Best of 2014 Giveaway Hop (INT)

Best of 2014 Giveaway Hop

December 11th to 18th

Hosted by Bookhounds & I Am A Reader

I have read lots of interesting books this year. What's your favorite book from 2014? I have many books that I like. But I decided to pick two from my 2014 pile for this giveaway. I'm offering you to choose ONE of the two books from the title below.

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

or

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han 

I am going to choose ONE lucky winner from BookDepository.com

Okay. Here's how you can enter this giveaway:

• To enter this giveaway, enter your contact details in the form below.
• You are not required to follow me, but, it would be nice if you follow me via GFC/Goodreads/twitter/Bloglovin' too :)
• This is an International giveaway as long as BookDepository.com ship them to your country.
• One entry per person.
• Winner will be notified via email.  Winners will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. 
• I'm not responsible for any lost package.
• Have fun and good luck!

Be sure to check out the other giveaway stops on this blog hop:

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Review: No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige

No Place Like Oz (Dorothy Must Die 0.5)
by Danielle Paige

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Young Adult
Publication: November 12th 2013 by HarperCollins
Format: ebook
Source: Own
Connect: Twitter | Goodreads

In this digital original novella, Dorothy travels back to Oz to reunite with old friends, but her story may not have a happy ending. No Place Like Oz is a prequel to the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

After returning to Kansas, Dorothy Gale has realized that the dreary fields of Kansas don’t compare to the vibrant landscapes of Oz. And although she’s happy to be reunited with Aunt Em, she misses her friends from the yellow brick road. But most of all, Dorothy misses the fame and the adventure. In Kansas she’s just another prairie girl, but in Oz she was a hero. So Dorothy is willing to do anything to get back, because there really is no place like Oz. But returning to the land she left comes at a price, and after Dorothy is through with it, Oz will never be the same.

I don’t think that I would be reading “Dorothy Must Die” if I were to read this novella first. I know that Dorothy was going to be evil and I was very curious how she was going to turn into the dark side. But I may have a different kind of expectation when I picked up No Place Like Oz.

I was expecting that No Place Like Oz would be shorter, because this novella was a bit too long for my liking, and the pace is a bit too slow. There are times when I would check up on how many pages left before I finished this novella and there are some parts in the story that bore me. 

I really did not like Dorothy in this prequel right from the beginning, although Dorothy was not as evil as I expect she was going to be. In fact, I didn’t think Dorothy’s evil at all. She's just rude. And mean. I think Dorothy is just that teenage girl who was being an ass because she can't have what she want. In the end, I don’t think I’m going to be sorry when Dorothy really dies at the end of the series! I'm a bit disappointed in No Place Like Oz, but Dorothy Must Die, the sequel, is definitely a good book.

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1)
by Danielle Paige

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Paranormal,  Young Adult
Publication: April 1st 2014 by HarperCollins
Format: ebook
Source: Own
Connect: Twitter | Goodreads

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling. What happened?

Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission:

Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.

Steal the Scarecrow's brain.

Take the Lion's courage.

Then and only then—Dorothy must die!

I knew that I have to read Dorothy Must Die the moment I saw the book in some 2014 YA lists. The cover was simple and pretty. And after reading the blurbs, I purchased the book, put aside any other books on my ‘next-to-read’ list, and start to read this one. I need to know what happen to Oz, and how Dorothy will die.

I did not regret my decision. Dorothy Must Die was a really great book. It has almost everything—action, fantasy, magic and a bit of romance. I immediately fell in love with Amy Gumm. She was the other girl from Kansas who had some issues at home and at school. Amy was having an argument with her mother just before the tornado brought her to Oz. Amy took the Yellow Road to the Emerald City and found out that Oz was different than the one she read in her books. Apparently, Dorothy now ruled Oz with an iron fist. How does Oz turn to be like this? Can Amy return home?

I love Danielle Paige’s new version of Oz, even though it may be a bit dark. There were some parts in the middle, which was draggy, especially during Amy’s training with the wicked. The ending was a bit too sudden. I thought that there were too many things happening at once towards the end. Other than that, Dorothy Must Die was a really enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend Dorothy Must Die to fans of Oz and fairy-tale retelling.