Review: Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis

Whisper

By: Phoebe Kitanidis

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Joy is used to hearing Whispers—to walking down the street and instantly knowing people's deepest, darkest desires. She uses this talent for good, to make people happy and give them what they want. But for her older sister, Jessica, the family gift is a curse, and she uses it to make people's lives—especially Joy's—miserable. 

Still, when Joy hears a mysterious and frightening Whisper from Jessica's mind, she knows she has to save her sister, even if it means running away with a boy she barely knows—a boy who may have a dark secret of his own.

Goodreads | Amazon

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My Review:

Rating:

⭐⭐

Whisper has been on my shelf for several years, ever since college. Back then the premise for this book was intriguing and slightly different from all the vampire and werewolf novels I had been reading. However, as time passed it continued to sit unread on my shelf until I decide to purge some of my unwanted and unread books. 

Joy Stefani passes as normal around her friends but she has a unique ability...she can other peoples wishes/deepest desires. She has always been privy to peoples happiest of wishes but with her birthday around the corner everything is about to change. Her power is changing, her mom is being elusive and her sister, Icka has disappeared. 

All in one day Joy's life changes for both the worst and the better. She discovers who her true friends are and makes new friends in the process, while discovering her sister is in real danger. With the help of Jamie, the goth stoner from school, she travels to Seattle in search of her sister before it is too late. 

While years ago I couldn't wait to read this book, today I found it just wasn't my cup-of-tea. Joy was a spoiled, selfish brat for about 50% of the book, constantly thinking of herself, while her gift seems to portray a person that elicits selfless acts ever day...however that is not Joy. Every thought for half the book is selfish and self-centered. 

Unfortunately, this is not a book I would recommend, while the writing was great the story seemed to take forever to go anywhere and with a main character like Joy it was hard to enjoy. 

Published by: K

#FirstLinesFriday: 2.28.20

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Follow the rules below: 

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

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“I wait. They keep us in the dark for so long that we lose sense of our eyelids. We sleep huddled together like rats, staring out, and dream of our bodies swaying.”

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Read on to discover what book this excerpt is from:

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Wither

By Lauren DeStefano

Blurb:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom? 

Goodreads | Amazon

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Wither is one of the first Dystopian books I read, a friend recommend it in college and I was hooked from the very beginning. This is one novel that has been on my recommendation list for years and may even be a re-read in the future! :)

Down the TBR Hole: 2.27.20

Down the TBR Hole is a meme created by Lia at Lost in a Story where we decide whether to keep or remove books on our TBR.

The rules for Down the TBR Hole:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

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Down the TBR Hole has become my new favorite memes...it has been a great way to clear out my TBR list on Goodreads and remove books I no longer find interesting. This weeks purge was surprisingly productive. :)

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

By Beth Fantaskey

Date Added: May 28th, 2013

Blurb:

The undead can really screw up your senior year ... 

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.

***This book was actually on my shelf many years ago and since then has been sold in a garage sale. I lost interest in the whole vampire fad years ago and have no interest in picking it back up now.***

Verdict: Kick off

Meridian

By Amber Kizer

Date Added: May 28th, 2013

Blurb:

Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.

Meridian has always been an outcast. It seems that wherever she goes, death and grief follow. On her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family's home - and although she's untouched, Meridian's body explodes in pain.

Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she's a danger to her family and is hustled off to her great-aunt's house in Revelation, Colorado. There she learns the secret her parents have been hiding for her entire life: Meridian is a Fenestra. the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead.

It's crucial that Meridian learn how to transition human souls to the afterlife - how to help people die. Only then can she help preserve the balance between good and evil on earth. But before she can do that, Meridian must come to terms with her ability, outsmart the charismatic preacher who's taken over Revelation, and maybe - if she can accept her sworn protector, Tens, for who he is - fall in love. Meridian and Tens face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos. But together, they have the power to outsmart evil.

Dark, lovely, and lushly romantic, Meridian will entrance readers

***Years ago the cover drew me into reading this premise and today the cover still has me intrigued, but the premise no longer peaks my interest.***

Verdict: Kick off

Seduced in the Dark

By C.J. Roberts

Dated Added: May 28th, 2013

Blurb:

BOOK TWO OF THE DARK DUET
The exciting, titillating, and action-filled conclusion to Captive in the Dark.

What is the price of redemption?

Rescued from sexual slavery by a mysterious Pakistani officer, Caleb carries the weight of a debt that must be paid in blood.

The road has been long and fraught with uncertainty, but for Caleb and Livvie, it’s all coming to an end.

Can he surrender the woman he loves for the sake of vengeance? 

Or will he make the ultimate sacrifice?

Quote: 
It seemed to Caleb, the nature of human beings revolved around one empirical truth: we want what we cannot have. For Eve, it was the fruit of the forbidden tree. For Caleb, it was Livvie.

***Being as book one was a keep last week it only makes since to hold onto the second book as well.***

Verdict: Keep it

Embrace

By Jessica Shirvington

Dated Added: May 28th, 2013

Blurb:

It starts with a whisper.

It's time for you to know who you are..."

Stange dreams leave her with very real injuries and there's a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms. The guy she thought she could fall in love with just told her he's only half-human - oh, and same goes for her. And she keeps hearing a distant fluttering of wings.

Violet Eden is having a very bad 17th bithday.

But if angels seek vengeance and humans are warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden.

***Here is another book that I spontaneously added to my TBR back when I first got my kindle, but after reading the premise I cannot see why.***

Verdict: Kick off

The Temptation of Lila and Ethan

By Jessica Sorensen

Date Added: May 28th, 2013

Blurb:

On the surface, Lila Summers is flawless: good looks, expensive clothes, and a big, beautiful smile. But a dark past and even darker secrets are threatening to bubble over her perfect façade. She'll do anything to keep the emptiness inside hidden-which leads her into situations that always end badly. Whenever she hits bottom, there's only one person who's there to pull her out: Ethan Gregory.

Ethan set the rules a long time ago: he and Lila are just friends. He doesn't do relationships. Although his tattooed, bad boy exterior is a far cry from Lila's pretty princess image, Ethan can't deny they have a deeper connection than he's used to. If he's not careful, he could be in serious danger of becoming attached-and he's learned the hard way that attachment only leads to heartbreak.

When Lila falls farther than she ever has before, can Ethan continue to help as a friend? Or is he also getting close to falling . . . for her? 

***Romance novels haven't been a favorite of mine for many years, and aside from Nicholas Sparks, Jessica Sorensen is one of my favorites when it comes to romance. This is one romance series I hope to complete.***

Verdict: Keep it

Can't Wait Wednesday: 2.26.20

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here, at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

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I am a huge fan of the Hunger Games. I loved the books and the movies. So when I heard a prequel was being released I got very excited. And it's getting released in my birthday month, which makes it even better!! 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

By Suzanne Collins

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian

Format: Hardcover, ebook, Audible

Length: 540 pages

Publication Date: May 19th, 2020 by Scholastic Press

Blurb:

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute . . . and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Goodreads | Amazon

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Characters I'd Follow on Social Media

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Each Tuesday Jana assigns a new topic...create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic - putting your own spin on it if you want. 

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As major bookworms we fall in love with characters everyday...characters that touch a part of us whether it be their witty-charm, sarcastic personality or because they remind us of ourselves. Personally when I can connect with a character it makes reading all the more enjoyable, it makes that book stand out among the several others lining my shelves. Developing a good character can be the end-all-be-all for some books. 

But then the time comes when the book ends and you have to say goodbye to that character. Have you ever wondered what it might be like if they were real? These characters you have come to love and respect. If they had social media, would you be following?

Top Ten Characters I'd Follow on Social Media

Katy Swartz 

The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"Daemon: I checked out your blog.

Katy: Stalking me again, I see. Do I need to get a restraining order?

Daemon: In your dreams, Kitten. Oh wait, I'm already starring in those, aren't I? 

Katy: Nightmares, Daemon. Nightmares."

Tink

Wicked Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"Tink appeared in the open door again, his wings rapidly moving, and in his hands he held a...slingshot? Oh sweet baby Jesus take the wheel. Where did he get a slingshot? Off of Amazon? That didn't matter. The brownie had taken the time to paint his face. One half was read, the other blue. He looked like he wandered off the set of Braveheart."

Deacon St. Delphi

The Covenant Series & The Titans Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"'Did you need something?'

Seth's attention shifted back to me. 'Do I need something to walk over here?'

My fingers curled inward. 'Yeah, I think you do.'

'I missed them together,' Deacon said...'They're so warm and fuzzy, don't you think? So cute'"

Morpheus

Splintered Trilogy by A.G. Howard

"'Of all the times you've undressed me in my fantasies, I never remember feeling this...unfilled.'

'Please, Morpheus,' I beg upon hearing Jeb stir in the background.

'Ah, but those delectable words,' Morpheus says with a provocative smirk, 'those are always in the fantasy.'

I glare at him. 'You're unbelievable.'

'And that sentiment is reserved for the end.'"

Magnus Bane

Shadowhunters Series by Cassandra Clare

"Magnus, standing by the door, snapped his fingers impatiently. 'Move it along, teenagers. The only person who gets to canoodle in my bedroom is my magnificent self.'

'Cannodle?' repeated Clary, never having hear the word before.

'Magnificent?' repeated Jace, who was just being nasty. Magnus growled. The growl sounded like 'Get out.'"

Seth Diodoros

The Titans Series & The Covenant Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"'Really?' she said dryly, eyeing me with a smirk. 'You're going to fight with the awesomeness of your six-pack as a weapon?'

I arched a brow. 'Yeah, you know, I was going to test out the whole abs of steel theory thing. The gun attached to my thigh and the daggers in my hands are just props. Mainly for show. Don't want to take away from the gloriousness that is my body, though.'"

Josie Bethel

The Titans Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"Six-pack? Was it possible to have an eight-pack? I think he had one. Smooth skin stretched over tightly rolled muscles. I bet I could've done a weeks worth of laundry on his stomach. Probably would be a heck of a lot more fun that way to wash clothes."

Alex Andros

The Covenant Series & The Titans Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"We had no idea what waited ahead of us, other than the big, fat unknown, and most likely a big, fat kick in the face. The gravity of that was killing me-killing us.

I squared my shoulders, 'Release the Kraken!'

Several sets of eyes settled on me. 

'What?' I gave a lopsided shrug. 'I've always wanted to yell that since I saw that movie. Seemed like the perfect moment.'"

Luc

The Origin Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"'You tried to kidnap me, Luc.'

'Hmm,' he murmured. 'That means I like you.'

I arched a brow. 'Okay. That's messed up on about a thousand different levels.'

'Probably, I don't people well.'"

Karou

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor

"And Brimstone, of course - he was the star of the sketchbooks. Here he was shown with Kishmish perched on the curl of one his great ram's horns. In the fantastical stories Karou told in her sketchbooks, Brimstone dealt in wishes. Sometimes she called him the Wishmonger; other times, simply, 'the grump.'"

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As I'm sure you can tell I am a huge Jennifer L. Armentrout fan and I love just about every character she writes. Over half of the characters I would following are from her books...these are characters that have always spoken to me. Characters I would definitely want to stalk on social media! :)

Who would you follow?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Date. A place for bloggers to gather to discuss what books they read and reviewed last week, what books they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read. This is a great way for me to plan my reading week, and get a sneak peek at what others are reading. 

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What I read last week:

So honestly, I just finished this book and loved every second of it. If I didn't have to work I would have finished a lot sooner, The Night Circus had me hooked from the very first page!! 

Click here to check of my review!

The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern

What I am currently reading:

Whisper by Phoebe Kitandis

Up next:

Variant by Robison Wells

Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks

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What are you currently reading? 

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus

By: Erin Morgenstern

Synopsis From Goodreads:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. 

Goodreads | Amazon

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My Review:

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.” 

Over the past several years I have seen The Night Circus posted everywhere...from Goodreads to the multiple Facebook bookworm groups. So many people seemed to enjoy it, captivated by the story behind the cover. For many years this book has sat on my shelf unread, forgotten over time and honestly I was a bit worried with all the hype that I may not enjoy it. 

The Night Circus begins with this mystical circus appearing in town, black and white stripes everywhere...no color to be seen. Mystery envelopes the circus and as a patron awaiting the opening night you find yourself mesmerized with what could be inside. 

Hunger Games meets Romeo and Juliet. Two competitors, a magical venue and one mysterious challenge with no written rules. 

Celia and Marco are not as prepared as they had hoped for their impeding challenge. Over many years they create illusions and add magic to an already mystical circus, with the goal of one day becoming the victor of an age old tradition. But has time passes and identities revealed, a love blossoms between the pair. Each new illusion a love letter to the other, a permanent reflection of their feelings. 

But there is a slight wrinkle in their perfect world of illusions and magic, a secret their instructors have kept from them, only one victor can walk away from the challenge. Is there any hope for Celia and Marco? Can they find a loophole to this ridiculous challenge?

The Night Circus had my hooked from the very first page; the writing captivating, the characters developed in such great detail you felt has though you knew them. Every magically illusion felt as real as the book held in your hands. I couldn't get enough of the mystery behind every member of the circus...every chapter a new and revealing part of this magical story. 

I couldn't get enough of The Night Circus! Erin Morgenstern is one hell of an author, bringing to life such a magical and captivating world of love, illusions and friendship. This book is definitely being added to my recommendation list and I hope to read more of Erin Morgenstern's work in the future. 

Published by: K