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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday *3*

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly look at upcoming releases that we're excited about!

This weeks book, is a book that I want dearly. I have entered every contest I've found, and have *grufginly* listened/read to everyone talking about how amazing this book is. Now, if I hear one more thing about how awesome it is, then I will sick my Crazy Kitty on you all!

by Becca Fitzpatrick
Release Date: October 13, 2009
From Amazon:
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.

With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Teaser Tuesday *3*

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along by checking out rules and whatnot at the link above!

This weeks teaser is actually from the sequel of last weeks teaser! So here we go:


Small tear-like droplets dripped down its number as it peered through the glasses. The clock was like an annoying pet, always waking him up too early, but now it look pathetic.

Author: Kaza Kingsley
Page: 7


Now to put this all into a bit more perspective and since I am one of those that will stick to the whole 2 line rule, I snapped a bad pic with my phone to show you the tragically adorable said clock is in the book!




Now tell me that's not adorable?
Haha! Althought if this was my clock, I would think so!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

In My Mailbox *6*

Created by The Story Siren who was inspired by Alea.
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Well, this week was pretty good actually. I got five books. Two were from contests and then three I bought and hid so Mommy didn't know until it was too late. If you are wondering why I had to hide them, it's becauses we are going to be moving in a few months and seeing as I already have so many books, Mommy forbade me to buy more. I'm only supposed to get books for review or from contests now...so yea, sucky. But anyways, I have rambled enough!


Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
(ARC) Courtesy of Awaiting Serenity

From Amazon:
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.







Forest Born by Shannon Hale
(hardback) Courtesy of BookDivas
From the book jacket:
Growing up in the Forest, Rin always turned to the trees when she needed peace or reassurance, even direction, until the day they seem to reject her. Rin is sure something is wrong with her, something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest, keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all.
When her brother Razo returns to the city after a visit home, Rin accompanies him to the palace in hopes of finding a new sense of herself. But a mysterious threat haunts Bayern, and Rin joins the magical girls she thinks of as the Fire Sisters-Isi, Enna, and Dasha-as they venture into the woods toward the kingdom of Kel...where someone wants them all dead.





The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
(hardback) Bought

From Amazon:
In this delicious sequel to The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, Fforde's redoubtable (and now throwing-up-pregnant) heroine Thursday Next once again does battle with philistine bibliophobes, taking a furlough from her duties as a SpecOps Literary Detective to vacation in the Well of Lost Plots, the 26 noisome sub-basements of the Great Library. Pursued by her memory-modifying nemesis Aornis Hades, Thursday joins Jurisfiction's Character Exchange Program, filling in for "Mary," sidekick to the world-weary detective hero of Caversham Heights, a hilariously awful police procedural. At the imminent launch of UltraWord, the vaunted "Last Word" in Story Operating Systems, Thursday's friend and mentor Miss Havisham is gruesomely killed, and Thursday gamely sets out to restore order to her underground world, where technophiles ruthlessly recycle unpublished books and sell plot devices and stock characters on the black market. Meanwhile, Aornis is doing her fiendish worst to make Thursday forget Landen, her missing husband and father of her child. If this all sounds a bit confusing, it isuntil the reader gets the hang of Fforde's intricate mix of parody, social satire and sheer gut-busting fantasy. Marvelous creations like syntax-slaughtering grammasites and the murderous Minotaur roam this unusual novel's pages, and Fforde's fictional epigraphs, like his minihistory of "book operating systems," are worth the cover price in themselves. Fforde's sidesplitting sendup of an increasingly antibookish society is a sheer joy.


The other two books I bought were:
Ingrid by Charlotte Chandler
Which is a personal biography of Ingrid Bergman, the film star that was in Casablanca, Notorious, and Spellbound. Those are old (but fantastic) movies, and she was a brilliant and controversial actress in her time. I can't wait to read it.

Natalie Wood: A Life by Gavin Lambert
It's another biography of a beautiful, talented actress that had a pretty tragic life. Anyone that likes old movies would know her from West Side Story and Rebel Without A Cause. Unless you guys would be interested in seeing a review for these last two books, I think those will just be for my own side reading. But if there is interest in a review for them, I will gladly write one when I get to them.

I also got a really pretty bookmark too!

That's what I got this week! What about you?

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Siren by Kiera Cass

Author: Kiera Cass
Release Date: July 7, 2009
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (+Gold Star)

After reading this story, it is taking everything in me to not totally gush; it is that good. The Siren is the story of Kahlen, mostly, along with her sisters and the Ocean. A siren is a singer, a singer of the Ocean. In order to maintain herself, the Ocean must feed; sirens help her to do that.

Kahlen and her “sisters,” Marilyn and Aisling, begin the story and you find out quite a lot of how sirens and their lives work. They are beautiful, they can live around regular humans, they can live semi-normal lives, but there’s a catch - they cannot age, which means staying in one place for more than a few years isn’t possible, and they cannot, under any circumstances, speak, laugh, scream, or make a sound outside of a sigh or breath around a human person.

There can be no more than four sirens at a time, and not everyone will choose to live the lives that these girls have agreed to. Their sentence is 100 years, after which the Ocean will return them and they will become normal again, and begin aging from whatever age they are frozen into (almost sounds like a dream come true at times). With only their “sisters” for company, it can become lonely, and for Kahlen that causes daydreams. That is, until one day while sitting on the beach she meets a man. He is beautiful, sad, lonely, in pain, and yet there is something about him that Kahlen can’t let go.

The Ocean warns Kahlen that no matter what happens, those must stay daydreams and she cannot chance their secret by letting her fantasies run away with her. Kahlen decides she wants to make a difference and takes up sign language, which transforms into spending a few years at schools for the deaf teaching children, and later teenagers, that being deaf isn’t always a bad thing.

Kahlen gets new “sisters,” Miaka and Elizabeth, who help transform her into something better than she ever imagined she could be. Miaka is creative and she is also Kahlen’s first “little sister,” while Elizabeth is wild and crazy, and brings out the fun and slightly mischievous side of Kahlen. Aside from Aisling being withdrawn and bitter (think Mr. Scrooge), you don’t know much about her for the most part, but she is a very important piece of Kahlen’s puzzle.

Once this human, Akinli, enters Kahlen’s world, nothing else seems to mean as much. Not even the secret that she is bound to keep, and with less than 20 years left on her sentence, will it all be destroyed because of this? Now Kahlen has found the one thing she has always wanted. Is the life she could have worth destroying the life she does have? Or can she have both?

More than anything, this is a story of love and hope. Whether that love be between sisters, family, lovers, strangers, or even love for yourself; it covers all the bases. Once I started, it was hard to stop, and I really didn’t want this story to end. There were numerous parts where I actually found myself tearing up, and that never happens! Some of these situations made me want to become a siren, and then there would be a moment that broke my heart.

Kiera Cass may be a first-time author, but I pray this is not her only book. This is truly a beautiful story all the way through. I love the imagery; it is phenomenal and almost makes you feel like you’re really there (and let me tell you, there were many times in the Ocean descriptions where the song Dark Blue by Jack’s Mannequin got stuck in my head. Thanks Kiera!).

It’s been a long time since I have seen a first-time author whose writing style is as beautiful as this, and she definitely has not only the talent to be a wonderful writer, but also the imagination to successfully tell a story that is not only entertaining, but also touching.

If there was one book that I would recommend this year so far, it would be The Siren. Just make sure you have time on your hands, because once you start you won’t be able to stop until the very end. Even then, I flipped back and forth over the final pages, hoping that there would be more magically appear before my eyes. After all, this is a fantasy!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Booking Through Thursday *2*


Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme, that is mostly about books and reading! Find out more here!
Today's question is:

What’s the worst book you’ve read recently?(I figure it’s easier than asking your all-time worst, because, well, it’s recent!)

This is hard...I can't actually think of an actually bad book lately. I don't know that I would actually call it a bad book per say, I just know it was a book I couldn't finish and sent back. It was a book called Winter Wood by Steve Augarde. It was the third book in a trilogy, which I didn't know at first, and it was so complicated and hard to understand. I spent over two weeks trying and trying to read this book, but I never got passed page 60 or so. It was just a no-go. I felt bad for not being able to read it, but I was so bored and confused and had no clue what was going on. I don't quite know if that constitutes it being a bad book, but in my opinion, it was bad.


Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday *2*

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly look at upcoming releases that we're excited about!

This is a way way way early one, but since the cover just came out and I absolutely adore! this series thus far, I just couldn't resist! And by way early, I mean, there isn't even a summary out for it yet. Never you mind though, it's Kelley Armstrong, and if you haven't read the first two novels in the trilogy, you really should. They are awesome! I can't wait!

The Reckoning (The Darkest Powers #3)
by Kelley Armstrong
Release: May 1, 2010
If you haven't read the first two book in the series, then check them out and see if it's something you're interested in. They are awesome!
The Summoning (The Darkest Powers #1)
The Awakening (The Darkest Powers #2)
*As a note, I will always include the Amazon link to the books I mention so it makes it easier to find out information about them if you are interested. Enjoy*

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Teaser Tuesday *2*

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along by checking out rules and whatnot at the link above!

And let me tell you, this time it's a hard one. I am quite sad with my book today, because my dog decided to mess with my book while I was at the store and ripped the cover. That makes me sad. It's not THAT big, but it's still like an inch in a half to two inches and that's big enough for *sadface*

Anyways, here is my teaser:

"Trying to spy on us with a secret-telling cat? laughed Ward. Damon made a goofy face and said, "Blaaaah," with his tongue out.
Author: Kaza Kingsley
Page: 263