Cover Crush (2): Clockwork Princess

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Today, I have a MAJOR crush on the cover for Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare!

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it’s too late. As Jem’s health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves—even if it means never seeing the other one again?

When I saw this cover, I absolutely fell in love!! The background is a sort of sad, gray color, but the light coming off of the book really adds a splash of color to the gray background.  I also LOVE the dress that Tessa is wearing...  It's gorgeous and has me wishing that I lived in Victorian London!!  The model is absolutely gorgeous, too (she's actually kind of making me feel a little bit ugly right now...).  Another thing I love about the cover is how well it's going to fit on my shelf with the other Infernal Devices novels!!  Eeek!  I'll have a completed collection of the books :D

What do you think of the cover for the final book in the Infernal Devices trilogy?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Day 22: Your Favorite Thing About the Entire Series

Definitely the whole factions concept!!  That's what I originally fell in love with.  I thought it was such a cool thing to be divided into different factions, even though it can be extremely difficult when going through the initiation process, like for Dauntless!  If I even tried, I would probably be dead the moment they told us that we had to jump off of the train...  Also, the fact that it's a dystopian novel is another favorite thing the series.

Cleo :)

Day 20 & 21: Favorite/Least Favorite Faction

Day 20: Favorite Faction

Oooo This one is super hard because each faction sort of has its own flaw.  I'd have to go with the Amity faction, though.  Maybe their whole view on how to keep the peace and the process they use to keep the peace isn't exactly ideal, but I like how they deal with nature and believe in peace.  They also seem bright and cheerful all the time, like me! :D  Amity is probably one of the most close to normal factions that there is out there, so for that, it's one of my favorite.

Day 21: Least Favorite Faction

Erudite!  Duh!!  Sure, it's cool that you're all smart and like to discover new things, but when knowledge becomes greed, it is not cool!  Not cool at all.  

Cleo :)

Day 19: A Character You Are Most Like

I think the character that I can think of that's similar to me would have to be Johanna since she tries to keep the peace, and I would like to think that I keep the peace... Or at least try to.  I could never be anything like any of the Dauntless people.  Oh!  I could probably be like Caleb, too... Or at least the pre-Insurgent Caleb :)  I like being knowledgeable, but I'm not greedy for information like most Erudite are, so Caleb is definitely a character that I'm most like, too.

Cleo :)

Days 15, 16, 17 & 18

Over the past few days I've been kind of busy and I haven't really been at home long enough to turn on my laptop and type up the challenges :/  So the last four days have been compacted into one post for the meantime, although it kind of defeats the purpose of the challenge... But at least I'm trying my hardest to keep up with it!  I honestly thought that this would be the easiest thing ever, but it turns out that you never really know what's going to happen every day ^_^

Day 15: A Pairing You Didn't Get

Hmmm... This is kind of hard because all of them pretty much make sense... So I'm going to cheat and take a pass on this challenge...

Day 16: A Book/Series You Would Recommend to a Fellow Fan

Anything dystopian with lots  of action would be a good recommendation.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Legend by Marie Lu are two great books that are similar to Divergent.  Delirium by Lauren Oliver could work, too, if you like romance :)

Day 17: A Character You Hate that Everyone Loves

Okay, this one is pretty hard too because Veronica Roth makes sure that you love the characters that you're supposed to love and hate the ones that you're supposed to hate.  If I really had to choose, then in Insurgent, and in Insurgent only, it would have to be Tris.  She was kind of annoying in Insurgent to tell the truth, but she got better by the end :D

Day 18: A Character You Love that Everyone Hates

Again... A hard one!!  But I guess that's why they call it a challenge!  I'm not sure if she's really hated by most people, but I kind of like Tori.  Sure, she got a bit crazy when she was finally able to confront Jeanine, but that's because she took away her brother.  When you loose a loved one, it's pretty justified, especially if you're Dauntless.  Besides, that she's pretty cool with keeping Tris's secret and just being an awesome Dauntless person.

Cleo :)

Day 14: A Song That Reminds You of the Series

I chose This Isn't Everything You Are by Snow Patrol because it reminds me of how Tris and Four, and even some of the other characters, felt that they didn't belong in their faction, but they still stayed strong about it until they had to make their final decision.  While the different "stories" that are told in the song don't really pertain to Divergent or Insurgent, the overall meaning of the song kind of does.  

Some Nights by fun. is also another song that comes to mind kind of because you could interpret it as going out to war, and Tris is doing just doing that in Insurgent.

What song reminds you of the Divergent series so far?

Cleo :)

Days 12 & 13: Favorite Moment in Divergent & Insurgent

I've decided, in order to eliminate doing a whole bunch of posts for the 30 Day Divergent Challenge, I'll do certain challenges in pairs if they go hand in hand, like this one, and then they'll be posted on the latter day :D  I figured this might be less annoying if I'm blowing up your news feed with the daily challenges.

Anyways, my most favorite moment in Divergent has got to be the Ferris wheel scene.  I don't really remember what happened, but I do remember just being completely mesmerized by the scene and thinking that it was totally awesome.

In Insurgent, the bridge scene was pretty intense and one that I can remember well considering my apparent short term memory when it comes to thinking of favorite moments/scenes.

All together, I gotta say that the good moments between Tris and Four were my favorite, too, because Four is just so sweet around Tris *sigh*

Cleo :)

Review: Where It Began

Title: Where It Began
Author: Ann Redisch Stampler
Date Released: March 6th, 2012
Pages: 384
Rating: 3 out of 5

Description:

Sometimes the end is just the beginning.

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving—and without a single memory of the accident that landed her there. But what she can recall, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the crash.

As Gabby describes her transformation from Invisible Girl to Trendy Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why has Gabby been left to take the fall?

As she peels back the layers of her life, Gabby begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex... and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

Review:

Where It Began is basically like a cautionary tale for underage drinking and sketchy boyfriends.  The lesson?  Don't drink and definitely do not date wildly popular and insanely rich guys.  This was Gabby Gardiner's undoing and what wound her up in a hospital waking up totally confused and having absolutely no memory of what happened the night of the car crash that changed her life forever.

Gabby is a sort of rich kid.  She's privileged enough to go to a preppy private school, get a makeover done that will contribute to her life changing car accident, and live in one of the three B's - Bel Air, Brentwood, and Beverly Hills.  However, being a sort of rich kid comes with problems, too.  Her dad's a drunk and her mom's a shopaholic who is pretty much a very superficial person, like Jenna's mom in the TV show awkward. if you've ever seen that show.  Gabby has also been an outcast most of her years at Winston, until she gets her life changing transformation, landing her the most popular guy at school, Billy Nash.

Ann Stampler's debut was an interesting novel.  The beginning was a jumble of thoughts, flipping between the present and the past, which she calls Gabriella Gardiner Presents Scenes from Teen Life in the Three B's.  Eventually she goes home and things start to get... sketchy.  Billy is pretty much MIA and won't talk to her when she finally goes back to school, and she's confused by why everyone pities her even though she's pretty sure she's to blame for the accident.  The beginning of  the novel didn't exactly get me pumped about the novel, the middle got a bit interesting with all the mystery surrounding the pity and Billy, but the ending was what really got me, although a bit too late.  It just captivated me by how twisted and wrong some people are.

In terms of characters, Billy Nash was obviously a jerk.  He's one of those characters that you're supposed to hate, deeply, because he's rich and self-centered.  Gabby was kind of cool, and kind of not.  She was different in that she was artsy and didn't have the money and power that would get her into an Ivy League, like Billy.  However, she still had this sort of fake personality in several instances that I just couldn't stand.

Overall, Where It Began didn't exactly stand out to me.  I loved the conclusion and how everything unraveled in the end, but I can't say that the beginning grabbed my attention and I couldn't really connect or fall in love with the characters.  I will admit thought that it was pretty interesting reading about the rich part of LA.  This novel was Ann Stampler's debut, so I might give her sophomore novel a try.  Another thing about Where It Began.  I would recommend it if you like contemporary novels, but without the cutesy romance.  Personally, I think I'm still finding what I like and dislike in contemporary novels, and ones that deal with issues like these are not my favorites.

Cover Review:
I think the cover is what really drew me into the book.  I loved its simplicity and relaxing vibe with the rainbow reflection from taking the picture on the model's face, kind of like this is an actual photograph.  The simple font also goes with the contemporary genre theme and also stands out with its bold blue color.  I gotta say that I really like this cover!

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy borrowed from local library.

Day 11: A Character That You Wish Died

The previous post was about a character (in my case, characters) that died that I wished didn't die in Divergent.  While Veronica Roth managed to kill a lot of the characters in Divergent, she also managed to create a bunch of unlikable characters that I wished had died in place of the innocent and unfortunate characters.  One of them high up on the list is, but of course, Peter.  He is one lucky duck because I'm pretty sure that he was THIS close to being killed several times, but he must have picked a four leaf clover or something that helped him cheat death a couple times.  

Which character in Divergent do you wish was killed off?

Cleo :)

Waiting on Wednesday (44): Shades of Earth

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, which is brought to you by Jill at Breaking the Spine! This meme is where you can post about what book(s) you're really look forward to.

This week, I absolutely can't wait for...

The final book in the trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis! 

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh--to build a home--on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience. But this new Earth isn't the paradise that Amy had been hoping for. Amy and Elder must race to uncover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. But as each new discovery brings more danger, Amy and Elder will have to look inward to the very fabric of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been meaningless.

I totally can't wait for this book!!  A Million Suns left off right at the perfect point, leaving me desperately wanting Shades of Earth to see how everything ends.  If you haven't read the first book Across the Universe, yet, then you must definitely give it a try!!  You guys have probably heard about the cover change by now and personally I'm not the biggest fan of it.  But if a series like this is really good, then you just have to power through the changes :)

What are you waiting for this week? Also, how do you feel about the cover redesign?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Day 10: A Character That Died You Wish Didn't

This is pretty much a spoiler for those of you  who haven't read Divergent yet, so I recommend shielding your eyes and skipping to another pretty post somewhere on this blog :)

Also, isn't the challenge name phrased awkwardly?  In my mind it is...

There are so many characters that I wish didn't died that did considering the fact that like half the characters that we're introduced to in Divergent have died somehow throughout the book!!!!!!  Okay, now onto revealing who I wish didn't died, but ended up dying anyways.  I was actually pretty saddened by Tris's parents deaths.  You don't read that much about them throughout Divergent, but then in Insurgent, you find out SO many shocking secrets that they've kept that you wonder why Veronica Roth made them die.  I think that it definitely would have been super interesting if they were still alive.  

Will's death was pretty sad, too, because he just seemed like such a cool guy and Tris just had so much guilt even before she pulled the trigger and killed him.

Which character in Divergent died that you wish didn't die?

Cleo :)

Day 9: Your Least Favorite Character

This challenge isn't much of a challenge... This one's pretty easy!!  I think we all know who my least favorite character is because of his pure evilness in Divergent and his somewhat evilness in Insurgent.  Who stabs people in the eye and tries killing them by throwing them into a chasm??  Argh, he makes me so angry!  Although I'd probably be terrified by him if I were in Tris's position... Anyways, the character that I'm talking about is the one and only Peter.  Oh, the pompous coward...

Cleo :)

Cover Crush(1): The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.  So, without further ado, here is the first one!

Today, I pretty much want to marry the cover for The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins!

Two days after Mara walks into a police station in Miami at the close of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, she is committed for psychiatric treatment for what her parents believe is a mental breakdown. But what seems like a hallucination to everyone else is a chilling reality for Mara. Someone from her past has discovered her strange, disturbing secret and that someone wants her to pay. But she's about to discover that the price is more than she can bear. 

Dark and thrilling, suspenseful and passionate, The Evolution of Mara Dyer will have readers breathlessly turning pages to find out what will become of Mara Dyer next.

The minute I saw the cover the day it was revealed, I fell in love!   It goes along with the the previous cover for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (another lovely cover!).  I also love the greyish blue colors as well as the pink for the author's name.   It also kind of has that romantic touch with the two people not quite holding hands and drifting away.  I'm also a sucker for font, so I just love how the title font is sort of simple, but still fancy and fits with the mood of the cover.

What do you think of this cover?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Day 7 & 8: Your Favorite Friendship/Quote

I was totally busy on Saturday doing family things so I couldn't do day 7 of the challenge... I decided to just squish days 7 and 8 together!  It makes it a longer post anyways instead of just 2 or 3 sentences if they were by themselves ;)

I think that my favorite friendship would probably have to be the one between Tris and the rest of her friends.  They all seem to have fun together, joking around and doing insane Dauntless things together.  Tris and Christina also have this understanding of each other, probably from being two girls being transferred from to a whole different faction, even though in Insurgent they kind of have a little bit of a fall out.

My favorite quote from Divergent would probably have to be "Becoming fearless isn't the point.  That's impossible.  It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it."  Veronica Roth speaks the truth.

Cleo :)

Review: Rapture

Title: Rapture
Author: Lauren Kate
Date Released: June 12th, 2012
Pages: 448
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Description:
RAPTURE, the fourth & final FALLEN novel, is the Lauren Kate book the world has been waiting for.

The sky is dark with wings. . . .

Like sand through an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth.

Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed.

And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now is the only one that truly matters. In the fight for Luce, who will win?

The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

Review:
I was definitely looking forward to getting to read Rapture because I wanted to see how everything would end since Luce had gone a long way from where she started in just a few weeks in which I believe the series takes place. After 4 years, we finally get to see what will happen to Luce after going from Sword & Cross to Shoreline, and then jumping through Announcers to figure out who she really is.

Rapture pretty much starts right where Passion left off-- Luce back at home after learning about Lucifer's plans to restart the Fall. From there, Luce, Daniel, and the rest of the angel gang have to go on a quest to find three items and the location of the Fall to stop it or risk erasing history and everything that Luce and Daniel had together. Along the way, they made allies and some enemies while trying to defeat Lucifer and the Fall.

The final book in the Fallen series definitely held TONS of surprises that I personally never saw coming. While most of the book was really slow and just way too much of Daniel and Luce, and Luce thinking about everything that happened and reflecting too much, these random twists really kept me going and wanting to find out what else would Kate throw at her readers.  Once Luce's visions start coming, that's when things started to get interesting as well.

While I was not the biggest fan of the pacing of the novel, I will say that I loved the descriptions of everything and how they just made everything seem so beautiful even though they were in a pretty ugly situation.

Also, the ending of the novel was just AMAZING! That part was pretty much like the icing on top of the cake, which is like the best part of the cake, right?  If I were a softie, I probably would have started crying because of how cute it was!

Overall, Rapture was a very satisfying conclusion to the Fallen series. The beginning and the middle weren't all that interesting, but the end... Omg, the end. The conclusion just made me happy with how everything turned out, even though it could be pretty open ended, but you can only hope for the best :) This series was definitely one roller coaster ride of emotions for Luce. While I'm kind of happy that I'm done with another series, I'm kind of sad that I won't be able to read about these awesome angels anymore and see more beautiful cover art. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves reading about angels or books such as the Hush, Hush novels and the twist that the author puts on her story of angels :)

Cover Review:
I LOVE the cover!!  While the colors are really depressing and somber, I can't help but fall in love with the dress and the dreary scenery.  It also kind of sets the tone for Rapture because it isn't exactly the happiest book with the Fall, and Lucifer, and everything that Luce and Daniel have to deal with.   Even though it has this sad feel, I love it just as how I love the other covers in the series.

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.

Day 6: Dreamcast for Four

As I said the in the previous post, I am not very good at casting characters from books.  So, once again this post might not be as interesting due to my lack of originality :(

Ta-da!!  I chose Drew Roy because he's pretty much prefect for the role of Four.  He seems tall, has dark hair that I'm pretty sure Four is described as having, and he's played the bad boy a bunch of times, if you've seen Hannah Montana and iCarly at least... :D


Cleo :)

Day 5: Dreamcast for Tris

Quite honestly, I can't make up my own dreamcast for any book characters, and I usually just go with the flow.  So, I'm going to have to go with Saorise Ronan. Yay for not being original! ;)

Saorise Ronan has that fierceness that Tris has, which I guess you could see in her movie Hanna.  She also seems pretty small enough, like how Tris is normally described in the books.  

Cleo :)

*Picture from imdb.com

Day 4: Your Least Favorite Shipping

Now that I know what the word shipping means... This one is kind of hard because I don't normally think about a relationship between two characters that I don't like.

--5 MINUTES LATER--

Ah-ha!  Of course it would be between Four and his dad, Marcus, because his dad is just plain mean >:P  Four is a tough guy and for him to fear his dad obviously means that he must have done some crazy things to Four.

Cleo :)

Day 3: Your Most Favorite Shipping

Okay, correct me if I've got this wrong, but does shipping mean couple?  I'm going to pretend like it is since other 30 Day Divergent Challenges I've seen have just went with couples.

Anyway, I'm gonna have to go with

Cleo :)

NOTE: Haha I looked up the word shipping...  I had no idea that it meant a relationship between two fictional or non-fictional characters.  Well, I guess I learned something new today :)

Review: Cinder

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Date Released: January 3rd, 2012
Pages: 387
Rating: 5 out of 5

Description:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review:
Quite honestly, when I first saw Cinder, I didn't really think much of it. It was on my to read list, but it just wasn't a book that, for whatever reason, seemed to interest me, until I started reading so many reviews of how great it was. When I noticed all the rave reviews, I told myself, "It's time to stalk the library catalog to see if it's available." And thank goodness that it was because this book lived up to my expectations!

Cinder has the basis of the traditional Cinderella fairy tale. She's pretty much a servant to her stepmother and stepsister, does all the work to support her family, her "(step)father" is deceased, and the prince falls in love with her. However, one MAJOR difference is that this is set in the future when there has already been a fourth world war and the world has become a lot more technologically advanced. For instance, this Cinderella, Cinder, is a cyborg - a human with robotic parts. Because of this, she's practically like an outcast, but still needed in her society for her talent as a mechanic.

The whole world that Meyer set the story in was really cool. There were the Earthens and the Lunars, who lived on the moon. The two worlds were completely different, with the people living on Earth being completely human-like, and the Lunars having the ability to glamour themselves or even see what's beneath the glamour.

Meyer's debut novel was just so full of secrets and unexpected surprises that I was literally glued to the book. Maybe some of unexpected things were a little predictable, but just reading about it all and seeing all the pieces come together made Cinder a real page-turner for me.

The growing relationship between Cinder and Prince Kai was just adorable!! Cinder was a little outspoken at times when she needed to be, but she was still reserved and a bit insecure about her appearances. Her shyness around Kai was just so cute!! And Kai was such a gentleman to Cinder and incredibly kind. *sigh* Cutest couple ever!

Overall, Cinder was a really great debut with so many twists and turns that you just had to wait and see what was going to happen next. All of the characters were great and the world that Meyer created was just way too cool. I definitely can't wait for the next one, Scarlet, to come out!

Cover Review:
Personally, I think that the cover is okay.  It does convey what the book is about since it has the robotic parts beneath the skin, and the symbolic shoe typical of any Cinderella.  However, it just doesn't really stand out to me and was something that didn't really prioritize the book on my to-read list for me because I tend to really judge a book by its cover :/

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy borrowed from library.

Day 2: Your Favorite Character

Hmmm... I'm not going to choose the obvious characters (aka Tris & Four).  So, I'm going to have to go with Johanna Reyes, representative of Amity.  She's pretty cool and, if you've read Insurgent, then you'll know that her sacrifice (not going to say what it is, and hopefully this isn't too spoilery) at the end of it was just incredibly courageous, and, well, selfless despite the fact that she's from Amity, not Abnegation.

Cleo :)

Day 1: Your Faction

According to the Facebook Divergent quiz, I am in

Which pretty much makes sense.  I'm like the dorkiest person on Earth and I kinda like school (when it's pretty easy and there's nothing to stress about).  I honestly can't be in Dauntless, no matter how cool I think it would be. I'm not all that selfless like the Abnegation, and I'm not completely honest all the time like the Candor.  Amity could be an option though because I'm definitely one for peace and being green :D

If you've done the Faction quiz, which faction are you in?

Cleo :)