Review: World After by Susan Ee

World After
Author: Susan Ee
Genre: Young Adult, Scifi & Fantasy
Published: November 19th 2013
Publisher: Skyscape
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

WAIT! This review may contain minor spoilers for Angelfall. Don't continue if you haven't read it yet and want to avoid spoilers. Unless, of course, you don't mind spoilers. In that case, continue~

Waiting for this book was like waiting in line for over an hour for that one roller coaster at the amusement park. It's long, agonizing, and you begin to wonder if it'll all be worth it halfway through the line. When it's finally your turn, you're thrown in a fast-paced thrill ride of many ups and downs and maybe a little loop de loop that makes all your worries fly away. Even before you finish the too-short ride, you already know you want to do that again. Yeah, reading World After is kind of like that.

"You broke me out of the grasp of a living horror when I thought all hope was gone. You gave me the opportunity to crawl back to life when no one else could." She glances over at me, her eyes shining in the dark. "You're a hero, Penryn, whether you like it or not."

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Top Ten Tuesdays (#2): Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly blog meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish that allows readers to share their lists and opinions on a number of subjects from their top ten book covers to their top ten villains.

This week's topic for November 26th is Top Then Things I Am Thankful For. I tried to keep most of the things bookish, but there are some things that take precedence. In no particular order, I am thankful for...

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Weekly Roundup 11.18 - 11.24

Hello peeps! Thanksgiving is coming soon. For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, have a good holiday. For those who don't, have a great week. And be safe on Black Friday (or Thursday depending on where you're planning to shop)!

This Past Week on Bookcharmed

• Review: Solomon the Peacemaker by Hunter Welles
• Review: Drawn by Cecilia Gray
• Top Ten Tuesdays: Books I'd Recommend to my Future Kid
• Waiting on Wednesdays: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
• Thoughtful Thursdays: Reading Music

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Reading Music

A new weekly feature I'm going to try for a while. It doesn't mean that I only think on Thursdays! There are always some random book-related thoughts flowing through my head, so I thought I'd set a certain day to actually write them down. (It may or may not also be a convenient way to keep this blog updated!)

Reading Music
It's kind of a conundrum. When I'm reading, I prefer to have music playing in the background as opposed to silence. At the same time, listening to the wrong kind of music can easily distract me, especially when there are actual lyrics to the music and you know every single word. I don't know about you, but it'd pretty difficult for me to shed a tear for the death of a character when Icona Pop's "I Love It" is blaring. That's why I prefer listening to instrumentals when reading.

I can spend hours making my own custom music playlist, but for those of you who are sometimes as lazy as I am, here are a few other options I recommend:

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Review: Drawn By Cecilia Gray

Drawn
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: Young Adult
To Be Published: December 15th 2013
Publisher: Gray Life, LLC
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads

Take a journey into the gritty world of political espionage through the eyes – and lies – of one extraordinary girl. A wholly original tale of friendship and betrayal from the author of The Jane Austen Academy series....

Sasha has a secret – that she can make you spill your secret with nothing more than a question. Her strange gift makes her a burden to her foster family and a total freak of nature. Not that Sasha cares. Why should she when no one cares about her?

Then the CIA knocks on her door. They want to give Sasha a new identity and drop her into a foreign country to infiltrate a ring of zealous graffiti terrorists. They want to give Sasha something to care about.

To survive a world where no one is who they seem, Sasha needs to make people trust her. But when that trust blossoms into love, Sasha is forced to decide between duty and friendship, between her mind and her heart, and whether to tell the truth or keep her secrets.

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Waiting on Wednesdays (#2)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight some upcoming releases that we're impatiently tapping our feet for. It's a great way to to keep track of some of the most anticipated releases amongst other book bloggers and a new way to discover books yourself.

At the moment, the book I'm most excited for is:

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Author: Leslye Walton
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magical Realism
To be published: March 25th, 2014
Find: Goodreads

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga. 

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

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Top Ten Tuesdays (#1): Books I'd Recommend to My Future Kid

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly blog meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish that allows readers to share their lists and opinions on a number of subjects from their top ten book covers to their top ten villains.

This week's topic for November 19th is Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To X Person. Specifically, I'm going to make this a list for the Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To My Future Child. There are some books that have shaped my entire childhood and have taught me the joy of reading, and there are a few books I wish I  read earlier in my life as I feel like I'd have appreciated more then. These are the books that I'd like to pass on my children if given the opportunity.

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Review: Solomon the Peacemaker by Hunter Welles

Solomon the Peacemaker
Author: Hunter Welles
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia
To Be Published: January 14, 2014
Publisher: Cowcatcher Press
Source: ARC via Netgalley
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Vincent Alan Chell is coy about answering the questions of his captor. He’d much rather talk about his dead wife, Yael, whose suicide somehow led him into captivity. Or Preacher, the bearded leader of a cult-like group that meets in the bowels of a church basement. Or the Peacemaker, the computer intelligence that has guaranteed peace between nations for half a century.

Chell describes a world where cultural norms have changed the way people interact with technology. Humanoid robots, though ubiquitous, are confined inside private homes, giving the impression that all is well with the world. Which may be the case. Yet Preacher and his group are convinced that humankind is already in the thrall of the Peacemaker. And they might be right.

Solomon the Peacemaker, Hunter Welles’s debut novel, explores the limits of technology, nonviolence, love, and memory in the twenty-second century as it races to its incredible conclusion.

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Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Shadow of the Wind
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Published: January 25th, 2005
Source: Purchased
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

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Waiting on Wednesday (#1)

Admittedly, I would've rather had my first (well, second) post be an actual review, but I can't review any books until I actually finish reading them, so please be patient with me. In the meantime, I leave you this.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight some upcoming releases that we're impatiently tapping our feet for. It's a great way to to keep track of some of the most anticipated releases amongst other book bloggers and a new way to discover books yourself.

At the moment, the book I'm most excited for is:

Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3)
By Marissa Meyer
To be published: February 4th, 2014
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

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.

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But First, An Introduction!

Sometimes an unassuming thought just wriggles down out of your mind, latches onto your heart and screams "Listen to me!" just loud enough that you have to give it some love and attention for a while. This blog is one of them.

As an avid reader and fan of listography, I've been feeling the need for a way to archive the books I've encountered in my life, which led me to start a books blog.


First, a little about myself. I'm Jacqueline, a Chinese-American living in California all my life. I'm twenty two and still not quite sure what I want to do with my life, although hopefully it will have something to do with psychology.

Some of my favorite things in this world:

• Food (sushi) 
• Cats 
• Music
• Cooking for Friends

The books I tend to read are:

• Fiction
• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• Magic Realism
• Young Adult

I guess the best way to really know my taste in books is to check out my goodreads page, but over the next few days, I'll probably write more in depth about some of my favorite books. Stay tuned and welcome!