IMMB (21)

IMMB was started by The Story Siren. In My Mailbox is where I post the books I won, received for review, bought, borrowed, or ect. The book titles are linked to their Amazon pages. These are the books I got this week:

 

FOR REVIEW:

Beautiful Dead: Book 1 Jonas by Eden Maguire (ARC from Sourcebooks Fire)

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (ARC from B&N's First Look)

Guardian for the Dead by Karen Healey (ARC from HipScouts)

Merlin's Harp by Anne Eliot Crompton (ARC from Sourcebooks Fire)

*Thanks to the wonderful publishers and Barnes & Noble for these amazing review copies!*

FROM THE LIBRARY:

Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith (not pictured, but I got this again because I renewed it too many times and didn't finish it in time)

What books did you get this week?

Waiting on Wednesday (21)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly awaiting. This week I can't wait for Dark Flame by Alyson Noel! I really liked the first two books in the Immortal series, so I can't for the 4th one. I have Shadowland (book 3), but I haven't read it yet...but I can't wait too. Dark Flame will be released on June 7, 2010!

Dark Flame: Immortals book 4
By: Alyson Noel 
(summary from series's website)
In this eagerly awaited continuation of the bestselling "Immortals" series, Ever struggles to help her best friend Haven transition into life as an immortal—trying to keep her from doing anything that puts them at risk, while attempting to gain control over her enemy Roman, so she can finally obtain the antidote that will allow her and Damen to be together. But when the spell she casts backfires, resulting in a strange, foreign pulse that binds her to Roman instead, Ever turns to Jude and dark magick, desperately attempting to break free of the curse, and ultimately risking everything she knows and loves—including her beloved Damen.

Catching Fire Review!

Title: Catching Fire (Hunger Games Book 2)
Author: Suzanne Colllins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: September 1, 2009 
Pages: 400
My Edition: Hardback 
Reading Level: Young Adult 
Where I got it from: Library 


Summary from Goodreads:
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Review:

Oh my, Catching Fire was an amazing sequel to the most amazing first book the Hunger Games! The sequel picked up right after Katniss and Peeta winning the Hunger Games and starting with their victory tour. Because of Katniss's defiance to the capitol in the Hunger Games, she has put her family and friends in trouble leading to many consequences. Also, it leads to many unexpected things I never in a million years could have imagined. You will be in for a roller coaster of twists and turns, and I guarantee you will trouble putting it down.

My only complaint would be the beginning is unfortunately a little boring, but after the first 100 or so pages it starts to get much more interesting and exciting. I love how each book's plot and characters are very unique and original. Once again I really like all their names, and in Catching Fire you will meet some new characters that are just as awesome as the old ones. Katniss is truly an amazing character who is a very strong female, brave, but just needs to learn to love and trust those close to her.

I have never read any other books like them, and they both are now some of my favorite books. If you enjoyed the first book, you will love this one just as much. The love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale is much more present in Catching Fire, and you will see what Katniss has to go through to keep everyone safe from the capitol. Suzanne Collins is an amazing author who knows how to write a great book. I love the Hunger Games books, and I CAN NOT wait for the third book to come out on August 24th which actually is four days after my birthday and is my mom's birthday!

Rating:

Mini-Contest for Shadow Hills Swag and sorry for being MIA! CLOSED

 CLOSED!

Hey everyone! I received a lot of Shadow Hills swag from the wonderful author Anastasia Hopcus, so I'm giving away some. I'm giving away 5 signed bookmarks and 5 regular bookmarks! There will be 10 winners total and it will end February 11th (my sister's and bff's birthday). Please just fill out the form below. It's only open to U.S. and Canada residents.

Also, sorry I've been MIA this past week. I have been pretty busy studying and doing packets for finals, swim practice/meets, and I also have SATs Saturday : ( I probably won't have many posts til next week unfortunately. I can't wait til the new semester begins and swim team is over, so I can read and blog more!

Friday Firsts (13)

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

• Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
• Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
• Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title and the author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
• Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

The book I'm currently reading is Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I loved the first book the Hunger Games, so I can't wait to devour this one too! Here is the first sentence:

"I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air."

This first sentence is very nicely written, but it doesn't start off telling much about the story. It's intriguing and makes me excited to read more. The first several pages are good, so I hope it's as good as the first!

What's your current book's first sentence?

Awards!

I received a couple of duplicate awards this past week, and a new one! Thanks so much to Adriana of Loves to Read for the Honest Scrap Award, Miss Cindy of Simple Life and Reading for the Lovely Blog Award, and finally the new award from Sasha of the Sweet Bonjour for the Happy 101 Award!

Rules: List 10 things that make you happy. Try and do at least one of them today.

1. Reading YA!
2. Watching TV/ Movies
3. Hanging with family and friends
4. Playing my DS/Wii/PS2
5. Swimming
6. Eating yummy food
7. Getting things in the mail : )
8. My kitty
9. Listening to music
10. Anything Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Twilight

Tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. Link back to the person that tagged you.
I will add the bloggers I give the award to later this week!

Waiting on Wednesday (20)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly awaiting. This week I can't wait for Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs. I love to swim and love to be in the water, so this sound just so cute! Also, the cover is so pretty, I don't think I could pass this up : ) Forgive My Fins comes out this summer on June 1, 2010! 

Forgive My Fins

by Tera Lynn Childs
(summary from her site)
Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

A Brief History of Montmaray Winner!

The winner of A Brief History of Montmaray contest has been picked by Random.org, and the winning entry is #66 who is BookMac! I'll be sending her an email shortly.  Please respond back with your address by Thursday, or I will have to pick another winner. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Author Interview with Kate Hegarty

Hey everyone, last week I had my first author interview with Kate Hegarty who is the author of the upcoming novel Mieradome. Here is the interview! 

You mentioned in your about me that the story came from a dream you had, did you dream the part of the story then elaborated on the idea or did you dream most of the story? 

I definitely had the dream and then worked my way from there. I felt like a spectator wanting to know why Amavia, the main character of my story, was so curious and fascinated by an old oak tree. Oak trees are quite sacred in Irish lore and is also on my family's (Hegarty) coat of arms. You could say that the dream, plus the image of my own coat of arms was intriguing enough to continue on with this particular story. 

The main character of your new novel is a young girl, is she based off of someone you know or you possibly? 
Amavia is very much her own character, but I do see a feisty nature in her that is similar to me. We both don't give up easily, we're persistent in those things we want to do in life.

Since your first novel is fantasy, do you plan to keep writing books in that genre or switch to another genre? 
I do plan on writing more stories in the fantasy genre. I have my Bachelor's Thesis that I'd love to publish. My 3rd Great Aunt was a famous madam in Deadwood, South Dakota (employed & was friends with Calamity Jane). I have so many stories brewing....but fantasy seems to be the best suited to my writing style. 

The title and character’s names are very unique, how did you come up with them?
I absolutely love surnames!! A lot of characters, including the main characters Amavia, Inocian, and Thewlis are surnames. Other ones I just made up.

Will there be any sequels to Mieradome? 
Yes! I am currently working on the sequel for Mieradome! It will hopefully be out about a year after the publication of the first novel.

What is your favorite book from your childhood? Now? 
Childhood: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
Now: My House in Umbria by William Trevor

How much time do you spend writing each day? 
It depends. It could be only a few seconds jotting down a note about a character or new story idea or it could be 5 hours sitting at my desk. Most days I think.

When you are writing, what keeps you motivated or inspired? What’s the one thing you have to have when sitting down to write?
I am inspired by many things, but what keeps me motivated is to know what happens to characters down the road. I myself am not just the author but also a reader. I, too, want to know what happens at the end. I have to have a a pad of paper and a pen near me when I write; because more often than not a great idea comes and I'm busy doing something else.

Finally thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Is there anything else you would like to add about your book, writing, ect? 
I hope you all enjoy the novel and that it inspires you to start writing your own stories!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

My YA fantasy novel, Mieradome, revolves around a young girl named Amavia, who believes she is a human girl, but slowly comes to find she is a faery in the world of Mieradome. Amavia's mother, Anastasica, had taken her out of the faery realm and hidden her away here in our human realm, so that she may be protected from her parents' past mistakes. But that was not enough, the forces that be found Amavia, and brought her back into the cosmos of the Grandmother Tree. There she meets other faeries, goblins, Telkar dragons, and Utopisols. Slowly who Amavia really was began to unravel to show the truth. The truth, that she just may be the evil they need to destroy. This is where our story begins.

EXCERPT:
“You will die Amavia that is certain,” said the dark black raven.

Deep red eyes penetrated Amavia’s pale flesh. Thousands of mini goose bumps burst from ripples of her skin, her muscles tensed; this was the moment where her life hung in the balance.

“Why must I die?,” Amavia asked.

The black raven, large and powerful, lunged at her quickly, snapping its watery yellow beak towards her face. 

“Your parents were supposed to dispose of you,” the raven replied.



A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME:
I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Goddard College in March ’09 and am a Library Helper at my local city library in their Children's department programs. I live in the Central Valley of Modesto and recently discovered my maternal 3rd Great Aunt Dora DuFran was a famous brothel madam in Deadwood, South Dakota. My senior BA thesis was a history of this madam. I have been working on my fantasy novel, Mieradome, for 7 years. I began working on writing the story on Oct. 31, 2002 , Halloween, (when I accidentally forgot to buy candy that year and needed something to occupy my time so I didn't go crazy with people continuing to bang on my door). I had a dream a few days before I started writing, about a young girl looking out on a second story balcony towards a tall oak tree in her backyard, as she watched a bright lighted spec disappear into the leaves and branches of the tree. Just as this young girl was curious where that lighted spec went in the tree, I was too. I wrote this story to figure it out. I am 27 years old and live in the Central Valley of California which has helped inspire me to write about locations I've traveled to, and also internationally.

Check out the book's blog: http://mieradome.blogspot.com/

  

Contest Reminder and IMMB 21

 Hey everyone, my contest for A Brief History of Montmaray ends tonight. I won't select a winner til Tuesday so just get your entries in before then. I'll select the winner by random.org on the 12th and post them that day too. If you haven't entered already then go HERE and fill out the form!

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 IMMB was started by The Story Siren. In My Mailbox is where I post the books I won, received for review, bought, or borrowed. The book titles are linked to their Amazon pages. These are the books, swag, and other stuff I got this week:

 

  

AMAZON GIFTS:

Crashed by Robin Wasserman (Hardback) 

Gossip Girl Season 2 (Plus it came with book 2's audiobook) 

CONTESTS/RECEIVED:

Donut Days by Laura Zielin (Signed Hardback)

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot (Hardback) 

 tons of Shadow Hills signed bookmarks, pins, magnets from Anastasia Hopcus

A cute sheep Feltie made by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

What books did you get this week?

The Real Real Review

Title: The Real Real 
Author: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus 
Publisher: HarperTeen 
Publication Date: December 15, 2009 
Pages: 309 
My Edition: Paperback 
Reading Level: Young Adult 
Where I got it from: Engleman & Co

Summary from Goodreads:
The bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries introduce a new heroine to root for: Jesse O'Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwitting reality TV star.

Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown—your school—is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras. Now imagine they've trained them on you.

When Jesse O'Rourke gets picked for a "documentary" being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she's tempted to turn down the offer. But there's a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she's studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for "what sells on camera." . . . At least there's one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse's crush has also made the cast.

As the producers manipulate the lives of their "characters" to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

Review:

Wow the Real Real was a great, fun, entertaining, fast-paced novel. The authors have written mainly adult novels, but this YA novel was so good I think they should switch to YA : ) Once I started reading, I was instantly hooked into Jesse's story. I loved all the twists, and the ending was just perfect. It had romance, backstabbing, some teenage angst, cattiness, and of course drama.

The Real Real was a real page-turner because I couldn't put it down for two seconds. I read most of it in between classwork at school, so it was kind of hard to put it down once I had to back to my classwork. The characters were very easy to relate to, and I loved the little scandals the TV show caused. The only downside to the book was it was pretty obvious what was going to happen, but I didn't really care because I really liked reading about it anyway. Overall it was a fun book to read, and I'll be reading the authors' two Nanny Diaries books very soon.

Rating:

Friday Firsts (12)

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

• Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
• Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
• Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title and the author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
• Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

The book I'm currently reading is The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I'm so close to finishing, so I can't wait to find out how it ends. I should be done by tomorrow, and I'll post the review tomorrow! Here is the first sentence:

"Single file! Everyone line up on the LEFT!" Mrs. Gesop shouts to be heard over the din of students crowding into the impractically narrow hallway between the stairway and the auditorium.

 

Wow, that's a really long sentence; It takes up almost four lines in the book : ) It's a pretty good first sentence, and it does set up the story very nicely & is pretty intriguing. The story so far is really good and very hard to put down. Look out for my review tomorrow!

What's your current book's first sentence?

Waiting on Wednesday (19) and sorry for lack of posts : (

Hey everyone, sorry I've been kind of absent lately. I have been really busy with swim practice, meets, school, and finals & SATs coming up. I hope to get back on track soon... I will try to have the Real Real review soon, and my contest ends soon too.  Oh and I really hope I can start to read all the books I've been getting lately : D Anyways before is my WoW pick for this week.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly awaiting. This week I can't wait for The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Shadow Souls by L.J. Smith. I'm currently on the 3rd and 4th book, so when I'm done I can't wait to read the next one and this one! I was surprised to see the big time between this one and the first four. HarperTeen is releasing the next Vampire Diaries book on March 16, 2010! 

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Shadow Souls 

by L.J. Smith (summary from Goodreads)

Elena Gilbert is at the center of magic and danger beyond her imagining. But this time her vampire boyfriend, Stefan, isn’t there to help! Elena is forced to trust her life to his brother, Damon, the handsome but deadly vampire who wants Elena, body and soul. The tension between Elena and Damon mounts until Elena is faced with a terrible decision: Which brother does she really want?

The drama, danger, and forbidden love that mark the New York Times bestselling Vampire Diaries series are in full effect here, with Elena Gilbert once again brimming with supernatural powers.

IMMB (19 & 20)

IMMB was started by The Story Siren. In My Mailbox is where I post the books I won, received for review, bought, or borrowed. The book titles are linked to their Amazon pages. These are the books I got this week:

 

GIFTS:

Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott (Hardback signed!)

Shadowland by Alyson Noel (Hardback)

LIBRARY:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hardback)

Untouchable by Kate Brian (Paperback) 

 Not in the picture: SAT practice books (fun fun)

What books did you get this week?

Friday Firsts (11)

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

• Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
• Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
• Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title and the author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
• Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

The book I'm currently reading is The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith. I read the first two several weeks ago, so I can't wait to read these two. Here is the first sentence:

"Elena stepped into the clearing."

 

That is kind of a lame first sentence if it wasn't the third book in the series. The second book left off with a total cliffhanger, so this sentence makes sense. The show is really good, but it is very, very different from the books. I'm excited to read these sequels because so far it's a pretty good series.

What's your current book's first sentence?