New Blog!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to inform all of my old followers here at Loud Words & Sounds that I have started a new blog called Unromantic Mondays.

Why you might ask? Because I felt like I couldn't come back here are almost a year and a half after I stopped blogging at LWS. I'm not the same person I was then, I'm different, and my reading taste have really changed. I'm not longer reading young adult books anymore, I've developed into reading adult books, and their basically all I ever read (except for school textbooks). I founded Loud Words and Sounds on the bases of reviewing young adult books and music, for me it just didn't feel right to switch that. I felt like I should leave the past in the past.

Unromantic Mondays will be a place where I can post about adult books. I'm going to start off with just posting once a week on Mondays, because of my college schedule. But if it works out well then I'll hopefully be posting more than that. So if you'd like to see my new blog please visit me at: unromanticmondays.blogspot.com/. I'll have my first review up tomorrow.

To read my introduction post to find out more about why I started  Unromantic Mondays, and what has been happening to me, please click here.

I'd be glad if you followed me there!
Andrea

P.S. Just to inform most of the accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, that I had associated with LWS have been converted over to be hosts for my Unromantic Monday doings. So if you see Unromantic Mondays or unromanticmon on any of your accounts that me!

The Truth (That you should really read.)

Okay so this post is really hard for me to do. I've been contemplating blogging all week since i got home last Thursday, but I just can not will myself to do it. I think its the pressure I put on myself to be a constant blogger, and I know I am not that anymore. Things have changed in my life in the last couple of months between starting college and having a rough time making friends. But, their has always been one constant in my life and that is reading. I still get to read for fun, and when I take the time to sit in my dorm room ignore everything around me and read I believe, I am the happiest then. But between school work, honors program work, friends, and my work study of helping rehabilitate a intercity elementary and middle school's library, I feel like I have slacked here. That with the other activities I also do, including the school newspaper's layout, literary magazine, drama club (were I will be playing in the pit for our production of How to Succeed in Business), and woodwind ensemble, I have let all of you down. And disappointed you in the process.

But I have also made a transition in my life and I realize that I am no longer the same person. I am no longer really reading YA novels, I have grown up and have begun reading Adult Contemporary and Paranormal. This one fact makes me nervous to come back to blogging at Loud Words and Sounds because when I started LWS it was strictly manga, music, and ya novels that I reviewed in the beginning but only with some adult content towards the end. I feel like I have three choices 1.) make a new blog, 2.) stay at LWS, or 3.) become a contributor at another blog. Because of my course load, my work study, and attempting to have a social life choice number three has become one of the possibilities that I think will work the best for me. I talked to Leilani from Lelani Loves Books last night, one of my closest and best friends, and affiliate, and she has invited me to become a contributor on her blog. I feel like this is the better choice for me because a.) I won't feel pressured to come up with content for a blog that I don't have much time for, b.) my posts can be sporadic and c.)  I would be helping one of my best friends run her blog as well. This choice has been hard for me to make, and I am not completely sure if this will be the final outcome. Their is the possibility in the future that I will come back to LWS, but for right now I think I will stick with choice number three.

So please go and follow me over at Leilani's blog Lelani Loves Books, their is a link in the right bar if the one here doesn't work.

Have a happy Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year.
See you all in 2012.
Peace. Love. and Happiness.
Andrea

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (Review)

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

(THE IRON FEY)
Age Warning: Well +13 I suppose because of some of the things.

Published By: Harlequin-Teen

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

Date Released: 10/25/11

Provided By: Publisher aka Netgalley.com

***Spoiler Warning***
I'm going to attempt to hid them.


Also a pre-note this review was schedule ahead of time, so If you haven't heard a lot from me this might be the first post in a month and a half because college has taken over my life.

Synopsis:

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My Review:

First off HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY to The Iron Knight! 

Like many other Team Ash fans, I was so glad that Julie's Publisher gave her the push to write another Iron Fey novel, even if Ethan is getting his own series too. But Ash deserved this book, he's fought long and hard to end up at the point were he was at the end of The Iron Queen and we just needed a happy ending folks! I'm going to try and not give too much away but it is hard when this is the 4th book in the series so spoilers ahead people!

This book made me cry, seriously I was crying and I don't cry very much at the end of books. And the novel being from Ash's POV made it even better because we were able to hear all his sarcastic remarks towards Puck and the other characters just as easily. But it also made it a little harder to get into since I typically read books from a girls perspective, yet I eventually did.

As we all know the gang is back for another mission, just minus Meghan since she (SPOILER) the queen of the iron fey does have to rule over her new kingdom (END); but just add in two more faces to the mix and you have a merry gang of folk tales. This time however Ash is in search of something he needs to get his happily ever after. And through the mission to get this thing which is a soul, he finds himself and his past all in one trip. He goes through treacherous encounters with countless creatures, and at one point is even attacked by an giant eel thing. But what hits the fan in this books is when he finds something he never in Nevernever thought he would find and that is...(SPOILER) Ariella, his lost flame.(END) This in a sense causes him to doubt himself and we see Ash  fight between going with what he has found, or keeping his promise to Meghan. We also in the process found out some interesting tidbits about Puck and Ash's old friendship and some new things about how Nevernever works. But through out The Iron Knight we see the one thing that matters Ash's determination to be with Meghan.

I love this book! As I've said before I'm a huge fan the the Iron Fey Series and I can not wait for Ethan's spin off series to come out. So if you haven't already and you also enjoy this series go pick up Ash's story there's no time to waste.

Links:

Enter the Faery World | Julie Kagawa's Website

Well Welcome To College Life...

I just wanted to take a few moments and just give you all an update on how everything is going. The Friday I was supposed to move in was the weekend of Hurricane Irene and about 6 hours after arriving on campus and setting up my room, we were asked if we could go home because well my school is in a flood zone. (I didn't know this when I applied, but all the campus buildings are on top of a hill- its the lower level parking lots that are completely trashed because of the epic flooding that has been hitting the north east coast lately.) So I went home that weekend and just sat around reading books that I didn't take with me, including Chain Reactions (Which I loved!). Classes started again that Wednesday, and then last week we didn't have classes Wednesday Morning or Thursday at all. I've had a ton of work though since I'm in the honors program and have two honors courses. Like literately its been nonstop work and then I occasionally get to go hang out with my friends (or lets say I make time because if I don't I'd be driving myself crazy with work). I'm hoping this week to see if I can get a post in with book reviews that I've been needing to do. And the fact that my work load is so heavy means I haven't been reading so much either which kinda sucks but tonight I'm making time to read I'm tired of work. Anyway there is my update, I hope I'll be posting at some point this week....

Solid by Shelley Workinger (Review)

Solid by Shelley Workinger

(SOLID)
Age Warning: +13 Just a little Violence towards the end

Published By: CreateSpace

Genre: YA Sci-Fi with some Romance

Date Released: July 9, 2010

Provided By: Author

Synopsis:

Clio Kaid may be 17 and just beginning the last summer before her senior year, but her life is anything but typical.
She's just discovered she was genetically altered before birth and is now headed  to a top-secret Army campus to explore the surprising results of the experiment.
Follow Clio and the other teens as they develop fantastic super-abilities, forge new friendships, find love, and uncover a conspiracy along the way.

My Review:

Solid by Shelley Workinger to say the most is a captivating read. It didn't take me long at all to get into the plot or story line and all of the scientific lingo and such was easily worded. What also surprised me was that Solid takes place on an army base in New Jersey; being a New Jersey resident (or was since I'm now in PA for College) I haven't found many books that put my hope state in a pleasant view. But Solid did and I liked that, it might also have something to do with Shelley also living here/there also. But onto the review, Solid was a book that at first I was hesitant to pick up, but in a big way its a read that you take in other than all the Vampire, Werewolves (even though I love them) and Fairy books out there. It revolves around fictional teens, that even though it is fictional could happen at any point, we just needed a crazy scientist to be brave enough to attempt it.

At the age of seventeen 100 teens army brats in the USA find out a tough truth: their DNA has been altered. They are not just normal teens anymore, but have some sort of super hero ability like super jockyness (as i like to refer to it), invisibility, or sheer star power. And when Clio find herself on an top-secret Army base for developing her powers, she has no clue that within this place lies answers to questions shes been asking herself for ages. Plus a best friend or two and a boy for her romantic interests. But when things start to become odd, like their parents never returning their phone calls or the internet servers constantly being down that is when Clio and her friends start asking questions. Clio, Jack, Bliss, Garret and Miranda , plus an addition later on go on a mission to uncover the truths they didn't think were possible. And find out the truth about their existence.

Clio as a lead character is a strong, independent girl, that you can connect with instantly. After her father's death when she was only a baby she has been raised by her author mother off base and never really fit in with any of the other kids at her schools. And her friends are also unique in their own forms, Jack a guy that has no clue what his abilities are is a sweet caring guy that even knows the meaning of Clio's real name Calliope. Garret the jock is hilarious and in all rights reminds me a little bit like Puck from The Iron Fey series. Bliss is just a girl trying to get her mothers attention, and Miranda is just a health freak.

All together Solid is a great read! If you haven't already I suggest putting it on your wish list. And I can't wait to get my hands on Settling the next book in the Solid series!

Links:

Author's Site | Facebook | Twitter