Bookworm Boulevard

Supernaturally Cover Reveal!

2011-02-19T01:40:00.000-05:00

THIS. I want this one too. ASAP. Paranormalcy was fabulous. And I wanna read the sequel.

I like this cover, although I think I liked the first one better because of the color scheme. But still. This is cool and I am excited.

So Silver Bright Cover Reveal!

2011-02-18T23:37:00.000-05:00

"The course of true love never did run smooth..."

I am excited. Can I have this book right now please? I love this series and I wanna read this one as soon as it comes out. And this cover is gorgeous. I love her dress.

Sorry I've been so absent lately, things around here have been a bit hectic and blogging has had to take a backseat. Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to be able to post much this weekend either, but hopefully next week I'll be able to get back on track. I have several books I want to talk about so I'm not lacking in stuff to post, I just have to write the posts! Apologies again for my absence. I have missed the blogosphere and will be glad to get back into it soon. :)

Also. So Silver Bright. I want it.

Happy February 14th!

2011-02-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

Yes, today is Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day. Honestly, probably my least favorite holiday - if I may be bluntly honest, I think it's disgustingly commercialized and it seems designed to make single people feel bad about themselves. Contrary to society's belief, you don't need a romantic partner to be happy in life.

But what Valentine's Day does provide is a chance to eat lots of chocolate, and that's something I won't complain about. ;)

Happy Hearts Day, readers! ♥

Review: Angel

2011-02-13T00:01:00.024-05:00

Title: Angel
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown
Pages: 272
Series: Maximum Ride #7
**WARNING: Spoilers for earlier books in the series (not for this book)**
Description from Goodreads:
In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, despite herself, Max is starting to believe it.

Fang travels the country collecting his own gang of evolved humans, but the two separate flocks must unite to defeat a frightening doomsday cult whose motto is Save the Planet: Kill the Humans. And this time, the true heroine, for once, might just be little Angel.

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

I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked that it had some semblance of an actual plot and wasn't all just gushy-gushy. I adored the first three books in this series because there was a real story, and I feel like beginning with book four the series has slowly declined. The quality of the writing is a lot lower; the stories are less interesting; and Max, rather than being kick-butt, snarky, and totally independent, is whiny and lovestruck.

Angel basically fits into the same category because (MAJOR FANG SPOILER) Max spends almost the entire book moping about how Fang left her. I like Fang...I also like Dylan. I don't care which one she ends up with, not anymore, as long as she stops complaining about it! (END SPOILER.) And yet...

In this one, there's plot again. The scientists are back to telling Max she has to save the world... except now there's some sort of cult called the Doomsday Group that seems to be able to hypnotize people. Their motto: "Save the world. Kill the humans." In Angel, Max and the flock are investigating the DG, as are Fang and his own new group of genetically enhanced kids. The romance (which I thought was cute in Max and then blatantly overdone in Fang) is still drippy and overdone, BUT there's other stuff going on, too. Angel, who is apparently no longer interested in taking over the flock or betraying them to evil scientists, seems to know more about what is going on than anyone else because of her ability to read minds. She speaks and acts as if she were way older than seven.

I don't know. I like the snarky comments, I like the action, it was a fun read - but it's not the same quality as the first three books, and there's some stuff in here that's starting to seriously get on my nerves. I do think it's a step up from Fang and The Final Warning, and I think if you've enjoyed the others in the series you should definitely read it. I know I'll be reading Book 8 whenever it comes out, if only because despite all my frustrations, I do love these characters a lot.

If you're reading this review on the day I've posted it, take note - Angel releases in stores tomorrow!

Links:
James Patterson's website
Maximum Ride website

Books from Before (6)

2011-02-12T00:54:00.000-05:00

Books from Before is my own meme in which I talk about books that I read and loved before I started blogging. Feel free to use my meme, but please credit me!

Today I want to talk about Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. I read this book around a year ago now and I fell in love. Of course, I love just about everything I've read by MJ, but this one is possibly my favorite. It's funny, it's unique, and the characters are just fantastic. (Personally, my favorite is Spencer. I would love to meet him, I really would.) The idea is so cool, too. Trying to pull of a secret play in a hotel (that just happens to be your home)? Awesome. I laughed out loud while reading this, and I also connected to it in a lot of ways. And the sequel, Scarlett Fever, is just as great. Go read!!!

Goodreads Description:
Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small Art Deco hotel in the heart of New York City.
When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite and a permanent guest named Mrs. Amberson. Scarlett doesn’t quite know what to make of this C-list starlet and world traveler.
And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.
Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery and romantic missteps. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

I love this book so much.

Waiting on Wednesday

2011-02-09T19:03:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

Sorry I'm a little late posting this today! This week I'm waiting on Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. It's a companion to Impulse, and this one follows Connor's sister. I still haven't had the opportunity to finish Impulse but what I have read, I have loved, and I plan to finish it ASAP, so I'm pretty excited about this one too. Plus, isn't the cover just wonderfultastic (which should totally be a real word)? I love the inky sort of blue-purple.

Description from Goodreads:
Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they'd rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.

Cara's parents' unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body - no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run - on the field and off - Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he'll be living a life his ancestors would never understand.

Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?

**********

Sounds awesome, can't wait! What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by!

Bloodlines Cover!

2011-02-08T18:24:00.000-05:00

So I still haven't gotten to read Last Sacrifice (next on my reading list, though, finally! *squeak*), but I adore the Vampire Academy series, so naturally I'm beyond excited about the spinoff series, Bloodlines. And now we have a cover for the first book in that series, also titled Bloodlines:

It's way different from the VA covers (which is probably good), and I'm still not quite sure what I think of it. But I so want to read this book. What do you guys think?

A Note and a Poem

2011-02-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I never got a post up on Saturday, I was going to do a Books from Before and then stuff came up and it didn't happen. I'll have one next week, promise!

So who watched the Superbowl last night? (I didn't. I saw some of the commercials, but I deliberately avoided watching the actual game. I'm not a fan of football, even though most of my family is.) I will say I thought the Volkswagen commercial with the Darth Vader kid was kind of adorable, and some of the others were great too. As for football...well, congratulations to the winners! I know my family is quite pleased that the Packers won and some of my friends are not... Anyway, congrats to both teams on what I assume was a game well played and on making it to the Superbowl, and good job to the Packers for their victory!

I haven't gotten a whole lot of reading done lately, but I did find a poem that I really like, and I wanted to share it with all of you. It's called "Harlem," and it's by Langston Hughes:

Harlem

BY LANGSTON HUGHES

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

2011-02-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Past Midnight
Author: Mara Purnhagen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 216
Series: Past Midnight #1
Description from Goodreads:
Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….

*********

I love when I find a book that completely exceeds my expectations. I thought Past Midnight was going to be good -- certainly not bad, but ghost stories are often hit-or-miss with me, and I thought "good" was as good as it was going to get. But...I was wrong. And in times like these, I love being wrong.

Charlotte's parents are professional ghost-story debunkers. They believe in residual energy, nothing more. They never live in one place for very long, always on the move to debunk more ghost stories. So when they settle in South Carolina with the intent to stay there long-term, Charlotte is thrilled. Until a pair of ghosts turns up in her bedroom...and her new friends turn out to have ghosts of their own.

I loved the friendships between Charlotte and the cheerleaders and Charlotte and Noah. As much as I love romances, I loved that this wasn't a romance. I loved that college was mentioned - it's realistic. I can attest to the fact that high school seniors spend a lot of time thinking about college, so that was a nice touch. And I loved that I didn't solve the mystery before the end of the book - it kept me reading to find out what was going to happen next. Mostly, I just really liked Charlotte as a narrator, too. And, okay, I've read books set in Charleston where you can tell the author has never actually been there, but Mara Purnhagen got it right. So the book gets bonus points for that too. :)

Past Midnight hasn't earned a place on my all-time-favorites, read-them-over-and-over list...but it was definitely an awesome, fun read (and pretty short, too, if you don't want something long). It gets the thumbs-up from me! Check it out if you get the chance.

Oh, and before I go: is this cover gorgeous or what? I'm not sure what about it appeals to me so much, but I love it. It's awesome.

TWO Cover Reveals!

2011-02-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Ally Carter revealed the cover for her next book, Uncommon Criminals, the sequel to Heist Society. I really enjoyed Heist Society so I can't wait to read this one! Without further ado, here's the cover:

You can see the original post at Ally's website, here. What do you think? I love the blue and purple!

AND, if that's not enough... Lesley Livingston just released the cover of her upcoming book Once Every Never. I read and adored Wondrous Strange and Darklight, and although I haven't had access to a copy of Tempestuous yet, I can't wait to read it, so I'm really excited for Once Every Never. And I think this cover is gorgeous. Here it is:

Again, the full blog post is on Lesley's blog, here. What do you guys think?

Musings on the Whole Twilight Thing...

2011-02-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm opening that can of worms. Sort of.

I know a lot of people despise Twilight -- absolutely despise it. I know a lot of people love Twilight, as in, absolutely freaking adore it. I'm in the middle. There are a lot of things that I really don't like about those books. I don't like the way creeper-ness has become synonymous with love ("I like to watch you sleep, every night, by climbing in your window without telling you" is NOT romantic. "You're cute when you're asleep" might be, but the creeper one is not, nor will it ever be) because of Edward Cullen. I don't like the implication that you can never find true happiness without a romantic partner. I really, really hate the idea that it is in any way okay for a boy to tell a girl that she is his only reason for living and that without her, he would kill himself.

BUT...there are also good things about it, primarily this: even though the writing isn't always perfect and there are certain messages that I object to, I can read the books and enjoy them for what they are -- simple, fun stories that are meant to take us away from the realities of day-to-day life for a couple of hours. And in my book (pun intended), anything that can inspire so many teenagers to read is a good thing.

I think it's fine to be a Twilight fan. For a long time, I was a big fan -- and then some stuff happened in my personal life that rather shifted my perspective on a lot of it. Now...I'm sort of in between, I guess. But I don't mind Twilight as a series or a franchise or whatever. No, my two big problems with Twilight have nothing to do with the actual Twilight books:

1. "The next Twilight" is a phrase that I am absolutely sick of hearing. Next time there's a series as popular as Twilight,we'll know it for what is is. Then it'll be "the new XYZ Series," etc. Great books stand on their own. I'm sick of comparing them to Twilight. (This also holds true for Harry Potter, and anyone who's spent five minutes around me in real life will know that I'm a total Harry Potter nerd. This isn't anti-Twilight so much as anti-comparison, but Twilight is the one we hear all the time now.)

2. Twilight copycats. They remade the covers of Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet to look more like the Twilight covers! (I blogged about that a long time ago, actually.) That did not make me happy. And I'm not happy with what vampires have become in the YA Lit world. I like vampires. I don't know why we decided that they should all sparkle just because the Cullens did. I miss evil vampires. But the other thing is that I don't like the automatic associations of everything to Twilight -- "oh, it has vampires AND werewolves in it, and there's a vampire named Victoria and a character named Riley? It's totally a Twilight knockoff." No, no it's not. Unraveled may have taken me a while to get into, but it was still a good book and it was nothing like Twilight. The world is not divided into Twilight-knockoffs and books with no vampires, werewolves, Victorias, Rileys, Edwards, Bellas, Alices, creepers, or anything else that ever appeared in Twilight.

And that got a little bit rantier than I meant for it to. My sincerest apologies. But now that I've said all that... where do you guys fall on this issue?

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

2011-02-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Teen
Series: Delirium #1
Pages: 440
Description from Goodreads:
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love - the deliria - blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
*******

I've gotten slightly behind the times. I wanted to post this yesterday when it came out, but then I was still sick on Monday so yesterday's post ended up being the one I wanted to write Monday about a few minor changes... BUT ANYWAY.

This book. Oh my goodness. Once I started, I couldn't stop reading. I loved it. I really, really did.

In a lot of ways, Delirium is what you'd expect from a dystopian novel. I feel like if Matched and Birthmarked had a child, it would almost-not-quite be this. But I don't mean that in a bad way -- there are certain things that all dystopians have, just as trademarks of the genre, and for what it's worth, I thought Delirium did it very well. Despite the fact that it reminded me of both of those other novels, it is definitely a story all its own.

Lena is seventeen. In ninety-five days, when she turns eighteen, she will get the cure -- the cure for the amor deliria nervosa. Love, the disease that kills you when you have it and when you don't. But then she meets Alex, and everything changes. She's been infected, badly infected, but she's happy that way.

I loved the characters. Lena, Alex, Hana... I want to be their friend. I loved the little things that made them human. Yes, Lena is scared of rebelling. Her fear makes her real, and her courage makes her a heroine worth reading about. I love the development of the relationship between Lena and Alex. I love the friendship dynamic between Lena and Hana. I loved the history, too. The clips from The Book of Shhh at every chapter, the story of how society came to be the way it is, and the personal history, too -- the story of Lena's family. So much awesome packed into 440 pages.

The story kept me turning pages to see what would happen next. And by the end, I knew what was going to happen -- I had figured it out, but I had to keep turning pages because I had to know for sure if I was right. Obviously I'm not going to tell you what that ending was, because that would be terribly spoilery of me, but I will say that I was right. But the fact that I could figure out the end, that it wasn't entirely unpredictable, didn't lessen the story at all. In fact, I think maybe the [insert non-spoilery word here, because all the ones I can think of are spoilery] of the ending just made me love it even more.

I'm going to stop talking now, because I feel like I'm going to say something spoilery by accident if I don't. So I will leave you with three things: 1. Delirium made me go read some poetry. (I love when books give me good poetry to look up.) 2. I want Pandemonium nowww.... And 3. Go read this book right now. Please and thank you. :)

Back, with Updates!

2011-02-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Hi, guys! I'm back now. Turned out I needed a little more time off than I thought I did, but it paid off because I'm feeling much better now. Still sneezing more than I like, but getting better, which is good. I hope nobody else comes down with what I had(/maybe still have, a little), because it is no fun at all.

Anyway, enough about that. I also wanted to tell you about a couple of changes I'll be making on the blog. Nothing big or dramatic, just some little things, but I think they're important.

1. No more numbers. I hate trying to assign numerical values to books. From now on, my reviews will not have "4/5" or "5/5" or "3/5" or any of those things. I'll still fill in stars on Goodreads, I'm sure, but I'm not going to be putting numbers in my reviews. I feel like they're really superficial anyway - two books might both fall in the 4/5 category for me but I could feel completely different about the books. After nearly seven months of trying to conform to what seems to be the predominant system among book bloggers and slowly realizing how much I dislike it, I've decided to stop. No more numbers!

2. What I post is what I want to post. I started out with this goal in mind anyway. I love reading and I love talking about what I read, so I was going to use my blog as an outlet to share the books I like with other people. As I explored the YA-book-blogosphere, I sort of let the trends affect what I posted. I thought it was my job to review everything I read, good or bad, assign ratings, talk about the books professionally. I still want to be honest and professional about what I read, but blogging isn't my job. It's supposed to be something I do for fun -- my way to talk about the books I love. So if I don't like a book, I probably won't post about it. And if I really like a book, I may gush a bit. I want you, my awesome readers, to find out about good books from this -- but it has to be something that I do for me, first.

I'll still be adding the books I talk about to my list of reviews. The way I do these reviews will just change a little. Hope you guys will still enjoy! And as always, thanks for reading. ♥

Where I've Been...

2011-01-29T12:52:00.000-05:00

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

2011-01-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

*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!

2011-01-25T00:01:00.004-05:00

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

2011-01-24T00:01:00.005-05:00

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)

2011-01-23T12:01:00.000-05:00

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)

2011-01-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

*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!

2011-01-21T19:27:00.000-05:00

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

2011-01-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

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

2011-01-19T00:01:00.001-05:00

*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

2011-01-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

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

2011-01-17T00:01:00.050-05:00

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)

2011-01-16T12:01:00.000-05:00

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)

2011-01-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

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

2011-01-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

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?!

2011-01-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

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

2011-01-12T00:01:00.002-05:00

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

2011-01-11T00:01:00.003-05:00

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

2011-01-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-01-09T01:42:00.000-05:00

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?

2011-01-09T00:01:00.002-05:00

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)

2011-01-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

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"

2011-01-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

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

2011-01-06T00:01:00.048-05:00

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?

**********

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)

2011-01-05T00:01:00.019-05:00

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

2011-01-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-01-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

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

2011-01-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

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.

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

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

2011-01-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

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!

100+ in 2011 Challenge

2010-12-31T22:23:00.002-05:00

With just an hour and a half left in 2010, I have chosen another 2011 challenge to participate in (or, if you want to be grammatically correct, a 2011 challenge in which to participate). That's the 100+ Books in 2011 Challenge, hosted by My Overstuffed Bookshelf.

From what I can tell, it's basically exactly what it sounds like: read at least a hundred books in 2011. I'm definitely in! My first book is going to be Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, because even though I listed it as my "currently reading" earlier today, I haven't actually started it yet and probably won't in the next hour and a half (anything started before January 1 doesn't count for the challenge).

Also, allow me to call your attention to the new "Challenges" page that I've added. On this page, I'll be keeping track of my current challenges, as you might guess from the title.

Enjoy the end of 2010, those of you who are still there, and to those of you who have already reached 2011 -- Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010

2010-12-31T13:56:00.000-05:00

Hello, internet, I have returned! It feels like I've been away from Bookworm Boulevard for ages, even though it's only been a few days. I have missed it.

It's crazy to think that six months ago, at the beginning of July, I had no idea the whole book-blogging community existed. I just liked blogging and books and decided to put them together -- and in the process, I discovered the awesome world that is book-blogging.

Thank you guys so much for making it such a wonderful and rewarding experience! I love being a part of all this. Here's to an even better time in 2011! Happy New Year, everybody!

Review: Paranormalcy

2010-12-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 335
Series: Paranormalcy #1
Rating: 4.5/5
From the book jacket:
Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

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

So much for normal, indeed. Paranormalcy is about as far from your normal paranormal romance as it gets while still being a YA paranormal romance, and I mean that in a good way.

The idea of IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency, is brilliant. Because really...if paranormal creatures existed in large numbers, wouldn't the government know about it and have a department for it? It's such a creative spin on the whole thing. I love it. And the story built around it...wow. It will keep absolutely keep you turning pages wanting to know what happens next.

And the characters! Evie is a wonderful character. Her narration is funny and genuine (although I will admit that her obsessions with pink clothes and boys reeeally got on my nerves at times; that was really my only problem with the book - too much pink!). She is so much fun to read about and her voice is incredibly real. The other characters are great too, although I wish we got to see more of them. I wanted more Lish! I could feel Evie's reactions to Reth, and Lend...well, he's just awesome.

Also, I loved that the romance developed normally. Evie and Lend become friends, based first upon their personalities, and that friendship develops into a romance at a normal (if expected) pace. And there was no sex and no swearing, and Evie sticks to one boyfriend. Hooray for an awesomely written story that actually has some semblance of morals! Not that I have a problem with most paranormal romances (I love the genre), but this one was just such a nice change.

In short, Paranormalcy is a delightfully entertaining, refreshing, and all-around fun read that will leave you wanting the sequel. (*tries very hard to wait calmly for Supernaturally*) Absolutely worth your time.

Links:
Kiersten White's website
Kiersten White's blog

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T12:01:00.002-05:00

Okay, technically it's Christmas Eve. But tomorrow is Christmas, and I will be spending that time with my family and not on the internet. So I'm sending out my holiday wishes today. Merry Christmas, everybody!

And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very happy holiday of your choice and hope your December 25 is simply a lovely December day!

I'll probably have a review up on Boxing Day (and, hey - if any of you know of any actual holiday-ish things that happen on Boxing Day, let me know! It's just a regular day here...), because I just finished Paranormalcy (loved it by the way), and after that I really will be taking a break until New Years.

You guys rock. Thanks so much for reading and I'll see (er, write to?) you in January! ♥

Review: Numbers (or, I Clearly Excel at Avoiding the Internet)

2010-12-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Numbers
Author: Rachel Ward
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 325
Series: Numbers #1
Rating: 4/5
From the book jacket:
Since the day her mother died, Jem has know about the numbers.

Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone's eyes. They're dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person's death.

Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. Maybe they can find happiness together, if only in the brief time that remains before his expiration date.

But on a trip to London, Jem foresees a chilling chain of events: The city's a target. The clock's running out. The countdown is on to a blowup!

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

The premise of this book is so cool. The idea just drew me in. It wasn't about exactly what I thought it would be about - the book jacket makes it sound like it's about the discovery of a terrorist plot or something, but that's only in the first quarter of the book. It's more about Jem and Spider on the run afterwards.

I love the Britishness of Numbers. I love the characters. I really love the story. Jem and Spider are so much fun to read about, and Jem is such a complex character - she's literally an outcast of society, and readers can relate to her. And she's got so many questions and problems, about letting people in and and trusting people and coming to terms with death. I wish Spider had been a bit more developed, and the other side characters. Britney, for example - I loved her. I wanted to know more about her.

I also loved the way Rachel Ward explored the idea of knowing when people will die. Is it better to know when you will die or to leave it a mystery? By coming into contact with someone, can you change their future? How much of life is predestined from birth and how much can be changed? So many interesting concepts. It's so cool.

I was not a fan of the ending. Because I am also not a fan of spoilers, I'm not about to tell you what that ending is, but I will say that it would have been a much better book (in my opinion) without the epilogue. If it had stopped before that, it would have been great. That aside, though, I will definitely be reading the sequel soon (I actually have an ARC in my possession, which is what prompted me to read Numbers in the first place).

Also, can I just take a moment to say that this cover is really awesome?

Oh, and one more thing before I go: this book comes with warnings. There's some pretty heavy swearing and, hopefully this isn't a spoiler, a little bit of sex. So keep that in mind before you pick it up.

Links:
Rachel Ward's website

On Accidental Re-reads and Holidays

2010-12-21T16:32:00.000-05:00

I sat down in an armchair around noon this afternoon and looked at the stack of books on the table next to me, all YA books that my dad had brought home to read for the YA Lit class he teaches. Among these books was An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I picked it up and read the author's note in the back and the explanation of the mathematical formula. My cat hopped into my lap, curled up and went to sleep. I didn't want to dislodge him, so I read the first couple of pages of Katherines...and then I read the whole book.

I didn't mean to read the whole thing. But I did. (And I would like you to know that it was just as awesome the second time around. Definitely worth reading. I love it. Not going to do a full review, but it's definitely a five-stars book. Read it!) And you know what? It was nice. I have a massive pile of books that I want to read, but it was very pleasant to just sort of chill and read something that I picked up almost by accident. I haven't done that in a long time. It was incredibly relaxing. So I advise you today: read something just for fun! If you're a reviewer, read something not for review. Just read something for the sake of reading it!

Also, I want to talk about holidays. I realize not everyone celebrates Christmas, so for those of you who don't, I wish you a simply splendid holiday or non-holiday of your preference. To those of you who, like me, do celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas on Saturday.

I say all this now because I may or may not be posting much of anything between now and New Years. I'm on a break from school, finally have some time to relax and catch up on my reading and hang out with my family, plus we'll be traveling. So, I think it might be a good time to take a little bit of a blog-holiday as well. I'll still be posting a little bit, probably, because I'm not very good at staying away from the internet (>_>) but you probably won't see as much of me until January first.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and see you later! <3

Review: So Much Closer

2010-12-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

Title: So Much Closer
Author: Susane Colasanti
Publisher: Viking (Penguin)
Pages: 256
Rating: 3.5
From the book jacket:
In the city that never sleeps, Brooke wakes up to a whole new life.

Scott Abrams is the love of Brooke's life. he just doesn't know it yet. So when his family moves to New York City the summer before senior year, Brooke has no choice but to follow Scott. It's her last chance to prove to him that they're meant to be together.

But the city is full of surprises for Brooke. Ever since a painful family trauma, she's been closed off to her family, to her friends, and even to herself. Now, inspired by the thrilling energy of the bustling and creative city around her, Brooke starts to explore her talents and become someone she never dreamed she'd be.

[Highlight for what I think is a spoiler -->]So what will she do when her dream of love finally comes true...and instead, she wants something more?<--

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

I have very mixed feelings about this book. The writing and the characters were wonderful. Brooke's thoughts and the issues she was dealing with felt very real. Colasanti's writing is splendid. It felt like a real teenager was telling the story the same way she'd tell a story to her best friend - which was excellent, and very well-done, although I will admit that some of the same slang ("like" and the substitution of "goes" for "says") got on my nerves the same way it does in real life.

I loved the characters. It was my love for John and Sadie that really kept me reading to the end of the book, but Brooke was excellent too - she was a genuinely real character, and she challenged herself and the readers to think about what it means to figure out who you are. John was easily my favorite; I wish I could meet a boy like him in real life. Sadie was also fun. I want a Sadie friend. Scott, I did not like. I don't know what it was, he just got on my nerves. He felt flat and boring, and I never understood why Brooke liked him so much. His main character trait seemed to be that he liked The Office. Still, I could put him aside to read more about John and Sadie (and, okay, Brooke too).

But to me, the plot fell flat. I loved the characters and the writing -- I really did -- but the entire premise of the book seemed contrived and ridiculous. At seventeen, she finds out this boy that she's loved from afar for years is moving away, and he just happens to be moving to NYC, where she just happens to have always wanted to go, and where her dad just happens to live? And then she gives up a life with great best friends to move closer to a boy that she doesn't even really know? I mean, I get that teenagers occasionally do dramatic things for what they think is love, but that just seems to be pushing it. And I thought the end was incredibly predictable (although it was executed in such a way that it was also really, really sweet and adorable).

Middle of the road on this one. Characters: A-plus. Writing: A-plus. Plot: D. Maybe a C-minus at best. If you're willing to overlook the strangeness of the premise, though, So Much Closer is still a sweet, fun read. Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed it.

Links:
Susane Colasanti's website

Bookshelves!

2010-12-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

I got a new bookshelf today!

New bookshelves are always exciting. They mean that more books get actual homes instead of just semi-random stacking in completely-random piles on the floor/tops of things/edges of other shelves/etc. And I love going through and organizing my books. Call me crazy and nerdy, but I think it's fun.

Anyway, it's very exciting, so I decided it merited a blog post. Off to continue shelving books! :)

Non-Review: Falling Under

2010-12-17T20:35:00.000-05:00

The lovely people from Penguin, working through the lovely people from Goodreads, were kind enough to send me a review copy of Gwen Hayes' upcoming novel, Falling Under. It has a beautiful cover, which is why I entered to win a copy from Goodreads First Reads, and I only had a sort of vague idea what it was about.

I looked at the back cover and became a lot less interested in reading it. It probably speaks poorly of me that I was willing to skip over a book because the jacket copy was uninteresting, but it just isn't what I'm looking for right now. I don't want something that's another romance based on lust where the guy is totally hot and cold with the girl, which is kind of what the cover makes me think of. Harsh words, perhaps, but they're true. Right now I want something that's going to make me think. I love paranormal romance, but it's not what I want right now. But even so, I was going to give it a chance. I've been wrong before, and I'd love to be wrong about this one.

Then I read the first sentence. That sentence contains the phrase "burning man." A boy at my school lit himself on fire a week ago. I can't read about burning men right now. Even so, I kept going, finishing the first page. It was enough to kind of make me wonder what was going on, but not enough to get me past the ridiculous jacket copy and the fact that a girl who has an iPhone calls her dad "Father."

I'm sure there are people out there who will love this book (and even I think the cover is beautiful), but I don't think I'm going to be one of them. Goodreads and Penguin, thank you for sending me the book, but I won't be reviewing it.

Bloggers: Do you ever get books that you requested like this and then realize that you kind of really don't want to read them? Does it ever make you feel guilty? I got a review copy of this that someone else could have gotten, and I'm not going to read it. On the one hand, that's not good, because it feels like I'm shirking my responsibility. On the other hand, I started this blog so that I could talk about books that I want to talk about, not as something to be a chore. I'll probably pass this one along to someone else who will enjoy it and review it somewhere else. I think life's too short to spend time reading books you don't want to read when there's a pile of books you do want to read just waiting for you. What do you think?

Sorry to get all philosophical on you guys. I try to avoid getting too personal and philosophical on the internet, but it still slips out sometimes. On a lighter note, how many other student/teacher bloggers out there are now starting their winter breaks?!

Review: Paper Towns

2010-12-16T19:13:00.000-05:00

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 305
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life -- dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge -- he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues -- and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

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

Ever since I started this book, I have been asking myself one question: WHY did it take me so long to start reading this?! Paper Towns was fantastic. Simply fantastic.

It's written from a guy's perspective, so there is guy humor, which was a little weird for me in places because, well, I'm not a guy. But that aside -- gahh, I don't even know what to say to express my love for Paper Towns. It's funny, it's sweet, it's heartbreaking, it's beautiful. I laughed out loud several times while I was reading it (I love when books can do that), but there were parts too that were just so full of meaning, and it's just awesome. This book is made of awesome.

It is one of the most quotable books I've read in a long time (I'd share a few, but then I wouldn't ever stop and this post would go on forever, which I don't think you want). I got this one from the library, but I'm thinking I may have to go buy a copy, like, right now, because it's one that I already know I'm going to want to read again.

I'm not actually telling you a whole lot about the book, I guess, but that's because I really don't know what to say. The characters are so real, and the story is engaging, and I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud a lot (yeah, I said that already) and it really made me think (which I love), and also, there are frequent literary references and poetry quotes (that right there is enough to win me over). If you haven't read Paper Towns, I don't know what you're still waiting for. Go get a copy right now.

Links:
John Green's website

Review: Nightshade

2010-12-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Title: Nightshade
Author: Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel Books (Penguin)
Pages: 454
Series: Nightshade #1
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything -- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

**********

Nightshade is one of those books that you sit down to review and realize that you don't know how to describe the amount of awesome you want to convey, if that makes sense. I started off wanting to enjoy it, but I wasn't expecting to be completely blown away. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. It was simply fantastic.

Calla Tor is an alpha wolf, used to leading the younger members of her pack, the Nightshades. On Samhain, also her eighteenth birthday, she and Bane pack alpha Ren Laroche will go through the union, which is the Guardian wolf version of a wedding, and form a new pack, an offshoot of the Nightshades and Banes. Everything seems to be going according to plan, until Calla saves a human in the woods - and then that same human, Shay Doran, shows up at their school. Calla likes Shay, and he likes her, but Calla has been promised to Ren. That might be something Calla could accept, except for two things: one, her Keeper, Logan, wants her to protect Shay, who seems to be in danger from something she doesn't understand; and two, Shay challenges Calla to think about the world in a way she's never thought about it before - including the fact that her very existence as a Guardian may not be what she has always believed it to be.

Calla is easily one of my favorite protagonists. She's a totally kick-butt heroine, totally able and willing to defend herself, but she's not scared to let other people see her cry. Despite the fact that she's actually a wolf, she struck me as more human than almost any other female protagonist I've encountered. I really don't know how else to describe it - she could step off the page and be a living, breathing person, wolf and all. And I loved the dynamics between all the characters, too. Ansel and Bryn and Mason and Neville and Fey and Dax and Sabine and Cosette...I just love them. And Efron made me shudder. Andrea Cremer does characters incredibly well.

And then of course, there's Ren and Shay. Usually, when I read a book where the lead girl is torn between two boys, I know exactly what "team" I'm on from the start. But Ren and Shay are both so real and such compelling characters that I honestly don't know. At the moment, I'm thinking Shay, but I love Ren, too. They both have their strong points and their flaws - they, like Calla, could easily be real. I am beyond impressed with the characters I met in Nightshade.

And then there's the story. I need the sequel, like, now. I want to know the truth about the Guardians and the Keepers and Shay and the Scion, and I have to know who Bosque is, and and and.... you get the idea. Nightshade has a plot that sucked me in and kept me turning pages and left me wanting more.

Read this book. Just do it. You won't be disappointed.

Links:
Andrea Cremer's website

Waiting on Wednesday: Wolfsbane

2010-12-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

Turns out my timing with this post is a little backwards. I'm supposed to rant and rave about my love for Nightshade before I tell you I'm waiting on the sequel, but I wanted to post the City of Fallen Angels cover yesterday, so my review of Nightshade won't be up until tomorrow.

Now that we've got that figured out...if you haven't already figured it out, this week, my Waiting on Wednesday pick is Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer. I absolutely adored Nightshade and it's going to be veeery difficult for me to wait until July to get the sequel! Plus, I think the cover for Wolfsbane is maybe even more gorgeous than the cover for Nightshade - I love the green:

The only synopsis available on Goodreads yet is "Betrayal, loss, pain, fear. How many trials can love endure and still survive?" I just want more Calla (and Shay and Ren)! Waiting until July 26 is going to be hard.

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 of Breaking the Spine.**

City of Fallen Angels Cover!!

2010-12-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

I know this is all over the blogosphere right now, but in case you haven't seen it somewhere else yet, here is the cover of City of Fallen Angels:

Isn't it gorgeous? It still has very much the same Mortal Instruments vibe, but it's different, too - especially since Clary and Simon are both on the cover. I'm still deciding what I think of having actual eyes on the cover - something about the characters' faces just seems a little off to me. But still - oh my goodness gorgeous cover!

Of course, I wouldn't care if the cover were the ugliest thing I'd ever seen, I'd still want to read it, because I love love love this series and this world and these characters. But it definitely helps to have a cool cover.

What do you guys think?

Review: The Scorch Trials

2010-12-13T13:33:00.017-05:00

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 360
Series: Maze Runner #2
Rating: 4.5 stars
**Warning: Possible Spoilers for The Maze Runner**
From the book jacket:
Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety...until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated -- and with it, order -- and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim...and meal.

The Gladers are far from done running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder -- does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

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

I'm going to try to avoid too many spoilers for The Maze Runner, but the premise of this book is based on the fact that in the end of the first one, they escape from the maze, so that's kind of a big spoiler right there (although maybe not...I dunno, guess it depends how you look at it). Anyway, The Scorch Trials is set in the Scorch, which is basically post-apocalyptic Mexico. Thomas and the other Gladers race against time and the mysterious Group B, apparently composed entirely of girls, to get to the mysterious "safe haven" within two weeks. If they fail, their lives are forfeit.

I felt like The Scorch Trials did an excellent job of maintaining the same sort of feel as the first book but without blatantly repeating itself. I loved the new characters (particularly Brenda), although I'm still making up my mind about Aris. I loved finally seeing what the outside world looks like. James Dashner has created a fascinating post-apocalyptic dystopian universe, and I know I for one am absolutely fascinated by WICKED and I can't wait for the final book in the series so I can find out what's up with WICKED.

My one complaint is that the walking through the desert started to drag in places, but on the whole, it was really well done and it very rarely slowed down. It kept me turning pages, eager to find out what happened. And just to put this out there: Thomas is a kick-butt protagonist. Seriously, he's awesome.

The Scorch Trials is well-crafted and exciting (although if you haven't read The Maze Runner, you should definitely read that one first) and I cannot wait for the final installment, The Death Cure. I absolutely recommend it!

Links:
James Dashner's website/blog

In My Mailbox (8)

2010-12-12T02:12:00.000-05:00

Before I get to the "in my mailbox" part of this post, I want to thank you guys for your support this weekend. It's been an intense few days. I think I am ready to get back to blogging, though.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren so we can share what we get each week. I have four new ones this week:

Won:

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. I won the "Big Ol' Crescendo Contest" on her website and the book, audiobook, and poster arrived a couple of days ago. Thank you so much, Becca, I cannot wait to read this book!!

For review:

So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti. I think this one looks really sweet and I love the cover. Thanks, LibraryThing Early Reviewers!

From the library:

Wanted by Sara Shepard. Yep, I've finally reached the conclusion to the series....or, you know, not, since she just announced that there will be four more books. I wonder how the series will continue...if it means that we don't find out who the killer is in book eight, I'm gonna be mad, since that may be the only reason I'm still reading them...

Paper Towns by John Green. I have heard so many great things about this book, I've enjoyed John's other books, and I recently fell in love with his and his brother's Youtube channel....so yeah, I'm pretty (extremely) excited to read Paper Towns.

That's it for me this week...what did you get in your mailbox?

There Are No Words...

2010-12-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a day where something so beyond anything you could have imagined happened, and it just seems incredible that the rest of the world doesn't know and is still functioning normally?

Today was one of those days. And not in a good way.

To me, on a personal level, it seems impossible that the blogosphere is still running smoothly and people are happily discussing books. There's a hole in the world that didn't used to be there.

A boy from my school died today.

I'm going to try to get some posts up this weekend, but I don't know if that'll happen or not. We'll see. I didn't even know him, not really - I saw him pretty frequently, but we never talked. But it still hurts more than it seems like it possibly could. It's the sort of thing that happens at other schools, never at your own. But it did happen.

If prayer is something you believe in, please keep his family and my school in your prayers.

Sorry for the somber mood and the blatantly off-topic post, but I can't just say nothing. Apologies in advance for any lack of posting, and thanks for understanding. <3

Waiting on Wednesday

2010-12-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my silence over the last couple of days, but I was finishing my senior thesis project! It is now completely finished, and for the record, it went very well. :) So that's one less thing I have to worry about as we head into the holidays, which is always a nice feeling.

But you're here to see what book I am interested in for Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine), and this week that book is Wildefire by Karsten Knight. I love the cover - I can't quite decide what it is, but it's really cool-looking. And it sounds like a fun new paranormal sort of thing (without vampires, which is nice). I'm intrigued by the whole volcano-goddess idea.

Description from Goodreads:
Ashline Wilde never received an instruction manual on how to be a 16-year-old Polynesian volcano goddess. If she had, it might have contained helpful warnings such as:

• Dreaming about your (thankfully) mortal boyfriend may cause your bed to spontaneously combust
• Oven mitts should be worn at all times during heavy make-out sessions

Instead, Ash has to learn these life lessons the hard way as her dormant powers erupt at the most awkward times. In the wake of a hometown tragedy, Ash transfers to Blackwood Academy, a boarding school nestled in California’s redwoods, where a group of fellow gods-on-earth have mysteriously convened. As if sophomore year couldn’t get any worse, her storm goddess older sister, the wild and unpredictable Eve, resurfaces to haunt Ashline. With a war between the gods looming over Blackwood, Ash must master the fire smoldering within her before she clashes with her sister one final time, which leads us to life-lesson #3:

• When warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

**********

I also really love the tagline at the end about "when warm and cold fronts collide, there's bound to be a storm." It sounds ominous and funny at the same time, and I can't wait to read it! Wildefire comes out July 2011, and I'll have to check, but I believe it counts for the Debut Author Challenge. If it does, I shall have to add it to my list!

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

In My Mailbox (7)

2010-12-05T14:23:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It's a cool meme that lets book bloggers share what new books they got during the week.

As you may have noticed, I didn't even try to do an IMM with the books from NCTE/ALAN, but I have gotten a few other new books since then. The book links go to Goodreads.

For review:

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes. Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for sending me this one! It sounds delightfully dark and mysterious, and the cover is gorgeous.

From the library:

Numbers by Rachel Ward. I picked up the sequel to this one at NCTE but hadn't read the first one, so I decided to fix that. I love the cover on this one, it looks really awesome, but I have no idea what it's about. (Yeah, I'm judging a book by its cover. We all do it.)

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. I have heard so many good things about this book and I'm excited to finally get the chance to read it!

That's all for me this week! What did you get in your mailbox?

Nerdfighters!

2010-12-04T18:04:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post today, you guys, but it's to share something really awesome.

I'm not sure how I missed out on knowing about nerdfighteria until now, but I discovered John and Hank Green's videoblog a few days ago and have since spent lots and lots of time watching their videos and being amused. (Yes, John Green as in the author, and his brother Hank.)

I really don't know how I didn't know about this sooner. It is awesome. And I kind of love these videos.

Check out their website or their Youtube channel if you haven't already, and watch some vlogbrothers videos. You won't regret it.

DFTBA, guys (Don't Forget to Be Awesome. Yes, that is a nerdfighter thing.)

Blog Hop!

2010-12-03T17:45:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I participated in the Book Blogger Hop (hosted by Crazy for Books), but I suppose I just felt like it today.

This week's question is, "What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review?"

Fortunately, I haven't come a whole lot of books lately that I really disliked. Obviously there have been some that I enjoyed more than others, but most of the books I've read recently have been pretty enjoyable, and I generally choose not to review ones that I can't come up with something good about unless I have specifically agreed to review them. The most recent one that I can think of was Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin. It just was not my cup of tea. I can see what other people would have enjoyed about it, but it didn't work for me. And I felt okay with putting that review up, because hey - not every blogger likes every book, and I wasn't trashing the book or anything; I said why it didn't work for me and why I think somebody else might like it, and it did kind of redeem itself a bit at the end.

And that is my rather long-winded answer to this week's blog hop question! See you later, blogosphere!

Review: Glimmerglass

2010-12-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

Title: Glimmerglass
Author: Jenna Black
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 294
Series: Faeriewalker #1
Rating: 4 stars
From the back cover:
Dana Hathaway doesn't know it yet, but she's in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides she's had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl -- she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she'll never have a chance with... until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn't sure where she'll ever fit in or who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again.

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

Ahem. Shiny, glittery dots on the cover. Hee hee.

Okay, easily-distracted moment over. I loved the premise of Glimmerglass -- the idea that humans are very aware of faeries and vice versa and that they interact normally, but only in one city because that's the only place their worlds connect and they can't cross realms, is a really cool idea. And I love that being a Faeriewalker is something that can just happen and has a totally rational explanation; the novel avoids that contrived feeling that a lot of fantasy novels have. The whole concept of the fae/human politics is just awesome, too. Kudos to Jenna Black on an original fantasy piece that still very much plays into the traditional faerie mythology. Love love love.

And the story is well-executed too. Dana is an incredibly complex character, and her narrative is fun to read (except for the parts where she whines. I feel like almost all female protagonists in YA fantasy now are too whiny), and her emotions are real. As annoying as her obsession with Ethan can get, it's also very realistic and well-done. And Ethan - great character. His sister, Kimber, is also an absolutely wonderful character (j'adore Kimber, she's an excellent Best Friend character), and I really want to find out what's up with the Ethan-Kimber tension. Character development is excellent in Glimmerglass, even if I did get kind of bothered by Dana sometimes. My favorite characters were probably Finn and Keane - I hope we see lots more of them in Shadowspell.

The story is intriguing and fascinating. The fact that I didn't always like Dana very much made it hard to read in places, but on the whole I think Dana is a great character too - some of the stuff I disliked about her, I recognized as being pretty common to most teenage girls. But the worldbuilding is great, and we're not hit over the head with it -- it's just there, and it's lovely.

My recommendation here comes with a warning (can you guess? the narrator irked me sometimes), but I do recommend it. Glimmerglass is another wonderful addition to the growing collection of YA faerie novels with a really cool spin on the faerie world.

Links:
Jenna Black's website

Waiting on Wednesday: Ultraviolet

2010-12-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm waiting on Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson. I found this one while browsing on Goodreads and... well, here, I'll show you and then I'll explain:

Description from Goodreads:

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.

This is not her story.

Unless you count the part where I killed her.

***

It's so short and it says so much. I really want to know who this girl was and who this person is who apparently killed her. The teeny-tiny little description draws me in and I already want to know what happened. Ultraviolet comes out May 5, 2011, and I will be oh-so-ready to read it.

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

One Final NaNoWriMo Post

2010-11-30T19:09:00.000-05:00

I did it! I won! I finished! I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days!

For three consecutive years, I have participated in and won NaNoWriMo. It's incredibly exciting. The fact that I've done it twice before doesn't make it any less exciting and awesome this time around. Of course, my story isn't quite done yet; I may have hit the 50k mark, but the story part still has some wrapping-up to do. Maybe I'll get to that later tonight, but between now and then I must acknowledge reality and do some homework.

But anyway, yay for NaNo! How has it been for the rest of you NaNo-ers out there? If you're not done yet, do not despair! You still have nearly 5 hours (well, if you're on EST like I am) in which to finish, and 5 hours is plenty of time for writing. If you still have words to write... good luck! You can do it! If you did finish already, congratulations!! :)

Also, just a small reminder that Matched is out in stores today. And it is just waiting for you to read it.

Happy Tuesday!

Review: Matched

2010-11-29T00:01:00.014-05:00

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 384
Series: Matched #1
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
Society matched them, but love set them free.

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow - between perfection and passion.

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

I don't even know where to start. Matched was such an utterly amazing book that I really have no idea where to begin. So I suppose I'll begin by saying that I absolutely adore this cover. It is so gorgeous. Also, it shimmers. Love love love.

And the story! It's set up within a typical dystopian frame - "perfect" society, someone rebels. (I'm totally not trashing this frame, by the way - it's just part of the genre.) But it feels like it has so much more to it than that! The Society is so intricate, so well-developed. It just kind of makes you shiver with how these are all realistic people acting so...machine, but still with their human characteristics. I'll stop now before I go off into my whole spiel about how much I love dystopian fiction, but suffice it to say that the Society in Matched is one of the best.

The background is perfect: just add characters. Honestly, I feel like the characters could have been boring as all get-out and the book would still have been semi-readable because the backdrop is so good, but Ally Condie did so much better. Cassia is one of the most real protagonists I've encountered, especially with this kind of set-up. And Xander and Ky....oh, man. I love Xander and all, but Ky is so....ahh. I would not want to have to choose. Poor Cassia.

Okay, I recognize that I'm rambling. I shall attempt to stop that. Basically, Cassia gets Matched to Xander, so the two of them will be married...but then, for just a moment, Cassia sees Ky's face on her Matching screen. Cue forbidden love and all sorts of intrigue.

The plot sounds kind of basic, but the execution...I could read pages and pages of absolute nothing, as long as it was written as beautifully as this book. I love love love Ally Condie's writing. And when paired with an awesome dystopian society (er, Society) and some amaaazing characters...well, you're in for a novel you don't want to miss. My only complaint was that I wanted to see more development of the minor characters, but really, I felt like even they were well-rounded.

Long story short, I love this book. Definitely, definitely read it.

Matched is in stores November 30, 2010 (that's tomorrow, for those of you reading this on the day I'm posting it). I recommend finding a copy.

me with Ally Condie at ALAN

Links:
Ally Condie's website/blog

NCTE/ALAN 2010, Part 2: Many Pictures

2010-11-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

I promised pictures...so here is a very abbreviated selection of my pictures from this weekend! There are a ton of author pictures, so I've picked out just a few; you'll see others soon, I'm sure. When I post a review of a book by one of the authors whose picture I haven't added in this post, I'll show you that picture then. Enjoy!

books. lots of books.

me with Deborah Wiles, author of Countdown

me with Melissa de la Cruz

me with Lisa McMann

me with Holly Black (at which point I tried very hard to remain calm and not go all spazzy fan)

me with Lauren Oliver

me with Robin Wasserman, author of the Skinned trilogy

me and topiary Mickey Mouse

me with Carrie Ryan. One of my favorite quotes of the weekend was in her ALAN speech:
"Hello, zombies. You are strange, and I am now in your company." I was amused.

the room where ALAN occurred

me with Heather Brewer, author of the Vladimir Tod series

a very tall man named Walter picking up me and Lauren Myracle (we're both short)

Tada! A small selection of what occurred at NCTE/ALAN last weekend. :)

NCTE/ALAN 2010, Part 1

2010-11-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

After tagging along with the Best Dad Ever to NCTE/ALAN in Orlando and a wonderful Thanksgiving with my extended family, I'm back home and ready to start blogging again! I hope all of you had a lovely holiday as well (or just a lovely week, if you're not in the US).

The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) conference/convention/whatever-it-is (I'm not actually sure which word they prefer) was incredible. I spent most of the time hanging out in the exhibit hall, collecting free books and talking to people. I got to talk to some fabulous authors and some lovely publishing people as well. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and willing to talk about books and publishing and even blogging. To those authors and publishers, I want to say an enormous THANK YOU! Y'all rock. :)

ALAN (Assembly of Literature for Adolescents at NCTE, I think, but don't quote me on that) was also amazing. Two days of listening to authors talk about their books, their writing, their lives, and other random stories, plus the opportunity to chat with them and get a box of free books...it was pretty spectacular. To all those authors who spoke at ALAN: you guys were awesome!

On the whole, it was a fantastic experience and I am so grateful that I got the chance to go. I could go on and on telling you all about the minute details, but I'll spare you; I'd get bored listening to me, so you all probably would as well. But I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures to share!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T12:05:00.001-05:00

To those of you within the US of A, Happy Thanksgiving! (To my international readers -- hello, international readers! Y'all rock too -- happy ordinary Thursday!)

I'm spending today with family, having a grand old time with relatives I rarely see and eating lots of good food and remembering all the wonderful things I have to be thankful for. My awesome blog readers made that list easily. Thanks, guys!

Here's wishing you all a great day!

~Becky

Waiting on Wednesday: The Lucky Kind

2010-11-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm waiting on The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel.

Description from Goodreads:
High school junior Nick Brandt is intent on getting a girlfriend, and Eden Reiss is the one that he wants. He has exactly four semesters to get the girl, but when the phone rings on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday night, life for Nick and his parents will never be the same. What had been a seemingly idyllic home life has become something else entirely. But with this shake-up comes a newfound confidence for Nick; he's become a bolder version of himself, no longer afraid to question his parents, and no longer afraid to talk to Eden.
Alyssa B. Sheinmel has written a powerfully gripping story about family secrets, falling in love, and finding luck in unexpected--and sometimes unwelcome—circumstances.

**********

I think The Lucky Kind looks intriguing and I want to know what that news is that Nick got! I'm already excited to read this one, and it doesn't come out until May 10, 2011.

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

Review: Firelight

2010-11-23T12:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Firelight
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 323
Series: Firelight #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket:
A hidden truth. Mortal enemies. Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki -- a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away -- if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

----------

I shall begin by saying that I adore the cover of this book, because it is just gorgeous. But I shall move very quickly from the lovely cover into the equally lovely story within.

Dragons! There are dragons! Well, sort of. Technically they're draki, which are different from dragons. But still. Dragons make me happy. It's basically Forbidden Love, Draki Edition -- which has the potential to be boring and unoriginal, but it totally wasn't. Jacinda especially was such a relatable character. I just loved her. It was so hard watching her struggle to fit in, feeling like the outcast of her family...it was clearly fantasy, of course, but at the same time it was heartbreakingly real.

And then there's Will. I still can't decide quite what I think of him, but I think I like him. He certainly makes a good love interest for Jacinda. And Cassian and Xander are so easy to despise. I wish we had gotten to see more of Jacinda's best friends, Azure and Catherine, because they seem like great characters. We'll have to see what happens with that arc in book two!

Aaand the romance. My goodness. Mmm. Perhaps not the most realistic, but who cares? It was delightful to read about.

Firelight was not a perfect book. There were places where I just wanted Jacinda to shut up about Will and actually do something, and there were places where I was just confused. However, despite all that, I loved it, and I definitely think it's worth reading. Dragons and intrigue and danger and a literally sizzling romance...go read it now!

Links:
Sophie Jordan's website

2011 Debut Author Challenge

2010-11-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

As 2011 rapidly approaches (and I am still trying to pretend that it is not), I've decided to participate in the 2011 Debut Author Challenge, which is hosted by The Story Siren. The goal, if I understand correctly, is to read at least twelve 2011 YA debut novels during the year 2011. You can find out all the official rules and how to participate here.

I'm sure this list will change, but the novels I plan to read for the challenge are as follows:

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Vesper: A Deviants Novel by Jeff Sampson
Timeless by Alexandria Monir
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Rival by Sarah Bennett-Wealer
So Shelly by Ty Roth
Exposed by Kimberly Marcus
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
The Revenant by Sonia Gensler
Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard

And that's a dozen, although from reading the list that Kristi has so graciously posted on her website, I am sure I will read way more than that. There's a lengthy list of 2011 debuts that look awesome.

I'm so excited to participate in this challenge! Thank you, Kristi, for hosting it, and to all the other participating bloggers: good luck and have fun!

Review: Countdown

2010-11-21T23:36:00.000-05:00

Title: Countdown

Author: Deborah Wiles

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 377

Series: Sixties Trilogy #1

Rating: 4.5 stars

From the book jacket:

A time that changed the world. A time that changed Franny’s life.

Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that’s hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall.

It’s 1962, and it seems that the whole country is living in fear. When President Kennedy goes on television to say that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba, it only gets worse. Franny doesn’t know how to deal with what’s going on in the world – no more than she knows how to deal with what’s going on with her family and friends. But somehow she’s got to make it through.

**********

Countdown is a little outside the genres I usually read – it’s historical middle-grade, rather than contemporary/paranormal YA – but I loved it. Franny, who is eleven years old, is a wonderful narrator: the perfect blend of humor and seriousness, completely believable, and Deborah Wiles captured the voice of a child perfectly. The other characters are just as good: Franny’s parents, her brother and sister and crazy uncle, her friends, the boy across the street…this could very easily be a totally true story.

It gets even easier to believe when you consider the documentary part of the novel. The whole book is full of actual footage from the 1960s – photographs, quotes, ads, political cartoons, reminders to stay safe in the bomb shelters if the air raid siren goes off…it’s all there, in between chapters. Seriously the coolest way to set up a historical book that I have ever seen. The book would be worth reading just for that. But there’s more to it than that.

The story is great too. Reading about an eleven-year-old protagonist was kind of different for me, but Franny is great and the story is amazing. I think it’s easy to forget that while the Cold War was going on, life was still going on like normal – for those of us who have never lived through something like that, it’s just history book stuff. Countdown takes those events that we read about in history class and makes them real, which is really awesome. Historical events aren’t the focus of this novel; they’re the setting. The story is about Franny and how she comes to terms with what it means to be afraid and, more importantly, what it means to be a friend.

Countdown is such a sweet, fun, and interesting book. I know those aren’t particularly original adjectives, but they certainly apply. It’s also very much a stay-up-until-you-finish-it kind of book. Definitely, definitely read it if you get the chance!

Books from Before (2)

2010-11-20T14:35:00.001-05:00

I liked the "Books from Before" idea, so I have decided to continue with it. In the previous post, I talked about Magic Under Glass and reposted something from a very short-lived "forerunner" of Bookworm Boulevard. In the same post on the old blog, I talked about The Light by D.J. MacHale, so I'm going to share that one with you today. (Don't worry, these won't all be repostings of old stuff.)

What I Said:
THE LIGHT was written by D. J. MacHale, who also wrote the wonderful sci-fi/fantasy/adventure Pendragon series. THE LIGHT was a really strange book that took me a little bit to get into, but in the end, I really enjoyed it and I'll definitely read the second one when it comes out.

The book is about Marshall ("Marsh") Seaver, a quiet boy with one real friend who lives alone with his father because his mom died. He's planning a wonderful summer vacation, but then two strange things happen: Marsh's best friend Cooper disappears, and the scary comic-book super-villain that Marsh has been doodling everywhere starts appearing in real life. When it starts becoming clear that the two occurrences are related, Marsh has to team up with Cooper's sister Sydney to find out what happened to his best friend and put a stop to Gravedigger (the super-villain)'s dangerous behaviors.

I can't count the number of times I said "This book is so weird" while I was reading it, but in the end, I did think it was a good book and it definitely kept me reading. THE LIGHT was full of mystery and creepiness and adventure, and Marsh is a pretty well-developed character. It plays with your mind and makes you want to find out what happens. There are definitely a few plot holes that need to be addressed and hopefully will be later in the series, but it's definitely worth reading. You can find out more about stuff at D. J. MacHale's website.

The Light was a fun read and I will be looking for the sequel, The Black, in April. Apparently the sequel will be told from Cooper's POV, so that should be interesting. D. J. MacHale has some fun stuff - if you haven't read anything by him, definitely fix that. :)

Travel Notice!

2010-11-18T12:30:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I'm leaving for Orlando to attend the NCTE/ALAN annual convention with my dad (because he is awesome and brings me along to his English-teacher events). I'm incredibly excited about this trip. (Thank you, Daddy! ♥) The conference goes from Friday to Tuesday, at least the parts I'm there for, and then we'll be off to visit family until after Thanksgiving, so I'll be away for a while.

Hopefully I will have internet and so I will be able to continue posting, and I have a few posts already scheduled. However, just in case I don't manage to find a magical internet corner somewhere, I wanted to let you guys know where I'm going to be.

I'll tell you all about it, promise. And I'll take pictures.

Happy Thursday, Blogosphere.

Waiting on Wednesday: Burn Bright

2010-11-17T00:01:00.001-05:00

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

This week, I'm waiting on Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres. The cover makes it look so delightfully dark and creepy (I don't read enough dark and creepy. I like dark and creepy), and the summary is just awesome. But don't take my word for it...here, cover and description:

Description from Goodreads:
In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

*****

I just think this sounds like the kind of book that would draw me in and be so much fun to read. Possibly a do not read after dark book? Hm... Anyway, Burn Bright releases March 1, 2011, so I'll be looking for it then!

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

From Bad to Cursed

2010-11-16T19:04:00.000-05:00

Katie Alender, author of Bad Girls Don't Die (which was delightfully creepy and also generally awesome), posted on her blog today a picture of the ARC and the jacket copy for the sequel, From Bad to Cursed.

She's trying not to spread the picture of the not-quite-final cover all over the internet, so I'll let you click here to see her original post with the picture and her comments, but I will post the jacket copy here:

From Bad to Cursed
Alexis is the last girl you’d expect to sell her soul. She already has everything she needs–an adorable boyfriend, the perfect best friend, and a little sister who’s finally recovering after being possessed by an evil spirit, then institutionalized.

Alexis is thrilled when her sister joins a club; new friends are just what Kasey needs. It’s strange, though, to see how fast the girls in The Sunshine Club go from dorky and antisocial to gorgeous and popular. Soon Alexis learns that the girls have pledged an oath to a seemingly benevolent spirit named Aralt. Worried that Kasey’s in over her head again, Alexis and her best friend Megan decide to investigate by joining the club themselves. At first, their connection with Aralt seems harmless. Alexis trades in her pink hair and punky clothes for a mainstream look, and quickly finds herself reveling in her newfound elegance and success.

Instead of fighting off the supernatural, Alexis can hardly remember why she joined in the first place. Surely it wasn’t to destroy Aralt…why would she hurt someone who has given her so much, and asked for so little in return?

I can't wait to read this! Also, if you go and look at the cover - isn't it awesome?

Review: Halo

2010-11-15T18:22:00.000-05:00

Title: Halo
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 484
Series: Halo #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket:
An angel is sent to earth on a mission. But falling in love is not part of the plan.

Three angels -- Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human -- are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.

Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.

The angels' mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

----------

I have to start off with a little bit of cover love. I absolutely adore this cover. I'm not sure what it is about it that makes it so amazing, but it is seriously one of the most gorgeous book covers I can think of. Beautiful.

And of course, it helps that the story inside is also wonderful. I love Bethany as a protagonist. She is so wonderful and relatable and she just feels so genuine, even though she's an angel. Also, if anyone is worried about this book getting "too preachy" since it's about angels...quit worrying. Yes, obviously talk about God is involved, it's about angels, but it's not trying to convince anyone to convert.

Anyway. Back to how Bethany is a fantastic protagonist, and Xavier is an excellent love interest. (He really is, and he's totally human and non-stalkerish, too. I want my own Xavier Woods.) And have I mentioned that Bethany is just a wonderful character? And Gabriel and Ivy are great too, and Molly, and Jake...Alexandra Adornetto does characters well. Very well.

And the plot was also quite awesome. There were some things that I definitely predicted, but other things that had me wondering, and it sucked me in - I needed to keep reading it until I finished. I also think it wrapped up this storyline nicely enough as a stand-alone but also set itself up well for a sequel (which, by the way, I am dying to read). There were moments where I couldn't help drawing some rather unfortunate parallels to my least favorite part of Twilight, but they were few and far between. And Bethany and Xavier are a much better couple than...well, actually, a better couple than a lot of YA couples.

In places, the writing was a little awkward, but those moments too were few and far between. I noticed them, but they didn't detract from my love of the story. And the characters. I swear, I could go on all day about how much I adore Bethany and Xavier (and Gabriel and Ivy), except that you'd all get bored and tell me to shut up.

To sum up: Do not hesitate. Go read Halo now. You won't regret it. :)

Title Code

2010-11-14T00:15:00.001-05:00

Ally Carter posted on her blog yesterday the title to Heist Society #2. Well, sort of...

This post contains a code. Your mission: crack the code and figure out the title of the sequel to Heist Society. (If you haven't read Heist Society, I don't know what you're waiting for. It was an excellent book. You can see my review here.)

I solved it (it is an excellent title), and you can too! Good luck!

Books from Before

2010-11-13T14:01:00.000-05:00

...before the blog, that is.

My reading time has been somewhat limited lately (oh my goodness, college applications and calculus are working together to eat my soul. Seriously), but there are so many wonderful books that I read before I started Bookworm Boulevard that I haven't been able to post about! So today (and this may possibly become a regular feature), I'm going to tell you about one of these lovely Books from Before.

Today I shall be telling you about the wonderfulness that is Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass. I actually posted a little about this on a short-lived, private blog over the summer about a month before I realized that a full-on book blog was an option, so I'm just going to share with you the Goodreads description of the book and my writing about it from before:

From Goodreads:
Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir.

Unsettling below-stairs rumours abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.

From Becky:
[MAGIC UNDER GLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore] was such a good book. Beautifully written, like Jane Austen infused with sorcery, and it's so poetic and magical and it's a wonderful love story and it's so great.

Nimira is a dancing girl in a poor city, seeking her fortunes after her father's fall from grace. She gets the opportunity to go live with and work for a sorcerer, Mr. Hollin Parry, and sing with his automaton. But the automaton is more alive than anyone realizes, and Nimira may be the only one who can save him. MAGIC UNDER GLASS is a beautiful love story about a girl torn between "a man she does not love and a man she cannot have" (from the jacket cover) and it was so good and so sweet and oh my goodness everyone should read it because it was fantastic.

You can find out more about the author and the book at Jaclyn Dolamore's website. There is a sequel in the works, MAGIC UNDER STONE, but there isn't a release date available yet. Definitely read this book, you guys, it was awesome.

And I can now edit this to say that she also has another book coming out before Magic Under Stone, entitled Between the Sea and Sky, which I posted about for WoW a while ago.

If you haven't read Magic Under Glass, definitely give it a try. It is beautiful and excellent and made of awesome.

One Word: Love

2010-11-12T06:00:00.012-05:00

Today, I'm coming to you guys with something completely unrelated to books. Today is To Write Love on Her Arms Day, and this is my spiel about why TWLOHA is important and why you should all take a few moments to write four little letters on your arm today.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a nonprofit organization based in Florida dedicated to helping those who are dealing with depression, self-injury, addiction, and suicide. The website, www.twloha.com, describes their mission with these words:

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

The idea of TWLOHA Day is for people to write the word "love" on their arms to raise awareness and spread the message of love to people who need it. I'm gonna get on my soapbox for a minute here: It seems to me like people spend an awful lot of time joking about these sorts of things - every day at my school, I hear people making sarcastic comments about how a hard test made them want to slash their wrists or how they "raped" - did well on - some sort of assignment. There are an awful lot of people out there who think suicide, self-injury, and depression are funny. I can't speak for those people - I can't say they have never been around it or don't understand what it means - but I can say that these things they are joking about are real issues, and I can say that they are not something to laugh about.

Are you ready? I'm about to bring my personal life onto the blog, which I can assure you will not happen often. TWLOHA matters to me because I see these issues every day at school. Someone that I was very close to attempted suicide last year. I see people every day who have dealt with or continue to deal with depression and self-injury, and I have experienced first-hand the relief of knowing that there are people out there who care. Maybe not everyone will take it seriously; maybe it is not what everyone needs. But I have seen the hope and love that TWLOHA shares help someone, and I know it can make a difference. This is something that really matters.

No life is worthless. No one should ever be made to feel like there is no one out there who cares about them, like they have nothing left to live for. No one should ever have to feel like they are completely and utterly alone. TWLOHA exists to let people know that there is always someone who cares and someone to talk to. There is always a reason to keep on living.

I'm writing "love" on my arm today. And you should too. Thanks for reading. ♥

Review: 13 to Life

2010-11-11T18:59:00.000-05:00

Title: 13 to Life
Author: Shannon Delany
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 308
Series: 13 to Life #1
Rating: 4 stars
From the back cover:
Everything about Jessie Gillmansen's life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing. Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But while showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she's about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent -- he's a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie's small town. It seems change is the one thing Jessie can't avoid.

**********

I really dislike the summary of this book. (I do, however, love the cover - the way the moon is the center of the eye? It's awesome.) The summary makes the book sound completely cliched and stereotypical, and it doesn't really talk about what the story is about. BUT! The story inside the book is awesome.

Jessie, a reporter for her school paper, has taken an interest in the "Phantom Wolves" that were supposedly haunting the nearby city of Farthington. So when she starts seeing wolves - big wolves - in her small-town home, Junction, she's naturally somewhat freaked out. And if that's not enough to be getting on with, she's been assigned the job of showing new-boy Pietr Rusakova around school. Pietr, Jessie finds, is impossibly annoying, incredibly mysterious, and more appealing than he should be. She's drawn to him, but she can't explain why. Instead, she pushes him towards her friend Sarah, who is clearly interested in him. Big mistake, especially because Sarah is showing hints of turning into the ice queen she was before the accident. The same accident that killed Jessie's mother.

It took me a while to figure out what exactly the relationship between Jessie and Sarah was. I couldn't decide whether they were friends or enemies or what, but once I got it, it made sense. And I loved the relationship between Jessie and Pietr -- they don't immediately hate each other, and it isn't love at first sight. It develops somewhat more normally than that, which was a very pleasant change from a lot of YA. I felt like Jessie was really slow to make the connection to Pietr's secret, but that was probably just dramatic irony at its finest, and I loved the awesome new twist on werewolf mythology. But what really made me love this book were the characters.

Jessie can be a bit slow at times, but she's a wonderful protagonist. Personally, I would have liked to see more of her best friend, Amy. And Sarah...I'll be interested to see what happens with her in the second book. Weird Wanda, Jessie's dad's girlfriend, makes another interesting addition to the novel, and Pietr's whole family is just wonderful. Max cracked me up so much, and I would love to hang out with Catherine sometime. And then, of course, there's Pietr. Add one more name to the list of "Amazing Fictional Guys." He's sweet, he's protective, he has a sense of humor, he's not a stalker (unlike too many YA guys now), and he's just overwhelmingly real. I love Pietr. And Jessie. And the two of them together.

Parts of the novel were predictable, other parts were a little confusing, but it was absolutely worth reading anyway. J'adore this novel. (Someone check my French? I take Spanish.) It was excellent and wonderful and lots of fun, and I cannot wait to read the sequel, Secrets and Shadows, which I believe comes out in February. 13 to Life was engaging, funny and dark in equal measure and in all the right places, and I just loved it. Well worth your time!

Links:
Shannon Delany's website
Shannon Delany's blog

Waiting on Wednesday

2010-11-10T19:28:00.001-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

This week, I'm waiting on Memento Nora by Angie Smibert. Honestly, it was the title that made me look further at this book and actually read the synopsis, because I thought of "Memento Mori," which I remembered from The Austere Academy (why yes, I am quite a fan of the Series of Unfortunate Events books). Anyway, I'm glad I did look at the synopsis, because it looks quite intriguing:

Description from Goodreads:
Nora, the popular girl and happy consumer, witnesses a horrific bombing on a shopping trip with her mother. In Nora’s near-future world, terrorism is so commonplace that she can pop one little white pill to forget and go on like nothing ever happened. However, when Nora makes her first trip to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic, she learns what her mother, a frequent forgetter, has been frequently forgetting. Nora secretly spits out the pill and holds on to her memories. The memory of the bombing as well as her mother’s secret and her budding awareness of the world outside her little clique make it increasingly difficult for Nora to cope. She turns to two new friends, each with their own reasons to remember, and together they share their experiences with their classmates through an underground comic. They soon learn, though, they can’t get away with remembering.

**********

Dystopia (at least, it sounds like it) and magical forgetfulness pills and remembering secrets? Sounds like my kind of book. I'm not too sure about the whole "ooh popular!" thing, but the cover is awesome and the plot definitely sounds fascinating. Memento Nora comes out in April 2011, at which time I will definitely need to read it!

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

A Noveling Plea for Help

2010-11-08T17:34:00.000-05:00

Yup, it's another one of those NaNoWriMo posts...

I realize that the second week of NaNoWriMo is not exactly the best time to be doing writerly research, because speed-writing + homework + college applications != lots of time to look stuff up. But I need to do some writerly research anyway. And I need your help!

The protagonist of my NaNo novel is very involved in fencing, as in the sport, and is also very skilled in the art of actual swordplay. (She's been practicing both for years, so it's not "poof, I can magically do it!" because that would annoy me.)

The problem is, despite my best efforts to the contrary, I've never been able to learn how to fence, and I've definitely never used a real sword. This is where you come in.

If any of you wonderful, awesome, well-read and multi-talented readers know anything about fencing or swordplay or can direct me to a book or website that would help, that would be spectacular. And if it will make you feel better, I can even name a character after you. I'm always short on good names. :) Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Also, just a general update on book-related things: my reading time has been tragically limited by all the schoolwork I'm having to do, but I should have a new review up sometime this week, with any luck at all.

♥ Becky

Review: Beautiful Darkness

2010-11-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

Title: Beautiful Darkness
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown
Pages: 503
Series: Caster Chronicles #2
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket:
A few months ago, I believed nothing would ever change in this town. Now I knew better, and I only wished it was true.

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together Ethan and Lena can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

**********

I loved Beautiful Creatures, the first book in the Caster Chronicles, so I've been dying to read this since way before it was released. Sometimes in cases like that, the sequel can't possibly live up to your expectations, but I think Beautiful Darkness did.

I will confess that I had a hard time getting into it at first - it started off a little slowly. But once it got going, it really got going. After getting through about fifty pages throughout the week in my few free minutes at school, I sat down this morning to read a bit more over breakfast. I decided that I would read while I ate, then go work on college essays and NaNoWriMo. Around 3 pm, with only a brief interruption to get lunch, I finished the novel and hadn't written a word. I simply could not put it down.

Ethan is still crazy in love with Lena, but Lena is struggling with a dark secret and even darker emotions that are pulling her away from Ethan. Suddenly, she's hanging out with her evil cousin Ridley and a mysterious new Incubus, leaving Ethan feeling pushed aside and desperate to save her before she turns Dark. Her Seventeenth Moon is coming up, and Lena will have to be Claimed soon. And Liv, Marian's new assistant at the library, is only convincing Lena that Ethan has moved on. But, of course, in Gatlin, SC, nothing is what it appears to be.

I loved so many things about this book. The characters - Link and Liv especially, and Ethan's great-great-aunts, and Ridley, and of course Ethan most of all - just came to life in my mind. I wish we had gotten to see more of Lena, although I'm confident that she'll be more important in book three. I would read pages and pages of just small talk between these characters, because I love them that much.

And the plot. Oh my goodness. I really want book three NOW, because I just have to know what happens next. Beautiful Darkness keeps working at solving the mysteries introduced in book one, answering a few questions and raising plenty more, and there's always something new happening. I feel like that description is really cheesy and doesn't do the book justice at all, but I'm not sure (1) how much I can say without accidentally spoiling something and (2) how else to say it. It just takes hold of you and refuses to let go until you've read every last word, and then leaves you hungry for more of it.

Long story short: I adored this book, every bit as much as the first one if not more, and I can't wait for book three! Absolutely read the Caster Chronicles.

Links:
Caster Chronicles website
Kami Garcia's blog
Margaret Stohl's blog

NaNoWriMo By the Numbers

2010-11-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm one of those people. The people who are crazy enough to attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in a month, on top of senior thesis and college applications (*shudder*) and a trip to Orlando for NCTE/ALAN (*squee!!*).

Oh! I should talk about NCTE/ALAN! Because I have the best dad ever and he happens to be an English teacher, I get to go with him to the NCTE convention and ALAN in Orlando this year. I am unbelievably excited about this trip, and I promise to tell you all about it when I get back. With pictures, probably.

But anyway, NaNoWriMo. It's November 5th. Here's NaNo as of today, in numbers:

-Goal word count for today: 8,335
-My current word count: 8,209
-Dances I have performed in instead of writing today: 1 (and it was so much fun! If any of my fellow dancers are reading this, y'all rock <3)
-College applications that I should be working on instead of writing: 2
-Number of essays required by those applications: 9 (I know, 9 essays for 2 applications. Whaaat?)
-Pages I have read of Beautiful Darkness: 96 (and I love it!)
-How long I have left to meet today's word count and still get some essay-writing done: 3.5 hours

Off to write some more now! Whether it will be college application essays or NaNo remains to be determined.

Super Awesome Cover Love

2010-11-03T17:10:00.000-04:00

This would be released on a Wednesday when I already have my WoW pick up. I considered scheduling this post to show up tomorrow, but I'm really excited about this, so I had to share it now. Without further ado, I present to you....the amazing-wonderful-awesome cover of The Demon's Surrender by the lovely Sarah Rees Brennan:

I am so excited for this book, you guys. I loveloveloved the first two books in the series and cannot wait to read this one! It's sad that the series will be coming to a close, because I'll miss these characters, but oh my goodness I simply MUST find out what happens.

(The Demon's Surrender, if you don't know, is the third book in the Demon's Lexicon trilogy.)

*wants this book. now.*

Waiting on Wednesday: Between the Sea and Sky

2010-11-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

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

This week I'm waiting on Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore. First, look at the cover. It's brand new (revealed on the author's blog on Monday) and it is preeeetty:

I love all the blue-and-white swirlies everywhere. Actually, I just love this whole cover. :)

You can see the full post on Jaclyn's website here, but this is what Goodreads has to say about Between the Sea and Sky:

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her sister as a siren, the highest calling a mermaid can have. But when her sister runs away to the mainland, reportedly to elope with a human, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.

Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily through the streets of New Sweeling. There, she will come upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood - Alandare, a boy, now a man, who belongs to a winged race of people. Together, Esmerine and Alandare put aside their differences to find her sister, and in the process discover a love that cannot be bound by land, sea, or air.
***
It sounds awesome and I can't wait to read it! Plus, I love the name Esmerine. Seriously awesome. We'll be waiting on this one until June 7, 2011.

What are you waiting on this week? Leave me a comment and I'll stop by to visit!

Review: I Am Number Four

2010-11-01T12:01:00.001-04:00

Title: I Am Number Four
Author: Pittacus Lore
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 440
Series: Lorien Legacies #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket:
Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books - but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

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

When I first picked up this book at Barnes & Noble and read the jacket cover, I thought it looked fascinating. Now that I've read it, I can say that I was absolutely right.

The author, using the pseudonym Pittacus Lore, wastes no time in plunging readers into the story of the Loric people and the Mogadorians. Lorien and Mogadore are two of the eighteen life-sustaining planets in the universe. The closest one to them is Earth. Nine Loric children and their guardians (called Cêpan) traveled to Earth after the Mogadorians destroyed their planet. These nine children are the future of Lorien, its only hope of someday being restored to what it once was. They are protected by a charm, so they can only be killed in order. One, Two, and Three are dead. Four - alias John Smith - knows he is next on the list.

There's one problem. John and his Cêpan, Henri, are living comfortably in Paradise, Ohio, and John has started fitting in for the first time ever. He's also come closer than ever to revealing who he really is, because he's receiving his Legacies - the "superpowers" that come naturally to Loric Garde (the ones who aren't Cêpan). He has a girlfriend, Sarah, a best friend, Sam, and a life that he actually doesn't want to leave. Enter the Mogadorians.

The action in this book was incredibly intense. Once I started, I did not want to stop - I had to keep going and find out what happened next. I'm not sure when Book 2 comes out (although according to the website, it will be called The Power of Six), but as soon as it does, I want to read it. I Am Number Four is coming out as a movie (starring Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron) on February 18, and I want to see it so I can see what they did with it, although rumor is it's quite different from the book. At any rate, the insane action in the book should translate really well to film.

But I digress. The plot was amazing, sure, but the characters were great. I love Henri, and Sarah, and Sam, and Six (S, S, S, haha), and of course John is the star of the show. I wish a couple of them had been developed a little more, but the cast is still amazing and they just came to life in my mind. Love, love, love.

Long story short: READ THIS BOOK. My one complaint is that the writing got to be a little more tell than show in one or two places and I wanted more of the characters, but aside from that, this is the best sci-fi action novel I've read in a long time and among the best novels overall that I've read recently, too. It's so awesome!

Links:
Official Lorien Legacies website

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T14:57:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! In case anybody missed it, it's October 31 - Happy Halloween!

Yeah, look at me being all colorful. Fun fun. :D

If you haven't been keeping up with Book Spooks at WORD for Teens, today would be a good day to go catch up on Nicole's awesome posts about authors, books, and Halloween. I know there are a lot of other book bloggers doing Halloween events as well, so you won't have to look too hard to find stuff going on.

I'm celebrating Halloween by eating too much candy, handing out candy to little kids, and preparing for the onset of November (where are my fellow NaNo-ers? Leave me a comment or add "chameleon_bex" to your writing buddies!)(If you missed it, I'm super excited about NaNoWriMo). Also finally starting Beautiful Darkness! And, okay, yeah, a little bit of homework.

But anyway, here's wishing all of you a wonderful holiday with entirely too much sugar and lots and lots of fun! What have you got planned?

Ooh, Ahh (New Cover!)

2010-10-30T17:29:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, Maureen Johnson revealed the cover of The Last Little Blue Envelope. Yes, this is the sequel to Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, which I read a while back and really enjoyed. Here's the cover - isn't it pretty?

And she has a face! As those of you who read MJ books often will know, faces are a rare thing on her covers. She also revealed the title of her new paranormal murder mystery/thriller series, coming October 2011. The first book will be called The Name of the Star and it's the first book of the Shades of London trilogy.

They sound kind of awesome. I can't wait to read The Last Little Blue Envelope and The Name of the Star!

Waiting on Wednesday: Red Glove

2010-10-27T19:19:00.000-04:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

This week, my pick is Red Glove by Holly Black. It's the second book in the Curse Workers series, the sequel to White Cat. I read and loved White Cat over the summer so I absolutely cannot wait to read Red Glove!

Cover picture is a bit small, but it's all I could find. I also don't think there's a jacket flap available yet, but the book is set to be released April 11, 2011. I hope I can wait that long. ;)

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

General Updates

2010-10-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

Sooo I just finished reading Matched and I absolutely LOVED it. The on-sale date is November 30, so look for my review sometime around then! It is such a wonderful book, you guys.

In other news, I finished a major chunk of my senior thesis project this weekend. It meant I had very little time to read or, you know, do anything useful, but it's done and it's decent and I am quite pleased. So yay for that!

In other other news, my brain is currently MIA, because it got eaten by calculus. I spent a very large portion of last night working on calculus homework and studying for today's test...so.much.math.ahhhhhhh. My thoughts: you know you're taking calculus when your math suddenly contains more letters than numbers.

My big break from AP Calculus last night was watching Castle, which is an absolutely awesome show. Check it out - mystery writers + murder mysteries + comedy = ♥♥♥.

That is all for now, but I'll be back tomorrow for WoW!

Review: The Maze Runner

2010-10-23T12:01:00.003-04:00

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Pages: 374
Series: Maze Runner #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket:
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is blank.

But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight. Ever thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the Maze after dark.

The Gladers were expecting Thomas's arrival. But the next day, a girl is sent up - the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home...wherever that may be. But it's looking more and more as if the Maze is unsolvable.

And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers - if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind.

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When Thomas wakes up in the lift and finds himself in a strange place called the Glade, he has no idea what to expect, mostly because he knows nothing about himself - not his name, not who his parents are, not his birthday, nothing. The other boys quickly inform him that one new boy arrives every thirty days, that he will have to work but should be safe, and that he must never, ever enter the Maze. There's one problem with that: Thomas feels drawn to the Maze, and knows right away that he is meant to be a Runner - one of the Gladers who enter the Maze every day, trying to map it out and find some sort of pattern, some sort of escape.

It took me a while to get into this book, although part of that was probably because I have had so much going on with school and college applications and my thesis project that I haven't had much time for reading. Once I did get into it, though, I loved this book. So much. The premise is just fascinating - an unsolvable maze, a mystery girl, a conspicuous lack of memories...plus the plot is not totally focused on romance. AND I didn't completely figure out what was going to happen before the end! Bits and pieces of it, maybe, but I was still totally taken aback by a lot of what happened, which I love.

And Thomas is a great character. I don't find a whole lot of male protagonists that I actually like in YA, so that's cool, but even if male protagonists were the most common thing ever, Thomas is awesome. And I love the other characters as well - mystery girl (whose name I'll not tell you, since you don't find out until probably almost halfway through the book) totally kicks butt, and Chuck and Newt and Minho are all awesome too.

There is so much to love about this book. Thomas, the plot, just the whole thing. The beginning's a little slow, but do not give up! The Maze Runner will totally rock your socks off. Because it's awesome like that.

Links:
James Dashner's blog

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In other news: oh my gosh you guys this is POST #100! I've been blogging long enough to have 100 posts! Wow. That's so exciting! Thanks so much to all of my awesome readers. You guys rock! ♥

Demonglass Cover!

2010-10-22T15:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Rachel Hawkins posted the cover of the sequel to Hex Hall on her blog. So without further ado, here is the Demonglass cover:

Is this cover awesome or what?! I completely adore it. I love that it keeps the same reflection kinda look as the first one, but this one has fire and Sophie's not confused, she's totally kick-butt. If you want to read Rachel's thoughts on her cover, you can see the cover-reveal blog post here.

I cannot wait for this book, you guys. I loved Hex Hall and I am so excited for Demonglass!

Waiting on Wednesday: Drought

2010-10-20T15:00:00.001-04:00

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

This week I'm waiting on Drought by Pam Bachorz. I read (and loved) her novel Candor a while back, so hopefully this one will be just as good! I love the cover, and I love the premise (dystopian, too, yay). But don't take my word for it - observe:

Description from Goodreads:
Ruby Prosser dreams of escaping the Congregation and the early-nineteenth century lifestyle that’s been practiced since the community was first enslaved.

She plots to escape the vicious Darwin West, his cruel Overseers, and the daily struggle to gather the life-prolonging Water that keeps the Congregants alive and gives Darwin his wealth and power. But if Ruby leaves, the Congregation will die without the secret ingredient that makes the Water special: her blood.
So she stays.

But when Ruby meets Ford, the new Overseer who seems barely older than herself, her desire for freedom is too strong. He’s sympathetic, irresistible, forbidden—and her only access to the modern world. Escape with Ford would be so simple, but can Ruby risk the terrible price, dooming the only world she’s ever known?

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Doesn't that sound awesome? I can't wait to read this one. Drought comes out January 11th, at which time I shall most definitely have to read it!

Guest Review! The Eternal Ones

2010-10-19T12:01:00.002-04:00

Title: The Eternal Ones

Author: Kirsten Miller

Pages: 411

Publisher: Razorbill

Rating: 2.5 stars

Book jacket:

Haven Moore has always lived in the tiny town of Snope City, Tennessee. But for as long as she can remember, Haven has experienced visions of a past life as a girl named Constance, whose love for a boy called Ethan ended in a fiery tragedy.

One day, the sight of notorious playboy Iain Morrow on television brings Haven to her knees. Haven flees to New York City to find Iain and there, she is swept up in an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Is Iain her beloved Ethan? Or is he her murderer in a past life? Haven asks the members of the powerful and mysterious Ouroboros Society to help her unlock the mysteries of reincarnation and discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again. But what is the Ouroboros Society? And how can Haven know who to trust?

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So, I must first clarify a few things before I get into my review. First, I’d like to thank Bex for letting me guest on the lovely Bookworm Boulevard. Second, I normally don’t judge a book by its cover; however, in this case, I kind of did. At least, I judged by the title, and who could not love this one?! Especially the subtitle “What if love refused to die?” So intriguing! Third, I’d like to tell you all that this is the first book I’ve read in about, oh, a month. And a half. SCARY long time without books, if you ask me, all thanks to school. So all I had read before this was random stuff for my English class. Oh, and analyzing Macbeth.

Any book you read after analyzing Macbeth is just not gonna cut it.

That being said, there were definitely parts of this book I loved, and a majority of the book that I liked. Beau Dexter, for one, is the most amazing best guy friend I can think of (I mean, he drove to New York City from Tennessee just in time for the amazing rescue. He is amazing). However, I was still in analysis-mode for most of the beginning of the book (and by this, I mean the first half or so), so I definitely picked up on the heavy religious parallels, as well as a few major contradictions (Haven is deeply religious, enough so to believe her grandmother when she says she’s possessed, yet she has sex before marriage; the book is about reincarnation, but the main character is supposed to be very religious… I was really confused). I think the main problem I had with the book was the contradiction between genre and setting: this was a paranormal romance, yet the settings were small-town in the Bible Belt of Southern America, New York City, and Rome, with somewhat sudden transitions between each. But the way the story played out was different (not your straight-forward plot outline), which I enjoyed greatly. I had originally had a few problems with the ending, mainly because I thought it could have stopped earlier and had a better point, as opposed to the and-now-we’re-all-happy-yay it seemed to be, but now that I know there will be a sequel, I’m a lot happier: it all makes sense now.

All in all, I do recommend this book, because it was a good book – just not exactly my cup of tea. I think. (As a matter of fact, I’m still somewhat confused about whether I like it or not.) And everybody should know who Beau Dexter is. Because he is just that amazing.

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Thanks, Tonya! <3

Introducing....Tonya!

2010-10-18T12:01:00.001-04:00

So as you may have noticed in yesterday's In My Mailbox post, I mentioned that my dear friend Tonya would soon be posting a guest review. That will be up tomorrow. In the meantime, Tonya has written a little introduction mini-autobiography type thing that she (and I) would like to share with you all, especially seeing as she might post more guest reviews later on. So without further ado...Tonya!
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HEY Everybody!

So, I’m Tonya, and I’ll be guest-reviewing for you in a little bit, mainly because I was like “OOOO book that looks interesting” when Becky was reading one of her books recently, but also because I do like to read, am one of Becky’s close friends at school, and quite frankly would have a blog of some sort like this if I weren’t too lazy to go make one. Therefore, I am mooching and posting a review on the Bookworm Boulevard instead. Yay me.

In all honesty, it was Becky (who I shall from now on refer to as Bex) who first asked me to review for the blog, and I really do feel honored to be invited. But I felt that some introduction of myself would be needed, so here I am, ready to give you a few important factoids.

Name: Tonya. But not really. That’s just my Blogger identity; however, my friends do call me Tonya in real life, and I will respond to it as readily as my true name.

Grade: senior. I’m also 17, and about two months older than Bex. :) We attend the same high school, and have been friends since we met at a writing camp the summer before 9^th grade (we both wore our high-school t-shirt to camp one day, and were like “OMG you’re going there too?” and then bonded over our shared love of Harry Potter, as the 7^th book was being released that week).

Interests: Obviously reading, as well as writing (although not as much as Bex, who writes constantly). But I’m also one of the Cross Country captains this year, having run varsity the past four years, and will hopefully be one of the varsity soccer captains this spring (I’m a four-year member of that team as well). And I’m somewhat of a computer geek, inasmuch as I am taking AP Computer Science, and plan to major in Computer Programming.

Um, I think that’s all I really need to say, as of now. Hopefully, I will be able to do more than the one review; for now, I just hope you all look forward to my review of The Eternal Ones, by Kristen Miller. Until then, this is Agent Tonya, signing off!
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Thanks, dahling! And now you're all excited to read her review, right? ;) Don't worry, it will be up tomorrow! (I told her to follow any format she wanted, and she chose to follow mine, but don't hold her too closely to my system.)

In My Mailbox (6)

2010-10-17T21:05:00.000-04:00

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. I was going to do a vlog for this post, but unfortunately, my internet connection couldn't handle uploading the video, so you're stuck with a normal all-text post instead. Eventually, my friends, eventually I will make vlogging work.

For Review:

Matched by Ally Condie. I'm so excited to read this one, I love dystopian novels. And the cover. Oh my goodness, the cover. I love the cover design, the green-dress-girl in a bubble...but the best part is that when you move it around in the light, it shimmers. Rainbow shimmers. *manic giggle* In all seriousness, though, I can't wait to read this one. Thank you, LibraryThing and Dutton Books!

Borrowed:

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. Aliens and science fiction and action? Yes please. This one looks very awesome and I cannot wait to read it! Also, they're making a movie of it (staring Alex Pettyfer...eye candy!), which means I absolutely have to read the book first.

Firelight by Sophie Jordan. Dragons! I love dragons. Paranormal YA anymore is all vampires and werewolves and faeries. Don't get me wrong, I love faeries and werewolves and even well-done vampires, but I need a change, and j'adore dragons. Point of interest: my friend Tonya, from whom I borrowed Firelight, will be appearing on the blog soon with a guest review! Get excited.

Gift:

Countdown by Deborah Wiles. I actually got this one a few weeks ago and forgot to mention it because I put it in a special place away from my Stack o' Books to Mention in IMM. Deborah Wiles came to my dad's YA Lit class a while ago and talked about writing and books and all sorts of awesome things, and I didn't get to visit as planned because of school. But my dad (because he is the awesomest dad in the universe) got me a copy of her book, signed to me, and hopefully I'll get the chance to meet her in November, so that shall be cool.

That's what I got in my mailbox this week! What did you get in yours?

Review: Killer

2010-10-14T20:19:00.000-04:00

Title: Killer
Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 321
Series: Pretty Little Liars #6
Rating: 4 stars
**WARNING: Contains spoilers from books 1-5.**

I'm not even going to bother posting the jacket cover description because it is so ridiculous and not related to the plot of the novel. It includes the line "Spencer is stealing - from her family." She's not. The other lines about what the characters are up to are equally irrelevant, and the rest of it is just background (Ali's dead, the girls are being stalked. We've known this since book one).

That said, these books just keep getting more and more mysterious. And I love the cover for this one. The purple is great. I think it's my favorite cover in the series, at least so far, and I've seen the other two, so I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite.

Anyway, though, the story. It is so difficult to define a specific plot for any one of these novels - they're like one big extended plot, which is probably why each one makes me want the next one ASAP. Hanna still annoys the heck out of me and Aria is still my favorite; the whole story with Spencer in this one seems kind of out of character but totally understandable, and I feel so much sympathy for Emily, especially with the whole Isaac thing set up in the previous book. Hanna excepted, I love the characters, and I love the way Sara Shepard develops mysteries.

The major thing that's going on in Killer is that the girls are tracking down who killed Ali. I won't say who (spoilers are horrid), but at the end of this one, it seems like they pretty much know who did it...I can't wait to find out where it goes in the next one.

So overall, great plot, good characters, and I've already put Heartless on hold at the library!

Links:
Pretty Little Liars website

Waiting on Wednesday: Tempestuous

2010-10-13T18:06:00.000-04:00

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

This week I'm waiting on Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston. I don't think there's an official flap copy available yet, but it's the third book in the Wondrous Strange trilogy. I loved the first two and I really wanna know how the story concludes! Plus, the covers are sooo pretty:

So that's my pick this week! What's yours? Leave a link in the comments!