Waiting on Wednesday #46

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine. 

This week I'm waiting on This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers. 

I loved Courtney's Some Girls Are and Fall For Anything. I have, but have not read Cracked Up to Be. They are all contemporary fiction, so this one is sure to be a treat, because it's just outside of Courtney's writing shell. 

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up.

As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, everyone’s motivations to survive begin to change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life–and death–inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Zombies anyone? I love that cover too it perfectly normal when you first look at it, but the more you look the creepier it gets; with the hair in the girl's face flying all over, the little blood splatter in the upper-left hand corner. I cannot wait until June 19th to get my hands on this! So excited!

Review: First Day on Earth - Cecil Castellucci

Where I got it: Library

Rating: 4.5 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (Nice.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: November 1, 2011

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Page Count: 150 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Mal is angry. His father left with no explanation and his mother is more than useless. School is no picnic and he only sort of has friends. Then he meets Hooper. Hooper claims to be an extraterrestrial. At first Mal doesn't believe him, but why shouldn't he. Why couldn't Hooper be from another planet?

This was a nice little novel about a lot of things. On the surface it was about space, aliens, a kid struggling in life. This novel dealt a lot with belief. Defining your own beliefs can be hard, and allowing others theirs even when they conflict with your ideas. This novel had the same feel to it as How to Say Goodbye in Robot. They both had this laid-back and inquisitive feel to them. Some kids carving out a place for themselves, gathering misfits along the way. This is a novel that will leave you thinking about it, long after you finish. Cecil Castellucci leaves some questions unanswered and it works perfectly. As a reader, you are left to contemplate your beliefs. Depending on how you feel, depends on how you think the novel ends. I love that this book forces you to look inside and come to your own conclusions, and not because the novel isn't finished, but because it's open for interpretation. Mal and Hooper and very interesting characters. Mal isn't overly unique, sort of the lonely, brooding, outcast, but he is still a very interesting person. There's a lot going on in his life, and even though he's angry, he seems to roll with it easily. Definitely check this novel out soon. It's a quick read you won't regret. 

First Line:

"You think you know what I am, the kid slumped in his chair in the back row, with greasy hair, wearing all black."

Favorite Lines:

"My life sucks. So I shave my head."


"Hello and good-bye are not as simple as everyone thinks."

Review: The Pledge - Kimberly Derting

Where I got it: Library

Rating: 4 stars  

Cover Rating: 4.5 stars (The only thing I don't like is the faint PLEDGE covering the whole front. It doesn't do anything for me.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: November 15, 2011

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Page Count: 323 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Charlie has always been able to understand any language she encounters. This has made life very hard for her in Ludania, were language separates the classes. One must look away when someone of a higher class speaks in their language, and it's not always easy for Charlie to tell when they switch. In the clubs though, she doesn't have to worry, because class doesn't matter, no one pays attention to the rules. It makes it easier for Charlie and keeps her from having to tell her best friend Brook her secret. When Brook and Charlie head to a new club, Charlie meets Max and his friends. They speak a language she has never heard before which piques her curiosity. She's heard all the languages in Ludania, hasn't she? Before she can figure it out though, Charlie's world starts to turn upside down. What used to be test drills, turn into attacks on the city from the underground Resistance. Hiding from the bombs underground, Charlie learns the other side of a lot of people, and she has to puzzle out who she can trust and who is right. There's also very little time for her to figure out what her role is amid the chaos.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was a bit slower in the beginning than Kimberly Derting's Body Finder series, but still really enjoyable. Charlie was an interesting character, very strong, but completely content to play by the rules. It's especially hard for Charlie, because of her gift. She had to constantly know when people are speaking in their class tongue, versus when they were speaking to her. Charlie's sister, Angelina, was darling to. It was interesting that she didn't speak and through Charlie's gift, or just sisterly connection, Charlie could understand every tiny gesture for what it meant. There's not too much to say about this book, that doesn't give away a lot of very interesting discoveries. The Queen was wretched, as one would imagine her to be. I really like the first chapter with the Queen. The way the Queen inhabits another is very interesting, so it was great that it was presented right from the beginning. I very much look forward to the next novel in this series. I was glad that this one was all closed up like Kimberly does so well. It's always nice to have a series leave you wanting more, not needing more just to finish the story. Definitely check this one out, it's one you shouldn't miss if you're a fan of Kimberly Derting's other novels. 

First Line:
"The air crackled like a gathering thunderstorm the moment the girl entered the chamber."

Favorite Line:
"Cushions had been sliced apart and were bleeding stuffing onto the floor."

In My Mailbox #114

In My Mailbox brought to you by The Story Siren

For Review:

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers - Lynn Weingarten

When her boyfriend breaks up with her on the first day of sophomore year, Lucy has no idea how she’s going to make it through homeroom, let alone the rest of her life. Enter three stunning girls with a magical offer Lucy can’t refuse. All she has to do is get a guy to fall in love with her in the next seven days, and then…break his heart and collect one of his brokenhearted tears. As the girls teach Lucy how to hook a guy (with the help of a little magic), she quickly discovers how far she is willing to go—and who she is willing to cross—to get what she wants.

Kiss Crush Collide - Christina Meredith
Leah has the life most high school girls would kill for—popularity, glowing grades, a rich, athletic boyfriend. So why does she feel like she can’t breathe? And why can’t she stop thinking about the boy from the country club? The one who isn’t her boyfriend, the one that her mother would never, ever approve of, the one that her perfect older sisters would never, ever look at twice. The one who is always looking back at her. Irresistible attraction, smoldering glances, the bad boy and the good girl—Kiss Crush Collide has everything that a steamy forbidden romance should, and then some. 

Virtuosity - Jessica Martinez
Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot...what if Jeremy is better? Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can't end well, but she just can't stay away. Nobody else understands her--and riles her up--like he does. Still, she can't trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what's expected. 
Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall....

That's what I got this week, what did you all get?

Thanksgiving Break

I'm going to be taking the next few days off from blogging while I go visit family. So if you don't see me around that's why. I still have my 500 Followers contest going so make sure you enter that, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Review: The Space Between - Brenna Yovanoff

Where I got it: ARC for review from publisher

Rating: 3.5 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's very dark and lovely I just wish the graphics were put together a bit better.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: November 14, 2011

Publisher: Razorbill

Page Count: 363 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Daphne is half angel from her father Lucifer and half demon from her mother, Lilith. For the longest time she is content hanging around watching television in Pandemonium. Shes content until her brother tells her that he's going topside, for good. He's found something on Earth that he will never get in the bowels of Hell. His departure stirs something in Lilith, even more so when a mysterious boy is brought to Hell, but then returned to Earth with her brother. When Lilith sees that something bad has happened to Daphne's brother, she sends her daughter to Earth to save him. Daphne decides that the boy that went back with her brother might be a good place to start, maybe he knows how to find him. Instead she finds a broken boy that, if she were more like her sisters, she would feed off from. Daphne doesn't want to be bad though and she wants to save this boy.

An interesting take on mythology. I liked the re-telling of Lilith and Adam's back story. The description of Hell were quite amazing too. What a wretched place. Daphne was an enjoyable character, someone along the lines of Luna from Harry Potter. She was mostly aloof just because Earth was an unfamiliar place though. One thing that did sort of bother me was that there were some descriptive phrases that were used multiple times within a couple pages of each other. I didn't think to mark any, so I don't have examples, but trust me, it happened. The other complaint I have is the last two chapters. It seemed like the book was going to have a sequel, but then the last two chapters were tacked on. They felt rushed and sloppy to me. Everything was a little weird. I did love a lot of the secondary characters, though. Brenna Yovanoff did an excellent job crafting believable characters that you couldn't help but feel for.  It was a nice dark tale though and if you were excited to read it, definitely check it out. I still liked The Replacement a lot more though.

First Line:
"Once, my mother told a whole hosts of angels that she'd rather die than go back to a man she didn't love."

Favorite Lines:
"He slides his hand into mine. He says nothing and doesn't need to. His hand is everything. I lean against him, resting my head on his arm."

Breaking Dawn part 1, Super cheap ebooks and other things I feel like posting about.

If you have not read the book or you don't want to hear about specific movie scenes, read at your own risk. 
So I just got back from watching Breaking Dawn part 1. Honestly it was the most well down out of all the movies. Except, holy sex! It wasn't really graphic or anything, but it seemed like most of the movie was just their honeymoon. I feel like that's the reason they split the movie in two is so that they could have an hour-long honeymoon part. Besides that though I really enjoyed it. Poor Jacob, on so many levels. It was disgusting seeing Bella wasting away and the "birth" scenes. It's totally one thing to read about it another thing altogether to see it so graphically XD Another thing that bugged me was the wolves talking in their heads thing. It was really cheesy and pretty ridiculous. It was really good though and I am excited to see the conclusion and see what they focus on for the second part of Breaking Dawn. If you've already seen it, what were your thoughts on it? Were you disappointed or were you amazed?

Bloomsbury has lowered ebook prices on a ton of YA titles and their adult titles too. You can zoom in on the above PDF for a list of the titles they have available for under $3.99. There are some great ones like The Mark, Small Town Sinners, Need and Pirates. Make sure you check them out.

Finally I wanted to thank all my followers new and old. The 500 follower contest is going great and I have tons more books to add to it, but they are secrets. I will be posting another contest for December so keep your eyes open. Also, if any of you are interested I have a Tumblr here. So thanks everyone!

In My Mailbox #113

In My Mailbox brought to you by The Story Siren

Bought:

Godless - Pete Hautman 

(This was one of my favorites when it came out and I still love it!)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Jamison Odone

(My favorite story of all time, I can't help but buy different versions. This one looked cute!)

Inexcusable - Chris Lynch

After the Moment - Garret Freymann-Weyr

So that's what I got this week, what did you all get?

The Pledge launch party

So not only is Kimberly Derting having an awesome launch party for The Pledge, she's having a spread the word contest for it here.  I unfortunately will not be attending this signing because it's way on the other side of the country. If you happen to be in Washington on the 20th though, I would recommend you head to this, because I'm sure it will be amazing! Also, look at these awesome shirts she got.

Review: All These Things I've Done - Gabrielle Zevin

Where I got it: ARC for review from publisher

Rating: 4 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (Fairly simple, but I really like it.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: Septmeber 6, 2011

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Page Count: 354 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Anya Balanchine has access to chocolate, even though it's illegal. Her family's in the business. After her mother and father are killed though, she tries to keep them mostly out of it. This works out okay until the chocolate poisons her ex-boyfriend. Did I mention Anya has been flirting with the new DA's son? Things do not look well for Anya, and as good as she tries to be, no one is perfect. It might be time she steps up and stops denying her birthright.

Very interesting story. Can you imagine a world where people don't like physical books, Anya doesn't even read at all. No chocolate, no caffeine...what a bleak existence. Anya was sort of a loose cannon. Her emotions raged all over the place. Sometimes she's calm and other times she is crazy. It's understandable sometimes in her case, but she seems more unhinged then most. Girls really do have horrible taste in guys. Everyone who dates has dated at least one Gable Arsley. If you haven't yet, you will. What a terrible guy eh? Now I don't know him, but if I had been in Anya's friend, Scarlet's, shoes there is no way I would feel even the slightest bit bad for him. Some people need something terrible to happen to them so that they wake up. For every Gable though, there's a Goodwin. What a charmer he is. He had me swooning all over the place at the tip of his hat. This was an amazing story despite some detestable people. A great deal of action and mafia-esque business. I am very much looking forward to the next one and am curious about Anya's next move.

First Line:

"The night before junior year—I was sixteen, barely—Gable Arsley said he wanted to sleep with me."

Favorite Lines:

"'Besides, I'd never marry you,' I told him. 'I'm sixteen, and you're a slut, and you can't stop saying preposterous things!'"

Review: Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

Where I got it: ARC for review from Amazon Vine

Rating: 4.9 stars  

Cover Rating: 4 stars (I like the shiny, but I'm not crazy about this cover.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: November 15, 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Page Count: 342 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Juliette has a curse a gift. Her touch can hurt people, can kill. She's been locked up a very long time. Her parents didn't love her and society feared her. They hid her away for so long. When she gets a roommate she is shocked and afraid. What could it mean? A choice presents itself and Juliette must make a decision soon. Should she stand up and fight back, unleash all her anger and help The Reestablishment? or should she fight for what she believes in and fight for hope? People are willing to help her either way, but how can she know who to trust?

Wow. The only reason this book isn't perfect, is the imagery. It made it hard to pay attention to the story in the beggining. It was amazing and made me get sucked in, but there was just so much of it in Juliette's internal monologue that I wasn't paying attention to what was being said so much as how it was being said. That being said though, I wouldn't want to take a single deliciously sculpted sentence out of the whole book. This book was amazing from start to finish. A heroine you would fight next to and drag wounded to safety.
Tahereh Mafi is an expert at sexual tension. Sometimes I was worried my book might catch fire because of the steaminess between the characters. This book was not overly inappropriate, Tahereh just managed to build up this tension that made the sparse air between the characters so thick with desire or fear or hatred. It was truly amazing and made the relationships that much more palpable.
The whole story was just so fantastic. The society is falling apart and there is resistance from small groups. There are lies and secrets and misdirection. There is romance and aversion and murderous looks. This book has everything you could hope for and more. I can't even decided which side I'm rooting for more. There are so many tempting things that both have to offer. If I was Juliette though, I would have definitely played at Warner's game for a while. Let him get comfortable so he'd let his guard down. It would have also been easier possibly, not having to fight him every inch of the way. Who knows what would have happened with Adam though...who knows if he can even be trusted. Oh the dilemmas of love and power never cease!
Shatter Me is coined as being "a world as riveting as the Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as the X-men" and I am telling you right now, that is correct. This is one you'll want to pick up and reread before you even get a chance to set it down. Buy a copy for yourself and buy a copy for your friend.

First Line:
"I've been locked up for 264 days."

Favorite Lines: (there are way too many to list them all)
"They say our world used to be green. Our clouds used to be white. Our sun was always the right kind of light."


"My eyes break open. Two shattered windows filling my mouth with glass."


"My eyes are two professional pickpockets, stealing everything away in my mind. I lose track of the minutes we trample over."


"There is a distinct flavor of panic lodged somewhere underneath my tongue and I'm fighting to remember where it came from."

Teaser Tuesday #62

For this week's Teaser Tuesday I decided to do three Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi, The Space Between - Brenna Yovanoff and The Pledge - Kimberly Derting.

(page 13)

"The door opens to an abyss, There's no color, no light, no promise of anything but horror on the other side."

(page 35)
"His gaze is intent, sweeping over my upturned face, the boy's bent head. For a strange moment, I think he's going to reach down and pull us apart, but he only sets his weapons on the portrait of Leviathan and straightens his tie."

(page 67)
"At times it was still difficult reconciling the man's body that had grown around the boy I'd once known, but there were subtle remnants of my childhood friend—the way his hair was permanently mussed, and the small patch of freckles on his nose that was vanishing a little more with each passing year. Automatically, he reached for my bag."


Teaser Tuesday is brought to us by Should be Reading.

Rules:

1) Grab your current read

2) Open to a random page

3) Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4) BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Hunger Games Trailer

So I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm fairly excited for the Hunger Games movie to come out! I loved the books (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay) and hope that the movie does them justice.
They released the character posters a little while ago and they are awesome.

The Capitol Website: www.thecapitol.pn

Official Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/thehungergamesmovie

Official Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/#!/lionsgatemovies 

Official Trailer Twitter #Tag: #TheHungerGamesTrailer

Official Website: http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/

And now for the trailer!!!!!

In My Mailbox #112

In My Mailbox brought to you by The Story Siren

For Review: Thanks to PenguinTeen

Radiant Days - Elizabeth Hand

The Right & the Real - Joëlle Anthony

The Disenchantments - Nina LaCour

There is No Dog - Meg Rosoff

Truth - Julia Karr (my review of XVI)

Harbinger - Sara Wilson Etienne

(came with school brochure and squeaky toy)

Won: Thanks to Hyperion

The Witches of East End - Melissa de la Cruz (my review)

Bought:

After the Kiss - Terra Elan McVoy

Peace, Love & Baby Ducks - Lauren Myracle (signed)

Choker - Elizabeth Woods

The Education of Hailey Hendrick - Eileen Cook

The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped - Yxta Maya Murray

Hold Still - Nina Lacour

Cryer's Cross - Lisa McMann (my review)

White Cat - Holly Black

Claire de Lune - Christine Johnson

The Education of Bet - Lauren Baratz-Logsted 

Silksinger - Laini Taylor

So that's what I got this week, what did you all get?

Review: Bad Taste in Boys - Carrie Harris

Where I got it: Library

Rating: 3.5 stars  

Cover Rating: 5 stars (Honestly, this cover image is what made me want to read it.)  

Genre: Young Adult 

Publication Date: July 12, 2011

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Page Count: 201 p.

Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon

Kate is the manager for the football team. They are one of the worst football teams ever. Kate finds this no excuse however, for the Coach to be loading them up on steroids. After she finds out about the steroid use she notices that some of the guys are acting weird. They are also throwing up black gunk...and losing body parts. Kate isn't sure what's happening to her players, but she knows it isn't good. Kate may be the only one smart enough and brave enough to put a stop to this disease.

This book was a bit too silly most of the time. It is not something that I like. I like my book to be funny, but not over the top goofy. I'm sure tons of people do like that though and if you're one of them you will love this. It was a good book though. A very interesting idea with love-able characters to execute it. Kate was a smart girl and that is what made her awesome and this book awesome. There's nothing I hate more than a dumber-than-rocks heroine. The action in this book is mostly where things get silly. It's very superhero-y. Lot's of adrenaline, but not necessarily a lot of believable bits. This was a very fast read and a great pick if you want a  zombie read that still has a lot of gross, but also a lot of humor. I look forward to reading more by Carrie Harris, maybe the next will be a bit less silly.

First Line:
"'You're one of those genius types,' said coach, nudging me with a beefy elbow."

Favorite Line:
"And I knew what happened to pretty young high schoolers who went out into zombie-infested streets."