Stacking the Shelves August 31st, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  Haven't done one of these in two weeks as I've had a little bit of a dry spell with books.  But I've got a couple to share this week!  

From the Library:

As you probably know, I've already read and reviewed BZRK, since I was able to get the sequel from Netgalley.  The second one, Darkness Falls, is the 2nd in a series that I've read the first one, and I got the 3rd one at BEA last summer and haven't read yet because I didn't have this one yet.

Purchased:

I'd been seeing some things about the first one, PODs, on other blogs, and saw it wasn't too expensive in the database at the bookstore where I work part time, so I ordered it in.  The second one, The Hatfields and The McCoys, was on our bargain tables at the bookstore for like $6 or $7, and I've become a bit obsessed with learning more about that whole feud since the History Channel mini-series.

YA Book Exchange Trade:

Yes, I was able to get an e-galley of this, but when I saw an ARC of it available on the YA Book Exchange, I had to try for it in order that I could have a copy of this that matched my ARC of the first one.  Plus I will be getting to see the author, Maggie Stiefvater in September when she comes to my town again as part of the publicity tour for this book.

E-galleys:

The first and third books are from Netgalley, the middle one is a title from Edelweiss.  Last Night at the Viper Room intrigues me because I was such a huge fan of River Phoenix and it was so sad when he died of a drug overdose.  When Cory Monteith recently died, it brought back some of those memories of that time for me.  The difference being that I was so young and naive, and things weren't as out in the open back with River, so I didn't realize he was on drugs till then.   And everyone knew that Cory had been to rehab and had a problem.

Free for my Kindle App:

All of these I found through a fellow bloggers post on Facebook.  The first two sound like pretty good stories, and for free, hey!  I've been wanting a smoothie recipe book for awhile, but I'm never sure which one I want, so getting one for free was awesome!

And I have to share the one non-book item I got, although it is a bookmark:

Guess I got more than I thought!  How about you?  What did you add to your shelves this week?  I know that I'm working on straightening up my 2nd bedroom where all my bookshelves are, and once I get that done, I'll do a tour of the shelves for you!

Also, while you're here, check out the following posts:

• Last day for my 4th Blogoversary Celebration Giveaway!

• Join into my 2nd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge!

Feature and Follow #12 2013

Feature and Follow Friday is sponsored by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  The purpose of this event is to learn about the two featured bloggers each week, as well as to increase your own blog following by joining in on the fun! This week's question/activity is:

If you could only have ONE – one book – for the rest of your life. Don’t cheat…what would it be?

I'm guessing that cheating would be saying I'd pick my Nook.  So, hmm.  That's hard!  I would have to say, and I know many of you will groan, but I'd have to pick Twilight.  It is a book I can read over and over.  Or, maybe, no, that's it.  One book.  Wow, that would not be a happy life!  I need more!  

So how about you?  What book would you pick?

While you're here, make sure you check out these other posts:

• My 4th Blogoversary Giveaway: Which is only open for one more day!  Don't miss out on a chance for a $40 gift card!
• And, those of you who like to set reading challenges, maybe join my September is for Sequels Challenge.  Not only do you get to set a challenge for yourself, you might win a $20 gift card as well!  And the odds are good at the moment, only one person besides myself has signed up, so since I can't win my own contest, that means there are a lot of chances for others!

BZRK by Michael Grant

I checked this book out from the library because I saw the sequel was available on Netgalley, and I love the Gone series by this author.  The science geek in me really ended up enjoying this book.  While really we get to know several of the characters throughout the book, we really have 2 central characters.  First is Noah.  His brother came back from the military and had gone insane.  We kind of begin with Noah going to visit his brother in the mental hospital.  His brother is mumbling lots of things that don't really make sense, including the word "berserk".  Sadie is the other kind of main character.  Although we don't really start out by meeting her, but by meeting her father and brother as they are flying to a business meeting, in Japan I think it was.  On their way something happens to the plane, and it crashes in a stadium.  The exact stadium that Sadie just happens to be at while she is on a date.  Sadie's family is rich, in fact her father's company is heavily involved in nanotechnology.  Both Sadie and Noah get recruited into the BZRK organization of hackers/nanotechnology experts to help defeat an organization called Nexus Humanus and their evil plan to take over some of the world's leaders in order to further their plans for mankind.  Both sides have the same types of technology.  Nanobots which can get inside and spy or at least attach the biots.  Biots are nano-organisms created from actual pieces of a person, and then they become a part of that person to the point that whoever they came from can then see through their eyes and control them.  The problem is this is that they are a part of you, and to lose them, well it is like a part of you actually dies, and it can drive you crazy.  Just the training of going down to that tiny level can be stressful.  There are all kinds of things that are freaky looking when they get that small.  For example, a lot of times the biots try to get into the brain through the eyeballs, but on everyone's eyelashes are tiny creatures called Demodex.  And while they are kind of frightening at the size they are compared to the biots, really they aren't dangerous at all.
Other characters are the evil twins, conjoined twins, Charles and Benjamin Armstrong who run the Nexus group.  On their side is one of the best "twitchers" as the people who do this are called, and he goes by the name Bug Man.  Vincent is one of the good guys, but he is an interesting character as he has an actual medical issue that he can't feel pleasure.
So we've got Noah trying to do something to make up for what happened to his brother, and Sadie who is now alone in the world, with a chance to get revenge for her brother and father.  In BZRK, everyone takes a new name, Sadie chooses Plath from the basic rules given to her, and then Noah is named Keats.
I can see that for some this book may be way too technical, but that is kind of what I really liked about it!  And reading all the descriptions of what things looked like at that small of scale was kind of cool.  I could totally see a movie out of this, but only if someone who could afford awesome special effects did it, so that they could make this stuff look as real as possible.

Quarantine (Alone #3) by James Phelan

First of course I must thank both Netgalley and Kensington Books for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  I enjoyed both of the other books in this series, I think maybe a trilogy?  It did kind of leave at off at what could be an ending.  You can read my review of Chasers HERE, and Survivor HERE.  This is a zombie series, but a little bit different than normal.  The "zombies" or chasers as the main character calls them, want to drink the fluids in people, not necessarily eat them.  And there are "lesser" chasers, nicer ones, that just want to drink any water or other fluids they find, but don't chase people to try to get them.
We left off the last book with Jesse being sure he was going to go visit the people that were gathered in the Chelsea Piers according to his friend Caleb.  At first he's not sure about leaving, as the zoo animals have actually now been attacked by the chasers.  But the girls, Felicity and Rachel, both tell him he needs to go and find if there are other people, and if they will want to head north with them.  While Rachel hadn't wanted to leave the zoo animals, she felt responsible for them, the recent events have made her ready to leave to try to save her own life.  There is more found out about the bombs that caused the whole epidemic, and once Jesse reaches the Piers, he sees a community that seems to have found a way to survive.  However they are torn between those who want to just stay until help come, and those who feel they need to make their own safety and find their way to help.  Jesse tries to convince them to leave, but understands why some would want to stay there.  Not only are people within the community obstacles to leaving, there are other groups of survivors who attack the compound.  Not to mention figuring a safe way for all of the people to get out and past the chasers safely.  And there continue to be drones dropping bombs it seems, and it seems as if they are American.
There is a solution, although we don't necessarily see how it all goes in the end, but we do know the direction things seem to be going when the book ends.  Another good story, a different take on zombies and survival.  A good quick read that I would highly recommend to boys who were reluctant readers.

2nd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge

I know many of you have signed up for the September is for Sequels Giveaway Hop.  But the reason this came about is because of the idea I had last year for a challenge, (well to give credit to who I got the idea from, it was Ems Reviews Books).  I've really noticed that as i started getting more and more advanced readers copies of books, and now e-galleys, that often I'd get the first book in a series, love it, and then since I often didn't get the sequels as ARCs, I would buy them, or even not buy them, but they'd end up on my TBR pile.  So seeing all the challenges that other blogs did, I thought I would set aside the month of September to try to get through as many of those sequels, whatever point of the series I was at, anywhere from #2 to #5, or beyond.  I think last year I had about 10 people participate, not bad, but we'll see how this year goes!

Objective:
To read and review a minimum of 4 sequels between the dates of September 1st and 30th, 2013. 

My goal is to read 12 books, that's three a week, which is one more a week than I set my goal for last year.  Which ones I actually read may change, but here are the 12 I plan to read:

1. Sky on Fire (Monument 14 #2) by Emmy Laybourne
2. Monsters (Ashes Trilogy #3) by Ilsa J. Bick
3. The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass
4. In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright #3) by Gabrielle Zevin
5. City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare
6. The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater
7. Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis
8. Storm (Swipe #3) by Evan Angler
9. Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor
10. Everbound (Everneath #2) by Brodi Ashton
11. Light (Gone #6) by Michael Grant
12. Scorch (Croak #2) by Gina Damico

Rules:

• It would be good if you had a blog to post reviews, or you can be a Goodreads Member and post your reviews on the site.
• The book must be a sequel - it can be any # in the series, just not the first book.  Prequels can count if they came out AFTER the first one in the series.  You can do e-books, even ARCs or e-galleys, as well as good old fashioned books.  And, I'll even let you count the little 1.5 novellas that are often published as e-books only.  
• The deadline to sign up and participate is September 15th.  
• You must post on your blog an entry that has a list of the sequels you're planning to read, but it doesn't have to be complete, or you could even just post your goal, do you plan to read 8, or more?  You can always go back as the month proceeds and enter the books as you read and review them.
• Make sure you grab the button and put it in your entry post, or on the sidebar of your blog.

In the sign up form below, you need to give me your name and blog name, Ex:  Lisa (Lisa Loves Lit) or just your blog name is okay, and then a link to your original post that set your goal or listed the books you were reading.  If you are not a blogger, and can't do that post, if you only review on Goodreads, then leave me a link to your profile page on Goodreads so that I can follow you to see your reviews.  Everyone who signs up to participate will be entered once into an end of the month giveaway of a $20 Gift card to Barnes and Noble or Amazon if you prefer, and I may increase the amount of the gift card if I get very many people signed up to participate!  There will also be a way to post a link to each of your reviews in order to earn extra points into the giveaway, that will be with the Rafflecopter below the Sign Up form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Fallout (The Compound #2) by S.A. Bodeen

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Feiwel & Friends publishing for allowing me to read an e-galley of this over the summer.  When I saw this was coming out I was very excited!  I read the first book, The Compound, back when it was nominated for one of our state library awards.  And I really liked it.
Without being too spoilery, I do have to say that this book starts about 6 or 7 years after the other one, after the family has made it out of the compound.  All except for their father, who is believed to have died in the fire.  So now Eli gets to be reunited with his twin Eddy and his grandmother.  But it's not as perfect as they'd like it to be.  Because now there are extra siblings.  Lucas, Quinn, and Cara. Siblings that would have been supplements to the family's nutrition in the Compound if their father's experiment had worked the way they'd wanted.   And they are trying to stay private so that the press can't harass them for what they've been through.  And this means they are stuck in their house.  They begin to have outings that are as simple as going to Costco, just to get out of the house.  At Costco, Eli sees someone and begins to believe they might be followed.  He even gets online and sees a hash tag on Twitter of people who think they've seen the family of the billionaire.  And one person has seen them at Costco.  Eli and his brother want to get involved in the company.  And Eli finds a charity he wants to learn more about.  When he goes to the research facility he meets a girl.  But he can't be honest about who he is because of the crazies.  On one of their next outings, Lucas disappears and is found by a teen boy named Tony.  Eddy soon becomes friends with Tony, inviting him to a baseball game outing, and as Eli soon learns, sneaking out of the house with him.  Lexie has decided she wants to  find out who her biological parents are.  And Eli is trying to find out why these people are following him and his family.  One of the people he catches following him leaves a business card, and it turns out this guy is in the end of the world bunker business.  And what he wants is the family to check out the bunkers and see if they would be good.  Many things are happening, and the ending, well, it's suspenseful and full of surprises!  Eli finally lets his brother Eddy in on just how horrible things were in the compound to help him understand why their father isn't as great as he remembered.  And this helps the twins get closer to each other and Lexie to be able to work together and save their family from yet another scientific experiment, this one on helping with aging, which has to do with the charity for the disease Eli was so interested in, Progeria.
Another great story.  I think the readers that liked the first one will love this one too!
I kind of think this might have left off for another book in the series!  And I will be waiting hopefully for it.

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

I actually thought this came out in August, so rushed to read it at the beginning of August, but now see that it isn't to be published till September, so I'm typing this review about 20 days before you will see it! I am so thankful to Random House Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss for allowing me to read this e-galley. At the end of the review, look for pictures of when I got to meet the author, Sarah Rees Brennan, this past May at the Romantic Times Convention. Now, when I met her, she said I could ask one question about this book, which I didn't have the e-galley of yet, and didn't know I'd even be able to get it. But my mind blanked! I couldn't think of anything specific to ask! She probably thought I was lying when I said I loved the first one, Unspoken, but I wasn't! I loved this one too. And a lot of what I love isn't just the story, it is the characters, the dialogue, all of it. There are times when I laughed out loud, literally, because the characters are written so realistically sarcastic.
So the main characters are back, Kami, Jared Lynburn and his "cousin" Ash Lynburn.  Kami's best friend Angela and her brother Rusty, and their friend Holly.  Kami and Jared's link was broken, and since then, things have been strained between them.  Ash's father has left and is gathering sorcerers to his side to try to take the town from his wife, Lillian, the true Lynburn heir.  And he wants it to go back to the way it used to be, where the people who weren't magic served the sorcerers, and magic was done by spilling blood.  Ash's mom, Lillian is very condescending, and doesn't see how someone like Kami could possibly help.  When Kami broke her bond with Jared, she lost any magical power that she had.  When Lillian gathers the sorcerers who do not want to go back to the old ways, they see they have way less than the other side.  Rob Lynburn goes and tells the townspeople that they must give him a sacrifice of one person on the fall equinox.  On the night it is to happen, they must all go to see if they can find a way to defeat his side.  Kami refuses to sit and let the magical people do all the work, so she does what she does best, investigates.  She tries to find out who all of the sorcerers are, and tries to get a personal item from each in order to maybe create a protection or blocking spell for the sorcerers on their side.  Kami uses her paper, The Nosy Parker, to get the message out to the students.  But as much as her mother has tried to keep all of this secret from her father, he finds out.  And now, Kami is not only worried about the town, she is worried about her mother and father not being able to repair this breach of trust.  And in the end, the Lynburns will do something to her family to try to win the war, and they will all have to decide what is left of their family.  And Kami must figure out if she and Jared are really over, if Ash is really going to be the nice guy he seems, or maybe it will be Angela's charming and humorous older brother Rusty who wins her over.
If you haven't read this series yet, you need to give it a try.  It's such a good read, such a smooth read, and like I said, a laugh out loud at times read!  My one complaint about the first book was the cover, but I'm much happier with this cover.  And now, how long do I have to wait for the 3rd book?  Too long!!

And as promised, some pictures of the author from when I met her.  First, a picture of me with her (I look like such a dork, but I was so excited!):

Next is a fun picture from one of the panels I saw her on.  She was timing all the authors as they read from their books, and as they got too close to the end time, she would go up and pretend she was choking them.  

The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix

I've been a fan of Margaret Peterson Haddix since I first read Among the Hidden, the first book in the Shadow Children series.  I loved that whole series, and then got caught up in her stand alone novels, as well as her Missing series.  I'd seen this book around, and it sounded interesting.  I got it at a half price Scholastic Warehouse sale earlier this year, and finally got around to reading it this week.  And I must say it was a pretty good little story.  I say little story because it was a pretty short book.
The  name means basically what you think.  The characters are living in a future America that is divided in half over water, and has been at war for over 75 years.  Tessa is going to a big rally where a local hero is going to be celebrated and given a medal for bombing an enemy city.  Tessa knows this boy, as it is people around her age that are actually fighting the war mostly.  His name is Gideon, and they grew up in the same building.  Tessa doesn't understand all the hopelessness that the people around her have.  She refuses to give up, and when Gideon shows up, and then declines the medal, saying that he is really a coward, she runs out of the auditorium after him to see what is going on.  But he is swept away by the officials.  Soon he is brought home to the apartment next to hers.  And one night she hears tapping on her wall.  It sounds like a pattern, and so she gets on her ancient computer and finds out it is Morse code for SOS.  She's not sure how she'll get into the apartment to help him, his mother has always been a bit snobby.  But she gathers the flowers she can find, and brings them as a delivery, telling his mother she must deliver them straight to his hands.  He asks her to bring her computer over, and when she does, he looks at footage of his bombing run that he got the medal for.  And he sees all these innocent people going about their business, dying as the bombs are dropped.
Tessa is not sure what this means.  But when she catches Gideon sneaking out of the apartment one night, she decides to follow him.  She ends up on a military plane that he purchased on the black market, and when they go into enemy territory so that he can try to apologize and surrender for what he did, things don't turn out quite the way he thought.  The enemy territory is a bit different than expected.  Not to mention that Tessa wasn't the only stowaway on the plane, a girl named Dek, who works for the guy who sold Gideon the plane is also there.  Together they search through the enemy territory trying to figure out what is going on, and how to get back, and what to do once they get there.
A quick, but good story.  Love the bit of a twist at the end.  Won't give too much away, but it reminds me of another science fiction story that has a twist, but it's kind of an opposite twist.  Hmm, that's confusing sounding.  But if I tell you what story, and you've read that story, you'll know what happens in this book.  And if I tell you what happens, or what that story is and you haven't read it, well I'll mess that story up for you too!  Anyway, it's a good middle grade level read.
Also, I'm really excited because this author is coming to my town in about a month.  I can't wait to meet her!

Unfed (Undead #2) by Kirsty McKay

First I have to say thanks to Scholastic and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  I got the first book in the series last summer when I went to BEA, so was very excited to see this become available on Netgalley.  I wasn't disappointed, I liked where the story went.  Because someone asked on another sequel review I did, I will tell you that if you haven't read the first book, there will be SPOILERS.  Also since my review contains a synopsis of the story, I promise that I won't give away anything that I would feel is a spoiler.
Where we left our main character, Roberta, or Bobby as she prefers to be called, was on a school bus with her friends that were left, trying to escape the zombies.  The bus crashes, and we join Bobby in a hospital.  But according to the nurse, only 4 people survived the wreck.  And her mother was not one of them.  Bobby is in and out of consciousness as this hospital is keeping her drugged up.  She wakes up to an alarm, and the sound of banging against the door of her room.  Turns out that the zombies locked up in this hospital escaped somehow and have killed the people running the place.  As Bobby tries to escape, she finds the only way out is through the air ducts.  As she slowly makes her way through the duct, she ends up in Alice's room.  Alice is her same old lovely (not) self.  They are able to make their way to find Pete, one of their other friends, and the other survivor from the crash, Russ.  At this point, Bobby is pretty sure that Smitty, who she really thought maybe they had something going, must not have survived the crash.  Which is a really bad thing, as Bobby used the cure to save his life, and there is no cure left.  But when Bobby gets out her cell phone to try to use it to get help, she finds some messages and new contacts that weren't there before.  Knowing how her mother is, she knows this means that her mom is probably still alive and has left her clues.  One of the clues makes her change her mind about Smitty's being dead, and convinces her that they must go find him and he will help them get away.  Of course while this hospital looks like it is out in nature, they get another surprise when they find out it is actually down under the Earth.  Trying to escape what is now known to be a Xanthro lab, they are attacked by soldiers.  Soldiers that they overhear talking about how they are not supposed to kill the kids, although some say they wouldn't be upset if it accidentally happened anyway.  When they find their way out of the lab, to the surface, they see a world changed, full of zombies.  From what they hear, Scotland has been closed off to try to take care of the problem.  And now they are out in the open trying to find their way to Smitty and Bobby's mom using the clues left on the phone, while Russ seems to not be sure whether they should trust Pete.
A really good story, I enjoyed all the ups and downs, and the little obstacles they had to face, like the fact that Bobby had no pants for the first part of the book, because the ones she'd been wearing on the bus before it crashed had been destroyed from the crash, and she had no other clothes.  A great story.  Loved that it wasn't all about a "romance" between Bobby and Smitty, that it was kinda realistic for a zombie apocalypse story.  I don't see that there is a third book in the series, and it definitely left off that it could be the end, but there was also a lot of openings for another book, which I'd love to read!

Waiting on Wednesday: Doctor Sleep (The Shining #2) by Stephen King

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. My choice this week is an adult novel, one of my favorite authors, Stephen King, finally has a new book coming out that sounds like one of his old ones that I loved.  Now it has been quite a long while since I read The Shining, but from the synopsis of the book I think it will probably be okay.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads.com:

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

So, how about you, what book are you eagerly awaiting this week?  And are you a Stephen King fan?  If so, how does this one sound to you?  And while you're here, don't forget to enter the 3 giveaways I've got going:

• My 4th Blogoversary Giveaway

• Authors are Rockstars with Tessa Gratton

• Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop

And, if you want, sign up to be a part of the September is for Sequels Giveaway Hop I'm co-hosting with I Am a Reader.

Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop August 2013

Thanks to both Mary at Bookhounds and Kathy at I Am a Reader, Not A Writer, for hosting this giveaway hop.  I'm doing  a lot of giveaways lately, mostly for gift cards, so this will be nice and easy, you just get to pick from one of the books I've shown pictures of below.  You can click on each picture to go to Goodreads to read about the book.

The top three are more adult novels, the bottom three are young adult/teen, and are all three ARCs.    So just fill out the Rafflecopter below, and then hop along to the other giveaways by following the link to the beginning of the Hop below the Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Go hopping!

Survivor (Alone #2) by James Phelan

I purchased this book because I was unable to find it at any library near me, and I was able to get the 3rd book in the series from Netgalley.  First you can go back and check out my review of the first book in the series, Chasers.  And I must say, I am in a zombie world with all the books I've been reading lately, which isn't bad.  Maybe it's just to keep me until season 4 of The Walking Dead starts in October.
So there was the big twist at the end of the first one, but I won't give it away in case you haven't read it.  I will say that Jesse is now out looking for other survivors on his own.  He's found a home with video tapes of a girl, Felicity, who has left like a journal every day of what has happened since the beginning of the disaster.  But when she doesn't show up, he decides to leave her a note that he will be waiting outside the 30 Rock building, where he'd been staying with his friends, every day at 10 am in case she wants to join up with him.  Well on his way back to 30 Rock, what has been his home, he sees what looks like some soldiers.  But they don't act like he thinks they would, in other words, they don't seem to be there to help him.  In fact, if it wasn't for one that was kind of nice, the others would have shot him as if he was one of the infected.  On his way to Central Park to look for Felicity, because her last video mentioned going to try to find the "friendly" infected that she's seen, he is found by the Chasers.  The Chasers are the ones that are not so friendly, they chase you and then attack and kill you.  In order to escape them, as he goes into Central Park, he ends up at the zoo.  At the zoo he meets Rachel.  Rachel was an intern at the zoo when it all happened.  And soon all the other workers that had been there with her left to go their families.  Her family was in Texas, and she just couldn't leave the animals, so she stayed.  And she's been there, pretty much safe since.  Jesse tells her that he saw the polar bears wandering the city before, and she admits she let them loose because she figured they could take care of themselves, and there was no way she'd have enough food to keep them alive along with the other animals.  He wakes up late the next day after spending the night in the zoo, and while Rachel tries to get him to stay and be safe, he still heads out to 30 Rock to see if he can find Felicity, but he guesses that he's missed her because he is late.  While out he again runs into another survivor.  He's got two huge mail bags that he took from an overturned mail truck full of food and supplies to get back to the zoo.  He'd been attacked on the search for food, but so far it looks like just a shallow wound to his hand.  Caleb startles him by asking if he's stealing mail.  At first Jesse isn't sure if Caleb is going to try to take his food, or what.  He seems to get Caleb to offer to help him with the food, when once again, Chasers find them.  They each grab a bag, and run for Caleb's place.  Caleb is staying in the bookstore where he worked, just a few blocks from where Jesse would need to go to get back to the zoo.  Caleb has brought in generators and has a pretty nice set up.  So Jesse ends up staying the night, and once again oversleeps.  So he skips trying to meet with Felicity, and just gets Caleb to help him take the food to the zoo.  Eventually Jesse will get all of them together, but will he be able to keep them together, since Caleb likes his own spot, and Rachel won't leave the animals?  And while Jesse heard from the soldiers that they should head north, the cold seems to stop the infected better, he can't quite convince all of them.  But he keeps working on it.  There are more things going on, drones flying in hitting what looks like help with missiles.  So the whole world is just more confusing than even this crazy disease.
We get some more information about what might have happened, but in the end it seems there might be more questions than we started with.  I love the little comments about the tv series Lost.  And I can't wait to see where the story goes next.  It'll be one of my next reads!
While you're here, don't forget to check out my 4th Blogoversary Giveaway, my Authors are Rock Stars with Tessa Gratton giveaway, and think about signing up for the September is for Sequels Giveaway Hop, which I will be adding a month long challenge for those who want to join in as well.

Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles #2) by Kat Zhang

Thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this in June.  I just read and reviewed the first in this series right before I got this to read, and you can read my review of What's Left of Me HERE.  Know that if you haven't read the first book yet, this review will probably contain some spoilers for you.
Addie and Eva are living with friends of Peter's.  Peter is who helped them to escape at the end of the first book.  They are living with the girl(s) who were their roommate at Nornand (I always have trouble remembering the name of the place, it's such a weird word), Nina/Kitty, and a woman named Emalia.  A few apartments above them Ryan/Devon and Lissa/Hally are staying with another sympathizer to the hybrids named Henri.  They are getting to be friends with some other hybrids, Christoph, and Sabine, and Cordelia.  As well as Jackson who actually was the first person to give them hope before they escaped.  These new friends have an idea to start revolting, and helping people outside of the hybrids realize what is being done in these institutions.  First they start with some explosives/fireworks at a big rally the government is having.  Along with the explosions they drop some flyers that Addie has drawn of hybrids.  The government's big announcement is that they have a surgery which is pretty close to being a cure, and they are going to build a brand new surgery center to start bringing in hybrids to cure them.  While Addie and Eva are a little shaken up after the first display of rebellion, their new friends come up with a plan to blow this place up.  Ryan is essential to the plan with his expertise of building what they must admit is a bomb.  Lissa/Hally is out, she doesn't want to do this.  And while Eva gets swayed into helping, Addie isn't quite sure.  And it's not just that.  The two girls can now have their own private time, where the other will go away and leave them all alone.  Eva enjoys this for getting to spend time with Ryan alone.  But when she wakes up with Jackson, she is shocked, not only that she doesn't remember anything that led her to this place, but that she had no idea Addie liked him that way.  And so there is more tension between them.  In the end they must decide if this rebellion is really how the others have made it out to be, bombing an empty building to make a point and keep other hybrids from suffering as they did.  Or, do these new friends of theirs actually have more to the plan than they're letting on, and how far will Addie and Eva go to be comfortable with what they're doing as well as being able to keep their new friends.
A good sequel, although I had trouble kind of staying with it the first half.  It wasn't a book that I had too much trouble putting down.  And I was really only made to pick it back up in order to go ahead and finish it so that I could review it before it expired.  Again, I feel the series is probably a good one, and I will have to read on to know what happens next, especially with the Jackson part of the storyline.

Stacking the Shelves - August 17th, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected. Another REALLY slow week, but again, needed as I have a ton of books on my TBR piles to read already! I actually only have 1 book to share this week:

Purchased:

Since I got the 3rd book in this series as an e-galley, I had to get the 2nd one read.  Unfortunately I was unable to find it at ANY library!   But fortunately, we had it in paperback at the bookstore where I work, so I purchased it this week.  

Non-Book Purchases: 

I don't know much html, other than how to make a link, so I figure this will come in handy as I continue to blog, and if I ever consider maybe moving away from Blogger.

This is a small poster I had made at Staples online for like $3.00!!  I plan to use it on a display in my new library later this year.

And while this boxed calendar has NOTHING to really do with my blog or reading, I'm just excited to have a copy.  It was supposed to be published in July, but it never came out.  And then when we started getting the boxed calendars in our store in August, I checked one more time in our database, and I found it!!  Hope it's as good as the one I planned to make myself!

So really, not much going on my bookshelves, which are getting cleaned and organized soon, so expect a video tour of my bookshelves later this year!  What did you add to your shelves this week?

Feature and Follow #11 2013

Feature and Follow Friday is sponsored by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  The purpose of this event is to learn about the two featured bloggers each week, as well as to increase your own blog following by joining in on the fun! This week's question/activity is:

Share something you’ve learned about book blogging or just blogging in general in the last month.

Hmm, this is a hard one.  I guess I learned that THE "Linky" site costs money, and I don't have money to pay for it, so I found a different one in order to run my September is for Sequels giveaway hop.

Speaking of giveaways, make sure while you're here that you check out my 4th Blogoversary Giveaway, as well as my Authors are Rock Stars Featuring Tessa Gratton giveaway.

Booking Through Thursday #1

I thought I was going to have to break my goal of blogging every day for summer, because the e-galley I just finished can't have its review posted until 30 days before its publication date of October 1st.  Soooo, I didn't really know of any Thursday memes, until I found this one!  So, here we go for my first time of Booking Through Thursday:

How do you feel about borrowing books from friends? Is this something you like to do? Does it make you feel uncomfortable or rushed while reading? Does it affect how you feel about the book you’re reading, pressured into liking it?

This is a good question.  I actually don't borrow many books from friends, normally they are borrowing from me!  When I do, it probably depends who it is from.  My sister and I trade books all the time, and I don't feel any pressure really.  My friend Kim and I also trade books, and I might read what I've borrowed from her before anything else I have, but don't necessarily feel I have to rush.  And I don't feel pressured to like it.  I know what my tastes are, and I am comfortable discussing what I did and didn't like with the people that I would borrow books from.

How about you?  How would you answer this question?

And while you're here, make sure to enter my 4th Blogoversary Giveaway and my Authors are Rock Stars featuring Tessa Gratton giveaway.

Waiting on Wednesday: Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've chosen another book that I was turned down for the e-galley.  And I was sad because I loved the other book I read by this author, Misfit, and so wanted to read this one.  Here, read the blurb from Goodreads.com and see what you think:

Love can be a real monster.

Sixteen-year-old Boy’s never left home. When you’re the son of Frankenstein’s monster and the Bride, it’s tough to go out in public, unless you want to draw the attention of a torch-wielding mob. And since Boy and his family live in a secret enclave of monsters hidden under Times Square, it’s important they maintain a low profile.

Boy’s only interactions with the world are through the Internet, where he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can hide his hulking body and stitched-together face behind a layer of code. When conflict erupts at home, Boy runs away and embarks on a cross-country road trip with the granddaughters of Jekyll and Hyde, who introduce him to malls and diners, love and heartbreak. But no matter how far Boy runs, he can’t escape his demons—both literal and figurative—until he faces his family once more.

This hilarious, romantic, and wildly imaginative tale redefines what it means to be a monster—and a man.

Sounds to me like another really unique story from an author I have really enjoyed in the past.  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

P.S. - While you're here, make sure to stop by and enter my Authors are Rockstars with Tessa Gratton giveaway, as well as my 4th Blogoversary Giveaway.

Authors Are Rock Stars Tour Stop Featuring Tessa Gratton, Guest Post and Giveaway

Let me just say I am sooooo excited that I get to host Tessa Gratton as part of the Authors are Rock Stars 2nd Annual Tour!  I have been lucky enough to meet her three times!  The first time was a total surprise. She just happened to be at a book signing for Maggie Stiefvater, and I was able to purchase her book Blood Magic, and I was immediately sucked in to her books and now love her writing!  I think she is awesome because her writing style is so unique, and her stories are also different from what is out there.  The sequel to Blood Magic was The Blood Keeper, and it too was really good.  Then her latest book, The Lost Sun, was incredible!  And she is sooo nice!  Not only online on Twitter, but also in person.  

Here I am with her the first time I met her!

Enough with my fawning, let's get on with the guest post!

What kind of books did you read growing up? Which ones would you say influence how you write today? Can you name your five favorite books?

Hi, Lisa and readers!
Thanks for having me here to talk about my favorite things in the world: books!

I grew up reading what my mom read: sci fi and romance and science or history magazines. I remember shelves of romance novels, stacks of National Geographic and Smithsonian, and the first time I discovered Anne McCaffery’s Dragonsdawn sitting on the counter in Mom’s bathroom. She handed me Jurassic Park and accidentally got me hooked on Jude Deveraux. And that was all by the time I was eleven. I also voraciously read Nancy Drew and Christopher Pike on my own, and of course when I was 2 years old apparently my favorite book was a retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff – telling now that I’m working on a series full of trolls!

When I began seeking out what I loved the most, though, I found myself always returning to fantasy novels and magic. My favorites as a pre-teen were Robin McKinley and Anne Rice. McKinley I discovered on my own, wandering the basement shelves at my neighborhood indie store: Beauty, her retelling of Beauty and the Beast hit me right where it matters and I reread it over and over again, recorded myself reading it in a home-grown audiobook so I could listen when I rode my bike or fell asleep. It was actually my 5th grade teacher who introduced me to Anne Rice, starting with The Witching Hour, but it was The Vampire Lestat who whispered to my budding-writer’s soul. It was Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce who tuned me onto epic fantasy series, who taught me to crave the next book god when does it come out how can I wait a whole year?
Though these days it’s my writer peers who influence my writing the most – Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff who read everything I write and share their work with me, who inspire me with their talent and make me want to be better than I am – I can still look at my writing and see pieces of Robin McKinley and Anne Rice in particular. I’m obsessed with meandering narrative and telling as a device, with Beauty and the Beast and subtle magic like McKinley, and like my favorite Rice novels, I tend to try to create atmosphere with lush prose and weave in layers of history and family into my stories. Someday I’d love to write a novel-length fairy tale, or turn my short story “The Vampire Box” into a Sunshine-like novel, or write a sweeping paranormal family history like The Mayfair Witches. I’m not good enough yet. That’s why we keep writing, AND READING.

I don’t think I could choose only five favorite books. It would be a tragedy worse than the zombie apocalypse if I could only read the same five books forever. But here’s a list of some forever books for me:

Beauty, The Blue Sword, and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinleyThe Vampire Lestat and The Witching Hour by Anne RiceThe Lumitare Chronicles by Melina MarchettaThe King of Atolia by Megan Whelan TurnerThe Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillipThe Scorpio Races by Maggie StiefvaterThe Space Between by Brenna YovanoffFire by Kristin CashoreHowl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne JonesThe Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Sarah MonetteThe Deverry Series by Katherine Kerr

I don't know about you guys, but I love that some of my favorite books, are hers as well!  I loved The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff.  Here's another shot I got of Ms. Gratton, this one was at BEA 2012.

Now, yet another reason that Tessa Gratton is such a rock star is that she is offering you all an awesome giveaway, and there will be two winners!  So make sure that you fill out the Rafflecopter below!  The author will only ship US domestic, so if you're not in the US, I apologize you'll have to wait for another giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway