Waiting on Wednesday: Drought

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

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.

******

Thanks, Tonya! <3

Introducing....Tonya!

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)

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

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

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!

Beautiful Darkness!

This is the part where I squeak like a fangirl because Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl comes out today. I am so beyond excited to read this book - I adored the first one. Sadly, I couldn't get to B&N today, but I will definitely make an excursion to get this book veryverysoon.

I know there are several other awesome books that come out today, but this is the only one that I know off the top of my head, and I have a buuunch of Spanish homework that needs doing. I'm sorry I can't spotlight all of today's great releases. But this one I am absolutely psyched about, so I had to remind everyone that today's it's big welcome-to-the-world day!