Interview with Sangu Mandanna, Author of The Lost Girl

Today, I'd like to welcome the amazing Sangu Mandanna, author of The Lost Gitl, to the blog! Her book is a favorite of mine, and I'm so glad the author was able to do a Q & A!

Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Hunt, by Stacey Kade

Hello & welcome to the PROJECT PAPER DOLL: The Hunt blog tour!

By: Stacey Kade
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publication date: April 22, 2014
Series: Project Paper Dolls #2
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life.

But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.

Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?

Excerpt:

He had, however, created through the woods like a herd of drunken deer. Stealth training was not something taught in your average school system. But lucky, lucky me, I'd been enrolled in some "special" extracurriculars during my time with my father.

Review: Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer

Title: Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Pub. Date: February 5, 2013

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

5 Stars!

I know I’ve read a spectacular book when I find myself pacing my room, unable to find anything to read and gravitating towards the book I have just completed. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer is one of those books. I ignored everything, because I was completely immersed in this novel.

Mini-Reviews: A Northern Light, Perfect Ruin, and A Darkness Strange and Lovely

Title: A Northern Light
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Genre: Historical fiction
Pub. Date: September 1, 2004

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has a word for everything, and big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories. The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. And the secret dreams that keep her going--visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer. Set in 1906 in the Adirondack Mountains, against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, this Printz Honor-winning coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

5 stars! I don't know when the last time was that I've given a book the ultimate glory of being

Books I Regret DNF'ing

There are some books that I am glad I did not finish, but others, I painfully regret not finishing them. I feel like I didn't give some of these a fair chance, and even though they had promising storylines, I still ended up giving up on them. Here I some books I wish I had finished:

Etiquette & Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger
Genre: YA steampunk
I've read the synopsis for the upcoming second book, and it really sounds interesting. I remember reading this back in March, and I didn't have a good reason for not finishing this. Maybe I'll try this again one day!

Shades of Earth

Author: Beth Revis

Genre: YA sci-fi

I enjoyed reading the first two books of the Across the Universe series, and I'm not quite sure why I didn't finish this last installment. I feel like I'm a disgrace to this series since I consider myself a fan of it. 

Through the Ever Night
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: Sci-fi/dystopia
I gave up on this second book of the Under the Never Sky series due to the fact that the author didn't explain things very well in the first book, so I was a bit confused at the beginning of this one. Based on my friends' reviews, it seems that the author actually explained everything, and it started to make sense. Plus, most of my GR friends gave this book 4 or 5 stars.

What are some books you guys wish you didn't DNF, and you feel like you didn't give it a fair chance?

Waiting On Wednesday #7: Never Fade, by Alexandra Bracken

Title: Never Fade (The Darkest Minds #2)
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Genre: YA sci-fi/dystopia
Pub. Date: October 15, 2013

Ruby never asked for the abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt government and breaking into the minds of her enemies. Other kids in the Children’s League call Ruby “Leader”, but she knows what she really is: a monster.

When Ruby is entrusted with an explosive secret, she must embark on her most dangerous mission yet: leaving the Children’s League behind. Crucial information about the disease that killed most of America’s children—and turned Ruby and the others who lived into feared and hated outcasts—has survived every attempt to destroy it. But the truth is only saved in one place: a flashdrive in the hands of Liam Stewart, the boy Ruby once believed was her future—and who now wouldn’t recognize her.

As Ruby sets out across a desperate, lawless country to find Liam—and answers about the catastrophe that has ripped both her life and America apart—she is torn between old friends and the promise she made to serve the League. Ruby will do anything to protect the people she loves. But what if winning the war means losing herself? -Goodreads

The first one, The Darkest Minds, was brilliant. Can't wait to get my hands on this one, especially because of that infuriating cliffhanger we were left with.