The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

My rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Pages: 452
Release date: September 27th 2011
Summary (from Goodreads):

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

My review: 

 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a great book. It's one that you can read in just a few hours even though it's more than 400 pages long, and you won't want to put it down once you start.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is one of those stories where you think you've only read 20 pages when you've actually read 60. Everything seems to happen so quickly, but yet in vivid detail. The writing was beautiful ; everything flowed together perfectly and thee only thing in the plot that I found wasn't very well put together was the relationship between Mara and Noah... So one day he's a weird guy she's never met who's just following her around the school, and the next they're going out on dates together? That seemed a bit flawed to me.

I don't think that the summary quite makes the book sound as good as it is. It sounds like it has basically the same storyline as The Adoration of Jenna Fox, but it definitely doesn't. Her memories are coming back to her in the middle of the book, bit by bit, which is enough to keep you in suspense but it's really not confusing to follow.

I would be happy to read more by Michelle Hodkin, and I can't wait to read the next in the series. Definitely one I would recommend!

In My Mailbox - November 6th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library. Here are the books I've received recently:
I bought:

1. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin
2. The Summoning - Kelley Armstrong
3. The Awakening - Kelley Armstrong
4. The Reckoning - Kelley Armstrong
5. Raised by wolves - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I received as a gift:

1. Bloodline - Kate Cary
2. Plague - Michael Grant

What did you get in your mailbox? Leave a link in the comments!
*Also, come check out my giveaway!*

Blogoversary Giveaway!

On October 31st it was my Blogoversary, and here's my giveaway to celebrate it!

The contest will go from November 6th to November 20th. The prize will be a signed hardcover copy of The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, along with a temporary tattoo for the book that I picked up at the signing:

Here are the rules:

1.   The contest is only open to people in the United States

2.  You don't have to follow the blog to enter, but if you do you'll get an extra entry

3.  You don't have to blog about this contest, but if you do you'll get 2 extra entries

4.  I will email you if you win the prize, but if you don't respond within 72 hours (3 days), I will draw another winner

Enter here:

Blogoversary!

Hi guys! I know I haven't posted in a long time, but it was my blogoversary a few days ago and I want to get back into blogging. I have a great giveaway planned so I just need to get the enter forms ready before I post it. Check back soon to look at the contest!

*Also, I just joined Twitter, so feel free to come follow me @AthenaBlogger*

In My Mailbox - September 4th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got four books:

From library:

1. Abandon - Mag Cabot
2. Seventeenth Summer - Maureen Daly


I bought:

Bright Young Things - Anna Godbersen

And I received as part of an ARC Tour:

Slide - Jill Hathaway (loved it!)

What did you get in your mailbox? Leave a link in the comments!

She Smells the Dead

She Smells the Dead by E.J. Stevens

Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press
Release date: September 9th 2010
Pages: 165 pages
Source: For review from author
Summary (from Goodreads): It's the beginning of senior year and Yuki's psychic awareness of ghostly spirits is threatening to ruin her life. Her ability to sense spirits of the dead isn't glamorous like on TV. SHE SMELLS THE DEAD. Yuki is being visited in her dreams and suspects that her friend Calvin is involved in something strange. Will Yuki be able to save the spirits and herself?

My review: I'm really glad that I read She Smells the Dead; it's a very refreshing book with a twisting plot and astounding description.

The thing that stood out most out of the whole book was the originality. Yuki smells the dead, quite literally. That definitely is not something that I have ever seen before, though seeing the dead is quite a common subject in paranormal young adult novels. The whole storyline is original, including the take on wolves that I had never seen before.  It was very unique, and a refreshment from all the usual.


She Smells the Dead was filled with funny, intriguing, and witty characters. Yuki was a character that was easy to relate to, other than smelling the dead. She wasn't the only one that was easy to relate to; Cal, Simon, and Emma were all great character. They all kept me laughing throughout the book, but also curious as to what would happen to them.

The one thing that I thought could have been better was the plot. In the beginning, I had no idea where the book was going to lead, and it continued like that throughout the whole book. While I really liked this aspect of it, I found that the climax was rather. . . missing. There was a bit more action there, but even then it still wasn't huge next to the rising action.

She Smells the Dead is a book that I would recommend to anyone who loves paranormal novels!

My rating:
Characters: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Writing:4.5/5
Originality: 5/5

In total,

WoW - August 24th

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week. This week, I can't wait to read As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott!

Summary (from Goodreads): Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them - and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.

Why I want to read it: The summary sounds great and mysterious, and the cover is beautiful!

In My Mailbox - August 14th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got two books:

This one I got for free on Amazon (the promotion is still on, for anyone who has a Kindle!):

Waterfall - Lisa T. Bergren

And I won a book from my local library (thanks for the great prize!):

Blood Red Road - Moira Young

What did you get in your mailbox? Leave a link in the comments!

WoW - August 3rd

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week. This week, I can't wait to read City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare!

Summary (from Goodreads): In Book 5: City of Lost Souls, the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world after a betrayal by one of their own leaves them reeling.

Why I want to read it: If you've read the first four books in this series, you'll know why I want to read this one! I can't wait to read more about Clary, Jace, Simon, and everyone else in this book!

Author interview: Anne Tibbets

I'd like to thank Anne Tibbets, author of the Young Adult Fantasy novel The Beast Call, for letting me host an interview with her. You can view my review for The Beast Call here. Now, the interview:

1. I loved the setting in The Beast Call, so I'm curious, where did you get your inspiration for it?

Thank you! I tried to picture a medieval time and draw from that. I knew I wanted Dray, to come from a farming community, but I also wanted there to be more exotic locations, when it came time to travel.  I literally chose the characters first, figured out where they would be from, and drew a map on a scratch piece of paper so I could keep track of where everybody was.

2. What was the hardest part about writing The Beast Call? Was it sticking with it all the way through, forming the characters, something else?

The hardest part about writing this particular book was the battle scenes.  I drew up maps, laid them out on a table and used chess pieces to move around the characters so I could visualize how the battle would play out. It turned out to be quite fun!

3. Can you describe your writing in three words?

You know, this is a good question.  It's hard for a writer to think of themselves this way. Ask who I am personally, that's easy, ask about my writing? That depends on the book and the day! The best answer I can give you, is that when I was writing The Beast Call, my writing was: Paced, Dramatic, Musical...Or, at least, that's what I tried to do with it.

4. Did you expect The Beast Call to end the way it did, or did it change as you went along?

I knew from the very beginning where and how it was going to end and where the next book would start.  In fact, at one point I got impatient writing it, I just wanted to get to the end, so I wrote the last battle and put it aside until I caught up to it, so I would stop obsessing about it.

5. What was the best part of writing The Beast Call?

The book I wrote before The Beast Call was a middle grade time travel adventure called "The Amulet Chronicles," and I wrote it with a very dear friend of mine, Erika Ely Lewis.  Even though it was a blast to work with someone else, and the concept of time travel really interested me, I have to admit, writing by myself, for young adult, in pure fantasy was like finding myself. It was like finding THE perfect fitting, best feeling, hottest looking pair of shoes and getting to wear them everyday.  It felt right. That was the best part, finding my true voice. I'd like to think my happiness comes across in the writing.

6. What's in your to-read pile at the moment?

I've just started 'Lor Mandella - Destruction from Twins' by L. Carroll which I'm totally digging. Up next is 'A Dance with Dragons' the 5th 'Game of Thrones' installment by George RR Martin, and after that it's 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens, because I saw the mini-series on BBC and was quite embarrassed to realize I'd never actually read the book. That's breaking one of my cardinal rules: Always read the book FIRST! Books are always better, don't you agree?

If you haven't read The Beast Call yet, you definitely should try to get your hands on it!  

WoW - July 27th

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week.  This week, I can't wait to read Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stoll!

Summary (from Goodreads): Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.
Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

Why I want to read it: If you've read Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness, this one speaks for itself. I can't wait to read the next book in this great series!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments!

The Beast Call

The Beast Call by Anne Tibbets

Publisher: Premier Digital Publishing LLC
Release date: May 4th 2011
Source: For review from author
Summary (from Goodreads): Seventeen year old Dray is no ordinary human. But possessing a magical capability to talk to animals in a land where magic is feared, is dangerous. When Dray's adventure hungry brother leaves the family farm to join a rebel militia, Dray follows him, but as Dray discovers her natural warrior capabilities, and word of her magical talents are discovered by the rebel General, Dray becomes an intricate part of the revolution, and the evil King Nuro would like nothing more than to see her destroyed.

My review:

The beast call was a very interesting take on fantasy, one that was not only refreshing, but also enjoyable.

I love the setting. I'm not sure quite how to describe it. . . Dystopian, probably? But definitely less like books such as Matched and Delirium. If you've read Graceling, the setting reminds me of that, and Graceling was a wonderful book. For those of you who haven't read Graceling, I'd say that it's like it's in a time long ago that never happened. I really hope that makes sense.

I loved Dray, the main character. Not only did her feelings really come through to me, but they also made sense. I've read other books where the main heroine is much stronger than her family, but in them, she never feels bad about it. I think that it's not very realistic like that, so I definitely liked that Dray felt bad about being better at fighting than her brother. She wasn't completely confident in her abilities all the time, but she would always at least try rather than just say that she couldn't do it. I admired her for that.

The only thing that made me take half a star away was the plot. It had an amazing climax and excellent beginning, but in the middle I felt it lagging just a small bit. However, it definitely was not enough to turn me away from it, as I read it all in just a few sittings.

I haven't seen The Beast call around the blogosphere too much, even though I should see it more. If you haven't heard of this one yet, it is one to read, for sure!


My rating:
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Originality: 4.5/5
Writing: 4.5/5

Crusade

Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Vigue

Publisher:Simon Pulse
Source: Received as a gift
Release date: September 7th 2010
Pages: 470
Summary (from Goodreads): For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain’s Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.
Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated — and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.
Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself — and her heart.

My review:

I honestly don't know how to start, as there is a lot to say.  I have quite a few mixed feelings about Crusade, but enjoyed it overall.

The characters were all really good.  I particularly liked the main character, Jenn, along with all the other hunters on her team.  Jenn was very easy to relate to, because she has such realistic thoughts.  There are so many people in the world that think that they are nothing special next to others, and that's what Jenn is like.  Another hunter in her team is Antonio, and few people know that he is a vampire.  He has trained himself so that he doesn't get injured by holy water and such like other vampires do, and can control his bloodlust.  He has a hatred for other vampires, although he is one himself. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about him, because he is so different.  I can't quite say that I love him as I do other boys in books, but I certainly don't like him, either.

At some points the writing in the book was smooth, almost poetic, and at other points it seemed a bit choppy.  I'm not sure if that was the difference in the two authors or not; it's hard to say.  Most of the time, the description was perfect, not giving too much or too little. The only thing that I had problems with was the plot.  In the beginning, everything was happening really slowly.  There was nothing really in it to bring you on into the story.  I had to push through that until I got to where the plot started getting interesting, and even then it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.  Later on, at the climax, it lasted so long that it started to get boring, and it didn't explain it well enough that I really understood very well what was going on.

Crusade has a really good take on vampires, I found, that was quite original.  Even if you don't like vampire books, I'd suggest picking this one up and giving it a try just for the little twist.

WoW - July 20th

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week.  This week, I can't wait to read Possess by Gretchen McNeil!

Summary (from Goodreads): Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

Why I want to read it: Ooh, sounds creepy.  And I haven't read very many books with demons in them; this sounds like a particularly good one.  I love the cover, too!

What re you wanting on? Leave a link in the comments!

Cover Crazy - July 18th

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted at The Book Worms to show which cover you're going crazy over!  This week, I love the cover for Hourglass by Myra McEntire.

What I like about it:
-She's walking on a wall.  Looking at that somehow makes me feel slightly lightheaded (in a good way).
-I love how simple her clothes are; it is perfect with the intricate wall designs.
-I like the way her hair and dress falls towards the floor.

What cover are you going crazy for? Leave a link in the comments!

In My Mailbox - July 17th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got 3 book secondhand (though I don't think that one should count, since I plan on giving one to a friend; However, I'll probably read it first):

What did you get in your mailbox? Leave a link in the comments!

Possession

Possession by Elana Johnson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Realease date: June 7th 2011
Pages: 416
Source: Won from Ally Condie
Summary (from Goodreads): Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

My review:

I'll tell you before starting, this review is either going to be really long or really short.  I'm not sure which yet. Why? Because I have really mixed feelings about Possession. Don't get me wrong, I did like it. But. . . Well, at the same time it was repetitive and confusing.

Vi started out as a great character. She was confident, bold, and strong. She did what she wanted with no fear of the consequences. When you first see her, she's walking in the park after dark with a boy. Completely against the Rule; A hovercopter comes and picks her up because it's the eighth illegal thing she's done. She is then taken to the Thinkers, the bad guys. I found that the world she was in was very well developed. However, lots of things were left unexplained and I spent the whole book wondering what some of the tech-type stuff was.

As I said earlier, Vi was a great character in the beginning, for her good actions. Later on, though, she started to get a slight bit whiny, but I still rather admired her for her courage and strength. She is a very in depth character that I do love to read about. Jag, on the other hand, was just plain annoying. I mean that in the best way possible because he was actually a realistic character, but he left her so much that it started to get repetitive. He'd leave, she'd strike out on her own for a bit and then realize just how much she needed him and eventually found Jag again.  I honestly don't have any thoughts about the love triangle in Possession, because I don't know how to describe it. It was definitely a different sort of love triangle, at least, which is good compared to all the ones that are the same.

I liked the writing. It rather reminds me of Matched, but not quite as poetic (hard to beat Matched on that level!). The description was perfect and crisp. Once again, I really got a sense of the world  in Possession. I, of course, loved the setting. Actually, I almost always like dystopian settings.  This one reminded me of Matched, along with the writing. It also seemed a little like Delirium.  This didn't really help in the originality, because I felt like there was nothing new, like I'd read it before.  That made it slightly less enjoyable because, well, it feels like everyone is trying to get the same big buzz as The Hunger Games.

There were two things that I didn't like.  The first was the plot.  It was very repetitive; they got caught, they escaped, the got caught, they escaped. . .  The climax wasn't very exciting as nothing even remotely interesting happened, and I didn't understand part of it, so it left me confused and unsatisfied.  That's the other thing that I didn't like, the confusion.  For the whole book, I was trying to figure out what exactly they were doing, but I couldn't quite figure it out. It seemed to just sort of trail off, especially towards the end.

 Well, it turned out that that was pretty long, but that's how I feel about the book.  The review did seem more negative than I really felt about the book, and if you like dystopian novels, you may want to pick this one up.

My rating:
Characters: 4/5
Orginality: 3/5
Plot: 2.5/5
Writing: 4.5/5

In total,

Blog Award: Versatile Blogger!

Big thanks to Laura at Bookworm Extraordinaire and Jessica at Curled up With Books for both giving me the Versatile Blogger Award!

I could do this two times, but I can't come up with enough facts or Bloggers, so I'll just do it once. I need to give seven facts about myself, then award other bloggers the award. . . So, seven facts about myself:


1. I am really picky before I decide to buy a book.  I will stand in a book store for hours and hours, trying to decide what book to buy.  There are too many choices!  I also once decided not to buy a book because I didn't like the font.

2. I write.  A lot.  I can't decide what genre I like the most, so I experiment quite a bit.  I've tried dystopian, I've tried paranormal, I've tried fantasy.  I think that contemporary is right for me, though.  I've got so many ideas, but they never seem to fit together. . . Oh well, I guess I'll work on it.

3.  I'm really bad at making decisions.  You can probably tell by my first two facts in this list.

4. I check my favourite book blogs about 15 times everyday.  Yes, 15 times.  Apparently I spend too much time on the computer not writing reviews.  ;)

5. I have two of the most adorable chinchillas ever.  Here's a picture of one of them, when she was a baby:

Cute, right?  Her name is Smokey.

6. I'm right handed, but I eat left handed. It's the only thing I do with my left hand. Though sometimes I wish I were left handed just because it's so different.

7. I love rock climbing, rappelling, canyoneering and camping.  They're all so much fun!

So, the 5 blogs to award this to.  Honestly, I can't come up with that many, so I'll just post this for now and if I think of any more then I will just post them here.  Sorry!

1. The Elifylop
2. Random Girl Book Blog
3. Absolute Forest of Words

*Please note that I will no longer be accepting awards. Sorry!*

Also, today is the release of the last Harry Potter movie! Hurray! Can't wait to see it.

Blog Awards

I{"m sorry to say that I won't be accepting Blog Awards anymore.  However, I will give out a round of thanks to everyone who has given me one, which includes Laura at Bookworm Extraordinaire and Jessica at Curled up With Books for both giving me the Versatile Blogger Award, Vy at Vy's Blog for giving me the Sylish Blogger Award, and Magic of Reading for the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.  Thanks so much to all those people for reading my blog and awarding it!

Since I received the Versatile Blogger twice before I put up this announcement I'll accept it, so look out for my post on that one tomorrow.

WoW - July 13th

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week!  This week, I can't wait to read Bloodlines by Richelle Mead!

Summary (from Goodreads): When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

Why I want to read it: I loved Rishelle Mead`s other series, Vampire Academy, and I can`t wait to read more by her!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Publisher: Atria
Pages: 354
Release date: August 30th 2005
Source: Library
Summary (from Goodreads): It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him. It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.
And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston.

My review:

If you've looked around my blog, you'll notice that I don't normally read books like this one.  Between a Rock and a Hard Place was a book that I picked up because of my love of rappelling, rock climbing, and canyoneering.  I was intrigued by the story of Aron Ralston, so I decided this one was worth a try.

There was only one thing that I didn't like about this book, and that was the stories of his past.  For the first few, I really liked them and found them very interesting.  Later, however, I found that they dragged on for too long.  There were things in it that I didn't feel were necessary to know to enjoy the rest of the book. I just wanted to get through that sort of thing and get back to him in the present, trapped by the boulder; that was the part that I wanted to read about.  Reading these other stories made me feel as though he should have expected bad luck to come his way.  He showed a careless attitude to what he did before that, as though he didn't care if he was killed.  For example, earlier in his life he had thrown rocks at a bear, almost lost his backpack with all his supplies as he tried to throw it over a ledge, and created an avalanche that almost killed him and two of his friends (who never talked to him again).

There's not much to say about the characters, as there is only one that is there for more than one character, and that is Aron.  As I mentioned earlier, he did some. . . Harmful things before in his life, and I don't really think that they even changed him.  Or at least, they didn't seem to. There's not much else that I can say about  him, other than that I felt so sorry for what happened to him.

As for the writing, it was really good.  There was so much detail that sometimes it was a bit much.  I would give an example, but they would all be too long. All I can say is that there was a lot.  This did help me imagine what was happening in the book.  I can't wait to see the movie, 127 Hours, and I do recommend this one, though probably none of my readers would be interested in it.

*I was going to do a rating as I normally do with the ratings for plot, characters, originality and writing but I would have a lot of trouble doing it for this book, so I'm just going to do a total:*

Cover Crazy - July 11th

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted at The Book Worms to show which cover you're going crazy over!  This week, I love the cover for Hallowed by Cynthia Hand!

What I love:
-The similarity between it and Unearthly, the first one, that makes it easy to recognize
-The intricate font of the title, and the feather coming from it
-The water behind her that isn't too noticeable when you first look at it

What cover are you going crazy for?  Leave a link in the comments!

In My Mailbox - July 10th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got:

Crossed - Ally Condie (so excited!)

What did you get in your mailbox?  Leave a link in the comments!

A Quick Note

Sorry for lack of posts and reviews recently! I've been really busy and haven't been doing much reading recently.  However, I have lots of posts set up for the next couple weeks, which will hopefully help me catch up a bit!

In My Mailbox - July 3rd

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got quite few new books.

First off, I got a Kindle, and while that doesn't really count as a book, I'm including it anyway!

For review, I got:

1. The Beast Call -Anne Tibbets
2. Quest of the Demon - M.L. Sawyers
3. She Smells the Dead - E.J. Stevens
4. Spirit Storm - E.J. Stevens

And I won a contest at Ally Condie's blog a while ago and it recently arrived:

What did you get in your mailbox? Leave a link in the comments!

Solid

Solid by Shelley Workinger

Publisher: CreateSpace
Release date: July 9th 2010
Pages: 221
Source: eBook for review from author
Summary (from Goodreads): Teens who discover they were secretly genetically altered before birth are brought together at a classified site where they forge new friendships, find love, develop "super-abilities," and even unearth a conspiracy.

 My review:

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started Solid.  The cover gave off a sort of dark vibe, and so did the prologue, but once I started getting into it I found that it wasn't.  The setting,I thought, was great.  I liked the campus a lot because, like the main character Clio, I love the outdoors.  Most of the time, they were in the fresh air for their lessons, or out in the forest.

I enjoyed reading about each of the characters. I really liked Clio, mostly because she was very easy to relate to.  Jack was great, too, and really sweet!  He even made a constellation out of lights in his bedroom for Clio. The other main characters, other friends of Clio's, were really good too.  They had believable personalities, and although one was a bit of a snob, I liked her because there are people like her in life and normally they have something nicer underneath.

The plot was a little bit slow in the beginning, but I was really enjoying Shelley's style of writing, so I got through the first two chapters and started to get quite interested.  By the end I could barely put the book down because I wanted to know what would happen. Some parts of the ending were surprises and other parts confirmed what I had been suspecting for a little while. As long as there's some sort unexpected twist at the end I'll be happy, so that was perfect for me.


Solid is definitely a book that I would recommend, so even if you aren't enjoying it in the start, make sure to just keep reading and you'll hopefully end up loving it like I did!

My rating:
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

In total,

You Wish

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 272
Realease date: August 5th 2010
Summary (from Goodreads): Kayla McHenry's sweet sixteen sucks! Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla's secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin' do.
Kayla wakes the next day to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window. Then a year's supply of gumballs arrives. A boy named Ken with a disturbing resemblance to the doll of the same name stalks her. As the ghosts of Kayla's wishes-past appear, they take her on a wild ride . . . but they MUST STOP. Because when she was fifteen? She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her. And Ben is her best friend's boyfriend.



My review: 

Okay, you're probably thinking that the cover for this one looks like it's for 7-year-olds, but it's not.  I think the whole boyfriends-girlfriends problem gives that away a bit.  Believe me, I was a little skeptical too as I started the book.

I'm happy to say that I was very impressed by Mandy Hubbard's writing.  There was just the right amount of humor to keep it a light book, but not too fluffy that there wasn't a real point in writing it.  The plot made me want to know what was happening next all the time.  I wanted to know what the next problem entering Kayla's life would be. My only problem was that it seemed to be just a little bit too cute in some bits, like it would be something for younger young adults.  It seems like a good one maybe for newbies to the young adult genre to look at; it's not very intense in romance and is just a sweet tale.

As for Kayla as the main character, I liked her a lot.  She was easy to relate to, because of all her ordinary high school problems.  There's nothing particularly weird or abnormal about her, and she has always been okay with that.  I'm glad of her reaction when the wishes start coming true, which is freaking out.  It seems like the most regular and expected thing to do that is completely easy to relate to. She is definitely a favourite character of mine, though I did find her to be slightly annoying at times.

All the wishes I found were really good.  Each one of them was something that made me laugh, especially the guy named Ken stalking her and calling her Barbie.  That seemed like a good thing to wish for when she was into that sort of thing, maybe, but when she's16, not so much.

I haven't read anything else by Mandy Hubbard before, but she's got quite a few that might be worth looking into, including her debut, Prada and Prejudice, Ripple, and But I Love Him. I look forward to reading more from her!

Questions

I'm thinking about buying some sort of digital book device, but I'm not really experienced in this sort of thing.  There are so many different types out there, but I'm not sure which one I want.  Do any of you have any experience with a kindle/eReader/Kobo/anything like that?  If you do, can you tell me what you think about it in the comments?  That would be much appreciated! 

*Sorry for the lack of reviews recently!  I haven't been reading too much in the last few weeks, but I just finished a couple of books, so expect some up soon!*

WoW - June 22nd

WoW is a weekly meme I participate in, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It stands for Waiting on Wednesday, and the point is to share to the Blogging world what book you're most looking forward to that week!  This week, I can't wait to read The Siren's Cry, by Jennifer Ann Kogler!

Summary (from Goodreads): Not just an Otherworldly...
an Unusual.
Fern is not like other girls. She has strange and vivid visions and has the ability to teleport—anywhere, anytime. Fern is an Otherworldly, a special kind of vampire that lives in the human world. What's more, Fern is one of the Unusual Eleven, a group of Otherworldlies all born on the same day with extraordinary powers, prophesied to change the fate of Otherworldlies and humans alike.
On a school trip to Washington, DC, Fern has a dramatic vision that reveals another Unusual in grave danger. Now it's up to Fern to put together the pieces of where he is and why he's been taken. Can Fern solve the puzzle and free the boy in time to defeat the darkness that threatens? 

Why I want to read it:  As a general rule (as long as it's well written), I like vampire books, and this sounds like a particularly good one!

Anastasia's Secret

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

Publisher: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books
Release date: 320
Pages: March 2nd 2010
Summary (from Goodreads):  For Anastasia Romanov, life as the privileged daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the bloodshed of revolution. Ousted from the imperial palace when the Bolsheviks seize control of the government, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia. But even while the rebels debate the family's future with agonizing slowness and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blooms between Anastasia and Sasha, a sympathetic young guard she has known since childhood. But will the strength of their love be enough to save Anastasia from a violent death?
Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the last days of the Romanov family, Susanne Dunlap's new novel is a haunting vision of the life-and love story-of Russia's last princess.



My review: 

I don't have too much to compare Anastasia's Secret to, as I don't know much about the Russian Revolution, and I'm sorry to say that I still don't.


I loved the idea of the book.  Reading the epilogue, I saw that the author wanted to believe that Anastasia, the youngest of the Grand Duchesses, found love before she died.  I want to believe that, as well, but I did have a few problems with the book.  The first thing were the characters.  I liked Anastasia well enough, but I never really got to know the other characters.  They were just. . . There. I wish I could have gotten to know them better, but they were never just in the same scene for very long.  


Speaking of which, there was no plot.  I was never sure what was happening, and there was no pacing.  The story was here. . . And suddenly it was over there.  At the end, it seemed as though the author just decided that she didn't want to write anymore and would just tell us what historically happened.  I found this rather abrupt.  


This isn't a very long review, but I've said all that there is to say.  In all, it wasn't really a bad book, but it just wasn't one that was particularly great.


My rating:
Characters: 2.5/5
Plot: 1.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Originality: 4.5/5

In total,

In My Mailbox - June 19th

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren, in which you show the books you got that week.  They can be borrowed from friends, bought, or been taken out from the library.  This week, I got two books from the library:

1. You Wish - Mandy Hubbard
2. Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston

What did you get in you mailbox?  Leave a link in the comments!