February 2016 Wrap Up

I started February a bit slower than January, but I did read! I've been busy with a few other things. This month also had some interesting happenings. New features starting today! I'm actually going to be adding the rating I gave a book at the end of the little bit about it.

Overall I read 5 books for this month.

Book #1: Meet Me in the Garden by Rosa Sophia

Memories of another life, and the garden where it all began, keep Amalie Jarvis awake at night. A columnist for a popular magazine, she attends a function in Palm Beach at the famous Breakers Hotel, only to cross paths with graphic designer Ian Gardner—who appears to hold the key to her visions. The more time they spend together, the more Amalie realizes how much she wants to be with him. And how much she fears admitting that she loves him. Ian can’t remember the past, but he is drawn to Amalie with an intense passion he’s never felt before. Many moons ago, they met in a garden. Different names, different faces—but their souls were still the same. Unable to resist her, Ian falls deeply in love. He remains by her side as she battles severe facial pain, not knowing what it is or if it could kill her. Frightened for her, he swears his adoration without ever speaking the words. But their devotion has dangers, and they’re about to be faced by hazards neither of them could have foreseen…

Oh my gosh. This didn't end how I thought it would at all. I got it from Rosa in return for an honest review (forthcoming). I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, since I don't actually happen to like contemporary romances. This wasn't bad though. I enjoyed the ending. 5/5 stars!

Book #2: Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

Just before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an odd photograph in the attic. She knows the two children in it are her mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie. But who’s the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture? Ali figures she’ll find out while she’s vacationing in Maine with Dulcie and her four-year-old daughter, Emma, in the house where Ali’s mother’s family used to spend summers. All hopes for relaxation are quashed shortly after their arrival, though, when the girls meet Sissy, a kid who’s mean and spiteful and a bad influence on Emma. Strangest of all, Sissy keeps talking about a girl named Teresa who drowned under mysterious circumstances back when Claire and Dulcie were kids, and whose body was never found. At first Ali thinks Sissy’s just trying to scare her with a ghost story, but soon she discovers the real reason why Sissy is so angry....Mary Downing Hahn is at her chilling best in this new supernatural tale that’s certain to send shivers down her readers’ spines.

I read just about the entire thing in one night. It was that good of a story. Very compelling. I wasn't pleased overall with how exactly things were revealed to the girls. After a few paragraphs, it was kind of a little obvious to me exactly who Sissy was. I enjoyed it still, it worked as a YA paranormal book. 3/5 stars~


Book #3: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys' house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-to-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can't quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys' of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time? Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine...

I loved it. Having read the first book at least a dozen times and seeing the first three movies many dozens of times, I sort of forgot what happened beyond book three. I'm so glad I decided to re-read it. Entire scenes have escaped my mind. I wish they would have included the funeral scene with Grawp in the movie, but that's cool. These will be among my absolute favorite book series in the world forever. 


Book #4: Wicked Sense by Fabio Bueno

Witches inhabit our world, organized in covens and hiding behind a shroud of secrecy—the Veil. Skye’s London coven sends her to Seattle’s Greenwood High to find the Singularity, an unusually gifted witch who may break the Veil and trigger a dangerous new era of witch-hunting. Things get complicated when Skye meets a charming new classmate, Drake. Skye’s job becomes even trickier when she clashes with Jane, an intimidating rival witch. Drake falls for the mysterious Skye, but odd accidents, potion mix-ups, and the occasional brush with death kind of get in the way of romance. Once he discovers Skye is a witch, he goes to war for her, even though his only weapons are a nice set of abs and a sharp sense of humor. Fighting off wicked Jane and the other dark forces hell-bent on seizing the Singularity's immense power, Skye and Drake will risk everything to save the covens. Going on a date has never been harder.

I liked this book pretty well for how it was written. It was very good. I took the star off because it was only just barely almost not believable as far as the actual plot was concerned. There were a few parts where I didn't really understand the point he was trying to make. I rated this book a 4/5 stars and am more than likely going to pick up the next book in the series.

Book #5: Trinity Blood vol. 1 by Sunao Yoshida

In a dark and distant future, Armageddon has giving rise to the fabled Second Moon--and a perpetual war between the vampires and the humans! Esther is a nun in the city of Istavan. When she crosses paths with Abel Nightroad, a priest sent from the Vatican to combat the local order of vampires, the two form a holy alliance to battle the most evil of threats: Gyula, the leader of the vampires. In this gorgeous, gothic-action series--part of the super-popular Trinity Blood franchise--the very survival of the human race is at stake!

I actually forgot I had these books. I have the first four volumes of the manga series and I definitely plan to get more when I have the money for them. I love the art and the characters. Father Nightroad makes me laugh so hard. I gave this book 4/5 stars because of some of the printing it had, and a few minor errors. Beyond that it was just as funny as I remembered from the first time I read it and I will be reading the other three shortly.