify As All Time Favorite Books From The Past 3 Years

Reading Challenge Update:

(I really need to organize this so let's ignore this for March).

Summary:

Oh GOODNESS I'm posting this late! I've been so busy and I didn't think about this at all! So my birthday was March 27 as some of you might know from last year, and all I did was shop around the mall. I got some new things including a blue flower hairband from Charlotte Russe that is ADORABLE! I sadly have not bought any books but I do believe my friend Edward bought me one which I am looking forward to getting ~ ~ Besides that, March was a somewhat forgettable month, not that I mind.

It has been a slow month for Deux Lectrices but with my job I haven't felt like sitting down to write any book things nor do I have the time or energy! I have been reading more than normal though which is better than nothing! Hopefully that'll lead to more book concent in the future. We do however now have deuxlectrices.com which is awesome :D I think I might be moving us over to Wordpress in the near future as well, but we'll see!

How was everyone else's March?

Monthly Releases: April 2015

As of August 2014, Monthly Releases is a way for Heather and Kaniesha to spotlight their anticipated books for the upcoming month instead of the weekly Waiting on Wednesdays.

Kaniesha's:
    

April has some interesting YA being released! I haven't heard a single bad thing about Simon vs The Homo Sapien's Agenda (and I'm very excited about this!), Miss Mayhem is the Rebel Belle sequel (yay!) and The Girl at Midnight has been super hyped. Unfortunately I have seen some underwhelming comments about Magonia but that cover is gorgeous and Rook's cover is FANTASTIC. Definitely looking forward to all of these.

Heather's:

Looks like Heather is sitting April out! Hopefully we'll get to see her picks next month :D

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Books I Would Classify As All Time Favorite Books From The Past 3 Years

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme created and hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week we're choosing the top ten books we would classify as all time favorites!

* Post was edited, I didn't realize it was from the past three years! So I'll be considering the books I've read in the past three years and not just published.

Cruel Beauty is definitely one of my all time favorites -- I love it to bits and pieces. I don't know why (Ignifex) but there's something intriguing about it (Ignifex). The Diviners was simply brilliant and you'd have to fight me if you disagree. (You actually wouldn't have to fight me).

Of Metal and Wishes! I couldn't stop talking about this one for months, omg. I still think everyone should read it. I think I'm just......... Melik. Alright, I like cute boys. All of these books have cute boys. Cute boys and kickass girls! I love these books. Pantomime is just, I can't stop thinking about this one. I need more. Same for The Rose Master, I really can't get this one out of my head! *sigh* Books.

Okay, but that was really hard! Some honorable mentions: The Holders by Julianna Scott, Angelfall by Susan Ee, Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor, basically anything you see in this list...


How about you guys? Share any ultimate favorites with me? :D