Where I've Been...

Hey guys. I just wanted to apologize for disappearing without warning for the last couple of days and offer a bit of explanation.

I am sick. Nothing life-threatening, but sick enough that I don't want to do much of anything that requires thinking or moving or really doing much of anything, including blogging.

Obviously, I'm up enough to get this post up, but I'm going to take tomorrow off as well and use this weekend to get better. Hopefully I'll be back to business as usual by Monday. Hope you guys are having a great weekend! :)

Waiting on Wednesday: The Warlock

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.*

This week, I'm waiting on The Warlock by Michael Scott. It's the fifth book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, and I'm not going to post a synopsis because I don't want to spoil the earlier books for those of you who haven't read them. But what I will say is this:

I love these books. They are so full of mythology and history and action and comedy, and I adore them. I can't wait for The Warlock to find out what happens to Josh and Sophie and the Flamels next! And Scatty. Scatty = FAVORITE. At any rate, The Warlock comes out on May 24th and I can't wait to read it!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by to visit!

Release Day Reminder!

Today is the release day for Vesper by Jeff Sampson, which I reviewed last week. I know there have been a few copies spotted already because some stores put them out early, but today's officially the day! That book you read about last week? You can read it now. :)

Review: Hunger

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 174
Series: Horsemen of the Apocalypse #1
Rating: 3/5
From the back cover:
"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world."


Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she's been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home -- her constant battle with hunger and the struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life and to face the horrifying effects of her awesome new power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power -- and the courage to fight her own inner demons?

---------------

This review is a hard one for me to write. I had a lot of problems with this book, but at the same time I thought it had a really interesting premise and I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style. The idea behind the story is simple enough: Lisa is anorexic, depressed, and one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Three pills into her suicide attempt, Death shows up at her front door and hands her the role of Famine. Lisa doesn't know how to handle the new job, especially not with all the pressure from her family and her boyfriend and her ex-best friend, but maybe, just maybe, it will teach her some important lessons.

My main objection to Hunger was at the very beginning. When Death shows up to hand her the Scales that are the symbol of the office of Famine, Lisa is three pills into a suicide attempt. He says a couple of weird sentences, hands her some scales, and leaves. Lisa decides that she is hallucinating (and fat), but says "At least I'm not depressed anymore." Not right-this-second suicidal I can understand. To be so torn up as to be in the middle of a suicide attempt and then decide after a brief interruption that she's not at all depressed anymore? It didn't seem realistic. At all.

My other problem was the characterization of Lisa and her friends. All we really know about Lisa is that she's anorexic. Everything we see about her character is directly related to anorexia. We don't know who she is as a person, we know who she is as an anorexic girl. By the end, we do see a few of her character traits, but it's still mostly about her anorexia. Tammy is just the bulimic friend. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the way that subject was handled, but all we know about Tammy is that she's bulimic. The relationships with James and Suzanne are more interesting, but we don't know really anything about them, either.

That aside, I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style, and the concept was really cool. Death was my favorite character by far, and it was interesting to see the way Lisa's role as Famine affected her personal life and vice versa. Despite my initial problems with the characters, I did enjoy the book and will most likely read the second one when it comes out. Hunger is not a book that I'm going to press into someone's hands and say "Read this!" but I do think it makes a good read.

Links:

Jackie Morse Kessler's website

~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to take a moment today to wish my (not-so-)little brother a very happy birthday today!

In My Mailbox (10)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren which allows bloggers to share what books they got during the week.

This week I just have one new one, and it showed up rather unexpectedly in the mail (which is always the best way, in my opinion - nothing like a surprise book to make a day much better!). Thanks very much to Katie of Katie's Book Blog for my ARC of Torment by Lauren Kate.

Really looking forward to reading this! Although I might have to skim through Fallen again to get the details... it's been a while since I read it.

What did you guys get this week?

Books from Before (5)

*Books from Before is my own meme, in which I talk about a book or series that I read and enjoyed before I started blogging. You're welcome to use my meme, but credit me please!*

This week I want to share with you is one of my favorite dark-and-creepy novels. Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender is basically a ghost story. It's incredibly creepy, and it's also incredibly well done. There is so much to love about this book. If you get scared easily, don't read it after dark! But definitely make time to read it, because it's awesome.

Description from Goodreads:

When Alexis's little sister Kasey becomes obsessed with an antique doll, Alexis thinks nothing of it. Kasey is a weird kid. Period. Alexis is considered weird, too, by the kids in her high school, by her parents, even by her own Goth friends. Things get weirder, though, when the old house they live in starts changing. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in. Kasey is changing, too. Her blue eyes go green and she speaks in old-fashioned language, then forgets chunks of time.

Most disturbing of all is the dangerous new chip on Kasey's shoulder. The formerly gentle, doll-loving child is gone, and the new Kasey is angry. Alexis is the only one who can stop her sister -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

-------------

See, it even sounds awesome. Absolutely read it. And the sequel, From Bad to Cursed, is due out before too long, too. You won't even have to wait for the sequel.

Book Trailer Love!

A full length book trailer has been released for Lesley Livingston's Tempestuous and I LOVE it. I still haven't gotten to read the book (*glare at local bookstore and library*), although I want to ASAP, but in the meantime... I am seriously loving this trailer. And now I'll shut up and let you watch:



This is what a book trailer should look like. For real. (And if you haven't read Wondrous Strange, go do that right now. It's excellent.)

Review: Unearthly

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 448
Series: Unearthly #1
Rating: 5/5
Description from Goodreads:

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

---------------

I don't even know where to start. School and travel made it hard for me to really get started with this one, but once I started, I barely put it down (exceptions: participation-required school events, such as a physics quiz. Stupid school). It was fantastic. Unearthly sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

The summary seems a little off to me; at the beginning of the novel, Clara already knows she's part angel. In fact, she is receiving her Purpose - the big mission that is basically the point of her life. Her family (Clara, her mom, and her brother Jeffrey) moves to Wyoming so that she can find the boy who she believes she must save from a forest fire, but she doesn't have a clue about the particulars. Christian is everything she imagined the boy of her dreams to be, and then there's Tucker - her best friend's brother, who picks on her incessantly from the moment she arrives and who just might really like her. And while Clara is figuring out her Purpose in life, she's also learning more than she thought there was to know about her angel heritage...

Cynthia Hand has created a world that is absolutely riveting. I love, love, love her idea of angel-bloods and their Purposes, and just everything about the supernatural world she has created. And the characters are really fantastic - not just Clara and Christian and Tucker, but also Wendy and Angela and Jeffrey and Clara's mom (and, and, and...). Any one of them could easily be real; they're multifaceted and flawed, and the relationships between the characters seemed genuine too. Not to mention the story itself, which was simply captivating -- I needed to keep reading, to find out what would happen next, what else the characters would face.

I'm trying hard not to just go into a gushing rant about Unearthly but apparently that isn't working so well. At any rate, I loved this book, and I absolutely recommend it. Go forth and read!

Links:
Cynthia Hand's website
Cynthia Hand's blog

Waiting on Wednesday

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.*

This week, I'm waiting on Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. It was the title, not the cover, that first made me want to pick this one up (although it also has a pretty cool cover), but the story sounds awesome too:

Description from Goodreads:
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

**********

Ghost story! I love ghost stories. And this one sounds excellent. When September rolls around and it comes out, I'll have to get my hands on a copy. Plus, I love that tagline: "Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story..." Amuses me a lot for some reason.

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by!

Series vs. Standalones

Several times recently, I've had the same conversation with one of my friends: which is better, series books or standalone novels?

It's not exactly a debate, because I haven't picked a side. I think both sides have their pros and cons, and I don't think there is a right answer - there are standalone books that I like better than some series, and there are series that I prefer to any sort of standalone. I think which option is "better" depends on the individual book.

Harry Potter is one of my favorite book series of all times, and those seven books are some of my absolute favorites. That absolutely would not have worked as a standalone. It needed to have all seven books, all the many thousands of pages. Other examples: Percy Jackson, the Mortal Instruments, Series of Unfortunate Events... the list goes on.

I love series books. I tend to get really attached to characters, and I love that I get more than one book to get to know the characters and the world and to experience their story. But if the story arc peters out after book two and the only reason the series continues is to make money, then -- NO! Leave it! This is what I think happens too much with movies, but it applies just as much to books. Shrek, for example - I thought it was a great movie: cute, funny, just fun to watch. But the rest of the Shrek films? No, they were just there to make money. The second one was still pretty good, but the third one? Meh. And the fourth one? I wouldn't even watch it. It happens to books, too. If it's only got a story for one book, leave it that way!

Of course, there are exceptions. To use a kiddie example, the Boxcar Children: each book told its own story, its own mystery, but the characters were the same. Magic Tree House was that way too. Actually, now I think about it, most kids' series are... hm. Better example: Redwall. I personally haven't read all of them, but my brother has (multiple times). There are something like twenty Redwall books out now, and that's okay - each one does tell its own story, it's not one story arc spread way too thin or adding sequels just to make money.

I have no objection to series. Generally speaking, I love them. I just think that creating a series for the sake of creating a series usually means that the quality of the writing is not as good as it could be.

But of course, I also love standalone novels. Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines, both by John Green, are right up there on my very-favoritest-books list -- and they're both standalone novels. People constantly ask John whether there will be sequels for his books, and despite my love for those characters and those worlds, I'm glad the answer is no. Those books don't need sequels. Their stories are complete. And if it's not clear what happens to the characters afterwards, well, that's okay -- it's good to leave some things to the reader's imagination. The same is true of all of the books I've read by Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti and Laurie Halse Anderson; it's true of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why; it's true of many books.

The way I see it, series vs. standalone only has a right answer in relation to an individual book or series. But that's my opinion. What do you think?

Review: Vesper

Title: Vesper
Author: Jeff Sampson
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 304
Series: Deviants #1
Rating: 4/5
From the back cover:
Emily Webb is a geek -- and happy that way. She's never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for parties. And she definitely doesn't start fights or flirt with other girls' boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that... the same night a classmate -- also named Emily -- is found mysteriously murdered.

The thing is, Emily doesn't know why she's doing this. Every night, she gets wilder, until it's not just her personality that changes; she's also becoming strong, fast, and utterly fearless. Has she been bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely -- something not human?

---------------

Vesper surprised me, and it confused me. It bothered me in places. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me shudder. It definitely was not what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.

Our story begins with shy, geeky Emily Webb dressed in an outfit she would never wear and attempting to climb out of her bedroom window. A few minutes later, she snaps back to reality, horrified by what she has almost done. Then she gets a phone call: Emily Cooke, a girl from her school, has been shot and killed. Her body was found barefoot, pajama-clad, three miles from her home.

Emily Webb is affected in a way she can't explain by the death of the other Emily, and even as she grieves the loss of a classmate she barely knew, she is changing. Each night, she is hit with a crippling pain, and then she changes into someone different - still Emily, but an Emily who is bold and brazen and maybe even a little slutty. And then she changes even more, into something that may not even be human. Mixed in with the story are transcripts of a conversation Emily has with someone called "F. Savage" describing her adventures.

At first, based on the transcripts, I was expecting a straight-up science fiction novel, but that wasn't what I got. It's a mystery - a murder mystery and a who-am-I mystery all wrapped into one. The plot was excellent. I just kept turning pages, eager to find out what was going on and what would happen next. I hope it doesn't take too long for the sequel, because I want it (a problem, since this one isn't even out until next week).

The only problem I had was Megan. I'm not sure why Emily and Megan were actually friends; it definitely wasn't the kind of friendship I'd want to have. I just didn't like her at all, and I wished we had gotten to know a little more about who she was.

Despite that, Vesper was an intriguing story that kept me reading and left me wanting more. I recommend it, especially if you like a nice dark blend of fantasy, science fiction, and murder mysteries...

Vesper comes out one week from today (on January 25, 2011), so be looking for it soon! :)

Vesper counts towards the Debut Author Challenge and my Missing Letters challenge.


Links:
Jeff Sampson's website

In My Mailbox (9)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren in which we bloggers talk about what books we got during the past week.

I have 3 new ones this week, all from the library:

-Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
-Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (this book just won a Printz Award, so congratulations to the author!)
-Unraveled by Gena Showalter


What did you guys get this week?

Books from Before (4)

Books from Before is my own weekly Saturday meme, in which I talk about books that I read and loved before I started blogging. You're welcome to participate, but please credit me and leave your link in the comments!

This week I want to talk a little bit about Percy Jackson. If you haven't read The Lightning Thief, turn off your computer right now and go read it. Seriously. Go. It is that awesome.

Percy, Grover, and Annabeth (the protagonist and his two best friends) find themselves caught up in a prophecy -- and the mystery of who stole Zeus's lightning bolt. Our heroes are campers at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods. Every camper there has one parent who is an Olympian, a Greek god. Book one is about the lightning bolt mystery, but the prophecy carries them through five books of danger, mystery, mythology, and hilarity.

These books make me laugh so much, and I learned a lot of Greek mythology from them, too. Plus, engaging, action-packed stories with incredible characters. I love them. And you should read them.

Oh, but I haven't seen the movie. Has anyone else? Was it any good? I'm a little skeptical...

Review: Misguided Angel

Title: Misguided Angel
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 265
Series: Blue Bloods #5
Rating: 4/5
**WARNING: Spoilers from earlier books (not this one)**
From the book jacket: 
After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the five remaining gates that guard the earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silver Bloods.

Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of a crumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss of Kingsley and with her overwhelming desire to destroy Jack, she must focus all her energy on a perilous new threat. Vampires are being abducted and their captors are planning to burn them alive online... for all the world to see. Help arrives in the form of Deming Chen, a Venator from Shanghai, who must untangle the web of deceptions before the killers strike again.

As the young vampires struggle for the survival of the coven, they uncover a deadly secret, a truth first discovered by Schuyler's mother during the Renaissance but kept buried for centuries. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler to a terrible choice that will ultimately map the destiny of her heart.

---------------

A warning before you read this book: Make sure you've read the previous books in the series, and recently. I've read all the other Blue Bloods books, but apparently not recently enough, because I spent the first sixty pages of Misguided Angel being seriously confused. I couldn't remember why Schuyler and Jack were in Italy or where Oliver was.

At first, I was prepared to give this book a "meh" rating or maybe not even finish it -- I thought maybe I'd go back and reread it once I had refreshed my memory of the earlier books. But Melissa de la Cruz sucked me in with her writing and I couldn't put it down. It almost didn't matter that I'd forgotten a lot of what happened: this novel tells a story in and of itself. (Of course, it also helps a ton that I did eventually remember most of the earlier books...side note: I really do love these books, I just haven't read them recently enough. I did not forget them because they are bad; they're awesome.)

Anyway. Before I go on getting distracted, the book: Schuyler and Jack are in Italy looking for the Gate of Promise. Mimi wants revenge on Jack and she's torn apart by her love for Kingsley, but as the Regent, she can hardly spend her time on that. Not when Blue Blood lives are in danger -- which they are. A new threat has arisen... well, sort of new. The Silver Bloods are very much involved.

Instead of switching between characters frequently, Misguided Angel is divided into thirds. The first third is told from Schuyler's perspective, the second from Mimi's, and the third from Deming's. I thought Deming was an interesting addition to the cast of the series, and even though I'm not a fan of her name ("Schuyler" I just love, "Deming" not so much), I loved her character. Mimi...I just don't like her very much. Schuyler didn't seem very real to me, but I wished there had been more to her part of the story.

What I loved was that even though the three sections of the book are told from very different perspectives and one takes place on the other side of the globe from the others, they still worked together to explore ultimately the same mystery. Obviously, I don't think you should read this if you haven't read the earlier ones in the series...but if you have, read this one! (Before you forget!)

One thing is for sure, Melissa de la Cruz can write. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series...

Links:
Melissa de la Cruz's website
Blue Bloods website

Books? Where?!

Idle curiosity begs me to ask: where do you guys get your books?

Most of what I read comes from the library; second-most of what I read comes from the stack of books my dad and I bring back from NCTE each November (for the last three years, anyway). I'm a high school student without a job, so I don't have a whole lot of money to spend buying books -- and I have even less shelf space for them.

Most of the time, this system works really well. But when a new book comes out and I can't buy it and the library doesn't have a copy... then I run into trouble. (Last Sacrifice, for example. I STILL HAVEN'T READ IT and it's kind of killing me, because I need to know what happens, likenow.) If a friend gets it, I'll borrow it from them, but if no one I know has it... I either keep pestering my librarian until the library gets a copy, scrounge up the funds to buy the book and pray that I'll find shelf space, or simply don't read it. I really hate that last option, but it happens all too often.

What about you? Do you ever have trouble getting your hands on a book you really want to read? What do you do when that happens?

Waiting on Wednesday: Forgotten

No, I don't mean I forgot about Waiting on Wednesday (an awesome upcoming-books meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine). I mean that the book I'm waiting on this week is Forgotten by Cat Patrick.

Description from Goodreads: 
Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Part psychological drama, part romance, and part mystery, this thought-provoking novel will inspire readers to consider the what-if's in their own lives and recognize the power they have to control their destinies.

*********

This sounds totally intriguing. It's like amnesia, every day. Plus there's a dreamworld? And also, I love this cover. The swirl of red flowers is eye-catching and just plain cool. The concept reminds me a lot of the movie Memento (which, if you haven't seen, you should) - an inability to remember, made up for through the use of notes. I love this concept and will be eagerly awaiting the release of Forgotten on June 7th.

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by!

Slaughterhouse Five

I recently finished Slaughterhouse Five (by Kurt Vonnegut) for a school assignment. I chose it from a list for a few reasons: my father's been encouraging me to read it for ages, I've been meaning to read it for a while anyway, and, okay, it was at one point the nerdfighters' Blurbing Book Club book. This isn't a review -- this is just me trying to put my thoughts in order.

It was so strange.

I enjoyed it, but it was very odd. It took basic chronology and totally messed it up. Also, there was an alien abduction. I can't decide whether it's historical or scifi or what.

I loved the way the author sort of tangled up his own story in Billy Pilgrim's. It made it kind of confusing at times, but I thought it was cool. I thought the set-up -- flashing between different moments in Billy's life -- was really confusing, until I got to the end, and then it sort of made more sense.

I did get really annoyed by the writing at times though. I felt like it had taken "show, don't tell" and turned it on its head to go with "tell, don't show." Sometimes it was amazingly difficult to just read. I felt like we only got to know Billy through how others saw him and not so much through who he was.

Have any of you guys read Slaughterhouse Five? If you have, please leave me a comment (or send me a message), I really want to know what other people think of this book!

(Random aside: It's 1/11/11. That date makes me a lot happier than it should. November 11 is going to be a little bit epic.)

Review: Nevermore

Title: Nevermore
Author: Kelly Creagh
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pages: 543
Series: Nevermore #1
Rating: 4/5
From the book jacket:
Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due -- so unfair -- on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he'd rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can't help but give this enigmatic boy with piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. His life depends on it.

---------------

My thoughts about Nevermore are incredibly mixed. At first, I hated it. I thought Isobel was an idiot and the story was too predictable and stereotypical and there were things that just didn't make sense. By page ten, I was ready to put it down. Isobel was freaking out about how long a ten-page assignment is by comparing it to the Gettysburg Address - a document known for its brevity - and she and her friend were talking about "oh my gosh he wrote on your skin" as if that were something horrible and evil. Maybe it's just the culture of the school I go to, but ten pages in a month isn't something to freak out about and writing a phone number on a hand to get in touch for a project is pretty normal.

I didn't understand how this book had gotten such rave reviews from so many people - it frustrated me. But I decided to give it to page fifty, just to be fair. After a little bit more reading, I glanced down and realized I was on page 128 and not at all ready to stop reading.

The writing sucked me in. Despite the fact that Isobel is someone that in real life I would probably dislike, I had to respect her - she stood up for what she loved (cheerleading and wearing pink and looking nice) even when she was being picked on, and she stood up for what she thought was right (not picking on Varen) even when her friends and boyfriend weren't on her side. She's a strong character in that regard. And I loved Varen. A lot. And then, of course, there's the story.

Some of it took a while to make sense. I felt like the drama with Brad and Varen was kind of way over the top. But in the story world, all of it worked. I loved the Edgar Allan Poe influences, the creepiness, the mystery, the relationships between Isobel and her family and Varen (even if the dynamic between Isobel and Varen did sometimes seem unlikely), I adored the character of Gwen, I just loved reading Kelly Creagh's writing. I was completely sucked into what was going on and, once I finally got into it, I barely put the book down until I finished. Despite my frustrations, there's a lot about this book that I really love.

So, basically - I encourage you to read this book. If the beginning frustrates you, do not despair, it does in fact get much better. I still have my problems with some of it, but I was drawn into it and loved it anyway.

Links:
Kelly Creagh's website

Eek!

So I just signed in and was on the Blogger dashboard (yes, I know it's 1:40 AM, be quiet, of course I have a life) and it told me that I now have 100 followers!

I may have just done an insane happy dance in my bedroom.

Who would have thought that a hundred people would be interested in what I have to say?! Thank you guys so, so much. You rock. You really do.

Love! ♥

Twitter?

I've heard so much about Twitter and Twitter parties and "such-and-such author posted this on Twitter!" and "this is happening on Twitter" and all of that I finally decided to check it out.

So I'm on Twitter now. You can follow me at @bookwormblvd. I'm still kind of trying to figure out how it works and I'm not sure how much I'll use it -- probably more for following other people's posts than adding my own by a long shot, but at any rate, it is there!

Lovely readers, how many of you are on Twitter?

Addendum: Being on Twitter is not going to change anything at all about the blog, except that now you can follow me in two places if you want to. Just to clarify. :)

Books from Before (3)

Books from Before is my own meme, which I started... a month or so ago maybe? and failed to keep up with because of trying to do a ton of other things. It was and still is an idea that I like, though, so I'm going to start it up again. In Books from Before, I spotlight a book (or series) that I read and loved before I started blogging. You're welcome to participate, just please credit me (and if you wanted to leave a link in the comments, I'd love to see your Books from Before).

This week I want to talk about the Series of Unfortunate Events. I read all thirteen of these books - twice. And I kind of want to reread them.

They are so chock-full of literary references and clever codes and anagrams, and they're hilarious, and they're just overall wonderful. The series follows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents are killed and their home destroyed in a terrible fire. The three children, now orphans, are shuffled from one terrible guardian to the next, all the while pursued by their evil relative Count Olaf - who wants the fortune their parents left behind.

It's been a few years since I read them, but I absolutely adore this series. I'm sure if I were to go back and reread them now, I'd notice even more references and codes and well-hidden jokes than I did the first two times around. This is one of those series that I think simply everyone should read.

So what say you, readers? Any other SoUE fans out there?

"If I Find You...It's Already Too Late"

I absolutely adored The Body Finder (Goodreads | my review). I cannot wait to read Desires of the Dead (I reeeally wanna read that book) - it comes out February 15. But in the meantime, the book trailer has been released! Kimberly Derting posted it on her blog Wednesday, and now I'm sharing it with you. Because really? This trailer is made of awesome. Enjoy!

Review: Raised by Wolves

Title: Raised by Wolves
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Egmont USA
Pages: 418
Series: Raised by Wolves #1
Rating: 5/5
Description from Goodreads:
Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it. That doesn't mean that she's averse to breaking a rule or two.

But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian's basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents' murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.

But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she's shaped?

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Werewolves are becoming more and more commonplace in YA, but Raised by Wolves is anything but commonplace. I would have loved to devour it in one sitting (sadly, school foiled that plan). It takes the typical werewolf mythology, puts a new and creative spin on it, and then uses that to tell an incredible story. It wasn't a story about werewolves so much as it was a story told through werewolves. Yes, the main characters are part of a pack of werewolves and that completely drives the plot of the novel, but it wasn't about werewolf-ism. It was about identity and growing up and, to a degree, girl power. I feel like I didn't explain that very well, but I mean it as the highest compliment.

The premise is straightforward and complex at the same time. Bryn is a human girl raised in a pack of werewolves; she belongs with them, almost to them, and they are her family. But when she discovers a caged boy who was not born a werewolf but Changed, everything she thought she knew changes, because she is connected to Chase in a way that should not be possible. The plot is one of the many things I adored about this book - it wasn't predictable, it kept moving all the time, it was gripping and engaging, and it kept me reading almost compulsively. Plus, there was just enough tension so that the romantic element was sort of vaguely present, but it was all about the plot. It's so nice to encounter a paranormal novel that isn't a drippy love story.

I also loved Bryn's voice. She's funny and sarcastic and not afraid to stand up for herself, but she also has moments of dark reflection on the tragedies in her past. I especially loved the flashbacks to her childhood and the communication with the wolves - sentence structure and the use of "Mommy" instead of "Mom" can do wonders. Here again, I don't think I'm explaining very well. What I'm trying to say is, Jennifer Lynn Barnes can write. Wow.

The only thing I would change is that I wanted to see more of Devon and I wanted Chase to be more developed. For someone who is apparently Bryn's best friend, Devon got astonishingly little page time - which is unfortunate, because who doesn't love a clever, show-tunes-singing, werewolf best friend? He's a great character, hopefully we get more of him in book two. And Chase...I want to know more about him.

I'm going to stop talking now before I spoil something by accident. Instead, I will leave you with this: Raised by Wolves is one of the best ones out there. I highly recommend it.

Links:
Jennifer Lynn Barnes' website

Waiting on Wednesday (for Thursday)

This particular Wednesday marks a very special date for Bookworm Boulevard. I've been blogging for exactly six months today! I guess that means I'm shedding my "newbie" status, although I hardly feel like a blogging expert. Either way, I'm having fun - I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am!

Anyway, I won't have to wait long for the book I'm featuring today, because it comes out tomorrow! So this is sort of a combined Waiting on Wednesday/New-Release Alert post. I've been meaning to put this in a WoW for a while, but I never got around to it - and suddenly release day is here! Anyway, this week I can't wait to read XVI by Julia Karr.

Description from Goodreads: 
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.

**********

I think this sounds darkly creepy and immensely intriguing. (Plus, I love the name Nina Oberon.) I want to know what this life-changing secret about the past is. Fortunately, I don't have to wait long, because it's out tomorrow! Yay!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by!

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.*

Missing Letters Challenge

If you look at my reviews archive, you will see that I haven't reviewed any books with titles beginning with the letters O, Q, V, X, Y, or Z, probably because there aren't a whole lot of books that have those first letters. The spaces are kind of bothering me.

They are also bothering a friend of mine, who challenged me to get at least one book for each letter. For O, I have Once in a Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber, and for V I have Vesper by Jeff Sampson, but I still don't know for the other letters. If you know of any good books that have titles beginning with Q, X, Y, or Z... let me know! They're pretty uncommon letters, which, I guess, is why it's a challenge.

I don't have a specific end date set for this challenge, but I'm going to try to do it by summer. And I'm challenging you: if there are missing letters in your review archive... fill the holes! If you decide to participate, leave a comment with your name and your missing letters, and we can help each other find great books to meet our missing-letter goals.

And so the quest begins.

Interview with a Blogger...Me!

Hey guys!

Cathy from The Crazy Bookworm has just started a new feature called Interview with a Blogger, and today's interview is with me! If you want to see the interview, you can find that at this link. If you don't care about the interview, I suggest that you head over anyway just to check out her blog, which you can do by clicking here.

In other news, I go back to school today. For those of you who are still in school, when do you go back?

Review: The Unidentified

Title: The Unidentified
Author: Rae Mariz
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 296
Rating: 4/5
From the book jacket: 
Fifteen-year-old Katey (aka Kid) goes to school in the Game -- a mall converted into a "school" run by corporate sponsors. As the students play their way through the levels, they are also creating products and being used for market research by the sponsors, who are watching them 24/7 on video cameras.

Kid has a vague sense of unease but doesn't question this existence until one day she witnesses a shocking anticorporate prank. She follows the clues to uncover the identities of the people behind it and discovers an anonymous group that calls itself the Unidentified. Intrigued by their counterculture ideas and enigmatic leader, Kid is drawn into the group. But when the Unidentified's pranks and even Kid's own identity are co-opted by the sponsors, Kid decides to do something bigger -- something that could change the Game forever.

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I think the thing that hit me hardest about this book is that it's totally plausible. Maybe not in the immediate future, but the technology of the Game is fast approaching and education spending is decreasing and corporations are on the rise... is it really so ridiculous to imagine a world where "school" is a blend of technology, video games, and marketing?

Before I get too rambly, let me start at the beginning. Katey, known to her friends as "Kid," is basically the epitome of mediocrity in the Game. She has decent scores, "riding high on the bell curve" as her advisor puts it, a few friends... she's not on the It List (which is an actual list in the Game), she's not a social pariah, she's just...average. And she's happy that way, mostly. And then an anti-corporate prank rattles her world. She's the only one who seems to care - and that attracts attention. Suddenly corporations want her, her friends don't understand her sudden popularity, she maybe has a boyfriend -- and the anonymous group responsible for the prank knows she knows about them. Cue mystery and hidden agendas.

It took me a while to get into The Unidentified for a couple of reasons. First, the set-up was kind of confusing; I didn't really understand the Game for the first several chapters. Second, the slang was not what I was used to; Kid and Mikey and Ari were using words that I didn't know. It took some getting used to. But once I got into it...wow. I couldn't put it down.

I love that The Unidentified challenges us to think. To think about popularity, and fashion, and corporate America, and what it means to have an identity. The ideas that this book tackles are so big and so real that it's impossible to read it without fully engaging your brain - and that's a good thing. But at the same time, it's a very basic look at friendship and humanity that is just as applicable now as in the technology-dominated society Kid lives in.

It's a bit confusing at times, but I think The Unidentified is definitely worth your time.

Links:
Rae Mariz's website

New Years Resolutions, Blog Edition

Happy New Year, readers!

In addition to a few personal resolutions, I've set a few goals for the blog this year. I'm trying to set goals that I can actually meet but ones that will challenge me to make Bookworm Boulevard the best it can be. Here they are:

1. Post frequently! Every day is probably not realistic, but I'm going to try for five days a week (with the exception of holidays).

2. Get rid of the "nothing" posts. If it's a post not to say something but just for the sake of posting something, then it probably isn't worth posting. (I used the word "post" a lot in that sentence.)

3. Be more involved in the blogger community. Comment more on other blogs, participate in challenges, contribute to things - like I said, be involved.

4. Balance professional and personal. I don't want to sound like a textbook or anything - I'm still trying to find "my" voice, but once I find it, I'm going to keep using it. But I want to try to keep my personal life off the blog for the most part.

5. Have fun with it. Blogging is something fun, not a chore -- I don't want to push too hard to be like the really successful book blogs and make it more of a job than something I enjoy doing. I really do love book blogging and I want to keep it that way!

Here's to a great 2011, readers!