Waiting on Wednesday *9*

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!

I know I'm not the only one that wants this one! If I could get my hands on this, I would be one happy camper. *nods* Very much so.

Beautiful Creatures

by Kami Garcia & Magaret Stohl

Release Date: December 1, 2009

From Amazon:

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

At least, that's what I thought.

Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Winner Announced!

So this is the moment that you've all (well not all, but a lot) of you have been waiting the past two weeks for! So without further ado....

*drumroll*

The winner of Catching Fire (ARC) and Soulstice (ARC) is....

CHLOE!

(I have already emailed you. You have 48 hours to respond, or I will have to pick another winner)

Thank you all for entering and for following my blog.

Soulstice by Simon Holt

Author: Simon Holt

Category: Horror

Release Date: September 1, 2009
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Six months. That’s how long it’s been since Reggie found Macie’s journal and since Reggie freed her brother Henry from the Vour that had taken him. That also means it’s been six months since Quinn Waters has been missing.

In those six months a lot has happened, but the Vours have also gone dormant except in Reggie’s dreams. The Vours still haunt her there, until one night when an unexpected visitor becomes not a nightmare, but a reality.

Even though the Vour that had taken over Henry is gone, he still has nightmares, but he is now stronger than he was before. Reggie has also stopped trying to protect him all the time and finally begins being somewhat honest with him.

But what Reggie and Aaron, her best friend, don’t realize is there are more of these Vours than they ever thought possible in their little town. And once they start realizing that Henry and Quinn weren’t the only one’s Vourized, it becomes clear that things aren’t always how they seem, and that you better be careful who you put your trust in. You never know who might be a Vour, and who isn’t.

There was no loss in the creepiness from The Devouring to Soulstice. Unlike most sequels, Soulstice did not succumb to the “sophomore slump.” Soulstice not only held strong, but it also held its own fabulous story. There’s plenty of the same action and twists that you fell in love with while reading The Devouring.

I must admit though, Soulstice definitely ups the creep factor and imagery that once again puts you in a Hell that is not your own, but that is even more twisted than you can imagine. Despite it being a sequel, Soulstice could easily stand on its own. While skipping The Devouring would in my opinion be a mistake since you would miss out on a lot of important story points, but Soulstice does cover enough background points that you could still read it without reading book one.

Needless to say, this definitely lives up to its horror classification. I wouldn’t exactly call it “bedtime reading,” since when I tried that I laid in bed for an hour with the images of demonic creatures running through my head. But despite the creepiness, I loved every page! I found it to be totally fascinating and absolutely unputdownable! And now, I can’t wait for the third book in the series. I need to know where Reggie’s next adventure takes her, and us readers.

In My Mailbox *12*

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme that was created by The Story Siren who was inspired by Alea.

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So this week I got quite a few books and a bit of extras!

(And I once again apologize for the low quality of the picture, but it seems that all of these will be taken with my cell phone since that is really simple. So please excuse that.)

Review:
The Amanda Project: Invisible i by Stella Lennon
Give Up The Ghost by Megan Crewe (For 1 ARC Tour)

Won:
Chelsey by Chelsey Shannon (A Louder Than Words novel, that I am really excited for!)

Bought (or had shipped in from FL because it was cheaper and Bri is awesome):
Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

Swag:
I got a bunch of awesome Secret Society tattoos from the awesomely cool Tom Dolby (author of said Secret Society, which was great!); which spells giveaway!! So look for that sometime in the next couple of weeks!

Now you know what was in my mailbox, so what was in yours?

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Category: Contemporary

Release Date: September 7, 2009

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Just about everyone has seen the movie, read the fairy tale, or seen the play of Beauty and the Beast, but I guarantee this is not the version from Disney or what’s written in the books, or even the Broadway play or even the musical. This is a version all its own. This is a version that will show you a modern twist and a new side to the same old fairy tale.

The “Beast” in this case, is actually not a beast at all, his name is Lucius Wolfe (is that not a cool name or what?) and he’s a sophomore in high school. But he’s not going to be at the same high school he was the year before, not since the accident, the accident that cost him both of his arms. The prosthetic metal hooks that are in place of where his arms used to be, that is was labels him as “The Beast” in this tale.

The “Beauty” is actually Aurora Belle, she is beautiful, naturally beautiful and not in that I-don’t-have-to-plaster-myself-in-makeup sort of way. There’s something about Aurora that is different than everyone else. Aurora is sweet, nice, and friendly to everyone until she has a reason not to be. But most of all, Aurora is not afraid. She’s not afraid of Lucius, of his quietness, or even of his hooks.

Upon their first meeting, they both know there is something about the other that intrigues them that draws them to one another. All they have to do is navigate the “popular” kids, high school, and their own issues and find out just why they are so drawn to each other. And that is what makes this story so adorably beautiful.

There’s something about going back to that time in high school, to those kids that always got what they wanted and always had it so easy, that makes this story so relatable, even with its fairy tale roots. But that’s the thing; Lauren Baratz-Logsted has stripped down the typical Beauty and the Beast story and got it down to the bare roots that made this fairy tale so beautiful in the first place. She’s found the love, redemption, and the power of forgiving not only each other, but also forgiving oneself.

Throughout the story, the point of view switches between Lucius and Aurora, which I found quite different and refreshing. I loved the different take on the same situation, and that made it easier to not only understand the characters, but also understand what they were thinking and how they were feeling. It also made it that much easier to fall for these characters and to know them better, at least in my opinion. And in a story that’s just under 200 pages, getting to know these characters quickly and thoroughly becomes important for the reader, and important for the story itself.

I found it remarkably easy to relate Lucius. I mean, who hasn’t been through the taunts and dealt with the bullies that come along with being in high school? It’s easy to fall into a story that you can relate to a narrator, and Lucius may be the easiest I’ve found relatable in a long time. Maybe that’s why I didn’t want the story to end.

It’s easy to forget that Beauty and the Beast was more than just a Disney movie with talking/singing household items and a beautiful girl in a castle with a beast; but it’s so much more than that. It’s the story of redeeming yourself, of falling in love with no boundaries, of forgiving others, and forgiving yourself for things that you can’t change anymore and Crazy Beautiful reminds you of that. It’s beautiful, refreshing, and totally rereadable.

Waiting on Wednesday *8*

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!

I've heard so much good stuff about this book, that I just have to read it. And I've heard from a bunch of people that it reminded them of the movie Thirteen, and I adore that movie, so that just makes me want to read it even more.

Beautiful

by Amy Reed

Release Date: October 6, 2009

From Amazon:

When Cassie moves from the tiny town where she has always lived to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. This is Cassie's chance to stop being invisible and become the kind of girl who's worth noticing.

Stepping into her new identity turns out to be easier than Cassie could have ever imagined...one moment, one choice, will change everything.

Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. Swept into a world of illicit parties and social landmines, she sheds her virginity, embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, and floats through it all, knowing that she is now called beautiful. She ignores the dangers of her fast-paced life?but she can't sidestep the secrets and the cruelty.

Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral tinged with violence and abuse, and no one—not even the one person she thought she could trust—can help her now.

In My Mailbox *11*

Created by The Story Siren who was inspired by Alea.
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This week I got three books and some "apologetic" swag! (hehe, Thanks Laina!) And just so everyone knows, the picture quality is due to my laziness and desire for the simple, which led to the picture being taken with my cell phone. So excuse that...please :)

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (won)
In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself.

Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her.

But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering.
Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

Breathing by Cheryl Renee Herbsman (for review @ 1 ARC Tours)
In Herbsman's debut novel, 15-year-old Savannah Brown is contending with a strict but loving mother as well as frequent, serious asthma attacks, something she inherited from her long-absent father, Trip ("he tripped right on out of our lives when I was barely out of diapers"). Savannah, who needs constant medical care and attention, begins a relationship with an older boy from out of town, and her mother is more than a little protective. Only after Jackson proves that he is a responsible and caring boyfriend does Savannah's mother begin to let go. Told in the first person and thick with Southern vernacular, the novel offers a snapshot of Savannah's quickly-changing life. Displaying maturity and independence, as well as faith in the strength of her new relationship with Jackson, Savannah decides to attend a prestigious college program for promising high school seniors. While some of the story remains underdeveloped, such as the clairvoyance that Savannah occasionally alludes to possessing, the cast of characters holds the story together, and the people in Savannah's life are warm and real.

Poseur: The Good, The Fab, and the Ugly by Rachel Maude (won)
Fashion isn't everything.
It's the only thing.
Halloween comes to Winston Prep and the newly named teen fashion label POSEUR introduces this season's must-have accessory: a red-hot handbag called the Trick-or-Treater. But whose design is sweetest? Janie, Petra, Melissa, and Charlotte all insist: Mine. You see the problem?Good thing, then, for the sweetness of revenge. Time to dust off that costume and put your best mask forward. 'Tis the season for candy, conflict, and couture.

The swag was from Barry Lyga's books and a bookmark for Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog!

That's what was in my mailbox this week. What was in yours?