2011 Debut Author Challenge 11: Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

This is another egalley I got from Netgalley.com. It took me awhile to get into it. Which is kind of weird, because I had picked it as one of the books I would read for the Debut Author Challenge that I'm participating in. And really, let me say, I do really, really, really love the premise for this story, and I love the reason why all of it is happening as you get into the story and find out the whole reason for what's going on.

The basic plot is that a terror attack even worse than 9/11 has happened and the people of New York have just had their spirits crushed. Everyone walks around with their heads down, paying attention only to their cells. Which in this future, their cell seems like an iPad type thing, more than just a cell phone or laptop in its portability. Two of our 4 main characters are Mal and Laura. Mal gets a strange message from his estranged brother and goes to try to find him and help him. On the same day, Laura calls her parents who have been on a trip, only to find out they no longer remember her. Another of the main characters is a teacher in an inner city school who discovers a strange door in the basement of the school. And the other character is a secret agent of some sort who has come to observe and figure out why all of these things are happening. The four of them get captured and put in a strange place together, where they begin to figure out what is going on. They must escape this place and go fight what is causing the problem.

I like that this story is talking about memes, something I'd never heard of until I started blogging, but now know that they've been around for a long time. I love how it talks about people walking around wrapped up in their "cells" as I see more and more people, including myself, spending so much time constantly looking at the cell phones.

However, it was kind of hard to get into the story as I said before. Some of the story was kind of hard to keep up with, kind of confusing on who or what or where we were. So, great story idea, and interesting enough to read, just not my favorite.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 10: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

I read this as an egalley from Netgalley. At first, they declined my request to view it because my blog didn't have at least 100 followers. So that is something I'm working on, getting more followers. But, I was so interested in getting to read this book that I persevered and emailed them back, pointing out that I was a teacher as well as a blogger and a bookstore employee, and they went ahead and granted me permission to view and download it. And boy am I glad they did! This book sucked me right in, and kept me thinking about when I could get back to reading it as I was working throughout the day.

Our main character is Emma, who has just moved to live with her Aunt in New York. She's lost her brother, and her mother, and was living with her step-father, who was a drunk, until an tragic accident that left Emma with bad scars on her arms. She makes up a back story to tell everyone, to try to avoid questions and ending up with the same lack of friends back home. She makes some friends the first day, Jenn, and Angelique. Jenn is pretty popular, and has a friend named Kirsten, who right off the bat doesn't like Emma. The reason for that is because Kirsten likes this boy named Anthony, in fact, is kind of his girlfriend, but he is a flirt, and even follows through on that with asking girls out. And he's a creepy kind of flirt, and a bully as well. Emma is saved from some tense moments by a boy named Brendan. And Brendan is hot, and Emma can't seem to get him off his mind, partly because he seems to see right through her lies about where she came from, but doesn't bother to call her on it and mess it up for her. He seems to be really interested in her at a get-together one weekend, but then turns cold afterwards. Emma also has had some strange things happening to her, the lights in streetlights going out and the bulbs exploding as she walks under them. Her friend Angelique is a witch, and helps Emma out. Finding out that there is an ancient curse affecting both Emma and Brendan.

The story, the romance anyway, reminds me of Bella and Edward quite a bit, probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. With the hot and cold moments between Emma and Brendan, hey, I just noticed their names are kind of a reverse of Bella and Edward if you think about it. :-) Anyway, it sucked me in, had some good new twists that I hadn't seen before with what was going on. And I loved the curse storyline. When I was done reading it, I remember even thinking at work that night that I wanted to get back into that storyline, then having to remind myself that I was done with the book and there was no more to go to. However the end did have a preview for a follow up book with Angelique, so I'll be very excited to read that when it comes out. Great book!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 9: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

This is my first egalley I'm reading from NetGalley, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to blog about it yet, because some of the galleys said something about waiting until 30 days before the book came out, but I'm going to go ahead with this one and try to be better next time, and hope this is okay.

This book was really good. The storyline is a supervolcano at Yellowstone Park erupts and of course, this sends the world into disaster. The beginning you're in major suspense while the main character, Alex, is home alone because his family went to visit other family, and he wanted to stay home as an adult. Of course this is bad, because when his home is destroyed and they begin to have looting and robbing, he knows all he wants is to go find his family. And so we follow him on his journey. The ash from the volcano is like snow, so he finds that skis help him to travel. Along the road he meets helpful people, murderous people, and ends up at the home of a very nice woman and her somewhat grumpy daughter. They take him in when he collapses thanks to the prison escapee he last ran into attacking him. He spends time on their farm where they are able to grind corn and seem to be able to make it. They decide to go into town to see why the rabbits are dying, and when they're gone, disaster strikes back at the farm. Now they must set out to find his family again. Along the way they come across a woman with small children that they help, and then find their way to a government disaster camp. Which turns out to be almost a concentration camp in a way. When they can escape they move on to find his family again.

I like that Alex knows martial arts, it makes it a bit more likely that he is able to survive this situation when it becomes violent. I like that they don't gloss over that he is a teenager who does want to have sex. I saw a review that said these things were annoying, but I feel they fit the story perfectly and will make it very accessible to teens. I also was greatly reminded of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and will be able to recommend it to people who enjoyed that. Now, it doesn't come out till October, so I'll be eagerly awaiting to share it!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 8: Wildefire by Karsten Knight

From signing up on a website to get free egalleys which are ARCs, I've learned that I probably shouldn't blog about books so far ahead of their release date. But I'm going to go ahead with this one since I just finished it and want to share how much I enjoyed it.

I haven't read the Goddess Test, although this was compared as being better on Goodreads, but now I will have to read it. The basic story is that all gods and goddesses do die, but they are immortal because they will be reborn to live again. The drawback is that they are not born with their memories, they have to rediscover who they are all over again.

The book starts out with the main character, Ashline Wilde fighting another girl at school over her cheating boyfriend. I must admit that this beginning did not really grab me, because I'm not really into the whole fighting thing. But the story is great. Her sister, Eve, shows up and really causes problems, making even more violence. It ends up that Ash transfers to a small private school in California to get away from the mess. Yet, for some reason, many other gods and goddesses have shown up at this school. There is a reason, one of the students is a Siren who has called them all here. Ash and her sister Eve were adopted, and both have dreams about a younger version of them, possible another sister. While Ash and her friends are learning about their powers, as well as trying to have normal high school lives with romance, sports, and classes, Eve comes back as well as other enemies.

I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel, it left off in a way that was so shocking! I was going to be really ticked at the end, won't tell you why, let you read it, but then something happened that my jaw dropped and I was suddenly upset that this book wasn't even published yet because now I have forever to wait until a sequel comes out! Great story! It will probably be one of my staff recommendations at the bookstore I work at, but not till the end of July. :-(

2011 Debut Author Challenge 6: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Before I get started on my review, let me first say that at the 2nd session I attended at the MASL conference today I got reinspired to try to do book reviews for teacher and library magazines. Wish me luck, and don't let me just forget and not bother with it! I do know that the review will have to be much more tight and much better writing than I do here on my blog. I know I should probably take more time with my entries here, but so far I just kind of like posting as I think. Feels more authentic and personal. Also, very excited to meet both Jay Asher, author of 13 Reasons Why, and Heather Brewer, author of the Vladimir Tod series, tomorrow. And while it's always cool when Heather Brewer replies to my Tweets, or even my Facebook posts, it was cool that she seems to be looking forward to meeting one of her minions as well! Plus, Jay Asher replied to me today too! So exciting! I love technology. Although, with such cool authors as these, it makes it harder to understand the authors I tweet that don't even bother to ever reply, even when I link to my reviews. Oh well. It is what it is. It's obvious who the really COOL authors are.



And, on with the review. Blood Red Road is another ARC. I waited a bit to get to it, while it sounded good, when I first picked it up, I had some trouble getting into it. But once I did, well, let's just say it was a day or two of not wanting to do anything other than read. I even wished I didn't have to go to family birthday parties so I could stay home and read, and there was cake at the party!!! And cake is my weakness. But back to topic.



Our main character is named Saba. She lives with her twin brother, her younger sister, and her father in a place called Silverlake, that is actually a dried up lake now. This is set in a future world, when things have gone wrong, from the few bits and pieces we get, I'm assuming some kind of disease or plague or pollution of some sort. At the very beginning, her brother Lugh is kidnapped, her father killed, and she is left alone with her sister Emmi, who she doesn't much like. Saba sets off to find Lugh, and along the way they get caught and taken to Hopetown where Saba is made to fight in cages. Kind of a gladiator type thing. Made me think of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for some reason. Saba does really good, winning all her fights. She meets a boy there, Jack, and a girl named Epona, who is part of a group of girls out to win freedom for all. They are able to escape and burn down Hopetown. Saba finds out from another girl that her brother has been taken for a sacrifice. The king wants someone to sacrifice every year to extend his life. This king is obviously crazy and we find out just how much.



This was a really good book. I can see it being a very popular book for teens. My only complaints, and they are minimal, first, I understand why they use a slang type of speech, it fits the type of life the main characters have had, but it is still hard for me to read that as I'm so used to correcting grammar in papers I have to grade. The one other thing I didn't like is that they didn't use quotation marks when someone was talking, so sometimes I'd have to go back to re-read what I hadn't realized was someone talking to help my mind make sense of it. Nothing about the story was bad, just some things that my brain had a little trouble processing. But as I said, it didn't stop my brain from wanting to pick up the book and read constantly! I liked the way the relationship between Jack and Saba developed, its highs and lows were very good, and relatable I think.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 5: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another ARC. And I kept hearing great things online about it, how picking it up and not being able to put it down. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the coverwork, it doesn't really draw me in. It's cool looking, don't get me wrong, just wouldn't have grabbed me or made me think what it was about.

Well, the things I read going on and on about how great this book was? They weren't exaggerating. When I picked it up, I could barely put it down. I finished it in 2 days, while teaching and having to work at the bookstore one of those nights. As I read it, I thought in my head that this reminded me of the Hunger Games. Anyway, it's great, awesome, I even recommended it to one of my students as I was reading it, and it's not even published till May! So, let's get on with the summary of the story.

In this future society, the people decided that if people only chose one way/society of approved areas to be a part of, that would keep there from being war. Abegnation is the one our main character Beatrice is from. Now, I've never heard the word abegnation, so wasn't sure exactly what this group did until they explained. The other factions were easy to understand, Candor - honest, Dauntless - bravery, Erudite - knowledge, and Amity - happiness. Anyways, Beatrice is the age where she must choose which faction to spend the rest of her life in. There is a mental simulation game that determines which area they would be best in, but they can choose whatever they want. Beatrice gets unexpected results, she is something called a Divergent, but must keep it a secret, in fact, the test examiner changes the results to hide this. Beatrice doesn't choose her own faction, even though it means leaving her family, because the motto is Faction before family. She goes to Dauntless. Her brother Caleb also stuns her by choosing Erudite instead of Abegnation. So we follow Beatrice, who becomes Tris, into Dauntless. This is an extreme life. Jumping on and off trains to travel places. Jumpingn off buildings, fighting other new members to determine just who will actually get to join and who will be sent away to live factionless.

A great dystopian story. Not sure if it left off in a way that could be a sequel, but I'd go back to this world to see how things work out. Can't wait to make it a staff rec at the bookstore I work at!

2011 Debut Author Challenge 4: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

The funny thing about this book is that I had received an ARC several months ago I think, but it got put under some other books, I forgot about it, and actually picked up another ARC at the bookstore the other day and brought it home. It wasn't until I was up in my office/2nd bedroom trying to weed out some books to see if I can get any money for them that I found it. But, anyway, on with the review.

This is another dystopian setting book. Thanks to genetic engineering, every human born after a certain generation now only lives to a certain age, males 25, females 20. In order to keep the population from dying out, girls are kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages. Our main character is 16 year old Rhine. She ends up with two other sister wives, Jenna who is 19, and Cecily who is 14 I think. Rhine first meets the original wife, Rose, when she gets to the house. She grows close to Rose, and learns that the man she is now married to, Linden, was in love with her. And when she dies, he turns to Rhine as the "first wife." Rhine puts Linden off in consumating the marriage. But Cecily, the youngest wife, gets pregnant right away. She comes from an orphanage, so this beautiful big house with servants to wait on her hand and foot is like a dream for her. Jenna, who must have been a prostitute before she was captured, also gives in. There is a servant named Gabriel that Rhine meets and takes an interest in when she first gets to the house. Rhine is okay with being first wife, it means she gets more priveleges and may be able to figure her way to escape.

As I read the story, you see that Linden isn't actually the bad guy. It is his father, one of the first generation that is older, but able to live a long time thanks to genetic engineering. I almost felt like if I was Rhine, I would have just stayed. Linden did love her. and he was a pretty nice guy, and attractive, and it was a beautiful house. But, all the things going on in the basement or that his father was up to were scary to think about. And I think this is going to be a trilogy. With where the book ends, I'm not sure what will come next. Will we follow Rhine? Or will we stay with another sister wife? Or will we meet another girl in a similar situation. Or, will we follow Rhine's twin brother after Rhine disappears. It'll be interesting to see where it goes next.

This wasn't originally on my list for the Debut Author Challenge http://www.thestorysiren.com/2010/11/2011-debut-author-challenge.html, but it fits in so I'm using it.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 3: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I actually didn't pick this book to read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge sponsored by Kristi over at The Story Siren. I had chosed to read So Shelly by Ty Roth. However, that book just didn't catch me. Sure, I only got to page 20, but I've decided there are so many books out there that I want to read, unless it is something I've heard that is great and I need to give it a chance, I am going to quit and read something else. I've actually heard many people talking about this book, and have seen it at the bookstore. So I chose to read it because it looked and sounded good. It was only after I finished it and went to the author's website that I realized it was a book that would fit this challenge, and then I checked Kristi's website and it was on the list, so I'm doing that for my next book.

And, on to the actual review. Our main character, or the first of our 2 main characters that we meet is Amy. Amy is going to be cryogenically frozen with her parents to travel on the first manned spacecraft to the first Earthlike planet. Her mom is a scientist, her dad is military. The first part of the book is intense. We get to read as Amy watches her parents get frozen. And it is INTENSE! Then we get to be in Amy's head as she gets frozen. They are going to be frozed for the 300 years it will take to get to the planet.

Now, every other chapter in this book is either Amy, or Elder, our other main character. And normally I don't like this, it can get too confusing if it is told too similar. However in this book, the two characters are so different that it works. Yet, at first, I sped through the chapters with Elder, because I didn't quite get where it was going, I didn't understand why Elder was the way he was or why there were people on the ship like him.

Soon though, Amy gets unfrozen 50 years earlier than planned. This is bad, because they are unable to re-freeze her, which means she will be an old lady by the time they reach the planet and her parents are unfrozen. Not to mention all the weird stuff going on around the ship when Amy wakes up. There is intrigue and mystery as more people get unfrozed ahead of schedule. Elder is learning from the Eldest how he will soon have to lead the ship. And we find out how things are going on the ship, and what is really happening with the landing.

I do have to say I guessed who a certain character was pretty quick. I won't say who, I'll let you read for yourself.

This was a great read, I will highly recommend it to science fiction fans, as well as romance fans, as it is both.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 2: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

I read this book as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge being sponsored by Kristi over at The Story Siren. And actually, this was not on the original list I posted when I signed up to do this. However, the ARC was sitting on the table at the bookstore, so I decided to pick it up and read it. And boy am I glad I did!

This is another book about angels on Earth. At first, I almost didn't read it. I did love the book Hush, Hush and it's sequel Crescendo, and I like the tv show Supernatural which has had an angel storyline for a few years now, but I wasn't sure if I could get into another angel story.

But once I got to reading this story, I was hooked. I had to know. Our main character is Clara Gardner, who has learned she is part angel, 1/4 to be specific. Her mother is 1/2. When angels get to a certain age, they start getting visions of their purpose. In Clara's vision she sees a boy from the back, who is in a forest fire, and she feels really sad. Every time Clara has the vision she sees a little more, and soon she is able to find out where this is going to happen. So she moves with her mom and younger brother to Wyoming. Here she sees the truck that was in her vision, and meets the boy she is to save. It's not forest fire season yet, so she knows there is time to figure out the where and how. And she also has to continue to learn her powers, like flying. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Clara will meet lots of interesting characters, and learn more about being an angel. It's definitely a romance, a triangle of course. And I know exactly who I'm rooting for, and it's not who you'd probably think.

I'm hoping/assuming that there will be a sequel to this, especially based on how it ended. But I highly recommend it to anyone who is a Twilight fan, Hush Hush fan, or any type of supernatural romance fan.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 1: XVI by Julia Karr

I read this book as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge being sponsored by Kristi over at The Story Siren. I've really gotten into the YA books lately. In fact, it's almost keeping me from reading books by my favorite authors Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But anyway, on with the book review.

XVI, or the Roman numeral for 16 is set in a futuristic world. After we have settled on the Moon and Mars, and we have a government that keeps us from having wars. The 16 is for the age when a girl gets a tattoo, the roman numerals, that tell all men she is 16 and able to have sex. And they call it "sex-teen" in that it is the age when girls WANT to have sex supposedly, and all the ads make girls think that will be cool. There is an organization that virgins can get chosen for, and it is hope for girls who are in the lower tiers, or really the lower class girls. Our main character is Nina. She doesn't buy into all that sex-teen stuff. In fact, she doesn't want to have sex or become available for this program. Especially after seeing some perverted videos her mother's boyfriend left at the house. This is a world, similar to in the movie Minority Report, where as you walk past stores, you are constantly getting an audio of sales and such directed at you. There is a constant program, unless you listen to music, or are talking to a friend. Until girls are 16, they also have a GPS inserted under their skin.

The story starts out as Nina is going to visit her grandparents and some old friends in Chicago. (Which, as some may know, I love Chicago! The novel I have gotten the farthest with writing myself is actually set in Chicago.) There is a stop in this constant noise by some rebels, or NonCons as they are called. Then she sees a homeless boy getting beat up by some 'Letes, or athletes. Turns out this boy isn't homeless, his name is Sal, and his parents were friends with Nina's parents. Nina's father is dead, and at the beginning of the story, her mother Ginnie is killed. This leads to Nina and her younger sister going to live with their grandparents. Ginnie told Nina in her dying moments to keep her younger sister away from her boyfriend, Ed, who Nina believes to be her sister's father. Moving to the city, back to where Nina had lived until 4 years ago, she is now embroiled in a mystery, as one other thing her mother said to her, was that her father was still alive, and Nina should find him.

There was a lot of suspense in this book. Once I picked it up, I constantly wanted to keep reading it to see what was going to happen next. I don't know that I believe we could ever go back to a society where women were treated like sex slaves, or that 16 year old girls were treated that way. I just don't see that. But it is a different story line for a futuristic world, and I think that it left off that there could be a sequel. I hope there is anyway, I want to know what happens next.

This was the 1st in my 2011 Debut Author Challenge list of 12. And I'm really glad I chose to do this. I may even go back to read some of the other books that I didn't choose after I get my first 12 done.

Now, if I could only get my borrowed Nook to work one more day before I have to take it back to work tonight. I really wanted to read Unwind by Neal Shusterman tonight, especially since I have a snow day tomorrow. Oh well. I'm reading another really good book right now that I can't wait to blog about either.

Welcome 2011!

I see everyone else seems to be doing a New Year's resolution/goals blog, so I'll do one as well. I usually only do either book reviews or waiting on Wednesday blogs, but this will be out of the ordinary. First, I want to set some goals for the blog itself. I hope to make it more known by not only posting my updates on Facebook for my friends, but also posting them to Twitter. I also signed up to a challenge for next year: The 2011 Debut Author Challenge.

Next, I couldn't decide if I should list how many books I read only by what I actually blogged about, which is: 104. According to my notebook where I write every book that I read, even re-reads, the number is only 2 or 3 more, and actually 2 of those are ones I started, am still picking up and reading at times, but haven't finished. Weird. I must have counted wrong somewhere. So I think I will set my goal for how many books to read this year to 110. That's only 5 or 6 more than this year, so a reasonable goal. However, since I have a feeling I won't be signing up to read for any of the book awards through the state this year, it might be hard to get that many books in. Or not. We'll see.

I plan to blog in just one entry about series if I am able to read them right in a row, like I did with the Mortal Instruments series, or I am getting ready to do with the Carrie Ryan zombie series right now.

I also intend to take a creative writing class this summer, and get back to work on my chick lit novel I started a few years ago during NaNoWriMo. I'd love to get it finished this year. Since there's a good chance there won't be any need for summer school librarians this year with the state budget, I may have to set up a schedule for myself for writing.

One last reading goal, this year, if a book is just too hard for me to get into, and I don't have to read it for any reason, I will not make myself finish it. I will put it away in a pile and get rid of it. I will not waste any more time on books that I do not enjoy.

Other personal, non-reading goals include getting that final 5 pounds off so I can reach goal and hopefully become a WW lifetime member by the end of 2011. I need to make sure I get out and walk at the gym during the cold months at least twice a week, and then once the weather gets nice, I need to get back to 20 miles a week as soon as I can. With my new online teaching job, I hope to soon be able to start getting some credit cards paid off and get my life in a more financially stable place.

So, those are my main goals/resolutions. I'd add that I want to get a library job this year, but I think that's a pie in the sky dream for me at this point. Not to say I won't still apply and interview whenever possible, but I won't make something a goal that is so far out of my control anymore. I've always liked double numbers, like 11, probably because my birthday is October 22. So I'm hoping my love of double numbers will mean that 2011 is going to be a good year for me.

2011 Debut Author Challenge

I have decided to sign up for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge. Seeing that I only have to read like 12 books within a 1 year period, and that I spent the last 3 months reading 26, or will have read 26 after 3 more, I feel this is not going to be a problem, and should be fun! This challenge is through The Story Siren.

The books I'm hoping to read, as long as I can get a hold of them are:

1. XVI by Julia Karr

2. So Shelly by Ty Roth

3. Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach

4. Wither by Lauren DeStefano

5. Entwined by Heather Dixon

6. Those that Wake by Jesse Karp

7. Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

8. The Revenant by Sonia Gensler

9. Never Sit Down in a Hoop Skirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell by Crickett Rumley

10. Dark Parties by Sara Grant

11. The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan le Fay by Alex Epstein

12. Ashfall by Mike Mullin

There are many more on the list I may read, I just need to read these 12 by next December! Wish me luck! By that time I'll be done with Gateway, and will be ready for more YA novels.