Cover Characteristic: Bridges

The Cover Characteristic meme is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.   Here are the guidelines:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!


Here are my top 5, and this time I've listed them in order, with my favorite at #1.

5.  

I think it is fun to go back and find books from when I was a kid.  And there always seems to be at least one Nancy Drew cover that contains whatever our theme is.

4.

A lot of the covers I found had the bridge kind of in the background like this one.

3.

I like this one because I'm pretty sure that is the Brooklyn Bridge, and I've actually been there and walked across it!

2.

This was the 2nd book that popped into my head when I thought about this topic.  The others I had to go search through my "read" books shelf on Goodreads to remember, but this was one of two that I remembered off the top of my head.

1.  AND MY FAVORITE:

Now, this is the book that I loved, that I have also seen this bridge, well not how it looks exactly in the picture.  When I first visited NYC, this was one of the things I had to have my sister take me to see.  It is in Central Park, it's called the Bow Bridge.  

What do you think of my choices?  Have you read any of them?  Want to add them to your TBR if you haven't?  

While you're here,  don't forget there are a few days left to enter my 6th Blogoversary giveaway HERE.   
And if you're looking for some motivation to whittle down your TBR, and like me you have lots of sequels to get read, you can still sign up for my September is for Sequels Challenge, which also has a giveaway for anyone who participates.  Check that out HERE.

Waiting on Wednesday: Deadfall (Blackbird Duology #2) by Anna Carey

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 the 2nd book of a duology by an author I have enjoyed in the past.  And the first book, Blackbird, was so totally original and unique, that I can't wait to see how she continues it. It was told in 2nd person, something you rarely see, and as a former English teacher, I loved the example of this type of writing.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In the compelling sequel to Blackbird, Anna Carey delivers a gritty and adrenaline-filled story of a girl desperate to escape her mysterious and terrifying assailants. Told in second person, this heart-pounding thriller puts the reader in front of the target.

A week ago, you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: people are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you've escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well. As the chase heats up, your memory starts to return, but your past cannot save you from the terrifying circumstances of your present, or the fact that one wrong move could end this game forever.

With enemies on every side, and not a reprieve in sight, Deadfall will grab readers and refuse to let go. Perfect for fans of the Maze Runner series and the Legend series.

Sounds pretty good, right?  Did you read the first one yet?  What did you think?  If not, what do you expect from reading a book in 2nd person?  This is supposed to be published in June, I'll be hoping for maybe an e-galley if possible!

Review: Blackbird by Anna Carey

First, thanks to HarperTeen and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  For a little while today I was afraid I wouldn't get to finish the e-galley.  I set my Nook down to take my dogs outside. When I came back in and picked my Nook back up, the file was gone from my Bluefire Reader App.  But, eventually I figured it had to still be on my Nook somewhere, even if it was expired.  So I typed into the search bar and found it.  And opened it and got right back into reading it.  I only had about 60 pages left, less by the time I finished and the last 5 or so pages were acknowledgements, etc. 

The story is about a girl, we don't know her name, but she decides to tell a boy who asks that her name is Sunny.  So that is what she goes by.  The boy is Ben and she meets him in a grocery store, right after she first wakes up in the subway station.  She wakes up on the tracks, her feet tangled up in a backpack, very weak and not able to move easily.  The train does go over her, even as it is stopping, but she is able to stay low enough to the ground to not really be hurt.  She doesn't know who she is, and she finds a note in her backpack that says not to talk to the police, and gives her a phone number to call.  So she takes off.  It is on the run that she meets Ben, who offers to help her.  But she doesn't know him, and knows that she must stay off the radar.  The phone number leads her to a place that has just been robbed.  And now she is wanted for that.  She soon figures out there is a tracker in her backpack and she leaves it in a park in the exact same spot for two days, trying to draw in and trap whoever is tracking her.  It works, but the man who says his name is Ivan isn't really the bad guy she thought he was.  He had saved her earlier from a woman who had been going to shoot her.  And he ends up getting taken by two other mysterious guys, and now Sunny is worried for his safety.  As she tries to figure out who she is, while keeping two steps ahead of the cops and the others looking for her, she begins to have memories.  Of a funeral, of a boy, in a forest, of being chased.  She soon realizes, with Ben's help, that she is being hunted as part of a game.  Where people hunt other people.  And she learns something about an island that she must have begun being hunted on.  She seems to have a friend in Ben, but she doesn't want him to get hurt along the way.  Also, a girl staying next door to Ben is Izzy, and they kind of become friends, even though Sunny can't tell her anything.

Of course it all is part of an adventure, and knowing this will have a second part, of course there were also many things left hanging. While we've learned basically what is going on with Sunny, and who these people chasing her are, we don't know exactly "who" she really is.  There are things about Ben that we still need to know, and who the boy from the island really is.  Also, what funeral was she at? And will she be able to escape with her life and bring this human hunting ring down? 

This was definitely a good story, and it was getting really good when I had the scare of possibly the file being gone.  But I'm not sure how I feel about the story being told in 2nd person.  All of Sunny's parts are told in 2nd person.  It feels a bit like reading one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books.  Definitely a new way to read, or unusual if not new I guess.  And once I got into it, the "you" bit didn't trip me up as much as it did at first.  Actually I think this is a great book, one that English teachers could totally use to show examples of what 2nd person means.

Rise (Eve #3) by Anna Carey

I finished up the trilogy this afternoon.  And I wasn't disappointed.  I will say the ending seemed a bit, um, don't know how to put it.  Kind of an "oh yeah, here you go."  But not in a bad way.  And I won't tell you what I'm talking about, because I don't want to spoil it!  However, as I said in the review for Once, you probably shouldn't read on if you haven't read Eve, or Once.  I can't help but put some spoilers in there.

Okay, Caleb was shot at the end of book #2, so all that Eve can do now is marry Charles.  And all that the rebels want her to do, is poison her father.  She agrees, after he has killed her true love, why should she let him live, and getting rid of him seems to be the only way to save the city and help the rebellion take over.  With help from Moss, an undercover rebel in a high place in the Palace, she gets the poison and puts it in some of her father's medicine.  She finds out she is pregnant.  She knows the baby is Caleb's, and not Charles, because ever since the marriage, she's never slept with him, he sleeps on the couch in their bedroom.  But Charles has been nothing but sweet and always on her side.  He just hopes now that Caleb is gone, maybe one day she can love him.  And I must admit, I kind of like Charles and wish she'd give him more of a chance.  Her cousin Clara has also turned into a great friend, and soon to be confidant.  She is able to get a key to escape to Arden and Pip and Ruby.  But she is unable to know if they've escaped as the rebels begin attacking the city.  And while her father recovers from the poisoning, the rebels begin being captured and publicly hung.  And so Eve knows she must escape, and when she does, she finds some of the girls from the schools and brings them with her.  Clara is with her too, and must go in order to stay safe.  They try to travel back through the wilderness on the same path Eve had taken before, to get the girls safely to Califia.  Along the way they run into Pip and Ruby, both pregnant.  They are trying to stay safe as well as keep away from the soldiers.  Eve knows they will come for her, but she doesn't know if her father will kill her as a traitor now, or continue to shield her as his daughter.  In the end, there must be a change, right?  That is the purpose of the whole struggle right?  But I won't tell you just how happy it is or isn't.  Only know that the King's reign will be over.

Another great sequel.  While the 2nd book is still kind of my favorite, this was a good end to the story, and as good as the first in the series.  I highly recommend this whole series to any dystopian fans.  And, truly, for those who don't like love triangles, while Charles could kind of be seen that way, he isn't, and I like that.  I like that Clara becomes a friend, I like that most of the people in the story do have something good about them, you can even feel a bit for her father, so that is a positive spin to a story, when usually there are so many bad people.  I like to see the good in everyone if I can, probably part of being a teacher, and I like it in this book.
Now, since I got this book free at the RT Convention Teen Day Party, I just have to share my picture of me with Anna Carey one more time.

Once (Eve #2) by Anna Carey

This is one of the books I actually paid for at the Romantic Times Convention Book Fair last Saturday.  I was lucky enough to get the first one that I'd read as an e-galley, Eve, at the Avon Red Slipper party the night before for free.  And then, I got the third and final book in the series, Rise, for free at the Teen Party Saturday night.  I snapped this photo with the author when I purchased Once at the Book Fair.

Let me start off by saying that this book in no way fit into what I kind of call the sophomore slump of a lot of book sequels.  It was one that grabbed me right away and kept me reading.  It sucked not having the time I wanted to read as fast as I wanted to finish.  To give you an idea just how good it was, I took it with me when we took our students on a field trip to a local amusement park, and I sat and read part of the time because it was sooooo good!  If you haven't read the first one, you may want to stop now though, before I let out any spoilers.
We meet back up with Eve in this book, in Califia, with all the other women in a "safe" place for women.  Caleb, her true love, couldn't stay, because men were not allowed in.  But Eve is worried about him, because when he left he had been injured pretty bad.  Very soon in the story her friend Arden, who she escaped with in the first book, shows up, with a dog she named Heddy.  Heddy saved and protected Arden in the wild.  Word comes that Caleb has been seen, but also that the King is looking for Eve.  While Eve is warned not to go, she and Arden know that there is no way Eve can not go to find Caleb.  And so they sneak out.  Unfortunately it is a trap.  And what seals my dislike of the soldiers and the King is that they kill Heddy.  Anyone who kills or injures a dog like that is a horrible person in my book.  When they're caught, Arden is taken back to the "trade school" which they'd learned was really just a baby factory that the girls from the schools went to and were just impregnated and used to have as many babies as possible.  Eve is taken into the City of Sand where she finds out that the reason the King wants her so bad, is not to be his wife, but because she is his daughter, illegitimate, but all he has left.  And he wants to present her as the Princess and have her marry one of his right hand men.  A younger, handsome man, Charles, Head of Development, but still not Caleb.  When she is first introduced as the Princess to the city, she sees Caleb in the crowd, and she is elated.  She is given a message on where to meet him, and she is able to sneak out and see him.  She and Caleb fight to be together and to try to help the rebels.  But of course there will be obstacles, the King catching on thanks to Clara, her cousin, who is not at all happy that Eve is there, as she is in love with Charles.  But Caleb and Eve will have help from many unexpected sources, who I won't list, I'll let you find them out as they appear. And the rebels won't just accept Eve right away, knowing who she is.  She must do something to prove herself, and she does.  In the end, as this is the middle book, it isn't a happy ending for Caleb and Eve.  But we can only hope that Eve can be happy and find her way in the 3rd book, which is my current read!
A great dystopian series, and the 2nd was as good, if not better than the first one for me.

Waiting on Wednesday - Once (Eve #2) by Anna Carey

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.
This week I've chosen the sequel to the dystopian teen novel Eve by Anna Carey.  I got to read Eve as an egalley from Netgalley, and would love if I get to do the same with the sequel.  Here is the plot summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen years have passed since a deadly virus wiped out most of the Earth’s population. After learning of the terrifying part she and her classmates were fated to play in the rebuilding of New America, eighteen-year-old Eve fled to the wilds and Califia, a haven for women determined to live outside the oppressive rule of the king of New America. However, her freedom came at a price: she was forced to leave Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. Eve quickly learns that Califia may not be as safe as it seems and soon finds herself in the City of Sand and the palace of the king. There she uncovers the real reason he was so intent on her capture, and the unbelievable role he intends her to fill. When she is finally reunited with Caleb, they will enact a plan as daring as it is dangerous. But will Eve once again risk everything—her freedom, her life—for love?

Brimming with danger and star-crossed romance, and featuring a vivid dystopian landscape, this electrifying follow-up to Eve, which bestselling author Lauren Kate called “a gripping, unforgettable adventure—and a fresh look at what it means to love” is sure to appeal to fans who crave the high-stakes adventure of The Hunger Games and the irresistible love story of Romeo and Juliet.

What are you waiting to read?

While you're here, don't forget to stop by and sign up for my 300 followers in January giveaway!

Eve by Anna Carey

Eve by Anna Carey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


More review later. But for now I'll just say thank goodness I know there is going to be a 2nd part, I need to know what happens next!



Above is what I first thought after finishing the book, and below this is my full review.



So, I got this book from Netgalley. I've been looking forward to reading this ever since I first saw it on some other bloggers' sites. The story is another dystopian setting. However, I read one or two reviews, and got kind of nervous about it. Someone said it was the same thing as some other recent dystopian novels. So I was worried I might feel that way as well. However, once I got into it, I was pleasantly surprised that it was different, and it did grab me to where there were times I didn't want to put it down to do what I needed to do. Were there similarities to books like Delirium? Yes, but not enough that it wasn't its own story. The fact is that in this future time, there is a virus that has killed off many people, and girls are now put in schools to make sure they are raised properly, and can go out into the world ready to be successful. It turns out though, that this bright future Eve has worked so hard for, even coming in at the top of her class, is all a lie. So she runs away.



She runs into Caleb, who at first she fears as she has been taught to do all her life in school. But soon she comes to trust him and think that life might actually be okay out here, as long as she can be with Caleb.



The twists and turns in this were pretty good. There were some sad parts, and some happy parts. As I said in my original review, I'm so glad this is listed as a part 1 of a trilogy, because I need to know what happens after this book ends.



View all my reviews