ARC Aucugst Wrap UP/ NetGalley Month

So what happened with this awesome event? Well, I am happy to say I managed to finish and review 4 whole ARCs!!!! This was the perfect push I needed and hence I am also joining the NetGalley Month hosted by Tay at Chicks that Read.

Here you have the list of books I read/review this past month. I will not do a to be read list for NG month, since I am not sure which ones I should tackle first, but rest assured, I will keep you posted!

ARCs Read during August:

• The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy 
• The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux 
• How we Learn by Benedict Carey

ARCs Reviewed during August:

• Blood Diva by V.M Gautier
• The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy 
• The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux
• How we Learn by Benedict Carey

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens by Benedict Carey

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. The book is expected to be published on September 9, 2014

First impression

And it's when the brain lives with the studied material that it reveals its strengths and weaknesses-its limitations and immense possibilities-as a learning machine.

This is a non-fiction, full of facts little book that will give you an update on the past and most recent theories about learning. While it remains close to the research, the author does a wonderful job in vulgarizing the subject and then showing what we can use from this research and how in order to help us in our own learning experience.

Final thoughts

With simple diagrams and even fun exercises, the author takes you on a review of how our understanding of learning has changed in a fairly short time. How the brain responds to different methods of studying and how the ways we learn things affect the way we will later be able to call back such information.

Without lingering too much on neurological terminology the author manages to present the structure of the brain and how this "learning machine" storages all the information we give it, even if it is for a short period of time. He also brushes on education and psychology theories of learning and even with the role of sleep as a tool for retention of knowledge.

Because this was an ARC version, not yet ready for publication, some of the images were not available on my version, which made the experience to be cut short, and the footnotes seemed to be misplaced so sometimes wouldn't know what a certain sentence was related to.

If you are looking for an introductory book to the subject, this seems to be a good option. Very good work on the vulgarization and it gives you plenty of references if you feel like continuing your reading.

Bout of Books 11: Final Update

Sunday, it is the end of the Read-A-Thon and I am happy to report I managed all of my goals. Finished my 2 books, posted a review and, even though yesterday I didn't read or visit any blog since I was out of the house with no internet all day, today I compensated for both.

I had so much fun! And next one, coming on January 2015, will be my third and I will be officially a professional Bout-of-Booker.

Books started: 

• The Late Starters Orchestra: I received this one through LybraryThing and I really want to get to it before going on vacation next week, when I plan to read The Fever by Megan Abbott.

Books finished:

• The Tumble Inn: I did not love it, but it was a nice read. I will do my best to post my review tomorrow :) 
• The Name of the Wind: This book was simply amazing! 
• How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happen: My third ARC finished for #ARCAugust. My review will be up soon.

Pages read so far: 960

Reviews posted so far:

• The Tumble Inn

Blogs visited today: 

• Bittersweet Enchantment
• Tantos Livros Tão Pouco Tempo

Challenges:

• Bout of Books Scavenger Hunt by the Book Monsters. You can see my pictures here

• One True Pairing by Infinite Ink. Just in case I am spoiling it for anyone I will only say that my true pairing comes from Daughter of Smoke and Bone!

• Create a sentence by Book Reviews by a Christian Gal. I tweeted my sentence, but just in case:

It was felling night, the first time, standing in a crowded elevator, Eilert Berg was not a happy man.

      The name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus

      The Fever by Megan Abot

      The Late Starters orchestra by Ari L. Goldman

      The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg 

• Like This, Try this by Writing my Own Fairy Tale 

      If you Liked this: The Girl with the Dragon Tatooby Stieg Larson

      Try this: The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

     Because they are both set in Sweden, involve very dark, grimy crimes and because actually Camilla Lackberg's noir novellas were out before the Millenium ones and they are pretty cool.

• Recreate a Book Cover by Spines & Covers:

     I chose to recreate The Taker by Alma Katsu

See you tomorrow!

The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. The book is expected to be published on September 15, 2014

First Impressions

This was the first Galley I ever got from NetGalley. It took me a bit to start it since I had several books from the library in queue and then some of the Galleys I asked for had earlier publication dates. So I finally got to it this week and I am glad I finally got to it. While it wasn't the type of book I usually go for it was a pleasant, light read with a bit of drama.

Final thoughts

This is a sweet story about how life can change. Is the story of the Finley's a couple of high school teachers that decide to give this up and become innkeepers in the Adirondack Mountains. Over there, they finally become parents, something that had been elusive for them before. Years go by and at the same time that they are dealing with their baby daughter Nathalie becoming a teenager, tragedy strikes and Mark has to learn, once again, how to deal with change.

The book is described as a drama, and it certainly has its fair share of sad moments. It is very descriptive of what life can be, including routines. However sometimes it felt, to me anyway, to descriptive in a way that it didn't give more to the story. One thing that I liked very much is that it felt like the person was sitting next to me, telling me his story, rambling a bit sometimes even. But when the rambling goes on for too long, it disconnects you from the whole story.

I have to say I thought the conclusion of the story felt a bit bland...in general I would compare it to a Hallmark movie, you know it is going to be sad, there will be a lesson to be learned but if you tune out for a while and come back to it is not a big deal. It is definitely not a book for me to fall in love with, but I know people who would enjoy it.

The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. The book is expected to be published on September 2, 2014

First impression

The cover of this book is what caught my attention. It works with the premise that the main character, Salome Montgomery, is afraid of winter ever since, at age 6, she had a horrible accident and almost drowned. Winter for her is also plagued of voices and as she approaches her 18th birthday things keep getting weirder; she sees stuff, voices everywhere, she feel evil is lurking. It is also hinted that faeries are involved and since I haven't really read fairy YA it seemed very appealing to me. The book however left me with a feeling of unreached potential.

Final thoughts

I wished this book would've worked the fairy side a bit more. While there are several hints at it and some direct situations, it felt like a backdrop and this was sad for me. Here you have tons of mythology that deal with Fays but most of the book, which is meant to take place along a single year, is dedicated to hinting to the world with only a real bit of it towards the end, so much that I was sure it was going to be a first book of a series...but no.

For the most part I liked Salome and Gareth. But even then, most of the characters could've used a bit more constructing. Again there was a lot to be inferred and that's ok in little doses, but so much was left unsaid that then when things happened they felt out of the blue, for me in any case. Sometimes Salome seemed oblivious of the rest of the world, including her family, which at one point is described as lovely nuclear family and then boom! It is not. I kept thinking things like this would've been developed further in the book (or the series, when I thought it was a series) but they were left hanging, giving a bit to the story but leaving so much potential for character building behind!

I liked that Salome managed to stand up to Colton the moment she notices "changes" on him (hopefully this is not too spoilery for you guys), but the whole love triangle (square?) appears once again there in your face at the beginning and even she keeps saying that ALL of the sudden this is happening. This "all of the sudden" situation was never really developed, which was sad for me, because I kept waiting for the author to explain the significance of her 18th birthday or the Rowan...but I had to look all of those up. Again, a bit of research is fine, but when I am reading my book, comfy in bed and something makes no sense until I look it up it really disconnects me from the story. Off course this could be just me

The end...I liked her decision...but at the same time it felt so abrupt! So in conclusion this was a good book, it was different, made me laugh a couple of times BUT some of the potential (and I saw a lot) was not developed.

Blood Diva by V.M Gautier

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. This book s expected to be published on August 10

First impression

When I read the description of the book at NetGalley I was really captivated: a French Courtesan from the late 19th century, becomes a vampire, she finds love and might want to go back to being human (this was a new thing). The book is also described as humorous, dark and sometimes erotic (usual on a lot of Vampire related books) and ends up with the question: can she find happiness?

And then I started reading the book...I found very little humor in the story. Some differences in personality amongst the vampire characters...and A LOT of sex, I would even say, TOO much sex.

Final thoughts

She understood it was her role as a woman to visually stimulate him[...]

Let's clarify first that I do not consider myself a prude. I am ok with sex scenes both in books and movies, even when they might be a bit graphic...but having a book that had sex scenes almost every other third page without this giving much or sometimes anything to the story I don't like. It bothers me as much as Sci-Fi books throwing out of the blue invented words just so it looks Sci-Fi. No, you shouldn't need to build your story around gimmicks like this, and for me Blood Diva ended up being a book that relied almost solely in the sex part.  

Other thing that was overused on the book was based upon their non-blood diet, which is vegetarian. So far this is fine, but I got tired of hearing about the organic this and the organic that, and the organic I don't know what. Again, it became a crotch in the story, and seriously, the idea of the vampires not being able to digest "dead blood" explained perfectly why a vegan diet, fine. But even then, do we really need to be told every time that they eat it was organic vegetables/fruits?

The character of Alphonse had potential, she often felt to me as a very (potentially) interesting character. But again, most of the characters were hardly developed. "Her kind" (which I think was an attempt to not overuse the word vampire, but it ended up being an overused term) was full of very different personas, but I never really got to know any of them because the moment they would be together they would humping like bunnies.

You might ask then, why I am giving 2 stars if there is so much I didn't like? Well, the book had potential, the part about her wanting to give up her immortal life was different, an approach I was not expecting and the consequence of this was probably the only twist I didn't see coming. I wish the opera related part of the story would've been worked a bit more, I think it would've give a lot to the story.

 

#ARCAugust Sign Up

On June 11 of this year, I joined NetGalley. I know, I know, I am late for this, but hey, at the same time this is a fairly young blog (3 years only!). Before I knew it, I had a bunch of books approved but I am a bit behind on my Feedback. You see, it is my fault, trying to tackle to many projects at a time, but they are so fun! So I've decided to join the ARC August to try to organize a bit more this new part of my reading. I also doing Bout of Books 11 this month and off course following the Sword and Laser bookclub, as I do every month. Hopefully with your encouragement I will be able to do this and finally get into rhythm! So let's go! There are 5 books that will be published in September, so my goal is to at least read AND review 3 of them this month, taking into account that some of the reviews might have to be held until the publication date, as it is sometimes asked by publishers. I will update and link to the proper reviews here as I post them. Best luck to everyone participating!

ARCs Read during August:

• The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy 
• The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux 
• How we Learn by Benedict Carey

ARCs Reviewed during August:

• Blood Diva by V.M Gautier
• The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy 
• The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux
• How we Learn by Benedict Carey