Top Ten Tuesday: Covers We Wish We Could Redesign

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event, hosted by The Broke & the Bookish, where we talk about our top ten book related topics.

This week's topic is top ten book covers we wish we could redesign

1. Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder: This cover just isn't as strong as her other covers, covers that made me want to read the books right away.
2. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige: This book sounds amazing, but the cover lacks a lot. It's such a harsh title, I expected seeing a harsher cover.
3. Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano: This book was incredible, and although I do love the stars and trees on this cover, the model looks like a little girl and doesn't capture Morgan as much as I'd like.

4. The Shade series by Jeri Smith-Ready: Another great series, though the covers don't tell you anything about what you'll find in the books. There is no hint at ghosts or the paranormal world Aura lives in.

5. The redesigned Delirium covers: The first cover of Delirium was one of the reasons I picked this series up. It was shiny and this gorgeous blue and just tantalizing enough to make me curious about what was inside. These ones have just become another series with a pretty girl on the cover.

6. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: This cover almost stopped me from reading this book, though I'm glad it didn't. The other two covers so far are fabulous, and even though this makes a lot of sense to the story, I just don't like it that much.
7. Sever by Lauren DeStefano: Wither's cover was amazing! Fever's was less than perfect, but this one just lacks everything the other covers had. There were hidden treats in the other two, but this one just looks like the model is sitting in front of a green screen.

8. Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood: The original cover of Born Wicked was gorgeous, the redesigned one was pretty, but there's something about this one that I don't like. It doesn't seem magical enough.

9. The new Starters/Enders covers by Lissa Price: The last image is the original cover. So creepy right? This cover helped the story so much and the new ones just look blah.

10. The Paranormalcy series covers: Evie is an hilarious heroine. She loves pink, takes her TASER everywhere and doesn't take crap from vampires. I don't see any of Evie on these covers even though she graces all three of them. They're pretty yes, but just not right for this series.

Anyone agree? Disagree? I'd love to see your picks!

Top Ten Tuesday: Best/Worst Series Endings

(Sorry I haven't been on in awhile, I just did a very big move!)

Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is a weekly feature where we get to talk about our ten favourite things.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Best/Worst Series Endings

I anticipate the ending of the series the moment I finish the first book. In a perfect world, these endings would do everything justice and wrap up the series without any loose ends. Some series did this perfectly, but others fell flat.

The Best

1. With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent: I've said it before and I'll say it again, this series was perfect. So much happened throughout the novels that who knows how it may have ended. But Vincent ended it just the way I wanted

2. Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready: This series was perfect from the start and it just got better near the end. Aura and Zach are perfection.

3. The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan: I actually liked the last two books more than the first in this series. I related to the twins more so than Mary and I liked that they took place in modern times. Series that are told from different characters always win in my books, I love seeing new tales and falling in love with new people.

4. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien: I think we'll all agree that there was a lot of talk of trees in The Fellowship of the Ring, and the series just got better as the books went on. The final book was enthralling and epic and turned me into a total Ringer.

5. Black Heart by Holly Black: This whole series blew me away. It was completely different than anything I've read and there was no telling how everything would end. 

The Worst

1. Endlessly by Kiersten White: I started out loving this series, but it took me awhile to read the final book. Maybe it's because I didn't read it right away, or because it just wasn't what I expected it to be, but it just wasn't the Effie I loved in the first one.

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: Now, don't get me wrong, The Hunger Games is one of my favourite series, but the first two books were just so much stronger than the final one. It did resolve all the issues and the epilogue made me cry, but it didn't live up to my expectations. 

3. Requiem by Lauren Oliver: Another book that was good in its own right, but just didn't live up to what I thought it would be. The first book was so strong that it would have been hard to keep up with that, but Oliver is such a strong writer that I loved reading it just the same.

4. Sever by Lauren DeStefano: After reading Fever,  I wasn't sure how this series would go. It certainly didn't go in the direction I thought it would, and though this wasn't the best way to end what could have been a great series, DeStefano is still a great author.

5. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella: The first three books in this series were amazing. Becky is funny and relatable and I couldn't wait to see what kind of antics she would get into. But Kinsella kept writing when she should have stopped and I wish it were still just those three books. It's almost like she's just writing them to appaise us, almost like fan fiction, when the series could have ben strong enough four books ago. 

Agree? Disagree? Let me know!

Review: Sever

Sever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Published: February 12, 2013
371 pages
5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.


I keep my hopes high when it comes to the third book in a trilogy. I expect twists and turns that make me rethink everything I've read so far. It must also wrap up everything and leave no unanswered questions. Some have let me down a little, but I'm glad Sever isn't one of them. DeStefano knows exactly how to take a world that we think we know and turn it into something completely different. Small clues hidden everywhere that suddenly make sense at the end and an explosive ending that will leave you breathless.

Just when Rhine thought she'd finally escaped Vaughan and the mansion, she ends up back in his care with nowhere else to turn. With the help of Linden and Cecily, she stays with Vaughan's brother, Reed, until she has the strength to leave on her own to find her brother and Gabriel. Linden and Cecily are once again a huge part of this book. They were mostly absent in Fever, and you can see how much they've changed since Wither. Both have matured but they still want Rhine in their lives even if she doesn't want to be in theirs. Something keeps her there though, maybe it's fear or loneliness, but she spends most of her time with Cecily and begins to feel whole again. When news of her brother comes forward though, she knows she must leave to find him. 

Every character has grown a lot. Cecily is no longer the little girl she used to be. She now sees the world for what it really is and Vaughan for what he's capable of doing. Linden sees this too, everything he's ever known suddenly null and void. It's a sad truth in a sad world and for the first half of the book, it's mostly character development, mostly Rhine trying to come to terms with everything that's happened to her. It's brilliantly written, DeStefano's prose and metaphors hitting like bricks and keeping us plastered in the world she's created. Scared for Rhine, Cecily - everyone. Fear of a cure never being found kept me going, wanting to know if there was any way for Rhine to get her happy ending. What happens will leave you with fear and hope and a completely different perspective of this series than when first read. Everything changes in the most perfect way and only DeStefano could create the feelings felt throughout this book. It is not just a conclusion, it holds its own against every other book in this series, especially Wither. It makes up for the lacking of Fever and left me wanting more of this world and her writing. 

I'm especially pleased that she never made a real love triangle. I will never be a fan of triangles that seem to be added in just to get attention. Rhine loves Linden, but it's never been a romantic love. To her, it's always been Gabriel and I think that's important in youth books. There doesn't always have to be boys you love, there can just be the one and it's important for teenagers to see love that way. When you know you love someone, just go and love them. Give them your all and do whatever you can to be with them. Rhine does have two loves in this series, but one is her brother, the twin she's been searching for since they were seperated. I love their relationship and how different they've become from each other. My brother is my favourite person in the world and I too am separated from him, but I know the kind of love that never wavers, and DeStefano portrayed it perfectly. 

Seriously though, there is nothing I didn't love about this book. I can't wait for her next series, The Internment Chronicles just so I can get more of her. 

“You have a way of looking at things. You make it seem as though everything's going to be okay. I can't imagine a more dangerous thing to have than hope like yours.” 

“I never wanted to live forever," she says. "I just wanted enough time.” 

Cover Reveal: Sever by Lauren DeStefano

As you know, I'm a big fan of The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano. Although I haven't actually reviewed the first book, Wither, I did review the second, Fever, and I loved them both. So I seriously can't wait to get my hands on the final instalment, Sever. Here's a sneak peek at the series:


What if you knew exactly when you would die? In the not-too-distant future, genetic engineering has turned every newborn into a ticking time bomb — males only live to age 25 and females only live to age 20.
In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. When 16-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by "the Gatherers" to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Rhine has only one purpose after she has been married to her new husband, Linden: to escape and find her twin brother.


But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant to whom she is dangerously attracted, Rhine is desperate to learn the truth and protect those closest to her. But, as her sister wife Cecily keeps insisting, her role may be much bigger than that.


In the first two books of the Chemical Garden trilogy, Wither and Fever, Rhine struggles to escape the mansion and then to navigate the brutal world outside. Now in Sever, the third and final book, Rhine uncovers some shattering truths about the past that her parents never had the chance to tell her and the alarming implications regarding her own genes. She may be the one who can save the human race. (Goodreads)


Sounds awesome right? Well the other two were amazing, so I have no doubt that I'll love this last one. DeStefano has brought a unique world to the dystopian genre. Sever will be out in February of next year! Way too long of a wait if you ask me!