Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer (and Giveaway)

From Inside Jacket: 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 hope the world has. 

My Rating: 4.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: After loving both Cinder and Scarlet, I couldn’t wait to see what Marissa Meyer had up her sleeve with Cress. Originally, I found Cress to be a bit slow, but eventually the plot picked up and I ended up drawn into the story.

Unlike Cinder and Scarlet who were strong heroines right off the bat, Cress starts off very much as a damsel in distress. Having been socially isolated for years, she also made me laugh at her naivete. I found it so cute how she built up this fantasy of Thorne in her head and decided she was in love with him even before meeting him.

I thought Thorne therefore was the perfect romantic interest for Cress because of how he complemented her. Whereas Cress is socially awkward, Thorne is charming and was able to deal with Cress’ crush without coming off like a jerk. In this manner, Meyer also successfully avoided a case of insta-love, which was awesome.

Of course, Cinder's and Scarlet’s storylines are marvelously interwoven; and it’s obvious that the world and characters that Meyer has created aren’t too big for her to handle. Aside from being reunited with everybody, readers will also meet the very intriguing Jacin and get a glimpse into the complex mind of Winter.

With the way things ended in Cress, Winter definitely tops my list of must-reads for 2015!

Cress was released by Feiwel & Friends in February 2014. 

Comments About the Cover: I love that the cover matches that of the other books in the series and clearly tells you that Cress is a retelling of Rapunzel.
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Marissa makes an appearance

While I wasn't able to meet Marissa last year, I was lucky enough to meet her this year when she decided to come to Toronto in February as part of her Cress Tour. While waiting for Marissa to arrive at Chapters Yorkdale, I hung out with Aylee from Recovering Potter Addict and Shelly from Read. Sleep. Repeat. and got a chance to chat with Liz from Midnight Bloom Reads. 

Marissa talking about something

The event started at 7:00 PM, with Marissa talking about how she came up with the idea of Cinder and telling us the Grimm Brothers' version of Rapunzel. She then answered some questions - which I no longer remember, sorry! - and signed books.

Since I bought a paperback copy of Scarlet, I decided to get my ARC of it signed for a giveaway. So, if you're living in the US or Canada and are over the age of 13, feel free to enter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quick Recap of the Sarah Dessen Signing and Word on The Street

Last week was a busy week in terms of events that were being held in Toronto. On Wednesday, September 21, Sarah Dessen was in town to promote her novel What Happened to Goodbye. Since she’s one of my all-time favourite authors, I’d been hoping (after Jenny from Dreaming of Books told me in the summer that Sarah would be coming to T.O.) that Penguin Canada would schedule her on a day that I’d be able to see her.

Sarah, after I moved up to take a picture. Liz is in the left corner.

Luckily, Penguin Canada did; and so after class, I made my way over to Indigo Eaton Centre where there was already a huge line of people waiting to be seated. The seating space wasn’t large enough to hold everybody and so most of us (including me) ended up being stuck between the stacks and having to see Sarah from there. Still, we did get to meet her; and years from now, I’ll remember that experience much better than the fact that I wasn’t entirely happy with where I was standing.

Pic courtesy of Liz from Midnight Bloom Reads

Sarah arrived slightly after 7:00 PM, having been delayed because of a strike at Air Canada. She quickly read from What Happened to Goodbye and after, got a little bit of time to answer some questions.

Things I Remember Sarah Telling Us:

• While Sarah doesn’t have a favourite book from the ones she has written because to her it almost feels like picking a favourite child, the novel she enjoyed writing the most was This Lullaby.
• Someone Like You was inspired by the death of a popular guy from Sarah’s high school after he was killed in a motorcycle accident. It was the first time that she realized someone her age could die and it was shocking to her.
• The mothers at Sarah’s daughter’s preschool have no idea that she is a writer! They only know that she works from home.

Sarah signing while I waited in lin

Then, it was time to get our books signed. Sarah was super nice, and after noticing that I was also holding a social psychology textbook, she told me that she used to carry a textbook around everywhere too when she was in college.

Anyway, a big thanks to Sarah for making two stops in Toronto and to Penguin Canada for bringing her here. Thanks also to Indigo Eaton Centre for hosting Sarah. 

For a full recap of Sarah Dessen's stop at Indigo Eaton Centre, check out Liz's post here.  

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Then on Sunday, September 25, I went to Word on The Street for the first time. On my way over to Queen’s Park, I was actually able to ride the TTC’s new subway trains and liked them so much better. They look new (duh!) and have more space, but I’m wondering how (especially short) people are going to stop themselves from bumping into each other without poles to hang onto.

At noon, I went to see Kenneth Oppel at the Scotiabank Giller Prize Bestseller’s Stage. He read from his latest book, This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, before answering questions from Matt Galloway, the host, and the audience.

Things I Remember Kenneth Telling Us:  

• Kenneth’s favourite book to write was Half-Brother because it’s unlike any of his other novels.
• As a child, his favourite book was Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. He now reads it to his children.

Peter Rabbit in front of the Penguin Canada booth

Kelley signing books

After that, I wandered around for a bit and then at 2:15, I went to The Remarkable Reads Tent to see Kelley Armstrong. While waiting for Kelley, I met Ashley from Book Labyrinth and her mom and we chatted for a bit. Soon enough, Kelley arrived and read from The Gathering. Then we had some time to ask her questions and for her to ask us some questions. Those who answered Kelley correctly were able to get prizes like Derek, Tori and Chloe mugs, ARCs of The Calling, etc. that she had brought along with her.

Things I Remember Kelley Telling Us: 

• Kelley doesn’t usually put pets in her novels because she tends to forget about them. For example, they get locked into garages and then conveniently appear in scenes when they’re needed.
• She wrote her YA books when her daughter was a teenager so that her daughter had something to read. Now that Kelley’s and Melissa Marr’s sons are both in middle grade, they’re collaborating on an MG series based on Norse mythology. I'm already excited about that series! 

Kelley then signed books, and everyone who came to see her got cupcakes that were decorated based on The Gathering. 

Alyxandra Harvey on a panel with Lesley Anne Cowan, Teresa Toten and Heather J. Wood

The very crowded HarperCollins Canada booth

From there, Ashley, her mom, and I managed to catch a bit of what Alyxandra Harvey said. I heard something about ghosts and friends not wanting to visit her house. 

I went to HarperCollins Canada’s booth after getting Alyxandra to sign my copy of Haunting Violet and though it was still pretty crowded, I managed to find and buy Arthur Slade’s Empire of Ruins.  

Catherine Austen talking about reading and writing dystopians

Lesley and Robert signing their books

I got back to the This Is Not The Shakespeare Stage in time to hear a bit from Catherine Austen about her novel All Good Children before Robert Sawyer and Lesley Livingston went on stage for their chat about fantasy and sci-fi. After Robert read from his newest book, Wonder, and Lesley read from Once Every Never, they told us that the main difference between fantasy and sci-fi is that fantasy attempts to make the implausible sound possible whereas sci-fi tries to make what might be possible work according to the laws of physics. Robert also told us that rather than subscribing to the two theories about time-travel, he chooses to believe that changing time creates a parallel reality (I think!) whereas Lesley hasn’t fully decided which theory she supports. Clare, her character who can travel through time by touching certain artifacts, doesn’t care much about how her actions will change time, but it seems that at the end of Once Every Never, something might have been altered.

After getting Lesley to sign my copy of Once Every Never, I went home, tired but happy about getting to see so many Canadian authors in one day.

Lauren Oliver and Veronica Roth on the Dystopian Tour in Toronto (and a Giveaway)

On Tuesday evening, I decided to skip my first day of the summer course I’m taking and go see Lauren Oliver and Veronica Roth at Indigo Yorkdale instead. Naturally, the TTC decided to be as slow as usual when I have something important and made me late by fifteen minutes to the event. (And here I could do a mini post about the suckiness of the TTC, how it always screws me over especially during exam time, and the irony of it being nicknamed the Rocket. But I won’t.)

Pic courtesy of Liz who snagged a seat right at the front.

So, when I finally got to Chapters Yorkdale, all the seats were already taken obviously and Lauren and Veronica were in mid-conversation with Ajay Fry, the host of InnerSPACE. Since there was a large group of people standing at the back however, I squeezed past them – the perk of being short – so I could see.

After Ajay finished asking Lauren and Veronica questions, it was the audience’s turn. Someone asked them how they felt about ebooks, and both agreed that they were cool with it as long as stories continued to be told somehow. Like me though, Veronica prefers books because she enjoys the experience of turning pages. Lauren on the other hand tends to buy ebooks and if she really likes what she reads, then she goes out and buys an actual copy.

Pic of Lauren and Veronica signing books while I was waiting in line. I found out today that the girl on the left is Mel from He Followed Me Home.

Afterwards, it was time to get our books signed. I was the last person (and second last later on) in line and while waiting, I jumped into a conversation with the person ahead of me. She had been flown in from a Chapters in Nova Scotia for being so good at her job and introduced me and Liz from Midnight Bloom Reads to Charidy from HarperCollins’s marketing department.

Speaking of Liz, I recognized her from pictures and while she was trying to get her mom, I kind of surprised her with a “Liz!” I’m sure I scared her for a couple of seconds since she had no idea how I looked (though we had decided to meet up). Liz and her mom were really nice and we chatted for a bit before she left.

What Lauren signed in my copy of Delirium.

Eventually, I made it to the front to meet Lauren and Veronica. Lauren messed up spelling my name (which totally wasn’t her fault because the sticky with my name was spelled wrong) so I got another copy of Before I Fall and Delirium to get signed. Note to self: Be more observant because that incident resulted in two copies not being able to be bought by someone. Lauren was super sweet about it and told me not to feel guilty.

Anyway, a big thanks to Lauren and Veronica (who are as terrific as they seem) for making three stops in Ontario and to HarperCollins for bringing these awesome ladies here. Thanks also to Indigo Yorkdale for hosting such a great event.

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For my blog followers, I also managed to get a copy of Delirium signed to give away.   

So, read the rules below, and then fill out this FORM:

1. This giveaway is US/Canada only. International entries are welcome if you are willing to cover shipping costs.  
2. You must be a follower to enter.
3. You must be over the age of 13.
4. This giveaway will end on June 19, 2011 at 11:59 PM.
5. Make sure your entries are tallied correctly.