Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Break Time!

Alrighty, so here's what going on. I am taking a small break from reviewing at least. I've found that I just can't juggle reading and my job without pushing my writing to the side and I really don't want that to happen. It's hard to get everything done in the 4 hours or so that I have in between waking up and going to work. When a review goes up, I basically JUST finished that book and then I'm on to the next one that I want to review two days later. It's not fun. So what I want to do is take a break from reviewing, and stockpile reviews so that I can be ahead by a couple weeks when I get back into the swing of things.

I'll still be doing the occasional post, like IMM on Sundays (this upcoming one has a TON of awesome books) and I still have to do my National Book Festival recap (pics can be found here). I also have a blog tour post for Deadly Cool coming up next Friday. I'm not sure when I'll come back to reviewing; it really just depends on how quickly I get through books and can get ahead on reviews, but hopefully before the end of the month.

It'll be nice to kinda take a breather and not have to figure out how many pages I need to read each day to stay on schedule. I can get back to doing about an hour of writing a day because I'd really like to finish this book and start querying as soon as I can (and then start writing another book). I'm really excited for this to happen and I hope I can come back very soon. Wish me luck! :)
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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Supernaturally by Kiersten White



Supernaturally by Kiersten White

"Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be... kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself."- summary from Amazon

Last year, I loved Paranormalcy and was so excited for the sequel. I'd planned to get the book from the library eventually but imagine my luck when I get an email from the awesome Emily saying I'd won a signed copy of Supernaturally! I was so happy.

OK, on to the book, it's pretty much as awesome as the previous book. I loved getting back into Evie's world, especially now that she's out of the Center and trying to live a normal life. Of course, with Evie, there's never going to be normal and eventually she's doing random assignments for IPCA so we get to see a huge variety of paranormal creatures. That's one of the things I love about this series- there's more than just the usual vampires, werewolves, and fairies (although just having the presence of all three in one book is still pretty awesome).

Evie still has that wonderful sarcastic voice that I loved and that made Paranormalcy such a compelling, fun read. These kinds of books tend to be very dark so it's refreshing to read something that's a bit more fun. There are some dark bits, particularly toward the end as Evie learns more about her past and what she can do. There's also the romance between Evie and Lend, which was really cute, but also had its own bumps in the road and obstacles to overcome, mainly regarding honesty.

Overall, this book is pretty awesome just like the first book and I can't wait to read the final book next year!!

FTC: Won a signed copy from Emily's Reading Room! Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.
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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Blog Tour- Supernaturally by Kiersten White




Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.


Kiersten White is the NYT Bestselling author of Paranormalcy. She has one tall husband and two small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. This abundance of normal led her to a fascination with all things paranormal, including but not limited to vampires, faeries, and pop culture. Visit her at http://kierstenwhite.com.

IPCA Employee Handbook Section 3.2.78

Dryads
Level Three
Known Entity (Human Mimicry), Ancient Origin, Separate Evolution
Immortality: Lifespan tied to trees
Breeding: Anecdotal (likely false) evidence; no confirmed cases
Appearance: Young women with pale skin, green eyes, and hair in various shades of brown. Always in odd, anachronistic clothing, usually simple flowing dresses in shades of green.
Myths: Most myths revolve around Dryads being tied to or loyal to specific Ancient Greek deities which (as far as this agency has been able to determine) do not exist. (Please see, Appendices: Ancient Religions, Theories of Faeries and, Section 35.64.)
Facts: Dryads are shy and elusive creatures, tied to a specific area geographically. Deforestation has lowered their numbers, though an accurate count has never been made. Dryads transported to the IPCA Natural Preserve did not thrive until their trees were transported as well. Dryads have been found in all areas of the world that have trees.
Dangers: Dryads become enraged when their trees are threatened. Additionally, dryads’ glamours are very beautiful, and they have been known to use their physical beauty as manipulation.
Information contributed by Evelyn age 15 (please see Appendices Catalog, Section 7, for details on glamour-piercing abilities), transcribed from the original audio: Dryads’ glamours are always super pretty. I want to see a paranormal who has an ugly glamour, you know? Wait. I guess hags do. Anyway. So you’ll see a really beautiful woman, maybe in her early twenties, as the glamour. I see a really beautiful woman, with that smooth, ageless look like faeries. Only instead of green eyes, they usually have green hair and green skin. The older ones (I think) have browner skin, sometimes even with cracks like bark. But they’re still pretty. Just…greener. Like trees. I wouldn’t want to date a tree, but they’re still really pretty.
Artist rendering of Evelyn’s description:



Wasn't that fun? I'm so honored to have been asked to be a part of this blog tour and it'll be continuing over at one of my favorite blogs, Steph Su Reads, on Thursday, Oct. 6 where another paranormal creature from the Paranormalcy series will be featured. You can check out Kiersten's blog for links to the other blog tour posts. But not only is there a blog tour, but Kiersten is heading out on the road for some physical tour stops- go here to find out more info! A review of Supernaturally will be posted later today so be sure to come back!
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Monday, October 3, 2011

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

"Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit - more sparkly, more fun, more wild - the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket - a gifted inventor - steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door."- summary from Amazon

I was really excited for this book because I loved Perkins' debut Anna and the French Kiss (as did pretty much most of the YA community). While it was really good, for me at least, it didn't measure up to the awesomeness of Anna. It took me a little bit of time to get into the book and I did enjoy the characters, especially Lola's gay dads and of course Lola and Cricket, but I didn't feel the same spark as quickly as I did with Anna. To put it in perspective, I thought Anna was 5 stars and Lola was 4.5 stars, so still amazingly good but just slightly not as good as her debut.

Speaking of characters, Perkins continues to put some wonderful ones in this book. Like I said before, Lola's gay dads were fantastic side characters and I loved reading scenes with them. Lola was a great main character too with quite a bit of flaws and was really relatable. Perkins also does a good job with the romantic male leads- Cricket is pretty damn amazing and sounds very hot. I liked seeing his and Lola's friendship develop into a relationship, which really makes the romance more realistic. Also, I knew Anna would be mentioned in Lola (like how Sarah Dessen mentions previous characters in her books) but it was much more than I had anticipated- Anna and St. Clair are both pretty major side characters. I loved seeing them again!

Overall, this is a very good follow-up novel and I can't wait to read Isla next year as well as anything else Perkins writes! She's just an amazing writer and I usually like to call these books "romantic comedies with substance".

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.
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Sunday, October 2, 2011

In My Mailbox- Week of September 25 + Retrospective

I told you another vlog would be coming! Mainly because I have a TON of books to show you. Not as much as last time but pretty darn close! So here we go (btw, I'm wearing a new shirt I just bought Saturday):




Books Shown:

The Death Cure by James Dashner (hardcover, Oct 2011)
Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch (hardcover from library, Sept 2011)
Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan M. James (ARC, Jan 2012)
Havoc by Jeff Sampson (ARC, Jan 2012)
The Survivors by Will Weaver (ARC, Jan 2012)
Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie by Francesca Lia Block (ARC, Jan 2012)
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (ARC, Jan 2012)
Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani  (ARC, Jan 2012)
Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker (ARC, Jan 2012)
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (ARC, Jan 2012)
Everneath by Brodi Ashton (ARC, Jan 2012)
If This is Paradise, (paperback, Sept. 2011)
Going Underground by Susan Vaught (ARC, Sept 2011)
Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow by Daniel Nayeri (hardcover, Oct 2011)
Don't Let Me Go by Janet Trumble (signed ARC, Dec 2011)


and here's my retrospective (not much going on this week!):

Tuesday- I posted my review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, which is out in stores now!

Thursday- I helped reveal the cover for Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers, the final book in the Personal Demons trilogy. Not only that, but if you leave a comment, you're entered to win an ARC of the book and Lisa is also hosting a bigger contest- go to the post for details!

Also on Thursday, Little Willow posted a He Said, She Said discussion we did of the two Jenna Fox novels by Mary E. Pearson. Go check it out and leave a comment!

Friday- I reviewed The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, which is out in stores now!
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