Bargain Books (4)

Some of these are titles I have not heard of myself, but they had pretty covers that I just had to click on! Others were titles or authors I have heard of.

Would You by Marthe Jocelyn

Alis by Naomi Rich

I Am Apache by Tanya Landman

Triple Shot Bettys in Love by Jody Elizabeth Gehrman / review

The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison

Beauty and the Bully by Andy Behrens

Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe / review / recommended

Living on Impulse by Cara Haycak

Magic's Child (Magic Or Madness) by Justine Larbalestier

The Midnight Charter by David Whitley

The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha

Switch by Carol Snow

Bargain Books ~ 1

Bargain Books ~ 2

Bargain Books ~ 3

Books By Its Cover Week 2

Week 2's prompt:

The bright neon;

Hazardous;

Both design and font.

Osculate

*For more information about Books by its Cover click here.*

Halo

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Source: ARC from Feiwel and Friends

Grade: 3 stars out of 5

Bethany along with her sister Ivy and her brother Gabriel are sent from Heaven to the small town of Venus Core. It is their job to counteract the negativity, evil, and chaos in Venus Core that seemed to have increased over the years. However, both Gabriel and Ivy has had century’s worth of experience as a human and developed a more stoic, detached approach to the townspeople. Beth, on the other hand, is new to the confinements of the environment and its strange sights, textures, and tastes, becoming easily attached to companionship as well as relationships.

Xavier has faced a great deal of hardship over the past years leaving him an emotional barrier that cannot be pierced despite the many girls who tried. On the day Beth and Xavier meet at the beach, neither can get the other out of their mind. Beth starts to loose focus on her mission and plans to risk it all. But there’s an even bigger risk lurking in the shadows.

Imagine a hatchling you are not allowed to dote on, but merely allowed to observe. You witness its naivety, its all consuming thoughts, and its curiosity. You will feel confused, irritated, and annoyed by this hatching, but it is young so a lot can be forgiven. This what I feel towards Bethany. Halo is the life of the hatchling just experiencing life and its mundane (to us at least) affairs. Alexandra Adornetto goes over the beyond when writing each scene, scrutinizing every detail. Like light, it shines throughout the room creating a fresh experience.    

One thing that Halo had me most considered about was the religion. Religion is not my forte and it was something that I was told to be prominent in Halo. Thankfully it was not to my relief. (Then again I was expecting the discussion of Christianity and God to be forced down my throat. But there is 2 pages where it takes of God that I felt were awkwardly placed.) Halo is a read for the romantics at heart; for those who enjoy the fight for love in a forbidden match. It is a novel about character development and love rather than the action and fight scenes that some might be expecting. Halo deals with raw emotions of love and confusion of young love at that.

However there is quite a bit of editing that Halo needs. For one thing this is a hefty novel, reaching almost to 500 pages with a great chunk of it on the development of love. The pacing of the novel is fairly slow as one might associate long novels with, but the ending was anticlimactic. For all the details Adornetto had written within the first two-thirds of the novel, she lacked the strong emotional battle ground I was hoping for. It was also really, really, really cheesy.

For another thing, Adornetto does not do well with dropping subtle hints or foreshadowing of any kind. She attempts to foreshadow scenes, but that it just spoils everything. (The biggest being on page 257 in the ARC for those who have read the book.) I am also curious about tenses: everything is written in past tense so I wonder where Beth is now. Perhaps this is something we find out in the last installment of the series. There is also the feather that Beth finds in the car something that is brought up only towards the end. It is never fully explained so I wonder if it will play a much bigger role in the later installment or just be forgotten.

In fact there is a lot left to be explained in the sequel: Molly, Beth’s friend; Limbo and Hell; the higher power above who cleared everything.  

Then there are the characters. Adornetto pushes some stereotypes to the extreme such as the ‘gossiping bimbos’: “‘I don’t think so, Bethie.” Taylah laughed. “Everybody knows the Middle East is in Africa.”’—page 125 of ARC. There is also an inconsistency that I am confused about. Gabriel is deemed as the cook in the family and yet Ivy “had gone to a good deal of trouble with the menu—she’d made an aromatic potato and leek soup followed by whole baked trout…” (229, ARC). And with no mention of Ivy picking up cooking as a habit I find this odd.

In all Halo was a straightforward romance novel that leaves plenty for the next novel to pick up. Again, romantics will love this novel. Realists (such as I) will want something more. Hopefully Hades will be action laded to please the savage need within me of the battle between good vs. evil.

For now I am going to leave you with a quote (it is slightly spoilish so you can highlight if interested): “There were two things I was now certain of: First, Jake Thorn knew about us; and second, he was dangerous” (396, ARC).

P.S. For those curious, there is a stanza of Beyoncé’s “Halo” in the novel. It is before the first chapter though. There is also an Edgar Allen Poe poem “Annabel Lee”, which I loved.

Cover B

You can pre-order Halo and check out for yourself.

Vampires Suck Movie Trailer

Because YouTube would not be YouTube if one does not waste hours on it. This looks fun. Might watch it as a gag movie. Opinions?

Endless Summer

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Endless Summer is the sequel to The Boys Next Door. In this newly repackaged volume contains both stories (which I failed to notice until I cracked open the first page). If you enjoyed the prequel you will like the sequel. Because words fail me here is the product description from Amazon about Endless Summer; scratch that, the synopsis seems to be more on The Boys Next Door than Endless Summer.

Lori finally landed herself her dream Vader brother. But this new romance seems to be in jeopardy when their family believes that their minds are out of focus and their actions lean towards the foolish side. If asking them to give each other a little breathing room doesn’t work then the threat of military school will do the trick. But Lori will do anything to get back together even if it means that she will pretend to date the other Vader brother. Déjà vu anyone? And you know how the last one turned out!

I find it ridiculously amusing how both characters are so dense and stubborn. They really is two peas in a pod.

Words really seem to escape me for this review*. I managed to write 3 reviews, synopsis and all, perfectly fine, but as soon as I type Endless Summer, poof. Nothing, nada, zippo. So let’s write a little (awful) poem:

Entertaining read
Nothing to say but to try it because it is written by Jennifer Echols!
Drama(tic drama)
Likable characters
Extreme sports! Fun!
Summer read
Salivate over the guys

Silly scenes
Utmost … uhhh (it leaves me speechless!)
Magical!
Must read if you loved the prequel
Enjoyable
Romantic

Did that poem suck for you as it did for me?

Cover B+

Buy your own copy of Endless Summer on Amazon

*This is my 4th attempt at writing this review.

Faithful

Faithful by Janet Fox

Source: Contest win from AuthorsNow!

Grade: 2 stars out of 5

Faithful by Janet Fox tells of Maggie’s story as she travels halfway across the country to find her mother. A mother that disappeared one day that left both her father and her different. She is taken out of her comfort zone despite many of the townspeople not liking her mother therefore not her as well because she was not like the others—impulsive or somewhat sane. But Maggie wants to change all that with her debut, which is why she needs to find her mother and be back by August.

However Maggie is in her a surprise because she may not be leaving Yellowstone after all. Her father’s business is in ruins and her grandparents have pretty much cut him off so he hopes to make a new life here. Maggie doesn’t want and the only way she can leave to return home is to marry her way out. Or will she make a name of herself by herself? And Tom—a man really who captured Maggie’s attention since the first time.

Faithful was a book that took me quite a while to finish. Never a good sign. My main problem was Maggie, the novel’s protagonist and focal point. Another bad sign. She reminded me of someone I knew; constantly whining, moaning, or groaning about something or another. I typically am the listener to these “pity” stories and it just grates on your nerves sometime. Maggie or this person did not know what they truly wanted. If they did then they would have not complained about not having something and then complaining about it when they do eventually get it. There is no win-win situation for these types of personalities. Did Maggie mature? Some might say, ‘sure’. To me, it’s pushing it. Give anyone a big enough scare and they are bound to change.

Even then the majority of the other characters have no substance as well. They run on two different temperatures: hot or cold. Mean or nice. Not even Tom, the male lead whom I suppose was going to swept me off my feet, was much of an asset to the novel. I did, however, like one or two characters, but they were secondary characters so I did not see them as often as I would have liked.

The setting and the imagery were lush and vivid, but it was not enough by itself. Give me a bouquet of flowers and I will admire its beauty, but that is all. Give me a story behind the flowers and I will love it even after it wilts.

There appears to be a sequel, or some form of companion novel, to Faithful, but I am more than hesitant to read it when it comes out.

Cover
A-

Dare to try? Order your copy of Faithful on Amazon.

The Ghost and the Goth

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

Source: Hyperion

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

Alona Dare died in her gym uniform. Tragic isn’t it? To top it all off she was killed by a bus—a bus of band geeks. Now she wakes up in the middle of the road where she died with cars and people stepping through her and around her (rude much?), but at least she will forever remembered at her peak in her high school life and stop worrying about the “what ifs” and “whens” she can ruin her life. That and the fact that almost everyone at school showed up to her funeral wearing black armbands with her name on it helps. But soon after waking up on the road again Alona realizes that no one is wearing the armbands…except for her best friend, Misty. Thank goodness for best friend. Not! Misty may be wearing her name but that is Alona’s boyfriend (ex now?) she’s sticking her tongue in. It turns out they have been doing this behind Alona’s back much longer than Alona realized. Now that she’s dead she cannot do anything about, no matter how much Alona wants to. Her life is now completely and utterly miserable.

With nothing stopping her she cries—snots and big lobs of tears and all; no one is going to see her now anyway. Except maybe Will Killian—the school’s gothic freak. But appearances are definitely not what they appear to be.

The Ghost and the Goth is told through alternating points of view, which adds to the level of awkwardness to the two people that I find sadistically satisfying. The novel is energetic and bubbly with enough sass and trauma to cut through the sweetness. The Ghost and the Goth may be cliché, but it is an addicting novel that I inhaled in 3 hours top.

I found both Will and Alona very likeable and somewhat different than what I expected. Alona for me was interesting because I had this picture of her in my mind—a snotty, rich, beautiful girl who is mean is everyone because she can get away with it. And maybe it was because it was told from her point of view that makes her delusional or the extremes of other novel’s characters I have read that made Alona seem nice (in her own twisted way but she calls it like how she sees it).

Will on the other hand I was more on the target with. He was a lot more normal than I would have imagined. Then again I expected this dark, brooding mass of ‘death to the world and its people!’ so maybe that's a good thing.

However I do feel as though The Ghost and the Goth is the Kodak shot—picture perfect here and now. As for the future of Will and Alona I have big concerns. Will there be a sequel? Hopefully so or else the life of Will and Alona will end in tragedy in my mind: age, intimacy, and living life*.

The Ghost and the Goth (despite its title) is a great summer title. A fun read with great energy

Cover A-
Awesome sauce

You can order The Ghost and the Goth on Amazon now.

*clarification in comments.

Manga Monday: En Passant

En Passant by Yuzunoki Taro

Serialized: Square Enix

Genre: Action, Comedy, Shounen, Fantasy  

Age Group: middle grade

Plot: 3 stars

Art: 3 stars

Characters: 3 stars

Kujou Shin is the king of pessimist somehow relating anything said to him to him not be worthy of living. Kujou is unwillingly dragged into a war against an opposing rival who wants to become the next leader of Verde, a secret organization that controls the world. He is the successor of the white king as shown by an implemented eye with an ability called X-ray—able to see within the future and turning back time. It becomes a battle of chess, white king against black king with rooks, knights, and pawns to defend and fight them.

I thought it was eventually high time that I review a Shounen manga. En Passant is a new manga so I have only read the first volume. So far it shows promise. There is a lot of fighting scenes, which is always fun to look at, and plenty of humorous scenes. I have little to go on though with the characters and plotline, and everything gets a bit confusing with the artwork not happening at times.

Bargain Books (3)

Here is another set of Amazon bargains in the teens section. Anyway I've never read a Francesca Lia Block book, I'm curious because she has been published so many times now. I guess this is a perfect time to try her writing out now :)

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones

The Devouring by Simon Holt / review

The White Darkness by Gerladine McCaughrean

Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Dirty Laundry by Daniel Ehrenhaft

Look Both Ways (Midnight Twins) by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart

Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi

Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman / review

She's So Money by Cherry Cheva / review

How to (Un)cage a Girl by Francesca Lia Block

Bargain Books ~ 1

Bargain Books ~ 2

Books By Its Cover Week 1

We're going to start things off very simple. This month we're playing for my ARC of Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison. Here is the prompt:

Fire, passion, anger

Endless cycle—

a snake eating its own tail

If you are pretty sure you know which book cover I'm talking about, fill the appropiate section in the form. If not, think it over. You have until July 28 to guess as many covers as you can.

*For more information about Books by its Cover click here.*

And Then I Found Out the Truth + Giveaway

And Then I Found Out the Truth by Jennifer Sturman

Source: ARC from Publicist / Point

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

And Then I Found the Out Truth is the sequel to And Then Everything Unraveled. Some spoilers below:

“Delia Truesdale didn’t think life could get more complicated. Her mother’s on the run in South America and won’t be coming home anytime soon—at least, but until Delia can outwit the evildoers who are out to destroy them both.

But it’s hard to thwart evildoers from an entirely different continent, especially when everyone things you should be doing your homework instead. And Delia’s stuck in Manhattan, along with her slightly insane aunt Charley, her uptight aunt Patience, a petulant psychic, a love-struck detective, boy-crazy brainic, and Quinn, who defies description but has kissed her twice.

The answers are waiting in exotic Buenos Aires, and time is running out. Delia might not speak Spanish or know how to tango, but she does have a passport. Will she be able to uncover the truth—before it’s too late?”—from the novel.

And Then I Found Out the Truth was a high stakes adventure that will make even James Bond pleased. And maybe even Sherlock Holmes. Jennifer Sturman drops hints throughout the book like a Jeopardy game; vague enough making you scratch your head yet when the answer is presented it makes sense. But never once does Sturman make you feel like an idiot (because Delia is on the same boat as the reader).

I did enjoy reading the many characters that Sturman writes, each one so vastly different yet equally charming, but I did find some characters unnecessary—Erin for one. Her name is dropped a couple times, but with not much a real purpose. However, one thing that I found most impressive and that personally made me happy was the cultural—racially and ethnically—diversity that Sturman incorporated which is so rarely seen.

Despite my affection of the book I am stopping myself from giving it another star. And Then I Found Out the Truth lacks a certain finesse and sparkle that I always look for in a novel. In and out the novel gives two different experiences for me. In: immersing myself into a world of different sights, sounds, and smells. Out: a vague recollection of the novel; nothing really pops out with blurred scenes.

Overall And Then I Found Out the Truth was a fun and flirty (with danger and boys) ride.

---

1. Was there a reason behind each country written in the novel or was it a random draw with a spinning globe and closed eyes?

The right answer to this question is probably that it was all the result of meticulous planning and exhaustive research. Sadly, the real answer is a lot closer to the spinning globe/closed eyes scenario! I started with wanting Delia’s mother to disappear somewhere. I also knew she’d be an environmentalist, and then I saw an article about the impact of global warming on polar ice shelves – anyhow, the next thing I knew, characters were going missing in the Antarctic, trekking through the wilds of Chilean Patagonia and chasing each other down the streets of Buenos Aires.

2. Can you quickly name some travel tunes you listen to?

I always have very lofty ambitions for all of the work I’m going to get done on long plane flights or train rides, and then spend the whole time staring out the window and listening to my iPod. Some favorites for spacing out include: Everything But The Girl, Mazzy Star, and old Van Morrison.

3. Do you believe in psychics and fate?

No – but also yes! I’m mostly a huge skeptic. I was once even uninvited from a séance because I couldn’t pretend that I thought it might actually work. That said, it would be nice to believe everything isn’t entirely random and unknowable, either. So I’m hedging my bets and saying maybe.

4. Which version of Bewitched do you enjoy watching the most?

The classic TV version (with the original Darrin, obviously!) – I desperately wanted to be Tabitha.

 

5. In the novel there are so many ethnicity and cultures discussed: any particular favorites?

Questions like this always stump me! It’s like being asked to choose a favorite color or song or book. That’s probably why I love living in New York City – there’s so much diversity. Take food – in the past week, I’ve eaten tacos, pad thai, falafel, and mac and cheese, and I enjoyed them all (probably a little too much given that it’s bathing suit season). Meanwhile, each meal probably tasted even better because of how it contrasted with whatever I’d eaten last. And now I’ve made myself hungry...

---

Buy And Then I Found Out The Truth and And Then Everything Unraveled from Amazon. Or you can win copies here:

You Wish

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

Source: ARC from Penguin

Grade: 3 stars out of 5

It’s Kayla’s Sweet Sixteen and nothing is going right. Her mother has taken over her party as a chance to advertise her business meaning it is absolutely nothing she wants. And yet her best friend Nicole, the one thing that might make this party bearable, ditches her. Still, Kayla grits her teeth and blows out her candles wishing that her birthday wishes would come true. All hell breaks loose. 

Turns out her wishes were not that great: Kayla is now stuck with a pink My Little Pony; all the gumballs you can eat (and die from); a Raggedy Ann that has come back to haunt you; and a Ken doll that has the hots for Kayla. There is also a wish that Kayla is most afraid of coming true: Ben Mackenzie kissing her. 

But Ben is Nicole’s boyfriend so that is clearly off-limits territory. Kayla always had a crush on Ben since forever and not even Nicole knows about that wish. One can only wish though…. 

In Mandy Hubbard’s second teen novel she makes dreams into reality, but reality is bittersweet. Prada and Prejudice lacked for me that extra pow to make it from an OK read to a great read and You Wish has that same problem.

Each wish is hilarious filled with mirth that borders on nonsensical. There was childhood innocence as seen with Raggedy Ann and the progression of puberty with Ken (bom chicka wah wah) that You Wish features. Hubbard does well to balance the slightly sane—gumballs—with heartwarming reasons—ability to speak Italian after her father left.

However I had strong feelings on Nicole and Kayla as well as the ending. I found both characters unlikeable at times: Kayla for her whiny attitude at times and Nicole for just not being a good friend many of the times. These are just personal feelings, which you may not have for these two characters. But I have a question to those who may have read You Wish (slightly spoilish so highlight to see): does that mean the last wish disappears? I wish Hubbard would write something to clear some of the confusing of the ending for me.

Cover A
Too cute

Preorder You Wish
Order Prada and Prejudice