Unravel me: My favourite genre

                                                                    Unravel me                                                                          

Unravel me is a meme made by myself that shows aspects of my life. Have you ever wondered what my favourite genre is? Yes? No? Then now is the time to find out, because I´m about to let you all know!

Three years ago my favourite genre would have probably been Adult Paranormal Romance. I can´t really say why, but this has changed over the last few month. First of all I drifted off from the Adult genre and settled on YA and I´m totally happy with that. There is something really fresh and innocent about this genre, which I really love.

And now the words you´ve all probably been searching for in this post: My favourite genre right now is the dystopian genre! Yes, you´ve read correctly! Nothing fascinates and thrills me more these days than this wonderful genre.
There is something really wonderful and intriguing about a world that is perfect in its imperfection! I´ve read my first dystopia when I was still in school. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was a nice read for me, but it didn´t overwhelm me like so many other new dystopias these days do. Still, this genre never really left my mind and I was thrilled when I discovered a few really awesome dystopias like The Hunger Games or Divergent in 2012/13.

I can´t wait to read more of this fantastic genre and I don´t think that I will ever get bored! There is just too much to discover and too much to learn from those thought-through worlds!

What is your favourite genre? I´d love to know!

Video: Follow me around #2

You want to know what I´ve been up to the last week? Then watch my second Follow me Around and hear me ramble about shopping, broken cars and snow. My dear friend Lea is also making an appearance in this weeks vlog! <3 You can find her youtube channel here

Cover Reveal: Captivate Me by S.J. Pierce

When I read the synopsis of this book I knew that the cover would be awesome, and I´m really thrilled I was right! It reminds me style-wise a litle bit of the Vampire Academy series, only that this cover looks better...


    The Book                                                              

Title: Captivate Me
Author: S.J. Pierce

Publ. date:  April 1st 2014
Genres:  Paranormal Romance, YA

Goodreads

“My mom had always told me – when you meet “the one”, you’ll know; they’ll captivate your heart the moment you lay eyes on them. I had always wondered, though, if my mom’s words of wisdom were finite – if they applied to everyone. Maybe those who had found their one great love were the lucky few, and maybe the rest of us would have to settle for less than earth-shattering.”

Seventeen-year-old Kat Walsh is a Gifted – a human with paranormal abilities. With her mom a former Angel and her dad a dream prophet, it’s always been in her genetic make-up to be extraordinary. Unfortunately for her, the world can’t handle the strange or unusual. So when she slips up and uses her powers at her high school in Ireland, the entire student body treats her like a freak – even the ones she thought were her closest friends.

Broken, but hopeful for a fresh start, she allows her parents to enroll her in a boarding school buried deep within the forests of a small Colorado town. At Midland Pines, School for the Gifted, she feels as though she can finally be herself; she makes new friends and even has the attention of the most popular guy in school – Levi. Everything feels normal again… or does it?

Not long after her arrival, weird dreams of an alluring boy whom she’s never met surface during the night, and the eerie, shadowy trees encircling their school seem to call to her. As these disturbing, yet enticing developments intensify, other bizarre occurrences happen – students and staff turn up missing, and mystery visitors leave gifts while she sleeps. With all of these other things vying for her attention, a desperate Levi has to fight even harder to keep her interest. But with the dreams of the attractive boy slowly captivating her heart, Kat has to make a choice – will she settle for ‘great’ Levi, or will she search for her elusive dream visitor, possibly stumbling across ‘amazing?’

From the author of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles, comes a refreshingly different Young Adult series with plenty of love, suspense, and a new take on the Paranormal.

Recommended for readers 16 and up due to mature content.

    The Author                                                           

Susan James Pierce has a degree in Marketing Management, works for a Fortune 500 company in Atlanta, Georgia, and devotes her precious, spare time to writing Fantasy and Sci-fi novels. 

Even though her full-time career has nothing to do with books at all, she has always enjoyed complex storytelling with fascinating characters, and has had a penchant for the written word since grade school. As a matter of fact, her first publishing credit was a poem she wrote at the age of twelve. Why her love for writing never translated into a career, she can only attribute to 'life happens', but her wish is that she can redirect her career path into something that satisfies her creative inner-self.

Author links
website
facebook
goodreads

I think I will pick it up when it releases...will you?

Cover Reveal: Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison

You all know that I´m a huge fan of mermaid stories and all books which are mermaid related, so it´s no surprise that I´m really into this book. And isn´t the cover just gorgeous?!

    The Book                                                              

Title: Of Sea and Stone
Author: Kate Avery Ellison
Publ. date:  February 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Goodreads

All her life, clever Aemi has been a slave in the Village of the Rocks, a place where the sea and sky meet. She’s heard the stories about the fabled People of the Sea, a people who possess unimaginable technology who live below the waves in the dark, secret places of the ocean. But she never dreamed those stories were true.

When a ship emerges from the ocean and men burn her village, Aemi is captured, and enslaved below the waves in Itlantis, a world filled with ancient cities of glass and metal, floating gardens, and wondrous devices that seem to work magic. To make matters worse, her village nemesis, the stuck-up mayor’s son Nol, was captured with her, and they are made servants in the same household beneath the sea.

Desperate to be free, Aemi plots her escape, even going so far as to work with Nol. But the sea holds more secrets than she realizes, and escape might not be as simple as leaving…

    The Author                                                           

I've been making up stories since I was five years old, and now I'm thrilled to be able to do it as a full-time job. I have an obsession with dark fantasy, dystopian futures, and Pride and Prejudice-style love stories full of witty banter and sizzling, unspoken feelings. When I'm not writing, I'm creating digital art, reading funny blogs, or watching my favorite shows (which include TVD and BSG). I live with my geeky husband and our two bad cats in Atlanta, GA.

Author links:
website
twitter
goodreads

What do you think about this book? And do you like the cover? Tell me in the comments!

Video: January Book Haul

Want to know which books I bought in january? Then watch this video and hear me ramble about all my new beauties ♥

Allegiant (Divergent Book #3) by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth 
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Santa
Age Group: Young Adult
Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

The whole Divergent series is by far my most favourite dystopian series and I really wished it wasn´t over yet. Especially Allegiant touched me deeply and in my opinion it was the perfect ending, but I will explain my reasoning if you read further on.

In Allegiant the world Tris believed to know doesn´t exist anymore. The factions are gone and the city suffers from violence and suppression. Tris wants to flee from this place in order to find out what lies behind the big fence, and she is willing to risk everything in order to get out. But what she discovers is not something she expected and Tris and Tobias are confronted with more lies and a devastating truth.

I came to love a lot of old side characters in the final book. Especially Christina and Uriah were one of my favourites, because they really are true friends for Tris and Tobias.
Tobias, however, makes a few really bad decisions in Allegiant, because he doesn´t know who he is anymore. I could understand his reasoning, but I also found it quite frustrating that he didn´t listen to Tris at all. I don´t know if I had been able to forgive him just like Tris did, but I guess Tobias was punishing himself enough.

The relationship between Tobias and Tris doesn´t get any easier in this book, quite the opposite actually. It even comes to the point where both of them doubt if there is any chance for them to trust each other again. It almost broke my heart, but it was also very refreshing. There is no easy love in Allegiant and there is no insta-love either. So many YA books focus too much on the romance part and it often seems like nothing that happens could make the protagonists loose their feelings towards each other.

This is a true dystopian series in every aspect:

• The world is not perfect, and even the "solution" is not perfect either. It makes sense and that is the most important part. The reader has to realise that in a dystopian series nothing is even slightly perfect.
• No easy love. Relationships are complicated and very emotionally depressing. That is real life. Love is not always about kissing and making out, standing up for each other etc. Sometimes love also means that you hurt the other person deeply and that to forgive is even harder than to forget.
• No HEA. Yes, I guess there is no real HEA in Allegiant. But it was the perfect ending. It was a true dystopian ending. If you think about it, maybe you notice it, too. 

The Yearning Mermaid says: "I think it was perfect. I really loved it, but I can also understand that many people didn´t like it so much. I cried at the end and that is truly a sign that a book managed to move me emotionally. It. Was. Perfect."

Video: Follow me around #1

Ever wondered how my everyday life looks like? Well, you are welcome to watch my everyday life in all its glory :D Enjoy!

Unravel me: How my blog got its name...

                                                                    Unravel me                                                                          

Unravel me is a meme made by myself that shows aspects of my life. This time I will enlighten my readers with the knowledge of how this blog got its name.


The journey to find the perfect blog name was a hard one. It all began about 5 years ago, when I decided to make a book blog. Since then my blog has changed a lot and I´ve closed and reopened it several times.
When it all began my blog was called "Buchkind". I originally wanted to do this whole book blog thing in german and first that worked quite well for me. But I soon discovered that a huge english-speaking book blog community existed and I wanted to belong really bad, which is why I changed it all to english. It had a really positive side effect, because it helped me to improve my english, which was really,really helpful in my english classes.
Soon after that I changed my blog name into "Reading Against All Odds", but I still wasn´t very satisfied with it. I went with it though, because I couldn´t think of anything else.

In my last year of school I went to London and with a few classmates I visited a little bookstore that caught my attention. I was mesmerized by the interior and the books I saw. I soon stumbled upon one of my favourite children books: The little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. The artwork was  - and still is - so beautiful that I had to buy it at that time.

It still took me several weeks to come up with the name "The Yearning Mermaid". I was staring at some pages in The little Mermaid and then I realised me that I wanted a mermaid themed blog. I began to play around with the word mermaid and things like "The book mermaid" or "The story mermaid" came to my mind, but it sounded lame. I don´t know when it happened, but after a few hours I had found my personal and perfect blog name. "The Yearning Mermaid". This name is full of mystery and longing and it is sweet. It fits me in a way and now I can´t really think of changing it anymore. This name belongs to me now. It always will.

How did you come up with your blog name?

Video: 20 bookish/random facts about me

Want to get to know me better? Then check out this video to learn 20 bookish/random facts about me!

Follow Friday #5

Resolutions: Put together your blogger resolution list for all of us to see!

I have to admit: I´m not good with this resolution stuff. I mostly don´t manage to follow through with them...but, well!

• Resolution 1: DO THE RESOLUTIONS PROPERLY
• Resolution 2: Blog consistently with a schedule
• Resolution 3: Read more and consistently
• Resolution 4: Try harder with my booktube videos!

What are your blogish resolutions?

Insurgent (Divergent series Book #2) by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Santa
Age Group: Young Adult
Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥

I have done bad things. I can’t take them back, and they are part of who I am.
Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.

I wasn´t swept away by Insurgent in the same way I was while reading Divergent. It was more like a slow love that invaded my heart while I wasn´t looking. The next time I checked I was just as madly in love with the story as I was in the first book. Insurgent is a great sequel and the whole world-building is so thought-through that it surprises me every time I learn something new.

Isurgent begins where Divergent left off. It was super easy to dive into the story again, it was fast-paced and exciting. 
In Insurgent the world Tris has known doesn´t exist anymore. Her parents are dead and she killed one of her best friends while he was under the simulation. Dauntless is split in half. Some are following Jeanine's command, who put them under the simulation in the first place, and others are hiding within the other factions, planning to overthrow Jeanine's power she has over the city.
They must find a strong ally in order to achieve their goal and it seems like the factionless are more than they seem to be and may just be the key to success. Yet, Tris isn´t fully trusting the factionless leader, when everyone else is just so eager to...

So many things happen in Insurgent that I kind of have trouble writing a review. Each page was a surprise and a roller coaster ride in so many ways.
Tris has still trouble coping with the things she has done and the things she has seen and it was so hard to watch her struggle with herself. It was frustrating in some ways, but understandable and that is something only a well developed character can achieve in a reader. I fully understood Tris´ behaviour and it hurt me to see that she had no idea how to deal with the situation she is being faced with. Because of that she acts reckless in many situations, even developing a kind of death wish, which infuriates Tobias and their relationship suffers from distrust, and lying to each other. 

I also believe that this is a truly thought-through world building. With each book we get to know more about the world they live in and slowly learn how this kind of world is possible. I hope that we can expect more answers in Allegiant.

I honestly can´t understand why some people rate this book so low. What are they expecting? This is a dystopian series, which means that things are far from perfect. This book is a brilliant sequel that is good on its own and doesn´t suffer from the typical filler-book-syndrome. 

The Yearning Mermaid says: "A fantastic sequel that is almost as good as the brilliant first book in the Divergent series! This is a must-read for every true dystopian fan!"

• This book is part of my Dystopian Book Challenge!

 

Video: January TBR

Check out this video to see which books I plan to read in january! My goal is six books! Yay!

Unravel me: The NA genre and me...

                                                                    Unravel me                                                                          

Unravel me is a meme made by myself that shows aspects of my life. This time I will discuss/tell you what I think about the New Adult genre that popped up in the last 2 years.


I had been in a really, really bad reading slump in 2013 and even before that - in late 2012. I felt like I could not read a book without being overcome with boredom.
Three month ago I gave reading another shot (why didn´t I just do that earlier?!) and I remembered how much I love venturing out into other worlds.

A thing I noticed, though, is that in my absence from reading another genre had popped up. The New Adult genre.
At first I was confused... Young Adult, yes, but New Adult? I saw that most covers of this genre are full of naked men or men and women embracing/kissing/etc, but all of them carry the message of open sexuality.

Apart from the fact that I don´t usually appreciate covers like that (I´m more into abstract covers), I had to admit that I really liked the idea behind this new genre. It often bothers me that Young Adult books don´t deal with sexuality, or if they do then a certain scene will fade to black. It annoyed me in a way, because I believe that there are decent ways to describe sex, without being provocative.

Since then I´ve read a few NA novels, but came to truly love only one of them, which could also have been part of the YA fraction if you ask me.
"Freak of Nature" by Julia Crane is considered New Adult, because the characters have sex and because it is described in the book. Still - I think it would also have been appropriate for young adults, because there was an innocence to it I came to appreciate.

Other New Adult novels focus too much on the sex part and I find it hardly interesting to read about two characters making out all the time. That is the reason why I also believe that there are a few really awful NA books that focus only on sex, which can be so tiring. The plot comes second and thought-through characters are not important. 
That is why I normally try everything to avoid NA books when there is no paranormal, fantasy or dystopian part in it.

Am I missing out on a few really great NA books? What is your opinion about the NA genre and do you have any reading suggestions for me?
Tell me in the comments, I´d love to know!

Follow Friday #4

What were your favourite books of 2013?

In 2013 I´ve read the Hunger Games series and lovet it! Since then I devoured anything dystopian and also came to adore Divergent by Veronica Roth!

December Wrap-up

What have I been up the last month? Well, in the next days I will upload a video to sum up which books I´ve read. In december I was really lucky and got Terra Harmony, author of the Rising, to do a special guest post on my blog. 
Happy New Year everybody! Can´t wait to see what 2014 has in store for me!

Reviews:

• Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Darkness Watching by Emma L. Adams
• Kiss of Darkness by Loribelle Hunt
• Freak of Nature by Julia Crane
• Kiss of Twilight by Loribelle Hunt
• Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Guest Posts:

• Terra Harmony - Author of "The Rising"

Videos:

• November Wrap-up and December TBR
• How I read Tag
• Christmas Cracker Book Tag
• Winter Wonderland Book Tag
• December Book Haul
• Christmas BookTubeAThon TBR
• Christmas Book Haul
• Book Cake Tag

You can view all my videos on my youtube channel!