Beyond Words

'Goddess Interrupted' review

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000Z

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release Date: March 27th 2012 - US and the same in the UK.

I wasn't feeling either here or there about The Goddess Test, the first in what I think will be a trilogy. I went into the book thinking it would be something it wasn't, and because it didn't reach my expectations, it wasn't as enjoyable as I wanted. This book, however, I had low expectations for based on the first and, I'm happy to say, the book surpassed all my expectations tenfold!

There's adventure and action. Kate comes back from her six months away from Henry and the Underworld, ready to take on her role as Queen and Wife but Henry is more distant - if that's possible - and dealing with an unforeseeable threat that could be the end of them all.

I really enjoyed the chapters where Kate navigated the Underworld to find Henry's ex wife, Persephone. And I loved watching how Kate dealt with seeing Henry dealing with his lost love while trying to figure out how he felt on his current love. I will say, however, that Kate was infuriating and set back women's independence about fifty years. Henry ignores her. He doesn't touch her or include her in his plans/life. When his ex wife comes back, he can't keep his eyes off her and there's a situation that happens that I won't spoil, but my GOD Kate, will you get a backbone?

It's a whole lot of I love him, but he doesn't love me like he loves HER and he still wants HER but if I leave him then he'll fade and I'll be reminding him of what SHE did. So she stays with him, even though he doesn't deserve it, even though there's no evidence whatsoever that he does love Kate, and in the end, she convinces herself that he does indeed love her. But, personally, I don't see it. I don't think I've ever rooted for a couple to NOT be together as much as Kate and Henry.

Another thing grated me. Persephone is supposed to be as old as Henry (or roundabout as old). But she speaks like Kate. In fact, Persephone has no real character of her own. She says 'you lot' all the time, which I wouldn't expect her language to include being that she's been dead a while. While I enjoyed the conflict Persephone's character brought, I'd have liked to have got to know her a bit better and for her to take on a better role than she did.

4 stars. I think it'll definitely please fans of the first.

View all my reviews

Book Trailers

2012-01-30T14:19:00.003Z

I need to ask my amazing followers something.

What do you think about book trailers?

Mostly, the following:

Has a trailer ever made you want to read something more?
Has it ever put you off reading something?
How do you find out about trailers?
Do you think they are needed?
Can they do more harm than good?
Do you ever purposely check out a trailer for a book you already want to read?

Basically, I'm wondering how much use book trailers actually have on a book. I've seen some great ones. And I've seen some not so great ones. Mostly, a good summary and some buzz gets me hearing about/wanting to read books. I don't have to check out a trailer to want to buy something. So why have them? What is their purpose?

Also, The Apocalypsies have a channel on Youtube now where you can see all of them in one place! Check it out.

Cover of the Week (18) & YAmazing Race Winner!

2012-01-28T17:06:00.004Z

Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway

Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

Wow. What an amazing cover. I love the model and her expression. I love the colours and the dress she's wearing. The background and the font. She looks so haunted and beautiful that I can only hope the book will be the same way. And with a description like that, I'm thinking it will! You can find this on Goodreads and it releases on the 13th January 2013.

Now, onto the winner for the YAmazing Race!!

I had 83 amazing entries! Thank you guys. I'm so happy that all of you had an interest in winning a pre-order of my book. This alone is fantastic. But, I could only choose one and that person was...

Giada M!

Giada, send me an email with your details so we can arrange your prize.

If Giada doesn't get back to me within 48 hours, I'll pick someone else.

Thanks again and look out for more chances to win My Heart Be Damned.

'Imaginary Girls' review

2012-01-26T15:23:00.002Z

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release Date: June 14th 2011 - US and the same in the UK!

I devoured this. Devoured it in the hours I should have been sleeping. That's how much the book sucked me in.

I wasn't captivated from the first page. The narration and writing of the book comes across as cluttered and confusing at first. Which was why I was a little meh about the beginning chapters or so. There is A LOT of internal monologue. A lot of physical descriptors (which I loved) and a lot of character development narration on Ruby (which sometimes I didn't love). I'm the kind of person who wants to be in a scene and not swept away from it to think about something different only to go back to that scene once the excitement is over. You know? I found myself craving more dialogue because when it was there, my gosh was it amazing. So realistic and telling. I hated when it was summarised in narration instead of out there for us to read.

So they were my problems. However, I soon got over those problems and fell head over heels for the book. Chloe is a bit of a strange character for me. Sometimes I thought she had her own brain. Other times I didn't. She lived in her sister's shadow and even through the two years they were apart, she still lived by what she thought her sister would tell her. She did things that seemed completely out of character for her when we're led to believe she wants to please her sister. I found that I was craving to know more about Chloe but all we learned about was Ruby.

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. She was deliciously horrible. I think, actually, she's probably my all time favourite female character of a book I've read in the last few years. Though Suma didn't go into enough detail about Chloe, she sure did about Ruby. I felt like Ruby was my friend, like I really knew her. I actually found her incredibly realistic. If you could do what she could, I'm sure you'd probably act like her too. I had a beautifully vivid image of her in my head. Like I could reach out and touch her.

To be honest, not much actually happened in the book. There wasn't a huge plot. No massive action or adventure or scenes of great heart racing tension. There wasn't even a romance, just a little lust. But I was still captivated. The scenes between Chloe and Ruby were awesome. They were done so well.

I found that a lot of suspense of belief needed to happen in this novel. Chloe didn't ask nearly enough questions. She wasn't even told not to. She just nodded, thought it was weird and carried on. I hated that. I really did. There's not one person who could react like Chloe did at certain events and be sane. Something impossible and unexplainable happens and you shrug it off and go shopping? Ridiculous. It really was. Sometimes this kind of behaviour ruined the book for me.

But...I did very much enjoy it. So I give it 4.5 stars. I recommend to anyone who likes character driven contemporaries with a bit of magic mixed in. Get this from Amazon UK or from Amazon US NOW!

View all my reviews

'Welcome Caller, This is Chloe' review

2012-01-24T19:39:00.003Z

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release Date: May 1st 2012 - US and May 1st 2012 in the UK!

For a contemporary book, this was pretty long. But I definitely wasn't bored and I definitely didn't feel like there were filler scenes or pointless chapters. Everything that happened needed to happen.

Chloe, for me, is probably one of the most infuriating characters I've come across in a long time. Seriously. I know, for the purpose of the book, she's supposed to learn some hard life lessons. But my gosh is she the most self centred person on the planet. She's the baby of her family, so she's used to getting all the attention. She thinks of herself as a people person, but really, she's a Chloe person. Which means she does things for people only if she gets a gain out of it, or if she feels bad about not doing it. And by gain, I mean because she wants to get to know someone better out of a crush, or because she wants to feel assured or like she belongs.

I mean, I could go on forever about how bad of a character Chloe is. She doesn't have one redeeming quality, actually, that's a lie. She never gives up. Even when she should. I suppose I liked that when her friends turned their backs on her, she didn't melt into her shell and cry for days about it. She tried to fix it. She tried to talk to them and find out what had happened. But her motivations behind it were all wrong, and then she found other friends and pretty much forgot about her old friends who she claims to have been there for their whole friendship.

The novel is written in first person, which means it's a whole book in Chloe's head. A lot of the narrative is long winded and focuses too much on Chloe and what she thinks and feels about everything. Which only adds to how self centred she is as a character. Coriell did a great job in making Chloe realistic of someone in her situation and position. I didn't once doubt she could really be that way. I did find myself skimming over some of Chloe's monologue, though.

The description and the characters were all done exceptionally well. I can't fault that. The writing was quirky, and things were given cute nicknames to help us remember. Chloe's fascination with vintage shoes was a nice little add on. I had fun picturing the shoes described. I also very much enjoyed the developing romance between Chloe and Duncan and found myself wanting them to just kiss already! Always a good sign.

Best parts of the novel were the radio show scenes. And anywhere that Chloe had to face up to the real world and realise she had to start thinking about other people for once. I mean, the girl named her radio show 'Chloe, Queen of the Universe!' Fitting. Very fitting. But you know what? I wanted her to make up with her friends. I wanted the radio show to be a hit. And I wanted her to get with Duncan and her Grams to be okay. So she wasn't a horrific character if I wanted nice things for her, I suppose.

For the record, I LOVE the cover. Very quirky. I know some people have issues with it, but it fits the book perfectly.

All in all, a great, well developed read. The pacing was great. It was a realistically written teen novel. It dealt with life lessons I know a lot of people Chloe's age need to learn. And I wasn't bored once. A little on the long side, but definitely worth it for great characters. 4 stars.

View all my reviews

'Scarlet' review

2012-01-21T15:27:00.001Z

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release date: February 14th - US & the same in the UK!.

We all think we know the story of Robin Hood. The thief who took from the rich and gave to the poor. I don't know much else about the story, or the people Robin Hood fought with. And reading Scarlet was a great reminder of a time quite long ago where life was really not fair.

The story centres around Scarlet. A girl, known as a boy, who fights alongside Robin Hood. She's a girl with more than her gender as a secret. Her whole life is a big mystery, down to the scar that runs down her cheek. She's foul mouthed. She's loyal. She's vulnerable but brave. She's a great heroine. But she's also mean, because she knew how she felt about Robin Hood when she was leading on John Little.

There was plenty of action and adventure in this story. Which was both good and bad. Sometimes I just wanted a scene where we sat with the characters and really got an insight into them. Mostly, the book just jumped from one action scene to another. There was always something happening. So while I was never bored, it also felt like there wasn't an ending in sight because there wasn't one overlaying plot. Wasn't one motivation from start to finish. Yes, the taxes were due, but it wasn't focused on enough to really make me feel that it was the main plot point.

I loved the realism in the narrative. The word use, the British slang (that we still use now!), the mentions of the towns and the locations. Very realistic and made the story that much better. However, I'd have liked some better descriptions. If, like me, you're not clued up in what some of these old terms mean or what it is, you're going to be confused. Sometimes, actually quite a lot of the time, I couldn't for the life of me get a mental picture of what was going on. This happened because of lack of location description, lack of movement description, and sometimes rushed narrative. This happened often during fight scenes too. Scarlet would be described as 'landing on her hands' and then stabbing someone. And I thought 'how can you land on your hands and stab someone at the same time?'

My other problem was that there were all these characters running around and being introduced, but no real introductions were made. I felt nothing for most of the secondary characters the band were risking their lives for because no time was given into fleshing them out. They'd go somewhere and someone was getting beaten up and Scarlet would think 'It was Ramilda Long' and that's all we got. Who the frick is Ramilda? I don't care for her because I don't know her at all.

Overall, this was a fantastic read. It was very fast paced, and the main characters were great to read about. I especially loved the banter between John and Scarlet and the 'will they won't they' romance between Rob and Scarlet. I would recommend it go through some more editorial fixes before release, but other than that, I definitely enjoyed.

4.5 stars.

View all my reviews

Interview with Megan Miranda!

2012-01-17T11:43:00.000Z

It's always a pleasure to host interviews on my blog. Always. It's even more of a pleasure when it's an author whose book I really enjoyed and who is a seriously amazing person too. So, without further ado, I give you...MEGAN MIRANDA!

1) For all those who don't know, or are living under a rock, can you tell us what your novel FRACTURE? is about please? Fracture is about a girl named Delaney who was trapped under the ice of a Maine lake for eleven minutes. Despite brain scans that show wide-spread damage, she wakes from a coma 6-days-later, seemingly fine. But Delaney knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. But she doesn’t know whether her altered brain is predicting death or causing it…

2) It sounds really interesting! How did you get the idea to write it? I was always drawn to concrete facts, and for that reason, chose to go into the field of Science. But the more I learned, the more I was drawn to the stories that Science still couldn’t explain. The people who were supposed to live, but didn’t. The people who were supposed to die, but lived. For all that science can explain, there is still so much unknown about the brain. I was (and still am) very curious about how much of us is determined by our DNA, or our brain, and how much of us is something more. Writing Fracture was my outlet for all the questions I had been thinking about over the years.

3) Can you tell us what your journey to publishment was like? Though I had written previously, Fracture was my first novel. But I wrote it three times, from scratch, before I got it right. I wrote the first version of Fracture frantically from July-October of 2009, signed with my agent in November 2009, had a good talk with her about what wasn’t working (okay, make that several talks), rewrote, twice, from scratch, and went out on sub in May, 2010. Walker/Bloomsbury pre-empted, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

4) Read any good books lately? And if so, what? Why did you like them? I’ve read a lot of great books recently! Here are a few 2012 debuts that I’ve recently read that I’m really excited about: UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi, DITCHED by Robin Mellon, and SLIDE by Jill Hathaway – all different types of YA books, but each completely compelling. And I recently read a middle grade, THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST, by Sarvenaz Tash, that I can’t wait for my kids to be old enough for.

5) A lot of people are either querying or on sub. Do you have any advice for them as opposed to the 'don't give up' standard advice? Don’t give up is great advice, sure. But I’d throw in a caveat: hear the feedback. From there, my strongest piece of advice would be: do not fear the delete key. (Not that this is advice for someone on sub to publishers…for them, I’d say: do something else, whatever it takes, to keep your mind off being on sub!)

6) Do you have any quirky personality traits? Can you do anything weird or funny? Oh, I’m sure I do. I’m also sure I don’t even realize that I have them. Which probably makes a lot of things I do funny. Awkward-funny, at least.

7) Because I do a Cover of the Week on my blog, tell me a cover that blew you away - except your own fantastic one!
The cover of Imaginary Girls. The colors, the mood, everything. It was stunning, and it was also the perfect cover for the story.

Quick fire questions;
Reality TV or Soaps? Neither. I don’t watch TV (it’s weird, I know!)
Hair up or down? Up (due to laziness).
Dogs or cats? Cats.
Windows or Mac? Windows.

Thanks for having me, Chanelle! Can’t wait to read your debut as well!

FRACTURE is out in the world TODAY, people! Click here to order it from Amazon. Check out my review of the book here too. You can also choose to pick FRACTURE as your prize if you win my giveaway. There's still time to enter!

The YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes!!

2012-01-16T11:54:00.002Z

Hey everyone! And welcome to my blog stop in this amazing race! I swear, my part is so super easy. It really is. I wish I had a cover to stick up here, but alas, not yet.

Anyway, the YAmazing Race starts off at the Apocalypsie Blog and goes through some amazing debut author blogs and websites! Many of these stops (like mine) include little competitions and giveaways. But all of them give you information you will need in order to answer a series of questions at the end to get the HUGE prize pack! Trust me, you want it.

So, to give you what you came here for... some information on my upcoming release!

MY HEART BE DAMNED
Add to Goodreads.

Amerie Carter has the bloodline of a Hunter – unfortunately. The day Amerie hits sixteen, she’ll have the power to hunt the Damned – a group of escaped souls from Hell who take up residence in human bodies. Never has she dreaded a birthday more. And when the dreaded day finally arrives, Amerie is left mentor-less and motherless when her mother is killed.

So she quits. All evidence of being a Hunter is locked away in boxes under the bed and in the back of her mind. Who wants to deal with blood and death anyway? Amerie’s way more interested in school and the mysterious guy at her new job, Marshall. Though he’s everything she can’t stand, there’s a pull neither can ignore.

When the Damned start showing up wherever Amerie is, hell bent on killing her, Marshall comes to the rescue and Amerie finds that he’s not what she first thought. Marshall claims to be a helping hand and convinces her to begin Hunting again. He knows which Damned killed her mother. As Amerie focuses on revenge, Marshall focuses on deceit. And his secret could be more destructive to Amerie than all the Damned in the world combined.

And voila. The answer you need is somewhere in that description of my book. But WAIT! There's more. For stopping by here and basically being amazing, I'm giving away a pre-order of my book! Yep! Just comment on this post and I'll enter you in a draw to win. Winner will be announced next Monday.

That's all really! I hope you all had a great stop here, and I can't wait to see you all at the finish line! Next stop...EMILY DANFORTH!!

Cover of the Week (17)

2012-01-15T14:06:00.004Z

After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.

What a cover. I've loved it for a long time, and I keep flicking past it on my Goodreads Shelves and pausing at it's haunting beauty. The story itself sounds fantastic too. Sounds dark and wonderful - just my kind of thing. I think what I like about the cover so much is its simplicity. And the milky, murky water. Definitely creepy.

'Katana' review

2012-01-11T19:20:00.001Z

Katana by Cole Gibsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release Date: March 8th, 2012.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this when I first started reading. And was even more apprehensive because the author is a fellow Apocalypsie and the last thing I wanted was to read their book and not like it. But that was not the case here. From start to finish, I was never bored. Plenty of action and building romance to keep the book going.

Katana was a long book. It did take me quite a while to get through. And the biggest issue I found was that I didn't really get a sense of urgency out of it. So while I was stopping and starting, there wasn't a burning question I needed answering to tempt me into picking back up the book. But once I did, I was captivated by the story and the writing.

The main character is a stubborn and strong-willed girl called Rileigh. Her best friend is a quite stereotypical gay boy who is a supportive secondary character, but at the same time, doesn't add much to the story. I liked him, though. I mostly liked Rileigh, but there were parts of her that irritated me. The whole 'maybe I should think about that, but actually I won't' happened often. Maybe if she had of stopped and considered the information she had, she'd have been happier in the long run.

I thought Kim was a great love interest, even though I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. This, though, was a common thought I shared with Rileigh, so perhaps his character was supposed to be that way. I was pretty torn about their relationship, though. I wanted to be on board with it because he was sweet and their training/fighting was pretty hot. On the other hand, though, his feelings weren't for her - they were for the person she used to be. And her feelings for him were forced onto her by the presence of the person she used to be. I felt like they were slaves to the past, you know?

The twist of who the bad guy was, wasn't a twist. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a twist or not because I guessed it from the start.

Mostly, I did enjoy this. The fight scenes were done very well. I loved Rileigh's arc of learning who she was, and although I didn't like the other samurai's much, certainly not enough to care what happened with them, I appreciated their role in the story. The climax of the novel was great too.

All in all, four worthy stars! I look forward to the sequel. A great debut. Pre-order from Amazon..

View all my reviews

New Release: Destiny's Fire

2012-01-10T21:03:00.003Z

Yes, check out this amazing new release by Apocalypsie Trisha Wolfe! And, I had the amazing opportunity to host an interview with her! Check it out.

1) For all those who don't know, can you tell us what your novel DESTINY'S FIRE is about please?
 It's kind of difficult to explain. I'd like to say its Steampunk with a side of Paranormal, or Paranormal with a shot of Dystopian, but that just doesn't capture the novel as a whole. Imagine our world in the future, except instead of electricity, futuristic devices are run on steam. However, it wasn't because of humans these gadgets came to be. The Narcolyms, a shape-shifting race whose magic was used thousands of years ago to guard the pharaohs of Egypt, used their power—Flame—to usher in the steam era. The Narcos are in a centuries old war with the Shythe, the race of shape-shifting Kythan who have to hide their electric power from the humans of their world. And Dez, a seventeen-year-old Shythe girl, has a secret she must hide from everyone. But keeping her secret while trying to keep herself, her mom, and her friends safe becomes nearly impossible when the Narcos come to her haven on a Peace Act mission. Oh yeah, and there’s hot guys and kissing.

2) It sounds great! How did you get the idea to write it?

Thanks, Chanelle! Well, I love so many different genres, and I’ve written different stories in different genres, so when I sat down one day and started jotting ideas, things that I loved from each genre just came together. That’s why DF is so hard to classify lol. But I think readers can put it into the category they feel it belongs. I’ll leave it in their hands ;)

3) Can you tell us what your journey to publishment was like?

Crazy! For a few months, I queried my first novel while I wrote a second. Then, I queried the second novel while I wrote DF. I had a few interested agents, but no deal. But I believed in this story and the characters so much that I didn’t want to shelf it with the rest, so I began to sub it to houses myself. After only submitting it to three houses, Omnific Publishing picked it up fairly quickly. This process took two years. Writing, querying, writing, querying, subbing. I don’t think I saw the outside world more than twice lol.

The funny thing? After I found a home for DF one of the agents I queried made an offer. But she was so in love with the story, and had faith in my writing, that she signed me on an outline and partial of my fourth book. It feels amazing to have her in my corner now.

4) Read any good books lately? And if so, what? Why did you like them?

Yes! THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS. LOVED it! I’m such a huge ran of Fantasy. I love getting lost in different worlds, and the setting of this book is amazing. And the MC, Elisa, she’s such an original character and unlikely heroine, yet strong and brave, I just fell in love with her. Rae Carson is a brilliant author. I enjoyed her writing style so much and I look forward to her future works.

5) A lot of people are either querying or on sub. Do you have any advice for them as opposed to the 'don't give up' standard advice?

Honestly, I think the best thing to do while you’re waiting is to keep writing. I hear this so much, but it’s true. You have to keep yourself busy, and, with each book you write, you get better. Don’t put it all on one novel, waiting to get noticed. Keeping writing new and better stories. Even if that one novel gets picked up, you want to have another project going for your agent or house. Especially if you get an agent. There’s no guarantee that you novel will be sold to a house. So just keep writing.

6) Do you have a quirky personality traits? Can you do anything weird or funny?

Ha! Well, a lot of people have told me, many times, that I talk really fast . . . and too much. I’m always asked to slow down. When I get excited, I just go!

7) Because I do a Cover of the Week on my blog, tell me a cover that blew you away.

Jordan Dane’s ON A DARK WING! HarlequinTeen did an amazing job capturing the Angel of Death on this cover. It’s gorgeous, and the back of the jacket flap has such an ominous and startling feel. It really captures the essence of this story.

Thanks so much for having me, Chanelle! These questions were so much fun, and I can’t wait to read your debut MY HEART BE DAMNED.

Links:
Website: http://trishawolfe.com
Blog: http://trishawolfe.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/trishwolfe
Facebook Fan Page: http://facebook.com/trishawolfeya
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/twolfe
YouTube: http://youtube.com/trishawolfeya

You can also buy Destiny's Fire here.

Anonymous = Spam? Goodreads = War?

2012-01-07T13:35:00.004Z

I've been getting quite a few spam posts since I turned off the word verification option. And they all come from Anonymous users. Over the past few weeks, I've been watching to see whether any actual people made comments using Anonymous accounts. They didn't. So I'm turning it off for a while. Hopefully it won't stop people posting, but let me know if you think I should turn it back on.

Now, onto a brief word on my view on the Goodreads wars that have been kicking off. It's actually been brewing for quite a while. I'm going to make some points and then I'm not going to say anything else on the matter. As both a reviewer and a writer, I feel like I fall slap bang in the middle. I feel, maybe, a little unbiased compared to others.

If you're going to review a book, be professional, be gracious, be honest, and be respectful. That book is someone's blood, sweat and tears. Their baby, their enemy, their best friend. It takes A LOT of work to make a book. And sometimes it can feel like someone is being nasty about your child when you read a bad review. So remember that when you're writing one. It's not to say you can't be honest, but are the swear words every other sentence really necessary? Is bringing personal attributes of the author necessary?

Not everyone is going to like a book. Not everyone is going to get that you, as an author, were trying to be funny, sarcastic, ironic, smart, original. People will take what they will from a novel and form an opinion. If it's a bad opinion, so be it. Don't waste time you could be spending writing another book, responding to fanmail, reaching out to your readers online, responding to negative reviews. Leave it be. Definitely do not take it so personally you launch hate campaigns on certain reviewers on your blog or twitter. Definitely don't make it personal.

Many of you reviewers would like to be writers one day, right? Of course there are those that don't. Put yourself in the shoes of the writer whose book you're about to trash. Remember that while you do it for free right now, they are trying to make a business out of something they love. It's not wrong for them to want positive reviews to outshine a negative one. It's not wrong that they want their book page to shine. This information shouldn't be a surprise to you.

Can we learn to respect each other? I've written reviews of books and an author has graciously accepted the negatives I pointed out, along with the positives. They've held up their hands and agreed with me. I've seen reviewers comment on positive reviews and argue with someone's opinion on the book. Don't do that. We're all human. We all have feelings and thoughts. But our opinions are different. Bear that in mind.

Basically, if you see something that makes you want to curse and yell and throw things, perhaps it's best you take a few deep breaths, give it a couple days and see how you feel then. No point in making a huge online drama that, you never know, might end up hurting you in the long run. This goes for BOTH authors and reviewers. It's okay to have a bad opinion on something, but if you absolutely have to say it, say it professionally.

That is all.

Have a nice weekend!

'Lola and the Boy Next Door' review

2011-12-31T15:17:00.002Z

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It must be so hard to have your debut book be SO successful because anything else you come out with has to be just as good, if not better. I don't think Perkins hit the mark with Lola. But that's not to say I didn't enjoy reading the book. I did. But while I liked this novel, I absolutely LOOOVED Anna.

I didn't like Lola as a character. At all. She was spoilt and selfish and really quite immature. I do think she hid behind her costumes and wanted to stand out and be different because she's not going to stand out as the beautiful one, like her neighbour Calliope. She's not going to be the smart one, or the one with the best body. So she'll be the one who wears the weird outfits. Fine, that's fine. I could handle that if she wasn't so effing stubborn! Everyone around her could tell how bad her boyfriend was for her, and even she had doubts, but she still strung him along. I actually felt bad for Max. He deserved more. I felt like he was given these bad points so the readers wouldn't feel so angry towards Lola for having feelings for Cricket.

As for Cricket, I found him sweet, strange and incredibly unrealistic of a male character! I wanted to believe in him, but I didn't. I couldn't. Everything he did was so...eye roll worthy. He was TOO perfect. TOO odd. But I did enjoy reading about him, so I suppose that made up for it. I think when he was doing her hair, that kind of put the icing on the cake for me. I did like his sister, though. I found her quite realistic in her attitude and her dislike of Lola.

Oh and I loooved Lola's dads. I found them both great characters to read about and they were incredibly realistic of protective parents. Max was definitely right. One father is bad, but two?! Terrifying. And though they were strict, I found them lovely. And their attitude towards Lola and her boyfriend's did make me like Lola a little more for having to deal with it. I want my dad to bake pies!

Although I didn't really enjoy reading about Lola as a character, I did like the story and it kept me entertained the whole time. I wanted Lola and Cricket to get together, because they were right for each other, but Cricket definitely deserved better. I liked that Perkins didn't hold back when it came to her characters and their feelings.

4 out of 5 stars. I'll definitely be checking out Isla. You can buy this from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

View all my reviews

'New Girl' review

2011-12-27T13:16:00.003Z

New Girl by Paige Harbison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release Date: January 31st, 2012

I'm surprisingly impressed with this book. Not because I thought it would be bad. I read Here Lies Bridget by Harbison and enjoyed it earlier this year, but I loved this book. The characters were all very real, the plot was engaging, the setting was enthralling. Overall, a great read.

Callie, who is not referred to by name until the end of the book, is the New Girl at Manderly boarding school. A posh school she wanted to attend when she was young and had first seen Harry Potter. Though she didn't know, her mother had been applying every year for a position at the exclusive school, even when Callie was no longer interested in going. Then, in senior year, a place finally becomes available and Callie has no choice but to go. She soon realises, when she gets there, that the only reason a spot became available is because a girl went missing, a very popular, beautiful girl. And Callie's taken her place.

Callie was a great lead female in the sense that she was quite realistic. She wasn't strong all the time, but she had her moments where she stood up for herself. I felt really sorry for her. Her room mate was this crazed girl who wanted their room to remain a 'Becca' shrine and wouldn't leave Callie to just make friends and enjoy her senior year. Dana was a raging bitch, setting Callie up for ridicule and had a weird infatuation with her missing bff. The other characters all had this awe and respect for Becca too. This kind of loyalty to her which meant Callie was always the unwanted replacement.

Then you have the guys. Max and Johnny. Through a series of chapters told in Becca's POV, the readers learn about her sordid relationship with them both. What really was as opposed to what the rest of the school thought was. Max was supposed to be Becca's boyfriend. Their relationship was supposed to be perfect. It wasn't. Max is supposed to be off limits to Callie. She's not supposed to want him. She does. He's a strange Love Interest. He was sexy, and handsome, and charming. But he had a temper, and he was quite a wreck. He always did and said the wrong thing. But Callie was hooked. I couldn't really blame her.

There's quite a bit of swearing throughout and a lot of sexual references. I felt it added to the story, but I know others aren't such a fan. So there's your warning. Becca's sexual exploits were pretty detailed. Her first time with Max. Her times with Johnny. But Callie's own experiences were brushed over. I felt like as the MC, we should know more about Callie's life than Becca's. As though Harbison didn't want the readers to have negative thoughts on Callie because she had sex with a boy who wasn't her boyfriend.

The story was very thrilling in the sense that, as a reader, we had no idea what had happened to Becca. Was she dead? Was this a ploy? Would she come back? As the story unravelled, so did what happened to Becca and we're left with a satisfying explanation and ending.

All in all, a great read. I recommend to those who like thriller contemps. My only negative would be that although the writing was great and helped with the enjoyment of the novel, it was often quite jumpy. I was unsure of who was saying what sometimes or where the characters were going, standing, sitting etc. Except that, I read the whole thing in one sitting and was thoroughly impressed. 5 stars. Pre-order on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

View all my reviews

To-Be-Read Shelf (12)

2011-12-26T16:10:00.004Z

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great holiday break. I think I ate my weight's worth in food. But I also got some great books for Christmas. Thought it best to update the shelf!

As always, please turn off adblocker on this page to see the pretty covers!

Gifted

Imaginary Girls

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Possess

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.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Hourglass

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Shatter Me

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy)

Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive.

For Review

The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind

Sixteen-year-old Sonia Ocampo was born on the night of the worst storm Tres Montes had ever seen. And when the winds mercifully stopped, an unshakable belief in the girl's protective powers began. All her life, Sonia has been asked to pray for sick mothers or missing sons, as worried parents and friends press silver milagros in her hands. Sonia knows she has no special powers, but how can she disappoint those who look to her for solace? Still, her conscience is heavy, so when she gets a chance to travel to the city and work in the home of a wealthy woman, she seizes it. At first, Sonia feels freedom in being treated like all the other girls. But when news arrives that her beloved brother has disappeared while looking for work, she learns to her sorrow that she can never truly leave the past or her family behind.

Katana

Rileigh Martin would love to believe that adrenaline gave her the uncanny courage and strength to fend off three muggers. But it doesn’t explain her dreams of fifteenth century Japan, the incredible fighting skills she suddenly possesses, or the strange voice giving her battle tips and danger warnings. While worrying that she’s going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she’s harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.

Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana--a deadly Japanese sword that’s also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she’s always been and embracing the warrior inside her.

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life.

New Girl

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

Slide

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.

Betrayal (Haunting Emma)

Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great when she's battling the wraith-master Neos, but terrible when she's flirting with fellow ghostkeeper (and soul mate) Bennett. When ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power, and that's not something Bennett can handle. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school with fellow ghostkeeper Natalie. When a new team of ghostkeepers arrive-one a snarky teen boy, the other a British scholar-Emma finds solace in training for the battle against Neos. But as the team grows stronger, they are threatened by an unknown force. One they thought was good.

This Is Not Forgiveness

Everyone says that Caro is bad ...but Jamie can't help himself. He thinks of her night and day and can't believe that she wants to be his girlfriend. Gorgeous, impulsive and unconventional, she is totally different to all the other girls he knows. His sister, Martha, hates her. Jamie doesn't know why, but there's no way he's going to take any notice of her warnings to stay away from Caro. But as Jamie falls deeper and deeper under her spell, he realises there is more to Caro - much more. There are the times when she disappears and doesn't get in touch, the small scars on her wrists, her talk about revolutions and taking action, not to mention the rumours he hears about the other men in her life. And then always in the background there is Rob, Jamie's older brother, back from Afghanistan and traumatised after having his leg smashed to bits there. Jamie wants to help him, but Rob seems to be living in a world of his own and is increasingly difficult to reach. With Caro, the summer should have been perfect ...but that isn't how things work out in real life, and Jamie is going to find out the hard way.

After Obsession

Aimee and Alan have secrets. Both teens have unusual pasts and abilities they prefer to keep hidden. But when they meet each other, in a cold Maine town, they can't stop their secrets from spilling out. Strange things have been happening lately, and they both feel that something-or someone- is haunting them. They're wrong. Despite their unusual history and powers, it's neither Aimee nor Alan who is truly haunted. It's Alan's cousin Courtney who, in a desperate plea to find her missing father, has invited a demon into her life-and into her body. Only together can Aimee and Alan exorcise the ghost. And they have to move quickly, before it devours not just Courtney but everything around her.

Bought

Phew! What's on your TBR shelf?

Cover of the Week (16)

2011-12-21T14:03:00.003Z

This electrifying new trilogy blends the best of paranormal and dystopian storytelling in a world where the war is over. And the vampires won.

Humans huddle in their walled cities, supplying blood in exchange for safety. But not even that is guaranteed. Dawn has lost her entire family and now reluctantly serves as the delegate to Lord Valentine, the most powerful vampire for miles. It isn’t until she meets Victor, Valentine’s son, that she realizes not all vampires are monsters....

Whoa, look at that beautiful cover! I love, love, love the font. Absolutely stunning. Especially the backwards R. The girl in the dark dress and pale skin is quite similar to the cover of Fallen, but this book sounds absolutely fantastic. Dark and haunting and VAMPIRES! How I've missed them. Is the break over? Please let it be over.

How to Lose Readers and Allienate People

2011-12-20T16:44:00.003Z

(Blog title stolen from the film of the kind of same name...)

As a bit of a forewarning to this blog post, it is not a rant, and it is not supposed to make any individual feel bad, and it will not mention names. It is my own opinion and it is a topic of conversation I hope we can discuss in the comments.

As a soon to be published author, I've been thinking a lot about how to promote my book, how to use my social networking sites properly, and how to gain readers. I've been taking note of other authors who debuted recently, seeing how they managed to a) put their work out there and b) deal with reviews, comments, fans afterwards. I saw a lot of good methods, but I saw a lot of bad ones too. So here is my list on good and bad ways to be an author...

The Good

Setting up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and Goodreads accounts to that they are easily accessible by anyone who might want to ask them a question, find out more information on them, talk to them! The author regularly updates their accounts (or as much as they can given a) real life constraints and b) writing deadlines etc) and always responds to good feedback or reader queries.
Sticking around on forums they joined when they were an unknown hopeful wanting to learn about the trade. This is an easy way to get into conversation with mass potential readers and people who have seen you back before you were published and you make an effort with, are more likely to want to go and support you by buying your book. Because isn't that the plan?
Helping to promote fellow authors work and not solely focused on their own stuff. Writing up blog posts when it's the release date of another book. Discussing covers they love and posting reviews of other books they loved and enjoyed. Word of mouth is the best kind of advertisement, right?
Staying humble and remembering that being successful in publishing isn't just about writing a great book and having a good team behind them. Without the readers, an author has nothing. It's great when authors remember to thank their readers when they get a second print run, or reach the top of the best-seller list!!
Responding to emails, however long it'll end up taking the author. As readers, people are aware that unless your main job is to write and you have no kids/husband/dogs etc, their going to have little free time to answer their legions of fanmail. Which makes it all the better when the author does answer.

The Bad

Acting unprofessionally online by a) responding to bad reviews by ranting and insisting the reader just didn't 'get' the book or by b) talking about subject matters that are offensive or belittling of any one person or group.
Going through their twitter and unfollowing all the 'nobodies' they followed before they got published and now want to have their 'following' number way less than their 'followers' number by sacrificing the people that stuck by them from the beginning.
Only using their social networking sites to talk about their book and it's release date, cover, second print run, awards and yay! it made the best seller list! But also forgetting to be gracious.
Forgetting to acknowledge - in their book - the people who helped them before they were agented/published by reading through their early drafted manuscript and giving them feedback on how to improve, feedback they actually used.
Having a clique mentality and only conversing, in great lengthy time frames, with other published authors or people invited to their secret forum, while ignoring others who want to join in on the public discussion.

The Grey Area

To everything I mentioned above in The Bad section, there are always explanations if an author may exhibit one of those points. For example...

The author was having a really bad day and the last bad review, purposely sent to them on Twitter was the last straw and they had to comment.
No author, public eye or not, should be treated badly, given abuse, personally attacked by a reader because the reader didn't like the book, or cover, or any other reason. The author is well within their rights to block or unfollow you.
Same goes for people the author unfollows because they a) don't speak to anymore, for whatever reason and b) who uses their own twitter for offensive or unprofessional rants.
Authors have lives and, most times, jobs and families. They do not have endless amounts of hours to respond to fanmail, tweets, emails, comments on their website, Goodreads and Facebooks. The author is only human, afterall, and readers shouldn't be offended if their comment is missed.
As a reader, wouldn't you prefer that the author be working on the next book in the series than sitting on Twitter and talking to you all day? Or responding to emails? I know I would.
And lastly, authors have publicists. You never know, maybe they were asked to unfollow poeple by the powers that be! Maybe they aren't allowed to give interviews on your blog, or offer up every person who asks an ARC. Maybe they've been told to stay off Forums and Facebook because their deadline is rapidly approaching and they have a book tour to go on.

So yes, while this was most of the information I collated (and hope to stick in the Good area of!) there are explanations if any of the Bad author behaviour happens. And in a perfect world, every author would be your ideal of an author, but like I said above, we are all only human and make mistakes. I only hope my blog post informs people who maybe didn't know that there are two sides to every story.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

'Fracture' review

2011-12-19T17:09:00.002Z

Fracture by Megan Miranda

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release Date: January 17th 2012 - US or 5th January 2012 - UK.

So I'm not sure what to say about this book except that I really enjoyed it!!

Delaney Maxwell is a kind of anti-heroine. She's called beautiful by a few guys, but she doesn't see herself that way. Instead, she's a nerdy girl whose clothes are too small and whose waist keeps expanding. She's also a girl who has a crippling over-protective mother. But if your daughter almost died, I'm sure you'd be over-protective too.

The book starts with Delaney waking up in hospital. She remembers how she got there. The first few chapters are very fractured (see what I did there?). She's waking up from a coma. She's learning that she should be dead. She's remembering why she should be dead. She's having lots of conversations with doctors etc. To be honest, the hospital scenes were not my favourite. I felt the story spent too much time there, and once it moved out of the hospital THAT's when things started looking up.

Enter Decker. Delaney's best friend. Her next door neighbour. I loved him. She loved him, just didn't want to admit it to herself. It was his fault why she was on the ice in the first place. He left her to walk across alone and she slipped - the clumsy girl she is - and the ice cracked. While she drowned, their friends held Decker back to stop him trying to save her and drowning too. Until they finally found a rope and Decker made it to the hole where he fell, got dragged back by his friends, Delaney's dead body in tow. Decker is Delaney's hero. Her saviour. It's him who doesn't leave her side at the hospital. Him who sticks by her and cares for her. Him who saves her time and time again. He was the best part of this novel.

There's a big moral dilemma that occurs in this book. If you know someone is going to die, and it's probably going to be painful, do you try and help them die peacefully? Do you try to save them or warn them, even if the end result means the death is worse than it maybe would have been? Or do you stand by and do nothing? Let nature take its course. The same dilemma occurred in The Mark, but wasn't executed nearly as well as here.

I kind of liked Delaney. And I kind of didn't. She was weird, and not in a quirky way. In a socially awkward, emotionally messed up, unfriendly and unsympathetic way. She was selfish, mostly. Her mother and father struggled to help her and she didn't make it any easier. She wouldn't come out and tell Decker how she really felt about him, even though she knew he needed to hear it. She used Janna to help her study and then wanted nothing more to do with her. Despite all of that, I wanted Delaney to do well and survive and be safe. Miranda did a good job in making me feel very conflicted about her characters, because I also liked/disliked the mother and Troy - but he's something else altogether.

All in all, a great read. I devoured this in a day and couldn't put it down. The book dealt well with the moral dilemma and didn't make it come across like being in a philosophy lesson. The relationships were all very realistic and there was enough action, mystery and suspense to keep me on the edge of my seat. I was desperate to see how it all came together, and was not disappointed when it did.

5 stars. I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys a contemporary read with the right about of suspense.

Pre-order it now from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

View all my reviews

'Hallowed' review

2011-12-18T15:24:00.002Z

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Release Date: 17th January 2012 - US or 2nd January 2012 - UK

Not as intense as the first, but still a great, entertaining and suspense filled read.

Hallowed takes place a few days/weeks after the fire of the end book. Clare is still with Tucker and crazy in love. She's still struggling to get answers out of mother and still dealing with a moody brother. Except now, she's dreaming about a graveyard and there's two people missing from the crowd around her. Her mother and Tucker. Who's funeral is it? And why is Christian the one holding her hand?

The biggest threat of this book was Samjeeza - the Dark Wing. At times he can be a bit 'moustache-twirling' evil in a way that isn't quite realistic, but generally, he's an okay character. There's one scene that Clara and Samjeeza face off in and it's suspenseful in a way where as a reader you're on edge wondering how it'll all go down.

This book was very emotional. There were a lot of times I was close to tears. I could feel Clara's pain, and her confusion as she tried to work out which funeral she'd be attending in the Spring. Not to mention her conflicting feelings about Tucker, her boyfriend she keeps accidentally putting in danger, and Christian, the one she's destined to be with and her only equal. I'm still firmly Team Christian by the way!

Tucker and Christian both develop in this book, but especially Christian. Clara also learns who she truly is and we are finally introduced to her father, who is a great addition and also not what I quite imagined! I do feel like the side characters took a back seat in this one. Clara barely had time for herself, let alone her friends. Wendy, especially, suffered. I felt her character was only written into a few scenes so it wouldn't seem like Clara had forgotten about her, but in reality, she had. It's understandable that Clara, with everything on her plate, would let her studies and friendships drop, but that should be explored instead of masked over.

All in all, a great book. Not quite as good as the first. But definitely a strong sequel and if there is a third, I hope it deals with her time in Stanford! 4.5 stars. Pre-order it on Amazon UK or Amazon US

View all my reviews

Christmas Book Wishlist

2011-12-13T20:55:00.003Z

That's right. I have a wishlist.

People, advance warning, please turn off adblocker on this blog otherwise you won't get to see the books on my wishlist!!

I've been wanting this one a while. And while we're at it, the sequel would be good too!

Hadn't heard much about this until recently. And it's gotten such good reviews from everyone I've spoken to about it.

Not technically out yet, but I still want it! One of my favourite book series.

Again, been wanting this one a while.

Anna and the French Kiss was perfection. I'm so excited to read this one.

I NEED THIS! That is all.

Not released yet, but I gotta see how it ends.

Once again, another series I've enjoyed. I'll see it through to the end.

Need I say more?

Heard such good things about this one.

Looove the sound of this one.

Very intrigued to see how the first continues into this one.

How can you not want to read about werewolves on the Titanic?!

And that's it for now folks. What's on your Christmas list? If you blog about it, be sure to come back and link to it in the comments! I'll come by and comment on each one of your links.

'Under the Never Sky' review

2011-12-12T11:30:00.001Z

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release Date: January 3rd 2012

Another amazing 2012 debut.

This book starts with a bang. I felt like I was on a roller-coaster of emotions as I read this. Sometimes I was excited. Other times I was frustrated. Other times enthralled. Other times anxious. It was great!

Under the Never Sky is told from dual POVs. Aria, a girl born and raised in a highly tech filled Pod created to protect the citizens from the lethal Aether polluting the air outside. And Perry, an Outsider who hunts and lives in a world filled with tribes and enhanced senses. When the two collide, there's definitely good and bad fireworks.

At first, I was more interested in reading the chapters from Aria's POV. I found her world and her take on the world to be easier and better to read. Perry's chapters were a little slow and a little full of angst. His devotion and care for his nephew was sweet, but at the same time, not too interesting to read about. However, the plot definitely starts to take off when his nephew is kidnapped and he is forced to work with a shunned Aria to get him back.

The book wasn't too long, and didn't read long. But there was so much that happened in the pages that it felt like two books worth of development. Which is good. Rossi manages to realistically develop her characters and their relationships. I love when two characters start off hating each other and then the feelings start to change. It was wonderful to read about. It was also very intriguing to read about their journey and learning things as Aria does. This world was a fascinating one.

The writing itself was easy to read and lovely to picture. Everything was described well, and I had a real image of everything happening. There were certain things I'd have liked expanded upon. For example, the tribe locations and the Aether. There were also a few characters I would have liked expanded upon too. Vale for one. Marron, as another. And definitely Cinder - who was named rather appropriately. Currently, it seems his only purpose was to save the duo in impossible circumstances and to prove that Perry wasn't the Savage Aria thought he was by helping Cinder when he was injured.

All in all though, I really enjoyed this. I cannot wait for the sequel and feel very proud to be part of the Apocalypsies with Rossi! Definitely pick this one up if you like sci-fi dystopians with a well developed romance. Pre-order this one on Amazon.

View all my reviews

The BIG Apocalypsie Giveaway!!

2011-12-11T15:03:00.005Z

It's coming up to 2012, and what better way to celebrate that then to host a giveaway featuring all of the books coming out in 2012?!

As my book is one of those books, I need to start getting my title on people's minds, on their TBR shelves. And you guys are going to help me do that in return of getting some books!

Here's what's on offer to win...

ANY pre-order or order of an Apocalypsie book. To find what's on that shelf, you can check out the blog, or either this Goodreads shelf or this one. I've also been lucky enough to review a few Apocalypsie books. You can check those out here.

And...there will be FIVE winners. That's five chances of winning!

So, to enter in with a chance of winning this, here's the only thing you need to do.

PROMOTE MY BOOK!!

That's right. If you do one of these following things, you're in for a chance of winning.

1) Tweet about my book, including a link to my blog and Goodreads page.
2) Blog about my book, including a link to my blog and Goodreads page.
3) Make a Facebook post about my book, including a link to my blog and Goodreads page.

You can use the following template:

Be sure to check out Chanelle Gray's debut 'My Heart Be Damned' on her blog: http://chanellegray.blogspot.com/ or Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12578568-my-heart-be-damned.

That's it. Simple, right? You can, however, get an extra entry each by doing the following.

1) Add my book to your Goodreads shelves.
2) Be a follower of this blog.
3) Comment on this blog post.
4) Comment on three of my other blog posts.
5) Tweet about this contest (max five times - fill out the form again if you do).
6) Voting for my book on this and this list.
7) Be a follower of the Apocolaypsie blog.

Easy peasy. As long as Book Depo delivers to you, you can enter. Here's the form. The deadline for this is the...

27TH JANUARY 2012.

Good luck! I'd also love to hear which Apocalypsie books you're most looking forward to.

Cover of the Week (15)

2011-12-10T19:15:00.003Z

Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving.

Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

I think it's all the blue and black that intrigues me with this. I love the font of the title and the couple running in the middle! Looks very thrilling and intriguing. And that symbol floating near the top. Great! Story sounds interesting too. False Memory releases August 14th 2012.

New Releases!!

2011-12-06T21:08:00.002Z

Today, two fabulous releases have been set free into the world. And they are...

HUSHED by Kelley York

He’s saved her. He’s loved her. He’s killed for her.

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants… And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption

And LARKSTORM by Dawn Rae Miller

In the years following the destructive Long Winter, when half the world’s population perished, the State remains locked in battle against the Sensitives: humans born with extra abilities.

As one of the last descendants of the State’s Founders, seventeen-year-old Lark Greene knows her place: study hard and be a model citizen so she can follow in her family’s footsteps. Her life’s been set since birth, and she’s looking forward to graduating and settling down with Beck, the boy she’s loved longer than she can remember.

However, after Beck is accused of being Sensitive and organizing an attack against Lark, he disappears. Heartbroken and convinced the State made a mistake, Lark sets out to find him and clear his name.

But what she discovers is more dangerous and frightening than Sensitives: She must kill the boy she loves, unless he kills her first.

I haven't actually read either yet, but they are definitely on my TBR shelf. Look out for giveaways coming to this blog featuring the two books, and a blog tour with Dawn! Don't both of these books sound great?