Slide

Slide by Jill Hathaway

My rating: 5/5
Publisher: Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins
Pages: 256
Release date: March 27th 2012
Source: ARC Tour
Summary (from Goodreads): Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

My review: Slide was an amazing debut that was suspenseful and kept me flipping the pages as quickly as I could. I read Slide all in one sitting, and enjoyed every word of it.

The idea of Slide was very interesting: if Vee touches objects that belong to someone else, she later can 'slide' into their head and see what they're doing. When she slides into the head of the murderer of her sister's friend, she knows it isn't the suicide the police are claiming it to be. Slide was a great mystery, and I was never quite sure of who the murderer was. The way that Slide was written, I was constantly guessing on who it could be but was never right.

I loved the characters in Slide. Vee made a very interesting person to read about because of how she's always trying to keep herself separated from everyone around her. She only has one friend, Rollins, but she knows he'll think she's crazy if she tells him what really happens when she passes out. All through the book I found myself wondering what was happening with Rollins that was making him act so different, and it came as a big surprise to me when I did eventually find out.

Slide was an amazing, book, and if you're a fan of mysteries, I would definitely recommend this one!

WoW - March 21st

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 Insurgent by Veronica Roth!

Summary (from Goodreads): One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. 

Why I want to read it: I really enjoyed Divergent, so I can't wait to get my hands on this one!


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

Forgotten

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

 My rating: 4/5
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288
Realease date: June 7th 2011
Summary (from Goodreads): Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

My review:

The summary for Forgotten instantly intrigued me, mainly because I'd never read, or heard of, a book like it before. The idea of losing your memory of the entire day before is really interesting, and I love that it's a very precise time, that it's not just 4:30 or 4:35, it's 4:33.

The characters were well written, and intriguing enough to keep pulling me into the story. They always kept me interested, especially when London is with Luke, and is constantly finding out things about him because she forgets a lot of the things she already knows. Because each day London forgets everything, it's like starting fresh with the same character every day that passes in the book, which makes it very interesting to read about.

Forgotten is one of those books that even when you feel like you haven't read that much, you're already 150 pages into it. I read it in one sitting, so it's an easy book to read that doesn't require too much thinking or time, but all the while still being very enjoyable. I think that almost anyone could enjoy this Forgotten, especially if you just want something that you can read quickly, perhaps while waiting for another book to arrive for you, since it is such an easy read.

If you haven't read Forgotten yet, I recommend that you get a start on it now!

In My Mailbox - March 11th

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:

As a gift:

1. Forsaken - Leanna Elson
2. Forgotten - Cat Patrick
3. Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare

I bought:

1. The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen
2. Just Listen - Sarah Dessen
3. This Lullaby - Sarah Dessen
4. Lock And Key - Sarah Dessen
5. Someone like you - Sarah Dessen
6. Keeping The Moon - Sarah Dessen
7. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
8. Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

I went on a bit of a Sarah Dessen shopping spree this week; love her books!

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

In My Mailbox - March 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. Here are the books I've received recently:

I bought:

Along for the Ride - Sarah Dessen

I received a gift:

1. Bloodlines - Richelle Mead
2. The Body Finer - Kimberly Derting
3. A Beautiful Dark - Jocelyn Davies
4. Beautiful Days - Anna Godbersen
5. Angelfire - Courtney Allison Moulton

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

Crossed

Crossed by Ally Condie

My rating: 5/5
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Pages: 397
Release date: November 1st
Summary (from Goodreads):

My review: I read Matched the day it came out and loved it, so needless to say that I couldn't wait to get my hands on Crossed.

I'm finding it hard to decide whether I liked Crossed more than Matched or not. Matched is probably a bit better in my opinion, but they were both amazing. The first thing that I noticed about Crossed was that Cassia wasn't quite as... Mindless as in Matched. She knew what she needed to do and she wasn't afraid to do it. I found that Cassia was a more developed and a better character in Crossed, which made her a lot more enjoyable to read about. And it wasn't just Cassia that was more developed, it was also Xander and Ky. I think that that was probably the best part about Crossed.

As with Matched, the writing was unbelievably smooth. Everything flowed perfectly in it.
However, the problem I found was that often the voice of Ky and the voice of Cassia were so similar that I forgot who I was reaching about. And the ending! Oh, the ending! I need to get my hands on the next one the second I can!

I can't wait to read more from Ally Condie, maybe I'll start on some of her contemporary novels. If you haven't read this series yet, you should try to get your hands on a copy!

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!