Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (23)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event created by Jill over at Breaking the Spine to give bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming releases. This week I am waiting on The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe. The cover is great and the summary is even better!


(Goodreads) Summary:

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back

Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest.

Because how will she go on if there isn't?

Megan Crewe crafts a powerful and gripping exploration of self-preservation, first love, and hope. Poignant and dizzying, this heart-wrenching story of one girl’s bravery and unbeatable spirit will leave readers fervently awaiting the next book in this standout new series.

What are you waiting on? Leave a comment :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Review: Life Eternal

Title: Life Eternal (Dead Beautiful #2)

Author: Yvonne Woon

Publisher: Disney- Hyperion

Publication Date: February 24th 2012

Source: Net Galley

My Rating: 5/5

(Goodreads) Summary:

Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate, Dante Berlin.
Now, her separation from Dante becomes almost unbearable. His second life is close to an end, and each passing day means one less that she will spend with the boy who shares her soul.
Just when Renée has almost given up hope, she learns of the Nine Sisters-brilliant scholars who, according to legend, found a way to cheat death. She can't shake the feeling that they are somehow connected to her dreams, strange visions that hint at a discovery so powerful, and so dangerous, that some will stop at nothing to protect it.
Renée thought she knew the truth about life and death. But there is a secret woven through history that holds the only hope for Dante and Renée. Unless they find answers soon, their time together is doomed to be cut short.
 
My Thoughts:
 
Usually I find that sequels disappoint me because they almost never live up to the first book. I absolutely adored Dead Beautiful (read my review here) so when it came to reading Life Eternal I thought it couldn't possibly as good. Luckily, that wasn't the case.
 
In this book Renee had to leave Gottfried Academy and switch to a school for only monitors. It is also a school that isn't too fond of the Undead which creates a lot of problems for Renee and her lover Dante. On top of that, Dante only has a few years left to "live" and Renee goes to drastic measures to search for eternal life.
 
The plot of this novel is fantastic. It is unbelievably suspenseful and never gets boring. If I had all the time in the world, I would have probably read the entire book in one sitting. Life Eternal is filled with plot twists and mysteries that are never predictable making it quite the page turner.
 
The characters changed a lot in this book compared to Dead Beautiful. Eleanor, the professors at Gottfried, Renee's friends at Gottfried, and Nathaniel were barely even mentioned! As upsetting as that is, because I loved reading about all of them, new characters were introduced that were just as interesting to read about.
 
Overall, I loved this novel just as much as the first in the series. The ending was a cliff-hanger that is killing me because I know the next book won't be out for a while. I recommend this series to everyone so if you haven't already picked it up, go do so now!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (22)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where bloggers get the chance to spotlight upcoming releases. This week I'm waiting on Everneath by Brodi Ashton. The cover is beautiful but the summary is what sucked me in!

(Goodreads) Summary:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Everneath is set to be released on January 3rd 2012. What are you waiting on?

Sunday, July 10, 2011

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren where bloggers post about the books they have received. This week I used up some Borders gift cards and spent a few hours on Net galley...

From Borders:


eBooks:

I'm so excited to read all of these! What did you guys get in your mailbox this week? Leave a comment :)

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Review: Kindred

Title: Kindred

Author: Tammar Stein

Publisher: Knopf Books

Release Date: February 8th 2011

Source: Friend

My Rating: 3/5

(Goodreads) Summary:

The first time I meet an angel, it is Raphael and I am eighteen.
Miriam is an unassuming college freshman stuck on campus after her spring break plans fall through. She's not a religious girl--when pressed she admits reluctantly to believing in a higher power. Truth be told, she's about as comfortable speaking about her faith as she is about her love life, which is to say, not at all.
Then the archangel Raphael pays Miriam a visit, and she finds herself on a desperate mission to save two of her contemporaries. To top it all off, her twin brother, Mo, has also had a visitation, but from the opposite end of the good-evil spectrum, which leaves Miriam to wonder--has she been blessed and her brother cursed or vice versa? And what is the real purpose behind her mission?
 
My Thoughts:
 
I found the summary of this book to be slightly misleading. First of all, Miriam drops out of college within the first fifty pages. Second, it says she is not religious yet she refers to God constantly throughout the book. Finally, the book really isn't about angels. Sure Miriam gets a visit from them once or twice, but that's it.
 
The plot mainly focuses on Miriam working as a reporter in a new town, finding love, and trying to save a young boy who she believes will end up in jail. For the most part the plot was original but boring. Miriam was sick with a bowel problem for the majority of the book and it was kind of gross to read about. She talked about it a lot and I didn't find a point to it. I feel the book would have been better if she didn't worry about losing weight and rushing to the bathroom all the time.
 
I really liked Miriam's love interest Emmett. He was a tough looking bald tattoo artist who was really sweet and understanding. The connection he had with Miriam was perfectly realistic and really fun to read about. I also enjoyed reading about Mo, Miriam's brother. He had that devilish side of him but the reader can't help but love him anyway. I wish they could have been a bigger part of the book.
 
Miriam's "mission" to save Jason was uninteresting. She was basically freaking out because he had a journal in which he drew and wrote bad things. All that Miriam did was ask everybody information on him and visit his house to yell at him. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.
 
Overall the writing style was smooth, the ending was perfect, it was just boring and not what I had anticipated. I recommend this to anyone who likes contemporary fiction and religious books.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (21)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine to spotlight upcoming releases. This week I am waiting on A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies. I adore love triangles so I'm really excited to read this one! And I won't have to wait too long considering it comes out September 27th.

(Goodreads) Summary:

Skye never questioned the story of her life. Her Aunt Jo adopted her after the death of her parents when she was just a child, and together they flip through memories the way some people flip through photo albums.

 
She never questioned if the stories were true.
Until the night of her 17th birthday, when the arrival of two strangers intrudes on her cozy life. Polar opposites, like fire and ice, Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair, cold, and aloof. Skye has no idea what they want—only that their presence coincides with the beginning of some shockingly strange events. Events that Skye, if she dares to think it, might be responsible for causing.

 
High up in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado, Skye finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient battle, one that began untold millennia ago. Torn between unpredictable Asher, whom she loves, and the infuriating Devin, who she can’t stay away from, her fate is murky as a starless night. And as the secrets of her true identity are revealed, Skye realizes that her destiny may reside in the Heavens—or somewhere darker
 
What are you waiting on? Leave a comment :)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Review: Dead Beautiful

Title: Dead Beautiful

Author: Yvonne Woon

Publisher: Hyperion

Pages: 480

Source: Friend

Rating: 5/5

(Goodreads) Summary:

On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renée Winters was still an ordinary girl. She spent her summers at the beach, had the perfect best friend, and had just started dating the cutest guy at school. No one she'd ever known had died. But all that changes when she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest, in what appears to be a strange double murder.
After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.”
It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.
Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.


My Thoughts:

I don't know why but I always seem to enjoy YA books that take place at a school/academy for the "gifted" or "supernaturals". When I first read the summary of this book I thought to myself "Oh no another one of THOSE books that involves mysterious deaths of the parents and a creepy suspicious school." But of course, I ended up loving it!

The beginning wasn't necessarily boring but it was very unoriginal. Luckily, it immediately got better as soon as Renee arrived at Gottfried Academy. The students attending did not study normal school subjects, there were unnecessary rules, and kids under the age of 18 have died there of "heart attacks." What really kept me wondering about the academy is that the students seemed to know nothing. They just thought it was a strict school making the mystery of it much more suspenseful.

At Gottfried Renee meets her love interest Dante. While most kids seem like normal school kids at the academy, Dante is the odd-boy-out. He doesn't talk to anyone, he can't go underground, he can't kiss Renee, and he found the boy who died of a "heart attack" in the woods. He was so much I fun to read about because of how suspicious and different he was.  I kept hoping every time he was with Renee that he would reveal what made him different! I thought his and Renee's love connection was set at a perfect pace and was very believable.

Upon finding out what made Gottfried and Dante so different from normal students, the idea was new (for the most part) and left me craving for more information. Readers don't find out until the end of the book and I wish I found out sooner to read about them more but it is what made the book suspenseful...and there is a sequel! I can't tell you the secret of Gottfried because it would spoil the book so I highly suggest you go read it!

I really loved this book and I can't wait to read the sequel Life Eternal. Yvonne's writing style was fun and easy to read. I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense and romance!







Friday, July 1, 2011

Interview With Talia Jager

Here with us today is Talia Jager author of "If I Die Young" and 3 other YA novels. To read my review for "If I Die Young" click here.

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview Talia! What call you tell readers about your book "If I Die Young"?


"If I Die Young" is about sixteen-year-old Caelyn Noel. Diagnosed with asthma five years ago, she has had to live life differently. Now years later, things are finally going her way. She has loving parents, the best friend ever, and the boy she has had a crush on since elementary school has finally noticed her. Then, she collapses in school. To her horror, she finds out her heart is failing and she must receive a heart transplant to live. Caelyn struggles with her fear of dying and the worries of having someone else's heart.


What inspired you to write about a young girl with a life threatening condition?

This book hits the closest to home out of all of my books. Heart conditions run in my family. I had heart surgery as a child. My oldest daughter had heart surgery. I lost a cousin a couple years ago to complications from his heart condition and my uncle is on the transplant list right now. However, it was years ago that the story began unfolding in my head and at that point, I just liked to write YA drama. I've always been a fan medical dramas, so I mixed the two, giving a young girl a life threatening condition.


How long did it take to write the first draft of "If I Die Young"? Was it a challenging process?

I started thinking about it years ago and wrote the first few chapters. I didn't like the beginning, so I went back and wrote another one. Then I put it aside. I picked it back up this year and wrote the rest within a month. The most challenging thing is getting all the medical stuff right. Thankfully, this book was easier than some of my others because of my personal experience with heart conditions. Writing any book is challenging. You have to make sure you develop the characters enough. You want them to be real and you want people to relate to them. The relationships the main character has must be believable and interesting to read. The medical part of it has to be right. The setting is another big one. Researching where you want your book to take place and getting enough of it across to the reader so they can picture what's happening. Balancing dialogue and description can also be challenging. But, it's fun. I write for me and I absolutely love when I hear that someone likes one of my stories. Every single sale or good review makes me smile and jump up and down like a kid on Christmas.


What is your favorite genre to write? What is your favorite genre to read?

I love reading and writing young adult. There's nothing like it! I will read other genres occasionally, but when I walk in a bookstore (or eBookstore), I go directly to the YA section.

When you aren't writing or reading, what are some other activities you enjoy?

Being with my family is most important. Whether we're playing board games or the Wii, talking a walk, or watching a movie, I love spending time with them. I also like scrapbooking, photography, listening to music, and watching movies/TV.


Are you currently working on a book?

Yes. I just finished the first draft on a YA paranormal and am halfway through a dark, edgy YA drama. My next project will be the sequel to "The Ultimate Sacrifice".


Where can readers find more information on you and your books?

My blog: http://taliajager.blogspot.com


*Quick Answers*

 
Favorite ice cream flavor?

I'm a chocolate girl. I just tried something like chocolate cake and it was delicious, but I haven't been able to find it since.

Summer or Winter?

Summer

Favorite holiday?

Christmas

White or dark chocolate?

Milk chocolate. (But, if I have to pick between those, I'd say dark).

Favorite author?

There's so many! Right now, I'd say Cassandra Clare.
Thanks a ton Talia!

Thank you for having me!