Review: Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis

I FINALLY picked this one up and read it.  I've actually owned a copy since I purchased it last May at the RT Convention so that I could get it autographed.  Finishing this will also get me an entry in my 2014 Prequels and Sequels Challenge, although I think I have a short story/e-novella to read to actually complete the whole thing.  Here are the links to my reviews of the first two books:  Across the Universe and A Million Suns.  Let me say, this was a great ending.  For awhile I was afraid it might end up with the same kind of disappointment as I had with Allegiant, but instead it ended up more like Into the Still Blue, a realistic, but pretty happy ending.  Obviously if you haven't read the rest of the series, and especially not book 2, you probably should stop reading at the end of this paragraph, knowing that I was very happy with this book, and will definitely recommend it, and the whole series.

So, if you remember at the end of the 2nd book, there was the really big cliffhanger.  They had been finding out that the ship probably wasn't going to last much longer, with what they had left, not to mention the explosion caused damage to the engine, which could cause other problems. And now that they knew the planet they had been traveling towards, Centauri-Earth, was right outside the ship, they had to make the decision to go.  Not everyone on the ship wanted to go to the planet, they felt safe on the ship, the only place that had ever been their home.  So Amy, Elder, about half of the people left on the ship, and all the cryogenically frozen people were in the shuttle and headed towards the planet.  From the information that Orion had left in the clues for Elder and Amy, they knew that there were "monsters" on the planet.  And on their way to land, they did hit something, and it did knock them a bit off course, but they still landed just fine.
But when they first try to leave the ship, they see one of the monsters, and Elder is even attacked by one.  Fortunately Amy is able to grab a gun and shoot it, and then get Elder back in and shut the shuttle back up to be safe.  As this is going on, the people that were frozen have been unfrozen, including Amy's parents.  But there still seems to be a divide between the frozen, or Earthborn, and Elder's people, or shipborn as they are called.  And when Amy's father, Captain Martin, is unfrozen, he finds he is now in charge because of the two that Orion had killed.  And when he takes over, he reminds Elder of Eldest, or even Orion.  And Orion's warnings were that the frozen people would make the shipborn either slaves or soldiers, and it seems as if it may be that way.  Not only that, but it seems Captain Martin may be hiding something.  While Amy's mother and the other scientists are just thrilled with all there is to see and study on the planet, it seems that maybe there was a colony of humans that landed here before them.  Not only that, the monsters may not be the only thing they have to worry about.  What happened to that first colony?  There are signs of a possible alien race, and they may be defending their own planet.

In the end it all comes down to fighting for what the original mission was, fighting against these aliens or whatever is fighting them on the planet, or finding out how they can make this new planet their own.

Again, I just loved this story, and what a great ending to the trilogy!  And below is my picture with the author on the day I got this book!

Waiting on Wednesday - The Strange Maid (The United States of Asgard #2) by Tessa Gratton

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  The book I've chosen this week I didn't think I'd chosen yet, I hope not, so if I did, then here is a reminder about how much I'm waiting for it!  It is the sequel to The Lost Sun, a book that I really liked how it portrayed the United States if history had been a bit different in who found and started it (and if the Norse gods really existed).  And I think I just got an e-galley of this from Edelweiss!  Let me warn you that once again, I'm not a big fan of the cover.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads.com:

Fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Maggie Stiefvater will embrace the richly drawn, Norse-influenced alternate world of the United States of Asgard, where cell phones, rock bands, and evangelical preachers coexist with dragon slaying, rune casting, and sword training in schools. Where the president runs the country alongside a council of Valkyries, gods walk the red carpet with Hollywood starlets, and the U.S. military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating Rocky Mountain trolls.
Signy Valborn was seven years old when she climbed the New World Tree and met Odin Alfather, who declared that if she could solve a single riddle, he would make her one of his Valkyrie. For ten years Signy has trained in the arts of war, politics, and leadership, never dreaming that a Greater Mountain Troll might hold the answer to the riddle, but that’s exactly what Ned the Spiritless promises her. A mysterious troll hunter who talks in riddles and ancient poetry, Ned is a hard man to trust. Unfortunately, Signy is running out of time. Accompanied by an outcast berserker named Soren Bearstar, she and Ned take off across the ice sheets of Canadia to hunt the mother of trolls and claim Signy’s destiny.

I'm such a huge fan of this author, I even got to host her during the Authors are Rock Stars Blog Hop last year.  You can go read my interview with her HERE.  So what book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Review: A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

First, thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin for allowing me to read an e-galley of this back in December.  Second, I will admit that I didn't read the description that well when I first requested it.  For some reason I had in my head that it was going to be a book about a Spanish Influenza strain that hit in the present time, when in reality, it was a historical fiction piece about the time it did actually hit, in 1918.  So while it wasn't what I was thinking, it was still a good book.  Definitely one I would recommend a school library add to its collection.  In fact, it reminds me of another historical book I read a few years ago, this one about Typhoid Mary, called Deadly, by Julie Chibbaro.
A Death-Struck Year takes place in the Northwest part of the United States, Portland, Oregon.  The main character is Cleo Berry.  She lost her parents in an automobile accident when she was younger, one that she was in, and she witnessed her mother slowly dying as they waited for someone to see what had happened.  She now lives with her brother who raised her.  But he and his wife are going out of town for a second honeymoon type of vacation, and since she is only 17, and it is 1918, she must go stay at the boarding rooms of her school while they are gone, and is not allowed to stay home alone, especially since their housekeeper is also going to be out of town.  There have been rumors of this illness in New York, and Philadelphia, all places on the East Coast.  So Cleo and her brother aren't really worried.  But soon the stories have reached the West Coast, and soon the illness has arrived.  All the schools and other public buildings are closed.  Unfortunately if your family cannot pick you up, you have to stay, something that Cleo does not want to do. So she sneaks out to go home.  She also sees a notice that the Red Cross needs volunteers.  And so she decides to go help out while she is home alone.  To her, she wants to make sure no one has to sit and die while waiting for help, like her mother did.  Being a volunteer isn't that easy though.  In her first day she comes across a family, with little children, that she must get to the makeshift hospital that has been set up at one of the theaters that has been shut down.  She stays home alone, unbeknownst to her brother at first, as he thinks that the housekeeper is on her way back.  But the housekeeper ends up staying with her sick family.  Cleo meets a new friend, Kate, who is also working at the Red Cross.  And even finds a bit of a love interest with a military man who is serving as a doctor, Edmund.
While the story has a mostly happy ending, it isn't unrealistic, as Cleo sees more death, the collapse of a man about her age who was extremely healthy seeming only moments before he collapsed.  She has close friends that get sick, and even die.  And she even has her own health scare as she waits for her brother and sister-in-law to come home.  And Edmund isn't just a handsome doctor that she falls for.  He has a bit of a scary past as well, from what happened to him in the war.
Really this was a great historical story, and at the end there are even some notes about the actual history of the time.  As I said before, a great book for a school library, one I would add if I was in a middle school library.

Review: Romance is My Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last by Patience Bloom

First, many thanks to Dutton Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  As most of my followers know, I rarely request books other than YA books from Edelweiss or Netgalley, so I'm very, very glad that I was approved.  This book was perfect for me to read.  I have loved reading memoirs that I felt some kind of connection with the person in the past.  One year I read a ton of weight loss memoirs, and it really helped me as I was working on my own weight loss.  Not sure if this memoir will really help me to find love, but it did make me feel a little better about myself knowing there was someone out there who was almost exactly like me in how they dealt with the men/boys in their life.

Patience is the name of the woman the book is about, she starts her story off at boarding school, high school basically.  She seems to be about the same age as me, what with talking about Duran Duran and other things she was into during those years.  What really stood out to me and made me smile knowingly as I read this book, was how any interaction with any guy made her start thinking of him in her future.  What would their life be like, would they get married?  What would their married life be like?  I did all that, and still occasionally do when I get crushes on people.  She did this all throughout her life, up until a certain point, when she was about the age I am now.  I feel that I'm kind of moving to the direction of just realizing nothing will probably happen from meeting guys, just to let things go where they may, but I know that I'm not quite there.

She did a lot of online dating, while she lived in New York City, and while I didn't read anything that she had the same issues I have with even getting started with it, I will let her experience guide me in how I do or do not choose to participate in that.  I love that she has a job I would love to have, her final career, after teaching and being a secretary, was to work for Harlequin Romances, first reading the "slush" pile manuscripts, and then moving on and getting to have specific authors that she edited for each month or as they finished writing.  I was a teacher, and finally this year moved on to be a high school librarian.  Eventually I want to get back to the middle school level, but I'm almost positive this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I mean if there was any chance I could go work for a publisher like she does, I would be in heaven, but at my age, I think that's not a possibility.  Especially with living in Missouri.

I don't feel like I'm doing justice to the book with this review.  But there were so many things I just loved!  In fact, there was one quote at the beginning of a section from a Sex and the City episode that I had just watched earlier on the day I read that bit!!  Although she did get one thing wrong about the Sex and the City movie towards the end, it wasn't a peacock feather that Carrie wore to her wedding, it was a bird.  That's even a funny line from the movie!  This author sounds so much like me, and her love of authors, so much like me.  I hope that maybe one day I can meet Patience Bloom, maybe I can even get my novel, (if I ever get it finished), into her slush pile at Harlequin.  I wonder if she ever tried to publish the "Teacher's Pet" novel she wrote, and I wonder if this book was the NaNoWriMo novel that she talks about in the memoir.

I don't know what else to say, other than this was a memoir that probably many women my age can relate to.  As a single 41 year old woman, it also gave me hope that maybe my Prince Charming is still out there.  I can even think of one "popular" guy from my past that I would love to run into again.  Believe me, I've done the googling and Facebook looking, but his name is such a common one that I have yet to find him.  However I am now interested in looking once again.  When I first read about the Sam guy at the dance who came over and kind of rescued Patience in high school, it reminded me of one guy I went to high school with.  A great, sweet guy.  One who passed away probably 10 years ago from cancer.  It made me happy to read that there were probably many guys like that out there who could make a difference in other women's lives.

So now, must decide, while I've rejoined Match.com, unlike Patience, I haven't done anything other than the free site.  Should I pay in order to actually have a chance to meet someone?  This book leads me to think about it, even if it isn't what worked out in the end for Patience.  And also, I may end up buying this book, as I'd love to add it to my memoir shelf, as a book that I just love, and want to recommend and share with others.

Stacking the Shelves - February 1st, 2014

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  This was a pretty slow week. Which is okay, because I have plenty to read anyway!

E-galleys from Netgalley:

I love the dystopian idea behind this, no one has to eat food anymore, they take medication.  It sounds like a cure for food shortages, right?  But what if you are still hungry with the medication, how will you find food if there isn't any anymore?

And then I was also lucky enough this week to get approved for sequels to two books I've really enjoyed within the past year or so.  

So, as you can see, not a ton this week.  But some good ones!  How about you?  What did you get this week to add to your shelves?

Cover Characteristics - January 31, 2014

Cover Characteristics is hosted at  Sugar and Snark.  Here are the guidelines for how it works if you want to join in:

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!

This week's characteristic is:  Ethnic/POC Characters

This one seemed a little harder this week, there don't seem to be as many of these types of covers, at least not on my list of books I've read.  But here are the ones I ended up with.

5.

 

Gotta show some love for one of my favorite tv shows.

4.  

 

A classic story, with its classic cover.

3.  

 

One of my favorite book series.

2.

 

 

I just love the covers on this series.  Can't wait to see what the next book will look like!

And my favorite is:

1.

 

    And I just love how different this cover is, you don't see covers like this very often.  At least not in the YA world.

And those are my picks for the week.  Have you read these?  Would you agree with my choices?  Remember if you decide to make your own post about this to go link up at the Sugar and Snark site posted at the beginning of this.

Review: Docket No. 76 by Arita M. L. Bohannan

I received a copy of this book from the author, well her husband actually, who I was friends with in college, in exchange for an honest review.  This is her first published novel, I'm not sure if she's written much in the past or this was her first attempt.  While it isn't the type of book I really read these days, as you know my blog followers, I mostly read YA lately.  But it wasn't a bad read at all.  It was a quick read, it flowed pretty naturally.  For a first time book I was pretty impressed!  Something I do complain about a lot is when the conversation and writing in the story sounds like someone is trying to write a formal paper for an English class in school.  This one didn't start out like that at all!  There were a few times towards the end that I kind of noticed it, and I notice that because it makes it not roll smoothly in my head as I'm reading it.  Does that make sense?  But it didn't do that at all until the very end, and so I was really into it and enjoying it by then, enough that I could ignore it in order to find out how it was going to end.

The main character is an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans named Sandra Morgan.  But the story actually starts with the aftermath of the crime.  A young girl named Dori has been found by a family friend with duct tape on her wrists and she is bleeding and passed out.  This family friend is named Lee Lawson.  He is a well respected man in the town, but the fact that he is found holding the little girl, he is immediately the first suspect.  At least to the lead detective on the case, Detective Curtis, he is the first suspect.  But he rules him out after speaking with him, and even after meeting with the parents and seeing how they react to him.  Soon someone else is caught, a man named Gurganus.  His DNA is on the duct tape, and there are even fingerprints found.  When Sandra goes to the first hearing, and sees Gurganus for the first time, it brings back immediately what happened to her as a child, in such a personal way, because Gurganus is the man that assaulted her.  Only he got away with it, because she was too scared to speak at the trial when she was supposed to be testifying.  But she was a little girl, so while anyone would understand, she blames herself, especially knowing now that he has probably continued doing this to other little girls, including Dori. So we get to go through the case with them, and see how the judge will rule.  And based on that ruling, how will the rest of Sandra's life, as well as Dori's life, be affected?

I could totally see this as an episode of some tv court drama.  It was a pretty quick case in a way, with the amount of what happened in the book, so it would definitely fit on an hour long show I would think.  I think the descriptive language used in the book was great, you knew exactly what people looked like, and you could tell the author really knows New Orleans by the way she described it.  I did have a few times that it made me smile as I was reading. The character Lee Lawson, well his last name is that of one of the author and her husband's friends, a guy that I also know.  And the way he was described in the story fit a lot of the same characteristics as the actual person.  So it was fun to see some of the personal things in the story as well.

If you're looking for a quick lawyer type of story, this will be a good read for you.  If you want to buy it, you can get it from Barnes and Noble HERE.  And this also again inspires me to get going on my novel and get it done!!

Waiting on Wednesday - Paranoia (The Night Walkers #2) by J.R. Johansson

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 sequel to a book that I just read this past month, a book that I'd won last year, and then really enjoyed once I finally got around to reading it.  And it had kind of a cliffhanger ending.  Here is the summary from Goodreads.com:

In the aftermath of the events that nearly killed him, Parker Chipp is trying to learn to cope better with life as a Watcher. And it seems to be working...until he wakes up in jail with a hangover and 12 hours of missing time. Darkness has somehow taken control and Parker doesn't have a clue how to stop him. He finds an unlikely ally in Jack, the mysterious guy in the motorcycle jacket who offers to help Parker master his abilities as a Watcher. But even as they practice, the darkness inside Parker is getting more and more powerful, taking over Parker’s body and doing everything he can to destroy Parker's life.

When Jack reveals that there is another kind of Night Walker, known as a Taker, Parker starts to wonder if the strange things happening in Oakville are more than just a coincidence. After all, people are more than just sleepwalking. They're emptying their savings accounts with no memory of doing so, wandering into strange parts of town and disappearing, they're even killing other people--all in their sleep. If Parker wants to find out what's happening or have any hope of seeing his father again, he’ll have to defy Jack and put his own life in danger...because the more he learns about these other Night Walkers, the more certain he becomes that his life isn't the only one that could be lost.

So that is my pick for the week.  Have you started this series yet?  What book are you waiting on this week?

Review: And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

First of all, thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I just finished reading it the day before it was published, also the day it would expire.  It was a quick read.  At first I was worried that it was going to suffer in comparison to another school shooting book, The Hate List by Jennifer Brown.  But as I really got to reading it, I began to see how it was its own type of story, and truly, it wasn't really a school shooting story, although that is kind of what it is made out to be in the blurb on Goodreads.  

This story is told as we follow Emily Beam.  Her boyfriend is the one who brought the gun to school.  Only he ended up only shooting himself, and no one other than Emily ever had the gun pointed at them.  Emily had been pregnant, and while she knew she didn't want to have a baby at her age, Paul was excited and happy about it.  They'd said they loved each other, but with this hanging over her head, Emily now wasn't sure about what the future would bring.  Her parents took her away to Boston after all the tragedy, and she got into a boarding school.  The town is where Emily Dickinson was from, and like Dickinson, Emily Beam is also a poet.  And that is the one thing that really made this book its own story, in such an original and unique way.  We get to read the poems all through the story, and they paint such a vivid picture of Emily's feelings, the things that happened before the story started, and how her world is changing.  I could totally see, as a former teacher, how this could be used in a classroom.

As I said before, I was afraid I'd be disappointed as I began, but turned out it was a really great story, and the prose portion was just such an extra perk, making the story even more complete and real.  There is one quote I loved, it is Emily's roommate and friend K.T. who is talking to Emily about God, or really about whether things make you a bad person.
 "If God made us in His image, then maybe we have a right to play God when we can't find Him anywhere.  But we will find Him, eventually."
That is just so deep, and really made me think.  Hope you feel that way as well!

Sunday Post #4 and Stacking the Shelves January 26, 2014

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. 

Last Week on My Blog:

• Teaser Tuesday
• Waiting on Wednesday:  The one where I whine about lost books
• Review:  Die for Me by Amy Plum
• Cover Characteristic
• Review:  Pandemic by Scott Sigler

Looks like I made my goal of making sure I had two book reviews this week.  One is starting a series that I could use for my Prequel and Sequel Challenge, and the other is one for finishing a series, even though I wasn't blogging to review the first two in the series, so can't get full points for it.  Now something that won't actually appear on my blog, is a DNF.  I received the ARC of the 2nd book in the Patrick Carman Pulse series, so I checked out the first one to read.  I got about 100 pages in, and found it just wasn't for me.  Which is sad because I normally like Patrick Carman a lot.  But, I have so many other things to read, that I will pass on it for now.  It also means I'll be posting it on YA Book Exchange probably, and hoping that I can make a trade next time where I don't get the book stolen.  I may have to start having books sent to my work place so I know they will be safe.

This Week on My Blog:

• Review of And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard
• A Tuesday Meme (not sure which one yet)
• Waiting on Wednesday
• Review of:  either Light by Michael Grant or else a book by a friend's wife called:  Docket No. 76
• Friday Meme (not sure which one yet)
• Stacking the Shelves

The reviews will depend on what books arrive this week, and there may be one less of the memes, just depends how busy the week is.  I'm happy if I blog 6 out of 7 days, as long as 2 are reviews.

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.   Quite a bit this week!

E-galleys from Edelweiss:

Very excited for this sequel to The Lost Sun, even though not sure I like this cover much.

E-galleys from Netgalley:

I love the cover of Insanity, so spooky looking! And the 2nd one just sounds interesting as someone like me who wants to be able to run sometime.

E-novellas Purchased:

I'm really excited to read Dorothy Must Die, so when I saw this prequel, No Place Like Oz, cheap for my Nook, I had to buy it.  And then, as I said earlier, I'm normally a fan of Patrick Carman, so when I saw this prequel also available for cheap for my Nook, I bought it.

E-book Purchased:

Another really cheap e-book I found for my Nook.  And the first page even had the use of a term I've only heard my friend Kim say before, so I knew I had to buy it for cheap.

So, what are your plans for the week?  And what fun things did you add to your shelves?

Review: Pandemic (Infected #3) by Scott Sigler (Prequel/Sequel Challenge)

First, thanks to Crown Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  And extra thanks to whatever kept it from expiring on the date I had written, January 21st, since I wasn't able to get all the way through it until the 24th.  I was a little daunted at first because it was over 400 pages, and it had been awhile, since 2009, that I'd read the 2nd book in the series.  I am pleased to say that the way they did the kind of "review" mixed in at the beginning of the story was perfect for reminding me pretty much of all of it.  Not only that, the author's writing once again captured and pulled me right into the story.  And that many pages?  You might think it would be a ton of description and character building, boring stuff, and you'd be wrong.  Yes, all that description and character building is there, it is just done in such a way that it happens during exciting, edge of the seat action scenes.  I feel like this series is one that could make a few good movies, or even better, a tv series on the SyFy channel.

I'll try not to give too many spoilers out, but there are a few of course since this is the final book in a trilogy.  In the first two books, there was an alien virus/organism that was causing people to die, or even to change in ways that they would cause others to catch the same thing and then change to pass it on, or again, die.  The alien organism was sent by a society that sent them out to get rid of other life forms that might one day come back and kill them or cause them harm.  It sent several different parts, and each one could learn from the losses of the one before if something happened, as had happened in the last two books.  It got so bad in the last one that the government nuked Detroit to end it.  Which did mostly end it, other than one last part from the original machine which sunk to the bottom of Lake Michigan.  The government is searching for any last bits that may have made it out of the blast.  And they've found one.  They take all the precautions they think are necessary to try to safely get it into a submarine, and then back to a lab to test it/destroy it if needed.  Unfortunately, something goes wrong on the sub, it is obvious somehow the people get infected.  Clarence Otto, and Margaret Montoya, experts and heroes from last books, are called back in to try to stop it, and determine what is going on.  What they find is a much evolved organism, some of the ways it has changed they won't even notice, until it may be too late, and someone very important is infected.

And it's not just the alien organism they must deal with now, it seems another country has their eyes on getting ahold of this alien technology and using it for themselves.  Not realizing just how bad it can be for them if they don't follow all the protocols that even our heroes are using, at times unsuccessfully.

Such a great way that it all plays out, to the point that I was just figuring there was no way left to save the human race.  But the scientists must determine if there is any way to use the aliens' own technology against them in order to save ourselves.

Again, a great conclusion to the story, so glad I got to read it!  For my 2014 Prequel and Sequel Challenge, I will be able to count this as 2 points.  Unfortunately, since I didn't review the first two anywhere that I can find at the moment, I can't get the 10 points for completing the series.  Hopefully I will soon get my MySpace blogs sent to me from the past, and it will be there I hope.

Cover Characteristic - January 24, 2014

Well, I decided I was in the mood to try a new Friday meme this week, and I found Cover Characteristics at Sugar and Snark, and thought it sounded like fun!  Here are the guidelines for how it works if you want to join in:

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!

This week's characteristic is:     Trees
 Here are my top 5 favorite covers with trees:
5.

  Just a little blast from the past.  I love how the tree branches form a heart themselves.

4.

In this one, I just love how spooky the trees look in the background.

3.

Now this is one that I haven't read yet.  But something about the cover has really just drawn me in, and makes me want to read it.

2.  

  

On this one, I just love the flowers really, and the trees make a really nice background.

And my Number 1 Favorite Cover with Trees is:

 

 

Actually all of the books in this series have really good covers with trees, but there is something about the color of this one, and everything about it that really draws me in.

So what do you think of my choices?  Do you have 5 covers with trees that you really like?  You can make your own post and then link it up with Sugar and Snark in the link above.

 

Review: Die for Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

This is one that I believe I got a free copy of at the Romantic Times Convention here in Kansas City in May 2013.  I know, I know, I'm way behind on this series, but it was one I kept meaning to pick up, and never did.  It was definitely a good story.  I've seen several comparisons to Twilight, but again, it isn't quite the same to me, I don't see the similarities really, other than the guy being basically immortal and the girl a regular human.
In this story we have Katie and her older sister Georgia, who have moved to Paris to live with their grandparents after their parents' death.  They know the city well, as they've visited their grandparents there many times in the past.  But while Georgia is out dancing and meeting people, Katie is still not quite over her parents' deaths.  She does begin to get out and go to the museums, and even to sit in little cafes and read.  There are these very attractive boys that she keeps seeing at the cafe, and then later at a museum.  And then on a night when she is out walking with her sister, Katie sees something strange.  The one that she found really cute, felt maybe a connection with, is talking to a girl on a bridge, what looks like trying to stop her from jumping.  And when she jumps, he jumps in after her!  At the same time she sees what looks like a sword fight going on down near the bottom of the bridge.  Very weird, but no idea what is going on.  Another day at the cafe, a sign begins to fall on Katie, but she is motioned over by a girl right before it happens, basically saving her life.  Turns out there is something more about this group of people Katie keeps seeing.  The cute boy is named Vincent, and he has to give in and tell her what he is when she sees more craziness, sees him and the other guy trying to save this man in the subway.  And while they save him, Vincent's friend is struck by the train.  Now Katie doesn't know how she can be in love with Vincent, after losing her parents, she's not sure how she can be with someone that leads such a risky life, and has death as close at hand as Vincent and his friends do every day.
In case you haven't read it yet, I'll stop there.  Just know that there are also a group of bad guys, that have the same characteristics as Vincent and his friends.  A great read, I like that Katie, while yes she has the insta-love thing going on, she does have to stop and think if she could be with him with all that is going on in his life.  And even at the end, she says she still has that in the back of her head.
Now I must read on!  And I may add this to my Prequel and Sequel challenge if I can get all the books read this year.  One last thing, here is a picture of me with the author at the RT Convention.

Waiting on Wednesday - The One Where I Whine About Possible Lost Mail

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'm stepping out of the normal box for this meme.  I'm very sad at the moment, as it seems two books that I traded for on YA Book Exchange may not be making it to me.  And I'm not blaming the people I traded with at all.  I'm thinking maybe someone is stealing packages from my front step or maybe the mailbox.  So, I know that my fellow bloggers and book lovers will understand my sadness as I share below the books that I was supposed to receive, and haven't.

I had exchanged one of my books for an ARC of The 5th Wave.  I'd even decided to forgo my decision to not trade with someone out of the country again after how long it took last time.  Almost 4 months last time!  It's been that long again, and it still hasn't arrived.  Now, it's coming from Sri Lanka, and with the holidays during the 4 months this time, I have hope that maybe it is still floating around somewhere on its way.  But I'm beginning to wonder after the book below fiasco, if maybe this one isn't coming either.

This is another ARC that I traded for.  And I sent a book that I would have kept, but since it wasn't autographed and I didn't have the others in the series I went ahead and made the trade.  This one came from Ohio, and I live in Missouri.  And it had a tracking number, that I started keeping track of towards the end of last week.  So I was happy to see that it was supposed to be delivered on Saturday, but when I got home from running errands, it was nowhere to be found.  My mom said that one time she'd seen a tracking number say delivered, but then it didn't actually arrive till the next day.  Well, with Saturday, that meant it wouldn't come the next day, Sunday, and then Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so I had to wait till Tuesday.  And then, still no package.  Today I decided if it wasn't there when I got home, I wasn't even going to go inside my house, I'd drive straight to the post office and see what I could find out.  They were pretty nice about it, went and checked by my address, then the tracking number, and finally they took my name and phone number, and said they'd check with my carrier and see if they could remember anything, like where they'd put it, etc.  So, I'm still hoping that maybe it will be found, maybe in the truck underneath something?

Thinking about it being stolen, I would think that anyone around here who took it, wouldn't be too excited about books, and I just wish they'd bring it back.  I wouldn't care as long as I just got my books.  So that's my sob story for my WOW this week.  Sorry mine is such a downer, just knew I could rely on my fellow book lovers to understand.

Teaser Tuesday - January 21, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.(The button for this was so tiny I wanted to make my own, so you can see my attempt above!) Anyone can play along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page
•  Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"She wasn't contagious.  Her infection gave her that knowledge.  No tongue triangles, no blisters with dandelion seeds, nothing that could reveal her true nature.  That made perfect sense:  if she showed these telltale symptoms, the humans would kill her.  Not being contagious was actually a form of camouflage."

~ p.  214, Pandemic (Infected #3) by Scot Sigler

Stacking the Shelves - January 19th, 2014

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected. I actually had hoped to have one more book to share, but it didn't come even though the tracking website said it was delivered yesterday.  And now of course I'll have to wait till Tuesday because tomorrow I'm sure there is no mail since it is MLK Jr. Day.  But I do have a few to share this week.

Books purchased:

I've been wanting this book since I first picked it up and read what it was about.  I even read the beginning on my Nook "in store for free" at work one day.  I was waiting for paperback, and so now that it is out, I decided to buy it.

E-books purchased:

I own the first two in actual physical copies, but I saw this on sale for like $2.99 and couldn't resist purchasing it for my Nook.  I can use it for the Prequel and Sequel Challenge I'm doing this year.

E-galleys:

I finally got approved for this from Netgalley.  Can't wait to read it!!

So what books will you be adding to your bookshelves this week?

Review: Beta by Rachel Cohn

So I finally got around to reading this ARC that I got at BEA 2012.  And now, I'm really hoping that when I go to BEA this summer, maybe I'll get the sequel?  Because this book totally left on a major cliffhanger!!

This is a story about a futuristic Earth.  The whole world has been changed due to what they call the "Water Wars".  My guess is that they ran out of water?  Not sure, I would like some more information about that.  But then that's always me in these kind of stories.  Our main character is a clone.  She is named Elysia, and is told that she is a "Beta" as they are trying to clone teenagers.  Up until this point it has only been supposedly older clones, and they have pretty much almost all been servants.  Either made to do the kind of work that is looked down upon, working in stores, construction, gardening, maids, etc.  Some even are more of "consorts" or even almost prostitutes.  Elysia, our main character, the clone, has just "emerged," and is working at a store, when a wealthy woman who is shopping there decides she wants to buy her.  The woman gets her way, and takes her home as a companion.  She tells Elysia to call her mother.  She is to replace her daughter who has gone away to college.  Now Elysia pretty much does what she is supposed to, learns what her new family wants from her, and does that.  Her new "father" is the governor, but that is what he wants her to call him, and he is not that happy that his wife brought her home.  But the younger brother is glad to have her to help him train for going to the military.  And the younger girl Liesl is very happy to have a new big sister.

Now Elysia is having some things happen that aren't supposed to be happening to clones, she seems to have memories from her "first" the person she was cloned from.  Not only that, but she enjoys the taste of food, something that clones are not supposed to do, enjoy things.  She soon learns that these things would make people think she is a defect, and she could be sent back to the lab where she came from and tortured or destroyed.  And she soon develops a bit of a crush on one of her brother Isaiah's friends.  And he seems to be interested in her as well.

I won't go into a lot more of the story.  Just know that of course there are other things going on in the world.  People who feel this is slavery and unfair to the clones and want to fight for their rights.  Astrid, the daughter that Elysia is kind of replacing, was one of them.  There is talk of an Insurrection, the clones fighting back.  Elysia comes upon two clones having sex, something that they shouldn't want to do or enjoy on their own.  She also wonders if she will find this "golden god" from her First's memories, and she does.

As I said, a MAJOR cliffhanger at the end.  After a really big event happens.  To me it was worth some of the issues I had with parts of the story.  So it was a quick, easy read, and now I'm waiting for the next in the series!  As I said, I'm hoping to get a copy of it at BEA this summer!

And here I am with the author two years ago at BEA!!