Switched Review

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

I went into reading Switched without really having any expectations. Other than what I had read on other book review blogs, I hadn't really heard of this trilogy, or Amanda Hocking before. Since there had been so much hype about it, I knew I had to grab a copy! And I am SO glad I did! 

Switched is amazing. It's a good pace throughout the whole novel. There are so many things that happen, I loved how it didn't have any parts that bore me to death! It was so hard to put it down, like at work, I would sneak a couple extra mins at the end of my break, just to see what would happen next. (But you didn't hear that from me!). Wendy starts out as a bit of a spoiled brat, and I didn't really like her much, but I liked the story. By the end of the novel, Wendy has grown as a person, and sees things a little differently than before. I think she's a little more grateful for simple things like freedom, etc. 

I didn't like Elora. What a bitch. Probably for good reason, I guess but still. Not everybody is a mind reader, and comes back already knowing everything. I loved most of the other characters though, they were very well thought out, and done very nicely. The men in this story, HOLLA! I don't know which one I loved the most, it started out as Finn, but then Rhys and Tove came along and changed it. I like them all pretty equally. I'm really curious to know who Wendy will end up with, if any of them by the end of the trilogy.

Amanda Hocking did an amazing job, especially "glamorizing" trolls. I've never read about trolls before, never thought I would, but I'm glad Amanda touched down on it. Trolls aren't really written about in the YA genre. It was such a nice change from the "usual". I was a bit surprised by the ending, I didn't think they would really run away. I HAVE to see what happens next! I have to get my hands on Torn the day it comes out in paperback. I highly recommend this book, what's not to love about it? :)

Cover Reveal!

Cover Reveal: Taste by Kate Evangelista 

Release Date: N/A 

What It's About!

At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Yuri has other plans.

When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Yuri the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

Cover Reveal!

Cover Reveal: Embers & Echoes by Karsten Knight

Release Date: Aug 28th/2012

What It's About!

Ashline Wilde is about to discover that when you’re the reincarnation of a Polynesian volcano goddess, “new beginnings” are just a myth. Leaving the fiery ruins of her sophomore year behind her, Ash travels to the sizzling beaches of Miami, hot on the trail of the little sister she’s only seen in visions. But her happy family reunion isn’t all palm trees and paradise. A cult of evil gods-on-earth, known as the Four Seasons, has kidnapped her sister to use in its terrifying new religion. Soon, the streets of Miami erupt in chaos and violence…and Ash gets caught right in the tropical crossfire. Ash isn’t without help, however. Unexpected romance arrives in the form of Wes, an Aztec god of night with his own vendetta against the Four Seasons. As memories of Ash’s previous life begin to flicker into her dreams, the boundaries between ally and enemy, life and death, and love and hate all bleed together. And when a mysterious trickster from her past reappears to derail her new quest, Ash must choose between the echoes of a once-forgotten yesterday and the embers of an uncertain future. Because when old flames return from the dead, even a volcano goddess can get burned.

The Seven Realms #4 Cover

The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima

Release Date: Fall 2012

What It's About!

A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed— Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love. Now, once again, the queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana’Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible. Tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells’ inner turmoil, Raisa’s best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she’s falling in love. Navigating the cutthroat world of blueblood politics has never been more dangerous, and former streetlord Han Alister seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it? A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.

Dreaming Awake Review

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

She fell for him in a nighttime world. But the time for dreaming is past—and the here-and-now can be just as fragile their love…

When Theia Alderson first encountered a mysterious, handsome boy in her dreams, she never imagined how finding Haden Black—and falling in love—could change her life. To save Haden, Theia sacrificed everything. And the dangerous bargain she made could have lasting repercussions.

Now Theia has returned to Serendipity Falls, and she finds herself struggling with the same deadly hungers that have tortured Haden. When students at their high school fall prey to a mysterious illness, Theia can’t help but wonder if Haden’s control is slipping—and how much longer she’ll have a grip on her own. And still the nightmare realm of Under won’t let them go. Someone from Haden’s past is determined to destroy Theia from the inside out, starting with those closest to her, forcing Theia to choose between family and friends and a love that may have been doomed from the start…

Dreaming Awake picks up right where Falling Under left off. After reading it, I now see why it's called Dreaming Awake! We are once again following Theia, as we did in the first book. Even though it held the same feel as the first book, I was pleasantly surprised. Theia grows a lot as a character. She starts to discover new sides of herself she never knew, and also starts see the repercussions of taking a blood oath with a demon, and that she really can't run from the dangers. 

In this exciting sequel, things are a lot faster-paced than they were in Falling Under. There are new twists and turns, and several loose ends tied up, but there is still enough of an opening left at the end of the novel, to possibly have a third book. One of the things I loved most, was Theia and Haden's relationship. Even though they both believe they are doomed to be together, they grow nicely as a couple and they're friendship, as well as their relationship, seems to grow stronger. 

We get to see a lot of Ame and Donny throughout the book too. I think out of the two of them, Donny is my favorite, and I totally love her and Gabe as a couple. They all seem to accept Theia no matter what, (or who she becomes), and I totally love that about them. 

A few surprising things happen. A few characters are lost (some not permanently), and I have to say, I was so not expecting Haden and Theia to end like they did! I love the way the novel ended, way better than I was expecting. So much happens, it was hard not to get totally lost in the world of Dreaming Awake. I absolutely LOVE this series and I really hope there will be a third book!

♥Cover Candie of the Week♥

Cover Candie: Endure (Need #4) by Carrie Jones

Release Date: May 8th/2012

288 pages

What It's About!

It’s all-out war (and no-holds-barred romance) in the climactic conclusion to Carrie Jones’s bestselling series.

Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

In My Mailbox

Here is what I've received in the last 2 weeks. It's not much, but I'm still happy! :)

I bought:

Switched by Amanda Hocking

The Haunted by Jessica Verday

Breaking Dawn DVD Part 1

For review I received Zombie Love: The Outbreak by Eric J. Sobolik

Rachael Wade Interview

~Author Rachael Wade~

When did you first starting writing and how did you choose the genre you write in?

I’ve been writing since I can remember, but didn’t consider taking it seriously as a career until I was in college. I’d been wrestling with different majors and different dead-end jobs and I had to ask myself that million dollar question: If I didn’t have to worry about money and could do anything in the world for a career, what would I do? So I found a way to write for a living and when I made the decision, I knew paranormal would be my focus. I’ve always loved vampires, fantasy, and everything supernatural.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Music and movies. Lots and lots of indie movies. I listen to music nonstop; it’s one of my favorite things to do. I sit with my iPod and a dry erase storyboard and just see images and concepts, and then work from there and jot things down. Traveling and being outdoors also really gets the creative juices going.

Tell us about your novel, Amaranth, Book One of The Resistance Trilogy. Who is your favorite character and why, and how did you come up with the concept for the trilogy?

The concept just came to me. I’d wanted to write a sort of epic, romantic tale with a vampire concept that had been brewing for a while, but it was essentially inspired by a weekend trip I took to Southern Louisiana. I went to the actual areas that the characters live in the book and just fell in love. The bayous and the towns were so mysterious. I didn’t want to leave. It’s hard to choose a favorite character, but I love Samira. She’s the villain, but she has a history and was so fun to write. I could see her immediately in my head. She was inspired by a French teacher of mine whose name was Samira. She was very elegant and poised and she intimidated me. I really looked up to her.

Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?

Right now I’m working on the rest of the trilogy. The 2nd book in the series, The Gates, will be released in January (2012), but I’m also working on another paranormal romance and a literary fiction piece at the moment.

Who are your favorite authors? Which ones inspire you as a writer?

There are too many to name, but Sylvia Plath has been one of my biggest inspirations. Her work is smart, witty, and haunting. I also love Cormac McCarthy. His work is so profound. I love how he uses language.

Where can readers purchase your books and where can they connect with you?

You can find my books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. Amaranth is available now in e-book at all 3 locations, and will be available in print shortly directly from my website. I can also be found on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

Cover Reveal!

Cover Reveal: Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gler

Release Date: Oct 30th/2012

What It's About!

Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean. At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party.

And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

My Thoughts: The cover, first of all, is amazing! I love that dress, and no, I'm not tired of all the dresses on the covers. Yet. Secondly, this book sounds very interesting. It's definitely different, and not something I usually read, but I think I'm gonna have to give it a try anyway! I wanna see what happens between these characters and where the story ends up leading them.

Different Books, Same Covers!

I was looking around goodreads out of boredom, and I noticed a lot of books have the same covers, even though they are completely different. So I thought I would post a few of them. A lot of you have probably noticed some of these same covers too! How do you feel about different books sharing the same cover? It kind of annoys me to no end, does nobody care about originality anymore?

 I know there's a few more, but here's a few I slapped together :)

The Hollow Review

Rating: ♥♥.5

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. It only makes things worse that everyone now treats Abbey like either a freak show or a charity case. Thank goodness for Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her -- one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

I was really excited to read this trilogy. So far though, it's a little disappointing.  The whole idea of the legend of sleepy hollow, the mysterious death of the main character's best friend, Kristen and Caspian, the guy that starts appearing at the same time as Kristen's funeral, all sounds like an amazing story. Only, I felt like a lot of the pages in this book were filled with a lot of words, just to fill a page.

I feel like the author didn't really know where she was going with the story as a hole, and just wrote from the top of her head, while trying to string along a few events here and there to make the readers feel like something was actually going to happen. So many times while reading this, I kept thinking, Can we just get on with it already? I want to know what happens with this! Yet it generally dragged on for 4 or 5 pages, and you never really would get any real clue. For instance, when Abby found Kristen's  diaries, and read them, I thought, Wow, we're actually finally starting to get somewhere with this. Boy was I wrong!  It talks about some of the diary entries, but then sort of just moves on to something different and your right back where you started.

Another thing that got on my nerves was Abby. She's one of those most dumbest, annoying characters I think I've ever come across. She cries over everything, she makes friends with old people that live in the cemetery, gets upset every time some little thing happens, or Caspian didn't kiss or touch her the way she wanted, etc. 

In reality, this book should have really only had 200 to maybe 300 pages at most. When you take out all the "filler", that's about what you would have left of actual story, not 500. Jessica Verday could have definitely made the story a whole lot better.   

 

Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal: Live Through This by Mindi Scott

Release Date: Oct 2nd/2012

What It's About!

Sometimes hiding the truth requires more than a lie..

From the outside, Coley Sterling’s life seems pretty normal . . . whatever that means. It’s not perfect—her best friend is seriously mad at her and her dance team captains keep giving her a hard time—but Coley’s adorable, sweet crush Reece helps distract her from the annoying drama. Plus, she has a great family to fall back on—with a stepdad and mom who would stop at nothing to keep her and her siblings happy and safe.

But Coley has a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully-crafted façade. That for years she’s been burying the shame and guilt over a relationship that crossed the line. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and as Coley has the chance at her first real boyfriend, a decade’s worth of lies are on the verge of unraveling.

Description for The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead has finally been released!

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong.
 Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she’s supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she’s been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?

♥Cover Candie of the Week♥

This week's Cover Candie: Fallen In Love (Fallen #3.5) by Lauren Kate

Released: Jan 24th/2012

201 pages

What It's About!

What makes your heart race a little faster? Just in time for Valentine's Day, it's FALLEN IN LOVE, four wholly original new stories collected in a new novel set in the Middle Ages by Lauren Kate. FALLEN IN LOVE gives fans the much-talked about but never-revealed stories of FALLEN characters as they intertwine with the epic love story of Luce and Daniel. The stories include: Love Where You Least Expect It: The Valentine of Shelby and Miles , Love Lessons: The Valentine of Roland; Burning Love: The Valentine of Arriane; and Endless Love: The Valentine of Daniel and Lucinda.

 

Fresh Release

Fresh Release!: Destiny and Deception 13 to Life #4) by Shannon Delany 

Released: Jan 31rst/2012

356 pages

What It's About!

The sensational fourth novel in the 13 to Life series sees Jessica and the Rusakuvas fighting to overcome one of their biggest challenges yet--the possibility of a cure for lycanthropy.  

 With the threat of the mafia seemingly gone and the company's headquarters in Junction destroyed, Pietr Rusakova is adjusting to being a normal teen and Jess is realizing normalcy may not be what she wanted after all. But both Jess and Cat know the truth--that normal can't be taken for granted. Their precious cure isn't permanent--and when a new danger stalks into their small town, Alexi decides he must overcome his issues with the mother who abandoned him to be raised by wolves and make a brand new deal to save his adopted family.