To learn more about the chat as well, I recommend go viewing the Page Turners blog post to learn the full details of the chat and more about the contests during the chat.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sea Twitter Chat with Heidi R Kling
To learn more about the chat as well, I recommend go viewing the Page Turners blog post to learn the full details of the chat and more about the contests during the chat.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Pages: 344
Ratings: 5 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):
Amy Curry thinks her
life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start
anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car
accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving
cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy
on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't
seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the
country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is
developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her
father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident.
Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins,
motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find
herself.
Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is a perfect book for summer.
It has all the elements for a great summer read: a cross country road trip,
romance, and it takes place in the summer. While most summer books are quick,
fun reads, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour offer much more.
What drew me into the story were the characters. Amy felt
like she could be any girl dealing with the loss of her father and guilt over
his death. Her emotions were so raw and true at points in the story that I was
crying along with her. While reading, I often wanted to just reach out an give
Amy a huge hug to help her with all the emotional baggage she was carrying.
Luckily Roger was there to help me do that. Which brings me to Roger. While the
story is told from Amy’s point of view, the reader still gets to learn and
understand Roger. Like Amy, Roger is dealing with issues of his own, stemming
from his recent break up. While Amy and Roger do not know one another well
before the trip, they find out they are a lot more similar than they think and
they form a friendship that helps both of them heal.
While the story takes places over a course of a couple of
days, the relationship formed between Amy and Roger feels genuine. Morgan
Matson did a good job creating Amy and Roger’s relationship and taking it from
friends to something a little bit more. The romance did not suddenly pop up out
of no where going “Hey look we love each other all of a sudden!” but instead
played out very naturally, building a relationship that blooms to romance in the
end.
This book is a must read for summer. It is a beautifully written
book, truly capturing the emotions of grieve, guilt, love, and loss. Everything
feels truly real and relatable, therefore pulling you into the story, taking
you on this cross country road
trip, filled with detours, along with the characters.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Waiting on Wednesday (6) - Return to Paradise
Return to Paradise
Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Flux
To be released: September 1, 2010
Summary (from Goodreads):
Maggie and Caleb just
went through the worst year of their lives. Hit by a car and starting life over
with a limp, Maggie never thought she would forgive Caleb. But she did-and fell
in love. What they shared was real. But Caleb wanted to be free from the
past-and a terrible secret: he wasn't the one who hit Maggie. So he left
Paradise-and Maggie-forever.
When Maggie and Caleb
run into each other in a different town, they can't deny their true feelings.
Will Maggie let Caleb get away again? Or will Caleb face the truth and return
to Paradise?
When
I read Leaving Paradise, I fell in
love with Caleb and Maggie. Leaving
Paradise was such a good book and the ending left me wanting more. How
could Caleb just leave?!? Thankful, the wonderful Simone Elkeles has written a
sequel and I cannot wait to read it and see what happens next to these poor
characters.
Waiting
on Wednesday is a weekly event highlighting exciting upcoming releases. It is
hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Review: A Matter of Magic
A Matter of Magic
Patricia C. Wrede
Publisher: Orb Books
Release Date: June 8, 2010
Pages: 448
Ratings: 3 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):
When a stranger offers
her a small fortune to break into a traveling magician’s wagon, Kim doesn’t
hesitate. Having grown up a waif in the dirty streets of London, Kim isn’t
above a bit of breaking-and-entering. A hard life and lean times have schooled
her in one lesson: steal from them before they steal from you. But when the
magician catches her in the act, Kim thinks she’s done for. Until he suggests
she become his apprentice; then the real trouble begins.
Kim soon finds herself
entangled with murderers, thieves, and cloak-and-dagger politics, all while
trying to learn how to become both a proper lady and a magician in her own
right. Magic and intrigue go hand in hand in Mairelon the
Magician and The Magician’s Ward, two fast-paced
novels filled with mystery and romance, set against the intricate backdrop of
Regency England.
A Matter of Magic
was a nice, quick read that fulfilled my desire for both fantasy and historical
fiction. Originally published as two separate books, Mairelon the Magician (published in 1991) and The Magician’s Ward (published in 1997), A Matter of Magic gives you both for the price of one.
The stories in both books are not directly related, but it
makes sense to offer the reader’s the full tale of Kim and Mairelon in one
book. The first part of the book, originally Mairelon the Magician, I found entertaining, but at times
confusing. There were a lot of secondary characters and everyone was after the
same thing, some set of magic trinkets, that I kept easily getting confused and
could not keep straight what character was what and who was good in bad. As the
book progressed it got clearer but I was still confused until after the climax,
where what everyone has been searching for is found. Then everything became
clearer.
I enjoyed the second installment, originally The Magician’s Ward, a lot more then the
first part. I was able to read through the second half much faster and make a
lot more sense of the story. I loved seeing Kim progress from a street rat
living as a thief into a respectable lady. The plot was not as complicated as
the first half of the book making it a lot easier to understand. My only issue
with this story line was the romance seemed to jump a little to quickly off the
page. I saw it coming but would have liked to see it developed a bit more
before the “bam! I’m in love.”
Overall, this book was a nice, quick read that I brought on
a whim for Nook. I enjoyed it and did fulfill my desire to read historical and
fantasy fiction at the same time.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Fragment Friday - 13 to Life by Shannon Delany
So I did my first vlog, even though I felt like I looked like a spaz! YAY!! It is for a new meme called Fragment Friday. Fragment Friday is hosted by James of Book Chic and it is where you read excerpts of your favorite books or what you are reading now. I chose an excerpt from a favorite this week: 13 to Life by Shannon Delany.
*Due to technical difficulties, this ended up being posted and uploaded on Saturday.
If you would like to get Pietr yourself check out my post here.
And check out my review of 13 to Life
too!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Waiting on Wednesday (5) - The Lost Saint
By: Bree Despain
Publisher: EgmontUSA
To be released: December 28, 2010
Summary (from Goodreads):
A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.
Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must do. She must become a Hound of Heaven.
Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot—a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel is put in danger—in more ways than one.
Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her—not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.
Bree revealed the cover to the sequel to the Dark Divine yesterday and it is making me want to read the book even more. I love the Dark Divine and cannot wait for it’s sequel. It looks so good. December cannot come fast enough. Luckily, on Bree’s blog, she will be doing a contest on the 28th of each month to win books. Hopefully that will hold my excited over until December.
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event highlighting exciting upcoming releases. It is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Review: Only the Good Spy Young
Only the Good Spy Young
Ally Carter
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Release date: June 29, 2010
Pages: 240
Rating: 5 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):
When Cammie Morgan enrolled at the Gallagher Academy, she knew she was preparing for the dangerous life of a spy. What she didn’t know was that the serious, real-life danger would start during her junior year of high school. But that’s exactly what happened two months ago when she faced off against an ancient terrorist organization dead set on kidnapping her.
Now the danger follows her everywhere and even Cammie “The Chameleon” can’t hide. When a terrifying encounter in London reveals that one of her most-trusted allies is actually a rogue double-agent Cammie no longer knows if she can trust her classmates, her teachers—or even her own heart.
In this fourth installment of the New York Times best-selling series, the Gallagher Girls must hack, spy, steal, and lie their way to the truth as they go searching for answers, recognizing that the key to Cammie’s future may lie deep in the past....
I am going to go all fan girly on this review because I absolutely loved this book. Ally Carter exceeded all expectations with this fourth installment in the Gallagher Girls series. I brought this book and could not stop reading it once I started it was that good.
I am going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible because, believe me, there are tons of spoilers. This book was so jammed packed with mysteries, adventure, betrayals, action, and romance. I loved every minute of reading it.
Starting from the first chapter, literally, Ally Carter takes you on an amazing read. The story starts right away and does not let you go until the last page, leaving you dying for more. So much happen in this installment of the Gallagher Girls series, answering many questions I was left with from prior books. It's really hard to try to keep this review non-spoilery because much of the awesomeness of this book is from many of the secrets that were revealed.
This series has grown so much from its first book, I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. I love now that the plots are less frivolous, and more real. Your truly seeing the dangerous of being a spy and the difficult decisions that Cammie must make. This book, by far, is currently my favorite in the series. It had everything I have come to expect in the Gallagher Girls series and so much more. I was literally yelling at the characters and points and gasping at others, it was so good.
The fifth book in the Gallagher Girls series better come out soon because the ending of the book had me dying. I cannot wait to see what happens next with Cammie after what she decided to do in the ending. The fifth book cannot be written soon enough. I will definitely be picking that book up as soon as possible.
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