Bargain Books (2)

What do you get when you combine a book fanatic and a hot afternoon with nothing much to do? Reading? If stalking Amazon for bargains is your answer, then you are correct!

I love going onto Amazon occasionally and seeing what they have for sale. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. My e-reader just arrived yesterday (Sony, in black, not sure how I feel about it yet since I can't pry it off my brother's fingers) so while I may be increasing the amount of e-books I will be reading, I still love the feel of physical books in my hands. So this what I came across when I was digging through Amazon. I will most likely do another part of Amazon bargains next week as well.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams * / review / interview

The Everafter by Amy Huntley / review

ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley

How Not to Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler

Goddess Boot Camp (Oh. My. Gods.) by Tera Lynn Childs

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb

Peeled by Joan Bauer

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti

Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link / review + interview

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter by R.J. Anderson * / review

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

The Amanda Project: Book 1: invisible I

Jane In Bloom by Deborah Lyttoon

House of Dance (Laura Geringer Books) by Beth Kephart

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry / mini-review

* recommended

Bargain Books ~ 1

The Reckoning (Rant)

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Source: Personal

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

In this final installment of the New York Times’ Bestseller, The Reckoning will have its readers’ pulse racing in this rush to the finish line. Chloe, Derek, Simon, and Tori are still escaping from Edison Group and yada yada yada. Let’s get to the juicy part: they run, they get caught (of course), kick-butting ensues and happy…ending? Before we talk about the ending let’s discuss the joy ride getting there.

What I loved from the two prequels—The Summoning and The Awakening—are still there thankfully. The Reckoning was fast paced occurring in about a week’s timeslot with enough ghost, demons, and werewolf Changings to last for the next several months until I start foaming for the next book by Armstrong. The fight scenes are detailed and more are easy to follow that is until the scene has about 50 billijian people in it and everyone is trying to kill each other. But other than that, we’re good.

There are several twists in the book some make me gasp, some make me gleeful, some make me give the book the stink-eye (really though, really!?), but I’m general happy with them. Though if Armstrong would clarify and explain some aspects of the twist in the novel I’ll be SUPER-happy.

Thus draws to the conclusion, a shake-the-book conclusion because I need more! I need more answers, I need more closure, but I ultimately need a solid end to a SERIES. If it were a standalone book with some slight details taken away, heck I would have taken the ending with stride, but as a series ending it lacks so very much. Whatever happened to them?

And then I find out that Armstrong has this new series/trilogy: The Gathering (Darkness Rising #1), which just makes me tilt my head and quickly clamor up my seat to read all that I can about it. From the FAQs:

Will any of the Darkest Powers characters appear in this trilogy?

Kelley intends to join the two groups of characters, but that won’t happen until at least the last book in this trilogy.

Oh my God *pulls hair*. So Darkness Rising will feature another group of experiments by the Edison Group and will not feature Chloe or Derek until the last installment of that trilogy.

Cover B

P.S. Are Armstrong's adult paranormal series any good? I need more of her books (as a poor substitution of me already missing Derek and Chloe and the gang).

Which Postal Service Serves You The Best?

This week I had the pleasure of experiencing 4 different types of postal service in the US: FedEx, UPS, DHL, and USPS. It was a doozy* though.

I personally love FedEx because they're really prompt and they know how to leave packages on the porch when we can't run to them in 1 minute flat. However mailing packages out via FedEx=pain in the butt. We had a hard time finding a drop-off box and even finding a store.

USPS is 88% ♥. I'm not very fond of the previous workers at my local USPS--very grumpy and snappy--but they cost the least to ship and gets the job done. Plus I see them so often that they don't even ask which type of mailing I want *snickers*. The delivery man and the new coworkers pretty much me know by face now.

UPS--the man/woman in brown. It's an iconic thing. But they're services? I've read horror stories about them and the only thing I've experienced from those stories are the pounding on doors screaming UPS! UPS! UPS! every 5 seconds (because really I can run from my bedroom to the front door in 5 seconds).

DHL is a roller coaster. I've only used DHL once before and it turned out horribly. They lost the package and Amazon had to reship it using UPS. This time around I only thought they lost my package twice. I bought the book on the 10th and it was sent on the 11th. A weekend followed it so I didn't bother checking on the tracking number but on Monday I did. So the book left the processing center and arrived at the pick-up point around the 14th and left to be delivered. Okay, good, on schedule. Three days later it's still in the same state so I'm getting worried. The horror stories get so bad about DHL that there is apparently a website about it? I'm gnawing on my fingers debating if I should email Barnes and Noble about this "lost" package when YAY! the very next day it shows that it finally arrived to Maryland. 3-4 days to travel across one state.

Then it was dropped off to USPS for them to deliver to my house. Why can't DHL just deliver it? (I live in PA by the way--one state above MD).

---

Do you personally have any horror stories regarding the postal service? Which company do you like best?

Forbidden

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Source: Random House UK and Tabitha

Grade: 5 stars 

Lochan has always been the socially awkward—inept—boy whose beauty attracts the girls and whose written prose and intelligence delights the teachers. But Lochan has more than enough to handle than to deal with a love life for his father left for a new family in Australia and his alcoholic mother, who acts more like the child, begins to date again and with 4 siblings to take care of. Definitely more than enough to handle. Yet Maya—beautiful, strong, and gentle Maya—younger than Lochan by 13 months, is there to help him deal with the stress.

Lochan and Maya have always been close—best friends since toddler years. It is only recently that the prospect of Maya dating and kissing some other boy does the secret escape and become something they have always suspected: they love each other. More than what a brother and sister should be allowed.

But it’s an illegal act, disgusting even more so. So they must deny, hide, and escape from these feelings. It must be locked up with the key to be thrown away. A façade must be put in place to shield from the world from these feelings but with the mask in place they become hollow shells of themselves. With love they are vibrant; with denial they are ghost.

Brilliantly told in alternating point of views Tabitha Suzuma will have William Shakespeare run for his money in this modern-day adaption of forbidden love. The novel will leave its reader exhausted from the constant heart thumping, panic attacks, and shaky smiles. It is a riveting tale of struggle: against your own emotions, against your family and peers, against the world filled with people who do not know you, but will not hesitate to judge you.

The relationship between Maya and Lochan leaps from the pages as they battle what they deemed correct yet separately they still manage to glow intensely that at times it becomes dangerous. They present the dilemma from various view points on this controversial topic with a simplistic counterargument as showcased with the quote from the back cover: ‘You’ve always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I’ve falling in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?’

I must say I also enjoyed the younger siblings for they provided the needed pause in the emotional rollercoaster to give a minute for me to catch my breath. It is well timed and devised. Though I will say I spotted some writings error, but I’m a bit hesitant to judge them harshly for my unsure differences between the British English and American English. There is also the concern of the ending, well more of the climax, that left me wondering—how did she get in anyhow?—and with concerns of Social Service. The overall ending, however, was shock-worthy enough to make my jaw drop and pause, but I wonder what the world in the novel thinks of Maya and Lochan’s relationship.

Tabitha Suzuma goes beyond than what I had expected to create such a gripping world in Forbidden. A world to love the finer moments of life that others might take for granted. A world where the dirty secret can grow from the cracked sidewalk, twining onto the barbed wire fence, and blooming into a blood-red daisy. And for that I thank Suzuma and gleefully applaud her for an intense 5 hour read.

Cover B-

Warning: Book is not suitable for the younger audience. Does include sex, topics such as incest as well as cuss words.

Forbidden is out in the UK, but Amazon currently has Forbidden listed as a 2012 US release from Simon Pulse.

P.S. I have an older brother so I have strong opinions on incest and the possibility of incest in the Mortal Instruments series disgust me as well, but something worked in Forbidden. That's all I wanted to say.

Zen and Xander Undone

Zen and Xander Undone by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Source: Personal Bookshelf

Grade: 3 stars out of 5

Ever since their mom past away, Zen and Xander have dealt with their grief in different ways. Zen turned to martial arts as a physical outlet while Xander turned to late night parties and drugs despite her exceedingly intelligence having been accepted to both CalTech and MIT. Zen although being the younger sister is watching out for Xander for her fighting skills comes in handy against unwanted men. Adam, however, Zen and Xander’s next door neighbor, is wanted. But ever so often a letter from their mother shows up and it breaks them even more.

There is nothing characteristically great about Zen and Xander Undone. It can be the fact that the novel is fairly short, clocking in at 200 some pages. It can also be because the novel focuses so much more on Xander that I lost Zen making the first person narration worthless. I do specifically recall her back pains for Zen—just a lot of back straining.

The various methods of grief—hidden from the world, physical violence, and destruction of oneself—are well done. The typical denial of death is not there, which is surprising considering the fact that letters and packages are being delivered to them. In the end, however, I still feel that the novel presented nothing wrenching or addicting to the reader making the novel feel longer than it truly was. It may seem like an oxymoron, a long short book, but it felt endless at times yet when it was done, it felt incomplete.

I do happen to like Paul, another male interest you shall meet. He added the extra oomph and comedic humor that every book needs.

Cover D

Sorry, but there's just something oily and stringy about it. I like this other version better.

I Am...Team Unicorn!

Somehow I was dragged into this mess by Sharon. She told me to write a post about Zombies vs. Unicorns for April which became this conversation:

sharon: need a post from you for zomb vs uni week.

yan: i like unicorns. they go behhhh. and stab people

sharon: O_o

yan: what

sharon: so you suck

yan: nuh-uh you suck

sharon: write about zombies anyway

yan: no

sharon: sucky

yan: you can't pet zombies. they bite your fingers off

sharon: zombie cats

yan: they eat your eyeballs

sharon: but they are cute. and go meowww nomnom

yan: that's your face they're going nomnom on

sharon: unicorns will kill you

yan: at least you'll be stabbed by pretty pink sparkly unicorns

sharon: uh not they are ugly some of them like giant monsters

yan: which you can ride and terrorize the town's people with.

Thus concludes why unicorns rock and why you can never have a pet zombie kitten!

My Friends Are Weird (Crazy)

I wasn't going to do this, but a friend told me to post this picture up and I succumb to peer pressure easily ;) So um happy birthday to me? Here's what one friend decided to do (and post on facebook):

(it features horrible pictures of us but yay photoshop lol)

So this just reinforces my thinking that my friends are crazy (like me). To the people who already wished me happy birthdays, thank you (my inbox thanks you as well lol)!! I wish I could thank you all individually with hugs :(

P.S. Happy now Judy? ;P

Manga Monday: Otomen

Otomen by Aya Kanno

Reviewing: Volumes 1-3

Serialized by Viz

Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Comedy

Age Group: 10+

Plot: 3 stars

Art: 4.5 stars

Characters: 3 stars

Other: Live Drama series

Asuka Masamune is an otomen—he likes girly such as sewing, baking, cooking, making cute stuffed animals and reading shoujo mangas. But he hides that behind his stoic, cool and calm personality so no one will know. Especially considering his father left him and his mother to become a woman.

Ryo Miyakozuka is the mere opposite. She’s a manly girl who cannot cook, sew, or bake to save her life. She only lives with her father so she has no mother figure to teach her these life necessities.

Asuka likes Ryo and the more he likes her, the more he’s baking, making cute stuffed animals and reading mangas. Ryo, however, only likes the manliest or men!

My friend loves this series. I find it decent enough. It’s awkwardly funny with enough sweetness to rot any set of teeth. It’s cliché, it’s cheesy, it’s adorable, it’s one dimensional—it’s shoujo. There are some mild twists that only add to the “awh” factor.

Crash Test Love

Crash Test Love by Ted Michael

Source: Delacorte Books

Grade: 3 stars out of 5

I recall previously I had read Ted Michael’s debut novel The Diamonds and compared it to "Mean Girls", the movie starring Lindsey Lohan. Now I’m going to compare his second novel to “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”.

Henry is considered a “player” but there’s more to that. His mother left him and his father years ago, just one is gone never to return. Ever since then Henry has this idea never to get too close to girls because they always leave. He and his best friends crash sweet sixteen parties and hook up with a girl there—though Henry is only with enough of the charm to go through with that plan. He leaves the girls with false names to confirm that they will never meet again. That’s what he planned to do on this night. But he runs into Garrett who seems to captivate him for the very start and leaves her with his real name: a crash-code broken.

Garrett is new to Long Island having just moved. She’s very susceptible to the male gender and has had her heart broken several times—because what’s love without the freefall. But she’s made a pact to herself: she will not date or fall in love until college. But she can’t get Henry out of her mind. You can imagine how surprised she is when she discovers him to be at her new high school and the reputation he has. Or even her own. Apparently there has been a rumor that Henry has already made his latest conquest with Garrett.

But the J squad a.k.a. the three most popular girls in school are going to help Garrett out and she’s elated because she hardly ever makes girl friends. They have a condition though: make Henry fall in love with you and dump him during Destiny’s sweet sixteen—the largest party ever—or else we’ll make your life miserable here. There’s just that one little problem you see. What happens if you fall in love with him as well?

The novel is separated into two point of views: Henry and Garrett that rotates. It gives a more in-depth impression that works well with the story. However there is an inconsistency with Henry’s point of view in regards to the dialogue. Typically it goes in this format:

Me

Person 1

But then there were at times when normal dialogues pop up with ‘he said, “…”’ that threw me off.

I love Henry’s friends. They are quirky, silly, off the top with the most lamest jokes ever, and they’re the kind of friends that will be there for you thick and thin. Some scenes make me go ‘awhhhh’, some scenes make me snort and laugh, but every scene portrays them as likeable fellows.

Henry is the middle man. I like him. I get confused by him. I find him dislikeable the way he uses girls. But he grows. After the conversation about his mother you find his personality understandable (just not likeable). As he falls in love with Garrett he’s freefalling. He’s multidimensional with more emotions than what meets the eye.

Garrett is the type of character that I dislike. She plays victim almost constantly that irks me. I had this very strong urge to skip her chapters.

Overall Crash Test Love could have been stronger. I felt like I enjoyed reading the secondary characters more than the main characters and the ending felt…odd. I guess odd is a poor substitute of how I really feel because the ending is different from the norm and I can’t figure out if it’s a cop-out or a brilliant move on Michael’s end.

Cover C+

Some people love me it. Me? Not so much. I think it's just the colors.

The School of Possibilities

The School of Possibilities by Seita Parkkola; translated by Annira Silver and Marja Gass

Source: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (for blog tour)

Grade: DNF; page 98 out of 368 #IFail

“Storm Steele is an impossible child.

Or so his parents believe thanks to the influence of his evil “step-monster.” Now Storm is being forced to attend the School of Possibilities for troubled youth. But Storm notices that something strange is going on at his new school. The students are not…normal.

Soon he’s being spied on, followed by classmates—and worst of all, forced to accept the headmaster’s perfectly behaved daughter as his girlfriend. He can feel himself becoming more obedient, more like his classmates. Storm tries to resist, but he doesn’t understand how or why the school is controlling him.

Can Storm escape—or will he be turned into a zombie of “good” behavior like everyone else around him?”

—from back of the novel

There comes a time when I call it quits. Or at least quits for now. The School of Possibilities should really have everything I look for in a middle grade novel: quirky writing, interesting plotline, outlandish characters. But something was very off for me. Maybe it could the vague details dragged on chapters that I had trouble understanding the purpose on. That or it could be the fact that I dislike many if not all of the characters. From mindless zombies to full on evil step-families, this novel a downer.

The School of Possibilities is like Candor (or from what I can gather) in middle grade novel form. Now add Charlie Brown’s world of adults of “wha wha wha whan wha…” that my mind goes when I read this novel. Even so the pictures make up most of the fun, very quirky thick-lined fun. Think The Mysterious Howling artwork.

Cover B

The Double Blog Dare Tour

Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare, The Heart of the Maiden by J.Torres and Jason Bone

Source: Tundra Books for blog tour

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

The Adventures of Alison Dare follows an unstoppable (a.k.a stubborn) girl named Alison Dare. She's always curious, and whenever bored, creates a new adventure for she and her friends, whether they want to or not. However, sometimes curiosity kills the cat (or is that how the saying goes?) and Alison gets in more trouble than she bargained for. Though with a renowned archaeologist mother, a superhero father, and an international superspy uncle, she should be used to it.

There are actually a couple stories in one graphic novel. Sometimes it halts one story to begin another one then goes back to the original first story to build suspense (it works). The story lines are simple and easy to follow even for a first time reader of Alison Dare such as myself. The same applies to the artwork--simple but gets the job done.

I think out of all the adventures I read, the most favorite one has to be where the nuns of the school (I think Alison attends an all girls Catholic school?) battle a group of ninjas. It has me laughing from the bizarre scenario.

Alison Dare is a quick, fun, and easy read for all ages and for both genders.

Alison Dare battles the fire-breathing glow-in-the-dark dragon!

Alison Dare as she heroically leaps over spikes!

Alison Dare as she triumphantly defeats the Evil Old Lady Who Lives In A Shoe!

Alison Dare as she fights against a new evil-doer--herself! EVIL CLONES!

(Yes I know, she's quite busy isn't she ;P)

Find more Alison Dare at the other tour stops!

TLC Blog Tour: The Truth About Delilah Blue

The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen

Source: Harper Perennial for blog tour.

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

Delilah Blue Lovett has always been a bit of an outsider, ever since her father moved her from Toronto to L.A. when she was eight, claiming Delilah's mother no longer wanted to be part of their family. Twenty now and broke, but determined to be an artist like her errant mom, Delilah attends art class for free--by modeling nude at the front of the room, a decision that lifts the veil from her once insular world. While she struggles to find her talent, her father, her only real companion, is beginning to exhibit telltale signs of early-onset Alzheimer's. And her mother, who Delilah always assumed had selfishly abandons them, is about to reappear with a young daughter in tow...and a secret that will change everything. Delilah no longer knows which parent to trust--the only one she can rely on is the most broken person of all: herself.--from the back of the book

With an emotional immature mother and a father who will do everything for his little girl, The Truth About Delilah will wreck havoc on a reader's immediate response on responsibility. They made side with the mother who has been hunting for her daughter for years with milk cartoon ads, news shows, and websites or the father who believes that an environment of artistically lazy-bums living off a wealthy trust fund a.k.a. smokers, druggies, and just lazy-bums is not good for a child growing up. My heart goes out to the father who has early signs of Alzheimer's who has been through thick and thin for his daughter some might say that taking her away from a mother may offset that good attribute.

Then there's Delilah who cast in a whirlwind of lies and confusion. She inspires to become a famous artist yet lacks the proper training and sense of center. A reflection of her family life. Delilah makes the perfect character to be dissected and reconstructed in both words and in painting.

While The Truth About Delilah Blue makes this reader giddy with the psychological impact, the time sequences and warping loses my focus. The prologue of third person to second person point of view left things off shaky start from the start that took several pages in to confirm my initial assumption and understanding. I also wanted more of the background information of the father and mother instead of assuming once again what had occurred. The ending, as well, leaves a dramatic finesse but lacks clarity and finality.

Head on over to the TLC website from the other stops in the tour.

The Demon's Lexicon And ME!

Look at the picture and tell me what do you see? :D Now you might see a #fail in the picture that had me contemplating doing this to my blog:

Now I'm off to prepare for my graduation and be merry!

P.S. Thank you Carol for telling me about this! I thought she was lying to me at first ;P I just had to stop by every copy of The Demon's Lexicon and flip through it to make sure it's true. I also just had to buy my own paperback copy!

P.P.S. I really should have edited those sentences before hitting "publish post".

P.P.P.S. Linking to things later. Off to scavenge for fooooooood!

Manga Monday: Full Metal Alchemist

Full Metal Alchemist by Arakawa Hiromu

Reviewing: 25-26 Volumes

Serialized by Viz

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen, Comedy, Drama, Tragedy

Age Group: 12+

Plot: 3.8 stars

Art: 4 stars

Characters: 3.5 stars

Other: Anime Series

Any manga readers or even browsers have probably heard of Full Metal Alchemist. Heck it was even turned into an anime series that was televised. But there’s a purpose behind this review post; the manga series finally ended! Huzzah! It clocked in about 26-27 volumes lastly much longer than the anime series with the OVAs. Let’s start from the beginning:

Edward and Alphonse Elric attempt to bring their mother back to life with alchemy. But things go horribly wrong for there most be an equivalent exchange: you must give something up of equal worth. Al’s life for their mother’s life, but in a desperate act Ed tries to contain Al’s soul in a suit of amour. But in exchange Ed lost his right arm and left leg. Still things can’t be all that bad, right? Wrong. The entire plan fails along with a missing leg, a missing arm, and an entire body. Now the Elric brothers are traveling across the country to find the philosopher’s stone—a stone that is to be said to be powerful enough to restore their bodies how it used to be.

(Also please please excuse me if the information is incorrect. It's so long since I've read the beginning.)

That’s just the main starting point. For a full recap with a spoiler here and there go to the Wikipedia page (yes--it’s that popular enough to be on Wikipedia!).

I used to be addicted to series when it was first serialized, but like most popular mangas it just didn’t end. Naruto, for example, how many volumes is it on now!? So after realizing that it just recently finished I had to start where I left off. It’s addicting plain and simple.

Full Metal Alchemist is very much a shounen manga with its action adventure story; fight scenes galore. It goes into a philosophical rant, a sociologically battlefield, with a smidge of grief and heartbreak as while at times. If you want romance you might have trouble though there are scenes here and there that will have fanatics rereading just to milk it (*raises hand*). The epilogue, however, *grins*.

Even so the plot does tend to drag and you’re just dying for it to end already, but it’s worth it. Full Metal Alchemist ends with a bang albeit a slight cheesy bang.

Traveling to Teens: Concerns and a Mini-Contest

Some of the newer readers probably have not heard of Traveling to Teens, which is understandable considering how little tours we have done recently. That can be chalked up to us not promoting ourselves, some tours not going according to plan, or just lack of interest. However, we're hoping to change that but first we need to solve a small dilemma.

Lately we have been noticing the little responses from current members in regards to the latest potential tours coming in. I can relate to the whole 'school's over!' unmotivated vibe, but Steph and I are starting to think it is not just that. So in hopes to bring in a group of new 'excited' bloggers to Traveling to Teens we are reopening the forms and accepting new applicants. Not just that, we're asking current members to refill one out as well to demonstrate if you are interested as well. Steph and I are currently discussing future actions.

Here is an optional 'resume' type of form:

Name:

Blog URL:

Country*:

Average number of reviews per week:

Blog statistics:

Examples of previous interviews:

Examples of previous reviews:

List at least 2 blogger references--other bloggers who are able to vouch for your character, reliability, writing style, etc.:

*Please note that Traveling to Teens mainly deals with US publishers whom many do not send books outside of the country. We have occasionally received an OK from one or two publishing houses willing to many international.

Again, the form above is optional! It is merely an example. Whatever method you wish to do please take precaution that the form is for first impressions. Steph and I are going continue to be visit each blog separately, but it will help if all key information were at our fingertips.

Please send all 'resumes' to either myself and/or Steph.

---

Now that's out of the way here's the second phase: promoting. This is going to be quick and painless guys: A button for a button. If you stop by the Traveling to Teens site you'll find a section titled 'buttons'. I'm just asking to pick a button and put it somewhere on your blog preferably a sidebar.

Once done leave me a link to your blog or wherever you posted it:

Simple, right? After confirming the blog you will be automatically entered to win a button for HUNGER by Jackie Morse Kessler. After shoving politely offering some to my local librarian and to my school librarian I managed to have a few extras remaining. That's all.

Opps I Did It Again

You see by now I'm supposed to be talking about Traveling to Teens and how it'll be getting a giant overhaul. But I'm not. Because I'm ill prepared and frustrated (it's so freaking humid and my PC is upstairs where it's the hottest). Instead I changed my layout yet again for the billionth time already (but I learned some neat tricks. Apparently making a navigation bar is now a lot simpler than it was previously). It's nothing wild or exciting or exactly pretty, but it's efficient, simplistic, and easy on the eyes. So now I'm going to hide in the basement where it's cooler and eat myself into a stupor with ice cream while trying to finish this one book! Then I'll come back and talk about Traveling to Teens and what's in store.

(I had to change my layout because the tan/green one had some problems.)

Prom!

After leaving the polls up for a few days the majority of the voters seem to want to see the photos. But there was one person who said 'No!' and I took that into consideration. Mauling it over in my head a couple hours and I have a solution...er sort of. I'm still going to blog about prom with photos and comments just not here. Instead I have the whole thing at LiveJournal. To the people who saw already the photos from my FaceBook, boo you :P

Pretty Monsters Review and Interview

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Source: Penguin for tour

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

“Through the lens of Link's vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning "The Faery Handbag," in which a teenager's grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of "The Surfer," whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link's stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world. Her fans range from Michael Chabon to Peter Buck of R.E.M. to Holly Black of Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!”--from Barnes and Noble

Pretty Monsters is a gothic collection that may or may not serve as bedtime tales should the parents like to explore the unique. Its strange world with sharp-tongue, witty, yet sometimes hostile characters leaps from pages. There are plenty of stories to choose from so there will be something to please every palette. Of course there is the cream of the crop with some stories better, like The Faery Handbag, than others.

It’s hard to rate this collection of stories because it is a collection; I loved some, but others were not my cup of tea. There were also times when syntax threw me off, but each was vividly created that trouble caused can be forgiven.

With its odd yet delightfully addicting narration, Pretty Monsters is a book dying to be picked up!

Cover A

---

Interview with Kelly Link:

1. Is there an overall theme connecting each story?

All of the stories are about encountering the uncanny, or the unexpected: monsters, ghosts, wizards, gods, aliens, babysitters. All of them, except for "The Specialist's Hat" were originally written for young adults. When we were putting together Pretty Monsters, I wanted to include "The Specialist's Hat" in any case, as I hoped (somewhat immodestly) that it was the kind of ghost story that Helen Hoke used to put in her anthologies.

2. Do you find writing short stories easier or harder than writing full length novels?

I've never written a novel. I hear that they take a long time. Having said that, some short stories are easier to write than others. WIth about half of the stories in this collection, I finished a close-to-final draft within a few days. Other stories took over a year to write. I don't know that one method makes for a better story than another, but guess which stories I still like best. Also: I'm curious if readers would have an idea of which stories came quickly, and which were a slog.

3. Name a few inspirations for some of the short stories.

Joan Aiken; M. R. James; H. P. Lovecraft; H. R. Wakefield; Angela Carter; Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow's anthologies, as well as those of Helen Hoke; Robert Westall; Nicholas Stuart Grey; Diana Wynne Jones; Ursula K. Le Guin. (Just to name a few.)

There are a ton of writers, though, whose work I've loved, but who I'm not sure I can claim as influences. Terry Pratchett, for example, Mary Elizabeth Pope, and Michael de Larrabeiti's Borrible trilogy. Joyce Ballou Gregorian, and P. C. Hodgell, and Patricia McKillip. Those last three are writers whose work I read all in a pile, around the same time, when I was a teenager. And then reread and reread and reread. I still read Joyce Ballou Gregorian's Tredana trilogy every few years, mostly because she died much too young, and so there are only those three books. They mean a ton to me.

4. In your opinion, is the cover for Pretty Monsters a good representation of the book?

I love the cover for Pretty Monsters. It's by Will Staehle. The interior illustrations are by Shaun Tan, who is also the author of The Arrival and Tales From Outer Suburbia. Cover art matters a lot to me -- Shelley Jackson painted the cover illustrations for my first two collections, as well as putting together spot illustrations for each of the stories in Magic For Beginners. I run a small press -- Small Beer Press-- with my husband, and working on covers is one of my favorite parts of publishing.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

Source: ARC from Sourcebooks Fire

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

Similar to: Twenty Boy Summer

Mia has always loved the summers spent with her cousin at the beach of their summer house in the Hamptons. But this summer everything changes when her cousin has transformed into this different person. She and her sister has gotten closer, she now drinks and does drugs, and calling her mother a hypocrite. Mia finds solace in the ocean; the one thing that Mia can count on to remain the same. But during of her nightly escapes to the ocean she runs into Simon, the boy who’s family is renting a house for the summer (something that’s frowned up in her cousin’s circle of friends). Now Mia lives in two worlds: daylight and nighttime. The two worlds finally collide in an explosion of emotional highs, but deadly lows.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping takes a while to get comfortable in mostly because Simon does not appear until later in the novel. While sweet romance is the most prominent in the book, it also deals with grief, finding oneself, and even abuse. It is both a heartwarming yet heartbreaking read that will leave most readers pleased.

However I found myself not liking many of the characters in The Summer of Skinny Dipping. I guess for me it’s because I know certain like that—people who pretend to be someone they aren’t, trying to help but just making things worse, and the liars—and have been on the blunt end of the force. So why they might have motive behind each action and a reasonable excuse, it doesn’t make them likable.

Overall: The Summer of Skinny Dipping stops short from reaching that level of excellence I was hoping.

Cover B

Deception Review and Giveaway

Deception by Lee Nichols

Source: ARC from Bloomsbury

Grade: 3.8 stars out of 5

"When Emma Vaile's parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, 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. 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 otherworldly murderer."

--from author's website

Deception by Lee Nichols exceeded my expectations though I will admit my expectation was not as high as it should be. Deception is a giant ball of yarn that you just have to continue unraveling, untwisting, and discovering that perhaps something was accidently rolled into it as well.

The romantic tensions were palpable and the characters’ likability soared. There’s something about each character that defines that person uniquely while still maintaining a believable and go-to personality. While development may be a problem there is plenty of space to grow in this series.

Despite this I found the plot to be idealized to be coincidental as in unexplained and a tad “perfect”. My biggest issue with the book, however, was how lightly death affected the characters in the novel. While there may a sentence here and there reflected some of the guilt and grief of deaths, it goes almost wholly unmentioned again.

Cover B-/C+

P.S. You can find other stops to this book tour at Nichol's website (see above). But I'm pretty sure you're eager for this so leave me a comment about a forbidden love. It could be from a book, a movie, an actual event you've partake in. Contest is for US mailing address and will end on the 25th:

(note the last question is not required. you can leave it unanswered if you do not plan to leave a comment ;))

Shadow Bound

Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison

Source: ARC from Dorchester Publishing

Grade: 1.8 stars out of 5

Age Group: 18+

Oh books that I decide to take a blind shot at because of blurbs—never again. Erin Kellison’s Shadow Bound is what one might call intense, captivating, and exciting if you skim…a giant chunk of the novel. While the idea of Death (Shadowman, the Reeper, whatever you want to call him because he has a bajillion nicknames) fathering a child is…unique, it holds no substance or any strength of credibleness. What sets the tone of the novel was the prologue, this WTF mess.

A short recap of the prologue/synopsis of story: Death falls in love with a woman named Kathleen who has been sick, deadly sick, in and out. On a visit, Death appears before Kathleen and they said ‘to the heck with it’ and did “it”. Death has no real shape, but Kathleen envisions him as a man—strong and well formed if you catch my drift. (This is the part where I ask how does she know the image of a male anatomy because she is the one that creates Death’s appearance.) But by committing this action, Death inversely “parted the veils between life and death” and “Chaos escaped and took root in the mortal world” (Kellison, 314, ARC). Kathleen dies shortly after the birth of their child, Talia—half human and half-whatever you want to call it—oh! Kellison calls her part fae (whatever that means) so she’s able to hide herself in the darkness kind of like a curtain.

We’re now in the present and there are a bunch of supernatural, dead, vampire-like creeps who suck people’s souls (the last part totally reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds [sorry, was deathly bored that weekend morning]). Segue, a group trying to tame this group and pretty much finding a way to destroy them because bullets or fire doesn’t work, is run and created by Adam whose own brother has turned into one of those soul-sucking evil bastards.

Really the entire thing does not sound bad at all. It’s just the execution of the book that had me a little displeased. Fine, a LOT displeased. I found the novel to be dragged, beaten, and locked in an old cellar to be fermented. It seemed as though the novel went ‘round in circles going nowhere until finally a swarm of people (bacteria) pops up and speeds things along. Way too fast in comparison to the little development that occurred in the beginning half of the novel. Somewhere in that time Adam and Talia falls in love though I would just like to call it lust. I read in another review that that relationship was the strongest part in the novel—well not for me it wasn’t. My favorite part was when they broke out the guns.

There’s a lot of dying, killing, running around. There are a lot of sexual tensions. There’s a lot of money being spent and I’m wondering how much money Adam has because he’s funding Segue on this own with full-time employees and scientists! Then there’s a whole lot of WTF, huh, and oh-kayyyyyy’s.

P.S. Shadow Bound book is awfully tiny. It has the thickness of my pinky finger nail or a water bottle cap.

Monday Manga: Sukitte Ii Na Yo

I have come to terms that it is impossible for me to post book reviews 7 times a week. It just is...impossible. First, I can't read that fast. Second, I am so not motivated to write that many reviews. Third, my attention span will not cooperate I guarantee. So instead I'm hoping to review 'novels' 4-5 times a week; 1 manga a week; and a spontaneous something post on Saturday. First off we have:

Sukitte Ii Na Yo by Hazuki Kanae

Reviewing: Volumes 1-3

Genre: Shoujo, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life

Age Group: 16+

Plot: 3.8

Art: 4

Characters: 3.8

This title is currently not available in the US at the moment, but foreign countries do check!

Mei Tachibana has spent her 16 years without friends. One day, she side-kicks a popular boy in school, Yamato Kurosawa, because of a misunderstanding when his friend flips her skirt. But for some reason it seems that he takes a liking to her and one-sidedly claims that they’re friends. Mei is shocked, but starts to open up to the idea.

The beginning of the series is rather unrealistic. Someone drop kicks you and you somehow like them? But I guess it comes down to it being a "shoujo" manga: hot, popular guy falls in love with awkward social outcast girl. Even so I'm addicted to this manga.

This is like Twilight; it is not the most unique or literary stimulating book/manga, but it's a guilty pleasure. Things that make you go "awhhhh", cooing, sighing, silly grin and whatnot. This is first love and free-falling. There are chapters where love can take you to extremes. In one case a girl loses weight too fast and has body scars to prove it--because of love--a rejection. Another chapter was of a person who substituted sex* for love (a little Florentino from Love in the Time Cholera I see). Many situations it is a blindsight--without seeing what's right in front of you. Then again I could be reading far too into this.

The drawings show the characters lean, elongated, and disproportional. However, like the plotline--it's addicting. Oh! It's like Tim Burton's movies. The clay dolls are thin with large hands :)

Overall: It's hard to review a manga when you really don't want to spoil anybody, but any shojuo fans do try this!

*I don't recall any explicit, explicit scenes though it does suggest them. I think there is also nudity?

Winners and More Giveaways!

Winner for the Nancy Drew Prize Pack is:

Emily Wittenberg never responded back

Christy!

Winner for the Read, Remember, and Recommend Journal is:

Kayla (kayla...@sbcglobalnet)

Email me within 48 hours or I will select new winners!

Ka-Yam is giving away a STOLEN prize pack. 1 is international and the other is within Europe!ENTER!

I'm also giving away a couple more books--6 in fact! The giveaway is for Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready; you can read my review here. Please make sure you entered the right one!

Brownies: Play With Your Food!

I'm not in a book reviewing mood lately so I've been doing everything aside from blogging at this point including, but not excluding, baking. Today I made brownies. Sorta. Turned out to have a texture almost cake-like. Anyhow here's the recipe:

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cup white sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

(but you might want to decrease 4 eggs to 3 eggs to make the brownies thicker)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. You can either grease the pan or do what I do: cover the entire pan in aluminium foil. It saves the trouble of cleaning up the pan later on.
3. Melt 1 cup butter either directly in a saucepan or use a double boiler method (bowl above of boiling water in a pan. Remove from the bowl from heat
4. Mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Combine the mixture into the melted butter.
5. Now mix cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder in another bowl. Slowly pour and mix that into the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture.
6. Spread batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
8. Test if it is done by sticking a toothpick in the center and a couple of other places of the brownies. If it comes out clean every time it's done; if there are some residue left when you pull it out put it back in the oven for a few minutes.

Now here's the thing: I don't own chocolate syrup (family isn't big on chocolate). So instead I used some leftover chocolate frosting mix I made a few weeks ago. The frosting consisted of confectionery sugar, melted milk chocolate, milk, and butter. Sugar and chocolate for the taste; milk for the consistency; and butter for the shine. Now the frosting is actually a solid when it's room temperature and I had pebble-like frosting which I crushed and sprinkle over brownies:

Then I decided to melt the remains left in the microwave and pipe them on the brownies:

I did a criss cross approach--it's what came to mind first:

But I wasn't done yet. I have a large block of chocolate in my fridge that I like to store just in case. I shaved some chocolate with a cheese grater to make curls (the bigger the hole, the curlier the curls).

When cutting brownies, run the knife under some warm water first then cut. It's supposed to serve 32 but eh.

P.S. Carol, if you're reading this I'll try to send you some.

Insert Whatever Word Fits Best HERE

Just got home from after-party from prom (which was a blast!). Exhausted (almost pulled an all nighter which is HUGE if you know my sleeping habits well). I can barely form coherent sentences (trust me, it may not seem like it but it just took me 5 times to spell sentences) and my ability to speak is non-existent at the moment. I'll be back later with full coverage as soon as I get all the photos I've taken and friends taken together. But first I need to shower and SLEEP.

First Drop of Crimson

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

Source: Personal Bookshelf

Grade: 1.8 stars out of 5

First Drop of Crimson picks up immediately where Destined for an Early Grave ends. What readers have come to know about Frost’s novel—action packed, tension ridden romance, and a bad-ass villain—is what you’ll find here…just somehow more extreme yet unfulfilling.

Denise has just recently become a widow but she doesn’t get much time to grieve. Instead she’s playing a high stake game of cat and mouse for her life and for love. Spade has always been interested in Denise, but never tried to get anywhere with her incase it might anger his best friend’s wife who is best friends with Denise. Now these two are thrown in together for better or for worst.

Denise does not make a strong heroine that we first saw in Cat. She’s the typical heroine in the past: whiny, distraught, annoying, and darn I say, stupid? I’m talking about in a classic horror movie where the audience screams RUN and the girl either just stands there or traps herself stupid.

And then there’s Spade whom I really have nothing against. On his own he’s quite tolerable but throw in Denise into the pot and I’m gagging with the sickly sweet, forcible cheesy scenes that will put any Fabio cover to shame.

The actual plotline and execution may be dandy (though it appears not from some reviews), but I honestly cannot recall most of it because I am traumatize by the relationship of Denise and Spade. Really, this paranormal romance is generic that I am getting concerned with this series: Will it continue to only go downhill?

The “sequel” to the novel will follow Mencheres, Bones’s and Spade’s sire. And I am pretty confident that I will not read that addition to the series. The age of Mencheres is gasp-worthy. Edward from Twilight is pushing it, but no no no—Mencheres is just crossing that line for me.

The Gardener

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen

Source: ARC from Feiwel and Friends

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

You have no idea how turned off I was about this book. There are very few books that can make me gag and The Gardener is perhaps one of those (un)lucky few.

The Gardener has a simplistic narration that ensnares you in quickly. I had only expected to make through half-way then hit the hay, but somehow time slipped through my fingers and the entire novel was complete in one sitting.

Bodeen used the idea of current dilemmas—global warning, the exponential growth in human population and linear growth of food, and the possibility of the next world war—and “cultivated” (heh I made a pun) into this inorganic piece of art. While the mystery of the novel is spoiled by the synopsis in the back there is still a slight twist that was thankfully unspoiled, but can be predicted—

Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.

Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?

--from Amazon

The characters are a tad bit flat-line individually there lays a great deal of friendship, trust, and understanding that does not make it a problem. Instead it makes it a simplistic asset.

The Gardener is a great novel to pick up for thrill-seekers and sci-fi fans.

Cover D

Demon Princess: Reign Check

Demon Princess: Reign Check by Michelle Rowen

Source: ARC from Walker Books

Grade: 4 stars out of 5

Nikki’s back to school more stressed than ever. If being a new transfer student to a high school isn’t bad enough she just found that her dad—who left her and mother years ago—is a demon King making her a half-demon princess. And it turns out that her “servant” Michael is really nice, hot, and protective. Too bad it’s against the law to date a Shadow, but what the hey it’s not going to stop Nikki and Michael to have a secret relationship. But now Nikki is attending school with Rhys, the king of the faery realm. Oh crud. Apparently he’s here to observe Nikki since it was prophesized that she’ll destroy everyone. Oh and let’s not forget that her best friend Melinda is training to become a demon slayer. I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t want to be Nikki. Though I have heard “Those horns could not be cuter” straight from the demon cockroaches mouth (page 216, ARC).

Michelle Rowen knows how to write a novel to make a girl smile. Demon Princes: Reign Check is a guilty read similar to that of her paranormal series. It combines silly puns, dramatized scenes, and scandalous relationships that will make readers giggle. Oh and let’s not forget what happens when you give beer to a faery—mmm.

Reign Check offers nothing truly unique that would make one gasp and scream that this is the ‘NEW THING’! But it does offer a sense of comfort like in any romantic comedy movie—just with a few demons and hellhounds here and there. It’s a novel where you wouldn’t want to curl in a comfy couch on a rainy day, but outside for a little sun-tanning. It’s much too happy and grin inducing book to be kept indoors in my opinion.

The pace is quick and to a certain beat like snapping your fingers and the character development is less than what you might call extraordinary, but it all contributes to this guilty read. I for one need a quick and delightful read (it took less than 3 hours to finish) every once in a while to keep my spirits up. And look a blurb from Richelle Mead: "This is a series I definitely want to keep reading"—can't agree with that statement more :)

(above is the new cover; this is the old cover)