Evermore Winner

I just realized I didn't post the winner, sorry! The winner was:

Cats on the Shelf!

After the giveaway she was contacted and her book is already in the mail. See, I don't totally suck hehe

See you later alligators ;)

{Movie Trailer} Cherrybomb WITH RUPERT GRINT!!!

I think Ron Rupert Grint is hot so I must see this. The story looks pretty interesting/crazy so there's that too ;)

There's no word on when/if it will be released in the U.S but it was released in the UK on April 23rd 2010.

Song: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

I love The White Stripes and I love this song.

{Book Review} Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Rating: 3/5; It was okay. Wish I hadn't spent my money on it, but had checked it out of the library. Bummer.

RD: 2008

Synopsis:

Are you predator or prey?

CLASSIFIED ADS: RESTAURANTS
SANGUINI'S: A VERY RARE RESTAURANT IS HIRING A CHEF DE CUISINE. DINNERS ONLY.
APPLY IN PERSON BETWEEN 2:00 AND 4:00 PM.

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.

Thoughts:

This story had potential and I'm hoping the sequel will be much better. I'm not going to go crazy and hurry to read it though because what if it's not good? I hear it's much better, but we'll see. I'm still reading the sequel because the story and characters deserve another chance in my opinion. Edit: Okay so Eternal is not the sequel. Either way, not in a hurry. 

I read this book about 2 years ago so I don't remember if it had anything inappropriate. What I do remember is that it seems as if middle graders will enjoy it much more than young adults/teenagers. Yes, this is unfortunately one of those cases where the book is aimed at teenagers but these folks will not find it as intriguing as the younger ones. 

Like I said, the story was okay. Don't expect anything mind boggling. There's a bit of romance and adventure and a lot of restraurant madness that I didn't care for. It's not as if I dont care about stories having to do with restraurants, I just didn't much care for it in this book. Another thing I hated was that the writing really leads the reader to believe that something adventurous and exciting is going to happen, but it NEVER does. After I finished the book I was so confused. Not by the events but by the fact that it felt as if I was missing something. It just seemed like the book was missing tons of pages. Not a good thought to have about a book now is it? 

Related:

vampires

restaurants

a bit of humor

short, quick reads

bit of adventure

cynthia leitich smith

buy it

{Movie Trailer} Heartless

I have no idea how long it will take for this UK movie WITH JIM STURGESS (and that guy from Harry Potter) to be released in the U.S but it'll be released in the UK on May 21, 2010. So you better enjoy it UK folks because I shall be jealous hehe

Pee In Your Pants -- 3 year old Korean Kid sings Hey Jude!

Pee In Your Pants is a feature in which I tell you of something hilarious I've come across. It might make you laugh a little too much if you know what I mean.

About:
Adorable 3 year old Korean kid is singing Hey Jude by The Beatles. Skip to 0:30 seconds.



Aww so cute!

|Source|

{Book Review} Burned by Ellen Hopkins

(click on pic for more reviews)
Rating: 5/5; Great book. Re-readable. Add-to-your-collection worthy.

Age R: 13+, not for the children.

Release Date: 2007

Synopsis:
Raised in a stern, abusive Mormon household, a teenage girl starts to question her religion and struggles to find her destiny.

Her father is abusive, her mother is submissive, and her church looks the other way. Confused and angry, Pattyn Von Stratten acts out and is sent to live with an aunt on a Nevada ranch. She finds the love and acceptance she craves, with disturbing consequences.

Thoughts:

Are you kidding me? Why did it take me so long to read this book?! It's the kind of book that makes you think "I could have been reading this in 2007 instead of doing anything else." This is now one of my new favorite books. I loved it!

The book is written in verse kind of like Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. It's extremely interesting to read in that format. The story is about Pattyn who lives with many siblings she constantly has to be in charge of while her mother gets slapped around my her alcoholic of a dad who's supposed to be a Mormon just like he raises his kids. The mom just takes the abuse and sits on the couch all day watching t.v then gets ready to bear more and more children since the father wants a son. Pattyn gradually starts to wonder if God is okay with this she even voices out her opinion yet the Church acts as if she's the one causing the problems. Pattyn hates that her mother gets beaten up while others do nothing to stop the abuse. She ends up thinking "bad thoughts" about boys but really, are they bad thoughts? She comes to meet a really cute boy who's so sweet to her but unfortunately her father finds out then sends her away to his sister's place in beautiful Nevada, the same sister he stopped talked to for some strange reason. Pattyn's aunt is so unlike her father. How is it possible for them to even be related? She's not even a Mormon. She's so free, she's so different, she's so loving and she also happens to know the cute boy in that small town that smiled at her.

This book is about 500 pages long, I finished it in approximately five hours in one sitting until 2 in the morning. I just couldn't read faster even though I wish I could have. Shocking twists happen in this story, love happens in this story, so much happens and it all leaves you wanting more and hoping that Pattyn's father will just leave her be. At some point, the part I loved, was when Ellen Hopkins makes you feel so shocked and sad by making everything go at super speed. On one page your excited and then the next everything just stops. Everything is not well for the characters and everything is not well with you. The author seriously makes you feel like you're there with the characters. She makes it seem as shocking as it would be in real life and that is quite the accomplishment.

I also want to note that I loved everything about her relationship with Furnace Lips and I loved everything about Nevada. 

This book is not one you want to skip while skimming the shelves at the book store.

Related:

abuse

love stories

relationships

religion

Ellen Hopkins

Buy It

Waiting on Wednesday: Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Private school, rich friends, vacations in France--Kate has it all, except a belief in love.

When Kate's family purchases a hotel in the Pacific Northwest, she enters a world that is wholly unknown to her. She never has any privacy because of the constant flow of guests. And as the hotel owner's daughter, she struggles to make friends.

Then she meets Caleb, a strange combination of working-class, Hawaiian culture, and Christian bad boy. He talks about love in an all new way that she finds so alluring. But the two have nothing in common. He rarely smiles, rides a motorcycle with a rough crowd from town, and worst of all, he totally ignores Kate. But Kate has something that he needs and she resolves to prove to him that what she has doesn't define who she is.

RD: May 4

I have got to read this cute sounding book! Caleb is one of my all time favorite guy names by the way (Kings of Leon anyone?)

WoW hosted by Breaking the Spine

Dandy Books--More Zombies!

Dandy Books is a feature where I mention a few books on my tbr list. Hopefully you'll be interested in some of these too and want to add them to your list. :D Sometimes the books don't have anything in common and sometimes they do. When that's the case I'll add something to the title. BTW most of the books on my tbr list are older books. Some may have been recently released.

RD = Release Date

Reign of the Dead by Len Barnhart

RD: 2004

An apocaliptic tale of love, survival, and heroics in the face of mankind's greatest challenge. The end of the world.

Zombies by John Skipp
RD: 2009

From a master of zombie fiction and a founding father of "splatterpunk" comes a mind-bending anthology of 32 new and classic stories from both renowned writers and rising stars

In the tradition of Black Dog & Leventhal's bestselling

Vampires and Ghosts, this anthology of 32 stories is set in a world where the dead have risen from the grave to consume the living. This rich collection showcases the best of the genre...from short-story masters such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and Poppy Z. Brite; zombie stalwarts such as David J. Schow and Jack Ketchum; "bizarro" founders such as Carlton Mellick III; and popular up-and-comers such as Max Brooks and S.G. Browne...and will satisfy the insatiable hunger of zombie fans everywhere.

A series of captivating essays about zombies in folklore and in popular culture by John Skipp, award-winning zombie anthologist and author, enrich an already extraordinary collection by discussing the past, present, and future of the living dead. And a resources section encompassing the best of long-form fiction, movies, websites, games is included for any reader interested in learning more about the wider world of the undead.

Sure to sate the hungriest zombie fans with classic as well as contemporary servings of tangled entrails and other unspeakable meals, Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry

Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G Browne

RD: 2009

For fans of Max Brooks’s The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death.

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

Darkly funny, surprisingly touching, and gory enough to satisfy even the most discerning reader, Breathers is a romantic zombie comedy (rom-zom-com, for short) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more.

Plague of the Dead by Z.A Recht
RD: 2009

THE END BEGINS WITH AN UNPRECEDENTED VIRAL OUTBREAK:

Morningstar. The infected are subject to delirium, fever, violent behavior...and a one hundred percent mortality rate.

BUT THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING:

The victims return from death to walk the earth. When a massive military operation fails to contain the plague of the living dead, it escalates into a worldwide pandemic.

NOW, A SINGLE LAW OF NATURE DOMINATES THE GLOBAL LANDSCAPE:

Live or die, kill or be killed. On one side of the world, thousands of miles from home, a battle-hardened general surveys the remnants of his command: a young medic, a veteran photographer, a brash private, and dozens of refugees — all are his responsibility. While in the United States, an army colonel discovers the darker side of Morningstar and collaborates with a well-known journalist to leak the information to the public....

Monster Nation by David Wellington

RD: 2006

In the heart of America, in the world’s most secure prison, something horrible is growing in the dark. A wave of cannibalism and fear is sweeping across the heartland, spreading carnage and infection in its wake. Captain Bannerman Clark of the National Guard has been tasked with an impossible mission: discover what is happening — and then stop it before it annihilates Los Angeles.

In California, he discovers a woman trapped in a hospital overrun with violent madmen. She may hold the secret to the Epidemic but she has lost everything — even her name.

David Wellington’s first novel, Monster Island, explored a world overcome by horror and the few people strong enough to survive. Now he takes us back in time to where it all began — to the day the dead began to rise.

That last one is a part of a series. The first is Monster Island and the third is Monster Planet. This one seems more interesting than the others and can stand alone. Supposedly anyway. :)

Funny Spam: Voo Doo

My inbox ends up with a lot of hilarious spam sometimes. I must share of course!



Spam:

Hello; I am sorry for intruding in your privacy like this. The situation I find myself in necessitated this .My name is Miss Lucy Kone, 18 yrs of age from the Ivory Coast . I am an Orphan as my parents have been killed by Wit craft/voodoo from my village as the only daughter and heir to the entire wealth of my dad they are after me. They have succeeded in taking possession of the property in the village. My Life is in Danger please this is SOS call. Come to my aid and help me out of this problem. I want to leave this entire continent as a whole and continue with my studies elsewhere. My dad deposited some money in fixed deposit box of a security company here in San Pedro (a city in outskirt of Abidjan ) With your help and guidance we can take this out and use it to sponsor my movement and resettling over there. Please I know that you love humanity and life, save my soul. Lucy Kone.

In My Mailbox / 9 Books

thanks to Alea and The Story Siren for IMM :)

RD = Release Date (just in case you're curious)

hola! hello how are you this fine day? remember to come back next weekend for IMM because it will be HUGE! I'll end up posting on Sunday though. I wonder how many books I'll get 30? 40? I got these many books at the same event last time.

Trades:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles <--was on my tbr list forever! Thanks for the trade Jess from Lost In A Book.
RD: 2008

A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers.

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.

In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (yes he recently wrote Wild Things which I've been wanting to read forever!)

RD: 2001

Well, this was when Bill was sighing a lot. He had decided that after our parents died he just didn't want any more fighting between what was left of us. He was twenty-four, Beth was twenty-three, I was twenty-one, Toph was eight, and all of us were so tried already, from that winter. So when something world come up, any little thing, some bill to pay or decision to make, he would just sigh, his eyes tired, his mouth in a sorry kind of smile. But Beth and I...Jesus, we were fighting with everyone, anyone, each other, with strangers at bars, anywhere -- we were angry people wanting to exact revenge. We came to California and we wanted everything, would take what was ours, anything within reach. And I decided that little Toph and I, he with his backward hat and long hair, living together in our little house in Berkeley, would be world-destroyers. We inherited each other and, we felt, a responsibility to reinvent everything, to scoff and re-create and drive fast while singing loudly and pounding the windows. It was a hopeless sort of exhilaration, a kind of arrogance born of fatalism, I guess, of the feeling that if you could lose a couple of parents in a month, then basically anything could happen, at any time -- all bullets bear your name, all cars are there to crush you, any balcony could give way; more disaster seemed only logical. And then, as in Dorothy's dream, all these people I grew up with were there, too, some of them orphans also, most but not all of us believing that what we had been given was extraordinary, that it was time to tear or break down, ruin, remake, take and devour. This was San Francisco, you know, and everyone had some dumb idea -- I mean, wicca? -- and no one there would tell you yours was doomed. Thus the public nudity, and this ridiculous magazine, and the Real World tryout, all this need, most of it disguised by sneering, but all driven by a hyper-awareness of this window, I guess, a few years when your muscles are taut, coiled up and vibrating. But what to do with the energy? I mean, when we drive, Toph and I, and we drive past people, standing on top of all these hills, part of me wants to stop the car and turn up the radio and have us all dance in formation, and part of me wants to run them all over.




Won:


Thanks again (for the following three wins) Jani from YA Addict! 
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summmers <--I love her writing! I recently read Cracked Up To Be and I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. Curiouser and curiouser about this author! Check out her site btw she's extremely entertaining. 

Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.


The Girls by Tucker Shaw
RD: 2010

Meet Mary: She’s beautiful, and her ski-star boyfriend is cheating on her.

 

Meet Crystal: She’s a townie, and she’s cheating with Mary’s boyfriend.

 

Meet Sylvia: She’s nasty, and she’s got something up her Prada-designed sleeve.

 

Meet Amber: She’s a flake, she’s the barista at the hottest coffee shop in Aspen, and she serves up gossip even hotter than grande skim lattes.

 

Meet Peggy: She’s Mary’s best friend, and she has no idea how to cope with all these girls.

 

A modern retelling of the classic play The Women (which featured not one male in the cast), The Girls is a quick-witted, stylish comedy about friendship, love, and most important, gossip! An elite Aspen prep school sets the stage for jealousy and intrigue as the lives of many girls tangle into a wickedly fun mess (in which no boys ever appear).

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

RD: 2008

Evie slowly finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies in this brilliant mystery that won the 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.


Won this one over at Debbie's Book Bag, thanks again!!

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs
RD: 2010

A mother who cannot face her future.

A daughter who cannot escape her past.

Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she turns to the auld ways, desperate to conceal a generations-old scandal that taints her family's name.

Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips. Elisabeth cannot--must not--discover the truth, or all will be ruined.

His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory's many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.

One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown. 

A timeless..

Gifts from a friend! She is super duper btw!

Burned by Ellen Hopkins --read it in approx. 5 hrs. Golly gee it is amazing! I love how EH completely shocked me with a certain sad event. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but that's how life is and I loved how she managed to make it seem just like that.
RD: 2007

Raised in a stern, abusive Mormon household, a teenage girl starts to question her religion and struggles to find her destiny.

Her father is abusive, her mother is submissive, and her church looks the other way. Confused and angry, Pattyn Von Stratten acts out and is sent to live with an aunt on a Nevada ranch. She finds the love and acceptance she craves, with disturbing consequences.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins --currently reading it ;)

RD: 2008

Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.

The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want—except his family’s love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother’s child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.

For Review:

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
RD: July 6, 2010

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old realtor, had three goals — sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape — her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

The truth doesn’t always set you free.

Still Missing is that rare debut find – a shocking, visceral, brutal, and beautifully crafted novel.

Love It: Garrett Hedlund in Four Brothers

hehehe you know you love it ;) Garrett Hedlund's sexiness + Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire = Gold

{Book Review} Let the Right One In by John Lindqvist

Rating: 3.5/5; Fascinating but not necessarily re-readable. Not really for me.

Age R: not for kids or the faint of heart.

Release Date: 2008 (in the U.S)

Synopsis:

Gah! I expected so much from this book! I saw the movie last year and thought the book might be better because it seems like it would delve more into the two main characters’ history. I was especially looking forward to learning more information about the vampire. Unfortunately the author only spoke about Oskar which was great because he was a great character albeit being a little crazy but that’s because of those darn bullies! I will miss him especially because aww I just felt so bad for him! I liked the story because it was very interesting, but it was a chore to not read about the vamp and instead get all this information on the lives of the people affected by Eli and even random people/animals. I swear, the author even delved into the life of a squirrel for about 1-2 pages. See? Even teeny tiny characters get their story told. I’m sorry but I just don’t give a crap about that.

If you want a vampire story this might not be the book for you. The story is just mostly about Oskar who’s bullied and one night meets a strange girl and how she affects his life and those around them (mostly in negative and violent ways mind you). It’s part horror story too, but not as much as I would have liked. I got this book honestly thinking I’d get a great story about a vampire and instead I got all that so you can easily tell how disappointed I was. It was great but the author should not have spent so much time with the tons of secondary characters. On one hand I liked that he developed them really well. They were completely 3 dimensional and you could clearly see everything in your head as you read along, but again, I did not care about those people’s lives. I thought it was extremely fascinating how the author managed to make me feel sorry for a lot of the characters no matter how crazy they were. Most of them have problems like being a pedophile, being drunkards, not being human, etc. It’s weird to think you’d feel bad for them but the author really gets you in their head (HATED that he did that with the pedophile by the way).

Let the Right One In had incredible moments but that wasn’t enough to make this book worth it. I just wanted a vampire story! It’s fine that it wasn’t just about the vampire but it did not have to be so long. Most of the time pages were just being filled up with unimportant and boring information. It would have greatly helped me enjoy this book if it hadn’t been listed as being a horror story. I read all over the place that it’s scary blah blah blah. It’s slightly scary but the story deals more with people and their messed up lives not vampires. The great thing about this book though is that it is very unpredictable and I loved that at least.

Go watch the movie before American remake that I’m scared will suck (I have hope!) comes out.

Quotes:

"you either love someone or you don't."

"really?"

"yes."

"in that case I have to think about it."

His response to his mother being overprotective:

"But Oskar had promised to scream to high heaven if anyone so much as said 'hi' to him, and then his mom had given in"

Oskar is nervous when talking to the vampire:

"Hey there." 

"Hi." 

"Hi." 

He was never in his life going to say "hey there" to someone ever again. It sounded incredibly stupid.

Looking at the vampire:

She turned toward him. Her pupils were so large that they almost filled the whole iris, the lights from the building reflected in the black surface and it looked like she had a distant city in her head.

This one really shows you how great Lindqvist can write:

Once he was inside the gate to the graveyard Tommy stopped and looked at the map; the different sections were marked with diferent letters. His dad was in secion D.

If you thought about it, it was actually pretty sick. To do this. Burn people up, save the ashes, bury them in the ground, and then call the spot 'Grave 104, section D.'

Trailer:


Related:
Bullying
Homosexuality
Vampires
Unique tales
Let the Right One In (movie)
Horror
Life

Waiting on Wednesday: After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy

This moment changes everything.

Becca has been head-over-heels for Alec from the instant they met. He's a brainy jock with a poet's heart—in other words, perfect for her.

Camille is careful with her words and protective of her heart, especially since Chicago. Then a new boy in her new town catches her off guard with a surprise kiss.

Too bad that new boy is Becca's boyfriend, Alec.

Camille and Becca have never met, but their lives will unravel and intertwine in surprising ways as they deal with what happens after the kiss.

RD: May 4

Ah! I want to read this! It sounds so cute!


WoW hosted by Breaking the Spine

Free Song: Blood by The Middle East

Do you love that song like I do?! I know it's sooo pretty!! and super duper!

Well click here to download it for FREE. ;) If you don't have the free Amazon downloader program, you'll have to download that first, sorry, but that's how they roll. You can still put the song on your iTunes though. Love it!

{Movie Trailer} Timer --it's Anya who's afraid of bunnies from Buffy!!!

AHHH!!!! The movie looks awesome and it stars Anya from Buffy. I should probably learn her real name but I only remember fictional characters' names so I'm not even going to try. BTW the awesome song near the end is Happy Alone by Earlimart --one of my fav songs!

Release Date: April 30

Great Deals: Ahh!! BOOKS ON SALE!!! + 2 FREE Kindle books ... Hurry before they're gone!

Here are a few books I found on Amazon that are on sale (next weekend I'm going to an annual library book sale they have here in Houston so my brain's full of sales sales sales!)

Click on the covers to be led to the amazon page to buy it, read reviews on it, read excepts, etc.

Good Girls by Laura Ruby is $1.30

I just want you to know, I have not read this book but it's so cheap and sounds interesting, it's worth mentioning.





Grade 9 Up–Audrey wants to spend her senior year staying at fourth in her class and hanging with her friends, so she breaks it off with the flirty and mysterious Luke DeSalvio by giving him a goodbye gift he won't forget. But at school next week, Audrey gets snickers, jeers, and dirty jokes, and Luke won't even look at her. As it turns out, someone took a photo of her intimate moment with him, and now she must spend all her energy repairing her reputation. She reacts to her newfound infamy by pouring herself into her schoolwork and analyzing her relationship with Luke via flashback chapters. Her friend Ash is horrified when Audrey tells her she's not a virgin, and Audrey resigns herself to hanging out with the school sluts. Slowly, she manages to pull herself up to second in her class, and a run-in with Luke reveals that his feelings about her were not what she assumed. Audrey reclaims her self-esteem with her new girlfriends as they all dress up as born-again virgins for the prom, and a late-night confession reveals the true culprit behind the photograph. The story ends predictably with Audrey and Luke reunited. Teens will enjoy Ruby's frank message that having sex does not necessarily make one a slut. However, the tone occasionally gets preachy, as Audrey receives advice from her parents, preacher, and gynecologist. Still, the book will appeal to teens who've matured beyond Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series

Waves by Sharon Dogar | $2.58

Haven't read this one either, but it sounds neat. There's only 2 left!!!




Grade 8 Up–I'm in a cupboard. A dark cupboard, and it's too small for me. The walls press against my flesh….Through a chink of light where the door is barely open, I think I can hear voices. So many voices. Help me! These are the unspoken words of Hal's sister Charley, lying in a coma ever since the previous summer's late-night surfing accident on a Cornwall beach. Now it is July once again and Hal's family is off to Brackinton Haven for their annual holiday, leaving Charley behind for the first time. Torn between his anger at his sister for devastating the family and his desire to discover exactly what happened, Hal hears her voice more and more often. As he gets to know the surfer crowd that Charley hung out with and begins a romance with the younger sister of Charley's boyfriend, Hal slowly begins to unravel the mystery. Told in a series of episodes with headings such as Charley. Then, Charley. Hospital. Now, and Hal. Graveyard. Now, the narrative skillfully shifts in time and point of view. Readers of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones (Little, Brown, 2002) and Peter Dickinson's Eva (Delacorte, 1989) will be intrigued by Dogar's exploration of such questions as: Where exactly is a person when she no longer inhabits her earthly body? Can she communicate with those she has left behind? Both suspenseful and thoughtful, action packed and atmospheric, this novel is compelling and memorable.
A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass is $3.11 (read my review of it, I LOVED it!!)

Synopsis:
Grade 5-8-Mia, 13, has always seen colors in sounds, numbers, and letters, a fact she has kept secret since the day she discovered that other people don't have this ability. Then she discovers that she has a rare condition called synesthesia, which means that the visual cortex in her brain is activated when she hears something. From then on, she leads a kind of double life-she eagerly attends research gatherings with other synesthetes and devours information about the condition, but continues to struggle at school, where her inadvertent pairing of particular colors with numbers and words makes math and French almost impossible to figure out. Her gradual abandonment of her frustrating school life in favor of the compelling world of fellow synesthetes and the unique things only they can experience seems quite logical, although readers may feel like shaking some sense into her. Finally, and rather abruptly, her extreme guilt at her beloved cat Mango's illness brings her back down to earth and she begins to work on some of the relationships she let crumble. Mia's voice is believable and her description of the vivid world she experiences, filled with slashes, blurs, and streaks of color, is fascinating. Not all of the many characters are necessary to the story, and some of the plot elements go unresolved, but Mia's unique way of experiencing the world is intriguing.


Here's my goodreads review:
I love this book! It broke my heart a few times, but I still love it.
This book is about a 13 year old girl who has synesthesia and has been hiding it, but now it's been starting to keep her from passing math and her Spanish class so she's going to have to do something about that.
After reading this book I wish I was more like Mia, because the way she perceives the world is truly special...and more colorful ;) I also wish she were my best friend because that little girl is awesome. She can paint beautifully, she has a wheezing cat called Mango, and a very entertaining family.
People of all ages, especially middle grade readers, will enjoy reading this one. :D
Read it already!

P.S-I had never even heard about synesthesia before reading this adorable book. It's basically a condition where some people (mostly girls) perceive letters and numbers in colors (you can imagine how that can make math and reading difficult). For Mia that's what happens and she also sees colors whenever there is noise. It's somewhat different for each synesthete. It's extremely fascinating and so now I'm off to learn everything I can about it. :)


Sold by Patricia McCormick | $3.60

Again, I have not read this one but it won an award for some reason right? I have heard plenty of good things about it though, I must say.




Grade 9 Up – As this heartbreaking story opens, 13-year-old Lakshmi lives an ordinary life in Nepal, going to school and thinking of the boy she is to marry. Then her gambling-addicted stepfather sells her into prostitution in India. Refusing to be with men, she is beaten and starved until she gives in. Written in free verse, the girls first-person narration is horrifying and difficult to read. In between, men come./They crush my bones with their weight./They split me open./Then they disappear. I hurt./I am torn and bleeding where the men have been. The spare, unadorned text matches the barrenness of Lakshmis new life. She is told that if she works off her familys debt, she can leave, but she soon discovers that this is virtually impossible. When a boy who runs errands for the girls and their clients begins to teach her to read, she feels a bit more alive, remembering what it feels like to be the number one girl in class again. When an American comes to the brothel to rescue girls, Lakshmi finally gets a sense of hope. An authors note confirms what readers fear: thousands of girls, like Lakshmi in this story, are sold into prostitution each year. Part of McCormicks research for this novel involved interviewing women in Nepal and India, and her depth of detail makes the characters believable and their misery palpable. This important book was written in their honor.

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr | $3.60

I still haven't started this series! I already have the most of it but I need to finish reading it. I started reading the first when it was released because it looked really pretty and interesting but I never finished it...



Starred Review. Grade 9 Up—This urban fairy tale, a sequel to Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007), is impossible to put down. Leslie lives with a father who has given up on life, a drug-abusing brother who allowed his dealer to rape Leslie in lieu of payment, and a burning desire to banish pain and fear from her life. Unable to confide in her best friend, Aislinn, she devotes herself to working to pay the family bills and to get the tattoo she believes will help her reclaim her body. What she doesn't know is that the art she has selected will bind her to Irial, the king of the Dark Court of Fairy. He removes her emotions like fear, panic, or anger, and uses them to nourish the fairies of his court. What Irial doesn't expect is his growing love for Leslie and her desire to make her own choices. In Leslie, Marr has created a damaged, wounded character who still comes across as being incredibly strong. Irial needs to care for his court, knowing them too weak to win a war, but his feelings for Leslie make him unwilling to do what needs to be done. The lesser characters are also well drawn: Rabbit the tattoo artist, his father, Gabriel, and also Aislinn, Keenan, and Seth from Wicked Lovely. While reading that book first would give more shades to some of the characters, it isn't necessary to appreciate the intricate world that Marr creates.

Love is Hell by Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Marr, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin, Laurie Faria Stolarz | $4.00
Haven't read this, not my kind of book but it might be yours.



Supernatural romance is the well-chosen theme of five original stories by as many authors. After her family moves into a house where a boy was murdered, Laurie Faria Stolarzs protagonist finds herself falling in love with his ghost; Gabrielle Zevin introduces a high school student who may (or may not) be overidentifying with the book she is reading; and Scott Westerfeld looks into a future where hormonal balancers tamp down teen romances and bioframes obviate sleep and dreams. Melissa Marr and Justine Larbalestier reinterpret folklore conventions, Marr writing about selkies and Larbalestier about faeries. Theres enough variety to round out the central theme, and consistently supple storytelling will lure readers through all five entries. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the national nonprofit organization College Summit. Ages 14–up.

 FOR THE KINDLE/IPOD TOUCH/IPHONE USERS THAT LIKE YOUNG ADULT BOOKS:

Bite Me by Parker Blue
Click the title to download it (sorry it won't let me link the pic grr!)  It's FREE!!

I already downloaded it considering how it's been on my tbr and it's free!

An edgy book for teens that spans the gap between YA and adult fiction. Life after high school is tough enough without having to go 15 rounds with your inner demon. Val Shapiro is just your ordinary, part-demon, teenaged vampire hunter with a Texas drawl. And a pet hellhound named Fang. Soon enough she finds herself deep in the underbelly of the city, discovering the secrets of the Demon Underground and fighting to save those she loves. Whether they love her back or not.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr <---click for download page, it's FREE

 

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Faerie intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning 21st century faery tale



HOPE YA'LL ENJOY! ;)