The Bursting Bookshelf

Hello everyone, this is just a quick reminder to enter my contest for a chance to win a signed copy of The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong or a swag pack from Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels. Click here to go to the contest page to enter. Only one week left!

First off, I would just like to point out the fact that Nicholas Sparks books never fail to make me cry. That also never fails to get me weird looks. Never the less, The Last Song was another epic love story with a bittersweet ending that will keep you up thinking about it for nights. The writing in The Last Song was fantastic, gripping the reader's emotions with a titanium fist, never once letting go. The storyline moved quickly, but you never felt like you lost out on anything with this stand alone book. The characters were young compared to ones of previous Nicholas Sparks novels I've read, as Ronnie and Will are just done high school in this book. I also adored the supporting characters of The Last Song and the effects that they had on the story. This book gets a 5/5 for sure for being my favorite Nicholas Sparks book so far. I can't wait to read many more of his awesome books in the future.

Hey everyone, as many of you already know, today is the day of the cover reveal for the third and final book of the Talisman Series. I know for a fact that I love this new cover and I'll be going out to get the book when it comes out. So, here is the cover for The Onyx Talisman by Brenda Pandos:

PS: Where can I get that necklace? It's gorgeous!


Synopsis: *Contains Spoilers!!!*


What do you guys think about the cover?









PS: There's a deal on The Emerald Talisman for Kindle/ Nook for $0.99. Run, go get it!

2nd prize is swag from Cassandra Clare's recent book City of Fallen Angels. The Swag includes several buttons and a poster.


Contest closes on June 4, 2011 at 11:00pm Eastern Time (8:00pm Western Time).


Rules:


1) Fill out the form below.
2) You must be a follower to win.
3) Open to the Canada and US (excluding Hawaii).
4) Must respond within 24 hours of notification or another winner will be chosen.



Have fun and good luck!

Needless to say, the cover is so cool (bad pun... I'm sorry). It features a butterfly trapped in a ice cube with a small drip coming off the corner. The whole theme of the cover is very simple but it works well. I love the assortment of fonts they use on this cover, especially the one they use for the authors name, it's very cursive looking. The colours on the cover just pop against the white background, putting focus on the butterfly and the tag line. I always seem to love simple covers, but I think they just appeal to me the most.

The characters in Possession were not my favorite. I found the main character, Violet, to be very indecisive and unsure of herself a lot of the time. One minute she was madly in love with Jag, and the next she didn't want to see him again, though often he did things to annoy her into this reaction. I also found Jag to be a little unpredictable, but in a kind of cute bad boy type way. I loved his bad boy attitude, it was a great contrast to Violet. Zenn was also enjoyable to read about, if not a little bit too safe at times. Needless to say, I am firmly on Team Jag.

The writing style that Elana has is very unique. It grabs you and holds you to each pages until you finish the book. In fact, even after the book is done you are left wondering and thinking about the book. The storyline however, was lacking at times. There was stretchs of time that lost me and left me wondering what had just happened, though there was a ton of awesome action and romance scenes along the way.

Overall, Possession was a decent dystopian read that anyone who has not read any dystopian should definately pick up. It did wet my appetite, and I will be picking up the next book when it comes out, but until then, Possession gets a 3.5/5.

So Follow my Blog Friday is a meme held by Parajunkee and it's where you answer the weekly question and then link yourself and you go and check out other blogs of your interest.

Review:
Okay, hands up for who has not read The Mortal Instruments Series. All of you with your hands up should be going to the store now to get this awesome series. Unfortunately, I was one of those people for far too long. I just began to read this series in late 2010 and have loved them ever since. Needless to say, when my copy from Simon & Schuster Canada showed up in the mail I freaked out and read it as soon as I opened the package. I was not at all surprised to be completely engrossed in it by Chapter Two and not be able to put it down at all the entire time.

Have you ever seen a more gorgeous cover than one of The Mortal Instruments Series? They all look good together, they use stunning colours and the models are all perfect for the characters they portray. And they also keep the same theme. They have not chosen to change the covers in the middle of the series or changed the theme in the second part of the series. That really impressed me a lot. Plus, the hard cover copies are very light catching and metallic. That grabbed the attention of a lot of people around me when I read and even some of my non-reader friends commented on how nice the covers are.

In City of Fallen Angels, we see the return of the cast of characters from the rest of The Mortal Instruments Series, though a month later. In this book we get to see the characters put through challenges in their lives, relationships and family life that you will never see coming. In addition, we also get to see Jace and Clary as a couple. Also, we see many different sides of Simon through his point of view as well as through the eyes of other characters. The whole time I read the book, one of my favorite parts was the amount of development that all the characters went through.

The writing in all of Cassandra Clare's books, that I've read, is unique and captivating at all times. She has this writing style that clicks with her setting and story that makes it an awesome reading experience. The story itself in City of Fallen Angels is one that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat the entire time. From start to its cruel end. Cruel, you may ask? Yes, cruel. Cruel in the fact that I have to wait a year for the next book to come out to find out what happens to the characters. The end was a huge cliffhanger that I have a very love/ hate relationship with. Overall, City of Fallen Angels is a fantastic read that I think anyone would love.

The best part of City of Fallen Angels? Impossible to pick. My rating is easy for this one: 5/5 without a doubt. If you haven't picked this book up yet, go! Run! Go get it, I promise it is full of awesome.