*Originally Reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank*

It’s summer. Summer means vacation and vacation means: LOTS and LOTS of time for me to read ^^ So when I went to the library to check out as many books as I could, I saw this book standing on a shelf. As soon as I read the blurb I just knew I had to take this book (and the other two books in the series that were fortunately standing next to it) with me. I’m so glad that I made that decision! It’s a fantastic book that sucked me right in.

The first reason why this is such a good book was easy to find: Yelena (like the name very much ^^). She’s about the be executed and gets the following choice: to die or live a little longer as the food taster of the Commander of Ixia. With the hope to live, to escape, Yelena chooses the latter, not knowing what the consequences of that decision will be… As reader you follow every step she makes on her journey. From learning how to be a taster to performing life threatening missions. You’ll see how Yelena, despite everything she encounters, stays strong, how she won’t let anything get the best of her. She’s obviously a real fighter. Who’s able to keep her cool in even the most dire situations and finally, she’s someone with a heart of gold. Aka my favorite type of main character ^^

Another reason is that Maria V. Snyder managed to create a fascinating world. Where a dictator has seized the power. This time, however it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s even a vast improvement for the “common” people compared to when they were ruled by a king. The dictator himself, the Commander, too is unlike other tyrants you may have heard about. He has some aspects that will simply blow your mind. It was also intriguing to read about the magic that you can find in this world. I’m looking forward to get to know more about it in the next book, Magic Study, that will probably answer all my questions regarding magic ^^

The last but not least reason: the writer wrote a very captivating story. Where nothing is as it seems and with amazing twists. With an endearing romance, that for once is not as important as the story. It’s more in the background. You read about it between the lines and all the big events. It felt like a rather nice bonus, especially that lovely romantic scene at the end!

Conclusion

4 HEARTS. A great story with an amazing lead cataract, a captivating story and an intriguing world. What more can a girl want when on holiday? I definitely look forward to the next book!

So, most of my friends know, I'm a book worm and a bit of a book hoarder.

Ok, maybe more than a bit. 

Along my huge collection of paper books, which I've been culling and culling because of lack of space, I have a huge collection of ebooks and other such book-like files that I manage through Calibre (highly recommended piece of software, btw). With over 10k books in my collection (and some of them very heavy PDFs), you can imagine backing them up is a bit of a worry.

That's were Cloud Storage comes in.

I have my Dropbox folder, but a lot of other important data is hosted there, which means I can't fit my library in the size restrictions of a free account, nor can I afford a paid one. As reliable as Dropbox has always been to me, I started looking around for other options to back up my data.

In comes Copy.

Copy starts you off with 15GB, already quite enough to host my ever-growing collection. If you sign through a referral link (hint hint, click here), you and the person who referred you get and extra 5GB (Compare it to dropbox, where each referral gives you 500MB and only up to 16GB).

But it's not just the starting free space I liked about this- it's the Fair Usage policy for allotted space. This means I can share my library (or any other file I put in there, the library is just an example) with my sister, and instead of the library taking, say, the whole 2GB on both out accounts, it takes only 1GB in each account- because you are both hosting the same thing in the cloud. Since you're hosting the same thing, why should you both have to 'pay' double the price, since it's all hosted in the same place, same file?

It's such a reasonable concept, I was speechless. 

I can share study information with classmates and not have it take up the unholy amount it does. I can share photos with family and not have to worry about the amount of space it takes up on the allotted free cloud space.

And, the nicest thing of all- just like dropbox, it seems to play lovely with Calibre (which means you can just have your private library there and access it from anywhere you go).

So if you're looking for a place to back up your files and/or library, be it for personal backup, sharing with family, or other purposes. Copy seems to be up to a really nice start. 

BookLikes is about sharing your reading passion. We all shelve books, write reviews, post photos and other interesting content about books. BookLikes is also about meeting new people, new avid readers, bloggers and authors, creating friendly reading Community to stay connected and informed about bookish news of all sort. To be up to date you can Follow other blogs and see their writings on Dashboard (you can find them on Explore). Once you've been followed, your followers can read your posts, reviews, see bookshelf updates and discover new great reads. That’s why it’s worth to have Followers and to be read. That's how people get to know what you think and what books you read and recommend. Some followers are quiet observers who enjoy reading book reviews, others enjoy liking, reblogging and commenting. Of course, it is you who decides whether you want to follow them back or not (then you simply don’t see their content on your Dashboard).

Sometimes however, as in many social sites, some Followers don’t really want to stay connected, they want you to follow them back and share their not book related content. Recently we've received feedback from you and we’ve noticed this situation on BookLikes, you wrote to us that you feel uncomfy knowing that some not-book-interested blog is following you. We want you to feel comfy, safe and sound on BookLikes so we decided to let you decide who should follow your blog. Once you enter Followers site (click Friends tab) and point to a given person, you’ll see a tiny round “block” icon. When you click on it, you'll block a given blog, it stops following you and will no longer see your posts on Dashboard (the blog will disappear form Followers tab when you refresh).

Before blocking, please have a closer look. Some readers need more time to start sharing their posts, others appreciate your reviews and simply like reading them without much activity.

If you notice any suspicious activity and blogs and you’re sure they are not interested in your writing, use block feature. You can also report suspicious looking blogs and we’ll monitor their activity and perform necessary actions.

Reminder: 

You can also help us making discovering other blogs easier. Let us remind you about Blog Book Directory and a form where you pick genres you read and review. It takes just a second to fill up the form and will be very helpful in creating new look of Explore page letting you search through BookLikes book blogs based on your reading taste. If you haven't filled it up yet, you can do this in Settings/Blog - click Edit Blog categories, choose and Save. Thank you! 

Updates:

 Those who love social book sites and import their book collections from other virtual libraries, we'll be happy to know that Import Page is available for Goodreads and LibraryThing import. Import Page is a place where you can see all your books from your csv files, you can monitor progress of importing process, remove books from your import and change book editions. Entrance to your import page is in Settings/Import tab, just click Import Page in Goodreads Import and LibraryThing Import sections. 

German users can also use import possibilities. We've prepared two options for you. You can paste link of your LovelyBooks profile in Settings/Import or export your LovelyBooks book collection and import in Settings/Import. Unfortunately LovelyBooks does not export all your data so you may need edit your shelves, the easiest way is to use Table view to edit many books at once.

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life” ~ Walt Disney

James Patterson must be pissed. He's no longed the best earning author on the whole world. Mummy porn diva, E.L. James, took over the first spot with $95 million. Touché. 

Top 16 of The Top-Earning

Authors Of 2013 

looks like this

(ranked between June 2012 and June 2013):

1. E.L. James ($95 million)

2. James Patterson ($91 million)

3. Suzanne Collins ($55 million)

4. Bill O'Reilly ($28 million)

5. Danielle Steel ($26 million)

6. Jeff Kinney ($24 million)

7. Janet Evanovich ($24 million)

8. Nora Roberts ($23 million)

9. Dan Brown ($22 million)

10.Stephen King ($20 million)

11. Dean Koontz ($20 million)

12. John Grisham ($18 million)

13. David Baldacci ($15 million)

14. Rick Riordan ($14 million)

15. J.K. Rowling ($13 million)

16. George R.R. Martin ($12 million)

Does the wallet represent affection of fans and appreciation of readers? I think not. Or at leas not always. 

*Originally Reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank*

As usual I did not read the back of the book before I started reading (too glad I finally got my hands on it ^^). This resulted in a little lost me. Whut? Why has the point of view changed to Tatiana? What am I reading? It feels more like we continue after book 1, while I’m sure there was a book 2… Oh please don’t let this be a book full of swooning about Azor *barf*! This and other not so reassuring thoughts went through my head. Fortunately, everything fell into place and I got introduced to an amazing new character: Jacob. From that moment on I was reassured, everything would be fine and I knew that, once again, I had a great book in my hands.

My predictions came true. In this final installment you’re once again swept up in a whirlpool of events. There are some pretty fantastic twists and turns, which will throw you totally of course. Thus making it an even greater read, with more excitement and fun. I also liked that in this story the focus lies on Tatiana and Jacob, since Ash and Fin already had their “happy ending.”

Tatiana is a lovely character. She’s energetic, not shy at all AND capable of fabricating very funny descriptions, like “Ms. Sea Urchin and her tatas.” Therefore it was even harder for me to see what the promise did to her. It changed her into a dependent, possessive bimbo. No longer capable of thinking for herself and the only thing she wanted to do was to be near her “darling” Azor. Don’t be afraid, though, you won’t have to read a whole book filled with the most nauseating “lovesick” couple. Nope, you also have the opportunity to read the story through the eyes of Jacob. Tatiana’s personal guard and rebel. Who’s always there to help her out and has the nicest blue-green eyes she’s ever seen…

There’s also more information about the wondrous world of the merpeople. Did you know, for example, that the gestation period is way shorter than human’s (Only a couple of weeks! I mean which woman wouldn’t want that?)? Or that mermaids have super powerful voices which even merman can’t withstand? Oh, don’t forget about the mating ritual, that was fascinating too! Besides the rather dangerous Promise, it really is a world I’d love to visit myself one day ^^

Conclusion

4 HEARTS. A beautiful ending for a great series. It’s a book that will carry you, once again, away to an amazing world beneath the surface, full of mermaids and mermen. With fantastic twists and two “new” characters to get to know. Who have a whole adventure ahead of them. As reader you can’t do anything but root for them and hope that for them, too, a happy ending is possible. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book and series to everyone who likes mermaids (and romance ^^).

There are many ways of making your blog look special, to make it stand out and noticeable. Changing your design by customization is one of them.  We looked through BookLikes community members and found great ways of changing the look of your webpage. Here are several ways how to change look of your blog and give it a personal touch by easy design modifications (click on names and images, to see blogs; if you like the content, you can start following them).

1. You can adjust your design to your blog name. Several bloggers have applied this rule: Starry Reads, Reading Under The Stars love books and stars; and Literatka kawy shares her passion for coffee and good literature.

2. You can also use design change to promote your book, like: Sharon E. Cathcart on her blog. By the way, you can win this book in a Giveaway set by the author, check details here: His Beloved Infidel Giveaway.

3. You can promote your brand and name, like Donostia Book Club:

4. You can personalize your blog with a color or quote, like Bookish Quotes and Reflections. 

5. Make your blog tell something about your reading preferences with your favorite bookish images or photos, like The Book Obsessed Loser,  LyraLaJeune,  Lazy Reading Nook,  Karen, Olivia Smith... and her BookWorld:

6. You also show you reading space, like Reading Bukowski and her awesome home based library. 

7. And what's really great is that the blog changes and is dynamic. Before weekend Pirlim Pem Pem looked like this:

and now it looks totally different :-)

8. You can also change your design and blog look by editing HTML and make your BookLikes webpage look as you wish, like Parajunkee and Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile. 

Remember that all changes to your blog can be made in Settings. Personalize your blog look in Settings/Blog Tab by clicking Customize. It's really fast and easy. 

All your custom blog designs look really great and we want to see more! Share your ideas and add your blog in comments :-)

*Originally Reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank*

Gaaah. While typing this review I can still feel my heart beating in my throat. What a thrilling ending! What a great book! It made me feel like I was watching a horror movie. Some moments felt so real, so bone chilling. It’s been quite some time that I had much trouble with keeping my calm while reading. At times I was almost too scared to continue reading. I just knew what was coming and that it was inevitable…. Gosh, what a good book this was.

Fortunately for the “chicken” inside of me there were enough moments where the focus was on other, much more fun events. Like the blossoming feelings Violet has for Jay. I quite liked that she does not act like every other girl who falls in love with her best friend. Nope, she hates it and can’t wait to go back to the old and familiar. When Jay was just Jay and not the boy that makes her insides all giggly. Knowing that little fact makes it even more fun to watch her getting all jealous and at the same time trying to hide the fact that she is ^^ It’s hard keeping such a big secret from your BFF!

Violet truly is a brave and strong girl. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be, hearing “echoes” of dead animals or humans. Who have been murdered. Echoes that won’t stop ringing till she buries the dead. Echoes that also can be heard from the person or animal who is responsible for a killing. Even if it was “in the line of duty.” Therefore I forgive her slip-up at the end. Even though my mind still fails to comprehend how she could even think about it. I mean, the last thing I’d want to be is alone when a serial killer is out there! Enfin, I’ll stop here before I start ranting, it’s obviously she’s learned her lesson and let’s hope she doesn’t do it again.

The plot was great too, you get to see things through the eyes of the murderer and still there’s not enough clues to decipher who it could be. And the moment you think they’ve got him, there’s an unexpected twist and you’re back where you started. Wow! Did not see that one coming! I discovered one sore spot though, the plot gets a bit lengthy towards the end. It might be because I’m not the most patient person around that it got a bit boring, but what else could you expect from me? Page after page I could feel adrenaline souring through me body. I still did not know who the killer was and all they were talking about was normal day life? So not what I wanted to read about… The real ending, though, made it worthwhile, but still. I almost gave it a heart less because it took so long. Fortunately the big revelation was the best of the best. I almost had to cry, what usually means it was a good one 

Conclusion

4 HEARTS. A thrilling and compelling book. That switches between humor and funny passages and a scary thriller. This book will let you feel your heart racing in your throat and ill have you gasping for breath. It has a strong and brave main character named Violet with some unusual abilities. Even though it gets a bit boring towards the end, it ends with a big bang. A great read for everyone who likes a good romance and a fearful story.

We've made some shifts and moves and added some customization possibilities. From now on you can manage the look of your blog on BookLikes and make it more personal thanks to customization tools which allow you to modify, add and change some of the elements visible on your personal webpage. 

Moves and shifts 

We've moved several elements from Settings to a new spot. All changes will be visible once you Save them. If you don't like them, just remove them and try something new.

Now if you would like to add or change the following things:

- blog name

- blog description

- social share buttons (likes, tweets, +1, pin it)

- social profile links

- design theme

you can do it in Settings/Blog tab by clicking Customize. 

This is perfect place for doing some personalization with your title and introduction, editing your blog design and sharing your writings thanks to social share buttons (add like, tweet, +1, pin it buttons) and your social profiles.

Some Extras

Additionally we've added several extra features to let you tinker with your page little longer :-) Let's see, once you click Customize in Settings/Blog you can change your webpage look. Here's how:

- You can add widgets to your BookLikes webpage, just get widget code(s) from Goodies/Widget page and paste it in Widget Area (if you want to add several widgets, just paste several codes, one under another);

- You can change sides of your columns and move them from right to left;

- You can hide and reveal boxes with books - you can decide whether you want to show all of them: Currently reading, Recently Added or Favorite books, some or none (instead of boxes you can place Shelf Widget);

- You can change background on your pages (possibilities varies according to design theme) and modify color of your Blog Name - this change will be visible on all of your sub-sites - blog, shelf, timeline).

You can upload images for header (in leather theme) and background (in all themes).

OR you can go crazy with color (add custom CSS to change background color, e.g.:  body { background: #FF5274; } ).

Play around and click Save. If you don't like the color or image, you can easily delete it and try something new.

Get ready for engaging and addictive fun :-) Gradually we'll add more customization features and new designs themes. If you have requests and preferences, do let us know :-) 

If you would like to become BookLikes Designer, present and share your blog themes, or know a person who would like to, give us a shout at contact@booklikes.com.

Information:

We've received several info about spam problems. We wanted to calm you down and let you know that we're already dealing with the issue and preparing feature that will help you in controlling who can follow your blog. We hope to deal with this really soon. Thank you for your patience and for being so supportive. You're the best :-)

Has anyone else noticed Booklikes has been invaded by spammers?  They start 'following' you, but their blog isn't about books, it's advertising a bar - http://cardisoncooper.booklikes.com/ - or an investment company -- http://curtkurren.booklikes.com/  or a hedge fund (this one with a very dodgy looking girl in the photo - http://alicelaurent754.booklikes.com/ . . . etc.  

One might be a fluke, but this many (and more), seem like a campaign.  I hope the administrators can put an end to it.  It's annoying and could very well ruin what's shaping up to be a great book site.

*Originally Reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank*

I couldn’t help to compare my reading experience with getting lost in a big forest. All starts well, you see a beautiful sky and magnificent trees. You hear birds singing and can feel the sun on your face. What a great walk this will be! But then… You were so lost in thought you missed a turn in the road. You don’t recognize any of the landmarks and quickly walking back, you still don’t recognize a thing. Your completely lost! Slightly panicked you continue your journey in the hope to see something familiar. But to no avail… Wait a second! There, that tree! You knew that one! Immensely relieved you run to it, hug and kiss it and continue your walk. Still shaken from you earlier experience and therefore unable to full enjoy the rest of your trip.

That’s how I felt while reading this book (okay I was NOT scared but confused and annoyed instead ). I was off on a great start with a very interesting blurb and one heck of a cover! Seriously! It’s so beautifully drawn and fit the book perfectly. Amalia Chitulescu is an amazing artist. That was the fun part, aka the entering of the forest. However as soon as I started reading I was lost, confused and not very happy. I don’t know what it was, but I was unable to follow the story. It was like there was no red thread and we get to read some random events with no connection whatsoever. Not much was explained and I didn’t have the faintest idea what the author tried to accomplish with this beginning. It felt like there were mayor holes in the story, therefore I was unable to find my way back to familiar terrain.

Fortunately the story found it’s focus the moment everyone arrives at the school. I slowly but surely understood more and more. I could finally start with identifying all the characters and give them their own voice. However the first part had “shaken” me too much to truly love the second part. Not even the prettiest flower or most magnificent tree could make me forget that I was lost at first.

That said, the beauty of the forest, aka the amazing world that Terah Edun created mollified me enough to continue. It’s full of magic and intelligent creatures. With flying horses, who can be haughty at times. A school where everyone has to pas a difficult test to enter. I absolutely loved what the author had created here! It was a great world to discover once I sort of recovered from my initial annoyance.

After having completed my journey, all that is left is to ask is WHY? What makes these five people so special? What has fate in store for them? I’d love to get my hands on the next book and find out!

Conclusion

2 HEARTS. In the first part of the book I had great difficulty with finding my bearings. I could not separate the characters, give them their own identity. I simply had no idea through whose point of view I was reading. Fortunately everything changed for the better when our main characters arrived at the school. From then on I got more and more intrigued by the world that Terah Edun has created and I managed to finish this book feeling slightly happy that I continued. Given the big mystery that the author presented, I’m looking forward to the next book, so I can decipher what it is ^^

*Originally reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank*

*pats herself on the head* What a great idea it was to ask this book for my birthday (and thanks mom for giving it ^^)! As soon as I started reading I was enraptured. It’s a well thought out story, where everything clicks and tension and ignorance prevail. I had so many questions that could not be answered. Cause what was going on with those boys? What kind of experiments are they doing? Who can they trust? What is their past? Where did they come from? I can go on and on like this. And there was nothing that quenched my curiosity. Frustrating, but in a very good way. It kept me reading and made me like the book more and more.

Anna, though, was the biggest and most intriguing piece of the puzzle. There’s obviously something going on with her and the boys. But what? Oh I loved that expedition ^^ It felt a bit like an Indiana Jones movie with lots of wrong tracks, unexpected surprises and a sizzling showdown. Sometime I was too shocked for words with the unexpected twists. The totally eye-opening turns and what not. It was great fun to read this book.

I have to confess that I was a bit annoyed with Anna at the beginning. She has four boys locked up in her basement and she doesn’t even think of helping them escape? I mean who wants to spent the rest of his life captured? Isn’t there some way to tell the authorities? Slowly I comprehended why she couldn’t do a thing: “The Branch” sounds like something related to the government and who else could she go to for help? There’s also her father, the only family she has left. She can’t betray him! I finally understood why she and the four boys made the best of it. They are unable to do anything else…

In retrospect, though, Anna didn’t leave a deep impression on me. Now, when I’m musing and pondering about what to put in this review I can’t recall her that well. I can remember all the shocking events (and Nick, sucker for bad boys  ), but not much about Anna. She was too overwhelmed by all the events to actively participate in anything. Such a shame I didn’t get to know the real her. The romance, too, felt a bit dull. But what can you do when you find yourself in life threatening situations and are very busy with saving your lives? So I could understand that romance was not a top priority in this story, but I hope there can be some smex time in the next!

Conclusion

4 HEARTS. A thrilling story with lots of action and a puzzle that needs to be solved. Full of unexpected twists, dead ends and wrong trails. Anna, our heroine, felt a bit lifeless and acted like a wallflower. She was too overwhelmed and out of her league to shine in this book. I also hoped there would be a bit more romance in this book, but everyone was too busy with saving their lives. I still loved reading this story and can recommend it to everyone who likes to read about hot guys and likes action ^^