Showcase Sunday # 10

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! 

This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; 

in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift!

Only a few books to share from these past 2 weeks. I was lucky enough to attend Erin Bowman's release party in CT for Taken with my aunt, sister, and cousin. We made it a girls day with mani/pedi's and topped it off with a fabulous chicken taco dinner with my aunt, uncle, sister and cousins! :)

Teaser Review # 2

(image found here)

As I explained in a previous blog post, I am a Junior Reviewer for the Page Turners blog. As I only manage to review a handful of books each month, I've decided they will all be featured on the Page Turners blog versus having some of them posted here. I will still be posting blogs here, such as Showcase Sunday and other memes or random posts I feel like. But what I plan to do is post a "Teaser Review," which will be posted here to let you know when a review of mine is up on the Page Turners blog. I'm not asking that anyone follow their blog, (even though it is very worthy of their followers) especially since I will only be posting reviews versus any other posts I make here. I just wanted to make sure anyone who wanted to read my reviews knows where to find them. :)

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Published: March 20th, 2012

Won from Goodreads First Reads!

Description from Goodreads:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step inside Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show, a menagerie of human curiosities and misfits guaranteed to astound and amaze! 

But perhaps the strangest act of Mosco’s display is Portia Remini, a normal among the freaks, on the run from McGreavy’s Home for Wayward Girls, where Mister watches and waits. He said he would always find Portia, that she could never leave.
Free at last, Portia begins a new life on the bally, seeking answers about her father’s disappearance. Will she find him before Mister finds her? It’s a story for the ages, and like everyone who enters the Wonder Show, Portia will never be the same.

Review: This Is Not a Test - Courtney Summers

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Released: June 19th, 2012

Bought paperback copy

Description from Goodreads:

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Review after the break ... Warning... SPOILERS

Showcase Sunday #9

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! 

This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; 

in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift!

I got a TON of books this past month, from winning a giveaway, trading books on YA Book Exchange, a gift from amazing blogger friends! (Krista & Becca) and one steamy E-Book I just had to get! I was doing so well with my book buying ban, but exactly one month from the day I swore off buying, I bought a book! I have about 6 books on their way to me now that I've ordered online and from a bookstore in California. Hey, at least when technology dies suddenly, I'll have months of entertainment for free...er... already paid for! 

Teaser Review #1

(image found here)

As I explained in a previous blog post, I was recently chosen by Page Turners blog as one of their new Junior Reviewers. As I only manage to review a handful of books each month, I've decided they will all be featured on the Page Turners blog versus having some of them posted here. I will still be posting blogs here, such as Showcase Sunday and other memes or random posts I feel like. But what I plan to do is post a "Teaser Review," which will be posted here to let you know when a review of mine is up on the Page Turners blog. I'm not asking that anyone follow their blog, (even though it is very worthy of their followers) especially since I will only be posting reviews versus any other posts I make here. I just wanted to make sure anyone who wanted to read my reviews knows where to find them. :)

So! Here is my first Teaser Review of Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins.

Released: May 1st, 2012

Borrowed from library

Description from Goodreads:

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Showcase Sunday #8

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! 

This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; 

in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift!

Ok, this should be my last Showcase Sunday featuring "books bought" because I need to enforce a severely strict BOOK BUYING BAN for the next few months. I have bought TOO many books in the past few months and I haven't gotten through ANY of them. I definitely don't have book buyers remorse (LOL, like that exists!), but I guess what I'm feeling is pressure to read the books I already have. It sounds weird, but I love the thrill of a the chase... in the book buying world. When a book has a release date, I count down the days and hours until I can buy it and then once I have it, I move on to the next soon-to-be released book. There really should be medical coverage for book therapy. I'll bet even authors would back this up. 

Without further ado... 

Review: The Fallen Star - Jessica Sorenson

The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen
Released: April 11, 2011
Free e-book on Kindle for Amazon

Description from Goodreads:

For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she's around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life. But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma's life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn't be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.

Review after the break...

Showcase Sunday #7

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift!

Yay! I found the time to do a Showcase Sunday this week XD. I really shouldn't be doing these for another 3 months as I have about 60 books sitting on my bookshelf that I have accumulated over the past 6 months and I'm kind of afraid it's going to break under the pressure of all those books... Being a book lover is a not-as-expensive addiction as hard drugs, but it's still costly and takes up a lot of space in your dwelling (ahhh, Under the Never Sky term :).

Warning: I can has bookz syndrome likely to evolve...

Review: Hallowed - Cynthia Hand

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

Released: January 17th, 2012

Borrowed from library

Description from Goodreads:

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her love for (omitting spoiler) and her complicated feelings about the roles she and (omitting spoiler) seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

In this compelling sequel to Unearthly, Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This review is of the second book in the Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand. I took out the names of some of the characters in the above description because I felt they were a little spoilery of the first book. You can check out the Goodreads page if you want to see more. Again, this review may contain small spoilers from the first book, so enter at your own risk! :)

Review after the break.

Pitch Dark Dark Days - Harvard Coop Event

See that little weirdly shaped state in the North East? Yes, I was there for this event of Tour Leg 1 for the Pitch Dark Dark Days tour at the Harvard Coop bookstore on February 7th with:

Veronica Rossi, author of Under the Never Sky, Roar and Liv (e-novella), and Through the Ever Night

Tahereh Mafi, author of Shatter Me, Destroy Me (e-novella), and Unravel Me

Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, Neverfall (e-novella), and Everbound

Cynthia Hand, author of Unearthly, Radiant (e-novella), Hallowed, and Boundless

Very long post with lots of photos...enter at your own risk!

Review: Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Released: January 4th, 2011

Borrowed from library

Description from Goodreads:

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

Review after the break.

Review: Everneath - Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Released: January 24^th, 2012

Borrowed from library

Description from Goodreads:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

Review after the break.

Pay It Forward Contest by Beth Revis

<<< Beth Revis, the author of the best selling novels
Across the Universe, A Million Suns, and Shades of Earth, is hosting a giveaway on her blog until February 17th. There are over 20 prizes of all her books and some from the authors she's toured with.



Copied directly from her blog post, these are the main rules/information for the contest:

• "There are 21 prizes. One grandprize winner will get a complete signed trilogy, plus two ARCs of anthologies I'm a part of, plus a signed copy of all the books by the lovely ladies who helped me celebrate my launch. Fifteen runners-up will win a signed hardback of SHADES OF EARTH, and five other runners-up will win a signed paperback of A MILLION SUNS.
• To enter for the grand prize pack or the fifteen signed SHADES OF EARTH, just take a picture of yourself with your copy of SHADES OF EARTH. Library copies, e-books, and hardback copies count--but ARCs don't. You can also pose the book with your dog, in your neighborhood, or anywhere else except in a bookstore. Post the picture online and include the link to it here. You can post it on Twitter, Facebook (if it's public so I can check it), on your blog, Instagram, whatever. 
• To enter for the five signed copies of A MILLION SUNS, do the same thing, except pose with the first book, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. This prize pack is specifically designed for people who've only read the first book and need to catch up with the rest. 
• Unfortunately, this contest is open to US/Canada only. I recently spent more than $200 on postage to foreign nations for previous contests, and I can't do that again for a bit. I hope you understand. If you have an American friend who can accept the package for you, you can enter--as long as I have an American/Canadian address to ship to.
• There is only one way to get an extra point--let me know if I can post your picture online or not. You answer does NOT effect your chances of winning--I just want to know if you'd mind me sharing your pic on my website. 
• You can enter both contests, as long as you post two pictures. 
• This contest will run through February 17th--which gives you a chance to enter if you come to one of my book tour stops for Breathless Reads"

There's also a video with all this information on that same blog post, where you get to listen to her explain it all while showing you some of the prizes. I, personally, love her vlogs. She's got all this knowledge and experience and I've spent many a nights watching videos and reading blog posts and interviews about her successes and struggles in the publishing world. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog, she has some exclusive extra content from the first 2 books in the Across the Universe series hidden around her website/blog and it's got a really fun layout. 

Check out her blog post for more information! (author photo & Shades of Earth photo borrowed from Beth Revis's website: www.bethrevis.blogspot.com) 

While I am doing my best to pay it forward for this contest by posting about it here on my blog, I am also using this blog post to submit my entry, which is a photo of me and my copy of Shades of Earth. 

I'm not usually egotistical, but I liked these two the best, so bare with my crazed faces for the sake of this contest!

Good luck to all those who enter and look for my review in the near future! 

Happy Reading! 

Pitch Dark: Dark Days Book Tour

Pitch Dark, an online community from HarperCollins Publishing, is hosting 9 authors for their Dark Days book tour which takes place in the next couple of months. For the first leg of the tour, the first four authors will be visiting 4 bookstores in: Huntington Beach, CA, Decatur, GA, Cary, NC, and Cambridge, MA. 

The Cambridge, Massachusetts tour stop is next month, February 7th. Since I live in Rhode Island, I’m usually not able to visit book signings or author meet and greets, so when I researched the bookstore it is being held at, The Coop, I arranged a way to attend (with multiple forms of transportation :O ).

The four authors who will be present are Veronica Rossi, author of Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night, Tahereh Mafi, author of Shatter Me and Unravel Me (out Feb. 5), and Cynthia Hand, author of Unearthly, Hallowed, and Unbound, and Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath and Everbound.

As I had only read the works of Rossi and Mafi, I figured I would try Hand's and Ashton’s books so I could participate and enjoy the entire event, not just specifically half of the authors present. Over the next few days, I am going to post reviews of some of these authors work as I prepare myself for the event. 

I plan on reviewing these books in no particular order:

Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi 

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

Unbound (Unearthly #3) by Cynthia Hand

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everbound (Everneath #2) by Brodi Ashton

I have already reviewed Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi and Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi which you can check out here and here. 

Please bare with me as there are only a handful of days left under the tour and I plan on having everything read so I don't overhear any spoilers at the event, so if my reviews are a little rushed and wonky, I will do my best to revise them...although they might just come out stream of conscious style. :)

For more information about Pitch Dark, the Dark Days tour, or just to interact with the online book community, check out their website, www.pitchdark.com. 

Happy Reading!

Review: The Hunt - Andrew Fukuda

The Hunt (The Hunt #1) by Andrew Fukuda

Released: May 8th, 2012

Borrowed from library

Description from Goodreads:

Don’t Sweat.  Don’t Laugh.  Don’t draw attention to yourself.  And most of all, whatever you do, do not fall in love with one of them.

Gene is different from everyone else around him.  He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood.  Gene is a human, and he knows the rules.  Keep the truth a secret.  It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood.

When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him.  He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?

Review after the break...

Showcase Sunday #5

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift! 

As I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping, I've only allowed myself to buy 1 physical book this past month, as she's one of my favorite Romance authors and I've been waiting for this book for more than a year. As for e-books, I guess you could say they are my weakness lately...

Mini Reviews: e-books

I've been reading a lot of e-books lately, and while they are just as great as physical books in their own way, I tend to read them really fast and usually in one sitting. So if I find that I finish an e-book in under 3 hours, I'm going to do a mini review for them. Here's what I've read in the past couple weeks that qualify (links to Goodreads):

Showcase Sunday #4

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea! This is where each Sunday, we can "showcase" what we've gotten in the way of books; in the mail, at the bookstore, the library, or as a gift! 

I haven't done a Showcase Sunday in months and I think it just comes down to the fact that planning these out takes more time and finesse than I'm usually able to come up with, but I think I finally found an easier system to execute this each week, or every other week. :)

WARNING: VERY LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PRETTY PHOTOS OF BOOKS!

ENTER AT YOUR OWN WALLETS RISK!

Review: Obsidian & Onyx - Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux series, #1) (Link to Goodreads)

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux series, #2) (Link to Goodreads) 

Released: May 8th, 2012 / August 14th, 2012

Purchased the E-books on my Kindle

Description on Goodreads for Obsidian: (Onyx under cut as to hide any spoilers)

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don't kill him first, that is.

Review: Pure - Julianna Baggott

Pure by Julianna Baggott (Link to Goodreads)
Released: February 8th, 2012
Bought the hardcover after keeping library copy overdue for weeks!

Description on Goodreads:


We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.


Originally, I had borrowed this book from the library, but it sat on my bed side table for 2 months. Overdue fees got higher and higher, and I finally had to relinquish the book back. I then decided to just buy the darn thing, but it then too sat on my bookshelf for months. I finally picked it back up yesterday and FINISHED IT. One of the things I don't want anyone to think is that since it took me so long to finish is that it was hard to get through. Yes, it was hard to get through, but because it has so much going for it.


Onto the review!