Mini-Reviews #3

The following mini-reviews are for books and ARCs I've read. I didn't write full reviews for these for different reasons, but I hope I managed to get my feelings across in each of these mini-reviews.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton / Release: Jan. 24, 2012
I managed to read this in one day because it was that easy to get sucked into the world of Everneath. I liked the main character Nikki's determination. Sometimes she didn't make the best choices, but I can't completely fault her for that because of...Cole. He really knows how to influence a person. I don't think I quite understand him or his agenda. As for the romance, I'm glad I didn't dislike the love-triangle, but I can't say that I completely enjoyed it. I am rooting for the other guy Jack. Out of all the characters, I liked him the most, even though my connection to him wasn't very strong. Other than that, I thought it was a great start to the trilogy. Alternating between the past and present was done really well, and the ending was definitely a shocker! I look forward to reading the sequel. Rating: 4 out of 5

Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis / Release: April 17, 2012
These same words kept popping up in my mind while I was reading this book: strange, weird, lost, bizarre, crazy. Because it was! Which was not a bad thing at all. The book alternates between the POV of Elyse and Marshall as they try to regain their memories and figure out what's wrong with the too perfect town of Summer Falls. Those first few chapters... Well, let's just say it was probably one of the most intriguing beginnings to a story I've ever read! Glimmer was fast-paced and full of mystery and ghosts and lots of...heatnaps. And magic. Cannot forget the magic. It ended up being no where close to what I expected; it was such a different kind of read. I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. Another great thing about it was that it definitely seemed like a stand-alone. Props to the author! Rating: 4 out of 5

Madly by M. Leighton / Released: June 2011
This is a novelette, and I feel like this is a very promising start to the series! Madly is about mermaids, but it seems there are other fairy tale characters in it, which I thought was pretty fascinating. Madly, the main character, was awesome. I loved that she took charge. Jackson was...smoldering. Really interested in reading more about their relationship! I would have liked more of Madly's friends Aidan and Jersey. They were completely overshadowed whenever Jackson was around. Jersey and Jackson are even siblings, and it didn't feel that way. But since this is only a glimpse into the series, I'm sure we'll get more of them in the second book. I thought the writing was great, and I'm looking forward to more! I would recommend this to fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout! Rating: 5 out of 5

ARC Giveaway: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath is a debut novel by Brodi Ashton, and it's the first book in a trilogy coming out in January 2012. I just read Everneath and liked it! It was hard to put down, and I actually managed to read it in one day (that doesn't happen often!). I was lucky enough to receive two ARC copies of this book in the same week. So, I've decided I NEED to give one away! :)

This giveaway is open to US and Canada mailing addresses only and will end on December 10. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

In My Mailbox #58

Free Download:
Intuition by J. Meyers - A bonus short story for Intangible. Find download link here.

For Review:
Incendiary by Chris Redding [Thanks to GoodReads & Chris Redding!]

Won:
Everneath ARC by Brodi Ashton [Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers & Brodi Ashton!]
Glimmer ARC by Phoebe Kitanidis [Same as above!]
Slide ARC by Jill Hathaway [Same as above & thanks to Confessions of a Bookacholic!]

Okay, so there was a giveaway on Twitter hosted by HarperCollins with authors Brodi Ashton, Phoebe Kitanidis, and Jill Hathaway. Participants had to write a sentence including these three words: ever, glimmer, and slide. Each author picked 3 winners and those winners would receive a prize pack of those 3 ARCs above. Amazingly enough... I was one of those winners! :o I won through Brodi Ashton; she let her nieces pick the sentences  Go Brodi Ashton's nieces! :D I'm a little embarrassed to share my sentence, but if you want to read it, you can find it somewhere on Ashton's blog. Just remember, the "with" is suppose to be "wish." ;)

Anyway, that was pretty exciting! Don't they all have pretty covers? I finished Everneath last night and liked it! Interestingly enough, I ended up with two ARC copies. I think the other one was through the Shelf Awareness ad. So...I'm going to put up a US/CA giveaway tomorrow! Look out for that. ;) I just started Glimmer; it's weird and I'm liking it so far. :D I think I will probably get to Slide in December. Looking forward to it.

Hmm... I think that's about all I have to say about this IMM. Have a great week! :)

Cover Reveal: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

I've been eagerly awaiting the cover of my most anticipated YA debut novel for 2012 to be revealed, and it's finally here! There's kissing and hand-holding (aww!), and I think the look of the font and the way it's placed on the cover is so unique! And I just LOVE the tagline 'War is Only Half the Battle.' It's a contemporary novel about a young Marine who is back from war and... Well, you're going to have to read the rest of the summary down below to find out more! ;)

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Release Date: June 19, 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury

"A powerful debut novel about a young Marine's return home from Afghanistan and the new life and love he finds while fending off the ghosts of war.

When Travis Stephenson returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are on the brink of divorce, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and his car, and nightmares of his best friend getting killed keep him completely spooked. But when he runs into Harper Gray, a girl who despises him for trashing her reputation with a middle school lie, life actually starts looking up. As Travis and Harper see more of each other, he starts falling for her and the way through the family meltdown, the post-traumatic stress, and the possibility of an interesting future begins to emerge.

His sense of humor, sense of his own strength, and incredible sense of honor make Travis an irresistible and eminently lovable hero in this fantastic and timely debut novel."

Doesn't it sound so good? Ah! I cannot wait! Something Like Normal can be pre-ordered at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Depository. And you can find and add the code for the countdown widget to your blog by accessing the widget here!

Review: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Title: The Disenchantments
Author: Nina LaCour
Pages: 308 (ARC copy)
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: February 16, 2012

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.

But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?

Morris Award—finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.

My Thoughts: I felt pretty disconnected at times with The Disenchantments. I love reading from the male POV, and even though I rooted for Colby, he didn't do much for me. Colby's in love with his best friend Bev, and for most of the book, I had a hard time understanding why. Bev was distant and didn't seem to care about Colby's feelings. I just couldn't get myself to like her. Eventually, Bev explained why she had been acting that way. And I got it. I understood where she was coming from. However, unlike Colby, and probably because I'm not in love with her and I don't know her like he does, I didn't completely forgive Bev right away.

This book also made me feel a little dazed while reading. It was a weird feeling. I usually feel that way when I visit unfamiliar areas, and the places Colby and his friends went to on their road trip tour to perform music seemed to mostly be in the middle of nowhere. Colby's other friends and Bev's fellow bandmates were sisters Meg and Alexa. They were unique and quirky and were definitely part of the reason I ended up having a daze-like feeling. I liked them though. They were good friends to Colby and Bev. Another thing I liked was that even though their band The Disenchantments pretty much sucked, they didn't care at all. It could have been awkward, but it never happened. They just did it because it's fun and they love music.

In the end, the weeklong journey might not have been as enchanting as I had hoped, but it was an interesting one to experience. There was enough closure, and I'm happy with the way things turned out for everyone, especially Colby.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Penguin & LibraryThing for the ARC!

In My Mailbox #57

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Bought:
Night Huntress (Sisters of the Moon, #5) by Yasmine Galenorn
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2) by Richelle Mead
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3) by Richelle Mead

Library:
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Won:
Crossroads by Mary Ting [Thanks to We Fancy Books & Mary Ting!]
The Disenchantments ARC by Nina LaCour [Thanks to Penguin & LibraryThing!]

The books I bought this week came from a book sale at the library. I had no idea what to expect from the sale, but I'm really glad I decided to go because I found the first 3 Vampire Academy novels and they were in 'like new' condition! :) I also picked up Night Huntress just because it looked interesting. I didn't realize it was the 5th book in the series though. Having skimmed through it as soon as I got home, I'm not sure if it will be something I will like... We shall see. One day. :P

Unearthly is one of 3 books I promised myself I would read this year. I have already read the other 2 books I wanted to read, except this one. Really hoping I love it! And finally, books I won were Crossroads and The Disenchantments. I've been curious about both, and I'm hoping I end up liking them. :)

That's it! What awesome books did you get this week?

Mini-Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Title: Why We Broke Up
Author: Daniel Handler
Pages: 354 (ARC copy)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: December 27, 2011

"I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened."

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

My Thoughts: I read up to page 41 in Why We Broke Up, and I could not bring myself to read more. I felt like the story was going so fast, and I got irritated with Min's voice (the story is a letter Min wrote to her ex-boyfriend, some jock guy from her school called Ed). And Ed? Who? I couldn't even picture him in my head. Seriously, I just saw a blob. I even skimmed to see why they broke up, and it was very annoying. If I actually read the entire book, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a headache.

Now, with the way Min talked...or how the author wrote. I did not like the writing AT ALL. This is the main reason why I didn't like the book. There were many run-on, never-ending sentences...!! I started thinking, 'AHHH! MAKE IT STOP! It's too long! Someone get me a pen so I can scribble in periods!' And by the time I was done with those crazy did-not-even-make-any-sense sentences, I couldn't even remember what I read. It also didn't help that the ARC was pretty heavy to hold.

Thanks goes out to Crystal @ WinterHaven Books for letting me borrow it! I wish I had liked it, but unfortunately, I could not finish it.

Rating: DNF

Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian (Lux, #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Pages: 266
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Release Date: December 6, 2011

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring…. until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don’t kill him first, that is.

My Thoughts: Ever since I read and completely loved the prequel and the first book in Jennifer L. Armentrout's "Convenant" series, I just knew I had to read more by this author. That series is exciting and kickass and one of my favorite reads for 2011! As you can imagine, I desperately wanted to get my hands on Obsidian, which is the first book in JLA's newest series. I admit, though, I've always had the hardest time reading books on the computer. I get so distracted, my mind wanders, and I've only managed to finish a full novel once. But I was willing to try for Obsidian. I'm happy to say that I wasn't at all bothered reading it as an eGalley! In fact, I was easily hooked and read through it quickly. I just couldn't stop reading; it was that addicting! To me, it proved once again that Jennifer L. Armentrout is a definite author to watch.

After reading JLA's other novel Half-Blood, I told her on Twitter that I would read anything she writes. Then I think she replied with something about garden gnomes delivering pizza. I wish I had the original tweet because it made me laugh. Anyway, what I remember thinking was that I would read it as long as there's romance! Because for real. JLA can write a make-out scene! The romance between the main characters in Obsidian, Katy and Daemon... Well, they have a love-hate relationship going on. Sometimes I found all the bickering frustrating because they seriously argued about 95% of the time and I kept thinking, 'Oh, just kiss already!' However, whenever they were together, the tension between them got pretty electrifying. And going through all that made the moments they shared together where there wasn't any fighting totally worth the wait!

Now, the reason for all the fighting was because of Daemon. (Really, I can only blame Katy for a little bit of it. haha) Daemon can be an ass. He was a very big one when Katy first met him. He had his reasons though. He's not very trusting of humans and is willing to do whatever he can to protect his sister and himself. It didn't excuse the way he acted, but I felt like I understood why he's not so nice sometimes. And as the book goes on, it seemed Daemon just enjoyed getting under Katy's skin. He definitely had his moments, of course, and that's why I couldn't help but to like him!

As for Katy, I liked her from the beginning. She didn't allow Daemon to run all over her and scare her away. There was this one awesome moment involving spaghetti, and I was like, "YES!" I seriously wished at that moment I could go into the book and high-five Katy! There were a few times where she made some not-so-great decisions, but I couldn't bring myself to hold it against it her since she usually ended up proving herself. Another thing I liked about Katy was that she was a book blogger! I could easily relate to that. (Was anyone else waiting for Katy to make a My Book Boyfriend post featuring AIDEN?) This is probably the first time I've read a book where the main character is a book blogger, and I thought it was a unique and fun thing to include.

Obsidian was highly addictive and filled with all kinds of funny, surprising, HOT, and action-packed moments. Jennifer L. Armentrout really knows how to make it easy to get into a story! I also loved that it was about aliens because I don't believe I've seen much of that in the YA category. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next book (and the rest of JLA's novels)! Seriously cannot wait to find out what happens next with Katy and Daemon and to know more about the other characters. Big thanks goes out to Entangled Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read an eGalley!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In My Mailbox #56

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Bought:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
A Wrinkle in Time (Time Series, #1) by Madeleine L'Engle

For Review:
Obsidian (Lux, #1) eGalley by Jennifer L. Armentrout [Thanks to Entangled Publishing & Netgalley!]

Library:
Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1) by Lauren DeStefano

Tour:
How to Save a Life ARC by Sara Zarr [Thanks to Crystal @ WinterHaven Books!]
Why We Broke Up ARC by Daniel Handler [Thanks again to Crystal!]

Won:
Amplified by Tara Kelly [Thanks to Joy @ Joyous Reads!]
Half-Blood (Covenant, #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout [Thanks again to Joy!]
Shatter Me ARC by Tahereh Mafi [Thanks to HarperCollins!]

I've already read and loved both Amplified and Obsidian! My review for Obsidian will be up soon, and I'm still working on my Amplified review. I read and reviewed Half-Blood months ago; so glad to have won a copy because I loved it! I'm not sure when I'll get to Shatter Me, but I'm happy to have an ARC and love how shiny it is. Not sure what to expect from How to Save a Life and Why We Broke Up, but look forward to reading them.

Checked out Wither because I need to get to it before I start the ARC of Fever. Hoping I like it! And finally, the books I bought came from a garage sale at my church. I only saw like two YA books, but they weren't books I was interested in, so I just got adult books and classics I've been curious about. I'm glad they were all in good condition.

That's it for this week's IMM. What did you get? :)

Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Title: Stolen
Author: Lucy Christopher
Pages: 299
Publisher: The Chicken House
Release Date: May 1, 2010

Gemma, 16, is on layover at Bangkok Airport, en route with her parents to a vacation in Vietnam. She steps away for just a second, to get a cup of coffee. Ty - rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar - pays for Gemma's drink. And drugs it. They talk. Their hands touch. And before Gemma knows what's happening, Ty takes her. Steals her away. The unknowing object of a long obsession, Gemma has been kidnapped by her stalker and brought to the desolate Australian Outback.

Stolen is her gripping story of survival, of how she has to come to terms with her living nightmare - or die trying to fight it.

My Thoughts: Gemma is a 16-year-old from London. She and her parents are at the airport in Bangkok, preparing to catch a flight to Vietnam, when she meets a man, Ty, who steals her away and changes her life forever. Stolen is a letter written by the victim to the captor. Gemma's letter reveals what happens between her and Ty during her captivity in the Australian outback.

Throughout the book, I had conflicting feelings towards Ty. Which were kind of similar to the way Gemma felt about him. Ty was patient with Gemma and kind to her. I believe he did care deeply for her. But he had some serious issues. There were glimpses of instability and moments where I thought that he could be capable of hurting her. I also think he was a bit delusional, and I don't believe he was completely honest about every single thing he claimed to know about her.

So I was a bit surprised when I realized that I was starting to sympathize with Ty, just like Gemma, by the end of the book. We got to know Ty and learned some of his story. But it made me wonder if I was sympathizing with him because I was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, which was brought up in the book. Or was it something else? I'm not sure. It's really a confusing feeling.

Overall, I thought Stolen was a unique and captivating story. Even though I want to know what happens next with these characters, I'm not sure I'm ready to know. Not yet, at least. I think I need to get over this Stockholm Syndrome-ish feeling first.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars