Reviews to Come!

Sorry about the lack in posts guys. I've been crazy busy with homework and drama and haven't had a lot of time at the computer for anything other than schoolwork. (And Facebook :P) I've still read a lot of awesome books lately and I hope to review them all as soon as possible, so beware a sudden onslaught of long-winded posts in the near future. Just in case you're wondering what I've rated a book, without an in-depth review, feel free to check out my Goodreads account (the link is on my sidebar). Hope everyone is doing okay! Keep on reading!!!



Waiting on Wednesday: Harlequin Teen Paranormals

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly feature started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's where we can gossip about yet-to-be-released books that we're looking forward to. Harlequin Teen is one of my favorite YA publishers; here are some upcoming titles their releasing:

Every girl who has taken the test has died.
Now it's Kate's turn.

It's always been just Kate and her mom--and now her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld--and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he's crazy--until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

If she fails...

Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl's body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me.
Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can't get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he's not in juvie—that he's in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can't turn my back on him again.
No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn't trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me.
I'm as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can't be a coward. This time I have to be his friend.
Even if I get lost, as well…

Both of these books sound completely enthralling and I can't wait to get my hands on them. Harlequin Teen is also the publisher of two of my favorite series: Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent and The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa, both of which are releasing a new book sometime this year. I'm excited! :)

The Goddess Test releases on April 19, 2011.
In the Arms of Stone Angels releases on April 1, 2011.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girl in the Steel Corset

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly feature started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's where we can gossip about yet-to-be-released books that we're looking forward to.

She thought there was something wrong with her. She was right.
Finley Jayne has known for quite some time that she isn’t ‘normal,’ but when she beats up the son of her employer and is forced to flee, she stumbles into a world where there are bigger freaks than her. They take her in, treat her like family and demand her trust. How can Finley trust them when she can’t trust herself? And why is she drawn to the powerful Griffin as well as the dangerous Jack? She has to get herself under control before she gets into trouble she can’t get out of.

Griffin King is one of the most powerful men in Britain but he couldn’t save his best friend from almost dying. He is determined to save Finley and help her become the person he knows she can be, but there’s evil afoot in London. Machines have attacked humans under the orders of a nefarious criminal called The Machinist. He has sworn to protect his country against such a threat, but he’s never faced any foe like this. However, when he discovers The Machinist’s connection to his past, Griffin vows to end the villain once and for all — but he’ll need the help of all his friends, including the beautiful Finley Jayne – the girl in the steel corset.

A debut author who sounds like she's spun a great idea into a novel. I'm a big fan of steampunk and Harlequin Teen so I can't wait to read this!

The Girl in the Steel Corset releases on May 24th, 2011.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

WOW. This book is so incredibly amazing, awesome, imaginative, dystopian, romantic, OUT OF THIS WORLD. I loved it!!! The story was completely different from anything I have ever read before. I am usually not a big fan of sci-fi novels but I decided to pick this up after reading about it from other bloggers saying how much they liked it. I am so glad I did. The story was fast paced, with unexpected turns popping up at the most surprising moments. The whole lifestyle aboard the Godspeed is so different from the world we live in now, it was extraordinary reading about it. Amy and Elder's characters are well-developed and realistic, both from different backgrounds but able to relate very well together. Sometimes terrifying and heart-pounding, Across the Universe is simply brilliant. Just. Read. It. I have nothing else to say about it.

5/5 stars

** Part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge.

Waiting on Wednesday (on Thursday*): Wither

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly feature started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's where we can gossip about yet-to-be-released books that we're looking forward to.

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

That cover is so striking and so enticing, I just want to stare at it for hours.This book sounds so incredibly amazing. It has been receiving 5 star reviews all around the book blogging world and I can't wait to read it.

Wither releases on March 22, 2011.

*I wasn't able to get to a computer yesterday. Sorry for the delay.

Waiting on Wednesday: Tera Lynn Childs

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly feature started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's where we can gossip about yet-to-be-released books that we're looking forward to.

New series, in which triplet descendants of Medusa learn they are destined to guard the door between the world of monsters and the world of men – pitched as a mythological Charmed.

Even though this synopsis is vague and reveals almost nothing about Sweet Venom in particular, I am salivating over the prospect of reading this book. Tera Lynn Childs is one of my favorite authors, with her fresh storylines and her witty dialogue, and I can't wait to read this novel.

Sweet Venom releases on October 4, 2011.

On Lily Sanderson’s eighteenth birthday she’ll become just a girl—still a mer girl, true, but signing the renunciation paperwork will ink Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia out of existence. That leaves plain old Lily living on land, dating the boy she loves, and trying to master this being human thing once and for all.

Now that Lily and Quince are together, mer-bond or not, she’s almost content to give up her place in the royal succession of Thalassinia. But just when she thinks she has everything figured out, Lily’s father sends a certain whirlpool-stirring cousin to stay with her on land. What did Doe do to get herself exiled from Thalassinia and stuck in terraped form, when everyone knows how much she hates humans? And why why why is she batting her eyelashes at Lily’s former crush, Brody?

The seafoam on the surf comes when a merboy from Lily’s past shows up. Tellin asks Lily for something that clouds her view of the horizon. There’s a future with Quince on land, her loyalty to the kingdom in the sea, and Lily tossing on the waves in the middle. Will she find a way to reconcile her love, her duty, and her dreams?

Fins Are Forever is the second in Tera Lynn Childs' mermaid series and it sounds fantastic! The first book, Forgive My Fins, was an enormously entertaining read and anything else about Lily and Quinn was bound to get my attention. If you're a fan of contemporary fantasy, pick up this series!

Fins Are Forever releases on July 1, 2011.

P.S. Aren't those covers enchanting?

Waiting on Wednesday: Perfect

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly feature started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's where we can gossip about yet-to-be-released books that we're looking forward to.

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they'd rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.
Cara's parents' unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body - no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run - on the field and off - Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he'll be living a life his ancestors would never understand.
Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?
A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

I am a huge fan of Ellen Hopkins. I have devoured every single one of her books, usually in only one sitting. Impulse was one of my favorites and I cannot wait for Perfect to be released. It sounds wonderful and Ellen's writing is brilliant. Dark and edgy, but still very realistic. And isn't that cover gorgeous? I definitely recommend adding Perfect to your reading list.

Perfect releases on September 13, 2011.

DARKNESS BECOMES HER by Kelly Keaton

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.
Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.
She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.
Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.


Oh. My. Gosh! I was so completely wowed by Darkness Becomes Her. The concept is so completely original and unexpected, the novel is part Gothic romance, part dystopian, part fantasy, part paranormal, and part contemporary as well. Only twenty pages in and I was hooked. Staying up late and skipping homework were part of my routine as I poured through this book.
     Ari is such a cool, complicated character. She tries to be tough, and can certainly kick some major ass, but she's soft and as susceptible to good looks as any of us girls are. She has her weaknesses, but that just makes her that much more relatable.
     The paranormal aspects of this novel are completely different from anything I've ever read before. There are vampires, witches, shapeshifters, and cross-breeds all mixed up into one story in the most fascinating way possible. Twists and turns and unexpected plot changes were running rampant through Darkness Becomes Her. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I reached the last page; not to mention the fact that my jaw was hanging open. I did some digging and it turns out this is a series (called Gods & Monsters) and the next book is coming out next year. Thank God! I will be anxiously awaiting the sequel and I hope you'll give Darkness Becomes Her a try once it releases into stores next month. Any devoted fan of fantasy, paranormal, or romance is bound to love this book. Give it a go!

5/5 stars



Darkness Becomes Her releases on February 22, 2011.

**ARC received from publisher Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

My Apologies

Sorry about the lapse in posts this January, I've been swamped with homework (Go High School!) and I haven't been near a computer much in the last month. I've still been reading crazily so there's lots of reviews soon to come. Stay tuned!

THE VESPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.
When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.

Wow. I really enjoyed Saundra Mitchell's Shadowed Summer but The Vespertine exceeded all of my expectations. It's been a while since I've read a historical novel--I've been a bit overwhelmed by paranormals--but I am so glad I picked this one up. I honestly felt like I was in 1889 with Amelia and the rest of the cast of characters. There was a perfect mix of historical and paranormal, and oh, the twists! There are so many, I can't even describe how often I was holding my breath. The romance and chemistry meters are high--Amelia and Nathaniel literally cannot stay away from each other. Amelia's gift of seeing the future at sunset is unique and hides quite a few surprises. Though it appears like a light read, The Vespertine is actually quite dark at certain points. Amelia and her best friend and cousin, Zora, are quite naive at the beginning of the novel, but they quickly realize that life is not simply about finding a husband and settling down. They both have to face some serious issues. I don't think I've given much away with this review and that's how it should be. If you decide to read The Vespertine be prepared for some heart-stopping moments. I loved it! I CANNOT wait to find out what happens next in the second novel of the series, The Springsweet, though I have absolutely no idea when it releases. Sometime in 2012, perhaps? Hopefully sooner. And isn't that cover gorgeous?

5/5 stars

The Vespertine releases on March 7, 2011.
** ARC received from publisher at the request of the author.