Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

At First Sight: Cinder is a gifted mechanic working in New Beijing, and like the Cinderella of fairy tales, Cinder has an evil step mother - whom I loved to hate- and two step sisters - though one of them wasn't so bad.

Her only friend and confidate is Iko, an android that works with her at her stall in the market. Oh, and Cinder is a cyborg... and in New Beijing, that's quite an stigma. 

Cinder was going about her business one day when none other than the heir to the Eastern Commonwealth, Prince Kai, showed up at her stall asking her to fix a droid for him.

The event seems small enough at the beginning -as small as meeting the Prince can be! - and Cinder has plenty on her plate: like being the sole provider for her stepmother Adri and stepsisters Pearl and Peony, and trying to keep Iko from being sold to the junk yard. 

And then there is the plague... and illness that has been sweeping through the world, killing thousands, and the cyborg draft - if you're drafted you have to 'volunteer' as a guinea pig for the doctors trying to find a cure to the plague.

Unknowingly, Cinder soon will find herself in the middle of it all. 

Second Glance: I've heard so much about Cinder, most of it good or amazingly good, so I was nervous going in. Fairy tale re-tellings can be tricky because when a story is so well known, it's hard to keep it fresh. But Cinder succeeds. 

I had a bit of a problem with the pacing because sometimes I felt like it took a while for things to get moving, but that might be because there is an element of mystery about the story and I'm not a particularly patient reader, but other than that it was lovely. And I did love the mystery. 

Things are complicated in Cinder's world, and it is a world that feels very rich - I loved the settling - so that was a plus. I really liked the characters, starting with Cinder and Kai - they had a good chemistry between them. But I gotta say my favorite character was Iko, even if she was all robot, there was such humanity to her emotions!

Bottom Line: I can honestly say that Cinder is a Cinderella like you have never seen before. Save for that small trouble with pacing, I loved it and I can't wait to delve again into the Lunar Chronicles's world. 

Movie Madness / Books So Far - March

Hello guys! I was a little late this month but here are my two updates:

Movies/Series Watched: 21

Favorites: How to Train Your Dragon, Grease, My Sassy Girl, Remember the Tians, Looking for Alibrandi

Least Liked: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Hunger Games 

If you're doing the Movie Madness Challenge you can head off to The Talking Teacup to link up your update. 

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On the book department and my quest to read 200 books in a year?

Books Read: 15

Re reads: 3

Favorites: Anne of Green Gables, The Princess of Iowa.

YA: 6

Romance: 8

Contemporary: 8

Historical: 4

Well, that's me! How's everyone doing so far?

Tune in Tuesday (32) - International Edition

This meme is hosted by Ginger at GReads and music. Each week you can post an old or new song so that it gains more interest! So head on over and link up.

Okay, so I'm back with the International Edition!! Because of events and other things I haven't done one in a while, so here we are again.
This song is called Me Enamore de Ti (or, I fell in Love with You) and it's really sweet.

So, what song plays for you?

Medusa the Mean Book Tour - Author Interview

I'm very happy to welcome back Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, authors of one of my favorite series, the Goddess Girls.

Thanks for having us back again to celebrate the release of Goddess Girls 8: Medusa the Mean, Alex!

The Goddess Girls series has come so far! Did you always plan on writing so many books?

            Our original proposal was for four books—a tween spin on Greek mythology set at Mount Olympus Academy where Zeus is the principal. We didn’t know we’d have a chance to write beyond those, but we were hopeful. Medusa the Mean is #8, and we’ve got four beyond that for twelve in all. Mythology is a never-ending source of material, and it’s fun tweaking and updating it to suit our middle school setting.

What made you pick Medusa and bring her front and center?

            With that snaky hair, she’s one of the most well-known characters in Greek mythology. We loosely based the book on her most famous storyline, which involves Andromeda and Perseus. And on personal level, we really wanted to answer the question: Why is she so mean? To find out, we delved into her past a bit. Her mom and dad were a sea monster and a sea hog. They’ve always favored her two sisters and even discouraged Medusa from attending MOA. But nobody keeps Medusa down!

We have always seen Medusa from the other girls' perspectives, will we learn more about her in Medusa The Mean? Particularly about her relationship with her sisters?

            This book goes straight to Medusa’s heart. She wants two things: To become immortal and for her supercrush to like her in return. After all, her two sisters are immortal. That’s so unfair! Her relationship with them is typical of siblings—sometimes caring, sometimes teasing.

Will you be exploring other characters, like Pheme or Pandora?

            Wow! You read our minds. Next up is our first-ever Super Special, The Girl Games, which is told from the four main goddessgirls’ viewpoints, rotating by chapters. After that are Pandora the Curious (December 2012) and Pheme the Gossip (April 2013).

I love how you write these young goddesses, but I also love the boys! So I have to ask, do you have a favorite godboy? (Mine is Hades!)

            That’s great to hear, Alex! In Goddess Girls 12, we’re trying a new twist in which we’ll write from the viewpoint of both the goddessgirl and a godboy in one book. We’ll get to see how they each feel about what’s going on and about each other throughout the story in alternating chapters. The title is Persephone and Hades. We’ve had requests for a book about these two, and we’re really excited about tackling this one.

Medusa the Mean (April 3^rd)

The Goddess Girls series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, 

takes place at Mount Olympus Academy, and puts a modern spin on classic Greek myths.

Aladdin paperbacks ages 8 ~ 12. 

Thank you so much for visiting! And you have no idea how excited I am to keep reading this wonderful series.

For more Medusa the Mean Tour Stops, please visit The Teen (Book) Scene.

Bloggiesta 2012 - Finish Line

Oh! I had such big plans for this Bloggiesta, but sadly, my family kept me away from home and my computer :( so I could only make a small dent on it all. Though I hope I can accomplish a few things more tonight - while watching Game of Thrones!

But I'll keep trying to work on this list and get everything done.

2012 Alex's Bloggiesta To-Do List:

1. Write Pending Reviews
1. Epic Fail
2. Cinder
3. First Date
4. Card Captor Sakura Vol 2
5. Magic Knight Rayearth Vol 2.
6. Bright Young Things
7. Fracture
8. Life is But a Dream
2. Write List Maniac Posts and Schedule them
1. Favorite Tear-Jerkers
2. Favorite Parents of YA
3. Books with Awesome Food
4. Dropped Series
5. Favorite Audio Books
6. Meg Cabot Heroines*
3. Write Tune in Tuesday for Next Month
4. Clean Up Tags
5. Meg Cabot Blog Hop Preparations
1. Write Sign Up Post
2. Add Button
3. Write actual Posts for the Event*
6. Find Image to use in the At The Movies posts
7. Write  and schedule Movie reviews for next month
8. Update Challenge Lists
1. Write March Challenge Update
2. Prep posts for future updates
9. Schedule Coming Soon Posts (Re-posts of early reviews, closer to release date)
10. Update Book Index 
11. Add tag to Net Galley/Review Books - In Blog and in Good Reads
12. Delete posts that don't work anymore
13. Prep posts for Book Blog Tour 
1. Goddess Girls
2. Welcome Caller, This is Chloe
14. Update Personal Lists
1. Audiobooks
2. TBR
3. For Review
4. Faves of the Year
15. Update and Clean up Review Policy
16. Adjust settings on Blogger
17. Revive Blog's Quick Links
18. Participate in 2 mini-challenges
1. Pinterest Mini-Challenge @Joy's Book Blog
2. Twitter and Your Blog - Challenge @Katie's Book Blog
19. Try Not to Go NUTS

Well, that's me! I hope you guys did much better!

And don't forget to head ou tot All About Books for the Finish Line linky