Black Howl

Black Howl

by Christina Henry

Black Wings, book three

Something is wrong with the souls of Chicago's dead. Ghosts are walking the streets, and Agent of Death Madeline Black's exasperating boss wants her to figure out why. And while work is bad enough, Maddy has a plethora of personal problems too. Now that Gabriel has been assigned as her thrall, their relationship has hit an impasse. At least her sleazy ex-fiance Nathaniel is out of the picture--or so she thinks... (description from Amazon.com)

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This is one of my go-to just for fun reading series. I love Maddy. She is a tough chickie with too much on her plate who still manages to just get by...usually by the skin of her teeth.  The whole demons thing makes some really interesting plot twists and turns and there is one adorably cranky, sugar-addicted, older gargoyle that I just want to adopt right out of the book!

Urban fiction fans would be well advised to give this series a shot. :)



Winner - Laini Taylor preview pack!!

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the Laini Taylor BEA preview pack giveaway (via random drawing at random.org) is...

Angie!!

Angie, check your email...and get me your mailing address before the end of the day on Wed, July 18th so that I can get the preview pack out to you ASAP! Congratulations again!

Anxiously Awaiting...Doomed by Tracy Deebs!

Doomed

by Tracy Deebs

Publication date: Jan. 8, 2013

Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.

Sounds like an awesome reconceptualization of one of my favorite myths...the story of Pandora's Box. I love the dystopian gamer vibe!! 

Timepiece

Timepiece

by Myra McEntire

Hourglass, book two

A threat from the past could destroy the future.
Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples--cracks in time. Are his powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before he can find out, Jonathan Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want?

In the wake of Landers's return, the Hourglass organization is given an ultimatum by a mysterious man. Either they find Landers and the research he has stolen on people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered--with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most. Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their extraordinary powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? Even if they succeed, just finding him may not be enough ... (description from Amazon.com)

Kaleb. Kaleb. Kaleb. Need I say more? If you've read the first book in the series, Hourglass, then I'm sure, like me, you were already half in love with Kaleb.  *THEN* Ms. McEntire had to blow me out of the water by starting this book off with a scene of my piratically-hot Kaleb in an actual pirate costume.  Oh.My.God. I had to fan myself a little while reading.  *Swoon*

Aside from the return of some rockin' romance, some awesome time travel and some amazing plot twists that keep readers on their toes, I cannot tell you how much I appreciated the change of narrator in this book. I loved Emerson and I still do, but Kaleb holds a special place in my lusty thoughts, I mean heart...

Again, I could not put this book down! There were heartbreaking moments, there were spots where I couldn't stop grinning... there was a passage I loved so much that I tweeted it:

From p. 197

"Maybe." The word caught in my throat. How did she see the man that I wanted to be so clearly, instead of the ugliness that was really there?

"Why don't you believe me?"

...and it has another killer ending that is just making me want book three NOW!! Myra McEntire has found a truly devoted fan in me.  :)

Full disclosure: ARCs received from NetGalley and Egmont for review


Book Trailer - The Forsaken

The Forsaken
by Lisa M. Stasse

Doesn't this sound good?  I think I'm adding it to my (already gigantic, LOL) TBR list!!

Baby Lit Books: Board Books for Brilliant Babies

Little Master Carroll: Alice in Wonderland, A Color Primer 

by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver

Little Miss Bronte: Jane Eyre, A Counting Primer

by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver

With the perennial popularity of classic writers like Charlotte Brontë and Lewis Carroll, Baby Lit is a fashionable way to introduce your toddler to the world of classic literature. With clever, simple text by Jennifer Adams, paired with stylish design and illustrations by Sugar's Alison Oliver, Little Miss Brontë and Little Master Carroll are a must for every savvy parent's nursery library. (description from Amazon.com)

Okay, I have to tell you right up front...I am not a parent.  I do not have any children of my own, but I am a youth services librarian and I serve children between the ages of, well, birth and eighteen every day at work. I run weekly storytime for ages 3-5 during the school year and I do pajama storytimes.  I also have friends with itty-bitty babies.  SO... though I have no personal reading to my own little baby experience to draw from here, I can give you my experience as an "auntie" and as a librarian in reviewing these books.

When I opened the package with these two books in it, my very first thought was OMG these are so cute!! I want the whole series! Then I took the time to really pour over them critically and I came to several conclusions:

This book series is great for parents with a literary background and a sense of irony. To teach your kids numbers and colors, etc. from the Classics? What a cute idea.  They look great just sitting on your bookshelf...

Which brings me to point number two.  These books look great.  They are visually appealing and are sturdy enough for a baby to play with and "read."

In terms of actual usability for their intended purpose, though, this is where I become torn. For a one on one session with a baby, say if I was babysitting one of my adorable friend's babies, these books would be just fine.  You can turn each page with the little'un and point to what they want you to learn, for example the four towers (pictured above left).  You can count the four towers together.  In a larger storytime, though, it would be much, much harder to have all the kids follow along with some of these pictures.  Also, though the colors are bright and eye catching, to teach a child that the purple bottle is really what we call "purple" would be tough, as the pigments that these book designers chose do not technically match the colors that we teach children in early school years. 

Now, don't think that this means I didn't like these books. As I said, I actually loved these books! I even went and hunted down the Romeo and Juliet one in Barnes and Noble not too long after I received these. For my own personal collection, I kept the Alice in Wonderland one and I gave the Jane Eyre copy to my friend who just had a baby this year.  I think they are wonderful to have in a personal collection and I would even add these to our Library's collection, but we mostly likely would not choose them for a Library storytime. 

Full disclosure: Copies sent by publisher for review



Gold Star Interview - Jordan Sonnenblick!

Hello All!

As you all know, when I LURVE a book, I give it a Gold Star Review here. Well, to liven up the blog a little, I'm going to (try to) interview the author of each book that receives a coveted Gold Star! I hope you'll enjoy these quick, little interviews. :D

Today's guest is the fabulous Jordan Sonnenblick! I'm so excited. I've loved every one of his books so far, and you can find my original Gold Star Review of his newest book, CURVEBALL: The Year I Lost My Grip, here.

Welcome, Jordan! Thank you so much for stopping by to chat with me. I have just a couple of quick questions for you:

1.      How long did it take you, from first spark of idea to final proofs, to write Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip?

Each of my books takes between twelve and eighteen months from the “eureka” moment to the big nap when I am completely done with the project.  Curveball was probably right around the eighteen-month mark, only because the deadlines happened to be very relaxed.  Publishing is often rush-rush-rush kind of business, but for this particular book, we had about a year between the writing and the publication date.  One very happy result of that was that the publisher, Scholastic, really got to lavish a lot of time and energy on the marketing of the book.  That meant a great cover design, a lot of sending me to conventions to publicize the book, and even an awesome promotional video.  I was thrilled -- writers love it when their publishers do stuff like that for them!


2.      If you could write a book under a pseudonym that no one would ever connect to you, are there any genres you would love to secretly explore?

Hmmm ... I would secretly love to write superhero comic books for a year or two.  Marvel, are you listening? *LOL, I would vote for that!!*

3.      I really loved how you explored Alzheimer ’s disease, which affects so many families, in a touching and informative way, yet without sounding like a medical textbook.  Was this based on research or personal experience?

Unfortunately, I didn’t have to do much research.  My maternal grandfather, Solomon Feldman (who, incidentally, was also the inspiration for the character of Solomon Lewis in my book Notes from the Midnight Driver) was a dementia patient, and almost everything that happens with the grandfather in Curveball happened with him.  Watching a loved one succumb to dementia is an awful, awful thing.  Of course, it’s also a source of heightened emotion all around -- lots of laughter and love in with the terror and tears -- which means it’s a great source of literary material.  And I suppose I keep coming back to my grandfather’s story because it’s personally cathartic.  Dementia is so painful that I am still coming to grips with the slow loss of this man -- who was really my hero and mentor, both in his life before he started losing his mind, and in the courage of his fight right up to the end. *Thank you for sharing such a personal story with us. I'm glad he was able to inspire you!*

4.      If you could cross one thing off your bucket list tomorrow, what would it be?

As soon as my first book, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie was published in 2004, my bucket list became obsolete.  My dreams in life were to live abroad, get married, have healthy kids, and write a book.  Now everything else is just gravy.

Still, I suppose if some producer felt like making a blockbuster movie based on one of my novels, that would be A-OK with me.

5.      Quick picks list:
Favorite vacation destination? 

London or San Francisco; I’m a city person. 

Favorite childhood book? 

The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper. 

Favorite writing snack food? 

Coffee, although I admit it’s not technically a food -- but it has more calories than most foods by the time I am done dumping cream and sugar in it. 

Favorite clothing item? 

Well, for writing, I like to wear any one of the dozens of middle-school t-shirts I have been given during school visits.  They help me feel connected to my characters.

Thank you so much, Jordan, for letting me interview you. It was a pleasure!

For more information about Jordan and his books, check out his website at http://www.jordansonnenblick.com/

BEA Giveaway #2 - Laini Taylor Preview

Fans of Laini Taylor, pay attention!!

I have here one Laini Taylor preview pack that contains a paperback copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone and a chapter sampler from the upcoming sequel. Days of Blood and Starlight doesn't come out until November, so our lucky winner will be able to whet their appetite for Laini's gorgeous prose while they wait anxiously for it to come out...

SO, how do you win?

Simple.  Comment with your name and email address.  That's it! I will pick one winner using random.org at the end of the day on Sat., July 14th and announce the winner on Sunday, July 15th. That winner will have until Wed., July 18th to get me their mailing address (US only, sorry!) so that I can mail their prize.

Good luck!! 

Cover Craving... Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare!

Clockwork Princess

by Cassandra Clare

Infernal Devices, book three

Publication date: March 2013

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it's too late. As Jem's health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves — even if it means never seeing the other one again?

OMG. I *LOVE* this cover...it is gorgeous. I love the dress and the glowing book. I just want to frame this and put it on the wall in my writing nook.  Kudos to the designers!!

Mini Reviews - The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Warlock
by Michael Scott
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book five

In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning.

With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places. (description from Amazon.com)

Full disclosure: Signed copy received at BEA 2011

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Enchantress
by Michael Scott
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book six
 
The two that are one must become the one that is all. One to save the world, one to destroy it.


San Francisco:
Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live, and one job left to do. They must defend San Francisco. The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city. If they are not stopped, they will destroy everyone and everything in their path.

But even with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend the city? Or is it the beginning of the end of the human race?

Danu Talis:
Sophie and Josh Newman traveled ten thousand years into the past to Danu Talis when they followed Dr. John Dee and Virginia Dare. And it’s on this legendary island that the battle for the world begins and ends.

Scathach, Prometheus, Palamedes, Shakespeare, Saint-Germain, and Joan of Arc are also on the island. And no one is sure what—or who—the twins will be fighting for.  Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.  But will the twins of legend stand together?

Or will they stand apart—one to save the world and one to destroy it? (description from Amazon.com)

Full disclosure: Finished copy received to review for VOYA

Okay, I read these back to back, so I'm going to review them together...and it's going to be somewhat short and vague because I don't want to spoil the end of the series for anyone.

So, here's the short and sweet version :
This series covers a LOT of action during a short period of time. There are a lot of characters to keep track of...finally in these two books, we get more character development. Especially in Josh and Sophie.  You really begin to feel for the characters and hope they will find their true place in the world. 

Want a book that will surprise you? There are a ton of twists and surprising developments in the final installment of the series. Scott wraps things up in a really fascinating and intricate way.

Fans of the series will be clamboring to finish this series and I don't think that anyone will be disappointed...

Scary School

Scary School
by Derek the Ghost 

You think your school's scary?


Get a load of these teachers:

Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire
Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess
Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it's taught by someone who's half zombie
Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex!

Plus gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein's monster on the loose, the world's most frighteningly delicious school lunch, and the narrator's an eleven-year-old ghost!

Join Charles "New Kid" Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky! (description from Amazon.com)

What a cute start to a new "scary" but not too scary series. This would be great for kids who are desperate  to read Stine's Goosebumps series, but perhaps aren't quite ready yet. Then this would also segue really well  into these same kids reading Harrison's Monster High series when they got a  little older. 

With scary, but funny teachers, a weirdly fascinating and dangerous school, and kid characters that you immediately want to befriend,  this book was a quick and FUN read! Narrator and ghost, Derek, walks  us through the school year, introducing both teachers and classmates.  I  loved that there was a girl named Frank (that's pronounced RACHEL!) and that the school Librarian is a dinosaur and that the gourmet school lunches are cooked up by a giant octopus! One of my favorite scenes was when the half-dead sports coach gives a special anatomy lesson by peeling off his skin so that students can see his internal organs!

With a surprisingly good "moral" about friendship, Scary School begins a series that is sure to find fans among the chapterbook set! Book two,  Monsters on the March also just came out on June 26th.

Full disclosure: Review copy set to me by the author

Anxiously Awaiting... Scarlet by Marissa Meyer!

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

The Lunar Chronicles, book two

Publication date: Jan 3, 2013

From the USA today exclusive cover reveal:
Due out in early 2013 from Macmillan, Scarlet is the second book in Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles young-adult series. Cinder reappears in the next futuristic tweaking of a familiar fairy tale — as does Prince Kai, the evil lunar ruler Queen Levana, and a heap of intergalactic intrigue.

Debuting in the new book, however, is Scarlet Benoit, a young French woman who enlists the services of a street fighter named Wolf when she finds her grandmother, a former military pilot, gone missing.

Two more fairy-tale fantasies will follow Scarlet, including Cress (2014), Meyer's take on the Rapunzel legend, and the Snow White-inspired conclusion, Winter (2015).

I CANNOT WAIT.  I loved Cinder and I think all the rest of the books also sound fabulous!

The Garden Intrigue

The Garden Intrigue

by Lauren Willig

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, book nine



Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can't bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.

New York-born Emma Morris Delagardie is a thorn in Augustus's side. An old school friend of Napoleon's stepdaughter, she came to France with her uncle, the American envoy; eloped with a Frenchman; and has been rattling around the salons of Paris ever since. Widowed for four years, she entertains herself by drinking too much champagne, holding a weekly salon, and loudly critiquing Augustus's poetry.

As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, Whittlesby hears of a top-secret device to be demonstrated at a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is with Emma, who has been asked to write a masque for the weekend's entertainment.

Emma is at a crossroads: Should she return to the States or remain in France? She'll do anything to postpone the decision-even if it means teaming up with that silly poet Whittlesby to write a masque for Bonaparte's house party. But each soon learns that surface appearances are misleading. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing goes quite as scripted- especially Augustus's feelings for Emma. (description from Amazon.com)

Oh, but do I love this series! It is wonderful historical fiction full of intrigue, romance, and strong characters both male and female.  I have learned more about the dealings between England and France during this time period from Lauren Willig than I ever did in school...

I love the descriptions of the dresses, the parties, the social ettiquettes, and of course, the spy codes. I love seeing smart women not only assist, but often outsmart their male counterparts.  I love it all. 

This particular volume in the series not only continued the trend of great characters, but also showed a great glimpse into a fascinating period in Napolean Bonaparte's "career."  It was so interesting to see what life would have been like as a part of his household while he became Emperor in France.  I loved seeing the connections between the politics, the parties, and the inventions of the period.

As for the next book, I *cannot* wait to see what happens to Eloise and Colin as she finds her time in England drawing to a close.  As always, their continuing story makes up all my absolute favorite bits in each book. 

Full disclosure: ARC originally received from NetGalley.

If You Like: The Cutting Edge

If You Like… is a feature highlighting blogger recommendations for books, authors, TV shows, movies, and music based on the things you already know and love.


This week's recommendations are all books and movies that are similar to the Ice Skating based love story, The Cutting Edge. If it's your kind of movie, check out our recommendations HERE!

Paper Covers Rock

Paper Covers Rock
by Jenny Hubbard

At the beginning of his junior year at a boys' boarding school, 16-year-old Alex is devastated when he fails to save a drowning friend. When questioned, Alex and his friend Glenn, who was also at the river, begin weaving their web of lies. Plagued by guilt, Alex takes refuge in the library, telling his tale in a journal he hides behind Moby-Dick. Caught in the web with Alex and Glenn is their English teacher, Miss Dovecott, fresh out of Princeton, who suspects there's more to what happened at the river when she perceives guilt in Alex's writing for class. She also sees poetic talent in Alex, which she encourages. As Alex responds to her attention, he discovers his true voice, one that goes against the boarding school bravado that Glenn embraces. When Glenn becomes convinced that Miss Dovecott is out to get them, Alex must choose between them.  (description from Amazon.com)


I have to be honest and admit that I did not enjoy this book at all. I began it as an audiobook and hated it.  Part of the problem for me was how slowly the book was going and that it seemed to lack cohesion...I picked up the physical book hoping that being able to see the breaks in Alex's "journal entries" would help me focus through the rest of the book. That didn't even help that much, though. Things went faster, but I still just could not get into the story. I found it mostly implausible and frustrating. I thought that Alex made a lot of poor decisions, letting himself be swayed by the wrong people, and that most of the bad actions in the book led to no consequences.

I guess this was just not the book for me.

Full disclosure: Audiobook received to review for SLJ

What's On My Hold List?

Welcome to the July 2012 edition

of

"What's on My Hold List?"

One of the most beautiful things about working in a Library is that I have the ability to put lots of things on hold and read them *before* I buy!! These are some of the books that I'm currently waiting for, though I may buy one or two of them after reading, as well.

Wicked Business
by Janet Evanovich
Lizzy and Diesel, book 2

Framed and Dangerous

by Kim Harrington

Sleuth or Dare, book 3

Masque of the Red Death

by Bethany Griffin

You can click on each title to go to their Amazon page for a description...

So, these are the books I'm waiting anxiously to get my hands on...what are you waiting for??

Gold Star Interview - Deva Fagan!

Hello All!

As you all know, when I LURVE a book, I give it a Gold Star Review here. Well, I was thinking of ways to liven up the blog a bit and had one of those fabulous epiphanies... I'm going to start, or at  least attempt, to interview the author of each book that receives a coveted Gold Star! I hope you'll enjoy these quick, little interviews.  :D

To kick things off, I'm so happy to host Deva Fagan, author of the fantastic CIRCUS GALACTICUS! You can find my original Gold Star Review here.

Welcome, Deva!  Thank you so much for stopping by to chat with me.  I have just a couple of quick questions for you:

1. How long did it take you, from first spark of idea to final proofs, to write Circus Galacticus?

The first spark of idea actually came back in *rummages through journal archives* 2005 (!) when I wrote a draft of an entirely different book about a circus in space. While the core idea was the same (misfits forming a circus and traveling around the universe) it had an entirely different plot and cast of characters (for example, the Ringmaster was an elderly lush, and the main character was a girl who trained a pack of alien dogs). It was also a lot grittier, and written as adult science fiction. I really liked the idea, but it never really came together, so I set it aside.

It wasn't until the fall of 2008 that I came back to that core idea and had the notion to try reworking it with teenage protagonists. That was when the spark really turned into a bonfire, and I quickly wrote what would become CIRCUS GALACTICUS. It sold in the fall of 2009, and was published in November 2011.

It just goes to show that sometimes you just have to be patient with some ideas you love!


2. If you could write a book under a pseudonym that no one would ever connect to you, are there any genres you would love to secretly explore?

I'm actually working on a project right now that's a new direction for me. It's a character-driven YA fantasy, with a strong romantic element, and more of a serious, epic plot than my first three books, which are more light, humorous reads for slightly younger audiences.

It's been a very challenging project, but I've really enjoyed pushing myself to do something new! Especially as it's more in the vein of the types of books I loved best as a girl, like Robin McKinley's THE HERO AND THE CROWN, Meredith Ann Pierce's DARKANGEL, and Cynthia Voigt's JACKAROO.

3. I appreciate that Circus Galacticus wrapped Trix’s story up in one book, but I loved the characters and the Big Top so much…would you ever consider writing another book set in the same world?

Oh, it would be a dream-come-true to be able to tell the rest of Trix's story! I love these characters too, and would be thrilled to share more of their adventures, secrets, and ultimate destinies. Alas, publishing is a business, and so far the first book has not sold enough copies for the publisher to consider a sequel at this time.

There's a paperback edition of CIRCUS GALACTICUS on the way November 6th, 2012, though, so keep your fingers crossed that it finds more new readers, and we'll see what happens!

*ooh! I'll have to make sure to pick up a copy in pb to help those sales! Maybe even two...one for a giveaway perhaps??*

4. If you could cross one thing off your bucket list tomorrow, what would it be?

I'd say "Visiting New Zealand and Australia" but it's already tomorrow there, so that might cause some sort of time-paradox!

5. Quick picks list:
Favorite vacation destination?

Paris! Beautiful gardens and tasty pastries!

Favorite childhood book?

Oops, I already answered this above! So instead I'll tell you one of my favorite non-fantasy books, that I did NOT read as a kid, but wish I had: the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables (like me!) you should most definitely check these out. They're based on the real life of the author, growing up in the early 1900s in Minnesota. They are all wonderful, but I especially love the high school era books, starting with HEAVEN TO BETSY.

Favorite writing snack food?

Does tea count?

Favorite clothing item?

Any of my Threadless T-shirts (http://www.threadless.com)!


Thank you Jessica, for having me stop by!
Cheers,
Deva

Thank YOU, Deva, for letting me interview you. It was a pleasure!

For more information about Deva and her books, check out her website at http://devafagan.com/

Stay tuned for more Gold Star Interviews...next up, Jordan Sonnenblick!



Winner - BEA ARCs Giveaway!!

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the BEA ARCs giveaway (via random drawing at random.org) is...


Jamie Krakover!!

Jamie, check your email...and get me your mailing address before the end of the day on Sunday, July 1st, so that I can get the ARCs out to you ASAP! Congratulations again!

Upcoming Sequels I Look Forward to Reading...

Biting Cold

by Chloe Neill

The Chicagoland Vampires series

Publication date: Aug. 7, 2012

Turned into a vampire against her will, twenty-eight-year-old Merit found her way into the dark circle of Chicago’s vampire underground, where she learned there was more to supernaturals than met the eye—and more supernaturals than the public ever imagined. And not all the secrets she learned were for sharing—among humans or inhumans.

Now Merit is on the hunt, charging across the stark American Midwest, tailing a rogue supernatural intent on stealing an ancient artifact that could unleash catastrophic evil on the world. But Merit is also the prey. An enemy of Chicagoland is hunting her, and he’ll stop at nothing to get the book for himself. No mercy allowed. No rules apply. No lives spared. The race is on.

Boundless

by Cynthia Hand

Publication date: Jan. 22, 2013

no description yet available...

Everbound

by Brodi Ashton

Everneath series

Publication date: Jan. 22, 2013

Two months ago, the Tunnels of the underworld came for Nikki Beckett. That night, Nikki's boyfriend, Jack, made the ultimate sacrifice. All Nikki wants is to save Jack before it's too late. All Cole wants is to find his queen - and he thinks Nikki is the one. Both determined, both desperate, Nikki and Cole form a tense alliance, leading them on a dangerous journey to The Heart of The Everneath.



Perfect Scoundrels

by Ally Carter

Heist Society series

Publication date: Feb. 5, 2013

Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting—or stealing—whatever they want.

No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale’s family, all bets are off when money is on the line. When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there’s no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won’t let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother’s will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company’s fortune. So instead of being the heir—this time, Hale might be the mark.

Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt. To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she’s willing to save her boyfriend’s company if it means losing the boy.



Any other upcoming sequels you are dying to read??



Five Flavors of Dumb

Five Flavors of Dumb

by Antony John

Piper is a seventeen-year-old high school senior, and she's just been challenged to get her school's super-popular rock band, Dumb, a paying gig. The catch? Piper is deaf. Can she manage a band with five wildly different musicians, nurture a budding romance, and discover her own inner rock star, though she can't hear Dumb's music? (description from Amazon.com)

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, it had heart and it made me laugh. I liked Piper's character a lot. Yes, she had her sarcastic, typical angsty teen moments, but she was also tough and determined to make her own way in the world. I loved her connection to music, even as she acknowledged that she couldn't hear it and would never experience it the same way as everyone else could. I loved the way that this family dealt with their issues and came together as a stronger unit by the end of the story.

For a touching and uplifting,l easy to read book this summer, think about picking up this book!


Anxiously Awaiting...Earth Girl!

Earth Girl

by Janet Edwards

Publication date: August 15, 2012

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.

A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter...

Oooh! This one sounds good. I love the idea of interplanetary travel. So cool. I can't imagine having to be left behind, enviously waiting for information from friends and family... kind of like a family constantly leaving you behind when they go on vacation... a la Home Alone, LOL!! This book sounds so right up my alley! <3



Anxiously Awaiting...Sever by Lauren DeStefano



Sever

by Lauren DeStefano

The Chemical Garden Trilogy, book three

Publication date: Feb. 12, 2013

What if you knew exactly when you would die? In the not-too-distant future, genetic engineering has turned every newborn into a ticking time bomb — males only live to age 25 and females only live to age 20.

In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. When 16-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by “the Gatherers” to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Rhine has only one purpose after she has been married to her new husband, Linden: to escape and find her twin brother.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant to whom she is dangerously attracted, Rhine is desperate to learn the truth and protect those closest to her. But, as her sister wife Cecily keeps insisting, her role may be much bigger than that.

In the first two books of the Chemical Garden trilogy, Wither and Fever, Rhine struggles to escape the mansion and then to navigate the brutal world outside. Now in Sever, the third and final book, Rhine uncovers some shattering truths about the past that her parents never had the chance to tell her and the alarming implications regarding her own genes. She may be the one who can save the human race. (from USA today books)

Not only do I *need* to know how this trilogy will finally end, but they came up with another gorgeous "broken doll" cover, though here Rhine looks significantly less "broken." Symbolism anyone?  Kudos on the cover designs! 

Kill Me Softly

Kill Me Softly
by Sarah Cross

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.


In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns. (description from Amazon.com)
 
I loved the idea of this book. I loved it a lot...and while the world-building was wonderful, and the secondary characters were great, I was somewhat disappointed in the main character, Mira. 
 
Beau Rivage was a decadent, dark, and dangerous place. Full of everything I love in a dark fairy tale. The inhabitants of Beau Rivage were also fascinatingly dark. I loved the "evil" fairy who ran the seedy nightclub, the girl cursed to spit up jewels and flowers who sang as the headliner in a band, and I really loved the blue haired boy who fought so hard to keep from killing even one more girl with his kisses...
 
...and then there was Mira. The sad little girl who seemed so spunky and headstrong, but fell like the weakest  little doe straight into the arms of the big bad wolf.  It was a horrific case of "Bella-itis"  and I wanted to strangle her right through my car stereo. I even  found myself rolling my eyes so badly I was afraid they would roll right into the back of my head and never come out again at some points during her pining...
 
I loved the way the book ended. The right people found each other and curses, though not necessarily lifted, were lifted just enough for a potentially happy, yet realistically tough, ending. I would happily read another book set in the world of Beau Rivage. In fact, I would LOVE to delve back into this world to explore the remaining stories of some of the other characters. 

Dirty Little Secrets

Dirty Little Secrets
by C.J. Omololu

Everyone has a secret. But Lucy's is bigger and dirtier than most. It's one she's been hiding for years-that her mom's out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. Tackling an increasingly discussed topic that is both fascinating and disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy's desperate attempt to save her family. Readers join Lucy on a path from which there is no return, and the impact of hoarding on one teen's life will have them completely hooked. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a compelling, intriguing, and at moments both gross and shocking book. It's like a soap opera unfolding in front of your eyes - you see it happening, you know what's coming, and still you can't look away...you are hooked! 

My husband and I both watch Hoarders on TV.  I'll admit it. It's one of those shows you turn on and then can't turn off again. We'll watch it for hours. It's educational in a way, but it's mostly morbidly fascinating. You can't help but wonder for hours how it's possible that people actually live like that! It also has the dual  purpose of making me feel much better about how I live my life...sort of like Cops, LOL.

Anyway, this book read like watching an episode's aftermath. I could not put it down! There were moments  when I wished I could, but it was impossible. I can absolutely see now why several of  the teens in our Library had been bugging me to read this one! 

For something a little different that you won't be able to put down...try Dirty Little Secrets!

The 2012 ABNA Young Adult Fiction Winner!

I'm so happy! So happy, you guys!!

They announced the winner of the 2012 ABNA Young Adult Fiction contest and the entry that I reviewed early on in the contest, On Little Wings, won the division! It was a touching, well written read that I will review here at a later date, and I am so glad it won! :)

Here's the official announcement:

Amazon and Penguin Group (USA) Name Alan Averill and Regina Sirois Winners of 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest


Averill, author of “The Beautiful Land,” and Sirois, author of “On Little Wings,” receive publishing contracts and a $15,000 advance from Penguin Group (USA)

SEATTLE & NEW YORK—June 16, 2012—Amazon.com customers around the world cast their votes and this evening, Amazon.com, Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace announced the winners of this year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) at a special ceremony held at The Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. Alan Averill is the Grand Prize winner in the general fiction category for his novel, “The Beautiful Land,” while Regina Sirois was awarded the Grand Prize in the young adult fiction group for her novel, “On Little Wings.” Both authors have received a publishing contract from Penguin Group (USA) that includes a $15,000 advance. “The Beautiful Land” and “On Little Wings” will be published by Berkley Books and Viking Books for Young Readers, respectively. The novels are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/abna.

This year's competition drew thousands of submissions from aspiring writers around the world – the most entries in the history of the contest. Through several rounds of judging, six finalists rose to the top. An expert panel of authors, agents and editors weighed in with comments on the finalists’ work, and in the end, Amazon.com customers voted to select the winners.
 
“Today's winners were chosen by Amazon.com customers, which is one thing that makes ABNA so special,” said Nader Kabbani, Director of Independent Publishing at Amazon. “This contest not only recognizes talented authors but also connects them directly with readers looking to discover great new writers. We congratulate Alan and Regina, whose work clearly resonated with customers.”
 Tim McCall, Penguin Group (USA) Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing said, “Penguin is always looking for talented new writers to bring to our readers. We were thrilled to see the many promising manuscripts entered in this year’s competition by writers who aspire to be published by Penguin. We look forward to publishing Alan’s and Regina’s novels.”

Hailing from Seattle, Alan Averill, a former “video game script doctor,” wrote a draft of “The Beautiful Land” as a part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a movement that challenges writers to complete a novel in 30 days. “The Beautiful Land” is a story of two people in love from the moment they met but destined to be apart forever. Thanks to a time machine and a mysterious invention buried deep in the Australian Outback, they now have one more chance to get it right. One customer reviewer writes: “From the opening statement to the last quote, [it] had me excited all the way through. The prose is strong, descriptive in a quirky way, charming, and unique. The characters are extremely memorable. I can't wait to read how they will be interacting with one another later in the story.”


Regina Sirois was born and raised outside of Kansas City. She minored in Creative Writing, but never found the right inspiration for a story until she became the mother of two girls. “On Little Wings” is her first novel. In it, 16-year-old Jennifer’s discovery of an aunt she never knew existed reunites her family and provokes love and forgiveness. One customer reviewer writes: “…some of the most exquisite writing I've seen in a VERY long time. Any given sentence, paragraph or scene was sublime.”

Now in its fifth year, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest is an international contest co-sponsored by Amazon.com, Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace. For the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest Official Rules, to view the winning excerpts and reviews, or pre-order the novels, please visit www.amazon.com/abna.

I highly recommend if you get a chance that you check out the excerpt from On Little Wings. It was a standout for sure. I'm pleased to be hosting an interview with author, Regina Sirois, here on the blog soon, too, to discuss her experience participating in the ABNA contest.

Partials

Partials
by Dan Wells

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.


Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.  (description taken from Amazon.com)

Feel like you are tired of dystopians, yet? If so, I'd say give Partials a chance and see if it restores your faith in the genre. I love dystopians, really love them, but with the influx to the market right now, it is easy to get burnt out! I'm finding myself having to be much more careful in my selections and having to space them out between books from other genres to give myself a mental reboot. However, I really, thoroughly enjoyed Partials and would read a sequel from this author in a heartbeat!

This book had a great premise and followed through with realistic fallout. I loved how not only had the human population been decimated by a virus (that they essentially unleashed upon themselves after creating the Partials superhuman army...), but that they then also had to deal with their inability to reproduce successfully and how their society dealt with the prospect of dying out. There were LAYERS of things going on here!!  LAYERS, people.

Kira was a great heroine.  She was tough, she fought for what she believed in...she made dumb mistakes and she was scared sh!tless sometimes, but she also inspired change! She was a gamechanger. She thought outside the box. In a word, she was awesome. I would take Kira on my side against the world, any day!

Full of action, great observations of people and not only how they react singly to important events, but as a group, with a really strong main character... Partials is a dystopia I recommend to all that love the genre.  It makes my top three dystopians list!  

*Side note - I listened to this as an audio book and it was great.  So good, that I ended up being too impatient to listen to the very end and had to grab the book so I could finish it faster! LOL.  

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile   

My (*REALLY Belated) BEA 12 Wrap-Up Post...and a Giveaway!

Well...this is long overdue, but I've just been seriously overwhelmed lately.  Today is the first day since BEA that I really felt up to tackling a post of this size...

Anyway, on June 6th - ages ago, now!- I went into New York City to attend Book Expo America...my favorite day of the entire year.  I seriously love the experience every time I go. 

This year, I got up at 3:20a.m. so that I could drive down to the train station to meet my friend, Kim, and take the earliest train possible (well, for us anyway...) into the city in time to make the Children's Author Breakfast.  We got there in plenty of time so that Kim could check her roll-y bag, we picked out our seats (next year, we vowed to pay for the real breakfast table seats) and even got to chat with other Librarian friends before it started. I was super excited to catch up with my CT Librarians like Andrea, Kristi, and Heather!!  <3

If you want to read all about the Children's Author Breakfast (and I think you should - Chris Colfer moderated and it was amazing!!),  you can check out the write up I did for YALSA's The Hub. 

After the breakfast, Miss Kim and I were forced to split up. There is just so much to do and we had different things we desperately wanted to hit during the day. Of course, the first thing I wanted to do was get a signed copy of Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas, so I waited in line for more than an hour right off the bat. 

Having learned from going the last three years, I usually make a plan of things I'd like to do at BEA and then I  kind of take the day as it comes. While this year I did go in with certain signings that I *HAD* to attend, I  also made a point to give myself plenty of time to walk around and talk to the different people at Publishers' Booths. This worked out just great, as I was able to hand my blog card out to several different  people and I picked up some ARCs I never would have grabbed, based on the publisher's rep's recommendations. 

Alright, want to see what I got?

I was beyond excited to grab one of Chris Colfer's ARCs from the Children's Author Breakfast (bottom of the pile)! It came in the cutest little box, too. Another one I refused to leave BEA without was a signed copy of Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars. That was a must-grab for me!!  I  was also super excited to meet Jonathan Maberry in person and to get a signed copy of  Rot and Ruin. 

I was so happy to grab Libba Bray's The Diviners, too! Miss Kim grabbed a copy of Prodigy for me (Thank you!!) and I picked up several others I can't wait to read.  :)

Throughout the day, I met tons of authors, which is always one of my favorite things about all of BEA. I have to say this year's highlights included having Julianne Donaldson (Edenbrooke) and her publisher recognize me from the blog tour and then getting to have a real-life one on one conversation with JOHN GREEN!  Yes, the John Green.  He thanked me for being a Librarian and working every day to connect kids to books. So, of course, I thanked him for writing such great books for us to connect them to!!  (Awesome moment!)

Overall it was a great, and exhausting day. I made new contacts, caught up with old friends, and got a whole pile of books that it will probably take me a whole 'nother year to plow through, LOL.

How would you like some spoils from my efforts at BEA? I grabbed a couple extra ARCs and decided to give them away!  :D 

I have an extra copy of Jessica Khoury's Origin and Sharon Cameron's The Dark Unwinding. (If you click  on each title, it will take you to the Goodreads page for each book, where you can find a description) 

If  you would like to enter to win *both* these ARCs, please leave me a comment below  before Wed., June 27th. Please include your email address, too, so that if your name is chosen by Random.org on Thurs, June 28th, I can get in touch with you to get your mailing address  (US only, sorry!).   The winner will have until  Sunday, July 1st to get me their mailing address or I will pick a new winner.  GOOD LUCK!!