Books By Their Cover

Friday, November 26, 2010

Tweet Heart

Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

Grade: 3.5 stars out of 5

"Claire is a #hopelessromantic. Lottie is determined to set up her BFF with Mr. Perfect. Will wants his #secretcrush to finally notice him. Bennett is a man with a plan.

Claire can’t believe it when her dream guy starts following her on Twitter. She never thought he noticed her, and suddenly he seems to understand her better than almost anyone.

But the Twitterverse can be a confusing place, especially when friends act differently online than they do in person. Things get even more complicated when Claire realizes she’s falling for someone else, the last person she ever would have expected…."

Tweet Heart is one of the most original, creative and well executed novels that I have read in my times. In the beginning when I first heard of Tweet Heart being a book told through twitter I told myself ‘no way, no how, will I ever read this book’.

I’ve come to terms that novels written through emails aggravate me and I end up hating the novel purely based on the fact that it is written through emails. For one thing there is a tendency with internet set books the characters talk in a sort of broken down and dumb down language. Words are abbreviated where there is not really a point behind it and excessive amounts of !!! make me want to pull my hair out. Twitter, I assumed, would only make things worst because of the 140 character limit.

This is where I take a deep breath and say I shall never judge future books based on a couple of bad experiences I’ve had especially when they are two completely different authors. What actually made me pick up Tweet Heart were those positive reviews. So yes reviews do happen to sway my decisions especially for those books I’m on the fence of. And wow, Tweet Heart was not what I had expected.

I have to give full props, kudos, high-fives to whoever designed the format of the novel. It was designed so perfectly that it felt like the people at Hyperion created individual twitter accounts and did screen shots. The people of Hyperion were so freaking awesome that they sent me an e-book of Tweet Heart where I could personally cut out an excerpt. The excerpt isn’t one of the best dialogues but it showcases the design of the book and just how amazing it is. The blue boxes are the DMs. They included the homepage, the wallpaper, the @ function. I freaking LOVE it.

Okay enough gushing about the design. Tweet Heart is a fairly standard novel aside from being told via twitter. The novel didn’t get in-depth with feelings, inner thoughts, and the general development. Tweet Heart was a novel more of relationships than individual growth so the characters I found to be slightly flat. The relationship, be it romantically or purely platonic, does develop, but sometimes not on (the theoretically) screen. What the audience reads is the before and the after of the talks where it is more appropriate face to face than screen to screen.

The characters come alive through their updates and blogs. Readers can definitely get a feel for their personalities may it be the quiet thinker, the outgoing realist, the lovesick dreamer, or the plain confused. Rudnick does what she can in this type of setup.

Cover C

Source: personal copy

Published: 29 June 2010

Amazon

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Simon and Schuster Prize Pack Giveaway

Yup, the name of the giveaway sucks, but it's 8 PM on a Wednesday and no school for the next 4 days; my brain has completely shut down lol

Winner will get:
The Salem Witch Tryouts
Competition's a Witch
Zombies vs. Unicorn poster and buttons
Clockwork Angel poster; signed
Hush, Hush poster
The White Cat postcard
assorted bookmarks

The prize pack covers mostly every fantastical/magical being lol. Ends 12/10.

P.S. I have an extra ARC of The DUFF, so if the winner wants it let me know in the comments. I didn't want to include it because it's not published by S and S.

Give Me an Identity Giveaway

Winner will get:
Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Novel
The Jumbee [ARC]
Kindred [edition might change from shown]
Bloodthirsty [ARC] / [review]
Saving Francesca [Australian edition] / [review]
Little Black Lies [ARC] / [review]
In the Time of the Butterflies [highlighted throughout]
The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) [ARC] / [review]
A Mayan Life [highlighted throughout]
-swag-

ENDS 12/20

Thanks for Some Laughs Giveaway

Nightlight: A Parody [UK edition] / [review]
TwiLite: A Parody [review]
-winner's choice of TEAM EDWARD iron-on or TEAM JACOB iron-on-

ENDS 12/12

Thanksgiving Contests + Reminder

In celebration of Thanksgiving I've concocted 3 contests :) Two of which are international, and one is US only. They will be posted throughout the day~ Please double check requirements and end dates.

Today will be the last day to enter for 5 copies of Mostly Good Girls.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Replacement

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Grade: 2 stars out of 5

Mackie has always been different. The scent of blood makes him faint and any chance of him touching iron? Slim to near. Why? Because it might kill him. Mackie has always known that he is different.

When a classmate’s sister goes missing (surely that girl who was in the coffin was not Tate’s true sister) Mackie can’t help but be drawn in. Because he was also one of them. A replacement child after the true child was snatched away.

Okay, first things first: Is novel about faeries or zombies? My brother read this before me and claimed it is zombies, but I’ve always thought it is about faeries. Unless, of course, it is a merge of the two. Another question does anyone else have issues with Tate?

While the first question is merely an icebreaker, the second raises a lot of concerns for me. Here we’re presented with a bad-ass female lead who is a potential love interest to Mackie, our hero for the tale. Tate, for the life of me, I just couldn’t sympathize or frankly, understand her. After her sister’s kidnapping Tate gets hard—picking fights, physically fighting and dealing serious blows, and gets really close to bullying Mackie. But here’s the real kicker that baffles my mind: Mackie falls for her. Hard. This is where I scream: WHY!? One chapter it’s avoidavoidavoid because she knows Mackie’s secret and the next thing I know they’re making out on the ground. Yes I did a double take. Yes I read the scene and some of the scenes before over again just to be absolutely positive that I did not miss anything important. But no I just still did not understand. Is there perhaps a deeper inclination of why they happen to like each other? Emotional trauma links the two together because no one else seems understand? Or am I merely making a big deal out of nothing.

Another concern is how much does the town know and understand about a separate community that lives among them: the replacers and the replacement. There’s an underline tone throughout the book that there are more people who knows about the Morrigans (the faeries/zombies hybrid) that meets the eye. Speaking of which Mackie’s best friend, Roswell, is considered blessed rather than cursed like the whole town, but what does that really mean?

Okay enough of my ranting. Yovanoff does an exceptional job at world building and the written word as well. She builds from the ground up and puts in place rules, regulations, and standards that fit well. The siblinghood between Mackie and his sister broke my heart that I would love to read over and over again. The friendship of Mackie and Roswell was solid and a great highlight to take note of. When Mackie is first introduced to the world of Morrigan, it felt real. It was definitely a classic horror scene, but beautifully done.

It was just with everything else that I had issues.

Cover: A+ (OMFG I love this cover to death)

Source: ARC from RazorBill; finished copy which I acquired personally

Published: 21 September 2010 (debuted at NY Times bestseller's list! go Yobanoff*)

Amazon

*just because the book wasn't suited for my taste doesn't mean I can't be happy for a debut author and the kick-butt marketing team :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Grade: 3.8 / 4 stars out of 5

When Dash finds a Moleskine journal full of dares, he thinks why not. And thus begins Dash and Lily’s book of dares—who can out dare the other? Is a movie ticket to see “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” for someone who’s full of holiday cheer worst than having to run Santa’s warm, hairy, sweaty beer bully in front of a line of children? But more importantly is the person behind the dares as great as he or she sounds on paper?

David Levithan and Rachel Cohn is a powerhouse team who are best known for the novel, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist having been turned into a movie. Levithan wrote Dash’s chapters while Cohn wrote Lily’s. One can easily tell.

Here is my impression while reading the novel: Dash, as horrible as it sounds, has a monotone voice in my mind. Not blah boring, but like Ben Stein’s monotone humor. It’s a very concise humor that hits home. The scene where Dash is forced to retrieve the notebook from Santa’s belly cracked me up. So much. Oh God, I’m giggling behind the screen right home recalling the “Ho, ho, ho” Santa screamed when some of his belly hair was ripped. Dash is very intellectually and does not shy away from ‘big’ words. He is part cynical, part realist, but I think deep down is the type to believe in love. (Of course, don’t we all.)

Lily is all exclamation points: !!!! She talks LOUDER with more vibrancy and overall just a lot less sane compared to Dash. She is an individual, a character, an ups-and-downs type of girl with hardly any room for the middle ground. But compared to her family, Lily is normal. One of things that had me tilting my head was Lily’s family. They were just so out there (some in outer space) that I felt that many of the relatives were caricatures. Just somewhat completely exaggerate characters meant to amuse the readers with their outlandish jobs, actions, and personalities.

I love Dash’s character that much is clear. (I think it’s because he’s a fellow book lover whose wish is own the entire Oxford Dictionary collection.) Lily’s on the other hand is on the fence; it can go either way. I love her fluidity and the way she takes action head-on, but then I just don’t like Cohn’s style of writing: her choice of diction, when she uses certain punctuation marks, her love of adjectives. Because this novel has a heavy part where it mainly focuses on the two characters’ writing their thoughts and feelings it only emphasizes my likes and dislikes of the two.

In all I do like Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares as a merged novel that delves into a much more the spiritual and mental stability than I thought it would. But I just find some scenes to be too much and just an implosion/explosive of words.

Cover: B+

Source: Knopf

Published: 26 October 2010; hardcover

Amazon

David and Rachel are on tour:

Monday, November 29 at 6:00 PM

Book Court

163 Court St
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Joined by Matt de la Peña & E. Lockhart

Tuesday, November 30 at 7:00 PM

Harleysville Books

672 Main St
Harleysville, PA 19438-1679

Thursday, December 2 at 6:30 PM

Barnes & Noble (Cherry Hill, NJ)

911 Haddonfield Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
Joined by Matt de la Peña

Saturday, December 4 at 2:00 PM

Barnes & Noble (Carle Place, NY)

Country Glen Center
91 Old Country Road, Carle Place, NY 11514
Joined by Matt de la Peña

Friday, December 10 at 7:00 PM

Books & Greetings

271 Livingston St # G
Northvale, NJ 07647-1915
(201) 784-2665

Thursday, December 16 at 7:00 PM

R. J. Julia Booksellers

768 Boston Post Rd
Madison, CT 06443-3047
Joined by Matt de la Peña

Monday, November 22, 2010

Nightlight: a Parody

Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon

Grade: .8 / 1 star out of 5

Nightlight is a parody that I expected to blow me away. It was supposed to make me laugh so hard that I’d burst a gut. But no, sadly enough it only made me want to vomit my gut out. Okay, I’m exaggerating slightly. Just slightly.

Please note this is my second published Twilight parody I’ve read. The first one I wrote a review of here. I’m not exactly one of those people who love Twilight to death and attack anyone who bashes it. While I did enjoy the series I’m open to parodies for that quick laugh.

With Nightlight my main issue is how it focuses so much on making fun of the characters that the book loses its plot. Nothing makes sense. How did this event result in that conclusion? Is the Harvard Lampoon making fun of Twilight by saying that it has no plot? Is the Harvard Lampoon making fun of the silliness in Twilight by exaggerating characters and scenes? Frankly I don’t really care. Instead of guessing I want them to show me.

I was just irritated by the whole thing from start to finish. My God, they made Bella (Belle Goose) so freaking stupid that it passes the line of believable to ‘are you serious?’

I wasted my time with this.

Cover: C+ (based on the UK edition, the one I read)

Source: personal copy from me

Published: 03 November 2010

Amazon