The Sweetest Spell
by Suzanne Selfors
Published: 8.21.12 by Walker
Pages: 416

Emmeline Thistle, a dirt-scratcher's daughter, has escaped death twice-first, on the night she was born, and second, on the day her entire village was swept away by flood. Left with nothing and no one, Emmeline discovers her rare and mysterious ability-she can churn milk into chocolate, a delicacy more precious than gold.

Suddenly, the most unwanted girl in Anglund finds herself desired by all. But Emmeline only wants one-Owen Oak, a dairyman's son, whose slow smiles and lingering glances once tempted her to believe she might someday be loved for herself. But others will stop at nothing to use her gift for their own gains-no matter what the cost to Emmeline. 

Inky's Blurbings:
This was the book I picked for my Random Read in December. Honestly, it was just another fluffy fairy-tale reads to me. Maybe I've read a few too many lately and they're just mushing in my brain. Maybe I'm losing my appetite for them. I don't know what it was but this book just didn't hit the bar for me.

For one thing, it cracked me up to no end that the premise and all the problems that ensue were over chocolate. That they were SO SERIOUS about it. Okay, maybe I kinda take chocolate a little too much for granted. Maybe I could never ever even being to imagine what it would be like not to have chocolate. So maybe I'm biased, but what can I say? It was a good laugh.

But in all seriousness, beyond the chocolate, but plot wasn't that interesting. It was just your typical adventure book, oh no she's captured! Oh yay the hot prince has to go rescue her! Oh they keep just missing each other! OOOOH! Yeah lots of O's. I mean I dunno, it was cute, but it felt like a drag most of the time. By 150 pages I was skimming to finish the last 250. I just didn't care anymore. It's not like I hated it...just..no. Nothing held my interest. The only reason I finished was because I've DNFed WAY to many books lately, and this was my Random Read.

Emma was okay. She was a nice narrator but nothing extraordinaire. And I'm all about the extraordinaire. I didn't feel like I could connect to her. She was just telling the story and yes going through things and falling in love but just No. Sorry Emma. Give me backbone. Give me yourself. Maybe a little insight into who you are? Oh you don't want to? Okay then, thanks for your time.

How do I even being to talk about the romance...? It was like this: So, this girl who's like the lowest of the low moves into town. The guy notices her and starts to get attracted, so does she. Then BOOM something bad happens and they are separated  OH NO! However, as soon as that happens the next time they think about each other is all like OH MY GOSH I LOVE HIM/HER. No, That doesn't work! They hardly HAD a relationship. And then at the end it's all like wishy-washy-cheese business. No chocolate at all in the romance. Sure Owen was cute I guess, but this one just didn't work for me.

So, what have we learned? This book fell short in pretty much nearly aspect. I didn't hate the book I just didn't care or didn't connect or feel like it was exceptionally unique. It was the same with the other book of Suzanne's that I read. I'm just not feeling you girl. I'm glad other people can enjoy your stuff, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be reading one again. Ah well, at least I can go dig into some chocolate to make up for the loss.

Content: Mild
(a few instances of mild language. kissing)

So, anything though provoking you want to add? Did you discover the secrets of the universe while you listened to my rambles? Do you want to read this one? Did you like it better? Spill your guts to me (figuratively of course)! XOXO,

Carnival of Souls (Carnival #1)
by Melissa Marr
Published: 9.4.12 by Harper Collins
Pages: 306
GOODREADS * PURCHASE

Inky's Blurbings:
I have not read Melissa's Wicked Lovely series. I don't think I ever will. But when I first hear about this book and saw the simple, but captivating cover I knew I was bound to love it. *insert alarm* Sadly, that didn't turn out to be the case. I have nothing wrong with this book, other than the fact that I didn't finish it. And the reason why I didn't finish it? It was BORING.

Or maybe the more accurate term for that is Flat. Dull. Without depth. Refer to your Thesaurus for more terms. Sure there was lots of WORLD build-up and explanations and interesting world-crossed romance and surprise character revealings but I didn't care about any of it. There was not character depth or meaning. It felt like everything was just happening and why should I care. It was like a dry soap-opera.

For starters lets take The City. It's an alternate universe/world but it sounds pretty close to the mortal world. I hate when we don't get accurate descriptions of this. I was confused for the longest time about where the heck it was and how they got there. Then I saw a character go through the gate and just pop out into the mortal world. Okay. Got it? Sort of, maybe. I don't know. It was a neat city, but it also felt like just any old city. What put it apart was this carnival. But it still felt like every other old carnival! Sure it had this SOULS thing, but what the heck was that? Did I miss some explanation in the second half of the book? Sure there is a deadly competition, but that's been done before. Whole books have been written about them.

What about Aya? Kaleb? Mallory? They were interesting, but I could never that feel that I like from a character. Each of these characters has an interesting predicament with a few twists and secrets about themselves that are revealed fairly quickly. I wasn't expecting them, but they didn't drive me into shock or make me re-read for comprehension. I just kept reading. It was like they were stick figures. They had a body, but no color. They talked about problems all the time but we didn't get emotional depth. We didn't get flashbacks into their past to learn about them. They just were. Sadness.

So in conclusion, since I failed to feel originality or character depth by the middle point of the book,  I dropped it to move onto bigger and better things. I don't regret that choice and I doubt I ever will. Melissa Marr is just not my type. And I'm sad about this, because of all the great reviews, and the fact  that this is her SECOND series.

Sigh. So those are my thoughts about this book. I hope YOU like this book better than I did. Link me up to your review! Have you read Do you want to? Do my thoughts make you rethink that choice? I'd love to hear! XOXO,

Author: Hannah Harrington
TB Published: 8. 28. 12 by Harlequin Teen

I wish I could give this book more than 2.5 Stars. I've had to many of those lately. But I just can't give five stars to a book that spitting cursings and innuendo every other sentence. (see content) There were a few redeeming qualities about the book, so I'll try to do the book justice.

When I started this, I knew practically nothing about this book. All I know was that I was reading it for a blog event I was asked to participate in. So I'm planted headfirst in this story I don't even know the subject of and right off we have this party with drunk high-school kids, gossip, curses, and other stuff I don't tend to relish in. I was a bit skeptical and then we get Chelsea discovering a secret, and since she apparently can't keep them starts blurbing to everyone. (Ever heard of Self-Control?) Of course it results in her humiliation, outcast, and almost killing the person she blurbed about. In one chapter we have set up the plot for the redemption-forgiveness plot. 

What happens next I actually found very well done and interesting. I liked the process that Chelsea went through to forgive herself and apologive for the wrongs she caused. Seeing her change was probably one of the only things I liked about the book. She was a very interesting character and well developed. You get a lot of her thoughts since she's not speaking. Seeing the world from her head and position was well written. That and her new best friend Asha. Rock on girl. You are the bomb.

As w/most YA books, there is romance included. It was interesting how he helped her change and was part of that process. So yes, I did like Sam (he DOES have a name!). He was fantastical and hot and developed. I liked how their relationship went from nothing to a good connection. 

So honestly I didn't dump this book on the DNF shelf so that I could finish seeing how Chelsea ended up and how the romance rinalized. Other than that the content was getting to me. I can take some cursing and innuendo. I understand that sometimes characters just "need" to swear. But when the S, F and B words are being thrown out very often and sometimes casually that, to me is just a sign of bad grammar. Really? You couldn't have said that any better? We had to hear all that crap? (Please keep in mind that these are my direct opinions. I mean no offense to any who would find it.) Not to mention the innuendo, sexual and lesbian matters expressed in this book. It's all good and fine but to me I don't need all that.

So the story was disappointing on the content level but due to the redeeming qualities that didn't make it a total DNF read. I'm not sure that I would reccomend this unless you are okay with the language, content and like a nice contemporary story about redemption. That was very well told, and I do give it to Hannah (same name!) for that.

Content: Moderate-Heavy
(Rumors-gossiping-belittling of others. Drinking, getting drunk. I was surprised how centered around lesbians this book was. Character stumbles upon gays making out. It's seen a few times. Gay jokes, mention of gay characters. Innuendo, mention of slutty people. More innuendo. Two characters sleep in clothes together. SLEEP. A make out a bunch of times. Language: Sh** = 15+, He** = 15+, Deity = 35+, bit**=15+, F***=20 , As* = 15+, da**=10 +.)
Have you read and ARC of Speechless? Thoughts? Do you plan to read this? Do you agree with any of my opinions? I'd love to hear any thoughts you want to share.