Review: Sever (Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano (September Sequels Challenge #4) #TackleTBR Read-a-thon Final Update

I won this book a while back, but again, it was before I started marking the books so I could remember when I reviewed them where they came from. So whoever I got this from, thanks!!  It has been 2 years though since I read the 2nd book in the series, Fever, so of course I was a little bit behind when I first picked it up with trying to remember everything.  I really feel that this book did answer a lot of the questions from both the 2nd book, as well as the first one, Wither.  But, I think I can see many ways that I like for some books to be added to the series.  I think one from the aspect of Rhine's brother Rowan would be really great to read. To see his take on Vaughn.  As well as a prequel, following their parents, which would also include Vaughn.  Here is my summary, with spoilers unfortunately for anyone who hasn't read the first two books.

We begin with Rhine in the hospital, recovering from being experimented on in Vaughn's basement.  Linden and Cecily are there with her.  They have sworn to find her somewhere else to go besides back to the mansion.  And this ends up being at Linden's uncle Reed's house.  Reed is an interesting character.  Quite the tinkerer, constantly building and working on things.  He is no longer allowed on Vaughn's property, even though it was once his home as well.  Reed seems to click with Rhine, partly because, as with Linden, she reminds him of Rose, the first wife.  Cecily ends up going back to the mansion with Linden and their son Bowen.  Linden asks Rhine to wait in her search for her brother.  To heal, and to let him come up with things to help her on her way.  But during the time she's waiting, tragedy strikes Cecily, and this tragedy makes Cecily no longer trust Vaughn, and she has her family now move out to Reed's place as well.  Where Reed promises to protect them from Vaughn.  When Rhine is ready to go, before her brother can blow up another clinic, she hears on the radio that he thinks she is dead.  This leads to talking to the person who did the report on the radio, causing Rhine to know she must find Rowan right away.  There are more pitfalls along the way, Vaughn puts out a missing person report for Linden and Cecily, getting all three of them caught on their search.  And who they end up with, well, it will bring back nightmares for Rhine, but in the end, it may be for their best interest.  More things are learned about Rose, and yes, Rhine does get to her brother, only to find out he may have signed a deal with the devil, even if it was for the good of the cure.

Lots, and lots of answers given in this book.  The world outside of where they've lived?  Much different than thought.  History books, possibly re-written before Rhine and her generation read them.  A good ending, although as I said at the beginning, I really wish there could be a companion and a prequel.  

Unfortunately I didn't do so well on this Read-a-thon.  My goals were to read 4 books, and while I ended up reading 3/4, only one of those was on my predicted list:  Asunder.  Sever is the 3rd one, and Unravel Me was the 2nd.  These 2 weeks just didn't quite go the way I planned.  I'll just have to work to do better next year if I participate again.

Sunday Post #13 and Stacking the Shelves September 14th, 2014 and #TackleTBR Read-A-Thon Update

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.  I have several things coming up this week, so decided to do this plus Stacking the Shelves today, as well as including an update for my Tackle My TBR Read-a-thon that I'm participating in.


Last week on the blog:

• It's Monday, What Are You Reading?
•  Review:  Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi
•  Waiting on Wednesday:  Unleashed (Uninvited #2) by Sophie Jordan
•  Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon Update
• The Friday 56 #11
•  Review:  H2O by Virginia Bergin

 Only 2 reviews this week, not great.  And I've really only got 1 book that has been on my TBR pile and it is the book I'm currently reading.  But I have completed one for my September is for Sequels Challenge.

This week on the blog:

I really must get going on my TBR pile.  I have many sequels that will fit both challenges.  I will have to take a break this week maybe from the e-galleys and get more TBR pile books done.  So that is my goal for this week.  I also have an e-book I need to get read before my stop on the Debut Authors tour next week.  Also, I won free passes to an early showing of The Maze Runner movie this Tuesday night, and so I'll probably talk about that as well!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  Lots to share this week!  So let's get started!

E-galley from Edelweiss:

This one doesn't have a cover photo yet, but it sounded really good.  It is Scripted by Maya Rock.  I did get denied an e-galley on Netgalley I believe, but I have since emailed the publisher and it seems like it might be possible they will give me a second chance.  I don't like how Netgalley won't let you change things.  Because I'm not a teacher anymore, I'm a school librarian, and I wish I could put that as my first qualification.

Free Nook books:

Okay, the first one is so not something I really read that much, but the synopsis sounded kind of fun, and it was free.  The second one I've seen around the blogosphere, again, free, so got it.  The last one I'd had marked on my Goodreads TBR for awhile, so I snatched it when I saw it free.

Gift:

You might remember me mentioning that I had to take the Praxis test for my library job last week.  Well, it was on a computer, and so I was able to get my results as soon as I was finished, and I passed!  My co-librarian surprised me with this as a gift on Friday.  She chose it because I'd talked about going to visit my sister in NYC and seeing Central Park.  It is a beautiful coffee table book with a lot of the history of Central Park.  I've of course paged through it, but will have to do more in depth reading eventually.

Stripped covers from bookstore:

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I explained about the strip covers in last week's Stacking the Shelves, but it was neat to get these two.  I just need the one in between them I think.

Borrowed:

As I mentioned earlier, I just finished Unravel Me so now I am so ready to read the final book!  Another perk at the bookstore where I work is being able to check out hardcover books from the store.  And that is what I did with this one.

Purchased:

The first is the sequel to a book by a friend of mine, Arianna's Honor.  I had to get a copy from her now that it has been published, and now that I had the money.  Can't wait to read on and see what happens next.  I'm also very excited that I've been getting to hang out with her a lot lately, and she's agreed to kind of be my writing partner during NaNoWriMo this year.  We had breakfast together this morning and did some brainstorming and suggestions for each other's ideas for November.  The 2nd book is one that I need to read for the Debut Author post next week, and it should be my only non-challenge book this coming week.

Okay, like I said, it's been a big week for new books, but not necessarily great for my challenges.  Hoping to get further this week on those! 

#TackleTBR Read-a-thon Update for Thursday, September 11th

I haven't been doing so well with this so far.  You can go see my goals on my original post HERE.  But since I don't have a review to do today, I thought I'd go ahead and do a quick update.

So far:

Today I'm reading H2O by Virginia Bergin.  Which is not on my TBR "pile" but is an e-galley that I need to read before it expires, and because I asked for it, so I need to read them, so I guess they kind of fit the TBR theme.
I doubt I'll finish it today, but probably by tomorrow in order to do a review.
So far the only book I've finished during this read-a-thon was Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.  And while it wasn't actually "my" book, I checked it out from the library, it fits this as it is one I was meaning to get read.  And it fits my September is for Sequels Challenge.  (Which you can still enter if you want to participate by clicking on the link in the last sentence.)

How are you doing on your read-a-thons or challenges this week?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - September 8th, 2014

This weekly meme is sponsored by Book Journey, and we talk about things we read last week, and our plans for what we'll read this coming week. 


Last week:

Well, first of all, I started my 3rd annual September is for Sequels Challenge since it is now September.   Along with that was the September is for Sequels Giveaway Hop that I am co-hosting with I Am a Reader. Today is the last day to enter, so be sure to click on the link to the Hop and enter if you haven't yet.  I posted 3 reviews last week:

• Blackbird  by Anna Carey
• Starry Night by Isabel Gillies
• Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy #3) by Sarah Rees Brennan

 The last one of those is my first entry into my Sequels Challenge.  With my sequels challenge it is kind of putting a bit of a dent into my reading plans for ARCs and E-galleys.  But I'll explain more when I get to the plans for this week.

Currently reading:

I am currently reading Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi for my September is for Sequels Challenge.  It's 400 pages, so is taking me a day or two to get through it.  

This week:

As I mentioned, I'm trying to get my sequels done, plus I'm participating in Tressa at Wishful Endings's Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon this week and next.   So that is keeping me from reading some of my e-galleys/ARCs.  I really want to read my ARC of Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld this week, but I may wait till I'm done with the challenge because it is like 600 pages long!  So here are my planned reads, once I finish Unravel Me:

• H2O by Virginia Bergin
• Asunder (New Soul #2) by Jodi Meadows 
• Tear You Apart (Beau Rivage series) by Sarah Cross OR   Sever (The Chemical Garden #3) by Lauren DeStefano

Of course, how many I get through depends on how quickly I finish them, as they are all between 300-400 pages, and I seem to have more and more to do now that school is back in.  Plus I have to take a Praxis test tomorrow night for my library job, Kansas won't just transfer my Missouri library/teaching license since I didn't have the library experience before I came here.  So I have to take the Praxis.  Which means I should really only be studying that tonight, and not doing any reading.  (Yeah right, like that's going to happen)

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon #TackleTBR

This is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and I heard about it from her when she signed up for my 3rd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge.  And really, the two go together perfectly!  The sequels I plan to read will be partly from my TBR shelf, so during the dates of the challenge, September 8th - 20th, I will do my best to read the sequels that are from my TBR shelf as opposed to the ones I got from the library.  Here are the rules:

The Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon begins Monday, September 8th and ends Saturday, September 20th. You do not have to be a blogger to sign up. Just use your Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Tumblr instead (the place you're going to post updates on). You just need to be able to leave a link. For signing up, you should create a sign-up post and use that as your link (the URL field) you'll use in the linky below.

Please sign up by using the linky at the end of the this post. You MUST be signed up in the linky to enter any related giveaways and participate in the challenges. You are required to post a sign-up post (with or without goals, we will be posting goals too, but that isn't required as a separate post) and a wrap-up post (at the end of the read-a-thon) to be eligible for the giveaway. Everything else and how you participate is up to you.

You can sign up through September 17th.

You're welcome to participate as much or as little as you'd like. The read-a-thon is to encourage us all to read so that we can tackle those tbr piles, not to cause extra stress. ;) You will see requests for updates, but there are no requirements that you leave an update every day. Daily updates are great, though, to help us all stay motivated and cheer each other on. If you do want to post a daily update, here is a simple template (omit or add things as you like):

(Day of the week)
What I read today:
Today's finished books:
Total number of finished books:
Titles of finished books:

We will be using hashtag #TackleTBR on Twitter for updates and tweets. I'd love for you to include me in your tweets too @TresSherm. This is also a great way to find others participating and give some encouragement.

There will be a giveaway that I will host for all read-a-thon participants. I haven't completely decided on what all will be on there, but I'll know by the time this begins. A little mystery is always good, right? :) You should know that it will at least include a $15 Amazon gift card.

Here are the books I think I am going to read during that time:

• Asunder by Jodi Meadows
• The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
• Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
• Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

These are all somewhat thick books, so with only 12 days for this challenge, picking four books is one every three days.  I  think that is probably fair.  

Now if this read-a-thon sounds like something you'd like to join into, you can click the picture at the top and it will take you back to the sign up page.  And if you want, you can click on my link above to go to my September is for Sequels Challenge and sign up for that too.  I'm also co-hosting a Giveaway Hop with I Am a Reader that signs up close this week, click on the button below to go sign up.

And there's one more week to enter the huge giveaway I have for my 5th Blogoversary earlier this month.  Click on the button below for that: