A Review for Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Posted by Donna
Release Date: February 6th, 2014
Finished Date: February 25th, 2014

Publishers: Puffin Books
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Source: For Review

Format: Paperback
Pages: 550

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

The Review: Cress, the third instalment in Lunar Chronicles is without a doubt an amazing read. Full of charm, excitement, suspense, wit and of course romance and action – honestly what more could we ask for?

Cress has been stuck in a lunar satellite as a prisoner for the last 7 years, forced into helping Queen Levana in her bid to overtake the commonwealth that Prince Kai rules. Now Cress has been given orders to try and locate Cinder, the furtive cyborg on the run. However ,what the Queen doesn’t realise is that Cress isn’t on her side and she will do anything to help Cinder and the gang – especially since she has feelings for Captain Thorne and often dreams of him coming to her rescue. When Cress’s dream finally comes true, and she is rescued by Thorne, it’s only then that her life is in real danger, because now she’s become Cinder’s accomplice and is helping in the daunting task of trying to over thrown the Queen before she can marry Prince Kai. Is there enough time for Cress, Cinder and the gang to save Prince Kai or will they be too late?

Oh my God. This book is so freaking good. I’m so surprised and pleased that with this being the third book in the series that it is still going so strong. It’s one of them series that grips you from start to finish, and you know that until you have that final book in your hands, you won’t be completely satisfied. I have to say, Cress completely blew my mind. I was on edge all the way through because you just cannot predict what this author is going to throw at you. The plot of the story continues to grow and grow throughout this instalment, and it really is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of story! It’s a complete whirlwind and I absolutely loved every minute. Admittedly, Cress has a slow start – it’s not really until the halfway mark that things pick up, but don’t let that put you off. There’s still a lot of vital information in the first part of the story because of course, it gives us time to get to know Cress as a character.

Cress was a likable character. I have to say, she is probably my least favourite out of the three leads so far, but still her story was very enjoyable. Like all her leads, Marissa gives them all a certain charm and I always manage to sympathize with their situations – and Cress certainly had that. What I really liked about her was how honest she was, especially with Thorne. Their romance – if you could call it that – was a little bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting for them to have any interest in each other, but it was surprisingly good. I would have liked to have seen more, or even had more confirmation that something was definitely going to happen between them, but still it was good. I think I enjoyed Thorne more as a character this time around than previous book, because we get to know him so much more. He’s still the cheeky charmer he’s always been, but he’s became a much deeper character - or for me anyway.

As usual, Cinder was completely amazing. What I love about Cinder was her strength. Yes, she’s had her little freak out moments but she’s determined to over throw Queen Levana. The twist in Cinder’s story – about who she really is – is a complete genesis idea. I can remember when I first read Cinder and how shocked I was to see that twist, and even now, I still believe it’s a fantastic twist. I’m a complete Team Cinder and Kai fan and I’ve been dying for him to finally figure out Cinder’s secret, and YES! It finally freaking happens and my God was it a good scene. Completely EPIC! And let’s not forget Wolf, Scarlet, Iko and Dr Erland – this story wouldn’t be the same without them.

The climax of Cress was fantastic. It wasn’t a too bad of a cliff-hanger, but it is one that makes you wish you have the fourth and final book; Winter. I for one cannot bloody wait!

Favourite Quote: “Captain,” she murmured. “I think I’m in love with you.” An eyebrow shot up. She counted six beats of his heart before, suddenly, he laughed. “Don’t tell me it took you two whole days to realize that. I must be losing my touch.” – Cress & Thorne

Thank you to Puffin for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Marissa Meyer comes to the UK; Author Interview + Giveaway (INT)

Marissa Meyer is coming to the UK! 

On March 26th, 2013 she will be visiting Waterstone's in Bromley at 6pm. 

I'm gutted I won't be able to make it - as you know I'm from Birmingham and it's difficult for me to travel during the week due to work. Anyway, if your a fan of Marrissa's work then we highly suggest you get yourself to Bromley, so you can meet this awesome author. 

To celebrate her UK tour, Marissa has stopped by today for a quick Q&A with us along with an international SWAG giveaway. You can enter below.

1) What was your inspiration for writing The Lunar Chronicles?

I entered a writing contest a few years ago in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories. My two prompts: set it in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of Puss in Boots and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of sci-fi fairy tales! (The ironic part of that story is that only two stories were submitted for the contest—and mine didn’t win!)

A couple months after that I was drifting off to sleep when the lightning bolt struck: Cinderella… as a cyborg! I crawled out of bed and spent about an hour brainstorming and jotting notes. Thus, The Lunar Chronicles was born.

2) Which book was the most challenging to write? 

That would probably be a toss-up between CINDER or WINTER (Book 4, which I'm working on now). Cinder was difficult because there's a lot of set-up that goes into the book: world-building, character introduction, foreshadowing of some of the conflicts still to come, etc. But I of course had to try and convey all that information while still making the book fast-paced and exciting. On the other hand WINTER is the book in which everything finally comes together and all the subplots (and main plots) are finally resolved. Plus, there are just a lot of characters by this book and they're all still telling their own stories. It's a big balancing act.

3) We love the covers for Cinder and Scarlet –  what are your thoughts?

Thank you - I absolutely love them as well! I didn't have much say in them, and I was caught off-guard when I first saw the cover for Cinder. (Spoiler: there are no red shoes in the book!) But I can see now that all the book covers will be tied together with a striking red element, and I love how they pop of the shelves. The designer did a really amazing job.

4) What’s your progress with the next books in the series – are they wrote? 

Book 3: CRESS is almost-almost-almost done. I'm just working on final revisions from my editor right now. And I have the first draft written of Book 4: WINTER, and so I'll be diving into those revisions once CRESS is sent off.

5) Do you have a favourite quote from any of your books?

I really love the last line of CINDER: "But they would be looking for a ghost." I think it plays on a lot of themes that crop up throughout the book, and I was really proud when the line came to me. Of course, lots of people shook their fists at me for ending the book on such a cliffhanger, but I've always been happy with where it ended and how Cinder and Scarlet linked together.

Author Bio;

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I'm big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. I'm represented by Jill Grinberg.

CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.

website: http://www.marissameyer.com

twitter username: marissa_meyer

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A Review for Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

Posted by Donna
Release Date: February 7th, 2013

Finished Date: February 10th, 2013

Publishers: Puffin
Source: For Review

Format: Paperback

Pages: 452
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

This is not the fairytale you remember.

But it’s one you won’t forget.

Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.

Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.

As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .

The Review: 4.5 Stars!

Oh my stars, another awesome book from Marissa Meyer! 

I was worried to start Scarlet because I for one am not to keen on switching characters with each book because of how connected I get to the first set of characters, however  after reading Scarlet, I can totally see why Marissa took the route she did and in all honestly, it really worked well. Scarlet's story is just as enjoyable as Cinder's and because of it being told from her point of view, we get to see so much more of the story coming together, while had it of been told by Cinder's, we wouldn't have. 

If you know your fairy tales, then of course you know Little Red Riding Hood's story. Scarlet is Little Red Riding Hood and Wolf is the Wolf. Scarlet's on a mission to rescue her grandmother after she suddenly disappeared and the only person willing to help her is Wolf, who seems to be hiding more than one secret. 

What I loved about Scarlet's story is how the author uses the fairy tale characters for inspiration and not only that, how she's able to use the story that we all know and love, and mix it up completely. You would think that the story would be predictable because we already know how it ends, but Scarlet's story is not at all that way. It's thrilling and full of anticipation that makes it such a highly charged story and the chemistry between Scarlet and Wolf is amazing. If I didn't love Kai as much as I did, Wolf could easily take his place.

Anyway, for a sequel, Scarlet ticked all the right boxes for me and what made it so much more worth while was the chapters from Cinder and Kai. I can't tell you how pleased I was to see what was going on in their journey's. The plot definitely thickens and I can not wait to see what is next to come in Cress. I am hoping we do see some interaction between Cinder and Kai because their story is so unique and because I'm waiting for their happy ever after to come too but I also want some interaction between Scarlet and Wolf because their another couple that I don't want to leave behind just yet. 

A Review for Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Posted by Donna
Release Date: Janaury 3rd, 2012

Finished Date: February 7th, 2013

Publishers: Feiwel & Friends
Source: Bought

Format: Kindle 

Pages: 390
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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.

The Review: “Even in the future the story begins with once upon a time.”

Oh, my stars! Who would have thought Cinderella and Cyborg's go well together? Well I never thought it would but Cinder is so, so good! 

I honestly can't believe I've put off from reading this book for so long and yea, I do have a reason. I'm finding I'm becoming more impatient for books that I'd rather wait until I have the first two books waiting, I'm also finding I'm enjoying them all the more because I haven't got that long gap of waiting too and this is why I waited so long to read Cinder. 

If you haven't guess already, I loved it! I loved Cinder, I loved Kai, I loved Peony - oh sweet Peony, I loved Iko, yea I loved pretty much everything and everyone about this book. You would think Cinderella's story has been played out but honestly, it never gets old and it never could be old. All the while I was reading this I could just see the movie Ever After staring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott playing out in my mind and I pictured Anjelica Huston playing the the step-mother - everything was just fantastic. 

Kai and Cinder get so many stolen moments together but they were moments that hid so many secrets. Cinder is hiding many secrets from Kai and that stops her from opening up to him. She's worried he won't like her because of her being a Cyborg. But what Cinder doesn't know is that Kai really starts to care about her. They have so many intense scenes together I was literally bursting from the seams. I wanted Kai to figure out who Cinder really was and I was gutted he doesn't. I'm hoping the second book holds reveals it to him. 

“I know this is stupid, but part of me felt like if I could come see you today, if I could convince you to go with me tonight, then maybe I could still change

things. It's dumb, I know. It's not like Levana cares if I, you know, might have actual feelings for someone.”

All in all, Cinder definitely lived up to my expectations and I want more! Luckily enough I have Scarlet - the sequel to Cinder already and I'm reading it as we speak.