Wednesday 31 August 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #46

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine


Mindwinterblood
Marcus Sedgwick
October 6th 2011

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.


I really love Marcus Sedgwick and his new book sounds so great! Can't wait for it to come out! :D

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR This Autumn


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers make lists about books and other suitably bookish things. This week we're doing books coming out this autumn we can't wait to read!

1. Lola and the Boy Next Door. I literally cannot wait for this book to come out. I loved Anna so much and I just can't wait to see what Stephanie Perkins has up her sleeves!

2. The Pledge by Kimberly Derting. I love the Body Finder so much, so I have high expectations for her next book! Plus it sounds so awesome! And that cover is beautiful... 

3.  The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa. Though I haven't read The Iron Queen yet, I'm still looking forward to this one! I've heard TIQ has a pretty harsh ending so I'll wait a while to read it. Like, until TIK comes out ;)

4. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. So... This might technically be a winter release, but still... I can't wait for it! Especially the DSBS ;)

5. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. This book sounds like such a great dystopia! And I love the tagline so much... Can;t wait for it!

6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This sounds like such a great fantasy, and while I'm not usually a sort of other worlds-proper fantasy fan, this just sounds great!

7. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. Another fantasy that just sounds great! And it has such an awesome cover!

8.  Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver. So we can't have Pandemonium until, like, March, but her MG sounds so cute and great I don't think I'll mind too much :)

9.  Legend by Marie Lu. Another great looking Dystopia! I love the simplicity of the cover and that it's sort of a Les Mis retelling! :)

10. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. I love the sound of this one! It looks really interesting and just awesome!


Monday 29 August 2011

The Near Witch review

The Near Witch
Victoria Schwab
August 2nd 2011
Disney Hyperion


The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.



The Near Witch is an amazing book. I don't think I've read a book this beautifully written in a while. It's romantic and atmospheric and the sort of book you want to savour. It draws you in and before you know it it's 4 in the morning and your ten pages from the end. Yes. It really is that good.


Lexi was such a great character. Most of the time I find that in books like this, where they're sort of fairy-taley and creepy, that I always have a sense of detachment from the characters, and I struggle to relate to them, but Lexi was awesome! She was headstrong and tough, but no so much that she travelled into BAMF territory, and not so little to push her into Bella territory. She just seemed quite natural to me, despite where she lived and how they lived. She's also bloody brave, I'll tell you that! Traipsing around the moors at night.. How she didn't just freeze up and run home I don't know. Plus she was brave in always believing in Cole's innocence despite what the rest of the village thought.


I also really loved her mother, and the witches Magda and Dreska. I liked how strong her mother was, despite her not really seeming it, and that she believed her daughter over Otto and Bo and the men of the village. And I liked the witches because... Well, because I like witches, I guess... No, but I liked their stories, and that they weren't bad people, and how old they were! I really liked the whole idea behind witches in this whole book though, really. How they're born that way, and the tale of The Near Witch and how she created a fear of witches in the town of Near... I loved all the stories in it.


And I loved Near itself. Even though most of the people who lived there were rather small minded in blaming the first stranger they see without evidence or trial... But I loved the whole village small mindedness and general ignorance to the idea that the Near Witch could have come back. And the descriptions of it and the moors and the moor winds all made it so clear in my mind. Another great thing about it was the ambiguity as  to when and where the story was really set, like, what country and whether it was modern times and they were just very behind or whether it was further back or whether it was just a fantasy place...


The only real qualm I had with it was the romance between Cole and Lexi. At the time when the romance began, I couldn't really see any basis for it as they'd rarely spoke and only seen each other a few times. I felt that by the end of the book, I could see why they would've got together, being that they'd spent a few nights out on the moors together searching and also getting to know each other a lot better (not even being sarcastic there... ;) Get your mind out the gutter! ;p) and I felt in would've been more believable for me if they'd got together at the end, but it might not of been the same. I mean, the romance worked for the book, but I just couldn't buy into it completely for a while.                                                        


The Near Witch is a stunning debut novel which I really, really loved and thought was beautifully written with some really great characters and an inventive and slightly creepy plot. Go read it. Like, now. ;)

Sunday 28 August 2011

In My Mailbox (45)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :)



For Review:
Frogspell by C J Busby (Thanks to Templar for this! But I don't really read MG...)
Bloodlines by Richelly Mead (!!! Thank so much Puffin! So excited! Even though I haven't read the other VA books yet...)
Vampire Academy graphic novel (Dimitri is sooo pretty.... ;D Already read this and it's awesome!)

What did you get?

Friday 26 August 2011

Time for a Feature...?

Okay, so I've been thinking lately that I need something else to put on the blog. I feel like, for me, I need more variety on here. I don't do anything but book reviews and memes and I know that's kind of the point of a book blog, but I really want to mix it up a tiny bit. So I thought, why don't I try and have like a feature or something! Thing is, I'm not a really inventive person, believe it or not, and I'm struggling to think of an idea... I thought about doing some discussion posts but I can't really think of anything too actually discuss, I thought about perhaps writing a few shorts stories, but that would suggest I could write interesting stories... I thought about doing something cover related but that's basically my Waiting on Wednesday posts... So I am asking you for help! Do you think it's a good idea? What would you like to see on here? Or should I just keep things the same... Maybe I should just, like, brainstorm or something... Or are then any really good memes going about that I should take part in? I dunno... I feel like I just need something more to do, like, I've been doing this for almost a year now and I need something to rekindle my real love for blogging. Not that I don't love it, I'm just not as enthusiastic about it as I used to be. So, any suggestions about anything would be useful :) Thanks for putting up with my ramby-ness! :D

Thursday 25 August 2011

Chain Reaction review

Chain Reaction
Simone Elkeles
August 16th 2011
Walker Books for Young Readers

Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill.

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules.

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?



I'm not sure if I've said this before, but Simone Elkeles is a genius. She must be. Every book I've read of hers I have absolutely loved. She can do NO WRONG. She can even make me like understand characters that would usually piss me off a little, case in point, Chain Reaction.


As you could probably tell, I was super excited to read this book. And it was pretty different from the other two. It wasn't really what I was expecting (though it was hot) and there were loads of twists about family that I didn't see coming at all. I'm not gonna lie, both Luis and Nikki annoyed me quite a bit, but they had their reasons for doing what they did no matter how irritating (to me) and I still love them both anyhow.


Luis was frustrating at times. He still had his Fuentes charm and rebellious streak, but there were lots of things that happened involving the LB and blood and family that confused him and made him do some very stupid things, and I often just wanted to shake some bloody sense into him, but most of the time he was all Fuentes and gorgeous and awesome. Even though he didn't have nice hair...(that's why Alex is my favourite ;p) I did enjoy his cleverness and the fact that he had a life plan and that he was driven like that.


Nikki... Where to start with Nikki! She wasn't my favourite of the girls, but I did really like her. She's had a pretty tough time with love, and therefore has pretty bad trust issues. Okay, very bad trust issues. And it made me want to shake her when she was with Luis and she was acting like she didn't care about him at all, and the she did a 180 and became a bit needy and crazy. Like, if this wasn't a book, and Luis genuinely didn't like her, she'd be that crazy ex-girlfriend. You know the one. But despite that, she was an interesting and complex character, and I did like her.


My favourite parts of the book though were really those with all three of the brothers in them. I love seeing them all together, and I love their bond. I'm so jealous of their massive sense of family. And I loved seeing them with Brit and Kiara and that they're all still together and happy :) It's so nice.


Chain Reaction is an awesome conclusion to the Fuentes bros and their teenage love lives, but with that epilogue (thankfully less cheesy than the others) totally just left me wanting more. One for each of their sons? ;) I'd so read that.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #45

Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi
November 15th 2011

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old-girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting asThe Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.



Super excited for this book! I love dystopians and this one sounds amazing!


What are you waiting for?


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved But Never Reviewed


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers make lists about books and other suitably bookish things. This week we're looking the top ten books we loved but never got around to reviewing!

1. The Hunger Games. I read this series just a couple of weeks before I started blogging (as will be the case with, like, all of these...) and as you all know. They are AMAZING.

2. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Mmmmm... I love me some Patch... Though he can be a bit of a creeper... ;p

3.  Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. I really loved the whole idea of Fenris and I thought the retelling was great and really inventive. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

4.  Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Okay, so while I STILL haven't read Linger or Forever, I did love Shiver. It was my first werewolf book, and my first book where the boy wasn't a complete hardass. I still love Sam and Grace.. I just hope they got their happy ending...

5.  The Dark Divine by Bree Despain.  Another wolf book... I know... But I did really like this one too! Man, I like wolf books more than I thought... Still need to read The Lost Saint though. I'm bad with sequels...

6.  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantesky. Again, loved this one! It was so cute and I can't wait for Jessica Rules the Dark Side! I hope Lucius isn't a bad guy!

7.  The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. I love Ash. And I love this book! It's what got me into faerie books, and I just loved Grimalkin too.

8. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.  So I technically read Ink Exchange first, but still, I love these books. They're a really dark take on faeries and really fascinated me, but I did find them a bit slow.

9. The Mortal Instruments! Can't believe I nearly forgot these! Dude, I love these books like woah. I read them like, last last January and they got me out of one hell of a reading slump. I owe them a lot. ;D

10. 13 to Life by Shannon Delany. I really enjoyed this book when I read it, and I loved the whole Russian thing they had going on. And I love Pietr. Still need to read the others though!

Monday 22 August 2011

Deception review

Deception (Haunting Emma #1)
Lee Nichols
September 5th 2011 (UK)
Bloomsbury


When Emma Vaile’s parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, she’s left all alone in her creepy old house. But her brother’s very cute best friend, Bennett Stern—Emma’s knight in J. Crew armor—arrives unexpectedly to whisk her away to New England. There, Emma settles into his family’s museum-like mansion and enrolls at an old-fashioned private school. She quickly finds friends in the popular legacy crowd at Thatcher and spends her free time crushing on Bennett. But the eerie visions she’s been hiding from everyone have gotten worse. Emma has memories of Thatcher that she can’t explain—it’s as if she’s returning home to a place she’s never been. Finally, Emma confides in Bennett and learns she is a ghostkeeper, a person who can communicate with ghosts. Bennett brought Emma to Thatcher to protect her, but now he needs her help tracking an other-worldly murderer.

A rich New England setting filled with mystery, tradition, and prep-school intrigue make Deception the perfect choice for fans of series like Kate Brian’s Private, as well as all those paranormal fans. The shocking ending will leave readers desperate for book two.



There is no doubt that I seriously enjoyed reading Deception. It was fast-paced, exciting, ghosty (but not creepy) and just generally awesome. But while I really loved the story, and a lot of the side characters, I didn't really click with Emma that much. Not that I didn't like her, it's just I've seen sort of similar types around and I'm a but tired, is all. But I really did like, just not as much as I wanted to, I guess.


I was, however, really interested by this idea of Ghostkeepers, and that there were loads of different abilities you could have if you were a ghostkeeper, and I really want to know more about the Knell and what they're all about, but what annoyed me was that Emma had ALL the abilities. Is that she's this normal kid that doesn't really think much of herself, and then finds out she's a hot guy magnet, the best at all the things, and she's kind of unrelatable for that. And while I did like her sarcasm (because I always like sarcasm... Lowest from of wit my rear end! ;p) and I did like her as person, it's just this whole stupidly plain but actually really pretty and sexy and the best kind of character that irritates me.


And Bennett... While I did love Bennett by default of him being gorgeous and me being a slightly idealistic teenage girl, I'm kind of over the broody guy. I know I've said this before, but I like people who smile occasionally and don't take everything stupidly seriously. Down with the smouldering broody fellow in the corner I say! Unless they're realllllly pretty.... But no, he was cool I guess, just nothing exceptional. And I did like his and Emma's relationship. I mean, I love following all these paranormal book couples... They should do a magazine on them on something. I would buy it. Because I need a life... *sighs*


But I did like the story a lot. The characters may have been a but atypical (sorry if it sounds like I'm being overly critical, but you get me, right?) but the plot kept me hooked. I really wanted to see how Emma would face off with Neos, and the final scene between them, at the pond? I would most certainly NEVER want to be in a situation like that. And I did like a lot of the side characters too, namely the ghosts. Celeste, Anatole and Nicholas were all adorable and sweet and perhaps slightly dead. And Martha! She was lovely! And not a ghost...


Deception is a great book which, while I may not have connected with the characters much, I greatly enjoyed and I can't wait to read the next book, Betrayal! 

Saturday 20 August 2011

In My Mailbox (44)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :D




For review:
Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey (Thank you Bloomsbury! I still need to read this series but it looks pretty cool :D)
Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen (Such a pretty book! I still need to read Bright Young Things, but they both look great! Thanks to Puffin!)
This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel (This sounds SO COOL. I haven't read Frankenstein or anything, but still. Thank you Random House!)
Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel (SQEEEE. So excited for this one! Steampunk, zombies, romance! Thanks again RHCB)

Gifted:
My Soul To Save by Rachel Vincent. The amazingly super lovely Mia from Gripped Into Books sent me this as a surprise belated birthday present. Because she is so lovely. Thank you Mia!

Bought:
The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade (I couldn't help myself. It looks so cute!)
Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik (already read it and it's adorable! I love Derek!)
Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready (Finally got around to buying this! Yay Zach!)
Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (One of the prettiest books, like, ever.)

I am going on a book buying ban guys! I have, like, over 70 books to read and it is TOO MANY I have nowhere to put them all! I already preordered Lola, so no more books for me until at least October! Maybe... *stares at all the pretties...* I seriously need to get me some will power... ;p

What did you guys get?

Friday 19 August 2011

Supernaturally review

Supernaturally
Kiersten White
July 26th 2011
HarperTeen



Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

I was a bit apprehensive about Supernaturally. I LOVED Paranormalcy, as you guys know, so I was really worried that it just wouldn't live up to my expectations. I know how second books can go... But I really didn't have to worry at all!  And while I still think Paranormalcy is my favourite, Supernaturally didn't let me down at all.

I think this was mainly due to Evie. I can't help it, she is just such a great main character! I'm yet to meet someone who doesn't like her. I love her voice, and her snark, and her vulnerability, and I found when I started Super that I'd really missed her! I think Evie will always be one of my favourite characters. She was the first really snarky, interesting characters I'd read about, though I must lament the lack of Tasey in this book... But I loved seeing her develop as a character, and how she was dealing with living in the normal world, and there was this whole moral dilemma in it too, and I liked that that wasn't too cheesy or obvious or preachy or anything, it was just really natural.

I really liked Reth this time around too. In Para I just thought he was a bit creepy, and I still don't like him in that way (though he is REALLY pretty....), but I think he's a really interesting character. I love that he's just such a Faerie, that he's still all riddly and weird, and that you never really know what he's up to. And Lend, he's just such a nice guy! I love seeing nice guys in paranormals more than anything! Why shouldn't a guy be able to shapeshift and still be a normal guy?! He's so adorable all the time, and I loved their relationship in this book (Evie and Lend's). It might not have always been plain sailing, but that was good! And they always made up in the end... :3

I was so worried that Supernaturally would suffer from Second Book Syndrome, but nothing in it felt forced just to make it a series. It was such a natural progression from what happened in Paranormalcy, and it was just really awesome. Even the new characters worked so well, like crazy, stupid Jack. I loved Jack! (note the past tense there...) He was so crazy and funny and awesome! And Grnlllll! Okay, so I didn't really like her, but I love her name! ;p

Supernaturally was an awesome second book that I adored and that didn't let me down at all. And just Evie! She's so great! Bring on Endlessly! (I'm secretly hoping it's like the never ending story and that it will just go on FOREVER so I'll never have to be without Evie again.. I'm so gonna miss that girl!)

Thursday 18 August 2011

Bad Taste in Boys review

Bad Taste in Boys
Carrie Harris
July 12th 2011
Delacorte Press


Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate!

She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town. . . and stay hormonally human.



Bad Taste in Boys is living(?) evidence that you should never underestimate a funny book about high school zombies. Because it is awesome, and hilarious and I guarantee you will love Kate Grable. If you don't, we're not friends any more. (Kidding! I love you guys anyhow ;D) But seriously, the book is made of zombielicious win. 


This book is seriously hilarious. And for anyone worried about the whole zombie part, it's not too gory or anything, and any limb lossage is usually pretty funny. Especially that part with the foot... I mean there's quite a lot of biting going on, but it's all cool really. Well, biting isn't cool, but you get the point (don't randomly bite strangers kids!) But also, the way the zombies come about and how Kate deals with it and how funny it is, I think it's a good book even for people who don't like zombies! Hopefully this'll be the book to turn you! ;D


I also loved Kate. She's so snarky, and such a science geek! I love her! As I've said before, there just aren't enough nerds in books lately (like, main characters and stuff) and I could relate to her for that. She's that girl who's good at school because she studies and that actually likes school and has a goal for her future. A lot of YA heroines don't have a clue about that (which is fair enough, really..)  but I liked her involvement in science and her nerdiness. I just love nerds. Can't help it. Plus I loved that she was confident about her intelligence, not arrogant or anything, but she wasn't wishy washy about stuff when it came to what she knew, you get me?


Aaron Kingsman was no doubt perfect in like, every way, and he was pretty and a nice guy, but I think I loved Kate's brother Jonah even more. So what if he has to wear a chicken suit?! He only does it try and get the attention of the girl he likes! Plus (even though he would so deny this) he so loves his sister! Always helping her out and saving her from zombies with his pseudosword. And that bit near the end in the shed! N'awww he so cute! And geeky! I just wanted to hug him! (but couldn't because of... Spoilers). I love nerdy boys to!


And I loved the story too. (If I didn't, that would probably be a bit of a problem...) the pacing was great and the whole progression of the zombie disease was really good. But not the puke... Ewwww. But the solution to it was also awesome, because you will not guess what the cure is! (And I'm not gonna tell you. Wanna know? READ IT! ;P) 


Bad Taste in Boys is a hilarious romp full of zombies, boys, psuedoswords, bad football players and dismembered feet. It's great even if you don't like zombies! ;D

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Waiting on Wednesday #44

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine :)


Dearly, Departed
Lia Habel
October 18th 2011


As far as romantic pairings go in the year 2195, you don't get much more unlikely than an upper-class schoolgirl and a poor miner from enemy tribes. Filter in the fact that he's a zombie, and you're definitely talking about star-crossed love.

Dearly, Departed is a cyber-Victorian/steampunk romance that takes place in the shadow of a new ice age. Nora Dearly, a mouthy teenage girl and apparent orphan, leaves school for Christmas - only to be dragged into the night by the living dead. Luckily for her, though, the good ones got to her first. From her reanimated rescuers she learns not only that zombies are roaming the countryside, but that her father is one - and that he's in terrible trouble. She also meets Captain Bram Griswold, a noble, strong, and rather sweet undead boy for whom she starts to fall.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Pamela Roe, is just trying to carry on with life as best she can in the wake of Nora's disappearance - when she ends up killing an evil zombie in self-defense. Pam is galvanized into action, and ends up leading a group of survivors as the city of New London is thronged by the ravenous dead.

Upon hearing of Pamela's plight, Nora and Bram set out to rescue her friends, find her missing father, and maybe just save what's left of the world



Steampunk? Zombies? Love? Sounds sooo awesome! I really can't wait for this one! The whole idea of zombie grosses me out a bit, but we'll see if Lia Habel can change my mind... 


What are you waiting on? 

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Heroines


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers make lists about books and other suitably bookish things. This week it's a freebie week so I decided to do my top favourite heroines!

1. Anna from Anna and the French Kiss. What can I say? I love the girl! She's just adorable, and she's the first contemp heroine I've ever really loved, so she holds a special place in my heart ;) (Right nest to St. Claire... ;p)

2.Evie from Paranormalcy. You will see how much I adore this girl when I post my Supernaturally review. Let me tell you this, I genuinely missed her. Her snark has me laughing so much and despite her slightly weird circumstances, she always stays real, and acts real.

3. Sophie from Hex Hall. Agin with the awesome snark! If you couldn't tell already, snark is kind of a winning thing with me. Anyone who can make me laugh, and yet still be vulnerable and normal and all that, that for me is a good character, and that's exactly what Sophie is.

4. Kate Grable from Bad Taste in Boys. I may have only read this last week, but Grable really stands up for team Science Geek. There's nothing better than a nerd and there aren't really a slew (to my knowledge) of characters who still care about their grade while half their school are becoming zombies. Go Team Nerd!

5. Payton from Sean Griswold's Head. Another sort of character I don't really see a lot of, I could relate to her kind of Anal-OCDness, that and she was really just adorable, and a normal kid who doesn't really know how to react to some pretty suckish family news, and she was just great.

6. Ellie from Angelfire. Bad ass chicks FTW! Man, if I could have a pair of those Khopesh swords... That, and Ellie is just a great character. Perfectly bad ass, perfectly vulnerable, perfectly perfect love interest.... But seriously, I love Ellie :D

7. Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. Boy, do I have some serious respect for this girl. She may not be physically strong, but I would not pick a fight with her. She is FIERCE even if she is trapped in the body of on 90 year old... 

8. Katniss from THG. Let's face it, when does THG not appear on one of my lists... ;p Katniss may not be snarky or funny or light hearted at all, but she's bad ass, she strong willed, she's just trying her best to get though in her world...

9.  Suzume from Shadows on the Moon. She's a really interesting character, and while I may have wanted to shake some sense into her a few times (when the girl gets and idea in her head, there is no moving it!) but she's a good girl, just some bad things happened to her... I'm just glad she got the happy ending she deserved :D

10. Remy from This Lullaby. It's not my favourite of Sarah Dessen's books ('cause they're like ALL my favourite.. ;p) But I just like Remy a lot.  She's so sensible! Even if her sense does mean that she doesn't end up with Dexter for a bit longer than she should've... ;p But I love her :D


Monday 15 August 2011

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour review

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
Morgan Matson
May 4th 2010
Simon & Schuster


Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.


Amy & Roger's Epic Detour was an awesome, adorable contemporary novel that I really just adored. Seriously, there were so many things I loved about it, from the characters to the scrapbook pictures and the awesome playlists. There was just so much to like!


I love the whole concept of the book. I've always loved the idea of going in a road trip, going from state to state and seeing everything and all that. And this book gave me all the pros of road tripping without me even having to leave the house! Which is awesome.


Amy and Roger were seriously awesome too though. They were both just so... real. I could completely believe their situation and how they reacted to everything that had happened to them and was happening to them. I just loved them. Being with Amy while she was coping with her fathers death and her guilt about it and her fear of driving was just great and (because I'm kind of a sap...) it did make me cry a little. But not sad crying or anything! It was just really nice.


And Roger. I love him so much! He's just such a nice guy, and so believable! I completely bought his reaction to Hadley and his recent break up, and his amazing taste in music! OMG the music! It is so my kind of thing. Reading this book while listening to the playlists, you just get such a perfect feel for where they are and how they're feeling, you should really try it. That, and the music was awesome. Thank you Roger, for introducing me to The Weepies ;D


I loved the scrapbook feel to it too, the pictures and Amy's bits about the different states made it for me. All the extras gave it character, and I loved Rogers doodles! And the progression of their relationship felt really natural. It's probably one of my favourite contemps at the minute. It was so great! Perfect for anyone who loves a good contemp/ road trip/ nice guy ;)

Saturday 13 August 2011

In My Mailbox (43)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :D




Bought:
Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris (Made of awesome. So funny, so nerdy, so good.)
Supernaturally by Kiersten White (Reading this now. I missed Evie so much!)
Hourglass by Myra McEntire (So beautiful. The cover is kinda soft too. Love it. Plus the hardback bit underneath it is grey and SO PRETTY.)
Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt 
Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done (I much prefer the US cover, but the UK one is about £6 cheaper so... ;p)

Review:
Naked by Kevin Brooks (I saw the word punk and was like HELL YEAH. Thanks to Puffin :D)
After Obsession by Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel (I haven't read the Need series, but this looks really interesting! Plus it's really pretty. Thanks to Bloomsbury.)
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan (Excited for this one! Sounds a bit like Across the Universe which I adored!)
Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts (Not heard of this before but it looks fantastic! Thanks to Macmillan for the last 2! :D)


So these aren't really that bookish, but for those of you who don't know, it was my birthday this Thursday, and my mum got me these awesome t-shirts! :D Mumford & Sons are, like, my favourite band, and I love showing off my Hufflepuff pride! ;D She also got me the first 2 seasons of Angel so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that :D

What did you get? :D

Thursday 11 August 2011

Undead review

Undead
Kirsty McKay
September 1st 2011
Chicken House

Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly. 

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse? 

Yep. They could. 

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry. 

With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside cafĂ©. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant. 

The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness. Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost. 

Can they survive the Undead? And each other?


Undead was an utter romp of a book. It was everything I want from a zombie book, fun, creepy and full of quirky characters. While the plot could be a bit predictable in places, it made up for it everywhere else. Plus, it reminded me a little of Shaun of the Dead only not as bad and in Scotland and for teens. But I mean that it was sort of a parody of zombie books, but not without it being creepy and gory and zombieficated.


Bobby was an awesome character. I loved her out of placeness and her weird accent, and I liked how she handled the whole zombie situation and how she reacted to it. She reacted like how I would, at least, a little bit. How she tried to put off thinking about it and tried to turn it into a bit of a joke, almost. Plus she was pretty sarcastic in places and I am all for sarcasm.


Smitty was so adorable too! I love me an indie boy and Smitty sure delivered. He was funny and reckless and a bit of a smart arse in places, but he was loyal to the group and he and Bobby were practically the only ones who bothered to do anything around the zombies! Plus, he cared for everyone there and did all that he could to ensure they didn't get hurt.


The actual idea behind the zombie situation was really interesting. I really enjoyed uncovering how and why all these zombies had come about, and Bobby's and her friends story of survival there was riveting. Plus it was funnier than I was expecting it to be, which is always a bonus .
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