Waiting on Wednesday (20)

Waiting on Wednesday is an amazing weekly topic that is brought to you by Jill @ Breaking the Spine.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

June 19, 2012

A powerful debut novel about a young Marine's return home from Afghanistan and the new life and love he finds while fending off the ghosts of war.
When Travis Stephenson returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are on the brink of divorce, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and his car, and nightmares of his best friend getting killed keep him completely spooked. But when he runs into Harper Gray, a girl who despises him for trashing her reputation with a middle school lie, life actually starts looking up. As Travis and Harper see more of each other, he starts falling for her and a way through the family meltdown, the post-traumatic stress, and the possibility of an interesting future begins to emerge.
His sense of humor, sense of his own strength, and incredible sense of honor make Travis an irresistible and eminently lovable hero in this fantastic and timely debut novel.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being 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 months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's 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...

Everneath was wonderful. I loved the mythology and tension in it. Brodi Ashton is an amazing story teller. All of her characters were really well-developed, and they all had their own prominent voice.

Nikki was well-written, but at times she annoyed me. I feel like Nikki was too indecisive and angsty. I’m sure if I were in her position, I would be the same way, but it just wasn’t very fun to read about. Cole was annoying, but he was also really amusing- so half the time I didn’t even notice how annoying he was being. Jack was really clingy. He was clingy throughout the whole novel, and I just couldn’t get over it. That being said, the characters were believable. They were stuck in these undesirable ruts, but that’s just how people are. I just wouldn’t want to be friends with them in real life.

I found the plot of Everneath really intriguing. I liked that once people went into the Everneath, they didn’t just stay the same. The story was crafted well. The world of Everneath was slightly complex, but it was explained in a non-confusing way so I didn’t have a problem understanding it. I couldn’t stop reading it, and I was completely sucked into the story. However, I wouldn’t say that Everneath is a ‘must-read’. If you’re looking for a well written paranormal story- then Everneath is the book for you. I personally found it hard to get past some of the character traits, but that’s my only complaint.

FTC- Received from Netgalley.

An Interview with Scott Tracey

I recently had the chance to interview Scott Tracey, author of the wonderful book Witch Eyes. I hope you enjoy the interview!

----------

1. What was the hardest part of writing Witch Eyes?

I think the hardest part was equally getting the voice right, and getting over writer's block. The book started out in third person, wasn't working like I wanted, and then I switched to first person and scrapped about 20K words. It took a couple tries to get the direction right, too. Then, the few times I got really stuck it was because I either was forgetting something, or hadn't delved deep enough into it. I spent a long time working on what I called "The Lost Day" which was a number of scenes that had to happen before the book got to the climax.

2. If you could tell anything to Braden, what would you want to tell him?

Don't trust anyone, I think would be my main bit of advice. But then again, I know what everyone in Belle Dam's motives actually are, so that's a factor. ;) I'm a lot more cynical then Braden, which made it a little challenging to write: he's smart, but in some ways he's also very naive. But yeah, especially in Belle Dam, that's advice that EVERYONE should take: don't trust anyone. Especially if they're nice to you.

3. Quick! Describe Witch Eyes in 4 words or less!

Witchy Romeo and Juliet. :)

4. Can you tell us anything about the sequel to Witch Eyes, Demon Eyes?

Demon Eyes delves a little deeper into what's really going on in Belle Dam, and we see Braden dealing with the fallout from the climax of Witch Eyes. He did some things, and had some things happen to him, and Demon Eyes is all about that old "actions have consequences" theory.

There's more to the city than just the Thorpes versus the Lansing, and that starts to come out. Drew gets a bigger role this time around, and he's one of my favorites. He's basically the color commentary this time around: Braden has some snark in him, but Drew takes it above and beyond.

Really, everything you need to know about Demon Eyes can be summed up in the first line: "Power is a problem," a dead man said to me.

5. Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you so much for having me!

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine
—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

Fracture was a really good novel. I don’t think it will be on my list of favorites, but its definitely on my list of runner-ups for this year. Megan Miranda is a really talented writer. My only complaint is that there were a few moments where the characters annoyed me.

Delaney, though an interesting character, seemed sometimes too weak. I wanted to like and understand her, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t really have much of a problem with Decker. My biggest problem with him was some of his actions. They seemed forced, and he didn’t act very smart on some occasions.

I loved the plot of the novel, and I think it was executed really well. The pacing was timed perfectly, which made the story flow impeccably well. One of my favorite things about Fracture was how subtly brilliant it was. While I was reading it, it didn’t feel like I was reading a life changing book. After I was done reading it however, it was like this big bomb had been dropped. It slowly started to grow on me more and more.

I completely recommend Fracture. It has this slow burning impact that is just amazing.

FTC- Received for review.

Waiting on Wednesday (19)

Waiting on Wednesday is an amazing weekly topic that is brought to you by Jill @ Breaking the Spine.

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

July 24, 2012

There’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…
Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—
The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.
And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.
Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

I initially didn’t want to write about The Fault in Our Stars. Nearly everybody who is in tune with the young adult book world knows about John Green’s new book. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Green’s writing. I’ve loved his past three novels, and the books he has co-written- so it’s safe to say that I had high expectations for The Fault in Our Stars. Every single one of those expectations was met.

The Fault in Our Stars is an original, humorous, and deeply emotional read. The two main characters, Hazel and Augustus are both incredibly well developed. This is Green’s first time writing from the point of view of a girl, and he nailed it. Hazel was brutally honest about everything she was going through, both in terms of her cancer and in terms of just living and being a normal teenager. Hazel is someone that I could relate to. I would love to have a friend like her some day. Augustus is charming. Some would argue that he’s the male version of a MPDG (manic pixie dream girl), but I don’t think so. Gus was just as honest as Hazel, and I loved reading about him.

Nearly every review I’ve read of The Fault in Our Stars has mentioned how much the reviewer cried. Me and all those other reviews have that in common. Never in my life have I cried so much when reading a novel. Don’t let the possibility of tears keep you from reading The Fault in Our Stars. You should read it. Everybody should read it.

The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful, heartfelt, luminous book that will stay in your head for ages after you’ve finished reading it. This has quickly become one of my favorite books. I applaud John Green for this brilliant piece of literature.

FTC- Bought.

 

-----

What did you think of TFiOS? Tell me in the comments! But please, no spoilers for those who haven’t read it!

Bittersweet Twitter Party!

Hey everyone!

Today I want to tell you about something that’s happening on January 19th- the twitter party for Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler! If you want to share the information about the party- which we’re calling Twittersweet- you can scroll down and get the code for either the big graphic (pictured below) or a small graphic (which I’ll put below the bigger one). Click on either graphic to be transported to a page on Sarah’s website that tells you more about Twittersweet!

 

<a href="http://sarahockler.com/twittersweet" target="_blank"><br /><br /><img border="0" width="" alt="Twittersweet" src="http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/zoestrickland/Bittersweetbigposter2.png " height=" " /></a>     <a href="http://sarahockler.com/twittersweet" target="_blank"><br /><br /><img border="0" width="" alt="Twittersweet" src=" http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/zoestrickland/twittersweetsmallicon2.jpg " height=" " /></a>

I think this twitter party is going to be pretty awesome, so you should totally come and join Sarah and me. You can win some really cool prizes, and talk about a really awesome book.

I hope to see you all there!

500 Followers Giveaway- Part 1

I recently hit 500 followers on this blog. Yay! In honor of hitting 500 followers, I thought I would give away some books. There will be two giveaways, one will be today and the other will be posted some time next week. This giveaway includes-

* 1 (ARC) copy of Living Violet by Jaime Reed
* 1 (ARC) copy of Fateful by Claudia Gray
* Tons of bookmark-type swag.
To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.