Hi, there! Good morning ❤ I hope you’re hanging there on this beginning of week 🙂 It’s Tuesday, so it’s Top 10 Tuesday day! This meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and my theme today is Favorite Heroines!
I won’t deny, that one was hard. I hardly like female main characters enough for that, haha! But I could gather 10 from my last five year reads, so let’s go!
Good morning and welcome to an edition of Top 10 Tuesday that I won’t cheat! 😀 As you may be aware, the meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. My theme for today is All Time Favorites 😀
Hello, again! I know I am a little late to do this, but better late than never, haha! January is going to be insane for me, as my younger cousin is going to be here until Sunday and next week I may start a course – more info as my life goes, haha!
But I’m blabbering, let’s do this:
December Wrap Up
I’m very proud of my reading month! I’ve read 11 books!! =O I’m still wondering how I did it, so I can repeat the dose this month, haha!
Book of Opera, from Arthur Jacobs and Stanley Sadie
The Other Side of Midnight, from Sidney Sheldon
The Devil’s Advocate, from Morris West
Vixen 03, from Clive Cussler
The Name of the Rose, from Umberto Eco
Lie Down With Lions, Ken Follett
An illustrated guide to Dresden
Amar se Aprende Amando, from Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Antologia Poética, from Vinicius de Moraes
Antologia Poética, from Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos, from Jorge Amado
Tieta do Agreste, from Jorge Amado
Tenda dos Milagres, from Jorge Amado
A Moreninha, from Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
I know, I know. So many books, haha! I can explain 🙂 14 of my won books were at my uncle’s place, waiting for death. Yeah. So I won a cattle with lots of books and selected the ones that seemed promising 🙂 I wish I could have saved all books that were there, but there were some destroyed ones by the time, others that I knew for being a bore and some that weren’t my thing at all… Anyway, at least I could save some of them, haha!
Freebies that I got this month
Anywhere But Here (The Starborn Ascension Book 1), from Jason D. Morrow
Beyond Secret Worlds: Ten Stories of Paranormal Fantasy and Romance
The Ducal Gift and The Christmas Carriage, from Grace Burrowes
Soar (The Empire Chronicles Book 1), from Alyssa Rose Ivy
Hidden (Dragonlands Book 1), from Megg Jensen
Aloha Texas (Aloha #1), from Chris Keniston
Binarius: Episode I (The Binarius Series Book 1), from Kendra McMahan
Globalização, Mídia e Ética, from Erasmo de Freitas Nuzzi and Clovis de Barros Filho
Hi, yet again! It’s with the purest heartache that I announce that this will be the last post in my Cemetery Tours marathon 😦 After Death is the third and last published book in the series by oh-so-talented Jacqueline E. Smith, so it closes the review frenzy of this week and I shall never recover of this awesome books. Thanks again, Jacqueline, for providing me with the whole series in exchange of an honest review for each book ❤
Michael and Kate are finally really dating after so many delays and are trapped with way simpler problems than before: are they ready for the next step? Is Kate over Trevor? Should Michael propose now or wait for a job to appear?
All those doubts are put on hold when Michael receives a weird invitation for the inauguration of Cirque Somniatis, in Hugo, Oklahoma. Kate jumps into the opportunity on the spot and convinces Michael that he should invite Luke Rainer as second escort for the event. Michael doesn’t really like the idea, as Luke seems to always causes him weeks of trouble and headache each time the three of them hooked up, put agrees nevertheless.
As always goes with people that handles with spirits, soon enough they realize that Cirque Somniatis is way darker than it should.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I’m sorry if I sound repetitive when I talk about any book of this series, but THEY ARE FREAKING AWESOME! After Death was even better than Between Worlds and made me crave for more like a possessed girl when I finished it and there wasn’t more. Five stars because Goodreads doesn’t allow me to give more.
me after finishing After Death
The good news is that Jacqueline assured me that Cemetery Tours is not ending any time soon! YAY, THANK YOU MY LORD!
me after talking to Jacqueline
Ok, I’m under control now. Maybe. But let’s (try to) get professional.
The narrative style is once again kept and it worked just fine for me for the whole series: third person with alternating point of views. The news is that we get to hear more of the story through Luke’s eyes, and it was awesome 😀 Now I officially love Luke, even with his very weird romantic notions.
The plot was breathtaking. Really, Smith evolved a lot through her books and I had no idea who were the real villains until the very end. Everybody – even Luke himself in some parts – seems to be hiding something awful. How many ghosts are there in the circus? Is the Ringmaster really a human being? Can Chance be more obnoxious? ARE THEY GOING TO FREAKING SURVIVE?!
Seriously, Jacqueline broke me with this book. I read it in one day, crazily and non-stop as much as I could.
Once again, the aspect that more appraised me were the characters. Besides our bffs Michael, Kate, Luke and Brink, we are introduced to new people and spirits. They all grew up a lot, specially Michael (again), the Luke himself points out on his parts of the book. Their friendship gets stronger and it’s just beautiful. I like Claire too, a new ghost in town, but she is kind of scaring and crazy, in the worse way possible: the innocent looking way, haha! Blink also has a big part in this book and it was heartwarming to see what Michael did for him in the end. I cried hard, tears of joy ❤ But, putting all the magic aside for a moment, I have to share a theory with you guys or I may die.
There’s this guy that shows up as well, called Chance. He also owns a TV show based in ghost hunting and all, called Ghost Crusaders or some other non-sense like that. The thing is that Chance is a very jerk individual, but he is especially mean with Luke and we can clearly see that it goes beyond TV rating rivalry. In the end, his reasons are revealed, but I kinda didn’t believe him. I mean, NO ONE is so cruel for such a stupid reason without being a psychopath (which Chance wasn’t, he had too many passion in his hate for Luke). Which brings me to my theory: is Chance hiding some sort of insane and sick passion for Luke? It would make all the sense in the world for me and I was so sure that I was right that I even gasped when I read what it was all about. Seriously. Love and hate are apart thanks to a very thin and transparent line. I don’t know if Chance’s dedication to Luke’s fall is fed by only hate. I don’t think he has this notion, but I believe with all my heart THAT I AM STILL RIGHT AND THAT CHANCE IS JUST MAKING EXCUSES FOR HIMSELF.
don’t worry, Chance. I’ll keep your secret from Luke 😉
Ahem, back to the book.
Bonus point: the circus aspect was a huge one. Smith manages to immerse her reader on that feeling of darkness, magic, joy, mystery and decadency all the same time. I’m fascinated about circus in horror/ghost/suspense books and for its history in general, so I felt butterflies in my stomach all the time while “I was” on the circus with Michael, Kate and Luke.
Overall, this was one of the best full series that I read this year. I’m just not going to say that it was the absolute best because I’ve read all Percy Jackson’s books earlier this year for the first time and I also liked them very much, haha! But seriously, it’s the best ghost series ever. CEMETERY TOURS BEATED THE MEDIATOR SERIES IN MY HEART =O
That’s it! Thanks for reading and for bearing with me and my Cemetery Tours marathon ❤ And, of course, thanks once again to Jacqueline, this awesome author that manage to find her own place in my heart 😀
Hello, there! Be prepared for a marathon of Cemetery Tours, haha! I’m completely hooked on this series and may have finished the last book on it by the time this post goes live. Yay!
Michael Sinclair’s life turned into a living hell after everything that happened with Kate, Gavin and Luke. Now everybody knows that he can see and speak with ghosts. Everybody in all Americans everybody. He was now guest of talk shows and did many interviews, but his new acquired fame made him loose his job and made it a pain to find another.
At least, Michael now had Kate by his side. Gavin recovered fully from the ghost that haunted their apartment and went back to work. Just when Michael thought his life may be coming back to normal, Luke Rainer shows up again, asking for Michael to tag along on an episode shooting for Cemetery Tours, as the owner of the house personally requested his presence with the crew.
What seemed to be a fun and relaxing holiday at Maine, Portland, turned out to be a living nightmare for everybody, as a very unaware of death ghost gets angry with the intruders in his house. Soon enough, Michael will need more than his gift to make sure that everyone – specially Kate – will be able to go back home.
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
You know those book series that already start blowing up your mind and then manage to get even better book after book? It seems to be the case with Cemetery Tours. Between Worlds rocked my world even harder than the first book and left me so speechless in the end that all I could do was thank Jacqueline for providing me with the whole series. I would have gone mad to have to wait even one more minute to keep reading. I’m seriously hooked and I regret nothing! FIVE STARS AGAIN 😀
The narrative style from the first book was kept: third person with alternating point of views. On this book, we have Michael, Kate and, for the first time, Luke. A really strong asset of the book series, the alternating point of views prevented the series of sounding boring or repetitive, as each character has its own mind and way of looking at things. And I’m always stunned by how Michael really is when we are not in his head, haha!
The plot was awesome and very twisted, more than in the first book. Could I trust Luke’s crew? Sterling was a villain or a victim? Was Joanna in the mansion or had already moved on? Carolyn and Marion were being honest about the house? Luke really didn’t feel a thing for Gail? OMG, I ALMOST WENT NUTS, HAHA!
The characters kept surprising me. This book had way more mystery than the last, but it was palpable how much Michael, Kate and even Luke grew up in Between Worlds. Michael changed a lot after he didn’t need to hide that he saw ghosts, like a weight was lifted from him. Don’t get me wrong, he is still shy, awkward and cute, but he doesn’t try to pretend that he is not seeing way more than he should, you know? He’s happy. Kate also develops, but the golden star went to Luke. As we get to see how his work really is, how dedicated he is, how his mind works, I finally started to like him more. I still agree with Michael that, most of the time, Luke can be a pain in the ass, but he’s really a nice guy and only needs a hug, haha! And maybe a serious person by his side, but I’ll have to see what happens in After Death before making further comments in this section, haha!
I was a little sad that we don’t get to see much of Joanna’s journals, but I can live with it. Smith didn’t leave any loose ends besides her signature major cliff hangers for the next book, so I’m cool with what I got from Joanna’s past, haha! I’m cheering for Emily to have more news from Emily in After Death, but let’s see, haha!
Overall, Between Worlds did more than justice for the expectations that I had after reading Cemetery Tours and I’m only hoping that After Death is all that as well 😀
That’s it, people! Thanks for reading and, once again, thank you Jacqueline for the books. I’m having the time of my life 😀
Four very busy weeks indeed, haha! And I also would like to say that my Review Policy is finally up!! It took me a while, but it’s beautiful ❤ I hope I can get more reading done this month 🙂
That’s it, guys! That’s my August report, haha! Thanks for reading! What have you been up to this last month?
Hello, guys! This has been an awesome week! Yesterday, 08/12, was my birthday and so many good things happened so far! I felt like my preparation days for turning 21 were awesome just like my birthday was, haha! It’s amazing how we can have a good time without a party 🙂
Anyway, I wanted to update you guys on which books I’ve been reading and receiving! I’m currently reading Chasing Rainbows, by Linda Oaks (and loving it, I’m on the middle of the book, haha!) and started The Need, by S. L. Hannah (thanks again to both of you, girls!). Chasing Rainbows review should be on the blog this Saturday, tops, and I hope I have The Need review by next wednesday, as the book will be oficcially out on Aug 25th 😀
On the receiving line, here are the new kids in town:
Thanks again to all those awesome authors for trusting my review hability and I can’t wait to start those! ❤
If you want to know first who sent me books, just take a look at my Partnerships page, where I’m still gathering all the cool authors – I like to have their written permission to put their names there, that’s why that I’m taking so long to fullfill it 🙂
Thanks for reading and I hope you had an amazing week so far as well!
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 