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...

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):