{Event Recap} Victoria Aveyard Bloggers' Forum + Giveaway

My signed copy of Red Queen.

It was such a huge honour to have been invited to meet and interview Victoria Aveyard. Personally, I was really fascinated with the idea of the Red Queen series and it definitely got me all kinds of excited when National Book Stored announced that they would be bringing Victoria Aveyard to the Philippines. But even more than the excitement of meeting the talented New York Times best-selling author, March 6th was another chance for me to see my dear blogger friends (I had not seen them for more than three months!). It was such a fun and chill day and I enjoyed every minute of it. (It was a great break from the pressures of college life.)

Victoria Aveyard was gracious enough to let us put her on the hot seat and grill her about her writing and creative processes, book 3 and other fun things.

My lovely blogger friends looking beautiful and glamorous.

V. Aveyard answering questions.

Here are a few things we learned at the bloggers' forum;

• Victoria's advice for aspiring writers is to finish the first draft, no matter what and how long it will take as long as you get to the end. Also, just keep writing and don't edit yourself.
• She also mentioned that action sequences and high tension moments are her most favourite parts to write (being a screenwriter, explosions and battle scenes are pretty much in her blood) and that she'd love for someone to teach her how to write romance because those are difficult for her.
• Instead of starting with characters or the plot of the story, Victoria first started with the image of a girl in an arena about to be executed but instead kills her captors with lightning. To her, world-building is the most important aspect of a story and she asked herself "What world would this place take place in?" when she saw that image of Mare. Also, to Victoria, characters are extremely important because they give the story a personality.
• In terms of different exciting sequences in her book, Victoria learned every story-telling trick in film school. To her, she has to constantly up the ante per book to keep that excitement because first and foremost, she is an entertainer ready to act for her readers.
• Her top 3 Fantasy book/series are: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (carried around a battered copy of the book), the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (she grew up with that series), and The Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (because of the way he twists fantasy tropes, has no distinct protagonist/antagonist and the shades of grey morality he depicts in his books, Victoria tried to reflect that kind of value in Red Queen).
• If she were to choose between writing a book or screen-writing, she would choose whichever she's not working on at the moment.
• A lot of the names in Red Queen came out of thin air but Victoria also wanted to add a Roman twist to them. She usually translates words online.
• In regards to the different powers/gifts featured in the book, she Wikipedia-d a complete list of superpowers and chose which ones she liked best/worked well with the plot.
• The origin of the powers will be delved further in the future books.
• There's no title yet for Red Queen 3 but it starts immediately after Glass Sword and is a revelation book for Mare. She learns to trust not only others but also herself.

And that's it! I would have loved to go to the official even but holy crap, there were 1,200 attendees. It was such a huge shock to everyone but I'm glad that it turned out to be such a successful event. So just keep scrolling for more photos + a giveaway!

The infamous Kai selfie with the bloggers +
V. Aveyard!

Me with the beautiful V. Aveyard.

Group photo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! (Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for any questions regarding the rules or feel free to tweet/email me if you need anything.)

I will never get tired of the amazing and tireless National Book Store team for being so selfless and so generous. I am so honoured to call you my friends. Shout out to Chad, JB, Miss Malou, Louie, Sheza, Miss Maan and whomever else I may I have missed, thank you for bringing Victoria Aveyard over here and for everything. Huge thanks to Victoria for signing everyone's books and for all the fun! So much love to my blogger friends, I love you all! (Thanks to Kai from Amaterasu Reads for the Kai selfie photo + audio). And last but never the least, my parents for always being so supportive. I love you to pieces.

ARC Review: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Title: Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1)

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: March 8th 2016

Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Holy crap. Holy craaap.

Rebel of the Sands was so amazing I am still stunned by its sheer greatness. I actually can't believe it's over, I kind of hate myself for reading it too fast but oh my god, I just couldn't stop. Once I got past the first few chapters, I fingers were a blur because of how fast I was drinking in the pages, absorbing Amani's enthralling and exciting story. There were times when I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night, reaching over to my nightstand and reading about the Djinni, the desert and all kinds of fantastical goodness. Alwyn Hamilton got me hooked, and I don't regret a thing.

Right off the bat, I immediately fell in love with Amani's character, she was so passionate and driven and I couldn't help but be amazed by her. I adored her sharp wit and crazy mouth, she is everything a Fantasy heroine should be, in my opinion. And holy heck, her skills with a gun? *bows down* The girl can shoot, and she knew it too! Her confidence in her shooting skills evened out her vulnerable side, in terms of her insecurities with where she belonged and all the guilt she carried. Amani was an incredibly complex character but Alwyn Hamilton was able to really flesh her out and as the story goes on, pieces of her character are revealed and by the end of it all, you won't be able to stop yourself from wanting to befriend her or be her.

The chemistry between Amani and Jin, the mysterious foreigner she met? So completely off the charts that scientists have not even found the right formula for it. I'm not saying that Rebel of the Sands was filled with a lot of romance or lovey-dovey scenes; the relationship between Amani and Jin bordered friendship/camaraderie and lovers. It was such a treat to see their relationship progress, it was subtle, really, you won't notice the small details if you aren't looking for them. Even if their romance didn't lead up to romance, they'd make a great duo, Amani and Jin's dynamic was insane. There was this one scene in the desert... whew. #slay Also, the fight scenes in this book are 1000000000% legit. It was thrilling, bloody and magic-filled. You will find yourself staring at the text in awe because of how badass everything is. Seriously, so. Cool.

Majority of the first part of Rebel of the Sands consisted of Jin and Amani being on the run (you'll need to read the book to know why) so it was mostly only the two of them. But when the latter part came and a slew of incredible set of minor characters were introduced the book turned from good to great. It was such a special thing to see Amani interact with other people and create relationships, finding a place for herself to belong in. (Bahi, just... Bahi.)

I have no idea how Alwyn Hamilton was able to pack so much in 300-something pages but kudos to her for doing so. Each page managed to unravel a small part of the story so that when you got to the end, you have the complete picture. The whole book was such an amazing experience, it was exciting, emotional, humorous and everything in between and beyond. Alwyn Hamilton was able to really weave intricate and vivid images of such a beautiful and magical culture with such rich, fantastical ideas that summed up to a completely stunning Fantasy novel. And the twists in this book? You won't see any of them coming, trust me.

Rebel of the Sands was everything I hoped and prayed it would be. The hype for it isn't just hype and I do think that you'd be doing yourself a favour if you bought this book. It is easily one of my favourite debuts and reads of 2016 and I cannot wait to see what else Alwyn Hamilton has in store for us in her desert world.

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (55)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.

This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is...

Title: Ivory and Bone

Author: Julie Eshbaugh

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication date: June 14th 2016

Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Debut author Julie Eshbaugh’s sweeping prehistoric fantasy—with allusions to Pride and Prejudice—will enthrall readers with high-stakes survival, blinding betrayal, and star-crossed love.

Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain…a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.

As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.

With riveting action and illustrative prose that leaps from the page, newcomer Julie Eshbaugh will have readers mesmerised.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

Reasons for why I am excited for this book:

1) "Prehistoric fantasy with allusions to Pride and Prejudice"? That is legit one of the coolest blurbs I have ever read. The idea of a prehistoric fantasy is such a fresh and completely out-of-this-world concept that I can't help but be impressed that Julie Eshbaugh was even able to come up with something like this!

2) I am really curious about the world-building in Ivory and Bone. Like, how prehistoric are we talking about and will we be seeing any woolly mammoths and sabretooths? God I hope so.

3) Every time I think about how primitive everything will be in this book and I get excited about the different personalities and characteristics the characters will have. And if Julie Eshbaugh delved really deep, maybe even the speech patterns. Since it seems like we're going to be seeing a lot of action in this book, I am looking forward to the different weapons that will be featured (bone-carved spears? Crude axes?). All very exciting! Also, the author blurbs for this book are A+!

What are your WoW pick/s for this week? Let me know in the comments and I'll check them out!

ARC Review: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Title: Into the Dim (Into the Dim #1)
Author: Janet B. Taylor
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication date: March 1st 2016
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Oh my god. This book...

This book was so boring it took me weeks to finish it. I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't just DNF it, well, it's because I don't DNF books. Even if it's boring or has terrible writing, I just go with it because to me, I'm respecting the author by finishing it. I don't regret reading the whole thing but the plot confused me, the writing was unimpressive and the pace was so. Damn. Slow.

When I first read the blurb of Into the Dim, I thought it sounded exciting and all kinds of adventurous, especially since a number of 2016 debut authors were raving about it. And before I delved into the book, a close friend of mine told me how much she loved it, so that added to my excitement even more (plus it was compared to Outlander so that added more clout to it, in a way). So when I finally cracked open my copy and flipped through the first few chapters, this was literally me:

I thought that Hope, the main character, would be super interesting because 1) she had an eidetic memory 2) her mom is a time traveler and 3) she'd be moving to Scotland to learn all sorts of secrets, but nooooope. All I was met with was a flat, judgey MC who stereotyped people and had the oddest voice in my head. To say that I didn't click with Hope would be an understatement, her character was just too underdeveloped and I could not see myself wanting to get to know her, even as the novel progressed. But honestly, it was not just Hope who fell flat in terms of characterisation, it was most, if not all, the people in Into the Dim. Her love interest, Bran, was charming but it was hard to like him because all you would get from him are vague details of who he is. And Aunt Lucinda and her crew of time travellers? Yup, definitely not interested in getting to know them, majority of them were super sketchy and just hard to believe. The only one I kind of liked was Doug but Janet B. Taylor seemed to really not take her time when it comes to building up and fleshing out her characters. There was not enough of their person to like and connect with.

In terms of the time travelling aspect of Into the Dim, I will commend Janet B. Taylor for the flush of information. I am not too sure if the info fed to me was accurate but I went with them anyway because the explanations sounded intelligent and legit. (There were explanations about Tesla, Sources and a bunch of other jargon made for physicists and scientists.) However, I was disappointed that the book only revolved around the idea of saving Hope's mom from the sixteenth century and retrieving the Nonius Stone which, coincidentally, also happened to be in that same time frame. There were no other exciting time jumps, and that just showed how limited the scope of Into the Dim's plot was.

Into the Dim was obviously disappointing to me, it had so much potential to be great but the whole thing was flat and had no personality. The details were amazing though, the way Janet B. Taylor described the different sceneries and places was great but one can't rely on great descriptions to carry a book. I was surprised to find out that Into the Dim will have a sequel because I thought the ending was okay, but I know that I definitely won't read it because I don't think I can stomach another dragging book that leads to nowhere.

Rating:

.5

Waiting on Wednesday (54)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.

This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is...

Title: The Star-Touched Queen

Author: Rouhani Chokshi

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Publication date: April 26th 2016

Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

The Star-Touched Queen is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

Reasons for why I am excited for this book:

1) I first fell in love with the idea of The Star-Touched Queen back when it was entitled The Bride of Dusk and Glass (it was sometime last year when the news of the two-book deal came out), I was so fascinated by the concept of the merging of two mythologies from two very distinct and rich cultures. I feel like the traces of Greek roots will just elevate the richness of the Indian heritage in this novel and I know that this novel is going to be a feast for the senses (I expect to be overwhelmed in the best way possible).

2)  Every time I read the synopsis, I get all kinds of tingly feels because it gives enough information away that a reader will get curious but teases everything else completely. I am so curious about the tree that bears memories, Maya, Amar, the Otherworld, Akaran, the horoscope, oh my god, I want to know about everything. Just gimme this book. I cannot. D y i n g to read.
3) So the original release date of The Star-Touched Queen was May 3rd but then St. Martin's Press decided to release it earlier (moved the pub day to April 26th) because, I'm pretty sure, they knew how freaking amazing this novel is and decided to solve world hunger (for books) by releasing it a week early. Thank you, SMP, for continuously giving us our next fix. #bookjunkie4lyf
* Also, a sidenote, I am obsessed with Roshani Chokshi's Pinterest page for The Star-Touched Queen! It's filled so many pretty things and will pretty much just tease the hell out of you. But still, the pretties. You can view her The Star-Touched Queen Pinterest board here. You can also navigate her page and see what else she's working on (hint: other beautiful and magic-filled things).

What are your WoW pick/s for this week? Let me know in the comments and I'll check them out!