HOUSE OF IVY AND SORROW

Natalie Whipple

Natalie Whipple is an author that I would definitely read again. House of Ivy and Sorrow's characters are well developed, even the minor characters. I was in a slump when I starting reading this YA novel; but once I sat down with the book, I couldn't put it down. Friendship and family are integral to the plot; coming of age, trusting, which friends are more like family, and family secrets keep the plotline moving at a good pace.

This weekend I completed the Holiday Bingo card. I did find this one a lot easier to do than the Summer Card. I sort lost enthusiasm for the last one half way through but this one I knew almost immediately what I wanted to read for each square. While my initial plans changed, I did manage to read something for every square (though two squares were books I DNFed).

Red Cover - The Elite Kiera Cass  - Review

Witches - House of Ivy and Sorrow - Natalie Whipple - Review

Black Cover - Alice in Zombieland - Gena Showalter - Review

Green Cover - Dead Beautiful - Yvonne Woon - Review

Romance - The One - Kiera Cass - Review

Set at Christmas Time - Rocky Mountain Miracle - Christine Feehan - Review

Reread - The Stand, Stephen King - read not reviewed

Set in Space - Blood Crown - Ali Cross - Review

Set on Halloween - Dark Harvest- Norman Partridge - Review

Serial Killers - Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay – Review

Snow Ice or Frost in Title – Crown of Ice – Vicki L Weavil – Review

Set in New Orleans – Black Dust Mambo – Adrian Phoenix – Review

Birds on Cover – The Dream Thieves – Maggie Stiefvater – Review

Snow on Cover – Winterkill – Kate A Boorman – Review

Fall or Winter Release – Talon – Julie Kagawa – Review

Mystery – Fiendish – Brenna Yovanoff – Review

Orange Cover – If I Should Die – Amy Plum - Review

Set During Autumn – The Shining- Stephen King – read not reviewed. (Bulk of this story takes place between the end of September and first few days of December and that was all I could come up with for this square)

Book That Was a Gift – The Fall – Bethany Griffin – Review

Steam Punk – Something Strange and Deadly – Susan Dennard – Read not reviewed

Historical – Venom (Secrets of the Eternal Rose) Fiona Paul – Review

Native American MC – Echo Alyson Noel - Review

Freebie Star – The 100 – Kass Morgan - Review

Horror – Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black – Read not reviewed

Creature on Cover- Sea of Shadows – Kelley Armstrong – Read not reviewed

I created a Goodreads shelf which can be seen here – each book should link to the dates read.

Favourite books of the card this time round – Dead Beautiful, House of Ivy and Sorrow, The Shining, The Stand, If I Should Die, Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

Worst books – Crown of Ice and Talon both DNFed.

Honourable mentions to The Elite and The One which were pretty awful but in spite of the stupidity of the characters I did kind of love them.

October was a good month bookwise for me :) I got a little burned out on challenges and books the last few months, but with the start of Holiday Bingo I kicked back into reading gear. My main aim this  month was to finish some of the books I'd had on the go for a while, read some Netgalley books, and get started on Holiday Bingo.

I managed 14 books this month

The Art of Lainey - Paula Stokes - read not reviewed 3.5 stars

Rain (Paper Gods #2)  - Amanda Sun- read not reviewed 4 stars

The Winner's Curse  - Marie Rutkoski read not reviewed - 3 stars

City of Heavenly Fire (Mortal Instruments 6) - read not reviewed - not enough stars in the world for how awesome this was. 5 stars

Siege and Storm (The Grisha 2) Leigh Bardugo- read not Reviewed.5 stars

Heir of Fire - Sarah J Maas - Read not reviewed 5 stars

For Netgalley Books I read

Trial by Fire – Josephine Angelini - reviewed

Something A Little Different – Sandy Hall - Reviewed 

The Iron Trial – Cassandra Clare & Holly Black  - Reviewed

For Holiday Bingo I read

Dead Beautiful - -Yvonne Woon - Reviewed

House of Ivy and Sorrow - Natalie Whipple- Reviewed

The Elite – Kiera Cass - Reviewed

The One Kiera Cass - Reviewed

Alice in Zombieland – Gina Showalter - Reviewed 

Books Purchased

Kindle Books -  Talon Julie Kagawa , Magnolia - Kristie Cook, Eventide - Christine Allen-Riley, Jackaby - William Ritter, Snow Like Ashes - Sara Raasch, Very Bad Things - Susan McBride, Even in Paradise - Chelsea Philpot, Asylum - Madeline Roux, Get Even (Don't Get Mad) Gretchen McNeil, Lies We Tell Ourselves - Robin Talley, Misty Falls - Joss Stirling 

Paperback and Hardbacks Books - My True Love Gave to Me holiday collection, Blue Lilly Lilly Blue Maggie Steifvater, She is Not Invisible, Marcus Sedgwick, Shipwrecked Siobhan Curham, The Glass Demon Helen Grant , The Iron Trial (hardback) Holly Back + Cassandra Clare, Winterkill - Kate A Boorman, Arcadia Awakens - Kai Meyer, Queen of Zombie Hearts - Gina Showalter.  

Gifts –

(My dad was in the US this month so I asked if he could make a stop in Barns & Nobles for me) The Fall (Hardback) Bethany Griffin ,Through the Zombie Glass (paperback) – Gina Showalter , Mortal Gods (Hardback) Kendare Blake

So all in all a great month book wise. No one or two star books and no DNFs. 

My plan for November is focus on Holiday Bingo books and finish off some more Netgalley books. I don't have the discipline to do NaNoWriMo (I start but never get past the first week if that) so good luck to anyone who is :). 

It was the title that really caught my attention on this one. I must admit this was one I had rather low expectations for after skimming through some of the reviews. That being said, once I started, I couldn't put it down. I loved it. 

I loved the unique way witchcraft was written, while it was as natural as breathing to our heroine, Jo, there was also a rather unpleasant and painful sounding aspect to it as well. Self sacrifice as payment for making the powers work for you. Hair, nails, teeth, blood and other icky sounding stuff that she could do without batting an eyelid at the pain. 

At the same time, she could squee with her friends like any teen over the cutest boy in school (who was really nice and sweet) and do regular teen things. Whilst trying to keep the magic life separate (which of course was never going to work).

Jo's friends, Grace and Kat, where exceptional characters who came through when needed rather than just being background characters. Even the love interest, Winn, turned out to have a surprising role to play. Everything worked really well. I was surprised at how well it worked mixing the dark side of the magic with the teenagers just being themselves and trying to have a normal life.

And when things took a turn for the worst I loved how they all the characters came together to defeat the villain. 

A really great YA witch book.

So crosses off the Witches square for Holiday Bingo 

Well well this one was awesome! Second square crossed off for holiday bingo - Witches. Review to come.