Top Ten Tuesday: Kick- Ass Heroines

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme posted on The Broke and Bookish every Tuesday.

1) Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series- of course I would pick her. Not only is she smart but she can hold her own against villians (death eaters) and any guy (Ron Weasly) who tried to mess with her heart.

2) Maia from If I Stay- she watched her family die, and, while in a coma had to make the tough decision to keep living or die.

3) Meghan from The Iron King- she nearly throws her life away trying to save her brother. Now that's love.

4) Finley from The Girl in the Steel Corset- she can win a fight against nearly anyone. She battles with her alternate bad half that takes over her body when she's in danger. She runs toward danger- not away from it. And she often wears a steel corset.

5) Ismae from Grave Mercy- although I'm in the process of reading, this book, Ismae has already proved herself to be a warrior. She is a assassin for the saint of death and does his bidding with daggers, arrows, and poison.

6) Bella from Twilight... Haha just kidding. I wanted to make sure everyone was awake. A character from a vampire novel I did think was kick- ass was Rose from Vampire Academy. She guarded her friends faithfully, especially her best friend whom she'd do anything for. 

7 Lela from Sanctum- she gives up her happiness in her afterlife to save her friend from hellish conditions. I wish I had a friend like that. She also went through living with several abusive foster families and became a better person because of it.

8 Lena from Delirium- she went against everything her family and friends believed in for what she thought was right. 

9 Elena from Vampire Diaries- she went through so much after her parent's deaths. Yet, even after this she still put the only family she had left first and managed to keep her chin up.

10 Evie from paranormalcyParanormalcy- even in the face of death, she can crack a joke. Plus, she has a pink taser. I mean, who doesn't think  a pink taser's extremely cool and bad- ass.

 

Fun Day: (1) Giveaway

FUN DAY!!

Fun Day is a feature posted on Mondays. It can be anything from giveaways to random things like pictures, videos, or contests.

Today I have a mystery box giveaway for you guys. Mystery box giveaways could be anything from books/notebooks/book related jewelry/ book related clothing/book related items/ amazon checks/ bookmarks and much more. Because  it's a mystery I can't really give anything else away, but let's just say I wish I could keep it for myself. Enough Said :)

I did make it a two-month long give-away, simply because my blog's new and no one follows it yet. If people do start to follow it, I will definitely add more stuff to the box to make it even more worth the wait.


Just enter the rafflcopter below and good luck!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fb7c090/

Stacking the Shelves (1)

 

Stacking the Shelves is a meme posted every Saturday on Tynga's Reviews. It's a blog post about the books you received the previous week. I will be doing my Stacking the Shelves Post every Saturday, too.

Here's a picture of the physical books, which I got from the library. Some of them aren't pictured because I already returned them but I'll include them in the list.

 

I have always felt that contemporary books, although sometimes good, were the least favorable ya 

genre for me. But after hearing how much other ya bloggers like them, I decided to give them another chance. Boy am I glad I did... more on that later.

Physical Book List: Click on a title to see the book in Goodreads

• From Bad to Cursed
• Secrets and Shadows
• The Truth about Forever
• The Selection
• A Map of The Known World
• The Space Between
• Fever
• Grave Mercy
• Just Listen
• Second Chance Summer
• The Summer I Turned Pretty
• It's Not Summer Without You

Ebook List

• Sanctum (Guards of Shadowland)

I know I'm late with this but better late than never, right? Anyaway, I think this should be a good blogging week for me, as I have a post planned for everyday.

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

Title: Scarlet
Author: A. C. Gaughen
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Release Date: February 14, 2012
My Rating: 5 stars
Recommended For: Older Ya Readers, Fans of Robin Hood, Adventure/ Action Fans, Fans of Romance
Pages:287




 "Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in.

It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for."- Goodreads

Scarlet is a debut novel written by, A. C. Gaughen, and I never really heard about it before picking it up. Then I read the cover and instantly fell in love. A book about a girl in disguise as a boy is awesome. A book about a thief is intiguing. But a book about a girl who's a thief that gives to the poor and has a mysterious past is just captivating! I knew I had to read it, and I'm so glad I did. Scarlet was everything I hoped for and more.

The main character of the story, Scarlet, was tough as nails. She went through a bad situation when she was younger and a scar on her face to prove it. She wasn't ready to tell her story, though, and her past remained a mystery throughout most of the book. The other major characters were Robin Hood, Little John, and Much. They all had their own stories, and were all just really well done. They seemed so real, each with their own quirks and flaws. It seemed odd at first for Robin's band to have only three other people, but it fit the story. It also helped me get to know the characters better.

Scarlet is a spin-off of Robin Hood, but it still has its own unique plot. Many things are different. Yet enough things are the same for a fan of the original Robin Hood story to like it. Robin Hood and his band are trying to protect their people despite the sheriff's attempts at capturing and hanging them. They were doing pretty well until the sheriff hired a Thief Taker to find Robin and his band. The only problem is that  the Thief Taker is someone from Scarlet's past. Someone who will stop at nothing to find her.

The writing style bothered me for the first few pages, until I became too enraptured with the story to notice it. The book was written to be authentic with it's time, so Scarlet spoke and thought like a commoner did hundreds of years ago. It fit the story well though. The writing itself was good. It flowed well and drew me in.

Even though I loved Scarlet, there was a few things I didn't like. Robin and John were a bit annoying near the end of the story. John became possessive and Robin was very judgmental of Scarlet. It upset me but didn't mess up the story that much. I also didn't like how Scarlet went on and on about how she was never good enough and how she could never atone for her past. Although understandable, it got old pretty fast.

In the end, I'm glad I read  Scarlet because it was just a very good story. I had a good plot, good characters, good writing... I read it with no regrets. I'd definitely recommend this book to most ya readers. I'll be keeping tabs on AC Gaughen to see if she writes anything else.

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