Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
Title:Epic Fail.
Author: Claire LaZebnik
Expected publication: August 2nd 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Ya, Contemp
"At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point:
• As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school—not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects.
• As the daughter of the new principal, new-girl-on-campus Elise Benton isn’t exactly on everyone’s must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list.
When Elise’s beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince’s best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long. Fans of Susane Colasanti (When It Happens), Polly Shulman (Enthusiasm), and, of course, Jane Austen will love finding out if Elise’s love life will be an epic win or an epic fail." -GoodReads.
Pride and Prejudice retellings seem to be an ever growing trend in YA. Not that I am complaining as Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite novels and I am loving contemps right now, so this is like a two-for-one. And that is a super cute cover. Definitely high on my list of books I cannot wait to get my hands on.
I don't know about you, but I tend to get really excited and request button pushing happy when there are awesome titles on NetGalley. I was doing really well with reading them...and then Amazon removed the Kindle button. As someone who really prefers to not read on my computer allll the time, I started to neglect my list of books I requested from them.
But not anymore!! When I woke up this morning I had an email from them saying the Kindle button was back!! Wooo!! And then later when I was on Twitter I saw someone (forgive me, I cannot remember who exactly) was talking about declaring April as NetGalley month. So I did a little google search and found the source. Red House Books is the one who started is and I think it's awesome.
So go check out her main post. It's pretty much just reading as many NetGalley books during the month of April as you can. You don't have to post reviews for all them, you know, depending on release dates and everything. But I figured it would be a great challenge for me to catch up on all my requests.
Authors always do the coolest stuff for their readers.
Take this new contest that is being hosted by Leah Clifford, author of A Touch Mortal.
You seriously need to see how awesome this vlog is.
Go ahead. Watch it. I will wait.
Okay, now that you have watched it, go to her blog HERE. She has 5 signed copies of her book up for grabs. So head over there and enter. You just have to like the video and spread the word. Tweet it, blog it, Facebook it. All that good stuff. Leah also said that whoever does the most creatively crazy entry will get a copy of A Touch Mortal with extra content! How awesome is she?!
I know this isn't that crazy or creative, but I am going to try to think of something.
If you enter with a creative entry I would love to see what you come up with!
In My Mailbox is a bookish meme created by the wonderful Kristi over at The Story Siren for bloggers to feature books we got over the past week, either bought, borrowed, or received in the mail. Make sure to go check out her main post.
This week I received one Ebook for review:
"Mercy" is self-published on Kindle by Joshua Grover David-Patterson. It's not on GoodReads or up on Amazon yet as his release date is supposed to be April 1st. So I took part of the blurb from the email that he sent me for the description.
"I’ve gotten a very wonderful blurb from Scott Kenemore ("Joshua Grover-David Patterson writes in a style that will surely connect with many contemporary zombie fans. His use of tone and narrative structure are miles ahead of most who work in the genre.") and I’ve got a fantastic author named Seamus Cooper (aka Brendan Halpin) who blurbed it as well (“You expect a zombie novel to have brains, but you don't expect it to be this smart. You expect a number of internal organs to be on display, but you don't expect this much heart. MERCY is a kicka** zombie novel, but it's also a thoughtful, moving story about the joy and importance of being human and alive.”).
I think that my novel, “Mercy,” is the kind of story you’d like.It’s got zombie action, and crash-landing planes, and island survival, and a cross-country drive in a tank. More than anything, it has heart.Both the physical and emotional versions."
As I told Josh, he had me at zombies. I love zombies...a lot. But planes crashing, island survival, and a tank made it really impossible for me to say no. Sounds pretty bad ass.
So that is what I got in my mailbox...err I mean, inbox.
Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left."-GoodReads.
Hardcover, 356 pages
Published March 22nd 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: EGalley- S&S Galley Grab. Thank you Simon and Schuster!!
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author
Think about this, in our world doctors perform brain surgery, do heart transplants, and heal people of cancer. Our medicine and medical technology is amazing.
But what if sometime in the future none of that mattered? That something happens to a future generation, something that makes girls die at 20 and guys die at 25. And nothing that anybody does can stop the dying? Welcome to Rhine's world.
Since the younger generation is dying off, girls are being kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages so that they can breed children to be tested and experimented on to see if the first generation can find a cure. Rhine ends up being one of those girls.
Now stuck with one sister wife who is content with dying in their new mansion prison, the other who is actually excited to be married and cannot wait to get pregnant, and an extremely sheltered husband who thinks she choose to be there, all Rhine can think about is getting her freedom back.
I was surprised at how fairly calm this story was for a dystopian. I guess since most of the ones that I have read are action packed with a war or something going on I thought something like that would be going on in this one too. But no. Most of it was mental battles. Dealing with dying so young, having your freedom taken away, being trapped, being forced to bear children. Oh, and having a psycho father-in-law to top it all of.
Most of the book is Rhine being stuck in her husband's mansion. Which is quite the amazing place. But she is not willing to give up her freedom for the life of luxury (even if that luxury does come with an amazing library). She has a twin brother out there in world that she used to live in that is missing her and is probably looking for her and she wants to get back to him to spend the remaining years of her life with him.
She becomes fast friends with Gabriel, who is a servant in the mansion, mostly because she just wants someone to talk to, but then she starts falling for him and then decides to ask him to escape with her. Which is a problem since she is married to Linden. Whom she tries desperately not to like, but that starts to get difficult.
Even though Linden was clueless as to what his father was up to and really thought those girls wanted to be there, he was endearing at times, and that made it hard not to fall for him a bit. Which happened to Rhine more than once. Falling for the servants, limos, fancy dresses, and falling for Linden was so easy.
She has a big decision to make. Try to escape with Gabriel? Or stay with Linden and give birth to lots of babies?
Her sister wives were also really neat characters. All three of them were so different, coming from different backgrounds, thrown into the same situation, and doing what each feel like they have to do to survive. Their growth and development made them so real.
I had a bit of a problem with the ending. I know there is going to be another book, so the ending was kind of segueing into that one, but what happened was just too easy. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what she was going to decide to do, and then when she finally decides...it just happens too easily. With all the build up, I was expecting a bit more conflict. So I was a bit disappointed with that.
This really was a wonderful book to read though. DeStefano really is a terrific writer. Her descriptions were beautiful but not verbose, her characters were real and believable and most importantly, her world is scary. And it's scary without a war or an overbearing government. Which was new and refreshing. I can't wait to see what Lauren DeStefano has in store for Rhine in the next book.
In My Mailbox is a bookish meme created by the wonderful Kristi over at The Story Siren for bloggers to feature books we got over the past week, either bought, borrowed, or received in the mail. Make sure to go check out her main post.
No video this week, obviously. I only got one physical book, the second is an egalley, so I didn't think a 30 sec video would be necessary. But this is what I got this past week :)
Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.
To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)
Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.
Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder... -GoodReads. -Bought.
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction. -GoodReads. EGalley(Thanks Simon&Schuster) release date: June 7th 2011
"Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control...."-GoodReads
Hardcover, 197 pages
Expected publication: March 15th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin
Source: ARC (Thank you, Sarah!)
After taking care of her mother by herself for years, Lacey needs a break. So she gets her mom a job at the local grocery store and she gets a volunteer job at the library for the summer. Lacey will finally get to do something for herself outside of the house, away from the responsibility of taking care of her mom.
When Lacey wakes up to help her mom get ready for work it seems like the perfect day. Sun is shining, birds are singing, and nothing can break her good mood. At least that is what she thought.
Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and tell yourself everything about that day is going to be great? That no matter what gets thrown your way you will be able to take it and concur it? And it starts off just the way you planned it to go, but then one thing happens and everything good about that day just unravels and nothing can stop it.
Well that is Lacey's day....times by about 1000.
This is a pretty incredible story that takes place over the time span of only one day. But it is this one day that changes a girl's life forever.
Since it does only take place over one day you never get the full back story of Lacey and her mother's lives before this day. There are flashbacks that Lacey has throughout the book that explain a lot, but not all, which I didn't mind.
Lacey is only 13 but such a mature character. I felt connected with and rooted for her from the beginning. When her day started going down hill I was sad for her, and by the end I was terrified for her.
I did not think this book would take the turn that it did. Especially since it was so little. I was truly surprised that a book of only 197 pages could hold so much emotion and pack such a punch, but it did. Even days after reading it I am still digesting the ending as it was pretty horrific. It made me very thankful that my life is not Lacey's and that my mother is who she is.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, altered my opinion of the story or my review.
"Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world—even the most predatory of men—that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past—one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer."- GoodReads.
Paperback, 325 pages
Published January 6th 2011 by Puffin/Speak
Source: Bought.
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author
What would it be like to live in a society where when a girl turns 16, she is fair game? What would it be like to be told being a "sex-teen" is great, that throwing yourself at guys and sleeping around is "the in thing", and guys are supposed to act like your are a piece of meat? Scary thought, right?
Well that is just the kind of society Nina lives in, though she is in the minority of not wanting to be a "sex-teen". She doesn't read Sixteen Ways, a magazine that shows girls all the right ways to flirt and be the perfect sexual sirens to boys. She doesn't even want a boyfriend just to make sure she doesn't turn into what so many girls have turned in to, what her best friend is turning into; basically a tramp. Nina doesn't want to turn 16.
What really got me while I was reading XVI was how I felt this could actually happen. I'm not sure in such a drastic way so fast, but with how our own media is, it could be possible. So many TV shows, movies, magazines, and books glorify girls as sex kittens no matter their age. And that was the big thing in XVI, the media encouraging girls to be "sex-teens".
I actually really liked Nina. She was a strong lead who didn't have all the answers but was willing to find out what she could. But as much as I liked Nina, I was really interested in Sandy, the best friend. She is selfish, superficial, and so excited about being a sex-teen that she is already practicing flaunting herself to any and all boys. I think it would have been amazingly interesting to see inside her mind and get her side of the story.
And Sal, sweet and charming Sal. He's a doll. Oh and it was so nice that Nina didn't meet him and automatically fall in love. She didn't want a boyfriend...she has major mixed emotions about this boy and I really felt that. How confused she was. Should she or shouldn't she?
Nina's friends were pretty neat characters, too, though I hope we get to know them a little better in the next book.
One of my only complaints about this book was the futuristic terminology. Pretty much none of it was explained. After a while I caught on to what was what, but some stuff it took a little bit and that was a bit annoying. So for me, it took away from the story having to stop and re-read a section just to try and figure what the termonolgy meant.
XVI is going to have at least a sequel. On Julia Karr's website it says it is a work-in-progress and it will be called Truth. There is also another work-in-progress that says it is going to be a spin-off to XVI and it is called Cinderella Girl.
I will be interested to see if Cinderella Girl's main character will be a character that we have already met in XVI.
Definitely looking forward to both though.
In My Mailbox is a bookish meme created by the wonderful Kristi over at The Story Siren for bloggers to feature books we got over the past week, either bought, borrowed, or received in the mail. Make sure to go check out her main post.
Oh! And I also wanted to mention that while I as at Border's I saw some hardback copies of Spells by Aprilynne Pike for $3.99. So if you need a copy, go check your Border's clearance section.
Winner of M. Leighton's ebook "The Reaping"! Random.org has picked your number!
I have sent Kate an email and she has 48 hrs to get back to me. If I have not heard from her by then I will pick a new winner.
Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn't win, don't fret. She has put all three of her ebooks up at a discounted price on Amazon. So go grab The Reaping! (and her other 2 while you're at it :D )
I also have a few more giveaways coming up so make sure to check back for those!
"Lady Victoria Mansfield, youngest daughter of the earl and countess of Fairmount, is destined for a charmed life. Soon she will be presented during the London season, where she can choose a mate worthy of her status.
Yet Tory has a shameful secret—a secret so powerful that, if exposed, itcould strip her of her position and disgraceher family forever. Tory’s blood is tainted . . . by magic.
When a shockingaccident forces Tory to demonstrate her despisedskill, the secret she’s fought so hard to hide is revealedfor all to see. She is immediately exiled to Lackland Abbey, a reform school for young men and women in her position. There she will learn to suppress her deplorable talents and maybe, if she’s one of the lucky ones, be able to return to society.
But Tory’s life is about to change forever. All that she’s ever known or considered important will be challenged. What lies ahead is only the beginning of a strange and wonderful journey into a world where destiny and magic come together, where true love and friendship find her, and where courage and strength of character are the only things that determine a young girl’s worth. "- GoodReads.
Paperback, 306 pages
Published March 1st 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin Source: Review Request from publisher
M. J. Putney has created such a fun and fantastic world. As a lover of historical fiction I was so excited to receive Dark Mirror. What I really loved about this story is that it is historically accurate, well, except for the magic part. For me that is just so neat that she took real events but added the fun twist of magic and mages being the cause for things that happened. I really enjoyed the characters, as well. Tory was a really good main character. When she knew she had to do something to help other people she didn't care how it made her look. She did it. Whata woman. Jack was my favorite though. He was such a scene stealer, so funny and full of himself. I think there should have been more with him. The romance was sweet for the most part, but there could have been a little more to it. It was nice that after two pages the characters were not declaring their undying love for each other, but it could have used more than a couple glances and a couple of very short conversations.
My hitch with the story was just how easily everything that they needed to happen, happened. I was always wondering where the conflict was. Where were the hurdles that they had a hard time getting over? It just seemed like every time they decided on a plan, things went accordingly. And I just needed more "Oh my gosh how are we going to get out of this mess. Everything we try is not working. What are we going to do?!"
Other than that it was a sweet, fun, and quick story and I will be reading the second one, Dark Passage, when it is released. I am very interested to see where that one is going to go and what M. J. Putney has in store for the students of Lackland.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, altered my opinion of the story.
Hey guys! So coming up in just about a month is the super amazingly awesome 24 Hr Read-A-Thon.
I participated in the one that was held in October and let me tell you. It is a blast! You get to meet tons of new bloggers, play games, be a cheerleader to the bloggers, and of course, read as much as you can in 24 hours.
The fun begins April 9th.
And it really is tons of fun. I had been blogging for a little less than 2 months when I first heard about it so I almost didn't do it, but am so glad I did since I met so many great people.
You don't have to have a blog to sign up. Sign up with your Twitter account, Facebook account, etc. Just somewhere everyone can see your reading progress.
Let me know if you join, I would love to know which of my fellow bloggers are participating.
I probably won't be able to read for the entire 24 hours as the date is getting precariously close to my husband's deployment (so time together will be vital). But I will take part as much as I can and probably do some cheerleading too.
In My Mailbox is a bookish meme created by the wonderful Kristi over at The Story Siren for bloggers to feature books we got over the past week, either bought, borrowed, or had them sent in the mail. Make sure to go check out her main post.
This is kind of an insanely long video because it's about 2 and half weeks worth of books. I tried to get through it faster...but that did not happen, but I didn't want to leave any of these great books out :). I need to figure out how to edit...and do cool effects.
(I also apologize for the lack of light and weird audio. I had to do this in my room though because my husband was playing Black Ops and using some very colorful language that I did not want on here :] )
*This review does not contain spoilers to any of the Vampire Academy books. So it's not a very conventional review, but bear with me, I'm still working out a way to do series reviews with no spoilers.*
"After the massacre at Vampire Academy, Rose Hathaway faces the most task of her life and she knows that she must do it alone. With Mason departed for the other world, Rose must hunt down and kill Dimitri Belikov, the man she most loves. The fourth nail-biting episode of Richelle Mead's popular vampire series dramatically shows the fatal power of a promise."-GoodReads.
Hardcover, 503 pages
Published: August 25th 2009 by Razorbill
Source: Bought
Talk about an emotional roller coaster. When I first read Vampire Academy I did not expect the series to take this kind of turn. I did not expect it to be this heart wrenching.
Richelle Mead is cruel...making me fall in love with these characters and then shaking their lives up in a not so nice way. And right when I thought I was okay with what was happening, Richelle goes and mixes it all up again.
I literally have no idea where this story is headed right now. I have come up with many different turns it could take, but I am sure they are all wrong and I will be left baffled....again.
I do not want to say too much about what has happened because I don't want to spoil the series for anyone else. So I will just say this book made me cry. A lot. There, I admitted it. Especially the last 100 pages. I probably looked like such a baby sitting on my bed at 1 in the morning crying over this book. But read the series and tell me if by this point you haven't shed some tears.
Generally, I like to space out books in a series. Put a 3 or 4 book buffer between them just to let each book ruminate. That usually works really well. This time it's killing me. It has taken an act of God to stop me from going to the bookstore to buy the last two.
As I sit here on my chair I can see all of the books on my bookshelf that I have been dying to read and I know I need to get to. Not to mention all the ebooks on my Kindle, and all the books I have on my Adobe Reader to read on my computer. I really should not be thinking about buying any other books right now.
But I promise you, this weekend I will be going to the bookstore and buying Spirit Bound AND Last Sacrifice. I have to know what happens to Dimitri, Rose, and Adrian.
