Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title:  Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author:  Marissa Meyer
Pages:  387
Genre:  YA Science Fiction/Fairytale Dystopia
Publisher:  Feiwel and Friends
Obtained:  Bought (at signing)
Summary:  Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl...

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

What I Liked:  1) Cinder was quite the unique heroine that fell into the category of having to rescue herself rather than wait to be rescued. Readers cannot help feeling for her situation at home as well as the warring emotions after meeting and helping Prince Kaito. 2) New Beijing. When the setting seems to have a life of its own, you know you have a great story. 3) Peony and Iko were fascinating supporting characters, and I can understand Cinder's attachment to them by the end of the book. 4) The villains delivered a performance worthy of invoking my wrath. Both Adri and Queen Levana deserved to be backhanded many times over, and I applaud Meyer for creating such villains that make me want to punch something.

What I Didn't Like:  I can't really think of anything off-hand, though I admit it would have been nice to see more of New Beijing. I do look forward to seeing more of Meyer's futuristic Earth in the next titles.

Overall:  Readers who enjoy a retold and updated fairy tale will certainly find similarities in Cinder while also getting to know this new world and spin on the girl who lost her "shoe" following the ball.

2nd Annual Lunar Love Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is...

Julia Rain Wellman!

Congratulations, Julia!

Thank you for participating, everyone!

Lunar Love Giveaway Hop!

Lunar Love Giveaway Hop

March 8th through 13th

Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & Bookworm Lisa

I'm giving away a paperback copy of Marissa Meyer's Cinder in celebration of lunar love (though readers shouldn't love the Lunars represented here!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check out all the other blogs participating in the hop!

Stacking the Shelves (14)

We are all book lovers and the need to share our enthusiasm is sometimes overwhelming. Stacking the Shelves, created and hosted at Tynga's Reviews, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks!

Gifted:

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron (Signed)

Rock On ARC by Denise Vega

Monument 14 ARC by Emmy Laybourne

Beneath a Meth Moon ARC by Jacqueline Woodson

Whispers at Moonrise ARC by C.C. Hunter 

All of these and an awesome wolf bookmark came from 
Marla at Starting the Next Chapter. Thanks, Marla!

Won:

Seraphina ARC by Rachel Hartman (From Marla)

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (From Courtney at Fuzzy. Coffee. Books. and signed!)

Bought:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Signed!)
The Arcived by Victoria Schwab


Big stack but I received all of these over quite a few weeks. ^_^

Top Ten Tuesday (56): Most Anticipated Books For 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted by one of the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. Everyone is welcome to join, just make sure to link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so everyone can check out other blogger lists. Have fun!

Top Ten Most Anticipated Books For 2013

1) Awaken by Meg Cabot (May 2013)

2) Everbound by Brodi Ashton (January 2013) 

3) Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (February 2013)

4) Solstice by P.J. Hoover (June 2013)

5) Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier (2013)

6) Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsey (June 2013) 

7) Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield (May 2013)

8) The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble (May 2013)

9) Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black (February 2013)

10) The Archived by Victoria Schwab (January 2013)

Stacking the Shelves (9)

We are all book lovers and the need to share our enthusiasm is sometimes overwhelming. Stacking the Shelves, created and hosted at Tynga's Reviews, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks!

For Review:

Amarok ARC by Angela J. Townsend (From Spencer Hill Press)

Wild Ink by Victoria Hanley (From Prufrock Press thanks to LibraryThing)

I'm really excited to read Amarok and also to have a great writing tool like Wild Ink.

Bought: 

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (Bought)

Haunted by Joy Preble (Bought & Signed)

Anastasia Forever by Joy Preble (Bought & Signed)

It was so exciting helping Joy Preble celebrate the completion of her Dreaming Anastasia trilogy. I look forward to seeing future books from her. ^_^  Also, Christin from Portrait of a Book nudged me into getting Forbidden, so hopefully I'll be able to read it soon.

From Library:

A Bride's Story Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori (From Library)

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout (From Library, sorry about the Interlibrary Loan tag)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (From Library)

My library is so efficient when it comes to getting the requested books I want to read.  Looks like August will be a very good month of library books. 

That's all for my shelves the past couple of weeks.  
What did you stack on your shelves?