Waiting on Wednesday (December 8)

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Betrayal (Haunting Emma 2) by Lee Nichols

Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great when she's battling the wraith-master Neos, but terrible when she's flirting with fellow ghostkeeper (and soul mate) Bennett. When ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power, and that's not something Bennett can handle. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school with fellow ghostkeeper, Natalie. When a new team of ghostkeepers arrive—one a snarky teen boy, the other a British scholar—Emma finds solace in training for the battle against Neos. But as the team grows stronger, they are threatened by an unknown force. One they thought was good.
As chilling and page-turning as Deception, this sequel will grab readers and hold them to the last page. No one is safe from suspicion as Emma closes in on the traitor.

Published by Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: March 1, 2010

Loved the first book in this series, and I can't wait for this one!

Teaser Tuesday & Secret Santa

What is Teaser Tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules:
Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"My name is Zara White and I'm almost seventeen years old. I'm a pixie, and my boyfriend was killed by a pixie king with the ludicrous name of Frank."
-Entice, Page 22, by Carrie Jones


I also got a surprise when I was leaving for class today. I opened up the door, and there was a package waiting outside from my Secret Santa! Unfortunately, I had to leave for class, so I only got a chance to read the card. After a long drive home, however, I decided to open them.

Wendy from http://www.literaryfeline.com/ went above and beyond as my secret santa :)


I received three books from my wishlist, Wish by Alexandra Bullen, The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley, and Dull Boy by Sarah Cross. Not only that, but I got some comfy socks (something I appreciate greatly during the Vermont winter), some Sweet Pea lotion (my favorite), and a cute stocking full of chocolates.




I'm not sure she planned for it, but the box also served as a gift. My kitten, Zeus, absolutely loved it.

So, a huge thank you to Wendy! My gifts are awesome, and I'm insanely grateful :)

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi of The Story Siren, who was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. All of the synopses you see below were found on Goodreads. Here are the books I got this week...

For Review:
My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

From Around the World ARC Tours

Tansy Miller has always felt that her divorced father has never had enough time for her. But mistakenly getting caught on the wrong side of the law wasn't exactly how she wanted to get his attention. Enter Chrysanthemum "Chrissy" Everstar, Tansy's fairy in shining, er, high heels. Chrissy is only a fair godmother, of course, so Tansy's three wishes don't exactly go according to plan. And if bringing Robin Hood to the twenty-first century isn't bad enough for Tansy, being transported back to the Middle Ages to deal with Rumpelstiltskin certainly is. She'll need the help of her blended family, her wits, and especially the cute police chief 's son to stop the gold-spinning story from spinning wildly out of control. Janette Rallison pulls out all the stops in this fresh, fun-filled follow-up to the popular My Fair Godmother.

Published by Walker Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 12, 2011

Entice by Carrie Jones

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out.

For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla?

And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned. She's Astley's queen.

Published by Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: December 14, 2010

Book Blast from the Past: The Dear America Series

This feature was inspired by a post by Eleni at La Femme Readers. My goal for this new feature is to go back to the books that I loved as a pre-teen/teen, and write about why I still enjoy them.

The Dear America series, Published by Scholastic

The Dear America series began releasing the the late 90's, and I picked one up right around the time I turned ten (and Harry Potter was first released). The Winter of Red Snow, which discussed the topic of the revolutionary war, was the first one I recall reading. Each book contains the diary of a young girl, and takes place during a different time period in U.S. history. What's not to enjoy?

I still love this series for sentimental reasons, and I've been contemplating the idea of rereading the series. When I was young, I enjoyed reading about girls dealing with real historical issues. Now, I think I'd focus on the roles of women throughout history. At the start of the series, many the girls would undoubtedly be preparing for their role as caretaker of the home. I think it would be interesting to see how those roles evolve over the course of the books. Due to some in-depth history courses, I think I'd also have a greater appreciation for the stories involving racism and immigration. So, there may be some mini-reviews of these books popping up during my holiday break.

This fall, Scholastic actually announced that they would be relaunching the series! They have created new websites for the series (one is for fans, the other was created for educators), and are re-releasing many of the books. Of course, I'm partial to the hardcovers that I grew up with. After all, they had pretty ribbon as a built in bookmarks. My collection had been sadly neglected, so I headed to ebay to see what they were selling for. I got a great deal on a couple of my favorites...now I just need space for them.

Waiting on Wednesday (December 1)

Happy December!

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Entice by Carrie Jones

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out.

For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla?

And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned. She's Astley's queen.

Published by Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: December 7, 2010