Waiting on Wednesday (July 25)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we post upcoming releases we're highly anticipating. This week's pre-publication "cant-wait-to-read" selection is The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Michelle Hodkin

Series: Mara Dyer, #2

Release Date: October 23rd, 2012

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Number of Pages: 272

The truth about Mara Dyer's dangerous and mysterious abilities continues to unravel in this gripping sequel to the thrilling "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer." One week after Mara walked into a police station in Miami at the close of "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer," she has been committed to psychiatric treatment for what her parents believe was a mental breakdown. But what seems like a hallucination to everyone else is a chilling reality for Mara. Someone from her past has discovered her strange, deeply disturbing secret and that someone wants her to pay. But when no one believes the truth, Mara is totally helpless. The only person on her side is Noah Shaw, as sexy and handsome as he is loyal and cunning. Noah is the only person who can help Mara--as long as he doesn't get himself killed in the process.

Yes, I know. I wasn't the biggest fan of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, but I feel like the plot for the first book was very good, except it got bogged down by a bad romance (ra ra a a a, roma rom a a), so I have an inch of hope that Hodkin will focus more on the plot in this book than the romance. And, with an ending like the first book's, how could you not want to read this? The Evolution of Mara Dyer could be absolutely awesome - if Hodkin doesn't bog the blog down with a romance again. *crosses fingers*

Showcase Sunday (4)

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicki at Book, Biscuits, and Tea, where we showcase what book we've gotten throughout the course of the week, whether it be from a book store, bought for your eReader, received from the library, or from the publishers for review.

For Review:

 

 

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell (via NetGalley)

Incarnation by Emma Cornwall (via Edelweiss) 

Mystic City by Theo Lawrence (via NetGalley)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (via NetGalley)

Speechless by Hannah Harrington (via NetGalley)

Ironskin by Tina Connolly (via NetGalley) 

Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin, Gallery Books, Random House, HarlequinTeen, and Tor Books for the review copies!

Bought:

    

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Borrowed from Library: 

Until I Die by Amy Plum

I'm really excited to read a lot of the books I've got this week, especially Incarnation (I chose it for my Waiting on Wednesday pick a few weeks ago), Struck (it hasn't gotten the best reviews, but the cover is amazing and so is the synopsis), and Tiger Lily (because it's gotten amazing reviews, and it sounds great). 

What books did you get this week?

Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day
David Levithan
Series: None
Release Date: August 28th, 2012
Publisher: Knopf
Number of Pages: 304
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 

Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

With his new novel, David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.

Despite what you might think from my rating, I really, truly loved this book. I want to give this book a full five star rating so much, but, regardless of how much I think this book deserves a five star rating, and how much I want to give it a five star rating, I just can't bring myself to give it that.

Waiting on Wednesday (July 18)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we post upcoming releases we're highly anticipating. This week's pre-publication "cant-wait-to-read" selection is Crash by Lisa McMann.

Crash

Lisa McMann

Series: Visions, #1

Release Date: January 8th, 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Number of Pages: Unknown

Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can’t handle is the vision. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode... and nine body bags in the snow.

She has no idea why this is happening to her or if she’s going crazy. It hardly matters, because the visions are everywhere--on billboards, television screens, windows--and she’s the only one who can see them.

But it’s not until the vision starts coming more frequently, and revealing more clues, that Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it's someone she knows. Someone she’s been in love with for as long as she can remember.

Okay, let's make a little checklist, shall we? This book:

Has an absolutely amazing cover that I'm in love with? Check. 

Has a synopsis that will have me crying in agony of the book's release date? Check. 

Is written by an incredibly hyped author, who I'm dying to read something by? Check. 

What did you choose for your WoW? 

Leave a link in the comments!

Review: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Glitch
Heather Anastasiu 
Series: Glitch, #1
Release Date: August 7th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Number of Pages: 371
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 1 of 5 stars

In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

Warning: Possible spoilers (but do you really want to read this?)

*sigh* Oh, Glitch.

When reading a book, however horrible that book might be, I do try to find something even slightly redeemable, that could save the book from falling into my one-star abyss. Unfortunately, I truly found nothing likable or redeemable in this book. I'll be splitting my review of Glitch into four categories, and analyze each one. Those four categories are: the characters, the relationships, the writing, and the plot/world-building. Here we go:

1. The Characters

Mary Sues and Gary Stus everywhere, my friends! First, let's analyze the main character, Zoe.

If you're looking for a strong, self reliant female character in Glitch, I can assure you you won't find one in Zoe. She's dull, uninteresting, whiny, and completely and totally reliant on Adrien. But, like any other female lead in YA literature (if you could even call books of this sort literature), Zoe has to stand out and be special, right? As the book starts, Zoe is undergoing a glitch - a defect in her system that allows her to display emotion when most of the population - for some reason - can't. Each person undergoing glitches has a secret power, Zoe's being telekinesis (not a spoiler, you find that out in the first chapter). Unfortunately, Zoe doesn't use her special abilities for good, or really at all. She just mopes all day, contemplating turning herself into the government and basically giving up on life. Oh yeah, all while fawning over Adrien. She's useless, and honestly too stupid to live. I'd be baffled if she were still alive, you know, had any life threatening situations been bestowed upon her.

Review: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me
Kat Zhang
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles, #1

Release Date: September 18th, 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Number of Pages: 356

Source: Edelweiss

Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable–hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

In the world of What’s Left of Me, children are born with two souls. One of those souls is dominant, and the other is recessive. Within a few years of the child’s life, the recessive soul will fade away (settle) leaving behind the dominant soul. But what happens when you don’t settle, and are known as a Hybrid? Addie and Eva are faced with that problem, being fifteen and having not settled yet. In a world where being a Hybrid is considered dangerous and a threat, Addie and Eva have to keep the fact that they have not yet settled a secret. But, as obstacles get in their way, can they?

What’s Left of Me was amazing, and I absolutely loved it, but still, I’m torn on whether to give it five stars, or four stars. I want to give it five stars because the pace was crisp; the plot is brilliant and original beyond belief, and the concept that the story is told from the recessive soul, Eva, was a great twist on the common narrator. Everything was refreshing, fun, and there was never a dull or boring moment when reading What’s Left of Me, but it just missed… something.

Waiting on Wednesday (July 11)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we post upcoming releases we're highly anticipating. This week's pre-publication "cant-wait-to-read" selection is Taken by Erin Bowman.

Taken

Erin Bowman

Series: Taken, #1

Release Date: April 16th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 352

 

There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends...and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

If anyone listens to me when I'm in "If this book isn't released tomorrow I'm going to go crazy" mode, then you'd know that this is easily one of my most highly anticipated books of 2013 (and there are a lot of books I'm looking forward to next year, but this one is at the top). I've made it clear to my Goodreads friends, Erin Bowman, and basically anyone that would listen that I will sell my soul ha, what soul? for an ARC of this book. The cover + the synopsis = perfection. The release date? Not so much. 

What book did you choose for your WoW? Leave a link in the comments!

Recent eBook Deals!

Immortal Beloved
Cate Tiernan
Series: Immortal Beloved, #1
Price: $2.99



Amazon | B&N

Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

Cate Tiernan, author of the popular Sweep series, returns with an engaging story of a timeless struggle and inescapable romance, the first book in a stunning new fantasy trilogy.

Other books in the Immortal Beloved trilogy

 

Beastly

Alex Flinn

Series: Kendra Chronicles, #1

Price: $2.99

Amazon | B&N

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Other books in the Kendra Chronicles

 

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Rae Carson

Series: Fire and Thorns, #1
Price: $2.99

Amazon | B&N

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Other books in the Fire and Thorn trilogy

 

Angelfire

Courtney Allison Moulton

Series: Angelfire, #1

Price: $2.99

Amazon | B&N

First there are nightmares.

Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.

Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Other books in the Angelfire trilogy 

 

A Beautiful Dark

Jocelyn Davies

Series: A Beautiful Dark, #1

Price: $2.99

Amazon | B&N

On the night of Skye's seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye's life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.

Other book in the Beautiful Dark series

City of Bones

Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments, #1

Price: $0.99

Amazon | B&N

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Other books in the Mortal Instruments series

   

That's it for the recent eBook deals! I hope you found something worth buying - I know I did! (I bought Immortal Beloved because it's gotten raving reviews from friends of mine and The Girl of Fire and Thorns for the same reason as well.) 

What did you end up getting, if anything?