Mar 31, 2011

Review--Intertwined by Gena Showalter

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE NEW GUY AT CROSSROADS HIGH...

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:

ONE CAN TIME-TRAVEL.
ONE CAN RAISE THE DEAD.
ONE CAN TELL THE FUTURE.
AND ONE CAN POSSESS ANOTHER HUMAN.

With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die.

He's so over it. All he wants is peace.

And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's loner; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late...

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist. Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger--but not everyone will come out alive...

After finishing Gena Showalter's Intertwined, my first thought was...WHAT THE HECK TOOK ME SO LONG! Intertwined was freaking amazing! I really don't know why I wasn't drawn to it right away. Perhaps because it seemed to center around a guy and I'm not used to that in my reading.

Although I found out that while told in third person pov it does switch from Aden to Mary Ann and it makes it all the more exciting! I first thought there was supposed to be some sort of love connection between these two, not really sure where the other 2 supernaturals were going to fit in--bad guy, good guy? And the answer came to be quite a shock! A good one!

Aden has always lived with the four souls in his head and while he has grown to love them like family, they have been the cause of his problems, leading to doctors and what-not. Plus he has other abilities. And his connection to Mary Ann baffles him! How can she silence his soul friends? The mystery draws them closer together and that's when the supernaturals come into town. Riley, the werewolf is a guard to Victoria the vampire princess, they are both draw to these seemingly normal teenagers in their own way.

I was curious about where the story was going in the beginning, and the mystery slowly unfolds, there's something about Aden that draws the supernaturals to him. And that puts him and his friends in danger, because not everyone is as nice as the werewolf who wanted to kill him and the vampire princess! There is so much building into the story I cannot wait to see what happens next! The pacing was tremendous!

Overall rating 5/5 stars!! Totally amazing! This is a MUST-READ for supernatural fans and fans of YA!

Mar 30, 2011

Review--Sacrifice by Dakota Banks

A demon's enslaved executioner—a ravager of lives and souls—Maliha Crayne has been reborn, willing to sacrifice her immortality for a chance at freedom ...and salvation. Now she has an opportunity to prevent the death of thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—to make up for the countless lives she has obliterated over the centuries. To do so, she must locate and destroy an evil cabal of madmen in possession of a weapon of unspeakable power—and survive the immortal assassins who are now after her blood. But it means reverting to the old ways and surrendering once more to the darkness. And if Maliha dies before the mission is accomplished, the hell she once knew will seem like a picnic compared to the eternal torments awaiting her. 

Dakota Banks' second book in the Mortal Path series, Sacrifice was definitely interesting. I'll admit, it takes me awhile to really get sucked into these books, maybe it's because the text is so small and smashed like on the pages, but overall I never regret reading them.

I am curious to find out how, if, and when Maliha can do what she's set out to do. Balance the scale and rescue as many lives as she's destroyed and rid the world of demons. She's got a full plate on her hands and the surprises never stop.

It always amazes me to just how old Maliha really is, she's so old, she's freaking loaded with cash that she can spend as much as she wants and never bat an eye! That kind of financial stability is just mind-blogging to me! But anyway Maliha really has to deal with a lot of other bad guys in this one and there will be prices to pay in order for her to reach the end of this battle.

The answer behind Jake's identity is revealed somewhat. At least in a few small doses so we know a tad more about him. And there's another new guy on the block who has his eyes set on Maliha...but trying to figure out if its a good way or bad is still in question!

The pacing was pretty good, my mind wandered a little here and there, but not enough for me to stop reading. I sometimes had to force myself to continue on, but while the journey to finishing the book may be hard, the end results are always worth it. As to whether or not I'll read the next book, I don't know yet. I was able to win a copy of Sacrifice so that made the decision easier to make, only time will tell for the next book.

Overall rating 3/5 stars

Waiting on Wednesday

                                     I hate waiting
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

Next on my list is Lili St. Crow's Defiance! Love Dru's story so far, a lot has happened and I can't wait for more!
The heart-stopping fourth novel in New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels series.

Now that sixteen-year-old Dru's worst fears have come true and Sergej has kidnapped her best friend Graves, she'll have to go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring him back in one piece.
 
That is, if she can put all of Christophe's training to good use, defeat her mother's traitor, Anna, once and for all, and manage to survive another day...

TITLE: Defiance
AUTHOR: Lili St. Crow
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: April 19, 2011

Mar 29, 2011

Review--Possessions by Nancy Holder

EVIL GIRLS PLAY DEADLY GAMES.

possessions: me
--one map of the creepy Marlwood campis.
--a bad feeling about this place.

possessions: them
--far more than they deserve.
--terrifying eyes

New girl Lindsay can't figure out what's going on with Mandy and her followers or what Mandy's been doing down by the dark, frozen lake. But what Lindsay doesn't know can hurt her. Long ago, someone at Marlwood made a grave mistake--and a lot of girls died. Now spirits who were silent for two hundred years have awoken. They want to take possession of what's theirs. They want revenge.

Who will be the next?

Got around to reading Nancy Holder's Possessions that I've had for awhile, and it was okay. I can see why one of my other blogging friends didn't finish it. I was tempted to stop as well, but it was nagging at me to find out what was going on with the girls at the school.

Marlwood used to be a hospital of sorts, or a ward for "troubled" young women. And at its time this wasn't a good place to be for your health. In some ways the school has maintained some of that, not the same treatment of their students, but it is a school for troubled girls, a variety of troubled girls and it is still a very elite and choosy school.

Lindsay is attending via scholarship due to personal reasons that we learn about in spouts of details as the story goes on. But even on her first day, Lindsay is seeing strange things, such as a girl with completely black eyes--hence my teaser! Lindsay begins to get more curious about the mysteries behind the school and what Mandy and her crew are up to.

The surprising details are built up to, so you kind of know what's going on with who, but we just don't know why or how and still don't by the story's end. Lindsay begins to question her sanity yet again during the whole ordeal and truly believes that the life of her roommate and friend might be in danger. And that she herself, might be in danger next. 

Overall rating 2.5/5 stars

A good mystery and buildup with potential just wasn't quite enough to leave me totally hooked into the series as a whole.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly blog post by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

Reading Possessions right now, and after one of my friends marked it as DNF I was a little worried, but still felt like I should read it to give it a try. So far it's okay, but I'm not that far into it yet.

Here are the rules:
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

"Mandy's forehead creased in apparent frustration. I squinted as more fog rolled between us; when it wafted out of the way, her looked completely black. No pupils. No white. No color. Just black." p9















TITLE: Possessions
AUTHOR: Nancy Holder
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: September 3, 2009

Mar 28, 2011

Review--One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend...
 

But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.

Mara Purnhagen's One Hundred Candles was just as exciting and thrilling as Past Midnight! I managed another 1 day read! Yay! And truly I couldn't put this book down despite its quickness.

The pacing was done rather well and it was a somewhat shorter book than my average ones. And with a well paced plot the pages just flew by! And this time the ghost story gets a little scarier and hits closer to home. The ghosts still tend to gravitate towards Charlotte and not all ghosts are as friendly as her first set.

The book opens up with Charlotte and her family on a ghostbusting case waiting for Leonard Zelden, a man who specializes in demons, Charlotte's dad is very skeptical of him and believe he's a phony, but allowing him to work on this "case" with them was the only way they could enter the house. But when something goes eerily wrong, and Charlotte is injured, they call it quits early.

Charlotte's school life is as normal as can be and she's very happy about that and things get even better when Harris Abbott, the football star, starts paying more attention to her. Still conflicted with her feelings for Noah, Charlotte agrees after some pushing on Avery's part. And after a seance at a party she and her friends attend that seemed like a bust, strange things begin happening at school. Charlotte is sure it's just some student's idea of a prank, but others are more convinced.

There is still something very supernatural going on despite the pranks and Charlotte and her family are walking into a bout of something that is deeply dangerous.

There were quite a few shocking--and one not so shocking, to me at least--surprises towards the end of the book that made it very exciting! The tension just skyrocketed up when it was still pretty high to begin with! I so cannot wait til August 23 to read Beyond the Grave!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:
Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost

The Vampire Narcise by Colleen Gleason
Review to come at a later date

Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
Review to come at a later date


Currently Reading:

One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

What I Plan to Read this Week:

Possessions by Nancy Holder

Sacrifice by Dakota Banks

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

Other Posts of Interest:

Mar 27, 2011

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly blog post hosted by Kirsti over at The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Had a decent week this week I guess. March was sort of a slow month for releases so it's allowing me to catch up on my TBR pile!

Anyway from Simon & Schuster for review I got Jeri Smith-Ready's Shift!

Already read and reviewed with a review to come later on

Then in the mail came books I ordered:

(Review)

One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

Then in also the mail I got my SIGNED copy of Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton that I won in a contest at the Deadline Dames!! Thanks again Kelly!



Also in the mail came Angels' Blood that I won in a contest from Angela at Reading Angel, thanks Angela!


Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

That's what I got in my mailbox this week! Pretty good week if I do say so myself!!

Mar 26, 2011

Top 5 Sundays

Top 5 Sundays is a weekly blog meme created by Larissa at Larissa's Bookish Life.

Here's a little info about the meme taken from Larissa's blog:

Every Sunday I will post a TOP 5 list on the blog. It can be about anything and every week I'll have a new theme {You can vote on next week’s theme on my left sidebar!} and I will ad the Mr.Linky bellow the post so you can do a list with the theme and add you link to it.

Rules:
1 - Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2 - Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3 - Fell free to use the Feature's image (there is a smaller size version of it bellow)
4 - After you've finished your post, add you link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.
5 – If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)

This week's topic is: UF OR PNR PET PEEVES

*In no particular order

THROES OF PASSION COVERS


Don't get me wrong, I love a good cover that can be spicy or steamy, just sometimes the covers can be too steamy and people think I'm reading a smutty romance book!

*Thank goodness for the Hide-a-Covers!  Have a few lying around!

TOO HARD TO PRONOUNCE NAMES

Borrowed this one from Larissa! I like to be able to pronounce my names. Some character names I think I have an idea, but when or if I get to see the author and they pronounce it, I think, wow I've been saying it wrong for years! So I like the unique names, just not the hard to pronounce ones!

TOO MUCH SEX ON THE BRAIN

I get that characters can be hot, but when a character is constantly, constantly thinking "he's so hot" over and over and over and OVER again, it really gets annoying. This is in the starting stages and it doesn't always bother me, but there was one book I read where the MC thought the same thing 3x on the same page!

DRASTIC COVER CHANGES



All right, it's not a major big deal, but I tend to get "miffed" when a cover concept suddenly changes in a series. If it's early on, I kind of brush it off, but in Jenna Black's Morgan Kingsley series the look was set for the first 4 books and then with book 5 the look totally changed. Again, not a big deal, just something that nags at me occasionally, especially if I liked the old look.

UNNECESSARY LEATHER


This kind of goes with cover changes as well, but in this series Merit was more of a jeans and tank top kind of gal, sure she changed her appearance a little bit, but it wasn't always totally leather. And since it's been a few months since I last read Chloe's book I can't quite remember how much leather, if any, Merit might have worn.

Sure the leather-clad heroine is awesome! As long as she actually wears the leather a lot. You can see Merit's style changing from cover to cover, the first one was jeans and tank tops, this second one show her in darker jeans and now in the next to release and the following she's wearing all leather. This doesn't seem like the Merit we knew from the beginning, despite her changes.

**Quick add-on that can fall with cover changes**

DIFFERENT BOOK HEIGHTS!

When the book suddenly changes in height to its normal one. Charlaine Harris' old hardbacks used to be somewhat shorter, making them easier to tote around, then suddenly the book skyrockets up! It's one thing to be peeved when the series goes from paperback to hardback, which is annoying as well because at least for me it makes shelving harder!

Randomness...

So on Monday in St. Louis we had a high of around 83 degrees, really they predicted 79 degrees, but it got up to 83-84ish. And I don't like hot weather at all. Lived here all my life and I still can't stand our summers that tend to start rather early.

So this was Monday's weather.

This is today's:

Yup, snow! SNOW! Snow in March isn't anything odd, but on Monday we were in the 80s! And now by the end of the week snow! This is just a glimpse of our crazy St. Louis weather!

And yeah this is a pic of my backyard taken from our kitchen window. Didn't actually go outside! But yeah, just felt like sharing this bit of info because it's just so out there!

Mar 25, 2011

Review--The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight by L.J. Smith

The devil you know . . .

With the help of charming and devious Damon, Elena rescued her vampire love, Stefan, from the depths of the Dark Dimension. But neither brother returned unscathed. 

Stefan is weak from his long imprisonment and needs more blood than Elena alone can give him, while a strange magic has turned Damon into a human. Savage and desperate, Damon will do anything to become a vampire again, even travel back to hell. But what will happen when he accidentally takes Bonnie with him?

Stefan and Elena hurry to rescue their innocent friend from the Dark Dimension, leaving Matt and Meredith to save their hometown from the dangerous spirits that have taken hold of Fell's Church. One by one, children are succumbing to demonic designs. But Matt and Meredith soon discover that the source of the evil is darker and closer than they ever could have imagined. . . .

I am saddened to see L.J. Smith's series come to an end, at least written by her. To me this is the last The Vampire Diaries. The Return: Midnight was a great finale to what she considered the "Damon" books, in some way. Going back to her world of Fell's Church was rather easy, I expected it to be harder since I've been watching the show, but it wasn't really. Probably because I fell in love with the books first. Although, I did see Ian as Damon, just because Ian really is a great Damon!

Basically the story goes that Damon is human again and wants to go back to being a vampire. He didn't want humanity like Stefan did. So he plans on going back to the Dark Dimensions and finding a powerful vampire to turn him, and Bonnie is taken along for the trip, by accident really.

I always sensed some sort of vibe between these two, nothing like that between Elena and Damon, but still there tended to be something. What bothered me most though was that Elena--and everyone else practically--treats Bonnie like some sort of child. Just because she gets frightened easily. She's not living in a normal world anymore and I think her fear can be warranted, but I got tired of Elena treating her like a child all the time, it was sort of annoying.

What also nagged at me was Elena being in love with two vampires. I guess I just can't see how you can be in love with two people, it was like in Rachel Vincent's Shifter series, Faythe loved two guys, but she couldn't live without the other. Elena never really explored that option.

Despite its thickness, this was rather a quick read. If I had started it at the beginning of the day I could've finished it sooner. As it was I did read through it rather fast. The pacing was really good in my opinion, similar to all L.J.'s pacing. Told in third person p.o.v. from multiple characters, once you get wrapped up in one's side of the story, you're whisked away to another just at a cliffhanger and so on. But when you return you fall easily back into the moment of action.

The ending was rather surprising. I didn't really think it possible, and yet something tickled in my mind that it was possible--weird feeling that I can't really write out well. But yeah, a total shocker! I suppose it is possible for another writer to pick up where L.J. left off if that's the plan, but for me this is the series end because I don't want to read someone else's version of L.J.'s story.

To avoid rambling further, I'll end my review here. Overall rating 4/5 stars and I really only give it 4 because Elena annoyed me a few too many times, but not enough to totally diminish my opinion on the book.

Winner!


And the winner of my Super Nice contest is...........................................


Brooke from Brooke Reviews!!

Congratulations Brooke! I will send you an email and you have 48 hours to respond


Friday Hops

This blogger hop was created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

Here are the rules:
1. Enter your book blog link in the Linky List below (be sure to include how long you've been blogging and what genres you review!). If you post about the Hop on your blog, please link directly to your Hop post (don't forget to answer this week's question - see below!).
2. Visit other blogs in the Linky List! Make new friends! Follow new book bloggers! Talk about books! Rave about authors! (Please do not leave your link and not visit other blogs - it's just not cool and not in the spirit of the Hop!)
3. Post about the Hop on your blog! Spread the word about the book party! The more the merrier!
4. In your blog post, answer the following question (new question each week!):

"If you could physically put yourself into a book or series…which one would it be and why?"

MY ANSWER: Easy enough, I would want to be in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series! Being the main character, Cat if I could! Why you might ask? For Bones of course!

This is a weekly blog meme created by Parajunkee's View.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:
1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://annettesbookspot.blogspot.com/
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

This week's question is: Inspired by the inane twitter trend of #100factsaboutme, give us five BOOK RELATED silly facts about you.

MY ANSWER: 

1. I am a total bibliophile! I love books! You can never have too many books is what I think. I do stick to certain authors and read new ones as well and only buy the books I really really want, but yeah.

2. I am OCD like with my books. If I happen to be kind and lend a book out, I expect it to be returned in its pristine condition. I once loaned a book to just my mom and she bent the heck out of the spine! She has said it proves you really like it by wearing out the spine, I argued and said no it proves a disrespect for the book! Plus she had spun the cover all the way around the back!

3. I loooove Urban Fantasy! It is my genre! I love the strong heroines and sassy wit! And to the non-reader they might see all UF series as being the same or similar, while I can see tons of differences!

4. My favorite kind of book is a mass-market paperback because they can fit easily into my purse! So no matter where I am, I'll have something to do should the worse happen!

5. While I love Urban Fantasy the best, I sometimes find it hard to believe that that is everything I read. While I know the main differences between that and Paranormal Romance, I sometimes have a hard time telling if a certain book falls under one category or another. Since I tend to read series, I find it hard to believe that they are all UF for their lack of HEA ending at every book. But oh well!! Just a confession of mine!

Mar 24, 2011

Reminder!


Reminder that today is the last day to enter my Super Nice Contest! You have until 11:59 PM CST to enter.

Click here for details

Mar 23, 2011

Cover Art--Jeaniene Frost

Saw this just seconds ago at several blogs and had to post it as well! It's the cover art for Jeaniene Frost's One Grave at a Time which releases August 30, 2011!

There's a new cover model, which is kind of a drag since the original cover model was so Cat in my mind, but this new one is just as cool I think!


And the sideback is freakin awesome!!


Waiting on Wednesday

                              I hate waiting...
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

It seems like I'm always waiting for one of Kelley Armstrong's books! This week's no different!
Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations.

It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark.

TITLE: The Gathering
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2011

Mar 22, 2011

Review--Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost

IN THE SMALL TOWN OF DUVALL, TEXAS, THE ONLY THING THAT CAUSES MORE TROUBLE THAN GOSSIP--IS MAGIC.

The family magic seems to have skipped over Tammy Jo Trask. All she gets in the way of the supernatural are a few untimely visits from the long-dead, smart-mouthed family ghost Edie. But when her locket--an heirloom that happens to hold Edie's soul--is stolen in the midst of a town-wide crime spree, it's time for Tammy to find her inner witch.

After a few experiences with her dysfunctional magic, Tammy turns to the only person who can help: the very rich and highly magical Bryn Lyons. He might have all the answers--and a double-oh-seven savoir faire to boot--but the locket isn't thing passed down in Tammy's family. She's also inherited a warning...to stay away from anyone named Lyons...

Awhile back I won Kimberly Frost's Would-Be Witch in a contest and finally got around to reading it. And overall I guess it was an okay read. I managed to finish it in a day at least. Although I wasn't necessarily in love with it.

Nothing really about the world-building or characters annoyed me too much. Some of Tammy's habits or actions might have ticked a nerve, but it wasn't bad enough to stop. Plus reading about cute Mercutio's antics was enough to keep reading!

The mystery element builds into something good, but then the answer just kind of left me still confused in some ways. I don't know why, I just couldn't be sucked into this world as much as I would've hoped. Plus while it wasn't necessarily a full-out love triangle, there was something like one and it was annoying. Tammy's relationship with her ex-husband--she married really young and divorced equally young--was just plain odd. It was like they were still together and yet she has an attraction with the mysterious Bryn Lyons, but he's too mysterious for his own good. Plus of course there is the dire family warning surrounding his family.

The pacing to the story was still rather good. There's a feeling of time running out, so things move rather quickly, yet not too fast. I really don't know why I wasn't more taken with this book. Maybe when a day comes and I have caught up on my reading I'd give the second one a try, but not before.

Overall rating 2.5/5 stars--close to 3 just not quite enough to have me wowed.