1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=?

The book I finished reading tonight brings my number for 2011 up to 55 which beats out last year. Of course there is still 5 days left before the end of the year so I should be able to bring my number up to 56. Fallen  by Lauren Kate seemed slow moving at first but I believe that was a result of loving the last book so much. I couldn't stop thinking about it at first. I was very close to giving up on Fallen but I held in there figuring my theory was correct... and it was. Once I managed to get my mind past Shattered Souls I was able to really get into Fallen. Once that happened, I didn't want to stop reading and even now I wish I were still reading it. Another story about fallen angels and again so much different from the others I have read this year. It seems that authors have a greater variation in theories regarding fallen angels then they do with most other paranormal creatures.

Rubik's

The next book brought me to a tie with last year's book count... number 54. Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsay was my debut author for December and was another book I could not put down and could not stop thinking about. Any story that contains past lives and destined love always captivates me and the paranormal aspects of this story made it even more interesting. I believe in past lives and I believe I have lived many. The idea that two souls continually meet up over centuries and centuries of lives and always fall in love... ahh so romantic. This book better come with a sequel or I will be very sad.

Iodine

Book number 53 was an actual print book that has been sitting on my shelves for at least 2 years. I have too many books and so not enough time to read them all... so as tempted as I am to keep downloading new books on my Nook and read them... I really have to start making a dent in my book shelves. hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick was a very very good book. I love novels about fallen angels... they are probably the most mysterious creatures in the paranormal genre. I cannot wait to continue reading this series.
As you can see I made it past 52 books this year.

Untouchable Number

I have fallen way behind on blogging my books. I now have 4 books to write about and have begun reading a 5th, that shouldn't take me too long to read. The first book I have to blog about is my 52nd book and I read it in under 24 hours. Revealers by Amanda Marrone was impossible to put down. I enjoyed every second of it. She brought all new theories to the idea of witch novels. I only wish she was planning a series based on the book. Knowing there would be no more was very upsetting.

14th Lucky Number

Finished reading another book in the Morganville series, Kiss of Death. This is probably one of  my favorite Morganville books, since the group is able to leave Morganville, it opens up a bunch of new possibilities for the story and the author took full advantage. Who knew these people would get themselves into so much trouble after leaving vampire central and entering the "real world". But boy did they. I can't wait to see what happens next because there is so much Rachel Caine can do with this.

1 Sacred Talent

Book number 50 was my debut author for November, Shatter Me by Tamereh Mafi. Everything about this book was original and very interesting. She took two of my favorite YA genres and put them together: dystopian and supernatural, what more could a girl ask for? Loved the characters, loved the story line, loved the ending. Now I just can't wait for the second one to come out.

7x7

Just finished off the Wake trilogy a few days ago. I enjoyed the series very much but I felt the last book Gone was a bit bland and weak. I'm happy that she kind of left Janie's story open by saying that she had made her choice "for now" but the rest of the story could have been stronger... like the first two books.

Abundant

Book number 48 was Fade, the second book in the Wake trilogy by Lisa McMann. I read Wake a while back and kept pushing the next two books aside because I kept thinking it wasn't that great and didn't need to be continued just yet. Turns out I had it confused with another series. Now that I fully remember the first book and have completed the second I realize that it is an awesome series. Very different from what I usually read and very emotional (or maybe that's just me... everything makes me cry lately). Can't wait to finish up the trilogy but also very sad that there are only 3 books.

"It's me, Sugar"

Once again I am falling behind... not only with reading but with blogging about it. I finished book #47 last week and just completed book #48 today. Oops... well my 47th book was Crave by Melissa Darnell. Not much to say, it wasn't a life changing book but it is definitely going to be a great series and I am hooked. Cannot wait to see what happens next.

Ultimate Annus Confusionus

Book number 46 was another book from the Morganville Vampires series. I took a break from them for a little while so I could catch up on other books and also so I would still have something to look forward to from one of my favorite authors. Rachel Caine has continued to keep the series fresh and exciting even after 7 books. And now there are a total of 12 Morganville books available... I hope she has continued to keep them at the same level. It is very easy for books in a very long series to start going down hill and I think it really shows how good of a writer an author is if they can continue a series for a long time and never lose the interest of the readers. I'm still hooked and can't wait to read book 8.

3rd Kaprekar Number

I have been really bad with my book blogging lately. I completed my 45th book probably about 2 weeks ago but it was such a forgettable book that I keep forgetting to review it. Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey wasn't exactly a bad book but it just couldn't hold my attention for long periods of time. It was very easy to put down and didn't have me craving for more. I love the fact that the author allowed his teen hero to be homosexual... there are not enough young adult authors out there who go there, and there needs to be more of them. I feel like if he had just been a little more out there with his plots and had a little more action, he could have had a very good book.

.44 Magnun

My 44th book was very unplanned. I took my husband to the Museum of the Moving Image for his birthday and while we were there we had to stop in the gift store. I really wanted to get something good as a memory but all the books were too expensive and I could always find them cheaper else where so I kept looking... then I found the most hysterical book and by some miracle it wasn't marked up 100%... in fact it was at the normal retail price. So I had to get it. It is written by the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The title of the book is How to Survive a Horror Movie and it is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. I started to read it the second we got in the car to drive back home and was halfway through by the time we pulled up at our house.
The forward by Wes Craven is the perfect opening and every chapter after it leaves you wanting more. It's cliched, and expected but that's what makes it hilarious. If you are looking for a light, quick read that will keep you in stitches this is the book for you, even if you are not a horror movie fan.

12th Lucky Number

I just completed the Skinned trilogy by Robin Wasserman. All three books were good but the third, Wired, was the best, which is very unusual. Typically, in my experience, a series will start out strong but will often fade a bit the further into it you get. I enjoyed both Skinned and Crashed very much but they were a bit bland and boring. There didn't seem to be too much going on in them but Wired was action packed and interesting all the way through. There were several large twists to the story that I never saw coming and a couple of other small twists that I had seen coming but that fit the story real well and helped to tie in some loose ends. I never imagined it ending the way it did and I applaud the author for giving it an ending that is both happy and not at the same time. Definitely a series worth picking up and finishing.

Shi Ni

My debut author for August (yes I know I'm a bit late), is Julia Mayer and her book Eyes in the Mirror. I am very pleased with my recent book choices, they have all been so different from what I typically end up reading.
This book was a mixture of two of my favorite genres in YA: teen problems and fantasy. Both genres were present but Eyes in the Mirror was more of a teen problems novel than fantasy fiction. The fantasy part of the book showed up in the form of an alternate reality, through the looking glass sort of idea, add in teen pregnancy, losing a parent at a young age and self mutilation and, believe it or not, what you end up with is a very interesting story.

Jupiter Symphony

Another day, another book. Now that I have completed The Secret Circle series I am even more excited to see the TV show. I was able to guess a couple of things in the books but there are quite a few things that I feel LJ Smith left unfinished. I'm hoping the rumors that she will be continuing to write more books for the series are true because I want to see if my unanswered theories are correct. I do believe that the TV show will go in the direction I thought the books would go and I can't wait to see. But mostly I just can't wait to learn more about these characters and follow them through their adventures again.

Got Milk?

Book number forty is done. LJ Smith is still one of my favorite authors. Her writing isn't spectacular or extremely unusual but her story lines are very interesting and I enjoy reading her books. She's good at appealing to the teenager that is still inside me. The friendships and other relationships (whether good or bad) are all well developed and easily relate-able, doesn't matter that they are witches, vampires, other paranormals or just human. I'm excited to finish up the third book in the series and of course I cannot wait to see what they have done with the TV series (I may have said that in my last post). I really hope the rumor of her writing more sequels is true.

Duodecillion

Another book down. The Secret Circle series wasn't on my "to be read list" for this year, though I have had the books for a while now, they weren't top priority. Then the CW decided to turn them into a tv series so they had to move up on my list. I just completed the first book in the series, The Initiation. I enjoy LJ Smith's writing very much. Her books are interesting but are also kind of laid back, they are rather quick reads and are very difficult to put down. She always manages to create a great relationship behind all of the supernatural goings on. Can't wait to finish up the books and then see what the TV producers do with the series.

Magic Hexagon

I finished two books recently, both of which i forgot to blog about. I just finished the blog for one and now I am on to the next. The Maze Runner by James Dashner was a wonderfully original and disturbing dystopian. I enjoy young adult books, especially these days... authors of ya fiction are not afraid to be more out there. They don't pussyfoot around the weird and scary things, they boldly go places that YA authors have always been too afraid to go to. The world is realizing that kids are no longer as naive as they used to be. Though I enjoy their creativity and their ability to throw away the "rules" and take literature to new extremes, sometimes I am taken aback by where they are willing to take their fabricated worlds. James Dashner's writing reminds me very much of The Hunger Games. Both stories have extra shock factor by making a large amount of the characters so young. These two authors have thrown children into situations you could never imagine going through as an adult, things that are cruel and very unusual. Luckily... I enjoy disturbing books. I read so much that I often am unable to be shocked by anything, I love when an author is able to surprise me and throw me off course. I am very excited to continue the James Dashner series.

Four Corners of the World

There is only one author who can take a zombie apocalypse and turn it into a beautiful expression of what humans fear and desire most in the world. Carrie Ryan is exquisite, she has created a trilogy of some of the most unbelievable literature. The characters are all full of life and are so real even though they are living in a very unreal world. Each of the three books had it's own lesson or meaning...the first, The Forest of Hands and Teeth,  symbolized wanting more, not being happy with what we have and always thinking there is something better out there. Every person goes through this at some point in their life. The second book, The Dead Tossed Waves,  was the realization that the choices we made were not the right ones, regretting what we gave up because what we thought we wanted, did not turn out to be all that we dreamed it would. And finally the last book, The Dark and Hollow Places, is the proof that once we figure out what we want, we should go for it and fight for it until the end. It is the realization that survival is no longer enough, we need love and family in order to make our existence worth anything.

The Devil's Roulette

I have been reading dystopian after dystopian lately. They all have slight similarities and many, many disturbing ideas in them. Though none of them have enough similarities to be able to actually compare to each other, apples and oranges. Delirium by Lauren Oliver is my most recent read and dystopian. Of all the books I have been reading this one seems closest to our world today and yet is the most unsettling. Try imagining a world where love, happiness, feeling emotions of any kind is considered to be a disease, a deformity, something needing medical attention. And it has even been given a name... Amor Deliria Nervosa. These faults have become so feared by this society that when you turn 18 you actually have to go through the procedure, which is basically a lobotomy... they remove the ability for you to ever feel any great emotion... no chance of falling in love, of enjoying hobbies, of feeling depressed or sad, life becomes an emotionless zombie-walk. And of course the people have become so brain-washed that they believe in the procedure and feel that life is better afterward. Until you have been "Cured" you live separately from the opposite sex, except for family and the occasional cured adult you happen to pass during daily life. Before you are "Cured" you will go through an evaluation that will determine your possible future, whether you are destined for college or to be married right away, what jobs you could potentially have, four matches of the opposite sex that you have to rate in order from 1 to 4 according to who you wish to end up with and finally you will be told the amount of kids you are allowed to have, if any. Life is determined for you in a way that makes you think you get at least small amount of a say. Of course, all the history, rules and safety for the city is all in a handbook and is fondly known as the Book of Shh. And of course there is a world outside of civilization known as the Wilds... this is where the invalids live... an invalid is anyone who managed to get away without being cured.
I love that the author has added quotes and paragraphs from the Book of Shh. It makes it come to life more and is quite sickening at times...
This is a Nursery Rhyme that is in the Book of Shh: 

Mama mama help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own
I found me a werewolf, a nasty old mutt
It showed me it's teeth and went straight for my guy

Mama, mama help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own
I was stopped by a vampire, a rotting old wreck
It showed me it's teeth, and went straight for my neck

Mama, mama, put me to bed
I won't make it home, I'm already half dead
I met an ivalid, and fell for his art
He showed me his smile, and went straight for my heart.

Here are a few quotes from the Book of Shh that really got to me:

"Human being, in their natural state, are unpredictable, erratic, and unhappy. It is only once their animal instincts are controlled that they can be responsible, dependable, and content"

"There has been significant debate in the scientific community about whether desire is a symptom of a system infected with amor deliria nervosa, or a precondition of the disease itself. It is unanimously agreed however, that love and desire enjoy a symbiotic relationship, meaning that one cannot exist without the other. Desire is enemy to contentment; desire is illness, a feverish brain. Who can be considered healthy who wants? The very word want suggests a lack, an impoverishment, and that is what desire is: an impoverishment of the brain, a flaw, a mistake. Fortunately, that can now be corrected."

"Humans, unregulated, are cruel and capricious; violent and selfish; miserable and quarrelsome. It is only after their instincts and basic emotions have been controlled that they can be happy, generous and good."

"Of all the systems of the body- neurological, cognitive, special, sensory- the cardiological system is the most sensitive and easily disturbed. The role of society must be to shelter these systems from infection and decay, or else the future of the human race is at stake. Like a summer fruit that is protected from insect invasion, bruising, and rot by the whole mechanism of modern farming; so must we protect the heart."

Samuel Beckett's Breath

I finished my 35th book yesterday, it was my debut author for July, Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz. I wish I had it in me to write something today but I'm beyond depressed over something I have to do later so it's just not happening. But I will say that I did enjoy this book very much. I wish it was the type of thing that could turn into a series but the author tied everything in so well, I just can't see how she could create something else with it. Slightly reminiscent of the story line in Blue Bloods (minus the vamps).

Don't Drag Your Butt Over This Document

My debut author for June was a little late, but worth the wait. Hereafter was a beautiful love story between a dead girl and a live boy. Of course there were a lot of paranormal factors involved  and was not completely about their relationship. I can't wait for the next book in this series to come out. Hopefully I will have more energy and time after reading the second one so I will be able to give it a review that it deserves.

10th Lucky Number

I finally finished reading the second book in Michael Grant's Gone series. The series is interesting, very different and all in all a good story but for some reason these books take me forever to read. As much as I want to see what happens next, I find them very easy to put down. Sometimes I find that the author has gone one step too far, he takes them to a place that isn't believable even in a fantasy world. I will definitely finish the series but I need a break from them for now.

Frozen Water

Book 32 was yet another dystopian. The idea for this book was much different than any other book I have read. It has a very "Lord of the Flies" feel to it. A bunch of kids stuck in a world with no adults (actually no one over the age of 14) and needing to run their community. One half of the kids are trying desperately just to survive and do it as dignified as possible and the other half wants domination, they never want the adults to come back and they want to rule the others with an iron fist (or cement). The twist of the story comes in the form of supernatural powers and of course the reason why the adults are all gone. Now as each of the children reach their 15th birthday they need to use all the strength they have to resist the possibility of blinking out. Like they don't have enough to worry about already. Oh wait... there are also all of the evolving animals: talking coyotes, flying snakes, and seagulls with talons. And who can forget... The Darkness... no one has really figured out just what the Darkness is yet but it can't be good. If they weren't being held in by a large dome-like barrier that electrocutes anyone who touches it perhaps they would be able to escape this new world, The FAYZ.
It seems as though the author has thrown together a large amount of crazy factors into a very large book, seems as though it could get tedious and a bit silly but it doesn't. Michael Grant put it all together very well and it flows nicely. The plots are interesting, the characters are very well developed and it becomes difficult to put the book down once you get going.

3rd Mersenne Prime

Feed is certainly not your typical dystopic novel. It's hysterical, serious, alarming, sad... altogether a satirical masterpiece. MT Anderson has put together a scary theory of what our world is coming to and he has you laughing the whole way through. When you begin the book, the language is shallow and unintelligent and almost forces you to quit reading but it quickly becomes obvious that Anderson is trying to prove a very real point. The world is becoming dumb. We all live in our little media driven, electronically created bubbles that have allowed us to forget what learning is. Our minds don't need to retain information since computers hold all the knowledge of the world. Reading and writing are practically myths and an extensive vocabulary is a thing of the past. Every other word used is "Like" or "dude", even coming from the mouth of an adult. Anderson makes a great show of how easily we can become tied up in slang by using random, everyday words with definitions we are not accustomed to. The internet and technology are literally eating away at us, leaving us motionless and faceless consumers. It all comes down to what we buy and how much we spend. Things that once belonged to the people are now trademarked by large corporations (i.e. School™,  Clouds™).

Lunar Month

I could not have chosen a better time to read this book... or a worse. It's a great time because of the cliche I was able to use for book number 30. On the other hand... seeing as last weekend was supposed to be the beginning of the end of the world and we've had nothing but monsoon-like weather for over a week... it was a very bad time to read this book.
I have been reading a lot of very scary, disturbing dystopians lately. But none has been as scary as this one. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is the most realistic book I have read recently. Maybe the idea of a meteor being able to knock the moon off it's axis is ridiculous but... maybe it isn't... who knows what could happen in this world. And of course the tsunami's, storms, volcano's and other natural disasters that occurred are not very far from all the crazy stuff that has been going on in the world today. When I started the book, it seemed very young and immature, then by the end of the second chapter I was hysterically crying. For a while it was a bit boring and slow moving but there is only so much you can write with this kind of a story, and even while it was slow, it was still completely devastating and far too easy to place yourself into the plot. As I reached Winter, I realized that the author started the book out sounding so young on purpose, she wanted to show how much Miranda was forced to grow due to the circumstances.
Despite the fact that it was slow moving, it was a very exceptional book. I'm not sure my emotions can handle reading the next book in the series right now, so I think I will try another for now and come back to it later.

Alice Marvels is hosting an amazing book giveaway...http://www.alicemarvels.com/spring-giveaway

Floccinaucinihilipilification

I'm still trying to process my 29th book. I know I loved this book and I know it will go down as one of my all time favorites, but I cannot put my thoughts together to describe it. I should have known from the beginning that would love because every time I would see something about it, I would pass it by. It didn't appeal to me at first, second, third.... glance. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but I always do, and I am almost always right. I can just about always tell if I will enjoy a book by looking at it's cover. But there are times when I have been wrong... I passed Twilight up for a year before giving in and buying it and then it sat on my shelf, unread, for a few more months. It still hadn't become the crazy obsession around the world, when I first read it, but it did become an obsession for me. I'm sure there have been others as well, but none stick out in my mind. Divergent didn't seem like something I wanted to read. I hadn't even read the description on the book before deciding to push it aside. Then one day I was going through my list of debut authors to read this year (I do one for each month) and decided my May book didn't sound exciting enough so I started looking at others and I realized that Divergent was definitely the book I wanted to read in May.

It was more than I thought it would be, and written by a 22 year old, unbelievable! It reminded me of a mix of The Giver, The Hunger Games, Matched, and Harry Potter (except instead of houses in a school, people are sorted into factions). The whole point of the story is that people are forced to choose one faction, one way of life, one basic personality characteristic... when in reality, all 5 factions are inside each person. Everyone is Divergent but have had it drilled into them everyday since birth that you can only be one. I have fully fallen in love with both Tris and Tobias. Wishing I could be like Tris and wishing I could be with Tobias. Every character had it's own personality, no one blended into the scenery, not even the characters who wanted to.
Through every chapter my stomach was in my throat, not only during the action packed scenes but also every time Tris and Tobias got close to each other. It was very hard to put this book down.

Reading over what I just wrote I realize it does the book no justice. I still can't seem to process my thoughts on this book. There is no word on when the next book will be coming out, not even a title to it yet. But it has been optioned for a movie, I hope they make it well.

Domino Effect

I was a bit disappointed by Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. It didn't live up to her typical standard of writing. One thing I always loved about her YA books, is that her writing was never young, everything she has published has been so beautifully written and easily enjoyed by adults and young adults both. This book just felt very immature. The idea was interesting but also too complex, it was hard to really put any sense to what happened. Good fiction is when the unbelievable becomes believable.
This is not only my 28th book of the year but also from my Whats in A Name challenge, filling the spot of A Book With Some Type of Evil in the title.

Three Cubed

Another dystopian, another potential future to contemplate. It's always been said that one day the world will be run by computers and robots. Robin Wasserman's series brings that theory to a fictional reality. Yes, I realize the term 'fictional reality' is nothing but an oxymoron but so are the main characters in Crashed, living machines. Could something like this be in store for us one day. Actual immortality, downloaded again and again into different bodies, unable to ever actually "die", but forever being made up of nothing more than wires, mechanics and synflesh. Could we ever really be content to not feel, to only process? No longer any need for food, heat, plumbing, electricity is only necessary to recharge your "body". I must admit the idea of being able to fall asleep with just the push of a button is very tempting, especially on nights when I lay awake listening to my husband and dog snore while I stare at the ceiling. But the idea of no longer being able to really feel the soft fur on my dogs back or the passion of a long kiss from the man I love, those are things I don't believe I could live without.
This series is very well written and interesting but it is a bit slow moving and because of that the books are taking me a little longer to read than I would like. I think I'll read something else before I move onto the final book in the trilogy.

TB Conspiracy

I find it interesting that this book came out around the same time that Bin Laden was finally killed and that I happened to be reading it on the day I found out. Memento Nora is about the world after 9/11. It should not have taken me this long to read a book with only 184 pages but I have been real busy.
After the attack on the WTC, more and more attacks kept occurring, creating an America where things are much more controlled and monitored by the government. The biggest change in the country is the addition of TFC, Therapeutic Forgetting Clinics, where people are urged to visit after any kind of disturbing or traumatizing event so they can take a little white pill and forget the bad memories and go back to being "glossy". Gives a whole new meaning to the "morning-after pill". Though it isn't mandatory to forget, it is greatly recommended especially since there are bombs going off all over the place. Of course there is a bit of a twist, something that is being hidden, the real reason the government wants you to forget, but isn't there always?
I have to admit.. I'm a sucker for a happy ending, but in some stories a happy ending would only ruin the point that the author is trying to convey. The ending in Memento Nora is necessary for the story to have the effect it is intended to have. The only thing I was unhappy with while reading this book is that the author made it so short... I feel like there is so much more she could have done with it.
Angie Smibert is another of my debut authors of 2011.
This book only confirmed my current fear... that this is only the beginning. Most people seem to feel as though the death of Osama is the end of a terrible thing, when in truth, it is just the beginning of a string of more terrible things to come. There are a lot of terrorists out there that are going to want justice for their leader's death and they aren't going to take it lightly. Now is the time to fear.

Silver Jubilee

Switching from a book like The Dead Tossed Waves to a book like Born at Midnight is not an easy transition. Carrie Ryan writes so eloquently, the language flows and everything she writes just sounds beautiful. CC Hunter wrote a book that is much more of a teen YA novel. Don't get me wrong, I loved Born at Midnight, it was just difficult to move from one to the other so quickly. At first I was worried that Born at Midnight was going to be a teenie bopper book but it didn't take long to realize that it wasn't. It reminded me of the Percy Jackson series a bit, but came into it's own very quickly and turned out to be pretty original. One thing CC Hunter is very good at is leaving off on a note that drives you crazy... I cannot believe where she ended this book.... and now I have to wait until October to see what happened... Argh!
This book was my March debut author... had a little trouble ordering the book which is why I read it so late.
Just went on to my nook to see if I could pre-order the next book and instead I found a short novella the author wrote about one of the characters... and it was free. I love my nook!!

4 factorial

When I saw that the second book in Carrie Ryan's trilogy was about Mary's daughter as opposed to a continuation of her own story... I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it. I was very wrong to worry... The Dead Tossed Waves was even better than The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Though the main story is about Gabry, you do eventually learn about what happened to Mary and her friends after the first book ended. Mary is still as selfish, in this book, as she was in the first one. Everything she does is for herself or to make herself feel better. Gabry believes she is as selfish as her mother but I don't believe that. She may have made some bad decisions but not all of them were to benefit herself. She really did try to help her friends and correct her mistakes. Once again we see a love triangle among the lead characters, but Carrie Ryan was able to make it a completely different triangle... often authors make the books in their series far too similar and it becomes redundant. Nothing about this story was anything like the first one or anything else I have ever read. It was fresh, new and captured me fully in the first chapter.

23 is a happy number

Imagine being in a car accident, feeling all the pain that disaster can bring, feeling as if you have died and then waking up to find out that you are now inside a machine. The machine looks and sounds nothing at all like you used to. There is nothing left of your old self except some downloaded memories and history. Your body is gone, your voice is gone, your ability to eat, drink, use the bathroom, breath and feel... all gone. Your family did this to you because they couldn't bear to say goodbye to you and now none of them are happy with the decision they made. They start to realize that you, the machine, is not actually you. Maybe if it hadn't been an emergency and the bio-techs were able to create a machine that looked and sounded just like the old you, maybe then, people would accept "you" as you. Maybe they would want you around, your boyfriend wouldn't have broken your heart, your sister would still love you, your dad wouldn't cry and pray and your life would be the same. But it's not... your life is not what it used to be. Your friends are not your friends anymore. And you finally realize that there is no way you can continue to be around without accidentally hurting everyone you love. ... So... what now?
Guess I have to read CRASHED to find out.
SKINNED is a book I will never forget, and I hope the rest of the series is just as good.

Catch 22

 Besides being book #22 Boys That Bite is also one of my "Whats in a Name?" books, it is serving as my "book with a life stage in the title".  When I finish a good book I tend to feel slightly depressed because it is over. In this case, I'm happy the book is over but trying to write this review is depressing me.
I have been wanting to read  this series for a while... we all know I love vampires. I honestly can't find a good way to ease into my opinion of this book and there is only one word I can even think of using to describe it... LAME, LAME, LAME (I know that seemed like 3 words but it's all the same word, so we're good). The part of this book I enjoyed was in the end when Magnus and Sunny were in England. Then the very end became ridiculous again.
When I first started reading the House of Night books I was disappointed and didn't think I was going to continue the series, it started out somewhat like this book. I felt it was immature and very teenie bopper. I read the first two books of that series and then threw in the towel for about a year when I decided to try again and the books got better and better and I started to love the series. I don't think it will go like that with this series, I can't see them becoming any better.

Lucky Number 21

Starting the final book of the Dark Guardians series, I was a bit thrown by how the story was playing out. Each book in the series is in the POV of a different female character, since we had already heard from each of the lead female characters the author decided to introduce someone new. I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it because she wasn't someone I was already invested in. Then it seemed as though the author had taken small aspects of two other series to create the plot line and I wasn't sure how I felt about that since the other three books had all been very original. Hawthorne had, until the 4th book, created her own shifter world. And the last thing that made me hesitant with the book was the plot related to Daniel. There were several different ways I could see her going with it and I was afraid it was going to end up being very silly. Once it became obvious to me that Hawthorne hadn't done something ridiculous with Daniels character, I realized just how much I was enjoying the book. The other parts that seemed unoriginal had begun to grow into their own ideas and I had grown to love the new female lead. By the end of the book, not only was I overwhelmed with emotion but I was devastated to see it all end.
The first book Moonlight was excellent but could have been just a single novel since it did not end in any kind of cliffhanger, but I could have read an entire series based just on Kayla and Lucas and been just as satisfied. The second book Full Moon, although it was very good, it felt as though it was a rewrite of the first book with different names put in. But it also ended in a cliff hanger that made me really want to see what would happen next. The third book, Dark of the Moon was awesome. There was such a different feel and idea than the other books. And finally, the last book, Shadow of the Moon, though it seemed disappointing at first, it became something wonderful. All in all... I loved this series!!

Hindsight is 20/20

It's been a few books since the cliche actually described the book. This cliche thing turned out to be harder than I thought it would be.

I just finished the third book in the Dark Guardians series, Dark of the Moon. Being about werewolves/shifters, I was instantly drawn to these books when I saw them. I kept putting off reading them because I didn't really think they would be as good as they turned out to be. I read each of the first two in less than 24 hours and this one I read in less than 21 hours. They are a bit shorter than books I typically read which makes them a quick read but they are also written so well that I can never put them down. Rachel Hawthorne really understands what girls like to read about. No matter how much you love the fantasy/sci fi factors... its the relationships that help to keep us interested once we are drawn in. And the relationships that she has created are intense and everything a girl dreams about having herself. Can't wait to read the conclusion to the series.

19 eighty four

Dystopian novels have been around since the 1930's. Nineteen eighty-four is not the first one ever written but is definitely one of the most well know and remembered. Coining terms such as "big brother". Matched by Ally Condie is a book that I believe will, one day, be as well remembered and feared as Nineteen eighty-four. We all know now, that a future such as the one written by George Orwell has not occurred... yet, but there is always another future awaiting us and always new possibilities for that future.
Through history, many different types of civilizations and governments have existed, some have controlled their people and some have allowed their people to be "free". It may seem that we have grown as a species and have become more autonomous but it may not last, it probably won't last. One day our world may be just like the one Condie created in Matched. I for one hope I am not around when that happens. I never want to live in a world where the ability to create has been abolished, where you don't get to choose where you live and what you do for a living, meals are sent to your house, friends are not allowed inside your dwelling and you can't even run in public... but most of all, I never want to live in a world where you can't even choose who you spend the rest of your life with.
During the first half of the book I was wishing there was a little more emotion and intensity but once Cassia's love interest started to build, I realized that Condie had saved the passion for just that. She was able to make even the smallest signs of affection feel like the most lascivious scene ever written. Every time the couple held hands or looked at each other, I would get chills. I can't wait to see where that passion leads them and if their love will be strong enough to take down the Society.

18 to life

I was a bit disappointed in this book. I think after being disappointed in the first book in this series that I was hoping it would get better. Having expectations was not a good idea when starting this book. Valiant by Holly Black is the second book in the Modern Tale of Faerie trilogy. To me it was just a book about a bunch of homeless drug addict teens. The fantasy aspects of the book were lost. I also felt as though it wasn't a continuation of the first book... besides mentioning a couple of the faeries from the first book and then a quick glimpse of them in the end, it seemed like it could be a novel separate from the trilogy. From reading the back of the third book, it looks as though it is about the characters from the first book... which is just too silly if you ask me.
This was the last book I needed for my 2nd in a series challenge.

Seventeen Ain't So Sweet

Seventeen ain't so sweet if you are living in the year 2025. When a person turns 17, it is by law that they must get the bar code tattoo on their wrist. What is presented to the people of America as just a means of identification, currency and basic medical history, the bar code tattoo is actually so much more and for most it is the end of their life. The first book was the build up of the world Suzanne Weyn was trying to bring across. The second book was the culmination of all the information given in the first one. Quite a bit of the second book was predictable but still interesting. Until it all of a sudden takes a very weird turn, one that I felt was reaching just a little too far. The ending was severely disappointing. It was too easy, everything the characters had been through and the fact that the word rebellion was in the title just made the finish line fall short. It was like listening to a very long, drawn out joke that has great potential and then hearing the punch line that turns out to be really silly. It made me wonder... what was the point? What a waste of time it turned out to be. The saddest part is that I really thought I was going to love this book.

Sweet Sixteen

Dystopian novels have always been a favorite of mine. There's nothing like a frightening future to make you realize that your life isn't as bad as you thought... or to scare you shit-less when you think of whats to come. When I decided to read Bar Code Tattoo, I think I was expecting something a bit more intense, something perhaps written like The Hunger Games. However, what I did get was a book that is a little more tame, not quite as suspenseful and slightly slower moving but the reality is that a book like Bar Code Tattoo is far more frightening than The Hunger Games because there is a better chance of it becoming our true future. It's hard to imagine that The Hunger Games could ever actually occur. When you think about both books it seems that our world may be leading toward a world like the one Suzanne Weyn created. Weyn didn't change our world all that much to get to her world, in fact she allowed something from her own life to initiate the idea.

15 Minutes of Fame

These books are not exactly something spectacular but I am very into them. So far they have both been quick, easy reads. The characters are well developed and interesting. One thing that bugged me while reading the second book was that it didn't seem the author was always very original with her descriptions, each time she would describe a feeling or emotion she would use the exact same words she used in the first book. I'm very happy that she left the second book off on a bit of a cliff hanger because the first book could have been a single novel without a sequel. Also switching the narrator of the story in the second book kept throwing me off a bit, I kept thinking it was Kayla speaking when it was really Lindsey.

Once Upon a Fortnight

I haven't read a book that is solely about werewolves in a long time. If it starts out about werewolves... vampires always come into play at some point. Or the book is about vampires and werewolves come into play eventually. Or there is, of course, the book about all things supernatural. I bought this series a while ago but hadn't gotten a chance to read them. Now that I have completed the first one... I really just want to continue on with the next one. And if I weren't ahead on my reading challenge I probably would ignore the desire to continue the series for now... but I am ahead and I can't wait to see what happens next.
There isn't much to discuss about this book, it's a pretty straight forward "supernatural being meets other supernatural being who doesn't know what she is and they fall in love" kind of thing... but its more than love, its fate. Being a woman, fate is always a desirable part of any book, even if there is nothing sci fi about it. I just happen to prefer when there is something sci fi about it.

This book is number 14 of 52 and number 3 of my first in a series challenge. Which means I have completed that part of my challenges.

Baker's Dozen

It is getting harder and harder to find cliche's using the number of books I am up to. I may not be able to continue with that idea too much longer.

My 13th book is also the 2nd book in my "First in a Series" challenge. White Cat by Holly Black is the first book in the Curse Workers series. I was relieved to read something so different for a change. Don't get me wrong, I love my typical vampire, werewolf, faerie, and fairy tales retold books but it's rare to find one that isn't some how similar to another one. This book had a fresh idea completely unrelated to the usual paranormal/supernatural theories (at least one that I haven't heard before). The only problem was the plot line was very predictable. There was never any suspense because you could pretty much see where it was going right away.

12 Steps to Recovery

Unfortunately there aren't 12 easy steps to recovery when you are talking about being a mermaid stuck as a human. Midnight Pearls was about just that. I love fairy tales retold and Midnight Pearls did not disappoint. Debbie Viguie managed to tell the story of The Little Mermaid in a somewhat new way, without losing the romance and basic idea behind the original. In the case of Adrianna/Pearl, she did not choose to walk among the humans but was kidnapped by the Sea Witch and forced to become human as an attempt to hurt her family. She grows up as a "normal" peasant girl after a fisherman finds her and he and his wife adopt her as their own. She is an ethereal beauty unlike any other human, which of course in a world like ours, makes her an outcast.
I know the ending was meant to be a happy one but I, being the pessimist that I am, felt it was a very selfish decision on Pearl's part. I was hoping she would really end up loving James and stay with him.
This was another book from my "Whats in a name challenge" filling the spot for a book with a jewel in the title.

The 11th Hour

Wake by Lisa McMann reads very much like a police report. The writing is very concise and to the point. Not a lot of flashiness, which actually made it a very quick and easy read. Despite the ease at which this book flows, it is not lacking in imagination and creativity. I enjoyed it very much and it was a big relief after the last book I read, which took me over a week to finish. It took me less than 24 hours to complete Wake. 
Though Lisa McMann doesn't go crazy with long, drawn out descriptions... she did manage to create characters that are well developed and who you can feel connected to. Throughout the story, I experienced Janie's pain, I experienced the love she felt for Cabel and the love he felt for her and I wanted desperately to see them end up together.  I have had this book on my shelf for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it. For some reason I thought it was on my list for my reading challenges but I was incorrect and have once again read a free choice book. I'm going to be done with the free choice books before I know it if I am not careful.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good InTENtions

Through out this book I kept thinking to myself..."I want to like it, I really want to like it". And it's really not so much that I disliked the book but that it was very slow and at times a bit boring. It was the kind of story I would have loved as a movie... I enjoy movies that are philosophical, slow moving and very meaningful. The idea of So Shelly was brilliant but the execution could have been a bit better. It wasn't until the last few chapters that I found it difficult to put the book down.
This story is being told by a teenager, John Keats and it is his manuscript of his life as it correlated with the lives of two other teens, Shelly and Gordon. If you haven't figured it out yet... this is a re-telling of the lives of John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron but in a modern setting. Again, as I said, brilliant idea. I have always loved poetry so I already knew quite a bit about these three famous writers but this book really brought out the dysfuntionality (I know that's not a word... but I really think it should be) of these characters. And no matter what Keats says... it really did make sense.

You really just have to read it... and to convince you further, this is what is on the back of the book:

"I can guarantee you this:

unless you learn

to wrap you brain

around the fact 

that you

are eventually

going to die, 

you'll never

wrap your arms

around 

the less

certain

fact that

you are

currently living."

Nine day wonder

There were times while I was reading Carpe Corpus, the 6th book in the Morganville Vampires Series by Rachel Caine, that I thought it was going to be a disappointment, nothing but a nine day wonder. I felt some of the beginning was just parts of one of the previous novels in the series. But once again Caine managed to keep me interested and aching for more.
There was one very upsetting let down in the book, though. I waited for six books to finally see Claire and Shane "get physical" and it felt like a total rip off. She left out all of the good stuff... I mean come on now, throw a girl a bone (no pun intended). It was awful waiting for it to happen, almost as if I was Claire, myself. I mean, I understood the whole "she was sixteen and underage" thing, but hello... she's seventeen now, no more children in the room... make it a good scene. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the naivety and longing you feel as a young adult and being able to relive it when I'm reading but... well... hopefully she will open up in that department later in the series.

Wound up tighter than an eight day clock...

...  That's exactly how you feel once you get to the end of this stunning novel. Cynthia Hand is my debut author for January. (I know I am a bit late with it but I wasn't able to get the book until after January.) And even though this is Hand's first published book... she is anything but amateur. She created a world of teenagers that are without angst but filled with maturity and personality. You not only love these characters, they become your friends. You find yourself grinning at their consistencies and saying "that's just like ______ to do that." As if you know each of them personally. At times you forget there is anything supernatural about the book and at others you can't imagine there being anything "normal" about it. Hand's use of angel mythology is brilliant. And her writing is breathtaking. The love that she creates is so intense you will find yourself welled up with tears, flooded by lust and torn up inside completely during each romantic scene. Hand managed to convey a very spiritual feeling without bombarding you with religion. She kept it neutral, any person, no matter their beliefs, could read and enjoy this book. The emotions I felt during Unearthly reminded me very much of reading A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb.  These are the types of books that change my mind in small ways. Broadening my thinking. Making me feel things I have not felt in a long time.

I was able to guess a few of the plot lines as I went along but not because she was predictable but because that was how I wanted the story to go. There are a few other ideas I have for the next books and I am going to be very impatient while waiting for them. Although I am happy to hear that this will be a trilogy, I am also disappointed because the idea of waiting for more is unbearable. It would almost be easier for it to just be over now.

Seven Year Itch

I started reading this book, Deadly Little Secret, hoping for a really excellent story, but ended up with a cheap knock off. Instantly the book strongly resembled both Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. A couple of chapters in and I was ready to put it down and call it quits but instead it became a game. As I continued to read I stopped to write down every similarity in the book.
Chapter one was almost identical to Chapter 3 of Twilight... come on now, almost hit by a car in the school parking lot and saved by a mysterious guy who came out of no where.
The next chapter was a diary entry written by a guy about the girl he is pining for and how he wishes he could just get closer to her (Vamp Diaries).
In chapter four they introduce the main girl, Camelia's,  best friend who has a short black pixie hair cut (much like Alice). Camelia than sees the new mysterious guy, Ben,  in the cafeteria where he deliberately ignores her. (Twilight) And, in chapter four they also introduce, Matt, Camelia's longtime friend turned boyfriend turned ex-boyfriend... who is now jealous of the new guy (Vamp. Diaries).
A few more chapters in, Camelia is in Chem Lab and Ben comes in and guess who his lab partner ends up being. At this point there is a lot of awkwardness between the two at their table and at one point he bolts out of the room when the bell rings, just to get away from her. Their second day in lab Camelia mentions how, all of a sudden, Ben's skin looks darker than it did the day before (Edward's eyes after he has "eaten").
Ben is not actually a vampire in this series, but he is able to see the past, the future and feel people's emotions and such by touching them (not much different from both Edward's and Alice's gifts in Twilight).
A bit later in the book it finally starts to become it's own story and has the potential to be a pretty interesting book. I could have actually enjoyed it if the author hadn't ruined it so badly from the very beginning.
As the book finally became something worth finishing... the author decided to make the last chapter a little too much like New Moon. Ben leaves Camelia because it would be best for her in the long run.
I almost forgot the most pathetic thing... she throws in a very intense scene where Camelia is trying to teach Ben how to use a pottery wheel... Seriously? Did the author really think she could pull off a scene like in Ghost? She was sadly mistaken.
Now the big question of the day is.... Do I continue with the rest of the series? Should I attempt to see if the author ever figures out her own writing or at the very least, read the rest of the series to see how much more she can mess it up? Or should I just throw in the towel on this series and just leave it as a failed attempt that is not worth continuing with?

This book was not only number 7 out of 52 but also fulfilled a book in the "What's in a Name" challenge. I used this as my book with a size in the title. Unfortunately, this Deadly Little Secret would have been better left untold.

Ages ago, I read Laurie Faria Stolarz's book Blue is for Nightmares. I loved that book and couldn't wait to read the rest of the series. I went out and bought the other books as soon as possible. I attempted to read the second in the series White is for Magic, and was very disappointed. It was almost exactly like the first book just with very slight differences. Makes me wonder if she is able to write anything original... maybe Blue is for Nightmares  was her one hit wonder.

Six of one, half dozen of another

It was difficult getting into this book after reading something as eloquently written as The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Eventually I was able to enjoy the story line and continue reading. The story is very reminiscent of Supernatural.
The author's use of cliches throughout the book was exorbitant, not to mention trite. There is nothing original about a cliche. A weak author uses cliches, a great author composes statements that become cliches. I realize that the author was trying to create a certain personality for the main character but every time she spouted out a new cliche it just caused me to dislike her. Although the author risked the loss of imagination by reciting so many over used sayings, she made up for it wholly with her novel concepts and interesting usage of very old and traditional folk lore & legends. It was slow starting but once Strange Angels got moving, I really got into it and couldn't put it down.