Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday (December 22)

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

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause. (From Goodreads)

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: March 7, 2011

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Book Review: Entice by Carrie Jones & Giveaway

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. (From Goodreads)

The focus on Entice felt a bit different from the first two books in the series. It starts right where the story left off in the previous book, Entice. Zara is trying to track down a way to get to Valhalla to bring Nick back, even though she is unsure of how he'll react once he finds out that she's been turned. With more and more kids disappearing, and families fleeing town, the situation seems much more urgent.

In the third book in the series, the reader gets to see just how much Zara has grown, and how strong her loyalty is. Zara is struggling to show her friends and family that simply because she's been changed doesn't mean that she's evil. Had this happened in the first book, I'm sure she would have been doubting herself. In this book, however, she's confident that simply because she's been turned doesn't mean that she's a different person (or pixie). What I really appreciate about Zara is that she doesn't play the damsel in distress, but she's willing to accept help when she needs it. There were a few scenes where my heart broke for her, but he love for the people around her never faltered.

This book features more Astley, which I appreciated. In my review for Captivate, I stated that I was suspicious of his intentions. Based on the behavior of the pixies in Book 1, I think that was pretty justified. After reading Entice, however, I find myself on his side. It's clear that he cares about Zara, and wants to help her find Nick. I also felt a bit of sympathy for him regarding his past, but I won't spoil the information that's revealed.

The only thing that I regret is not rereading Captivate before I started this one. It was almost a year between books, and there were some small details that I had forgotten about. Still, I thought that Jones did a good job of refreshing readers like me. It's fairly easy to figure out where this book will end, and how it will set up for the next book in the series. Still, the characters and smaller plot details kept me guessing. Overall, I feel that the series is getting stronger as it goes on, and I can't wait for the next book

Entice
By Carrie Jones
Published by Bloomsbury USA
264 Pages
Rating: B

Bloomsbury has offered to give away one copy of the book, so if you're in the US you can sign up below. Because it's being shipped straight from Bloomsbury, you need to have a US street address, and they can't ship it to P.O. boxes.
It'll be open for one week, until December 28.

CONTEST CLOSED

Monday, December 20, 2010

Teaser Tuesday (December 21)

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.

"At first she couldn't even find him. Then a shadow at the window moved and the darkness resolved into a slender shape that straightened from the viewfinder."

-Incarceron, Page 46, by Catherine Fisher

Sunday, December 19, 2010

In My Mailbox (December 19)

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:
Will Work For Prom Dress by Aimee Ferris

Planning for prom’s supposed to be fun—the dress, the accessories, the devastatingly handsome date—but Quigley Johnson never thought that agreeing to her best friend Ann’s Betterment Plan would ruin her life!

After a series of bizarre part-time jobs, the prospect of being a live model for a fashion-design class has Quigley ready to throw i
n the towel, until she meets Zander. He may not be able to sketch, but he’s smoking hot, cool and funny, and every outfit he creates might as well be made for her. But is he too good to be true? Then there’s David, the self-professed “Art King” whose competitiveness has always meant cutting Quigley down, until he sets his sights on making her his prom date and “Art Queen.” And this preparation for the formal was supposed to make Quigley and Ann even closer, but it’s tearing them apart! How will Quigley make it to prom, when she’s barely making it through high school?

Thanks to EgmontUSA for this one!

Solid by Shelley
Workinger

Eighteen years ago, a rogue Army doctor secretly experimented with a chromosomal drug on unknowing pregnant women. When he was killed not long after the children were born, any knowledge and evidence seemed to die with him - except the living, breathing, human products of his work.

Almost two decades later, th
e newly self-proclaimed “open-book” military unearths the truth about the experiment, bringing Clio Kaid and the other affected teens to a state-of-the-art, isolated campus where they soon discover that C9x did indeed alter their chromosomes, its mutations presenting as super-human abilities. The military kids, who come from across the nation and all walks of life, come into their own as lighter-than-air ‘athletes’; ‘indies’ as solid as stone walls; teens who can make themselves invisible and others who can blind with their brilliance.

As Clio comes into her remarkable ability, embraces new friendships and embarks on first love, she also can’t shake the suspicion that the government has not been as forthcoming with their attentions as they claimed…


Thanks Shelley!

Library:
Incarceron
by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons.

A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists.

But there comes a moment when Finn,
inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born

White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Entice by Carrie Jones - Fun Stuff from Bloomsbury USA

Bloomsbury USA has a bunch of fun stuff celebrating the release of Entice (Need 3) by Carrie Jones. So, I thought I'd let everyone know about them.

Check out the Facebook fan page for Need here:NeedPixies.There's a fun poll up where you can choose between Nick and Astley (surprisingly, I am actually Team Astley), and a contest where you can pick your dream cast if they were to make a movie. The winner of this contest can win a FLIP video camera. Soon they'll be updating the page with a Pixie Kiss app, where you can send kisses from Zara, Nick, or Astley.

The Facebook page for Bloomsbury Teen has a December giveaway, information on upcoming titles, and links to sites outside of Facebook.

Book Trailer:


I'll be posting my review on December 21, and Bloomsbury has generously offered a copy to give away, along with some bookmarks. So check back early next week!

Copyright ©2009-2013 Cornucopia of Reviews. All Rights Reserved.