Giveaway Link

Hey, guys, Katie at Katie's Book Blog is giving away an ARC of Cassandra Clare's upcoming book The Clockwork Angel! Click here to go to her site and enter.

The Clockwork Angel comes out at the end of August. I absolutely cannot wait!

Summer Reading

So, for those of us still in high school, "summer reading" has a more sinister meaning than just "YES! Summer! I can read as much as I want!" Yes, the "YAY!" meaning definitely still applies, but there's also assigned reading. For me, the assigned reading is usually a lot less interesting than the stuff that I pick up on my own. So either it gets put off until the last possible minute, or I bribe myself.

I wouldn't dislike the school reading so much if not for the fact that at my school, we're expected to annotate all the books, and they don't give us a clear definition of how much annotation they want. Personally, I hate writing in books, and sometimes they're not even my books, so I can't write in them. Instead, I use sticky notes or write notes in a spiral-bound notebook. But the act of interrupting my own reading to write down my responses to the story really annoys me. I'd rather just read the book straight through, because I'll process it better and enjoy it more that way. Annotating is going to pretty much guarantee that I will not enjoy the book. My conclusion: having to annotate makes me not want to read. Which is a very, very sad thing for a total bibliophile like me. Anybody else have stuff like that?

I'm reading 1984 (Orwell), A Prayer for Owen Meany (Irving), The Things They Carried (O'Brien), and Naked Economics (Wheelan) for school this summer, in preparation for AP Literature and AP Government and Macroeconomics. What's anybody else reading for school?

Review: Perchance to Dream

Title: Perchance to Dream
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Pages: 333
Series: Théâtre Illuminata #2
Rating: 4 stars
From the book jacket: (highlight gaps to read; spoiler warning)
Act Two, Scene One
Growing up in the enchanted Théâtre Illuminata, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith learned everything about every play ever written. She knew the Players and their parts, but she didn't know that she, too, had magic. Now, she is the Mistress of Revels, the Teller of Tales, and is determined to follow her stars. She is ready for the outside world.

Enter BERTIE AND COMPANY
But the outside world soon proves more topsy-turvy than any stage production. Bertie can make things happen by writing them, but outside the protective walls of the Théâtre, nothing goes as planned. And her magic cannot help her make a decision between--

NATE: Her suave and swashbuckling pirate, now in mortal peril.

ARIEL: A brooding, yet seductive, air spirit whose true motives remain unclear.

When Nate is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Sea Goddess, only Bertie can free him. Bertie's dreams are haunted by Nate, whose love for Bertie is keeping him alive, but in the daytime, it's Ariel who is tantalizingly close, and the one she is falling for. Who does Bertie love the most? And will her magic be powerful enough to save her once she enters the Sea Goddess's lair?

I read and fell in love with the first book in the Théâtre Illuminata series, Eyes Like Stars, several months ago. I was a bit concerned about starting the sequel because I was a little hazy on the details of the first book. I needn't have worried; while you certainly want to read the first book first, book two is almost self-sufficient.

As Bertie, Ariel, and the four Midsummer Night's Dream fairies are off on an adventure outside the Théâtre; Bertie is desperate to rescue her sort-of-boyfriend, the pirate Nate, and she also wants to discover the identity of the Mysterious Stranger who is her father. At the same time, she's maybe-a-little-bit falling for Ariel. She's also learning how to use her storytelling magic without accidentally doing anything dangerous, like lighting her fairy friends on fire.

So much of this book had me literally laughing out loud. I adored it. The comic relief, mostly in the form of the fairies but from other sources as well, is excellent. And I love, love, love all the literary references (the first line is "'It is a truth universally acknowledged,' Mustardseed said, flying in lazy loops like an intoxicated bumblebee, 'that a fairy in possession of a good appetite must be in want of pie," and it only gets better from there). But even through the lighthearted tone and the cheerfulness, there's a fair amount of danger and dark situations that definitely kept me turning the pages.

And the characters. Oh my goodness, the characters. Peaseblossom, Moth, Cobweb, and Mustardseed alone would be enough to keep me reading even with out all the other amazingness. Edible boyfriends and parodies about pie? Oh, yes. And Bertie is so sweet and so relatable - an awesome protagonist. And then there are the love interests. Nate and Ariel are both great characters (I'm Team Ariel, but that's me.) And all of the side characters are so much fun too. It's just spectacular.

My one complaint is that some of it was really hard to follow. While Bertie was experimenting with her magic, there were two or three places where I got really confused as to where she was and who she was with. But I think even that worked, because Bertie was confused a lot too. It made it difficult to keep up in places, but I still really, really loved the story.

So if you're looking for a quick, lighthearted, bundles-of-fun summer read (er, two), the Théâtre Illuminata books (first one titled Eyes Like Stars and the second one, of course, is Perchance to Dream) would be an excellent choice.

Links:
Lisa Mantchev's website
Théâtre Illuminata website
Lisa Mantchev's blog

Release Date News!

So, as I have just learned from Maggie Stiefvater's official Facebook fan page, the release date of Linger has been moved up from the 20th to the 13th. That means that it'll be in stores on Tuesday! Much excitement.

You can read my review of Linger here, and you can read the book for yourself in just a few days. Are you guys excited? Because it's pretty awesome. :)

Review: Pretty Little Liars

Title: Pretty Little Liars
Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 286
Series: Pretty Little Liars #1
Rating: 4 stars
Description from HarperTeen: 
Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret.

Gossip thrives among the Mercedes-Benzes, mega-mansions, and perfectly manicured hedges in the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Behind their big Gucci sunglasses, beneath their perfectly pressed Polos, everyone has something to hide, especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. Spencer covets her sister's gorgeous new boyfriend. Aria is having an affair with her English teacher. Emily is infatuated with the new girl at school. And Hanna is using some ugly tricks to stay beautiful. Deeper and darker still is a horrible secret the girls have shared since sixth grade - a secret they thought was safe forever.

Then the girls start receiving threatening messages signed by someone named "A." Could "A" be Alison, the ultra-popular girl who disappeared three years earlier? Alison was their best friend. She knew everything about them. But if Alison isn't "A," who is? And how could anyone else know so much about the bad girls they were and the bad girls they've become? Suddenly, their secrets - the big ones, the little ones, the long-buried ones - no longer seem so safe. Suddenly, nothing is safe in Rosewood.

I have to confess that when I started this book, I was not prepared to enjoy it. I liked the idea of the mystery and the girl who disappeared, but I was afraid there would be too many designer-labels and "popular" girls that I couldn't relate to. I am very pleased to say that I was wrong.

The characters in Pretty Little Liars are incredibly relatable. Aria's the English nerd who's trying to figure out who she is and wants a guy with more to him than just looks. Spencer's always had a lot of pressure on her from her parents to do well in school. Emily's the younger sister who's living in her older siblings' shadow and a little scared of disobeying her parents. Hanna, probably the hardest to relate to for me, is dealing with her step-sister being Daddy's favorite and feeling like her parents don't think she's good enough. Each of the girls have their issues that they're dealing with, and they're also dealing with the unavoidable social changes of high school - changing friend groups, changing interests, romance or the lack thereof. Plus, it's one of those books that really just says "Hey, everybody has issues. People are people, regardless of social status." These characters, obnoxious though they can be at times, are ones that you can't help feeling drawn to.

And the mystery of A and Alison's disappearance is very well done. I've already said I like the characters, but even if I didn't, I think I'd be reading the rest of the series just to figure out who A is and what happened to Alison. There's enough to it so that readers aren't just like, "oh, whatever, sideline mystery," but it doesn't tell you so much that you can figure it out halfway through. The mystery is very well crafted and I am definitely going to pick up Flawless ASAP.

And, okay, Pretty Little Liars also has a fair amount of guilty pleasure appeal. The torrid affairs, the parties, and all the deep, dark, juicy secrets - it's the kind of stuff that you know you shouldn't want to read about, but you can't help wanting more anyway.

I felt like some of it got a bit over-the-top in places; some of the drama could have been toned down a bit and still worked just as well if not better. But on the whole, I really really enjoyed Pretty Little Liars. I read it straight through; put it down for bathroom breaks and family dinner, and not much else. Definitely a fun read for just about any teenage girl.

Oh, and one more thing. The cover. I'm not a huge fan of the yellow background, but the idea of the dolls to represent the girls? Love it. If I started going on about the metaphorical significance of the dolls, we'd be here all afternoon, but I think it works really, really well. So, three cheers for Sara Shepard, and another three cheers for the cover designer.

Links:
Pretty Little Liars website

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, in which you post on a Wednesday about a pre-publication book you're excited about. There's a lot coming out soon that I'm excited about, so I thought I'd join in.

Description from Goodreads: (highlight to read - spoilers!)
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.


Maybe I'm a bit behind the times with this one - we've all been waiting for Mockingjay for months and months - but I couldn't get the widget to load yesterday and so this is my way of saying "YES! I WANT TO READ THIS!"


Mockingjay is the third and final novel in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, an excellent dystopian YA about Katniss Everdeen's will to survive. Each year, the government holds the Hunger Games, in which each of the 12 districts must send two children to the arena. The twenty-four selected children must fight to the death to earn their district extra food - and to remind the people that the government has total control over them. 


But Katniss doesn't want to play by the rules. And the government can't take it. From the very first page, The Hunger Games sucked me in. I could not put it down. Whether it's the characters or the action or something else entirely, something about the book is absolutely amazing. And the sequel, Catching Fire, was just as good. So this Wednesday, I'm waiting for Mockingjay, the conclusion to the series. 


It releases on August 24. I can't wait. 

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 563
Series: Caster Chronicles #1
Rating: 5 stars. Or more.
From Goodreads: 
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. 


Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. 


In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


I don't know where to start on how spectacular and amazing this book is. Right after I finished it, I walked by a mirror and almost did a double take when it was me and not Ethan or Lena looking back out. It's that engaging, and it does that good a job of putting you right there in the characters' shoes.


It was really refreshing to see a paranormal romance told (and told well) from the perspective of a guy, but that barely scratches the surface of all the things that are amazing about Beautiful Creatures. Danger, mystery, witches, history, and a sense of something bigger than any individual looming before the characters...this novel has it all. The conflict, mystery, and danger are all wonderfully developed, and the story moves quickly, so don't let the length scare you off. And the detailed plot does not at all take away from the characters. Ethan and Lena are two very complex, very real characters who can make you forget about yourself and just be someone else for a couple of hours. 


I completely adored this book. Read it, you guys, it is made of awesome. Beautiful Creatures is a beautiful book.


Links: 
Beautiful Creatures website