It's Monday! What Are You Reading 8-30

Read Last Week:

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

Currently Reading:

Folly by Marthe Jocelyn

Reading Next:

Matched by Allie Condie

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

What are you reading this fine Monday?

Review: Crescendo

Crescendo
Becca Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Release Date: October 19, 2010
rating: 9/10

Nora should have know her life was far from perfect. Despite starting a relationship with her guardian angel, Patch (who, title aside, can be described anything but angelic), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking up. Patch is starting to pull away and Nora can't figure out if it's for her best interest or if his interest has shifted to her arch-enemy Marcie Millar. Not to mention that Nora is haunted by images of her father and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to him that night he left for Portland and never came home.



The farther Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, the more she comes to question if her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it as well as why she seems to be in danger more than the average girl. Since Patch isn't answering her questions and seems to be standing in her way, she has to start finding the answers on her own. Relying too heavily on the fact that she has a guardian angel puts Nora at risk again and again. But can she really count on Patch or is he hiding secrets darker than she can even imagine?

Crescendo is the highly anticipated (at least for me) sequel to Hush, Hush. I had high expectations for this to live up to  the first one. I wasn't dissappointed. Crescendo had just as much mystery, suspense and action as the last.

Crescendo picks up shortly after Hush, Hush left off. There is one thing that kind of bothered me. I hope this isn't spoilerish, and I dont think so since it happens in the second chapter, but...

(highlight)

Can we have one book where Patch and Nora are together for the majority of it?

But that's really all I had a problem with. Everything else was just wonderful. I loved all of he characters, the good ones, anyway. There were so many twists and turns I had no clue what was going to happen next. And the ending. Oh. My. Gosh. If there was one reason to wait to read Crescendo it would be the longer you wiat to read this, the less time there is to wait between Crescendo and the next one. Crescendo ended with a huge cliffhanger, and now I'm forced to wait for the next one!

In My Mailbox (37)

And of course we all know that we have Kristi at The Story Siren to thank for hosting IMM every week.

I did a vlog this week! I'm so proud of myself. Let me know what you think and if I should do it again or if it totally sucked and I should never, ever try again (except maybe not put it so harshly :) ).

For Review:

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagan

Won from Red House Books:

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Matched by Allie Condie

The Devouring by Simon Holt

A GReat and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Nightlight A Parody

Meridian by Amber Kizer

Bought:

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Versatile Blogger Award!

Here's how this award works:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

I have Becky at Breathless Books to thank for this award! I've got to say that if she didn't already get this award I'd give it to her because her blog is amazing!

Here's 7 Things About Me:

1. I love Salt and Vinegar Chips
2. I just did P90X for the first time with my friends
3. Stick It is one of my favorite movies, as is Freedom Writers
4. I love camping
5. I suck at snowboarding, but love it anyway :)
6. I love pretty much anything that has to do with the mountains
7. I have three dogs and love them all very much

I'm passing this to:

 A Read in the Life

25 Hour Books

Blkosiner's Book Blog

Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic

A Trillian Books

Queen of Happy Endings

Pages 

 Dreaming of Books

Finding My Muse

For What It's Worth

Karen's Addictions

Tiger's All Consuming Books

What to Read, What to Read

The Page Flipper

In My Mailbox (36)

We have Kristi at The Story Siren to thank for hosting IMM every week.

Library:

 

The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols

Strange Angles by Lili St. Crow

Sleepless by Cyn Balog

Everlasting by Angie Frazier

Folly by Marthe Jocelyn

Thats all I got this week. I'm pretty excited that I got all of these. They've all been on my wishlist for quite some time.

Let me know what you got this week!

Waiting on Wednesday: My Soul to Steal

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent
Publishing Date: January 1, 2010

YOU WANT MY SOUL AND MY BOYFRIEND?

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.
I DON’T THINK SO.

I love this series, and I'm very interested in knowing what happens in this one. It looks different from the other ones. Oh, and isn't the cover gorgeous?

Review: Manifest

Manifest
Artist Arthur
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Release Date: August 1, 2010
rating 7/10

When fifteen-year-old Krystal Bentley moves to Lincoln, Connecticut, her mom's hometown, she assumes her biggest drama will be adjusting to the burbs after living in New York City.



But Lincoln is nothing like Krystal imagined. The weirdness begins when Ricky Watson starts confiding in her. He's cute, funny, a good listener—and everything she'd ever want—except that he was killed nearly a year ago. Krystal's ghost-whispering talents soon lead other "freaks" to her door—Sasha, a rich girl who can literally disappear, and Jake, who moves objects with his mind. All three share a distinctive birthmark in the shape of an M and, fittingly, call themselves the Mystyx. They set out to learn what really happened to Ricky, only to realize that they aren't the only ones with mysterious powers. But if Krystal succeeds in finding out the truth about Ricky's death, will she lose him for good?

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. There were times when I loved it and times when I was asking myself why I was even reading this. It was the aspects of the book, the plot, characters, writing, that I either loved or hated.

The plot was one thing that I did like. It was original and creative. Krystal, Sasha and Jake all have special powers, and are called Mystyx. Krystal's power is talking and listening to the dead. She has to help a ghost solve his murder while figuring out everything about Mystyx and her power. It was a good mystery, and left off with a major cliffhanger.

The characters, on the other hand, I did not love. It wasn't really all of them, just Krystal. She was self-centered and just a sown right snot at times, especially the beginning. The entire time I just wanted to tell her to grow up and get over herself. The secondary characters, though, weren't bad. I actually liked some of them like Ricky, Jake and Sasha. Although, nobody sounded like they were really fifteen. It felt like they were closer to twelve instead.

So, overall, Manifest was enjoyable but I didn't love it. It had its ups and downs; good and bad. I mean, I'm not going to go start reccomending this to everyone, but I'll definitely check out the sequel.

Its Monday! What are You Reading? {5}

It's Monday What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Read Last Week:

The Extraordinary Secrets of April May and June by robin Benway

Boys, Bears and a Serious Pair of Kiking Boots by Abby McDonald

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Frostbite by Richelle Mead

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Twenty Boy Summer by Sara Ockler

Other Reviews:

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Currently Reading:

Manifest by Artist Author

Up Next:

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Other by Karen Kincy

Review: The Eternal Ones

The Eternal Ones
Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: August 10, 2010
rating 9/10

What if love refused to die?



Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.


In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

I really did enjoy The Eternal Ones. It was suspenseful and definitely one of the better mysteries that I've read in a while.

I really didn't know what to think or who to believe or if Haven should do this or that. The entire thing was very well played out. If there was just one thing, though, that bothered me, I'd have to say that it went back and forth too much. I mean, it's over 400 pages, and about 300 of those are just going to circles. Other than that, though, I loved it.

I felt bad for Haven at the beginning of the book. In the small town she lives in she's branded as possessed when she starts having visions. No one understands her and all she wants to do is find answers. When she goes off to find some answers, what she ends up finding is more questions. This one especially: Who to trust? I didn't know the answer to this myself. Every time I made a prediction, I turned out to be completely wrong; I eventually gave up on guessing.

The Eternal Ones will pull you in and won't let go until you figure out what happens. It's very original and Kirsten Miller did a fabulous job on writing.

Contest Winners

To start off, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to announce the winners. It's been almost a week but I have already contacted both winners and they've already replied back.

So, on to the winners of my Big Box o' Books 'n' Stuff contest is: 

Karen Zupancic

and

brandileigh2003.

Like I said I've already emailed both of you. I'd also like to thank everyone who entered my contest. I think it was a huge success!

In My Mailbox (36)

We have Krisi at The Story Siren to thank for hosting IMMB every week.

Bought: (With a gift card so it doesn't count against Book Buying Ban)

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel- Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

Borrowed:

Other by Karen Kincy- Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate-into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and-most importantly-stay alive.

August Book Buying Ban

Yes, it's true. I will not buy any books for the month of August. There are a ton of books that I need to read right now so I will not buy anything. Tara at 25 Hour Books is hosting this. 

Here's my (personal) restrictions:

I can't buy any books, but this does not include books for review, that I've won from a contest, got from the library, traded or got with a gift card. I have a limit of $20 to spend for the month, including shipping.

So, for more information or to sign up, click here.

Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Release Date: May 4, 2010
rating 9/10

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.

I was so excited to finally read this one! I've been wanting to for so long. I had very high expectations, and it went above and beyond what I was expecting.

I loved Amy. Her father died three months ago in an accident she was in. Now she hast o deal with moving to a new place and a brother who was recently sent to rehab. She was very quiet and kind and someone I can relate to.

I also loved her relationship with Roger. At first, it's just him driving her from California to Cenneticut, but once they start it turns into more of a personal trip. Roger is trying to find and get back together with his ex. They go to Colorado together even thought the longer the trip goes, the more Amy starts to like him.

Amy has some demons to face, too, on the trip. I won't give away anything, but she starts to come out of her shell and starts recovering from everything she's been through. Through it all her relationship with Roger grow, too.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone. It was beautifully written and I loved every minute of it.