Sunday, December 30, 2012

In My Mailbox


Today marks the last day of our local Half Price Books extra 20% off sale. Needless to say, Nic and I spent quite a while there yesterday. Not quite as long as both of us would have liked be we had other errands to run and I was getting antsy. (sorry Nic) I only got a few things so I figured I'd post those now and make sure to keep an eye out for Nic's IMM post that I'm sure she will be posting soon. She got a helluva lot of books yesterday and now that I think of it I only know a few of the ones that she ended up getting... so I am also looking forward to her post.

I never really spend a whole lot of time at half price book stores because I have found that they mostly have the first books in the newer series and not very many new releases. I'm one of those people that rush out to the bookstore the day the book is out, or even call the day before, and snatch up my copy asap. SO... usually when I go to Half Price I have a few very specific things that I'm looking for and if they have it great, if they don't oh well. I had gone in wanting to see if they had a copy of Unraveling Isobel, The Raven Boys or Enchanted Ivy. All of which they didn't have. I still managed to find a few gems among the shelves that were not already on my shelves at home.

Here's what I got at Half Price:
I found Dead Beautiful around the time that it was released and liked the concept so I snatched it up right away. Lately I've been focusing on the series in which I own all of the books that have been published so far. That way I won't have to go out and spend another 18 bucks the second I finish the book. I saw this one for 6 and say it as a sign. :)






Confession: I already own a copy of Unearthly. BUT... this is the British cover and the reason I like going to second hand book stores is because I found a British cover of Harry Potter 1 and the cover was really cool. So now I am always excited when I find an international cover of a book I already own. Plus it was 3 dollars. Can't pass that up.






So that is what I got from Nic and my quick trip to Half Price. The new Gwen Frost book came out the day before Christmas and I went to BN to pick it up and for some reason they have like all stopped carrying this series...which makes me sad because it's one of my favorites. My friend Dave who manages a BN in Minnetonka ordered it for me and texted me saying it came in today. I picked it up today and can't wait to start it. :)

I just really enjoy Gwen's story and while at times the books are a tad predictable they are always entertaining. I get a little agitated when authors write series with no end in sight...like seriously Janet Evonovich... 19 book?!  But I think that Jennifer Estep could write 10 more of these and I would still be reading them the minute I get my hands on them.






So that's what I've added to my shelves this week. :) What did you get?


Saturday, December 29, 2012

Happily Ever Endings: Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter


What is it?
Happily Ever Endings was created by Amber of Down The Rabbit Hole due to the relatively frustrating feeling one has when it has been a while since they have read a book and now they are unsure of how it ended. This tends to be a problem when that book is part of a series. AND SO... this fabulous idea was brought to life. Obviously, there will be spoilers...so if you haven't read the book... don't read the post. There is also a mega list of posts which you can find over at Down The Rabbit Hole. Link on sidebar.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT A REVIEW AND DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ WHISPERS AT MOONRISE DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST. 


Goodreads Summary: 
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf.  With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.

 

As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.  Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway.  Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever.   In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure.  Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.

The breathtaking fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise.


Do NOT continue if you have not read Whispers at Moonrise. Spoilers Ahead.


Click Read more to discover the full synopsis of Whispers at Moonrise including the ending.

Review'd: Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter

Book Review:
Title: Whispers at Moonrise
Author: C.C. Hunter
Published October 2nd, 2012 by St. Martins Griffin
Series: Book 4 in the Shadow Falls Series

Goodreads Summary:
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf.  With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.

 

As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.  Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway.  Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever.   In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure.  Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.

The breathtaking fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise.


DeLibrarie Review:
AHH... my heart aches for you Kylie Galen...and you aren't even an actual person...reader problems. I just can't get over this ending... I really didn't see it coming and I'm super bummed that I got to read all for of these books in a row and then now I must wait for 121 days before I can read the last one. :( Maybe I'll start waiting to read books until the series are complete... but probably not. Seriously though, this series has turned into one of my very favorites. I love every single character and I seriously am UNABLE to put these books down... I even was reading it today in the middle of a conversation with Nic and our buddy Dave. I LOVE these books!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Freaken Hot Fridays: The Vampire Diaries



Hey guys! So today me and Del went on a shopping excursion to the Mall of America. It was wonderful. The Forever 21 store there is phenomenal!! So we decided that tomorrow we will need to make another excursion to the Half Price Book Store AND Barnes and Noble (because we ran out of time for that today). So we intend on getting lots of books to add to our collections tomorrow (keep an eye out for our next In Your Mailbox meme this Sunday!!). I'm personally excited because there are two books that I really want to get (again, see our next Sunday post!). Plus I just love book shopping with Del because it's so much more fun when you go with a fellow book-lover.
But for today, I wanted to focus on the book and television series' versions of The Vampire Diaries.


I started watching the show first to see if the story would be any good and I loooved it. I mean, not only was the plot good, but everyone in that show is sooo pretty that it's kind of mesmerizing to watch them all interact. So then I decided to go out and buy the first two books in the series!


I read them both two summers ago and fell in love with it for the same reasons, except I was so surprised to find that the stories were NOTHING alike! It was fascinating! The show had taken some of the names and relationships from the book and then whether a character was a human, vampire, or witch, but other than that, NOTHING was the same... not even how the characters were supposed to look (not a single actor looked like their respective character except for maybe Matt, Elena's ex). I found this cool rendering someone did online of how Elena looks in the show and how she's supposed to look in the book. They detailed the differences all the way down to her different skin tones.... complete opposites in every possible way except for her body size. I thought it aptly portrayed the difference i'm describing here :) Plus it just gives a better image of the book Elena.



Usually when that happens I hate the show for it because they didn't get it right and they don't represent the book sufficiently thus ruining the story and what not. But because they don't even follow the same plot line or have the characters be true to who the characters are in the book (for example Bonnie being from Scottish mages in the book and then from Salem witches in the show), it just creates an entirely different world and story. So this is one of the few books-turned-into-show-movie series that I actually like and approve of.

So if you haven't watched or read this series yet, you really should check out both because they're both wonderful and so incredibly different that by doing one, you don't ruin the other. Both stories take you on surprising and interesting stories which I totally recommend. So check it out!! Woo Vampire Diaries!


Joint Shelf Candy


I'm going to be totally honest... I'm exhausted. I was stupid and went out with friends last night until 3 and then had to wake up at 6:30 am to go babysit my favorite little three year old ever, Henry. Little fact about me when I'm this tired: I completely lose my sense of humor. I don't understand your jokes... my jokes...are soooo not funny; it's just sad. SO... bear with me friends... I'm going to try and make this post coherent and entertaining but I'm not promising anything. ;) Luckily, Nic is here to guide me on the path to entertaining posts... even though she refuses to write. (scoff)

Onto the point of this post...BEAUTIFULNESS.
I'm sorry world...but everyone judges a book by its cover. We like shiny pretty things way more than boring not sparkly things. Just today Nic and I were in BN and she picked up a book to add to her "help me decided which book to buy" pile just because, and I quote, "I just liked this cover. I have no clue what it's about." That being said... I love this meme because it's all about pretty book covers.

I'm sure that we've done this one before...actually I'm positive that I've chosen it before but it's due to be out in just under a month, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to start talking it up again.

Nic and I love the cover of.....
EVERBOUND by BRODI ASHTON

I love the way that they smoke cascades off of her dress... and look at the sexy wave of a hair-do she's got going on!! I just love this cover and I've already cleared a spot on my bookshelf right next to Everneath. :) 

Keep a look out for this one. It's due to hit the shelves January 22nd, and if you haven't read Everneath yet... you need to get on that! (cough, Nichole, cough) It's a great read!!


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Review'd: Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Book Review: 
Title: Born at Midnight
Author: C.C. Hunter
Published March 29th, 2011 by St. Martin Griffin

Goodreads Summary:
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…


DeLibrarie Review:
I can't get over how much I love this book. I really thought I would eventually get sick of this love triangle thing but see no end to my love of Love Drama. :) Also, I really like it when I can't tell who they are going to end up with from page one. Bella was OBVIOUSLY going to end up with Edward, Gale had ZERO chance with Katniss... it's sometimes painful how obvious it is who they will end up with. I like that in this series... I have no freaken clue who she'll end up with...Derek...Lucas...currently unmentioned character who might or might not show up in later books in the series? ...I hope it's Lucas... :) When do I not fall for the bad boy?! Oh...Yea... real life. :) Back on track, I really like this book; I like the troubled Supernatural teen camp idea.... and did I mention how much I like Lucas. ;)
Addendum: I was going to create another post reviewing Awake at Dawn, the sequel to Born at Midnight... but I found that to be kind of pointless because I'm pretty much going to say the exact same things... so for the sake of not being redundant... Awake at Dawn... also freaken awesome!!



Friday, December 14, 2012

Review'd: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

Book Review
Title: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
Author: Walter Moers
Published August 29th, 2006 by Overlook TP

Goodreads Summary:
Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first 13-1/2 lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where intelligence is an infectious disease, water flows uphill, and dangers lie in wait for him around every corner.

"A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest," says the narrator of Walter Moers’s epic adventure. "What about the Minipirates? What about the Hobgoblins, the Spiderwitch, the Babbling Billows, the Troglotroll, the Mountain Maggot… Mine is a tale of mortal danger and eternal love, of hair’s breadth, last-minute escapes." Welcome to the fantastic world of Zamonia, populated by all manner of extraordinary characters. It’s a land of imaginative lunacy and supreme adventure, wicked satire and epic fantasy, all mixed together, turned on its head, and lavishly illustrated by the author.


DeLibrarie Review:
Holy Hannah this book is amazing. Growing up I really enjoyed authors like Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl. I thought the utter nonsenisalness (that's not a word but I'm going with it) of their storytelling was so fascinating. I was actually wondering through the fiction section in Barnes and Noble waiting for a friend to get off work when I happened across this title. The title itself was the first thing that drew me in...an adult book called The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear...how ridiculous...but also intriguing . So picked it up and saw that it was compared to JK Rowling, Douglas Adams and Shel Silverstein and I was hooked. I started reading a few pages and was sold... I bought it...obviously. After the first 50 pages of nonsense I found it utterly enchanting. I figured that it would probably get old by page 700!!!! but nope...it was still super funny and still made me giggle every second. A lot of YA books can be pretty heavy... dystpic communities, world ending battles, epic love stories... this was just the opposite...everything was light and funny and perfect. :) You just need to read it. Don't be turned off by the size...it's long...but it goes by fast. :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday


As I'm sure a few of you noticed... we've sucked at posting this semester. You'd think with two of us manning the blog that we'd be able to keep up... well we suck. Not only have we been barely on our blog but I have also been slacking at keeping up with my book news and visiting other blogs that I usually keep up with. BUT... it's finals week and things are starting to wind down. I happened to be perusing the world of goodreads when I saw that RACHEL HAWKINS IS WRITING A SPIN OFF SERIES TO HEX HALL!!!!! I'd like to start off by saying "I totally called it." I am sooooo in love with the Hex Hall series and I really hope Sophie at least makes an appearance here and there so we can keep up to date on her life too because I love that series too much to lose the main characters forever!!

Soo... this week I am Waiting for...

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins
Release date: May 14th, 2013
Goodreads Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as theNew York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!


SQEAL!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!

Review'd: Renegade by J.A. Souders

Book Review: 
Title: Renegade
Author: J.A. Souders
Published by Tor Teen on November 13th 2012

Goodreads Summary:

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 

Her memories have been altered. 

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all


DeLibrarie Review:
I was a little disappointed when I finished this one and realized that it wasn't a stand alone. However, I have no one to blame but myself considering it would only have taken about 30 seconds of research before hand to figure that out. Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was a really interesting premise: underwater community meets dystopic society. It's like little mermaid meets the hunger games. :) The only reason that I didn't rate this book higher is because it was really predictable and just played by all the rules. You can see what is coming before it comes and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing... I just prefer to be completely surprised. I like when I don't know what's coming, or I like to guess and then be waaaay wrong. Overall, I liked the charactes, I liked the writing, I liked the premise. Great book just a little too predictable. :)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Time Will Come



This has been one hectic Monday for me. Ten page paper due, two time consuming assignments due which I had forgotten about until midnight last night, major fog which stopped me from being able to drive to my classes... hectic man, hectic. BUT all of my assignments are done and taken care of and so now I am home free! Free to think about books once again... until another hour or so when I have to start tomrorow's homework. But moving past that! :) On my mind today is Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick. I LOVE this series but alas, I havn't even started the third book yet because I don't have as much time as I wish I had. But I already know that I will be just as in love with the final two installments as I was with the first two. Hopefully the time will come, fairly quickly, for me to be able to pick up and read Finale finally :)

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
Goodreads Summary:
Will love conquer all?

Nora and Patch thought their troubles were behind them. Hank is gone and they should be able to put his ugly vendetta to rest. But in Hank's absence, Nora has become the unwitting head of the Nephilim and must finish what Hank began. Which ultimately means destroying the fallen angels - destroying Patch.

Nora will never let that happen, so she and Patch make a plan: lead everyone to believe they have broken up, and work the system from the inside. Nora will convince the Nephilim that they are making a mistake in fighting the fallen angels, and Patch will find out everything he can from the opposing side. They will end this war before it can even begin.

But the best-laid plans often go awry. Nora is put through the paces in her new role and finds herself drawn to an addictive power she never anticipated.

As the battle lines are drawn, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.


What can you not wait to read???



 
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