Ooooo....Ahhhh....Me Wants It!

It's a gift card Blog Hop $12 Amazon Gift Card or $12 in books from Book Depository Check it out!
http://www.stuckinbooks.com/2011/12/gift-card-giveaway-hop.html

Runs from Dec. 9th to Dec. 13th

Run on over for a chance to win!


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 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, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers




Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #3)    "Forever" by Maggie Stiefvater

Page 179

"Outside the window, Shelby stood for a long moment, staring at the house. I felt, uncannily, that she was looking at us in the kitchen, though we had to be just motionless silhouettes to her, if we were anything."



Hello everyone, I am so sorry for my long absence. I had school stuff to deal with and then I had life stuff to deal with. I have missed posting here. I had a burst of reading through the summer but have slowed down recently. I have been working on my cross stitching a lot and have not been in the reading mood.

Just to let you know here's a list of the books I've read since I last posted:

~ "The Lightening Thief" by Rick Riordan
~ "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
~ "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
~ "Waking Up With the Duke" by Lorraine Heath (it had been a long time since I read a romance novel so I had to give in to the guilty pleasure lol)
~ "The Iron King" by Julie Kagawa
~ "The Iron  Daughter" by Juilie Kagawa
~ "The Iron Queen" by Julie Kagawa (I enjoyed this series...can't wait for "The Iron Knight")
~ "Unearthly" by Cynthia Hand
~ "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater
~ "Linger" by Maggie Stiefvater

Which brings my total to 37 books read this year. I guess that's not to bad. It's the closest I've gotten to my goal of 50.

I am currently reading "Forever" by Maggie Stiefvater.....and it is taking me FOREVER to read! I've been trying to read it for at least a month.

I guess that's all for now. I will try to keep posting more often.
I am so sorry I haven't posted in so long. I was trying to get things together for my College Graduation(!!!) and now I'm looking for a job. Also, I haven't been in a reading mood lately.




I'm still reading The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison. It so sad...I've haven't turned a page in a month!
















I have managed to get though The Vespertine (3/5), Die For Me (4/5), and Bumped (4/5) in the last few weeks.
If you want an in depth review of any of these just let me know. I put a small one on my GoodReads.


I am starting to read Mercy by Rebecca Lim (I have 8 days to finsh it!).
Now, on to Teaser Tuesday!!


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 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, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I turn his plam over, and see that Carmen's small hand is lost in it, when the burning begins. Quickly it engulfs her left arm, her torso, all of her, until we are incandecent, rigid in fiery glory"
Page 176 - eCopy via NetGalley 

Hopefully this will make more sense when I get to this point. lol

Summary via GoodReads:

A fallen angel haunted by her past. Yearning for her immortal beloved. Forever searching for answers. Who will show her Mercy?

Mercy has lost herself. She can’t count how many times she’s “woken up” in a new body, and assumed a new life, only to move on again and again. During the day she survives in the human world on instinct and at night her dreams are haunted by him. Mercy’s heart would know him anywhere. But her memory refuses to cooperate.

But this time is different. When Mercy wakes up she meets Ryan, an eighteen year old reeling from the loss of his twin sister who was kidnapped two years ago. Everyone else has given up hope, but Ryan believes his sister is still alive. Using a power she doesn’t fully comprehend, Mercy realizes that Ryan is right. His sister is alive and together they can find her. For the first time since she can remember, Mercy has a purpose; she can help. So she doesn’t understand why the man in her dreams cautions her not to interfere. But as Ryan and Mercy come closer to solving the dark mystery of his sister’s disappearance, danger looms just one step behind.

Will Mercy be able to harness her true self and extraordinary power in time?

The first in a dazzling new series, Mercy masterfully weaves romance, mystery and the supernatural into a spell-binding tale.




The Firday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice



Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it to Freda's blog.

It's that simple.

Die For Me (Revenants #1)by Amy Plum

"Vincent opened the ornately carved door and lead me into an enormous entrance hall with a double staircase winding up either wall to a balcony overlooking the room. A crystal chandelier the size of a Volkswagen Beetle hung over our heads, and Persian rugs littered a marble floor inlaid with stones flowers and vines. What is this place? I thought."

Page 56
e-ARC via NetGalley


Summary via GoodReads:

DIE FOR ME is the first of three books about Kate, a sixteen-year-old American who moves to Paris after the death of her parents. It introduces a new version of the undead with revenants, beings who are fated to sacrifice themselves over and over again to save others’ lives. Kate finds herself falling for Vincent, who she discovers is not the typical French teenager he appears: he is something else entirely.

DIE FOR ME presents a new supernatural mythology presented in a city where dreams are sometimes the same as reality.


What Should I Read and Review Next?

(All of these are from NetGalley)

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

A fallen angel haunted by her past. Yearning for her immortal beloved. Forever searching for answers. Who will show her Mercy?

Mercy has lost herself. She can’t count how many times she’s “woken up” in a new body, and assumed a new life, only to move on again and again. During the day she survives in the human world on instinct and at night her dreams are haunted by him. Mercy’s heart would know him anywhere. But her memory refuses to cooperate.

But this time is different. When Mercy wakes up she meets Ryan, an eighteen year old reeling from the loss of his twin sister who was kidnapped two years ago. Everyone else has given up hope, but Ryan believes his sister is still alive. Using a power she doesn’t fully comprehend, Mercy realizes that Ryan is right. His sister is alive and together they can find her. For the first time since she can remember, Mercy has a purpose; she can help. So she doesn’t understand why the man in her dreams cautions her not to interfere. But as Ryan and Mercy come closer to solving the dark mystery of his sister’s disappearance, danger looms just one step behind.

Will Mercy be able to harness her true self and extraordinary power in time?

The first in a dazzling new series, Mercy masterfully weaves romance, mystery and the supernatural into a spell-binding tale.


Bumped by Megan McCafferty

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.


Savannah Grey by Cliff McNish

15 year old Savannah Grey has never felt she's belonged. She keeps her distance, so she's surprised by her attraction to the new boy Reece. Then strange things begin to happen: nature, it seems, is exerting an overpowering force on the world. Birds behave strangely; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. And Savannah learns she has supernatural powers. Nature has a purpose for Savannah and her friends. For they are on course to meet the vile and evil Orcrassa, who wants to destroy the world by corrupting nature. And it wants Savannah Grey to help realise its savage intent.








The Queens of All the Earth by Hannah Sternburg

As her freshman classmates move into dorms at Cornell University, Olivia Somerset suffers a nervous breakdown. When months of coaxing and analyzing fail to rouse Olivia from her stupor, big sister Miranda decides the sisters should fly off to Barcelona for some "vacation therapy."

When a mistake at their Barcelona hostel leaves the Somersets in a large co-ed dorm room, Olivia and Miranda are saved by kindly Mr. Brown and his son Greg, who happily volunteer to surrender their private room. But while Olivia feels an instant connection with brooding Greg Brown, Miranda sides with fellow guest and cocky American travel writer Lenny:

The Browns are just plain weird, and must be avoided at all costs.

In the midst of urbane Peruvian priests-in-training and Scottish soccer fans, from the shops of La Rambla to the waters of the Mediterranean to the soaring heights of Montjuic, Miranda works to protect her still-fragile sister while Olivia struggles to understand her burgeoning adulthood, her feelings for Greg, and the fear that makes the next step in her life so impossible to take.

Inspired by E. M. Forster's classic novel A Room with a View, debut author Hannah Sternberg's Queens of All the Earth is a poetic journey of young love and self-awakening set against the beauty of Catalonia. Teenagers and adults alike will be riveted and moved by this coming-of-age novel about the conflicting hearts and minds of two very different sisters.


Please let me know which book you would like me to read and review in the comments. I will read the books in order from most votes to least. Thank you!!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 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, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!



The Vespertine by Saudra Mitchell


"The row of houses had a curious effect on the wind - when it twisted between the brick narrows, it cried. How eerie a day so bright could be; how thoroughly I had ruined it trying only to help."

Page 61
e-ARC via NetGalley











"It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" is hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. Each week I will spotlight the books I am reading, planning on reading, or just finished reading.












Finished:


Torment by Lauren Kate {Review}



Currently Reading:
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison



&

The Vespertine
by Saundra Mitchell







Yeah, it's been a slow reading week for me.

Up Next:

Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

So, what are you reading this week?




The Firday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice



Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it to Freda's blog.

It's that simple.



The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

"...of her powder drifted across me as the sheets settled in her wake. 'Cheer up then,' she said, a smile in her voice. 'We'll find a way.'"

Page 56

Sorry, that's all that was on page 56. lol











The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison

"Much of my stunted carerr at the I.S. involved bringing in gray spell crafters - witches that took a white charm such as a sleep spell and turned it to a bad use - but I'd brought in black charm makers as well."

Page 56

















~ Title: Torment
~ Author: Lauren Kate
~ Publisher: Delacorte Press
~ Release Date: September 28, 2010
~ Source: Library book


Summary via GoodReads:


Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.





My Review: 4.5/5 Stars!

The title says it all. Poor Luce and Daniel are in torment pretty much the entire book. During this installment of the Fallen series, Luce is struggling to uncover her past lives and figure out where her and Daniel's relationship stands. When Daniel leaves Luce at her new school, Shoreline, with very little explanation other than "it's for your protection," she is surrounded by questions and very little answers. With the help of her new Nephilim friends, Luce sets out to discover her past and to learn why Daniel is shutting her out.


I have to say I liked where Kate took Luce and Daniel's relationship in this book. It was refreshing to see a more realistic relationship between the two. We are so used to reading the whole boy meets girl and they fall head over heels in love and nothing can tear them apart storyline. But, how real is that? In real life that's not the case most of the time. Real relationships have ups and downs. Even though this story has fantasy elements (ie. angels, demons, etc.) the rocky relationship made it feel more believable. That element made Luce and Daniel relatable and drew me into their story more. 




I really enjoyed this book. Torment has one heck of a cliffhanger. I can't wait to read Passion!



http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4783538-brianna%22%3EView all my reviews

Athena at The Book Bubble is hosting a giveaway for a hardback copy of Fallen by Lauren Kate. It last from April 1st to April 14th so you better hurry!!













"Waiting On" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I am waiting on:




Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Relasese Date: May 31, 2011

Summary via GoodReads:

How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

I have heard a lot of good things about this book and it looks really interesting. I can't wait to read it!

So, what are you waiting on this week?


~ Title: Lost Voices
~ Author: Sarah Porter
~ Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 
~ Release Date: July 4, 2011
~ Source: eCopy via NetGalley

Summary via GoodReads:

What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?
Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.
A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.
Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?
Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.



My Review: 2/5 Stars    Not a big fan, I guess you can’t win them all!

In Lost Voices, debut author Sarah Porter gives us a twist on the traditional mermaid tale. Okay, I wanted to like this book… I really did. However, I just could not “get into.”  It took me several weeks to read Lost Voices. I tried reading it but kept finding myself simply not wanting to read it. The whole thing was kind of frustrating. I’ve never had to force myself to read a book before (until this one). This book didn’t really do anything for me. Don’t get me wrong, the plot was unique in ways but the execution could have been better. I found it interesting that there are certain events that have to happen in order for a human to turn into a mermaid. And the concept of turning into a mermaid rather than just being born that way was new to me also. The mermaid’s also like to stink ships by singing to them which is like the Siren's in mythology. Luce struggles to understand this concept which she is repulsed by and at the same time is drawn to. There was nothing really happening during the whole book and I just felt board and uninterested.  They just swam around, then drama, stink a ship, more drama, swim, eat (which they did a lot…lol) oh and a tad bit more drama. I don’t know, maybe I was just expecting more from this book. I hate writing a bad review and I’m really trying to think of something good I liked about Lost Voices, I just can’t. Well, I guess the characters weren’t too bad. Please keep in mind that this is just my experience and you may read this book and love it.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 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, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Torment by Lauren Kate

"She called on those coldest, darkest things, asking them to deliver her past, to illuminate her and Daniel's story. She called them to solve the mystery of who he was and why he had chosen her."

Page 266



I just have to say that I love this cover!







What do you think? Feel free to share your teasers!


"It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" is hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. Each week I will spotlight the books I am reading, planning on reading, or just finished reading.












Finished:

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

I enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing the series.
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
Not a big fan. It didn't really do anything for me. The plot was unique in ways but the execution could have been better. There was nothing really happening the whole book. I just felt board and uninterested. I had to force myself to read this book and that has never happened to me before. Full Review here.
Reading Now:




The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison             Torment by Lauren Kate


Up Next:

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell         Every Which Way but Dead by Kim Harrison

So, what are you reading this week?