Monday, April 25, 2016


Title:Sins of the Father
Author: Jamie Canosa
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Published Date: February 6th 2016
Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis: Monsters exist. Not in closets or under the bed, but within each of us. And sometimes . . . they win. 

Kidnapped. Confused. Afraid. 
Ophelia wakes up to find herself an unwilling pawn in a plot for revenge. 

Pain. Blood. Loyalty. 
These things bind Sawyer to a promise he struggles to keep. 

Sawyer doesn't want to hurt Ophelia. Ophelia doesn't want to be hurt. But somethings are unavoidable. What happens when trust is broken? What happens when fear and love collide? 

Hearts get broken and lives get shattered when the Sins of the Father are brought to bear.

This book could be described as heart-breaking and then hear-mending. It successfully portrays those dark topics such as: betrayal, abuse, kidnap, revenge, neglecting, and death; while in the same breath portrays hope,trust, belief, and wanting. All of these things are combined and churned in a realistic world with crazy circumstances that make your head spin, in a positive way.

It is truly one of the best romances that I've got my hands on in a long time. It's not cliche or superficial or anything like that, because to me, it really seemed genuine, like you could feel it bounce off the pages at  you. The author skillfully weaves a blossoming love story in the most unexpected of places. But if I'm honest, the thing that magnetized me towards this book, is the characters. I almost couldn't believe how attackingly I fell in love and rooted for these strong characters, that deserved a happy ending.

I guarantee you that this is just one of the books that you'll feel compelled to read in one sitting, as you can't tear your gaze away from the pages. Now stop reading this review and go get the book yourself!

Title: The Guilty
Author: Gabriel Boutros
Publisher:Gabriel Boutros (Self-published)
Published Date: December 31st 2012
Rating: 5 Stars

It is the story of Robert Bratt, once a high-flying defense attorney, but now haunted by doubts over his chosen profession and the violent people he represents. He is hired to defend Marlon Small, a young tough who is accused of a brutal double-slaying. The accused's mother is a devoutly religious woman who is certain that her son has been falsely accused, and looks to Bratt to save him. Despite the mother's protestations, Bratt's instincts tell him that Small's airtight alibi is too good to be true, and he is very probably guilty. But Bratt's drive to succeed, combined with his sympathy for the heartbroken mother, push him to defend the young man.

-Can he continue to turn a blind eye to what his client has done, and manipulate the truth as he so often has in the past, while no longer being able to look himself in the mirror?


-Loosely based on a multiple-murder that shocked Montreal in the 1990s, this riveting story pulls the reader into the inner workings of a murder trial, and reveals what one lawyer must do when he has to defend "The Guilty."


When I picked up The Guilty, I didn't expect an enthralling tale of how far you can go to twist the truth, how to determine what your moral compass is as a law-practicing individual, how much you can sacrifice to set things straight, and really exploring the dark side of practicing lawyers. But that's exactly what Gabriel Boutros manages to paint with his words in this courtroom drama. It is definitely one of those that make you rethink something about yourself, that type of book that can have major impact on your life and what you thought "guilty" means.

At first, Robert Bratt was not a likeable character at all, making me hesitate to continue, but then as the plot progresses, intriguing interesting things happen, and you end up rooting for his happy ending, once you realize what the plot twist means to him and the reader. You can also relate with his failing self-confidence, drive to be victorious, and nonstop soul searching and doubting everything that's he's building for himself.

The thing that can be appreciated about the way that this is written, especially since it's the author's brilliant first novel, is that he doesn't overbearingly use formal legal terms that get  you lost or confused. In fact, he tries to state things simply enough so that even someone like me, who is reading a courtroom drama for the second time ever can understand everything that's going around Bratt.  I would highly recommend checking out this book, it's a five-star read and you'll never forget nor regret reading it.

Disclaimer: I received this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review on this novel.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Hour 24 Readathon WrapUp:


Pages read: 864
Book finished:3 

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Actually, right about midnight I fell asleep while listening to an audibook, and actually I didn't even sleep timer it so it kept on playing. Luckily though, after I had my beauty's sleep I woke up at 5 a.m. and I'm finishing this audiobook.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I would say The Nightingale, but I may be biased since that's in my top reads of all time. <3

3.Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?
Maybe more cheerleaders should be interacting via blogs and comments, and although I did try to drop some encouragement on some posts, I think that other people should feel more encouraged to actually go on the only bloggers (not-tweets) and help them.

4.What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Audiobooks really worked, so did the Dewey's Reading Club on Goodreads, and so I think that this ecosystem of enthusiasts. 

5. Which did you enjoy least?
The not eating, because my barely ate anything. The problem is that my mom has strict rules that I can only eat in the kitchen alone. 

6. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will participate again, and next time I'll try to be an even more hardcore readathon. Possibly someday in the near future I think that it would be great to connect and co-host by leading a couple of hours, if they'll have me!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Hour 10:

Pages read: 528
Book finished:2
The Red Queen got about 4 stars from me and I also reread The Nightingale which is one of my all time favorite books ever. So obviously a five star read.


Next up on the list, is this recommended book with a beautiful cover. I actually have the audiobook only, so I might just save it for the nighttime!
It's been an awesome, amazing, and rewarding first readathon so far, and we're not halfway there yet. I can't wait to see all of the other exciting books that I will get my hands on!!!

Hour 12:
Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
Currently I'm reading the audiobook "The Selection" by Kiera Cass.
2. How many books have you read so far?
About 1 and 1/2 books so far, but the pagecount are pretty long/large.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Umm, probably one of my books that I'm supposed to from NetGalley to review. I don't really know which one I'll choose in the wee hours of the morning. 
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Very few, and so I usually shoo those people out of my basement cave where I am literally living today. ;)
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
How much of an escape books are. This quote is my motto/theme"
"Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real." ~Nora Ephron



I am doing something and exciting and adventurous doing, Dewey's 24 hour Readathon! I am so excited to be participating and I will be reguraly updated my blog as a place to be keeping track of this. But first of all, I'll start with hour zero, aka the pre-event:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?I'm coming from the basement in the eastern USA, let's just leave it at that because I like to keep my location private.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I've heard so many good things about this book, and various people have been recommending this to me. I honestly think that I'm going to enjoy it lots!
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Probably orange juice, it's my favorite beverage and I have a whole gallon to myself to fill up and drink in today!
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a fairly new book-blogger, though I aspire to be a full time librarian in the future. Books are the love of my life, my escape, my hobby, what I can't breathe without. And so that's why I'm "sacrificing" these 24 hours in order to do something that I absolutely love to do!
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?I'm most looking forward to participating in a group type of setting and making friends. I think that it's just so much fun making friends and being cheered on my other lovely readers. It's quite a community bonding experience to never forget!

Sunday, April 17, 2016


Title: The Thief's Daughter (Kingfountain Series #2)
Author: Jeff Wheeler
Publisher: 47North
Published Date: May 31st,2016
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Synopsis: Owen Kiskaddon first came to the court of the formidable King Severn as a prisoner, winning favor with the stormy monarch by masquerading as a boy truly blessed by the Fountain. Nine years hence, the once-fearful Owen has grown into a confident young man, mentored in battle and politics by Duke Horwath and deeply in love with his childhood friend, the duke’s granddaughter. But the blissful future Owen and Elysabeth Mortimer anticipate seems doomed by the king’s machinations.

A pretender to Severn’s throne has vowed to seize the crown of Kingfountain. But Severn means to combat the threat by using Elysabeth as bait to snare the imposter—and forcing Owen, as a pawn in the dangerous charade, to choose between duty and devotion. With poisoners and spies circling ominously, and war looming on the horizon, Owen must make painful sacrifices to beat back the advancing shadows of death and disaster. Will Owen’s conflicted heart follow the king’s path or risk everything for his love?


Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this ebook in from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant book that really captured my attention, the only thing that I may regret is not reading the first one of this series before this one. Anyways, I absolutely thought that the way the story was written, it felt like a woolen rug being weaved together. This here really explored such common phrases: "loyalty is what binds us all" and "history repeats itself", and what true betrayal means and looks like on the devastating circumstances that are happening all around him and kingdom. It added another layer of what risks you would take for your King, and how far you can go to retain the love that you've kept your whole life.

The magic was a creative process, for the reader and the author I'm sure. It's similar in the fact that the fountain-beings possess specific and special sorts of magical skills, but then they get that source of the magic from a central fountain. In this book, the magic system was subtle, but very complex so I appreciated when Owen taught and explained this reasoning and practice to Etayne.

The relationship between Owen and Evie was just darling heartbreaking and it felt so natural while reading this. I know that many people stereotype romance, saying that it's cliche and too sappy, but in this book it was truly unique in the way that it just fit for this to gradually develop. So even if you're not a fan of romance here, there are no inappropriate scenes included within this book, so don't be scared off by that.

The only thing that made me give this amazing book a four star, or more accurately a 4.5 star(but that's just not possible to mark out sometimes) review is that the characters and their alliances really got muddled in my head at some points of the book, and I didn't really feel fear when I was supposed to; probably to the fact that Owen with great pride was over-confident that King Severn was unbeatable, instead of showing some humanly doubts. Sometimes I wanted to feel the physical fear and curl up into fetal position in my head, but this book just didn't give me that feeling when it should have. Overall though, I do recommend reading this book, after reading the first book of this Kingfountain series(The Queen's Poisoner), because although there is quite a big time leap here, it really gives some of Owen's backstory. Plus, if you're interested, there's an epilogue and I'm a delightful sucker for those (in a positive way)!

Sunday, April 10, 2016


Title: Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist
Author: Jennifer Ellis
Publisher: Moonbird Press
Published Date: 16th August 2015
Rating: 5 Stars

SynopsisAlana Matheson always tries to do the right thing for the environment, even when it means boycotting school meatball day, forgoing the use of makeup, or getting entangled in a bet with her non-chicken-loving ex-husband over which of them can be the most environmentally conscious.

So when a mining company proposes developing a mine right in the middle of the community watershed, well, of course Alana is going to be on the front lines opposing the development.

Except she isn’t. To her own shock and dismay, she finds herself taking a job… with the mining company. Worse, she finds herself drawn to her attractive and mysterious boss, Nate: a capitalist mining executive. The enemy.

Alana struggles to do right by the community, deal with her feelings for Nate, and maintain her own environmental morals. But as the conflict over the mine heats up, it gets increasingly difficult to be on the “wrong side,” and both Nate and Alana are cracking under the pressure.

Part satire, part serious, Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist is about the cast of characters who seem to pop up in all environmental disputes, and how all of us fail sometimes to do the right thing for the environment, in both big and small ways.


Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

This book-wow(page turner, jaw-dropper)-it went higher than my expectations are first glance. When I picked up this book, looking at the cover and title, I didn't expect a drama-packed, "take it slow" romance, slight humour, and mild mystery all jampacked inside. But that's exactly what Ellis carefully crafted as subplots and sub genres, combining them effortlessly.

The main character, Alana is one of the most relatable humans with struggles of self-doubt and self-deprivation that most of us go through. The amazing thing is that we watch her grow up as a person & environmentalist, from the beginning to the end. If you enjoy characters that you can deeply root for, than you will fall in love with Alana's character; this book is yours to read!

Alana gets mixed up in a very controversial mining project, one that she's unwilling pulled into. There's no way to stay neutral, and all of her fellow colleagues think that she's entered the "dark side". So will this project essential go against her belief system? How will she be able to guide her own moral compass in the face of falling in love with the "enemy"? Not only that is going on, but she has to juggle a developing farmstead, taking care of her kids as a single mom, and working a part-time, and then full-time job. Find out how she struggles and falls flat on her face, but then how she can manage to get up and overcome.

This is unlike any book that I've read, in a positive light. Even if you are not an environmentalist, I still highly recommend reading this!

Monday, April 4, 2016

From three years...to now!

Since I was 3 years old, I would read any book that I could get my hands on. The most memorable teacher who I ever met, was my elementary library teacher, Mrs.B who introduced to the only worthwhile skill in my school career. As a career plan, I have decided to dedicate my life to becoming a librarian, spending hours organizing shelves and helping other kids discover their love for books, which brings smiles to their face and joy to my heart.

 But today I took that first step, and decided to enter into the book blog community, and really dedicate my time and energy into this site. I hope that this will grow in its community, and as a result I will be even more passionate and ready to explore the world of books!

There will be reviews here, TBR lists, Audible recommendations, and various Goodreads updates! If you have come across this site, by accident or recommendation, I sincerely welcome you to the journey of my piles and piles of books!

Here is my Goodreads link, this is my absolute favorite website ever for searching for books!  goodreads.com/Marsianomo

If anyone is interested, here are the books that I'm currently reading: