Discussion Time: Series Vs. Standalones

I was browsing Goodreads the other day for more books I could add to my already massive TBR list, when I came across an “upcoming” release I’d almost forgotten I was waiting for. This book is the last in a series that I first read when I was still in primary school, and maybe that’s given you a clue as to how long I’ve waited but in case it hasn’t this is a book that was supposed to be released in 1999.

Let that sink in for a moment; I’ve been waiting for a book, the last in the series, for nearly twenty years now, and looking on Amazon the release date has been set to 2030. At this rate I’m going to have to get this book delivered to my nursing home, but it did get me thinking and I came up with this discussion topic.

Series Vs. Standalones

The Retribution of Mara Dyer

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Title: The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Series: Mara Dyer, #3

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Release Date: November 4th 2014

Rating:

Mara Dyer wants to believe there’s more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.

Retribution has arrived.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer

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Title: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Series: Mara Dyer, #2

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Release Date: October 23rd 2012

Rating:

Mara Dyer knows she isn’t crazy. She knows that she can kill with her mind, and that Noah can heal with his. Mara also knows that somehow, Jude is not a hallucination. He is alive. Unfortunately, convincing her family and doctors that she’s not unstable and doesn’t need to be hospitalised isn’t easy. The only person who actually believes her is Noah. But being with Noah is dangerous and Mara is in constant fear that she might hurt him. She needs to learn how to control her power, and fast! Together, Mara and Noah must try and figure out exactly how Jude survived when the asylum collapsed, and how he knows so much about her strange ability…before anyone else ends up dead!

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

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Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Series: Mara Dyer, #1

Publisher: Simon Pulse UK

Release Date: September 27th 2011

Rating:

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger. She wakes from a coma in hospital with no memory of how she got there or of the bizarre accident that caused the deaths of her best friends and her boyfriend, yet left her mysteriously unharmed. The doctors suggest that starting over in a new city, a new school, would be good for her and just to let the memories gradually come back on their own.

But Mara’s new start is anything but comforting. She sees the faces of her dead friends everywhere, and when she suddenly begins to see other people’s deaths right before they happen, Mara wonders whether she’s going crazy! And if dealing with all this wasn’t enough, Noah Shaw, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen can’t seem to leave her alone…but as her life unravels around her, Mara can’t help but wonder if Noah has another agenda altogether…

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that are Perfect Reads for Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new topic for bloggers to choose and list their top ten. This week’s theme is a Halloween freebie, so I picked Top Ten Books that are Perfect Reads for Halloween.

Halloween have never been a big deal in England. I was eighteen the first time I went trick-or-treating, and it was babysitting my friends little cousins, in fact the only part of Halloween I get excited for are The Simpson Treehouse of horror episodes and the Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween Heist episodes. However I love reading and with Halloween coming up, and with this week’s TTT topic being a Halloween themed free-for-all, I decided to showcase some of the best creepy and dark books I’ve read so far as well as a few still on my to-read list.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Picked Up Due to Glowing Recommendations or Reviews

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new topic for bloggers to choose and list their top ten. This week’s theme is Top Ten Books I Picked Up Due to Glowing Recommendations or Reviews.

Since I started blogging my to-read list has literally shot through the roof. Every time I see a review for a book that has five stars, describing how amazing the story, the characters, the world building is, I just have to add it to my to-read list. It’s got to the stage now where I wonder if I’m ever going to get to the bottom of it.

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