Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Cover Love: September 2012

Yeah, I know, I almost missed it so hopefully I'll post October's Cover Love earlier than on the last day of November, but I still made it in time. Ha. Anyway, let's get started.

Don't judge a book by its cover? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do right now: give these pretties a thumbs up based on their covers. Fasten your seatbelts and jump on the train to give these books multiple look overs since one obviously isn't enough.

Among the books I read last month, these are the two covers that stood out the most:

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Published: January 11th 2011
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository 

Why? Well.. To be honest, I had been wanting to read it for quite a long time but hadn't purchased it for some weird reason. So.. Last year my Mom got me a giftcard at a local book store for Christmas and I hadn't used it yet (don't even ask my why.. I honestly don't have a clue.. For real!) and one day after work this summer I decided to go and use it. I ended up buying 3 books and this was one of them. I just had to get it. It would have been painful to leave that pretty cover back in there and walk out without it. It's so freaking beautiful! The stars are one of the main points in this book and it couldn't be any more perfect with Amy and Elder inches away from each other. Elder studying her, Amy trusting him. It's probably one of my favorite covers ever!





  Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Published: September 25th 2012
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository 

Why? This cover, on the other hand, isn't the most gorgeous cover I've seen, but it has something going on that I like even though I can't exactly explain what that something is. I like that Alice is sitting in a Rabbit Hole, although after reading the book it feels kind of wrong because it isn't a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Even so, her dress is beautiful, I'm loving the font and the frame that surrounds the picture gives this cover a mysterious mirror-look (if that makes any sense. Does it? Idk.). Also, I like the little details on the cover such as the card suits e.g.



Cover Love is an original feature at I’m Loving Books (she also makes kick-ass banners and buttons). At the beginning of every month, I round up all of my favorite covers from books I’ve read the previous month and tell you what I love about them!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

IMM/StS #4

Due to a huge amount of schoolwork I didn't do a Stacking the Shelves/In My Mailbox post last week, so I put all the goodies I got throughout those two weeks together in this post. I know, it's a lot! My TBR pile definitely gives a thumbs up lol. Leave me a comment if you've read some of these and tell me whether or not you liked it so I know which books to pick up next. Also, leave your StS/IMM links in the comments so I can visit you back. Thanks!

Physical Books

 


Soul Screamers: Volume One by Rachel Vincent
And I also got my Ten bookmark, yay! Thank you to G. McNeil.


Ebooks



Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Dream Dark (Caster Chronicles #2.5) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Beta (Annex #1) by Rachel Cohn



Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
 Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson
 What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
 


When Summer Ends by Isabelle Rae 
 Finale (Hush Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross



Losing It by Cora Carmack


What did you get this week? Leave your links below and I'll check out your goodies :)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren and Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted @ Tynga's Reviews.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Teaser Tuesday #19

This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To participate you:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • 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!) * Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers

Because of him, the end was near, and Demons were walking among us. It was all about him. He was the one to blame.

~ 34% of "Beautiful Chaos" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Monday, October 22, 2012

Review: Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) by Gena Showalter

Title: Alice in Zombieland 
Author: Gena Showalter 
Published: September 25th 2012 
Add It: Goodreads 
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The BookDepository

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I’m a huge fan of fairy tales and different myths. It doesn’t even really matter if it’s an original story or a retelling – I love ‘em all! This book’s name Alice in Zombieland definitely hints on a retelling of Alice in Wonderland where the main character's name is Alice and there are some things about rabbits mentioned here and there, but mostly it’s an original story all on itself. This was my first zombie read and in a weird kind of a way I sort of liked it.

They were staring at me, their lips peeled back from their teeth—their very sharp teeth.
Her dress was ripped, dirty, her eyes sunken. Her skin was pitted, with patches of something black oozing from her pores. There wasn’t a veil on her head, but there was hardly any hair, either, just long stringy strands with leaves tangled throughout.

Zombies. First of all, yes, they weren’t exactly what I was imagining when I first started this book, but it was actually a very interesting take on them. They aren’t your typical apocalypse/virus/living dead creatures (I haven’t read a zombie book before, but unfortunately I’ve seen Dawn of the Dead and it’s freaking creepy; laughable, but creepy).  Zombies in this book are more of a mix between zombies and ghosts. I think I liked this combo. And, it’s not that weird.. I mean.. Some people like fries with ice cream. Well.. My best friend does, so no judging on my part!

Plot. It was pretty fast-paced, packed with lots of action and spiced up with witty dialogue. I found the fighting scenes enjoyable and there were quite a few surprises on the road for Alice and her friends. There were some parts that were a bit slow for me or not so believable and some of it was pretty predictable, but overall, I thought it was compelling and I was eager to find out more. The most interesting part for me was the journal Alice was reading. I want to learn about its previous owner and discover the secrets hidden behind the code.

Characters. They were ALL relatable and, whether it was love or hate between them, had great chemistry. Yes, I liked Cole and Alice, but they weren’t my favorite characters. Who were? Well.. I can tell you that I absolutely fell in love with Frosty and Kat. I found their relationship a bit tiring, but I’m a huge fan of both of these characters individually and together. If I got to hang out with two people from this book, I would choose them. I just want to squeeze these two in a hug, ha. They’re hilarious and never a dull moment when they’re around!

“You weren’t lying when you said everyone’s afraid of you,” I remarked. 
“I know, and that’s the way I like it. No one asks me any questions about what I’m up to, they just expect the worst and keep their distance. You should take a lesson.” 
“Ha! I’m not afraid of you, and I never will be.” I wouldn’t mention the times I had, in fact, been afraid of him. 
“So you keep saying. But I’ll keep trying to change your mind.” 
Cole held the door open for me, and I swept inside the house, purring, “With your lethal manners? Good luck.”
“Funny.”

Overall, yeah, there is some room for improvement, but I quite enjoyed it. Did I cry a single tear? No. Did I LOL? Umm.. Yeah!! This was my first zombie book and even though this wasn’t a traditional take on zombies, these deadly creatures kind of fascinate me. I’ll definitely read the sequel next year and I can’t wait to find out where Showalter is taking these lovable characters on their journeys.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Meet the author

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Friday, October 19, 2012

Review: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

Title: A Midsummer’s Nightmare
Author: Kody Keplinger
Published: June 5th 2012
Add It: Goodreads

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorcƩ dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancƩe and her kids. The fiancƩe's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.

Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.

A book about a young girl trying to fit in his fathers’ new life while having to deal with her parents’ break up, going to college, moving away from home, partying non-stop and being in love with a person she’s supposed to stay clear from. It’s a story of developing a strong backbone and fighting for your rights, trying to seek attention from your parents, growing up, finding yourself and dealing with jealousy and cruel curiosity from strangers. Welcome! Come inside and get to know life from a teenage girl’s point of view.

“While I'm sure this is going to be a fascinating story,' I interrupted. 'I don't care. I'm having a major parental crisis that sort of outshines your little tantrum, and frankly it seems like my dad agrees with you. I have a party to get ready for, can we do this later?” 

Characters.  Nathan (love that name, by the way, reminds me of Nathan Scott from One Tree Hill whom I absolutely loved and adored!). I liked that he was the calm one and I was really happy that the love interest in this book wasn’t the sarcastic, dangerous type I usually enjoy, but on the contrary, he was extremely sweet, supporting, funny, handsome and moral. He kept Whitley together and always tried to make everyone happy. I really liked him. No! Actually I didn’t like him, I loved him!

Whitley. She was a party girl with big daddy issues. Her Mom just hated his fathers’ guts and it’s kind of a personal topic for me, because even though my parents are still together, many of my friends’ parents have broken up after a long period of time spent together while happily married and when they break up, it affects their children the most. The fighting is the worst in addition to manipulating the kids to their side etc. It’s just horrible. Therefore, I felt for Whitley. However, it was hard reading about a young girl drowning her sorrows with alcohol and partying until she forgets everything.

Plot. This book wasn’t all about sad though. It was a lot of fun in addition to the family drama and the sexual tension between Nathan and Whitley. I enjoyed the bonding and the twists and turns it took for this novel to not reach the finish line on a sad note. I think the main thing I liked was probably these two families coming together as one and saving Whitley from her own destruction. Also, the chemistry between Nate and Whit was likeable and you can’t help but root for them. Oh, and it deals with gay issues as well and I think it's important to include this topic in YA and Kody has done a beautiful job with it. Harrisson was a helluva lot fun and became one of my favorite characters.

“I took Russian in high school,” Nathan said, climbing out of the pool. He’d decided to swim laps that afternoon instead of going to the gym.
“Did you?” Harrison asked, grinning at him.
“Yeah.” Nathan grabbed his towel from the little patio table and began dabbing at his face. “But the only thing I remember is, Mozhno li kopirovat vashi domashnie zodaneeye?”
“Let me guess,” I said. “You just asked me where the bathroom is, right?”
“No.” He scoffed, flicking his wet towel at me. “I was beyond that basic stuff. I took two years of it. Give me some credit.”
“Then what does it mean?” I asked.
“It means, ‘Can I copy your homework?'”

Overall, I enjoyed this novel very much. It's definitely a journey all on its own and if you enjoy reading about teenagers, young love, making friends, dealing with family issues and emotional rollercoasters, then I advise you to give this book a try.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Meet the author

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

"Waiting" on Wednesday #8


"Waiting on" Wednesday is hosted at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Haven't done this in a while now, but hopefully I'll remember to do these since they're so fun! Love discovering new books to add to my TBR pile via WoW, therefore, be so kind and leave your links below so I can visit you back!

This week we have:
  1. Finale (Hush, Hush #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick
  2. Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Teaser Tuesday #18

This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To participate you:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • 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!) * Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers

Screams came from all sides, and the sound of a man's loud wailing drifted from the direction of the tracks. I felt someone lift me and begin to run. And then everything was as silent and black as a tomb.

~ p. 56 of "Die For Me" by Amy Plum

Monday, October 15, 2012

Hey, lovelies, I just wanted to let you know that throughout the next two weeks I probably won't be able to communicate with all of you as much as I'd like to because it's the middle of the semester at Uni and almost every professor wants to do a massive test in their subject so I can't really spend that much time blogging and on twitter 'n stuff, so yeah.. just wanted to let you know. I've scheduled a few posts and hopefully will be able to schedule a few more after I'm home from work tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding and happy reading, everyone! Hope you have great books to entertain you =) Hugs!!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Excerpt + Amazon Giveaway: Demon Royale (The Dream Slayer Series #2) by Jill Cooper

You know what? I haven't read this series, but I signed up for this promo and I couldn't be happier about reading these excerpts I got to choose from, they're fantastic! Have you read the first book yet? If yes, how was it? If no, then read this excerpt and decide for yourself if you want to. I know I do! Firstly, let me tell you a little about the book, then you can scroll down and read the mentioned excerpt as well as participate in a giveaway offered by the author. The prize is pretty sweet so give your luck a try! Ooooh, and did I mention the trailer? Well, I like that too. Simple, but not just pictures and text and it really gives you a great overview of the series. So if you have time, check that out, too. P.S. DREAM SLAYER (Book, #1) will be FREE Oct. 12-14, 2012.



Age Group/Genre: Paranormal YA
Author: Jill Cooper
Release date: Oct. 10, 2012
The only thing worse than dying, is running away…
Since becoming employed by a supernatural protection agency, Natalie Johnson’s life has been more interesting than ever. While most teens are working on their summer tans, Natalie works on slaughtering the undead lurking just outside her town’s borders.
The workload takes more than just a toll on her love life, it dampens her spirit and her health, as the town is plagued by a mysterious murderer intent on stealing the residents’ souls. Natalie’s investigation is hampered by her declining health and the sicker she gets, the more inadequate she feels.
Guilt over her inability to act, weighs heavily on Natalie’s shoulders during a time when her strength is needed more than ever. As some of those closest to her begin to lose faith, she must make the hardest stand yet to save the soul of the one person she can always count on:
The Slayer.

 

Meet the author

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

 





Excerpt from Demon Royale (The Dream Slayer Series #2) by Jill Cooper


“What’s written all over my face now?”
Tristan gave Natalie a loving smirk, his hands tugging on the waist of her jeans until she was pressed up against her. “Only love and devotion.” They held hands as they walked up her street and rounded her backyard toward her bedroom window.
Tristan leaned against the tree that guarded her bedroom window, at least that was the story they made up when they were kids. He pulled her close, resting his hands on her hips. “Maybe he’s just upset about something else, and it has nothing to do with your suspicions about Evelyn.”
“My illness?”
“Vampires we can kill. We can see them. This…” Tristan pulled her hair back and stared through her forehead like he could see what was plaguing her brain, “…we can’t fight it. Don’t even know what it is. I know how it makes me feel.”
Natalie bit her lip. “There’s not much I can say except right now, I feel okay.”
Tristan snorted. “For right now. But we don’t know how long that’s going to last. Or why it’s even happening.”
Her worry increased when he talked like that, and when she saw the fear on his face. “We can’t worry about every little thing. I know it’s hard, but right now, we’re together. I feel good.” She ran her hand up his arm. “You feel good too,” she whispered and blushed just a little.
Tristan’s face broke out into joy. “Wow, my little flirt! Someone giving you lessons?”
“I’ve been watching soap operas at the hospital,” Natalie beamed. “I think next, you’re supposed to kiss me.” Natalie bit her lip, nervousness bubbling inside as they shared a kiss. It lingered and her eyes closed. She clutched onto him, and in those moments, she felt like everything would be okay.
Tristan seemed to feel the same way from the way he nuzzled her neck, holding her close. Natalie leaned on him, and her body released the tension she didn’t realize she was holding. To get to be close to him, alone, even for a few minutes, was like reaching an oasis.
Tristan chuckled and gave her soft kisses. It made her feel hot, even against the gentle summer breeze.
“You know my favorite thing about this tree?” Natalie waited for him to shake his head. “It makes me think of you. All those times you used it to visit me at night, or I used it to sneak out to see you. Remember when we were kids and we’d use it to go to the carnival late at night?”
Tristan chuckled. “And we thought the circus clowns were possessed.”
Natalie beamed, her smile going from cheek to cheek. “It always made me think of you, but until a few months ago, I didn’t get why. Now I do.” She finally said it, and the nerves bubbled up in her. She swallowed them back, but still her face flushed.
Tristan’s eyes were loving and kind. He caressed her neck and a moment later, they were kissing. Sweet and simple turned hot and heavy. Natalie clutched his arms with her fingers, and her glasses steamed up from the heat of his breath. His hands searched over her legs and then across her butt.
Natalie pulled away, resting her head against his chest. She was overwhelmed, afraid of the intensity, but it didn’t change how she felt about him.
“You really are a sweet girl. How’d I ever get so lucky to meet you?”
Natalie shrugged. “It’s a small town.”
“It was rhetorical.”
She scowled. “Oh, well it still sounded like it had a question mark on the end.”
Tristan kissed her.
“I really should go in now, but it doesn’t mean I actually want to leave,” Natalie said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, somehow.” Thinking about all her mother’s rules made her stomach tight with nerves. “Besides, I can see your house from here.”
Tristan gazed over her shoulder through the yard and past several houses. “I’ll look out my window when I get to my room, if you’ll do the same.”
Natalie grinned. “Promise?” She bit her lip, feeling bashful.
“Oh yeah.” Tristan tightened his grip around her waist and kissed her nose. “You did good work out there tonight, Nat. I’m proud of you.”
She smiled wide, her heart filling with glee. “It was nothing. It was only a few this time. I could practically do that in my sleep!”
“That’s my tough girl.” Tristan kissed the side of her head. “Night, princess.”
Her heart skipped. She watched him walk away while waving, thinking she might never stop smiling. Once he was gone, her back gate closed, Natalie climbed up her tree. Back before the paladin knew she was a superhero, climbing trees was out of the question, but now Natalie found her hidden strength and easily pulled herself up. Her bedroom window was still open, with the lights off. As quietly as possible, she scooted her legs in first and pulled herself through.
Natalie held her breath as she spun and closed the window. As she did so, the bedroom lights came on. She gasped, turned around and saw her mother sitting on her perfectly made bed, tears in her eyes, while her father stood over by the door. This is it, Natalie thought. The things she did were going to destroy all the progress they’d made that night.


What did you guys think? I personally really liked this excerpt and it made me want to explore the first book so I might be reading this sooner than I thought ;)