Manga Mondays #139: Alice 19th vol. 1 by Yu Watase

Manga Mondays Meme!

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 2 and a half years ago. It's always been a personal feature, but now I'm going to try turning it into a meme. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Alice 19th vol. 1 by Yu Watase

Summary

Alice Seno seems like a normal girl in high school. She's a bit shy, she has a crush on a boy name Kyo, and she has a pretty older sister, Mayura, who is more popular than she is - especially with Kyou. Pretty normal stuff, until one day when, walking down the street, Alice hears strange voices instructing her to save a rabbit from being run over by a car. Alice's brave act almost costs her life, but the handsome Kyo saves her. Meanwhile, it seems the rabbit is no ordinary bunny, but a magical entity with great powers. Before she can figure out what's going on, the rabbit vanishes, only to reappear as a beam of light with a strange message just for Alice. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

I approached Alice 19th mostly blind. I've read a few good reviews of the series, but really knew very little. I was definitely impressed with the first volume. In one sentence, I would summarize the volume and perhaps the whole series (I don't know yet) as one about a girl trying to find her voice framed around a stereotypically shojo silliness.

Bookish Recap

I'm joining Tynga's Reviews' meme Stacking the Shelves and The Story Siren's In My Mailbox meme today. Thanks for hosting Tynga and Kristi!

On the Blog This Week

Reviews

Son by Lois Lowry

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Manga Mondays

Nana vol. 1 by Ai Yazawa

Books Received This Week

Feature and Follow Friday #133

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

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Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

Son by Lois Lowry

Son by Lois Lowry
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Source: BEA in exchange for an honest review

Summary

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

My all time favorite childhood book is The Giver. I read it in 8th grade, a year or two after it was published, and was blown away. It was the first utopian dystopian (probably the first dystopian) that I'd ever read. I was taken in by the perfectness of Jonas's world and disturbed as the seedy underbelly of the society was revealed. I was thrilled when Lois Lowry chose to follow up The Giver with Gathering Blue and The Messenger. Now we have Son, the final book in The Giver series..

Waiting on Wednesday: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Publish Date: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

*The second book after Shadow and Bone

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronia Roth
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Won

Summary

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.(courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

I won Divergent in a blog giveaway. It sat unread on my shelf for almost two years. Person after person raved about it but still I didn't pick it up. Why? Too much hype, my distaste for dystopia, too many other things to read...you name it. I finally succumbed to peer pressure and read Divergent.

Manga Mondays #138: Nana vol. 1 by Ai Yazawa

Manga Mondays Meme!

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 2 and a half years ago. It's always been a personal feature, but now I'm going to try turning it into a meme. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Nana vol. 1 by Ai Yazawa

Summary

Nana Komatsu is a young woman who's endured an unending string of boyfriend problems. Moving to Tokyo, she's hoping to take control of her life and put all those messy misadventures behind her. She's looking for love and she's hoping to find it in the big city.

Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is cool, confident and focused. She swaggers into town and proceeds to kick down the doors to Tokyo's underground punk scene. She's got a dream and won't give up until she becomes Japan's No. 1 rock'n'roll superstar.

This is the story of two 20-year-old women who share the same name. Even though they come from completely different backgrounds, they somehow meet and become best friends. The world of Nana is a world exploding with sex, music, fashion, gossip and all-night parties. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

I've been meaning to read Nana for months, ever since Rummanah over at Books in the Spotlight, one of my favorite bloggers, started reviewing it. I wasn't disappointed!