Catching Fire

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

This is my second time reading this book and I realized that I never reviewed it the first time through. So here it is! I think I enjoyed The Hunger Games a little more, but this book was just as good as the first. I ached for Katniss as she dealt with the aftermath of her desperate actions in the arena. Things aren't all rainbows and sunshine just because she and Peeta got out alive. In fact, things are worse than they ever were.

It was so hard to be in her head sometimes, because she's so...complex. She is able to see the bigger picture when she needs to, and do what is required of her. But she's also extremely emotional about the people in her lives and when she acts with her emotions, she's very much in the moment; future consequences completely forgotten. Her back and forth between Gale and Peeta is a perfect example of this, and it's the same with her feelings in regard to the political unrest in the country. It's so hard so see her struggle, because this is not a traditional romance. She's living in a world where fear runs deep, and both love interests came about in a way that doesn't exactly help her decide who to trust or allow her to explore those feelings and pick who she wants.

The political aspect of the book added great tension to the book, especially once they are once again thrust into the arena. Is it a setup and a deliberate attempt by the President to get rid of one or both of them? Who is really on their side? What the hell happened to Cinna? And the twist at the end practically killed me. I didn't see it coming at all and I am dying for the final book. (Sadly, I have to wait till next week, since it's shipping with another book that's not released till the 31st.) On a side note, was I the only one who was completely repulsed by the people in the Capitol at that party? The drinks to make you throw up so you can stuff your face some more - horrible. I wanted to reach into the book and smack them around a little.

Overall, I'm loving this series. It's intense and tragic and exciting and intriguing, and the second book had all of the above and more. I trembling with excitement to see how it ends. 5/5

Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic, Inc
$17.99 (hardcover)
400 pages

Follow Friday and Blog Hop

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Blog Hop is hosted over at Crazy for Books

This week's question:

How many blogs do you follow? My number is pretty low, I'm trying to get to all the blogs that follow me, so I can return the gesture, but I like to really look around and with two very small children, my time is limited. I'm getting there though, so if you haven't seen me yet, don't worry, I'm getting to you. I also have friends' and families blogs that I follow so, probably around 30. I try to stay up to date with everyone's posts, but it's hard since the more books I read about, the more I want to buy! But I love being able to discover new books and authors, so you can bet I'll be following more people to broaden my literary horizons. : )

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at breaking the spine.

Firelight

Sophie Jordan

Harper Collins

336 pages

$16.99 (hardcover)

Release date - September 7

"A hidden truth.

Mortal enemies.


Doomed love.


Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.


Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy."

I found this book this past weekend while haunting the Barnes and Noble website for new books to lust after. I hate to say I judged this book by its cover but it's true. It was very beautiful and caught my eye so I clicked on it to read the summary, and I have to say, it sounds great! Dragons, hunters, doomed love? Count me in. And I'm all about finding new authors to love, and since I haven't read any other books by her, I'm very excited to read this one. It will be like a first date! ; ) It's coming out soon, so I won't have to wait that long!

Top 5 Tuesday

I'm going to try something new and every Tuesday I'm going to do a - you guessed it - Top 5 list. I would love to hear from all of you as well, so feel free to agree, disagree, or add your own list in the comments! This week's list:

Best Friends

5. Stevie Ray - House of Night series - She's sounds like a country bumpkin, but she's a total sweetheart and fiercely loyal. Not even death could keep her from her best friend, Zoey's, side.

4. Suze - Shopaholic series - She's a bit on the naive side, but she's always got Becky's back, even when she's making nothing but wrong decisions. Quick with the optomistic solutions, she never fails to help Becky get things back on track.

3. Simon - The Mortal Instruments series - He's the perfect boy next door - laid back and friendly, and always up for anything. His sarcasm is fabulous and he's very protective of his secret crush, Clary. Even when the world he thought he knew gets turned upside down, he's goes with it and helps Clary find out what she needs to know.

2. Ron - Harry Potter series - You know you saw this one coming. Full of fantastic one-liners, he is the ultimate in comic relief and while he might be a little afraid of the danger ahead, he's always up for some good old-fashioned rule breaking. Along with Hermione, Harry couldn't have picked a better friend.

1. Alice - Twilight series - Don't mock, you know you love her too. Always up for a party or a throw down with some evil vamps, she's every girls' best friend. It doesn't hurt that she can see into the future so you'll always know when your night out will be a hit or a drag.

Well, there's my list. Sound of below and let me know if you agree, disagree, or think I've forgotten someone!

Linger - Maggie Stiefvater

In Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

I loved Shiver so I knew Linger was going to be a new favorite before I read it. And I was right. Like most "middle" novels in a series or trilogy, there's a lot of set up for the final book, so while you get some questions answered, most is left hanging to be wrapped up in the end. I'm actually ok with this. Don't get me wrong, I'm DYING for the final book, but this book was written in such a satisfying way that I was never bored.

I'm intrigued by the whole Cole/Isabelle situation. They both seem so damaged, so broken by life that I was kinda rooting for them towards the end. I think they might be able to heal each other if they would stop dancing around their issues. It was really nice to see a deeper side to Isabelle, instead of her being the bitchy rich girl - although we still saw that side too. Cole was an interesting character to read about. He craved the escape of being a wolf, yet he had the hardest time staying one. I really want to know why that is. Is there something special about him? Or did something not quite take so he changes back early? Like I said, I'm intrigued.

Sam and Grace's struggles made me sad. I won't lie - I was full on crying at the end. (How will they fix it? What's going to happen??) They're relationship is so interesting to me, because while Sam clings to humanity and all it entails, Grace longs for what he left behind. I don't know if it's because she never became a wolf and just wants to know what it's like, or if life with her oblivious parents just sucks that much that the escapism of being a wolf is alluring... But I love their relationship. They are so good together. I hated that her once completely self-absorbed parents suddenly decided to get involved and didn't even listen to her. Honestly, why did they care now? WTF? And it really didn't seem like their concern came from a place of love, which pissed me off anymore. I loved that Cole put her father in his place.

Anyway, all in all, I LOVED this book and I will be waiting VERY impatiently for the last book. I can't wait to see how everything ends up. 5/5

Linger
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic, Inc
YA Fiction
$17.99 (hardcover)
362 pages