The Book Pixie

In My Mailbox (113)

2012-01-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Bought at Walmart for $3.97
~Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (HC)

For Review from Author
~Scary School by Derek the Ghost

RAK Gift from Sarah
~ARC Ditched by Robin Mellom

Free on Kindle
~Moon Spell by Samantha Young
~The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton

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So that is what I got this week folks. Actually just picked up Wintergirls today and couldn't believe Walmart had the hardcover of it for only $3.97! Hope you all got some great books this week! :D

Waiting on Wednesday!

2012-01-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Dangerous Boy
Mandy Hubbard
Razorbill
August 30th, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Harper’s new boyfriend Logan Townsend is everything she never knew she always wanted—tall, muscular, with tousled brown hair that falls effortlessly around his face. But what’s most exciting about Logan is that he’s exhilaratingly dangerous, and dating him allows Harper to say, “buh bye” to her good-girl past and “hello” to newfound adventure.

There’s only one problem with Harper’s otherwise heart-stopping romance: Logan’s twin brother Daemon. Harper knows he’s a bad seed, but she tries to look past his dark, icy stare and his chilling demeanor. After all, he and Logan are a package deal.

Then cow bones start appearing in people’s mailboxes, a flock of birds show up dead, and all of the cars in the senior parking lot are given flat tires—and covered with blood-red handprints. Logan insists that Daemon isn’t involved—sure, he’s had some trouble in the past, but they moved to Harper’s quiet northwest Washington town so that they could both start over.

Harper desperately wants to believe Logan, but the more he tries to protect his brother, the more she wonders what she isn’t being told. Now, Harper must unearth the hidden secrets of the mysterious Townsend brothers’ history if she and Logan are to have any hope of a future. But learning what brought Logan and Daemon to town won’t put just her heart in jeopardy... She’s playing with her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay this sounds like one thrilling and mysterious read, two qualities I love in a book. I've yet to read anything by Mandy Hubbard but I've really been wanting to. I think this is going to be a great book and I look forward to it releasing. Really like the cover too. :D

Designs by The Book Pixie (A Shameless Act of Self Promo)

2012-01-23T18:44:00.001-05:00

Because I'm bored and don't have much else to post today, I figured I'd tell you all about Designs by The Book Pixie. So in October 2010 I started making these things called bookthongs; these pretty, fancy little articles of lingerie for your book's crack. Then over this past Winter Break I expanded to making necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. I keep photos of everything I make on Facebook and you can order from me by emailing me your order and paying through paypal. Here are just a few examples of things I've made so far (all of which are currently for sale):

Bookthongs (Typically $6)

Necklaces / Sets
(Typically $15 for indidviual Necklace. Necklace & Earring set typically $20. Full set of Necklace, Earrings, and Bracelet is typically $28. Mix & Match allowed for individual items.)

Bracelets (Typically $10)

Earrings (Typically $7)

You can view all current designs and past designs that I've sold HERE. Keep in mind if you see a past design that you really love, I can see about making another custom for you so long as you do plan to buy it. And don't forget to like me on Facebook! And if you see stuff you want, you can get 10% off orders of $20 or more by using this code, which you can give to me when ordering: SAVE10DbTBP

In My Mailbox (112)

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

For Review from Elizabeth
~Phantom Lives by Elizabeth Lorraine

For Review from T.P. Boje
~Beyond by T.P. Boje

For Review from Media Representer
~Blood Warrior by H.D. Gordon

For Review from HarperTeen
~Vesper by Jeff Sampson
~Havoc by Jeff Sampson

RAK Gift from Dani
~Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Got some pretty good books this week and hope you all did too as well. Have a lovely weekend!

Waiting on Wednesday!

2012-01-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Silence
Michelle Sagara West
DAW Hardcover
May 1st, 2012
The Queen of the Dead, #1
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
It began in the graveyard. Ever since her boyfriend Nathan died in a tragic accident Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sounds like it is going to be an exciting and chilling read. And that cover is AH-mazing! I'm looking forward to this one and hope it turns out to be just as good as it looks.

Waiting On Wednesday!

2012-01-11T08:05:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Ordinary Magic
Caitlen Rubino-Bradway
Bloomsbury USA
May 8th, 2012
Middle Grade and Up

Synopsis via Goodreads
The tale of Abby, born into a world where everyone has magical abilities, and where those who possess none – like Abby – “are bad luck, and quite possibly a danger to society. The outlook for an ‘Ord’ (an Ordinary) isn’t bright. Many are cast out by their families, while others are sold to treasure hunters (ords are impervious to spells and enchantments).” Abby is one of the more fortunate ones who are sent to a special school to negotiate a magical world with their particular unmagical “disability” – and to avoid being prey of the kidnappers, carnivores and goblins ready to prey upon the Ords.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really enjoy me a good middle grade book and this one sounds like it is going to be a delightfully fun and enjoyable read. Plus the cover is so lovely and colorful! This is definitely one I can't wait to read!

Noteworthy Passages: Darkness Becomes Her

2012-01-08T07:26:00.000-05:00

Darkness Becomes Her (ARC) by Kelly Keaton
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub. Date: February 22nd 2011
Pages: 273
Series: Gods & Monsters, #1
Age Level: 14/15+
Source: Gift from Lisa

Disclaimer: Please note that this is an ARC and passages and quotes below are subject to change in the final copy.

Synopsis via Goodreads
A dark and lush paranormal romance set in a richly reimagined New Orleans—now in paperback!Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Noteworthy Passages

Ari; pg 1
If I didn't get my act together and calm down, I'd start hyperventilating and embarrass the shit out of myself. Not a good thing, especially when I was sitting in an insane asylum with rooms to spare.

Ari; pg. 34
The house on the corner of First and Coliseum was set in a jungle of trees and overgrown lawn, surrounded by a black iron fence. It was tall and rectangular, two stories high with faded mauve paint, lacy wrought-iron railings and scrollwork along the double porches, and black plantation shutters framing the large windows. A few dim lights shone through the panes, muted by dark curtains, dirt, and grime.
I loved it immediately--beauty shadowed by time and decay, but still standing proud. Yeah, this was my kind of place.

Ari, Dub, Crank; pg. 209
I wished I could've stripped the dress off right then, but I was too damned tired to make it upstairs. One thing I could do was relieve myself of the blade. Standing, I angled my thigh away from the others, lifted the skirt, and removed the blade, setting it and the annoying strap on the side table.
When I turned back, it was to see all eyes on me. "What?"
Dub's pale eyes went from the blade to me. "I really like her."
Crank grinned. "I vote we keep her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you all enjoyed those passages. I figured I'd include bits of the humor and imagery. I truly enjoyed this book and think all fans of the paranormal genre should give it a go. For more on my thoughts you can check out My Review.

Buy Darkness Becomes Her
Hardcover / Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Book Depository

PLEASE NOTE: This is a feature hosted here at my blog in which I present you with selected passages or quotes that I deem Noteworthy from a book I've just reviewed. My hopes are of course, that these passages will make you want to pick the book up and read it. This feature was started and created by me in January in hopes of making my blog more unique. That being said, I would like to kindly request that you do not use this feature as it was intended to be for my blog only and is not a meme. If you see some one else using it, please know it is without my permission. Thank you.

In My Mailbox (111)

2012-01-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Won from Cheryl
~Signed! Hunted by Cheryl Rainfield
~Bonus Story/Comic Postcards

RAK Gift from Grace
~Hereafter by Tara Hudson (Kindle)

RAK Gifts from @Luvdaylilies
~Destined by Jessie Harrell (Kindle)
~Withering Tights by Louise Rennison (Kindle)

RAK Gift from temara
~Ten Things We Did by Sarah Mlynowski (Kindle)

RAK Gift from Christen
~Angelfall by Susan Ee (Kindle)

RAK Gift from Mary
~The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler (Kindle)

RAK Gift from MannaB
~Vesper by Jeff Sampson (Kindle)

Free on Kindle
~Anathema by K.A. Tucker
~Alias Dragonfly by Jane Singer
~Slumber by Samantha Young
~Blood Will Tell by Samantha Young

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I got quite a few great books this week. Thanks to everyone who sent me RAKs for my kindle and thanks the Cheryl for the twitter contest! I hope you all got some fabulous books in your mailbox as well! I'm leaving for college tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my blog a lot better than last semester now that I've had a chance to get used to things and have my own room!

Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

2012-01-07T10:05:00.001-05:00

Darkness Becomes Her (ARC) by Kelly Keaton
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pub. Date: February 22nd 2011
Pages: 273
Series: Gods & Monsters, #1
Age Level: 14/15+
Source: Gift from Lisa

Synopsis via Goodreads
A dark and lush paranormal romance set in a richly reimagined New Orleans—now in paperback!Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Review
Highly original and lushly atmospheric, this exciting story fully encompassed every part of me, leaving me surrounded by distinct characters and the charismatic setting of a New Orleans re-imagined.

Ari was a strong, mature heroine and I connected with her immediately. Her dry wit and subtle fierceness along with her desire to belong and know the truth about her life, past, and family made her quite lovable for me. The only thing that really bugged me was how fast the romance bloomed between Ari and Sebastian; the timing just was not realistic but that seems to be the case with almost all paranormal books I read these days. As for Sebastian, he was a bit too broody moody in the beginning for my taste but I grew to like him rather quickly. There was a moment towards the end where I hated him and was calling him obscenities, but then I realized why he did what he did and took it back. He turned out to be quite a loyal and respectable love interest. There was a slew of impeccably crafted supporting characters as well. My favorite was easily Violet who was at first a little creepy and then, once I knew her story, became this adorable little thing that was fiercely loyal to Ari and wise for her age. I just wanted to pick her up and hug her. Then, of course, there was her pet white alligator, Pascal. Crank was another that I thought was particularly well done and her back-story was so sad. I couldn't help but admire her for her perseverance. Naturally, there is a villain and she/he shalt not be named but this was one terrible, petty, evil villain, and I fully appreciate a good, so to speak, villain. Josephine, Michel, Dub, Henri and many more rounded off the large cast of great characters. That said, I do want to mention Ari's foster parents briefly. They weren't in the story much at all but it was with them where my admiration for Keaton first started to grow. They were stern but loving and supportive foster parents. It would have been so easy, so tempting, to portray them as a bad part of Ari's life, but she resisted and instead made them in a way that had me wishing they had been there more and feeling bad for them when Ari left.

From the very first page, Darkness Becomes Her had secured my full attention, keeping it under lock and key until the book was over. This is one of only a handful of books that I have read in just one sitting. The only thing I had a problem with was how short a time this story spanned. Honestly, if this book had been 400+ pages, I believe I'd have been quite happy with that. That said, Darkness Becomes Her was so keenly imagined and unique. There were the more common paranormal beings but there was also a fine blend of Greek mythology woven in, and these aspects melded together to create something truly captivating. Add in the intoxicating setting of a New Orleans rising up from the ashes of disaster and Keaton has surely proven she's a woman who knows what she is doing when crafting a story. I absolutely love it when a strong and well built setting plays a dominant role in a book. And as for suspense, I was always wondering what would happen next and while there were maybe a couple of small details I had guessed, the book was almost completely unpredictable. When the secret behind Ari's heritage was revealed all I could think was how dark and twisted it was. While I enjoyed every aspect of this book, from the characters to the writing, it was the plot and setting that reigned supreme when it came to making this book so noteworthy.

As a whole, Keaton has a well developed and consistent writing style that I enjoyed, but what really grabbed my attention was her vivid, detailed use of imagery. Keaton really knew not only how to create a setting, but also how to build that setting up around me--brick by brick, sound by sound, smell by smell--until it's as if I'm looking clearly through the character's eyes and sensing exactly what they are. The fact that I have been to New Orleans once probably helped, but still.

The ending was a grab bag of mixed emotions for me. Worried. Sad. Proud. Confused. Excited. Anxious. Something happened to one of the characters that had me going,"NOOOOOOO!" That said I really liked how Darkness Becomes Her ended as it had me going through a variety of feelings and left me looking forward to finding out where things would go from there. There is nothing worse than an ending in a book that doesn't make you feel something.

All in all, Darkness Becomes Her was an enticing breath of fresh air with its intermingling of traditional paranormal elements, mythology, and atmospheric New Orleans. It is easily one of the best in its genre that I've read in quite a while. I highly recommend this one and suggest that if it sounds even the slightest bit interesting to you, find a way to read it. I, personally, can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, A Beautiful Evil.

Grade
Characters: A-
Writing: B
Plot: A-
Ending: B+
1st in Series: B+
Enjoyment/Likability: B+
Recommendable: A-

Overall: B+/A-

Cover: C+

Buy Darkness Becomes Her
Hardcover / Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Book Depository

Review: Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

2012-01-06T08:35:00.000-05:00

Lovetorn (ARC) by Kavita Daswani
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: January 17th, 2011
Pages: 256
Age Level: 12+
Source: For review from publisher.

Synopsis via Goodreads
When Shalini’s father gets a new job in L.A., she is torn away from her life in India and the boy to whom she’s been betrothed since she was three. L.A. is so different, and Shalini dresses and talks all wrong. She isn’t sure she’ll survive high school in America without her fiancé, Vikram, and now she has to cope with her mom’s homesickness and depression. A new friend, chill and confident Renuka, helps Shalini find her way and get up the courage to join the Food4Life club at school. But she gets more than just a friend when she meets Toby—she gets a major crush. Shalini thinks she loves Vikram, but he never made her feel like this.

In Lovetorn, Shalini discovers that your heart ultimately makes its own choices, even when it seems as if your destiny has already been chosen.

Author Kavita Daswani has always been fascinated by child marriages and betrothals, and this story of a traditional girl from India, who is exposed to so many more freedoms and experiences after being dropped in a completely alien culture, is a fresh and contemporary look at the subject.

Review
Lovetorn is one of those books that I had really looked forward to, seeing it as a book with momentous potential to be something truly noteworthy and lasting. Gosh, I hate when I'm wrong. For me, this book could have been just so much more than it was and instead of leaving me in a deep state of mindfulness, it left me indifferent and disappointed.

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about the characters because I didn't particularly feel anything for them, good or bad. I just felt as though they were two dimensional and under developed. I think Shalini's parents were possibly the most intriguing characters and I wouldn't have minded hearing more from them. Especially the mom, who's role in the book was one of the few things that actually made me feel anything. Even Shalini, the main character, I felt completely detached from and my closest sense of connection I ever had with her was when she had her eyebrows threaded. While not excruciating, she's right, it does kinda hurt. I tried it one time just for kicks and quickly decided I was happy with my eyebrows just how they were. It isn't that any of the characters were flat out bad, just flat; I could not seem to bond with them on any level. What really bugged me was the fact that Toby, the guy Shalini starts to have feelings for, doesn't even come into the story til over half way through the book. The already short, 256 page book. Also, I didn't find the whole thing between Toby and Shalini believable. He starts out acknowledging her in what seems a polite and friendly way, nothing more, and then BAM!, he's suddenly into her as well. While Vikram wasn't in it much I think part of me almost liked him a little bit better. At least with him there was 13 years of history.

In theory, I loved the plot line. An Indian girl betrothed to a guy for 13 years ends up moving to America where she goes into serious culture shock, with varying effects on each member of her family. There was so much potential there and I really thought I was going to love this book. However the book takes place over the course of an entire year. I felt like so much that happened in her life that could have really helped improve this story was skipped in a hurried attempt to cover so much ground. There were only glimpses of interaction between Shalini and the other characters and the plot sometimes seemed a bit...unfocused somehow. Like the author was paying too much attention to all the wrong things, or at least not enough attention to the right things. In truth, I didn't go completely un-entertained and there were a few moments when I thought that things could get better from here, and yet, I can't remember which moments those were, merely that I did feel they were there.

The writing was...well it just was. I can't remember there being anything particularly off or poorly done about it, but I can't really think of anything great either. Decent would probably be a good word. I really don't think there is much more I could say about it other than the fact that it seemed overly internal.

Towards the end, I saw the characters finally starting to come into their own, developing more solid personalities, and the plot started coming into a clearer focus, finally pulling together to create something I felt I could begin to enjoy. But that is the problem, it was towards the end. Just when things started looking like they may be getting good it was all over, leaving me empty and dissatisfied.

In the end, Lovetorn could have been so poignant, so beautiful and thought-provoking, but the only thing it left me thinking about was what I'd read next. By no means would I say I hated this book, or even call it bad; it was just...okay. Honestly, should the author right another book I might would even read it because there was something, I'm not sure what, but something that has me thinking that she really is a good writer. I just wasn't able to feel the heart and soul that she more than likely poured into Lovetorn. So would I recommend this based on how I felt about it? Not really. But if you think it sounds good and you want to give it a shot, most people seem to have liked it pretty well. I'd just suggest borrowing it instead of spending the money to buy it.

Grade
Characters: C-
Writing: C+
Plot: C-
Ending: B-
Enjoyment/Likability: D+
Recommendable: C-

Overall: C-

Cover: B+

Mystery Box of ARCs Giveaway!

2012-01-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contest Details
So I've got a bunch of books piling up that I need to pass on and while I can take most to the indie/used bookstore near my college and trade them for credit, that still leaves me with quite a few ARCs that need new homes.

So here we are. I've got at least 13 ARCs ranging from 2010 to 2012 release dates that I will stick in a priority box and mail to one lucky winner. The catch? You don't get to know what they are. I will say this, there is one MG and the rest are YA. All but one ARC is from a major publisher. Two are from 2010, six are from late December 2011 and into 2012, the rest are 2011 releases. More books may be added depending on what I read between now and the end of the contest.

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form for entry.
~Must be 13 or older to enter.
~I'll pay to ship this box to US only. However, if you are outside the US, you can still choose to enter, but you will be responsible for paying shipping.
~Contest ends at 11:59PM EST on Jan. 31st.
~Winner will be notfied shortly after.

Extra Entries:
+1 for following my blog.
+2 for tweeting this giveaway. Please include @thebookpixie

Fill Out this Form to Enter

Waiting on Wednesday!

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

The Unnaturalists
Tiffany Trent
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
August 14th, 2012
YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.

Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really need to hop on the whole Steampunk bandwagon. This book sounds really good and like something I could enjoy. Just the first sentence of the synopsis alone has got me dying to get my hands on this one. Course I'm gonna have to wait til August but still, hopefully it'll be worth the wait. :)

2012 Debut Author Challenge!

2012-01-03T16:20:00.000-05:00

2012 Debut Author Challenge
Hosted By: The Story Siren
CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE:

•To read & review a minimum of twelve young adult or middle grade debut novels between the dates of January 1, 2012 – January 31, 2013.*
*The 2013 extension is so that December Debuts can be read and count toward the challenge.

•Any advance reader copies you read from 2012 BEFORE the January 1st start date DO NOT count toward the challenge!
•You can read twelve books in one month, or one book a month. It doesn’t matter as long as you have 12 read by the end of the year!

RULES & GUIDELINES:

•You must have a Blog to post your reviews or be a member of Goodreads. Youtube Book Reviewers count too!
•Your blog/video must be written in English.
•Deadline to join is May 31, 2012.

BOOK GUIDELINES:

•Must be a young adult or middle grade title.
•Must be the author’s YA or MG debut, released in 2012.
•If an author has a previous novel published for adults or children, they can still qualify for the challenge.
•If an author has a previous YA or MG title, they do not qualify for the challenge.

My List (Subject to change):

1. Something Like Normal by Trish Dollar
2. Everneath by Brodi Ashton
3. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
4. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
5. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
6. Slide by Jill Hathaway
7. Ditched by Robin Mellom
8. Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
9. Forbidden by Syrie James
10. The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams
11. The Selection by Kiera Cass
12. Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Sign Up Here!

2012 Standalone Reading Challenge

2012-01-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

2012 Standalone Reading Challenge
Hosted by: I Like These Books & Icey Books

The Challenge?

"To read 15 standalone YA books in 2012!
What books count towards the 2012 Standalone Reading Challenge?

Any Young Adult standalone book that is released between December 27, 2011 and December 31, 2012. Any format (paperback, hardcover, e-book, ARC) counts, but they must be read during 2012!"

List of Eligible Books Here
Why sign up?

"Anyone with a blog or a Goodreads account where they are able to post reviews can sign up! There will be a lot of fun with this challenge (and you just love the hosts ;) ! There will be periodic prize packs (more info to come) given out to participators, as well as fun posts from and interviews with authors with standalone books coming out in 2012."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love me a good stand alone book. Truly. I love being able to open a book, love the story, and that be it. Don't get me wrong, I do like books in a series but it seems like practically every book out there is a part of one now. And it gets old. Really fast. So I'm delighted that there is a challenge strictly for stand alones! And here is my list, subject to change.

1. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
2. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
3. Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala
4. Ditched by Robin Mellom
5. Something Like Normal by Trish Dollar
6. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
7. The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers
8. Double by Jenny Valentine
9. Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
10. Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk
11. The Academie by Susanne Dunlap
12. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
13. Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley
14. Secret Letters by Leah Scheier
15. The Right & the Real by Joelle Anthony

SIGN UP HERE!

My Most Epic Author Interview of 2011!

2012-01-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

So earlier this year I had the pleasure of getting to be a part of The Liar Society Blog Tour for Lisa and Laura Roecker. For my stop on the tour, I got to do a video interview with Lisa and Laura. The results were laugh riot inducing. Very few videos have made me laugh as much as that one, making it one of my most Epic Author Interviews ever! So I decided to repost it for your viewing pleasure. Let the hilarity ensue...

Would love to hear your thoughts! :D

Sliding Into 2012 Giveaway!

2012-01-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Slide by Jill Hathaway
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: March 27th, 2012
Pages: 256
Age Level: YA

Synopsis via 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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contest Details
What better way to kick off the New Year than with a giveaway for an ARC of a highly anticipated 2012 book? Since HarperTeen sent me two of these in the mail, one lucky ducky winner will receive the other ARC of Slide by Jill Hathaway!

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form to enter.
~Must be 13 or older.
~Open to US and Canada BUT if you are international and are willing to cover the shipping cost, you may enter as well.
~Contest will end at 11:59PM EST on January 12th.
~Winner will be notified shortly thereafter.

Extra Entries:
+1 for following my blog.
+2 for tweeting this giveaway. Please include @thebookpixie

Fill Out This Form to Enter

In My Mailbox (110)

2011-12-31T17:06:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox
IMM is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

For Review from Little Brown
~Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler & Maira Kalman
~The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

For Review from Henry Holt
~ARC The Edumacation of Jay Baker by Jay Clark

For Review/Giveaway from HarperTeen
~2 ARCs of Slide by Jill Hathaway

Bought for Kindle ($0.99)
~Phoenix Rising by Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine

Gift from Laurie
~The Journeys of John and Julia by Aurelia

Free for Kindle
~Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
~The Legacy of Kilkenny by Devyn Dawson
~Soul Mate by Richard Crawford
~The Book of Deacon by Joseph Lallo
~Asylum by Kristen Selleck
~Untraceable by S.R. Johannes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yay for awesome books this week! I'm especially looking forward to Phoenix Rising, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Slide. I'll hopefully be getting a giveaway up for the second ARC of Slide tomorrow so be watching for that. Hope you all got great books in your mailbox this week and Happy New Years Eve everyone.

My Top 10 Most Wanted Books in 2012!

2011-12-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

My Top 10 Most Wanted Books in 2012!

Here it is folks, the last day of this awesome event. Today I get to share with you all what books I'm ~~killing~~ dying to get my hands for next year. About half of these are sequels to books I've read. I got to say, it was really hard choosing only 10 books out of the near 200 on my 2012 wishlist but I somehow managed. So here they are, in no particular order:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: February 28th, 2012
Series: Delirium Trilogy, #2
Genre: YA Dystopian
My Review of Delirium

Why I Want this Book:
I fell in love with Delirium when I read it towards the beginning of the year and have been dying to find out what has happened to a certain two characters ever since.

Synopsis via Goodreads
I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub. Date: May 1st, 2012
Genre: YA Histroical Fiction

Why I Want this Book:
I've heard this book pitched as being similar to Downton Abbey. Can I just say I am very much ~~obsessed~~ in love with that show! I also really enjoy books from this time period so I would have added this one anyway. Really looking forward to seeing how good it is.

Synopsis via Goodreads
A lush, historical novel about the secretive Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall!The prettiest people often have the ugliest secrets…

Eighteen-year-old Maggie Darlington has turned into an entirely different person. The once spirited teen is now passive and reserved. A change Lord and Lady Darlington can’t help but be grateful for.

It’s 1912, and the Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall have more than just the extensive grounds to maintain. As one of Britain’s most elite families, they need to keep up appearances that things are as they have always been…even as their carefully constructed faÇade rapidly comes undone.

Maggie has a secret. And she’s not the only one…the handsome groom Michael, the beautiful new French nanny Therese, the Darlingtons’ teenage houseguests Teddy and Jessica, and even Maggie’s younger sister Lila are all hiding something. Passion, betrayal, heartache, and whispered declarations of love take place under the Darlingtons’ massive roof. And one of these secrets has the power to ruin the Darlingtons forever.

When scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details that closely mirror the lives of the Darlingtons, everyone is looking over their shoulder, worrying their scandal will be next. Because at Wentworth Hall, nothing stays secret for long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Touch Morbid by Leah Clifford
Publisher: Greenwillow
Pub. Date: February 28th, 2012
Series: A Touch Trilogy, #2
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Review of A Touch Mortal

Why I Want this Book:
A Touch Mortal helped me conquer a certain irrational fear back in February of this year and I found the story deliciously dark with wicked humor. Something happened with a character towards the end and I'm anxious to see where things go in A Touch Morbid.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Eden won the battle-she saved her true love from the darkest evil. But the war has only just begun. With secrets swirling around her, powerful allies unraveling, and life-and death-as she knows it eroding, Eden and those she loves tread dangerous ground. Can she trust anyone? Will her unearthly powers be her salvation or her downfall? A sweeping, dark, and sexy paranormal romance that will haunt readers with an inventive mythology and a cinematic New York City filled with shadows and longing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: May 8th, 2012
Genre: YA

Why I Want this Book:
For starters, I really enjoy male POV's and want to read more YA books with them. Secondly, this sounds like it is going to be a dark and thrilling ride of a book. That premise just has me on tenterhooks waiting for this one. Also, you always hear of the cliche 'preachers's daughter' going bad but this is with a guy and it is the first time I've seen it that way.

Synopsis via Goodreads
"You probably want to hear about Jennifer and the demons and how I played chicken with a freight train and—oh yeah—the weird murder and how I found out about it—you're definitely going to want to hear about that. But first, I have to tell you about the stupidest thing I ever did . . ."

Sam Hopkins is bored with his status as a preacher's kid. So when a group of guys notorious for being in trouble offers him friendship, he accepts. Before long, he has several new skills—including hot-wiring cars.

At school, there's an eccentric loner named Jennifer. When Sam defends her from being bullied, she begins to seek him out as her only friend. Her ramblings often seem illogical . . . but then start to contain grains of truth. One leads Sam to discover that one of his new friends has been killed. And then she tells him, "I'm looking for the devil." Sam doesn't know what that means, but he knows it's a matter of life and death that he figure it out.

Everyone else thinks Jennifer is suffering from schizophrenia. But Sam is starting to wonder if there could be something prophetic in her words. Discovering the truth is going to be both crazy and dangerous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Endlessly by Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: July 24th, 2012
Triology: Paranormalcy, #3
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Reviews of Paranormalcy & Supernaturally

Why I Want this Book:
Paranormalcy was my absolute most favoritest book of 2010. It was just total rockawesomazingness! Supernaturally, while I liked it, was...well...it definitely had that middle of the road, second in a trilogy feel. I'm hoping Endlessly will come out and be just as amazing as Paranormalcy.

Synopsis via Goodreads
The third book in the Paranormalcy trilogy.

The final chapter of Evie's adventures. Old friends, new ones, all wrapped up in impossible decisions. And some ball gowns. Because what's a life of normal and paranormal drama without a ball gown or two?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Courtship & Curses by Marissa Doyle
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pub. Date: August 7th, 2012
Series: Leland Sisters, #3
Genre: YA Historical/Fantasy-ish
My Reviews of Bewitching Season & Betraying Season

Why I Want this Book:
Marissa Doyle was the first author to send me a book for review when I started blogging. When I read them back in 2009, I loved Bewitching Season and Betraying Season. So I'm obviously looking forward to Courtship & Curses, which follows different characters.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Sophie’s entrance into London society isn’t what she thought it would be: Mama isn’t there to guide her, Papa is buried in his work fighting Napoleon, and Sophie’s newly acquired limp keeps her from dancing at any of those glittering balls. If it weren’t for her shopping escapades with her new French friend Amélie and a flirtation with the dashing Lord Woodbridge, she would think this season a complete disaster.

But when someone uses magic to attack Papa the night of Sophie’s first ball, her problems escalate, especially when it becomes clear that all the members of the War Cabinet are being targeted. Can she catch the culprit and keep her own magic powers hidden long enough to win herself a match?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Timepiece by Myra McEntire
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pub. Date: June 12th, 2012
Series: Hourglass, #2
Genre: YA Paranormal/Sci-fi
My Review of Hourglass

Why I Want this Book:
I really enjoyed Hourglass and am very excited to see where things head in Timepiece, especially since it is from Kaleb's point of view. Hell to the frikin YEAH BABY!

Synopsis via Goodreads
A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devestating results.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...

The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pub. Date: August 7th, 2012
Series: Anna, #2
Genre: YA Paranormal/Horror
My Review of Anna Dressed in Blood

Why I Want this Book:
This is another case of a sequel to a book I've read and enjoyed. Love the characters in this and I'm very curious as to what happened to Anna. Can't wait to read this one.

Synopsis via Goodreads
In this follow-up to Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas begins seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep, and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong. These aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Pub. Date: June 19th, 2012
Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Why I Want this Book:
I not only love historical fiction and war books, but I really love when the two come together. Add in the fact that it is YA and WWII and I'm practically drooling on my keyboard. *wipes away slobber*

Synopsis via Goodreads
Go behind enemy lines during World War II in this tale of romance and espionage...

Betty, an American teenager living in Britain, is determined to contribute to the cause when the Germans begin bombing London in World War II. Instead of collecting scrap metal or running air raid drills like most girls her age, Betty lies about her age and trains to become a spy and member of the Special Operations Executive. Now known by her secret agent persona, Adele Blanchard, she soon finds herself parachuting over German-occupied France in the dark of night to join the secret Resistance movement.

Adele's missions in Paris and throughout the French countryside delivering top-secret messages, lead to several close calls with the Gestapo, but it's when she crosses paths with a young American pilot that Adele fully realizes the brutality of this war and the seriousness of her circumstances. Plus her changing feelings for this pilot are as uncertain as their future. Can Adele elude the Gestapo long enough to enjoy the future they are trying to protect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pub. Date: June 19th, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary

Why I Want this Book:
A contemporary YA book about a soldier back from war? Yes, please! I just know this is going to be an amazing book and it sounds like something that is right up my alley. Can't wait!

Synopsis via Goodreads
A powerful debut novel about a young Marine's return home from Afghanistan and the new life and love he finds while fending off the ghosts of war.

When Travis Stephenson returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are on the brink of divorce, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and his car, and nightmares of his best friend getting killed keep him completely spooked. But when he runs into Harper Gray, a girl who despises him for trashing her reputation with a middle school lie, life actually starts looking up. As Travis and Harper see more of each other, he starts falling for her and a way through the family meltdown, the post-traumatic stress, and the possibility of an interesting future begins to emerge.

His sense of humor, sense of his own strength, and incredible sense of honor make Travis an irresistible and eminently lovable hero in this fantastic and timely debut novel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And because I can't NOT mention these...

My Top 5 Most Wanted without Covers

1. The Hour of Dreams by Shelena Shorts
2. Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans
3. Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie
4. Velveteen by Daniel Marks
5. Crewl by Gennifer Albin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So those are just a few of the books I've got my knickers in a knot for in 2012. There is so much coming out next year that it is a bit overwhelming, but I'm embracing it all with arms wide open and plans to swan-dive into the awesomeness!

Here's to 2012!

Indie Ebook Giveaway: Golden Blood & Black Blood!

2011-12-30T08:24:00.000-05:00

Golden Blood by Melissa Pearl
Publisher: Self
Pub. Date: November 4th, 2011
Series: Time Spirit Trilogy, #1
Age Level: YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Gemma Hart never knows when her father is going to whisk her back in time. Her toes start tingling and she has a few minutes to find a secret haven where she can disintegrate and appear in another time and place. While “across the line,” her training and skills are put to the test as she completes a mission that will change history for the lucky few her father has selected.

Gemma's parents are adamant that secrecy is paramount to her family’s safety. If people knew what they were capable of, they could be "used and abused", as her mother always says. Afraid she might accidentally utter the truth and break the ancient oath of her people, Gemma spends her school days as a loner. Only one thing can throw her sheltered life askew... Harrison Granger.

Harrison never expected to talk to the strange Hart girl, but after a brief encounter he can't stop thinking about her. He begins a campaign to chisel away her icy veneer and is met with unexpected consequences. As he slowly wins this girl over, he enters a surreal world that has him fighting to keep his newfound love and his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contest Details
Thanks to Melissa, three people will win Smashwords coupons to receive both Golden Blood and its sequel, Black Blood, for free! Smashwords offers a wide variety of formats for ebooks, including those for kindle and nook.

Rules:
~Comments are appreciated but you must fill out the form to enter.
~Open Internationally!
~Must be 13 or older to enter.
~Giveaway ends at Noon on January 7th.
~Winners will be chosen shortly after as I leave for college the next day.

Extra Entries:
You can earn +2 by tweeting this giveaway. Please include @thebookpixie and @MelissaPearlG

Fill Out this Form to Enter

Cover Reveal: Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent!

2011-12-29T16:42:00.000-05:00

Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent
Harlequin Teen
June 26th, 2012
Soul Screamers, #6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I just saw the cover for the newest book in the Soul Screamers series posted by Harlequin Teen on Facebook and couldn't help but share it with y'all. What do you think. Personally, I think pink has never been so pretty! lol. Absolutely gorgeous!

My Top 10 Characters of 2011!

2011-12-29T12:47:00.000-05:00

My Top 10 Characters of 2011

So it is time to post my Top 10 characters and I decided to break things up. Instead of doing all 10 characters from one category, I'll be showcasing my Top 2 favorite villains, my Top 3 favorite supporting characters, and my Top 5 favorite protagonists. I wanted to list a variety of characters and thought this was the best way to do it. So here they are:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Top 2 Villains

*~Warner~*

My Thoughts:
From the very beginning, there was something I liked about Warner. Well, as much as you can like an evil villain. He's bad, that's for sure, and twisted and sick but I got the feeling that somewhere, deep down in the darkest recesses of his stone cold heart, he really did start to love Juliette in his own perverse way. I also found his attitude and way of putting things very amusing. I can't wait to see where Mafi takes his character from here.

*~Luke~*

From My Review:
"Luke is a massive, blazing ball of pure smoldering evil. The dude is seriously wicked and I can't even begin to express how glad I am to see a villain who actually emanates the evil he's meant too. Not sure what the deal is with some of these pansies I've been coming across lately."

Noteworthy Passage from Luke:
"Just because I don't know how to work a toy, doesn't mean I don't want it in my toy box. She's shiny."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Top 3 Supporting Characters

*~Deacon~*

From My Review:
"Then we have Deacon, Oona's tried and true wizard's companion, as well as her rival for my favorite character. Did I mention he's a talking raven? Yep, that's him on her shoulder in the cover. Deacon is a little know-it-all; I say this in the most adoring way possible since he really does know it all, thanks to a little magic. He also has this dry, matter-of-fact style of humor that I absolutely loved, rounding him off as a most memorable and unique character."

*~Ruby~*

From My Review:
"My brain tells me she's a manipulative, heart breaker who will do whatever it takes to accomplish what she wants and who takes advantage of her sister's loyalty. On the other hand, my heart tells me this girl is somehow special and it's obvious she loves her sister with all her heart. From the moment she was born Ruby saw Chloe as her's and she knew that she was the only person in the world she could really trust and count on. As much as Ruby worked her 'magic' to get people to do her own bidding, she would do anything for her little sister. Part of me couldn't help feeling that I should dislike these two girls, but I found myself loving and caring for them, wanting things to work out in the end. Their relationship was somewhat twisted, but it was also one of the strongest and truest bonds of sisterhood I've ever seen, a bond where blood really is thicker than water."

Noteworthy Passage from Ruby/Chloe:
"Hmmmph. What happened to that girl could never ever happen to you. Like I said, I wouldn't let it."
I'd turned away from her here, somehow, on that narrow bed stuffed up over the wheel, the compartment so small our four feet were hanging off the end. But she wasn't letting me stay turned away; she wasn't letting me not face her. She wanted me to look at her, to see her mouth as she spoke. She climbed over me, she rolled into me, she did a series of swift jujitsu moves on me that tangled me up in her arms and locked me to her, elbow-to-elbow, one bare foot held fast in the crook of my neck, and then, calmly, hardly even breathing heavy, she said:
"I wouldn't. Let it happen. To you."

*~Kristen~*

From My Review:
" Then we have Kristen, who, quite frankly, is a bitch with some serious attitude, not to mention she's a bit wacko. However, I actually really loved her character, especially when her and Eden were around each other. Listening to the two of them go at it could be quite amusing."

Noteworthy Passage from Kristen & Gabe:
"I know how much you hate doing things out of the kindness of your heart...." He trailed off, waiting.
"It's not that I don't like to. It's just there's not much kindness in there. I save it for special occasions."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Top 5 Protagonists

*~Rhine~*

From My Review:
"Rhine is a strong and determined heroine with an authentic, gripping voice. At times, it felt as though Rhine had escaped from the pages and was, instead, sitting right next to me, telling me her story. Her emotions and motives were tangible and her personality admirable. I connected with her character immediately and that connection only grew as I turned the pages."

Noteworthy Passages from Rhine:
She seems like a wild bird that has been tamed and is surveying its captivity in a daze in which captivity doesn't seem so bad.

*~Lena~*

From My Review:
"I can't seem to recall ever having connected with a character as completely as I did with Lena. Despite living in a dystopian society, there is so much about this remarkable heroine that I think many teen girls out there will be able to resonate with. Lena has spent her whole life longing for the day when she will be cured. Then she meets Alex and he helps to open her eyes to all the lies surrounding her. I loved watching Lena grow in strength, bravery, and wisdom throughout the book and how it wasn't a sudden development but gradual, detailed, and realistic. Her emotions were so genuine and relatable, something that only brought me even closer to her as a character."

Noteworthy Passage from Lena:
My stomach gets that hollowed out feeling. It's amazing how words can do that, just shred your insides apart. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me--such bullshit.

*~Emerson~*

From My Review:
"To start with, I absolutely loved and adored Emerson. Here are just a couple of brief reasons why. She has a rock awesome name. She's short. Girlfriend has got some serious spunk. As a fellow short person in arms, I'm always delighted to see a strong, feisty heroine with a less than average height. Em has also been through a lot and one of the things that I loved about her was that she didn't simply tough it out and persevere. No, she fell apart first, lost it, and had a long road of pain and healing to get through before she could even begin to feel whole again. After all, isn't that how this stuff is supposed to work? For this, Emerson felt so real and her emotions raw and tangible, a character anyone who's suffered loss, or even a brush with crazy, could relate too. Don't get me wrong, she had her flaws too, such as being stubborn and impulsive, but she was all the better for it."

Noteworthy Passage from Emerson:
"First of all, no one is the boss of me but me. Secondly, if you ever reference 'my chain' again, I will kick your ass." I jabbed him in the chest with my finger. Possibly breaking it. "And thirdly, don't call me Shorty."

*~Cas~*

From My Review:
"Cas was a lovable male protagonist that I really enjoyed getting to read from the point of view of. His dry, witty humor and strength of character really appealed to me and I thought he developed quite well throughout the story as far as knowing what he wanted and learning that some things aren't what he thought."

Noteworthy Passage from Cas & Anna:
"What was that?" I ask.
She shakes her head. I can't tell whether she's embarrassed or frightened. It looks like both.
"Do you remember what I showed you in the basement?" she asks.
"The tower of dead bodies? No, that slipped my mind. Are you kidding me?"

*~Blake~*

From My Review:
"Blake was a blunt, realistic, and hilarious riot of a character who's personality rang brilliantly true. I connected with him immediately and even when he would make some not-so-wise decisions, I still couldn't help hoping everything would turn out alright for him in the end."

Noteworthy Passage from Blake:
I think of Gus's angel tattoo, a constant reminder of his loss. I don't need something etched into my skin to remind me. I've got tattoos on my heart.

Honorable Mentions

Sophie (The Pace Series) / Wren (Cold Kiss)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's my Top 10 characters everyone. Hopefully you discovered someone new here today, like any of us actually need more books on our wish lists. Tomorrow I'll be posting My Top 10 Most Wanted of 2012, so stay tuned for that. And now to return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

Top 10 Book Boyfriends of 2011!

2011-12-28T18:56:00.000-05:00

Top 10 Book Boyfriends of 2011

Alright so I'm going to be honest, I both love and hate the guys listed below. Love them because they are all so amazing and awesome. Hate them because they've given me unreasonably high expectations when it comes to guys in 'the real world'. So, in particular order, here they are folks:

*~Alex~*

From My Review:
"As for Alex, he was everything I could have possibly hoped for and more. He was very wise for his age, not to mention the fact that he was a charming, rebel with a cause. It is so refreshing to see a male romantic interest who stands for something, something worth standing for. Sadly, for all of you, I cloned Alex and replaced him with his clone, Alex 2. As for where I'm keeping the original Alex creation, that's for me to know and for all of you to not find out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Kaleb~*

From My Review:
"Then we have Kaleb. Can you say YUM? His connection with Emerson felt more grounded in something substantial, the loss and pain that they've experienced. That and Kaleb has personality and charm in spades, not to mention I felt he was more adequately layered with a perfect balance of flaws and attributes. When he first truly took on his role in the story I was like, "Forget Michael.""

Did I mention the swoonworthy hotsomeness?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Cas~*

From My Review:
"Cas was a lovable male protagonist that I really enjoyed getting to read from the point of view of. His dry, witty humor and strength of charcter really appealed to me and I thought he developed quite well throughout the story as far as knowing what he wanted and learning that some things aren't what he thought."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Luke~*

From My Review:
"Next up we have Luke. *swoon* To me, he is the ultimate romantic interest, especially in comparison to some of the ones I've happened across lately. He's sweet, caring, charming, and he has a secret but not in the cliched way a lot of love interests have secrets these days. I'll confess, I did suspect what he was hiding but it was the backstory that really secured my love for him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Adam~*

My Thoughts:
So Adam's a pretty smexy guy and what I really liked when it came to the romance between him and Juliette was how long they had known each other, so the romance didn't just come from thin air. They had history. The more the story went on the more I learned about Adam and the more I grew to love him. He was a very strong, brave, and determined character.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Wes~*
(We've been in a relationship for 3 books!)

From My Reviews of The Pace & The Broken Lake:
"Wes was so original and I absolutely loved him! He was the perfect romantic interest for this book."

"The same goes for Wes whom I just fell even more in love with than before and his personality really seemed to develop more. And as far as the pairing of Sophie and Wes as a couple goes, I think they are perfect together. What I love so much about the two of them is how they both need and look after each other instead of one always being the hero; both of them are strong and vulnerable in their own ways and I feel they compliment each other very well."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Noah~*

My Thoughts:
So it has been a little while since I read this book and since I never wrote a review, I don't really remember all that much. I do, however, remember loving Noah like crazy and wanting to snatch him out of the book and claim him for my own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Peeta~*

My Thoughts:
So yeah I finally read The Hunger Games and I sadly don't have a review for this one either. Peeta could be a bit moody but I loved how he was always there for Katniss, and with the best of intentions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Joe~*

From My Review:
"Joe was the perfect romantic interest and I can definitely see where the attraction to him was. He's funny, talented, and infinitely charming. Joe, however, was not without some small flaws which helped keep him believable so as not to come off as that too-good-to-be-true kinda guy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*~Gabriel~*

From My Review:
"Next we have Gabriel and I absolutely adored him. He was sweet, funny and really wanted to help Wren, even after he realized what she'd done. The romance between them was so heart-warming and I was left wanting more of it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So those are my men of 2011. I keep them chained up in a closet so I can pick and choose which one I want, whenever I want. I'm curious to see which guys I'll be adding to my collection next year. Muahahahahaha! *crazed look in eyes*

Waiting on Wednesday: Violins of Autumn!

2011-12-28T10:28:00.001-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Viloins of Autumn by Amy McAuley
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Pub. Date: June 19th, 2012
Pages: 336
Age Level: YA

Synopsis via Goodreads
Go behind enemy lines during World War II in this tale of romance and espionage...

Betty, an American teenager living in Britain, is determined to contribute to the cause when the Germans begin bombing London in World War II. Instead of collecting scrap metal or running air raid drills like most girls her age, Betty lies about her age and trains to become a spy and member of the Special Operations Executive. Now known by her secret agent persona, Adele Blanchard, she soon finds herself parachuting over German-occupied France in the dark of night to join the secret Resistance movement.

Adele's missions in Paris and throughout the French countryside delivering top-secret messages, lead to several close calls with the Gestapo, but it's when she crosses paths with a young American pilot that Adele fully realizes the brutality of this war and the seriousness of her circumstances. Plus her changing feelings for this pilot are as uncertain as their future. Can Adele elude the Gestapo long enough to enjoy the future they are trying to protect?

~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so once upon a time I used to do Waiting on Wednesday, but then I stopped. Now that I'm in college and could, quite frankly, use some easy posts, I've decided to start doing it again. Now about the book I picked. For those of you who weren't aware, I'm a total sucker for a good WWII book and I'm glad to see more of this time period coming into the YA historical fiction genre. This and another, Code Name Verity, are two I'm really looking forward to and I can't wait for them to release. Violins of Autumn sounds like a book I'm going to absolutely love and the cover is gorgeous!

My Top 10 Indie Book Covers of 2011!

2011-12-27T18:04:00.001-05:00

Top 10 Indie Book Cover of 2011
(In no particular order.)

Mundahlia by R.J. Gonzales
Publisher: Self
Pub. Date: July 26th, 2011
Series: The Mundahlian Era, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Okay so this cover is just so beautiful. And a few days ago I noticed something about this cover that I never noticed before, a somewhat hidden image. When I finally saw it, it only made me love the cover that much more. Do you see it? I'll give you a clue: Here kitty kitty kitty. The purple and silvery-greys work so well together and I love the hourglass and that elegant font.

Synopsis via Goodreads
When our era ends, theirs begins.

Rini thought going to live with her cousins in the city of Austin, Texas while her parents rekindled their marriage on a four month long cruise, was a step in the right direction. When she makes a new quirky friend, and stumbles upon a handsome young man named Jett in the enveloping forest surrounding her cabin, she thought she was only moving forward. Well, she was wrong.

Jett and his clan appear human, just like anyone else. But take a closer look, and you will see that they are indeed Mundahlians. Legendary hybrid beings with both human and animal qualities that have been kept a heavily guarded secret throughout time—until now. They are taking refuge in our world, fleeing from their hidden homeland of Mundahlia and its aging power-hungry King, who has set up a game between his many children. Whoever can bring them back to their world so they can be tried and executed shall receive the crown once he passes.

Upon finding their hide out, Bane, one of the King's sons, and on a hunt to win the crown, sees an opportunity to shatter the blossoming relationship, lure the family back to Mundahlia, and frame Rini for the murder of a Mundahlian—thus, breaking the pact signed long ago with the humans, and reigniting an ancient war for the majority of land and control. A triple deed that will surely earn him the power he craves.

Buy It Now:
Kindle / Nook

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Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Pub. Date: May 2nd, 2011
Series: The Bloodstone Saga, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Here we have another case of a hidden image that I didn't notice til a while after I first originally saw the cover. And once again, it made me find this cover even more spectacular. Do you see it? Here's a hint: Eye see you. This cover is so gorgeous, with beautiful gold tones and a layered composition that really pulls you into the cover. Stunning!

Synopsis via Goodreads
What would you do if you held Fate in your hands? 17-year old Macy Lockhart has the weight of the world on her shoulders. For thousands of years, she has been a Keeper in the ancient organization, the Order of the Moirae… and she literally holds fate in her hands. But this is something that she forgets because her memories are wiped clean in every life until it is time for her cycle to start again. For the last two thousand years, this has never been a problem. Until now. And now…Fate, the very thing that Macy was born to keep, is being challenged and she has only one choice: To return to a previous life to fix it; a life where she was Cleopatra’s handmaiden, Charmian. And that’s not all. Unless she interferes with the fabric of time, the very thing she has returned to repair, her soul mate will die leading Marc Antony’s forces against Rome. Can she really stand aside and allow the love of her life to die all over again?

Buy It Now:
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Rippler by Cidney Swanson
Publisher: Williams Press
Pub. Date: June 15th, 2011
Series: Ripple #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Here we have some super pretty shades of blue and purple with an ever so slight and subtle hue of pink. There is something both relaxing and exhilarating about this cover. The font is very elegant and I love that you can see the rocks underneath the water, which adds some dimension. Very beautiful and eye-catching!

Synopsis via Goodreads
Samantha Ruiz has a freak gene that makes her turn invisible, or ripple. She can’t control it, and it’s getting worse. Afraid of becoming a lab-rat, Sam keeps her ability secret, until fellow runner Will Baker sees her vanish into thin air. Will promises secrecy and help, and Sam begins to fall in love. Together, the two discover there are worse things than being a scientific curiosity. Someone’s been killing people who possess Sam's gene. A mysterious man from France sends letters that offer hope for safety, but also reveal a sinister connection with Nazi experiments. The more time Sam spends with Will, the less she can imagine life without him. When Sam uncovers secrets from her past, she must choose between keeping Will in her life or keeping Will safe.

Buy It Now:
Paperback / Kindle

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Don't Fear the Reaper by Michelle Muto
Publisher: Dreamscapes, Inc
Pub. Date: September 23rd, 2011
Series: Netherworld #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Eerie. Haunting. Deliciously creepy. These are all words I'd use to describe this cover. It's ominous awesomeness! (Say that five times fast.)

Synopsis via Goodreads
Grief-stricken by the murder of her twin, Keely Morrison is convinced suicide is her ticket to eternal peace and a chance to reunite with her sister. When Keely succeeds in taking her own life, she discovers death isn’t at all what she expected. Instead, she’s trapped in a netherworld on Earth and her only hope for reconnecting with her sister and navigating the afterlife is a bounty-hunting reaper and a sardonic, possibly unscrupulous, demon. But when the demon offers Keely her greatest temptation—revenge on her sister’s murderer—she must uncover his motives and determine who she can trust. Because, as Keely soon learns, both reaper and demon are keeping secrets and she fears the worst is true—that her every decision will change how, and with whom, she spends eternity.

Buy It Now:
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Brightest Kind of Darkness by P.T. Michelle
Publisher: Self
Pub. Date: June 27th, 2011
Series: Brightest Kind of Darkness #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Okay so Autumn is my favorite time of year so it's only natural that I would be drawn to the gorgeous orange and gold tones of the leaves paired with the red of Nara's dress. This is another one of those covers that has a nice depth to it. Also really like the black, floating leaves! At least, I think they're leaves. Anyway.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore.

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

Buy It Now
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Destiny Binds by Tammy Blackwell
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pub. Date: March 3rd, 2011
Trilogy: Timber Wolves #1

Why I Love this Cover:
So I got to admit, the cover this book had before this one was...ugh...not pretty. It was really plain and fake looking. You'll see it when you click the Nook link. So I was delighted to see this new cover, which is so...wow. I love how there's a mostly dark cover and then an area of light streaming beautifully through the branches of the trees. And then the silhouette of the wolf pulls it all together to make for a very mysterious and stunning cover. The font is awfully darn cool too.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Scout Donovan is a girl who believes in rules, logic, and her lifelong love of Charlie Hagan. Alex Cole believes in destiny, magic, and Scout. When Alex introduces Scout to the world of Shifters, men who change into wolves or coyotes during the full moon and Seers, women who can see your most private thoughts and emotions with a mere touch, the knowledge changes everything and everyone Scout thought she knew.

Buy It Now:
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Dark Seeker by Taryn Browning
Publisher: Self
Pub. Date: September 27th, 2011
Series: Seeker #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Badass! This cover seriously rocks and has a gritty, sleep-with-one-eye-open-cause-I-can-totally-use-this-dagger look.

Synopsis via Goodreads
For 17-year-old Seeker, Janie Grey, ridding the Baltimore streets of the undead is an inherited duty passed down from her Cherokee ancestors. Seeker Training Lesson #1: Never trust the undead. After her father’s tragic death, Janie creates her own life lesson: Love isn’t worth the risk. Both lessons are easy to follow until she encounters the flawed Kai Sterdam. At first, she believes he is the hybrid she is trained to hunt. But, when he has human traits, she determines she doesn’t know what he is. As Janie’s intrigue over who Kai is pushes her deeper into his mysterious past, she discovers a shocking truth that is even more harrowing than the evil they are up against. It’s a secret Kai wants to keep hidden, especially from Janie.

Buy It Now:
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Sleepers by Megg Jensen
Publisher: DarkSide Publishing
Pub. Date: July 20th, 2011
Trilogy: The Swarm #1

Why I Love this Cover:
This is another case of a re-covering. Though I didn't have any problems with the old one, this new one is fantastic! I'm not even sure where to start because everything about this cover is so awe-inspiring with its lovely colors, scenery, and, yes, another pretty girl in a dress. The font is gorgeous as well. This is really one of those covers that makes me sit back and go, "Oooooooo! Ahhhhh!"

Synopsis via Goodreads
An adoptee raised in a foreign land, sixteen-year-old Lianne was content with her life as handmaiden to the queen, until a spell cast on her at birth activated. Now she's filled with uncontrollable rage and access to magic she thought had been bled from her people years ago. Even her years of secret training in elite hand-to-hand combat and meditation can’t calm the fires raging inside her.

Her heart is torn between two boys, the one she’s always loved and the one who always ignored her. But when the kingdom threatens to tear itself apart due to rumors surrounding the queen’s alleged affair, who will Lianne protect and who will she destroy?

Buy it Now:
Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Released by Megan Duncan
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pub. Date: April 1st, 2011
Series: Agents of Evil #1

Why I Love this Cover:
One more badass cover for the collection! (I has a new favorite word. Mom will be thrilled! Not.) This is like the indie version of Angelfire when it comes to badass awesomeness in covers. It's creepy and dangerous and I can tell you right now...I would not want to piss that chick off.

Synopsis via Goodreads
After a demon apocalypse kills their parents and everyone they know, 17-year old Abby Phillips, her brother, Carter, and friend, Max flee their home to travel through what has become the wastelands of America. When radio transmissions of a resistance offering shelter and safety cease, Abby is tempted to give up. Struggling to overcome life-threatening obstacles in their dangerous journey, Abby and her companions quickly discover there are much worse things lurking in the dark than they could have ever imagined.

Buy it Now:
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Exiled by Rashelle Workman
Publisher: Polished Pen Press
Pub. Date: October 3rd, 2011
Series: Immortal Essence #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Okay so this one kind of surprised me by making it to this list. It is just so bizarre, and weird, and crazy, but for some reason it really hooks my attention and I kinda sorta love it in all it's spacey eccentric-ness. Definitely a cover to rival Across the Universe for possessing out-of-this-world-ness.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become immortal, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family.

Now she wants revenge.

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate.

Only she doesn't know the first thing about love.

Rather quickly, her inexperience with human emotion is obscured by other matters--alien-controlled psychotic teens that are out to kill her, and a government group that is set on capturing and dissecting her.

Worst of all, Venus will suffer a painful death-by-poisoning, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, if she remains on the planet longer than one week.

Still, Venus is a Princess and she's got a plan. Surely, with her help, Michael will fall in love with a human.

But time is running out and Michael is falling for the wrong girl--her.

Buy It Now
Paperback / Kindle / Nook / Smashwords

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Aren't those some awesome covers? And they are all on my to-read list. I'll be starting Rippler soon.

Now, I didn't do these seperate from the 'big dogs' because I didn't think they could stand their own, because they most certainly can and all of these are just as good, if not better, in my opinion. I did it because I was having a really tough time picking only ten and so to allow myself to choose more books, I figured I'd do one post for the bigger names and one for the indies. It was for the sake of my sanity and nothing more. With that said, all of these books can be bought for $2.99 or less for Kindle, Nook, and/or through Smashwords.

My Top 10 Book Covers of 2011

My Top 10 Book Covers of 2011!

2011-12-27T13:00:00.002-05:00

Top 10 Book Covers of 2011

So it is time for me to post my favorite book covers of 2011. Last year I did 20 so I can't even begin to tell you how difficult it was for me to just pick 10. As a matter of fact, of all the posts for this event, this one has been the hardest. But here they are folks, in no particular order:

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Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Pub. Date: January 11th, 2011
Series: Across the Universe, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
This cover is out of this frikin world with its amazingness. (Aren't we feeling punny today.) I love that you only get the silhouette/outline of the main characters so that there is plenty left to the imagination while still really contributing to the composition of the cover. And the galaxy/stars combined with the choice of colors just make this image go POW! Everything about this cover is spectacular!

Synopsis via Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

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Hereafter by Tara Hudson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub. Date: June 7th, 2011
Series: Hereafter, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
What is not to love about this cover? The blue and green tones are gorgeous and I love that the girl is transparent, which considering this is a ghost story, makes sense. The font, colors, image and composition truly make this cover breathtakingly beautiful!

Synopsis via Goodreads
Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

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Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pub. Date: March 22nd, 2011
Trilogy: The Chemical Garden, #1
My Review

Why I Love this Cover:
Okay so I really liked this cover when I first saw it but it is one of those that I slowly grew to love even more as time passed and I read the book. The cover and story go perfectly together.Despite having another pretty girl in a dress on it, there are a lot of things about this cover that really make it shine for me. First off, loving the teased hair and roughly cut dress as they add a bit of edginess to the cover. The caged bird is so symbolic and really gives this cover that extra originality factor. The tones are beautiful and I wouldn't have thought it but the pink lines, squares, and circles work really well making this cover even more noticeable and eye-catching.

Synopsis via Goodreads
What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

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The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pub. Date: September 29th, 2011
Series: Shades of London, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
I love the overlay of images with this cover and feel they really give this book something to make it stand out and draw one's eye in to the deepest depths of the cover. The shades of gray and black, with only a little accent color here and there, help this because otherwise, if the images had too much color, the cover would have looked really busy and been a bit much. I love the slight old timey feel and this is one of those covers that has had me WOW-ed from the first time I saw it.

Synopsis via Goodreads
The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.
Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

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Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pub. Date: August 30th, 2011
Series: Anna, #1
My Review

Why I Love this Cover:
This cover is just bad ass and creepy and awesome. I love how the cover is almost completely monochromatic with just a few red accents to symbolize the 'blood' in 'Anna Dressed in Blood'. I love the haunted old house in the background and the fact that Anna is on the cover. It all really does a magnificent job of setting up the atmosphere and setting in your head before you even start the book. And as someone who has read it, the cover really does fit perfectly.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

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Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pub. Date: February 15th, 2011
Series: Angelfire, #1

Why I Love this Cover:
Okay so this is another bad ass cover. Seriously, this cover just kicks butt. I also love how the majority of the cover is fairly monochromatic with whites, greys, and blacks but then there are the small pops of orangish-red in Ellie's hair and the font. (I'm sensing a theme here.) Also, the birds add a nice little creepy touch to round it all off.

Synopsis via Goodreads
First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

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Ingenue by Jillian Larkin
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Pub. Date: August 9th, 2011
Series: Flappers, #2

Why I Love this Cover:
One word folks. Classy! I love book covers for books from the 20's through 40's. Maybe it's because I feel like I should have been born in that era sometimes, instead of this one, but they really draw me in. I've been dying to read this series.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Power . . . love . . . scandal . . .
There’s never enough to go around.

In the city that never sleeps, Lorraine Dyer is wide awake. Ever since she exposed Clara Knowles for the tramp she was—and lost her closest confidante in the process—Lorraine has spent every second scheming to make her selfish, lovesick ex–best friend pay for what she did. No one crosses Lorraine. Not even Gloria.

True love conquers everything—or so Gloria Carmody crazily believed. She and Jerome Johnson can barely scrape together cash for their rent, let alone have a moment to whisper sweet nothings in the dark. And if they thought escaping Chicago meant they’d get away with murder . . . they were dead wrong.

Clara was sure that once handsome, charming Marcus Eastman discovered her shameful secret, he’d drop her like a bad habit. Instead, he swept her off her feet and whisked her away to New York. Being with Marcus is a breath of fresh air—and a chance for Clara to leave her wild flapper ways firmly in the past. Except the dazzling parties and bright lights won’t stop whispering her name. . . .

INGENUE is the second novel in the sexy, dangerous, and ridiculously romantic Flappers series set in the Roaring Twenties . . . where revenge is a dish best served cold.

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Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel Books
Pub. Date: March 22nd, 2011

Why I Love this Cover:
This cover is so simplistic, refreshing, symbolic and unique. I love everything about it and while I still need to read the book, I get the feeling that this cover fits the story perfectly, just based on the synopsis and what I've heard about it.

Synopsis via Goodreads
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

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The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: May 10th, 2011

Why I Love this Cover:
I am so jealous of whoever took the photo for this cover. Seriously, almost the entire cover is a reflection in a big puddle of rain water and yet there is something so stunning, yet rough, about it that I just love. I also like how real the cover feels.

Synopsis via Goodreads
High school junior Nick Brandt is intent on getting a girlfriend, and Eden Reiss is the one that he wants. He has exactly four semesters to get the girl, but when the phone rings on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday night, life for Nick and his parents will never be the same. What had been a seemingly idyllic home life has become something else entirely. But with this shake-up comes a newfound confidence for Nick; he's become a bolder version of himself, no longer afraid to question his parents, and no longer afraid to talk to Eden.

Alyssa B. Sheinmel has written a powerfully gripping story about family secrets, falling in love, and finding luck in unexpected--and sometimes unwelcome—circumstances.

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In the Shadow of the Lamp by Susanne Dunlap
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Pub. Date: April 12th, 2011
My Review

Why I Love this Cover:
On its own, while I do love this cover, it probably wouldn't have made my Top 10. However, after having read this book, the cover fits it so perfectly that I had to include it. I like that you can't see the girl's face and the lamp adds the perfect touch. Overall great composition and lovely font.

Synopsis via Goodreads
It's 1854 and sixteen-year-old Molly would give anything to change her circumstances as a lowly servant in a posh London house. So when she hears of an opportunity to join the nurses who will be traveling with Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, she jumps at the chance. The work is grueling, the hospital conditions deplorable, and Miss Nightingale a demanding teacher. Before long, the plight of British soldiers becomes more than just a mission of mercy as Molly finds that she's falling in love with both a dashing young doctor and a soldier who has joined the army to be near her. But with the battle raging ever nearer, can Molly keep the two men she cares for from harm? A love story to savor, and a fascinating behind-the-scenes imagining of the woman who became known as 'the lady with the lamp.'

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So what did you think? I'm going to be totally honest, I plan to cheat. You know how I told you how hard it was for me to choose? Well I decided to make it a little easier on myself for the sake of my sanity. Later today I'm going to post my Top 10 Indie Book Covers of 2011. Yep, that's right. I feel like it's okay to do two posts because they deserve to both be adequately and equally acknowledged with seperate posts. And besides, I think it means so much more when an indie book has an amazing cover because there isn't some big publishing house backing it and making sure it gets the best. These indie covers I plan to post are way better than most traditional but I wanted to make two lists so now I can post more. That's why I didn't include them with this. I'm the queen of excuses. So be looking for that later today peeps. :D

My Top Ten Books Read in 2011
My Favorite Cover of 2010