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Title: Hades Speaks!: A Guide to the Underworld by the Greek God of the Dead
Author: Vicky Alvear Shecter
Illustrations: J.E. Larson
Publication: September 1st 2014 by Boyds Mills Press
Genre: Nonfiction ~ Middle Grade ~ Greek Mythology
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5
Hades, god of the dead, welcomes readers on a dangerous tour of his underworld kingdom, filled with monsters, furies, giants, and vampire demons. Along the way, he reveals ancient death rites and sinister curses, tells hair-raising stories, and cracks jokes to die for. With his witty voice and ghoulish sense of humor, Hades is the perfect guide through this fresh and imaginative work of nonfiction that reads like a novel. Includes a glossary, bibliography, and index.
I loved Hades Speaks! I don't remember the last time I've laughed so much with a book. It was so hilarious and I only wish when I was younger there were books like this teaching me about history and mythology. That would've made things a whole lot more interesting.
Just like with Anubus (Speaks!) I laughed my ass off with Hades. I love how the author portrays and writes these gods and lets them take us on a tour through their world. I simply adore it. It's even better because I'm so fascinated by ancient Greece and their mythology. The book is written in a fun yet informative way and there were lots of pop culture references such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson - I loved that.
The illustrations are wonderful. I loved the way Hades and everything else was drawn. This is why I want these books (Anubus Speaks and Hades Speaks) in a physical copy. I'm sure they'll be gorgeous to look at. Ah, someday!
Like I said before, this book is hilarious and Hades made me laugh out loud too many times to count. The comical part of this book is what makes this book so good—that and learning more about ancient Greece, the gods and everything in between.
Funny, interesting, quick and with beautiful illustrations, Hades Speaks!: A Guide to the Underworld by the Greek God of the Dead by Vicky Alvear Shecter was a fantastic read, one of my favorites of 2014 and I would recommend it to absolutely everyone! Seriously, go read it now!
Favorite Quotes:
I'm sorry, but you dont see me sending my minions up there to "help" polish Zeus's lightning bolts or fluff up his storm clouds, now, do you?
Oh, also, do not eat any of the luscious pomeganates that grow near my palace, because if you do, you will never return to the land of the living. Why rush things, right?
Most people picture my dog with three heads, but that is wrong, wrong, wrong. He is way cooler than that. Some poets claimed he had fifty heads and some poets called him the "hundred-headed" beast. Others described him with not only multiple heads, but with a serpent's tail, a mane of snakes, and lion's paws.
Whatever. I call him awesome.
About the Author:
Vicky Alvear Shecter is the award-winning author of Curses and Smoke, Cleopatra’s Moon, Hades Speaks! A Guide to the Underworld by the Greek God of the Dead, and other books about the ancient world and mythology.
Title: Beauty's Beast
Author: Amanda Ashley
Publication: September 2nd 2014 by Zebra
Genre: Adult ~ Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Cover Rating: 4/5
Overall Rating: 1/5
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
Beauty
Fair of face and figure, Kristine is young, innocent, pure. Yet she has been condemned to the gallows for killing a man. The only one who can save her is a lord so infamous that some say he is the son of the Devil himself...
And the Beast
Erik Trevayne is called the Demon Lord of Hawksbridge Castle, but few know of the curse he lives under. Or the terrifying changes slowly gnawing away at his humanity. When he weds her, all he wants of Kristine is a son. But when he beds her, a wild hope is born—that love that can tame even the most monstrous of beasts...
Honestly, I didn't like Beauty's Beast at all. The description and cover were pretty amazing sounding and looking but in the end I felt a little deceived by them. I couldn't like anything about this book. I wish I had liked it more but I just didn't unfortunately.
I love retellings, especiallye fairy tales retellings so much. I really thought this book was going to be fantastic but it disappointed me. The first thing that put me off was the writing. I really didn't like it. It was a little choppy and the conversations felt awkward.
The characters were another thing that put me off. Kristine was kinda... weak. I like female characters that are fierce and independend but she was anything but. All in all, Erik wasn't the worst to read about but I still didn't really like him all that much. He was just meh. The romance between them was just the worst. I didn't like the way they started and how the story went for them. There was no world and character building whatsoever.
And another thing... are there supposed to be winks to The Phantom of the Opera in this book? I'm not sure but there's a mask involved and two characters that are named Erik and Kristine? If this is so, then it's pretty nicely done. But that's the only possitive thing I could say about this book and I'm not even sure if the author meant for this to be so.
So overall, Beauty's Beast by Amanda Ashley is definitely not a favorite book of mine. I was extremely bored and frustrated throughout reading this story. The characters, the writing and the story in general was pretty disappointing, cheap even and just awful in my opnion.
Title: Feuds
Author: Avery Hastings
Series: Feuds #1
Publication: September 2nd 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Young Adult ~ Dystopia
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo | iBooks | Paper Lantern Lit
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
In this breathless story of impossible love, perfection comes at a deadly cost.
For Davis Morrow, perfection is a daily reality. Like all Priors, Davis has spent her whole life primed to be smarter, stronger, and more graceful than the lowly Imperfects, or “Imps.” A fiercely ambitious ballerina, Davis is only a few weeks away from qualifying for the Olympiads and finally living up to her mother’s legacy when she meets Cole, a mysterious boy who leaves her with more questions each time he disappears.
Davis has no idea that Cole has his own agenda, or that he’s a rising star in the FEUDS, an underground fighting ring where Priors gamble on Imps. Cole has every reason to hate Davis—her father’s campaign hinges on the total segregation of the Imps and Priors—but despite his best efforts, Cole finds himself as drawn to Davis as she is to him.
Then Narxis, a deadly virus, takes its hold--and Davis’s friends start dying. When the Priors refuse to acknowledge the epidemic, Davis has no one to turn to but Cole. Falling in love was never part of their plan, but their love may be the only thing that can save her world...in Avery Hastings's Feuds.
Feuds was an enjoyable but kind of predictable dystopian book, though there were some twists that were pretty good, I thought. I think I would've liked the book a bit more if it wasn't for the insta-love. I thought the relationship between Davis and Cole could've been done better because everything went so fast. And there were kisses. Lots of kisses. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Aside from the romance that wasn't really the best for me, I did like this book. I thought for a dystopian book it was pretty original because let's be honest, there are so many books in this genre so you've got to be pretty good to come up with new dystopian societies.
I loved the fact that this book had two different points of view. I loooove different povs, okay? Many don't but I do. Especially guy povs. Cole was my favorite because Davis sometimes kind of annoyed me. I liked her but I felt like she needed to get her priorities straight, which in the end she did.
I liked the concept of the mysterious Narxis disease and how only Priors get it. It gave the book a little something extra to focus on. And like I said before there are some unexpected twists. Nothing too big, in my opinion but unexpected enough to give me pause.
Feuds by Avery Hastings was likable. I didn't love it because I had wanted a little more character and world-building. But overall it was pretty enjoyable and a fast read. And I definitely want to read the next book because the ending was unexpected. Cliffhanger, people!
About the Author:
Avery Hastings is an author and former book editor from New York City. Avery grew up in Ohio, graduated in 2006 from the University of Notre Dame and earned her MFA from the New School in 2008. When she's not reading or writing, Avery can usually be spotted lying around in the park with her affable dog. Like her protagonists, she knows how to throw a powerful right hook and once dreamed of becoming a ballerina. In addition to New York, Avery has recently lived in Mumbai and Paris, but is happy to call Brooklyn home (for now).
