Happy Book Birthday: THE NEAR WITCH

FINALLY. After months and months and months of me talking about The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab, you can go buy a copy! AHHHHH.....

When you read it let me know! I hope all of you love it as much as I do. It's one of the best books, beautifully crafted and creepy. It stays with you long after you've finished it.

Also, since it's release day...I post this again for the last time on my blog. (If you like this, you'll like the book 10000000x better. The same goes for if you don't like this. hhehe)





Happy birthday to THE NEAR WITCH. Welcome to the world!!!!

Get more info/pre-order: 

My review |||| Amazon |||   Goodreads  |||  IndieBound ||| Book Depository     

The author on the web:

Blog  |||  Twitter  |||  Tumblr  

Happy Book Birthday: HOURGLASS & IMAGINARY GIRLS

I need to take a second to say two things:

1) IMAGINARY GIRLS comes out today.

My mini-review: The story begins when Chloe is fourteen. She and her older sister Ruby are at a party and Ruby tells everyone Chloe can swim across the reservoir. Rumor is there used to be a city under there--and all the remnants lie just on the other side. Chloe, who lives to please her eccentric, perfect sister, swims across and stumbles on the dead body of a girl. Freaked from the whole incident, she flees her sister and the town they grew up in. Two years later Ruby comes for Chloe. When Chloe goes home again, she is thrust into a dark and twisted and completely unreal mystery that could send her over the edge. Imaginary Girls is a book written with excellence and a story you can't predict that leaves you guessing with every turn of the page. It's a book about the impossible--the impossible that exists in the world, in those we love most, and in yourself. It leaves you wondering and guessing long after the ending.

I read Imaginary Girls a few months ago and it was fantastic. My review is here, if you want to read more details of all the reasons why I loved it. In short, it's creepy and beautifully written. You won't regret the purchase.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository

Congrats to Nova! I hope everyone loves the world you've created and the way you painted it like I did!

2) HOURGLASS comes out today!! And OMG, I AM EXCITED.

my mini-review:  Emerson has always seen things that aren't really there, ghosts or figments of her imagination. She's never had an answer, a reason why they appear to her, but they do. When the visions start to ruin her life, a boy named Michael is hired by her brother to help her. Michael turns out to be part of a secret organization called Hourglass that deals with people like Emerson, and like himself. Emerson learns she isn't seeing ghosts--but time slips, moments of the past that appear in her timeline. And Michael, he sees time slips too--of the future. The two team up to solve a murder and prevent the horrible future from happening, they get more than they bargain for. This is a WONDERFUL story. It's the perfect blend of humor, mystery and romance. Toss in some time travel, strange twists and a kick butt main character, Hourglass is certain to entertain every reader! It's awesome yall. AWESOME. Go read it.

You must go buy it now. Right now. It is one of my favorite books this year. It's full of so much win! You won't regret buying this for yourself, for your friends, for the stranger on the street. My vlog review is here, if you need more reasons.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository

CONGRATULATIONS MYRA. It's been a long time coming. And it's been a pleasure to journey it beside you. I can't wait to see what happens next. :)

Spotted: Today's Releases (2)

ALL OF THIS COMES OUT!! There was so much I had to share....Happy March 1!!

Clarity “Clare” Fern is a physic, who can see visions with the touch of an object. Her brother Perry is a medium and her mother is a telepath. When people start dying, Clare is the only one who can help and save her brother. But the closer Clare gets to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes. Clarity is a must-read. It’s part Veronica Mars, part Nancy Drew and filled with great characters, mystery, drama, paranormal and romance. It’s a hysterical, wonderful blend of all the best things in YA fiction.  It will keep you wondering whodunit and how in the world so many secrets can exist in a small town.  

Clarity review
Kim interview (posted today! You can win a signed/personalized copy!)

Fragment Friday

Buy it:    
Amazon      Indie Bound    Book Depository

(I am very excited to read this! I can't wait to get my hands on it. Soon...)

Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...
 
Buy it:
Amazon    IndieBound   Book Depository 

The gorgeous cover of this book is only a glimpse at what lies inside. Everything about Falling Under is so marvelous—the prose, the characters, the plot, the descriptions—I was in love right away. Theia sees Haden in her dreams, and then in her reality and she must figure out what is real and what isn’t. Falling Under is the perfect blend of things that go bump in the night, dreams, nightmares and the deceptive beauty of love. It will challenge your view on what's real and what's only a dream--and how both of those things can completely transform a life. This is story that you won’t be able to predict, with deadly secrets and dreams and reality. Everything is so exciting and descriptive and unique. It will take you down one road only to switch directions and leave you with whiplash. It will tear out your heart, stomp on it and then patch it back together—that’s a good thing, of course.

Falling Under full review

Gwen interview

Fragment Friday

Buy it:

Amazon     IndieBound    Book Depository

Sophie Mercer is back in part two of the Hex Hall trilogy—and she comes back with a bang! Demonglass picks up shortly after where Hex Hall ended. Sophie is still set on the Removal and her father has just showed up at school, telling her to come to London for the summer. Accompanied by Jenna and Cal, Sophie dives into a new world of London and a mystery—as someone has been making more demons. She’s set on finding out who and stopping them before the world she knows becomes chaos. This is an incredible sequel.. Here are some reasons: It’s set in England. Sophie’s still vivacious and snarky. Cal is wonderful. The new characters add so much to the story. Demonglass sparkles and completely rocks. If you liked Hex Hall, you’ll love Demonglass.

Demonglass full review

Buy it: 

 Amazon     IndieBound   Book Depository   

My mini review (look for longer soon!)

Sean Griswold’s Head is a unique story. When Payton Gritas learns her father has been diagnosed with MS, her whole world starts to fall apart. Her counselor at school tells her to find a focus object—something that she can devote her thoughts and feelings to until she can figure them out. That’s the same day Sean Griswold—the boy who’s sat in front of her for years—talks to her and gives her something to focus on: his head. Sean Griswold’s head tackles a hard issue in a funny, relieving, heart-warming way. It shows you the journey a young girl takes to find herself when everything changes. 

Buy it: 

Amazon   IndieBound   Book Depository

More of today's titles (whether new or in paperback):

Blood & Flowers by Penny Blubaugh

Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

The Subrosa Semesters by Alissa Grosso

Beautiful Dead: Summer by Eden Maguire

The Chaos (Numbers) by Rachel Ward

Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney

I Am J by Cris Beam

May (Daughters Of The Sea) by Kathryn Lasky

One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Betrayal by Lee Nichols

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell 

Happy release day to all these wonderful books! Go buy something! And tell me....What are you reading?

Spotted: Today's Releases (1)

 These titles are out and about in the wild TODAY.  I am way excited. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you wonderful books and authors!!

I've had an ARC of this for a while and I FINALLY read it last night. It was AMAZING. See? Look, it's in my list. I'm working on the review today so hopefully it will be up on Wednesday. But really, just go buy it. It's freaking awesome. AWESOME I tell you. Look for the review soon and a giveaway with this book later. I can already promise that will hapen. Plus, Courtney Allison Moulton is super fun. You should support her debut novel. It's kick-butt.

• Amazon 
• IndieBound 
• Book Depository

Nothing’s simple when you run with werewolves. Jess Gillmansen thinks she’s seen it all but her eyes are about to be opened to even more danger and a reality far more paranormal than she’s suspected. With Jess’s realization that the Rusakovas’ mother is still alive and imprisoned, the group’s choices become harder and trust more important. Lines are drawn and relationships change as the broken Rusakova family struggles to reunite long enough to free their mother and people who Jess always just took to be normal people show themselves to be much, much more.

• Amazon
• IndieBound
• Book Depository

I started this book today! I'm way behind on my TBR but I have heard some really amazing things about this debut from Sara Bennett Wealer. Everything up to page 8 has been good! You can be sure I'll talk about when I've finished it. If you like music, contemporary novels, stories about friends and rivals--then you should check this out! It sounds like something I've never read before and I'm pumped about the new and different.

• Amazon
• IndieBound
• Book Depository

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah! When Regina Bloomsbury’s band, the Caverns, breaks up, she thinks it’s all over. And then she makes a wish— “I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles.” The Beatles are her music idols. The next day, she gets up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history! Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans. And Regina is the star of it all.  But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make. Does she want to replace the Beatles forever? Here is a rocking novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock ’n roll. I like The Beatles. This book seems interesting! If anyone reads it, let me know!

• Amazon
• IndieBound
• Book Depository

The sequel to The Body Finder is out today! I posted a review here so be sure to check that out for the scoop.  Kimberly Derting does an amazing job at showing you the characters and their deepest thoughts without you realizing it. This book is a thrill-ride filled with new characters, new scenarios, new drama and new challenges. If you liked The Body Finder then you won’t be disappointed by it’s sequel.

• Amazon
• IndieBound
• The Book Depository

Being only half-vamp in a high school like Carpathia Night makes you a whole loser. But Danny Gray manages to escape the worst of the specists at his school. Thanks to genetic treatments he had as an infant, most people assume Danny's other half is human. Which is a good thing. 
Ever since the development of synthetic blood – SynHeme – vamps have become society’s elite, while wulves like his father work menial jobs and live in bad neighborhoods.  Wulves are less than second class citizens; once a month they become inmates, forced to undergo their Change in dangerous government compounds. For Danny, living with his vamp mother and going to a school with a nearly all-vamp student body, it’s best to pretend his wulf half doesn’t even exist.  But lately Danny's been having some weird symptoms -- fantastic night vision; a keener-than-usual sense of smell; and headaches, right around the full moon. 
Even though it's easy to be in denial, it's hard to ignore evidence.  There's only a month until the next few moon, and Danny's time is running out.

• Amazon
• IndieBound
• Book Depository

Welp, there you have it. Some of today's hottest YA titles. Let me know if you pick up any of these and what you think of them! As for me, I'm off to write my ANGELFIRE review and read RIVAL. Happy book hunting!

Book Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon PulseDate: February 8, 2011
Series or Standalone: Standalone
ISBN: 978-1416994817
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
Source: ARC
Description:
The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.


When a second student goes missing—someone close to Kendall’s heart—the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school—messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there—Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.


Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross—and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

First line: Everything changes when Tiffany Quinn disappears.

Kendall Fletcher has OCD. That’s an important thing to know about this story. It’s the reason I liked it. I’ve never read a story where a character has OCD—but McMann did it exactly how I imagined it. It’s a secret struggle she has. Not many people know about Kendall’s OCD—her parents and her best friend/unannounced boyfriend Nico. Kendall tries to fight it but she can’t; she can only live and move with it as part of her. She can only do her best. That’s why when Tiffany disappears she can’t handle it. She didn’t know Tiffany—not really—but Cryer’s Cross is a small town. A safe town. These things don’t happen here.

Not much time is spent talking about Tiffany Quinn. The town moves on because it has to. The kids move on because they have to and when the new year starts, it brings with it two new students: Marlena and Jacian. Jacian is a suspect but when someone else disappears, they are in the clear—but Kendall’s entire world is shaken.

Most of the book focuses on Kendall fighting her feels for Jacian—because she’s with Nico—and trying to cope with the loss that shakes her world. I liked Jacian and the dynamic of he and Kendall. I liked the idea of the story—that people go missing and a desk is the only clue—a desk and some secrets that have long-since been buried. It was definitely a creepy book and well-written. (Again, I loved the OCD aspect.) (And it was very creepy!!)

What the book had in creepy and swoon-worthy romance, it lacked in other areas. I felt at times that Kendall’s voice changed. They were small moments where her internal dialogue (which was always consistent) sounded different than when she actually spoke. In those instances, it feel like McMann tried too hard to make her sound like a teenager. But all in all, again, I liked Kendall.

Most of the characters were two-dimensional—I think of Nico and Marlena. And while they were secondary characters, they were still important to the story (especially Nico) but Marlena felt like filler to me. I enjoyed Jacian almost than Kendall.

Honestly, I found the story highly predictable. I pegged it all in just a few pages. The beginning was full of potential and good story development, but then the end felt rushed. I didn’t like the wrapped-up-in-a-bow-but-not-really aspect of the ending. All these things happened that were pretty horrible for Kendall, yet at the end she’s seemingly unaffected. The story is wrapped up without being wrapped up.

It was enjoyable on the whole. If you like creepy books then you should get Cryer’s Cross. My favorite part of this story: the thing Kendall hates most about herself saves her.

Launch into Across the Universe

Today is 1/11/11. What does that mean? It's the release date for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis!! 

Header courtesy of Novel Thoughts.

My goal by the end of this post is to make you want it. In fact, if you make it through this post before you buy it, I'll be impressed. Oh yea, you can buy here: 

Fireside Bookstore

(They have signed books there!) 

Indiebound

Amazon

AND, when you get your pretty finished copy, you can enter this contest!

 

If you don’t know, which you should, I LOVE this book. In fact, here’s my mini-review. You can read my full review here!

Godspeed that has been traveling though space for 300 years. The people aboard are waiting for the new society that lies ahead. These are the people who will populate the uncharted territory—them and the secret stash of frozen bodies that lie under the main levels of the ship. Amy is one of the frozen. When she is woken 50 years before Godspeed is scheduled to land on the new planet, everything goes into chaos. She’s too different, too much of anomaly and her very existence threatens everything, including Elder. Elder is the next in line to lead the ship to safety and despite the commands from Eldest, the current leader, there’s something about Amy that he can’t ignore.  Elder finds himself at the center of a mystery that’s bigger than both he and Amy, he knows she’s the only person he can trust. But can Amy allow herself to trust Elder? The answers to everything lie within each other. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is an adventure that everyone will want to read—boys and girls, moms and dads—and you won’t want to miss this incredible thrill ride, that’s part-dystopia, part-sci-fi and part-all the things you’re afraid to wonder about. 

The great people at Penguin (who you should follow on twitter, too!) reached out across the blogosphere to join in the celebration of Across the Universe!! They have given some exclusives that have never been seen before today. Why? Because we have some things to celebrate!

First off: an EXCLUSIVE video in which Beth talks about ATU and explains everything you need to know (not everything but a lot!) about the layout of the good ship Godspeed. 

Wow! So cool! There's also this fabulous website that launches today, www.acrosstheuniversebook.com where you can explore Godspeed and the world or ATU. You can look and see where every incident in the book happened. It's really cool to visualize and play around with. I love getting to see the Feeder Level and the Keeper Level.  The site is full of author and book information and some incredible background downloads.

And, there’s this other epic thing where you can read the first 111 pages at io9. It will be posted today only from 11:11 AM—11:11 PM. 

I know, I know. That’s amazing . Can you handle anymore? If so, check out the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE book page and the Penguin page on Facebook.

You can also get to know Beth Revis (who is fantastic by the way) by checking out her website, her blog, and her twitter.

I hope you are drooling--like, incessantly. I hope it’s so bad that you keep scrolling back up, wanting to buy this book. You should do it. You won’t regret it!

Happy ACROSS THE UNIVERSE day 
and congrats to Beth!!!

Cover Me! (2) and a birthday!!

Today is a good day. It's Scott Tracey's birthday!! (Happy birthday Scott!!) It's also the day he revealed the cover for WITCH EYES.

Braden Michaels wears his sunglasses at night.  And at the movies.  And in the shower.  Raised by his warlock uncle and taught to use magic, he suffers from a deadly curse: the witch eyes.  He sees everything that normal eyes filter out: history and memory; love and pain; magic and darkness.  The mind, however, was not meant to process so much, and the power is killing him slowly.  The only thing saving his sanity are the sunglasses he always wears.

And then the visions reveal a dark threat on the horizon.  Braden runs away to Belle Dam, the city where the threat originated, and is immediately swept up into the town’s mysterious feud.  Two rival magical families have divided the town into a personal chessboard of scheming and machinations, and Braden is their latest pawn.  As he tries to avoid their manipulations, and see the truth behind his return to Belle Dam, he has a choice to make.  One side, or the other.  Ignite the feud, or end it.  Sacrifice himself, or someone else.  Live, or die.

WITCH EYES will be released in the fall of 2011.

Watch the (original)  book trailer here. 

Isn't it cool??