Review of The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

by: Sarah
Release Date: June 12th, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 418 pages
Series: Bloodlines #2
Rating: ★★★☆☆/ 3 out of 5

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?

Well isn't this EMBARRASSING. When I finished Bloodlines I was left underwhelmed with the characters and unimpressed with the writing. Now I'm shaking as I type because SYDRIAN. It was apparent within the first few pages of The Golden Lily that the writing had improved considerably. I don't know what happened during the first book to be quite honest. Maybe Mead was just rusty or tired or simply had used up all her fucks to give when that book was written. Because in my humble opinion the writing in that book was a hot mess. However, the writing throughout this book was much more crisp, coherent, and engaging. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it flowed heaps better than its predecessor and annoyed me a lot less. One major problem I had with Bloodlines was that there seemed to be just way too much going on. This may because I jumped into it without reading all of the Vampire Academy books, but with all the characters and their separate dramas going on I was just like what what what what. With TGL, there's even more characters thrown into the mix, but the way it was written was much easier to follow and reminded me of why I love a great ensemble of characters! Previous characters from Bloodlines who I found to be one-dimensional and useless -like this Trey fellow, for instance- were fleshed out this time around and I was pleased. As far as our mains go, I am glad to see that Sydney is growing. She has started acting more like a heroine and less like 

Oh, Sydney. You know how people sometimes latch onto to these deeply troubled, brooding male characters in YA and just want to squeeze them and take their pain away? Yeah, I think that's how I feel about Sydney. I've got a hopeless crush on her I just want to kiss her stupid face and say GIRL GET IT TOGETHER WE'RE ALL COUNTING ON YOU. She's still got her flaws, but I was pretty impressed with her character development and the way it was written. There were still some pitfalls, though. Such as one of Sydney's main traits is that she's petrified by seeing vampire magic in action and when Adrian tried to do harmless things in Bloodlines like heal her or talk to her in a dream she went into a full blown panic attack yet in this book when he compels someone right in front of her (which personally I think would be the scariest of all vampire powers???? I mean...mind control hello?) she just sort of proverbially slaps him on the wrist and says Oh, That Darn Adrian! I get that she's slowly getting used to it but that seemed shockingly out of character for her.

 I liked Adrian a lot better this time around. In Bloodlines I rolled my eyes at everything he said and couldn't stand the way he was playing the victim all the time. I love a devil may care bad boy type as much as the next girl but I just found him to be generic and blaahhhhhhhhh. I have been told that he got his little heart trampled on in Vampire Academy but I didn't see that firsthand so I didn't have the same amount of poor bb feels for him going into this series the way most people probably did. All that being said, there was enough information about him in this novel that had my poor bb feels going berserk. And his chemistry with Sydney was snowballing into shipping territory. There were some really great scenes between them. The dialogue, the body language, it was all on point. However, I still think it was wildly inappropriate and not even a little bit cute the way he ~called Sydney out~ on not just her eating habits, but her body in general. I'm sorry but I just simply cannot with a man telling a woman what her body should look like. I understand completely that he meant well and that Sydney is down an unhealthy path and it came from a place of compassion, but the way that scene was written was just nope nope nope. He should not have said what he said. Dems da breaks.

 Jill is still a stupid idiot. But I try to give her a break because she is quite young. Still, homegirl needs to get it together almost more than Sydney does. Eddie is still...there. He was more interesting to me than in the first book when he could have quite literally been replaced with a jar of peanut butter and I wouldn't have noticed, but I actually managed to almost care about his relationship woes this time around. And Angeline seems feisty, she could do great things maybe probably won't but maybe.

 The way this series handles plot is with the old hey this is nothing but actually it's really something. It's like something odd will happen and all the characters will go 'Oh that's just an irrelevant foreshadow don't mind it' and then once you've forgotten all about it it springs up to say HEY REMEMBER ME! THAT WEIRD THING/FEELING/STRANGE ENCOUNTER? NOW I'M A PLOT TWIST IT'S GOOD TO BE HERE. Mead doesn't pull off this type of writing flawlessly, but it's good enough to keep you wanting more. Even though I didn't particularly enjoy Bloodlines I was still interested enough to read the sequel and see what was going to happen. And look at me now. I'm dying to know what's up with Sydney's blood. And I can't wait for shit to hit the fan when The Alchemists realize how friendly she really is with all these vampires. This is how they getcha, YA readers....this is how they getcha...

__________________

Review also on goodreads

Review of Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

by: Sarah
Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon
Release Date: July 3rd, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 352 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆/ 3 out of 5

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn’t mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It’s up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!
On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Pretty simple set up here. Girl meets moody vampire. Moody vampire realizes girl is very very very very special. They want to be together 5ever. She must become a vampire immediately because of reasons. Except, in this story, the main character is not the very very very very special girl, but her fiercely protective best friend who is not buying any stockholm syndrome today.

 This is one of those books that as you close it makes you glance up wistfully at the sky and nod slightly to yourself. That is, if you like it. If you don't like it, it will probably just make you roll your eyes a lot. I liked it but I can see how this book could be really annoying to some people. Our main character, Mel, isn't exactly super likeable most of the time. But in my case that's what I sort of liked about her. She's a seventeen year old girl with some good opinions and some cringe-worthy ones, but her character did grow throughout the book and I'm sure she will continue to grow in that alternate universe where all book characters still go about their lives.

 I liked that this book takes place in a world a la True Blood where everyone knows that vampires are real and the trials and tribulations of coexisting etc etc. I find that a lot more interesting and entertaining than the whole vampires are real but no one knows and when someone finds out they are shocked -SHOCKED- even though we are surrounded by vampires in all types of media. I also liked the unique take on how people become vampires and what can happen if a "transition" goes awry.

 High Point: Kit was adorable. It's the usually the male love interest I'm narrowing my eyes at in YA books but in this case I was doing all my eye-narrowing at Mel the whole time so Kit got off easy. It was a cute book with a good message about acceptance and thinking for yourself hidden in there somewhere. Not a must-read, but still enjoyable.

_____________

Review also on: goodreads

Review of Between You and Me by Marisa Calin

by: Sarah

Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Release Date: August 7th, 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 242 pages 

My Format: hardcover

Rating: ★★★★☆/ 3.5 out of 5 

Phyre knows there is something life-changing about her new drama teacher, Mia, from the moment they meet. As Phyre rehearses for the school play, she comes to realize that the unrequited feelings she has for Mia go deeper than she’s ever experienced. Especially with a teacher. Or a woman. All the while, Phyre’s best friend—addressed throughout the story in the second person, as "you"—stands by, ready to help Phyre make sense of her feelings. But just as Mia doesn’t understand what Phyre feels, Phyre can’t fathom the depth of her best friend’s feelings . . . until it’s almost too late for a happy ending. Characters come to life through the innovative screenplay format of this dazzling debut, and unanswered questions—is "you" male or female?—will have readers talking

Now, I personally found it easy and pleasant to slip into the writing style of this book which is set up in the format of a screenplay.  I do realize that perhaps some modern young readers out there might not like this, and I feel as if the older crowd might roll their eyes and find it pretentious or contrived, but I didn't. I actually went into this book expecting it all to be a bit hipstery and 500 days of summerish, but it's not at all. I really like the way Marisa Calin writes and am excited to read more from her. She's got what I like to call the "magic touch" when it comes to effortlessly capturing the voice of young people.  I found Phyre's inner monolgue to be consistently honest, brash, and at times cringe-worthy, which in my opinion means the author is doing a good job.  I thought Phyre's thoughts were very realistic, especially when trying to come to terms with the fact that she has a crush on another female, something that's never happened to her before. There was one scene in particular that stuck out to me, in which Phyre proclaims to herself that it's not a big deal at all, only to moments later realize she's suddenly "different" than the rest of her peers, and wish her feelings would just go away.  There were many little moments like that, where I just really felt what Phyre was feeling, because I'd felt it all myself in my own life, and I think Calin has hit the nail on the head for what's going through the mind of a high school girl going through this sort of situation. There were tons of things I really admired about the writing. It had some really great metaphors strewn through, the play-within-a-play device, the artistic choice to leave out the gender of Phyre's best friend, I could go on. Marisa Calin knows what's up.

Now, despite the fact that the writing and characters were beautifully crafted, the story itself was a little lacking for me. Just a little! It was all very predictable and maybe that's partially the fault of the summary giving so much away? But as I was reading I kept waiting for something really big to happen. I imagined perhaps Phyre getting drunk and publicly declaring her feelings or her best friend doing something like this or maybe even for Phyre and her teacher to kiss in some awkward, accidentally-on-purpose way - NOT that I wanted them to be together- I just wanted shit to hit the fan in some way because the book was building up on such a dramatic tone and then it was just sort of like, nothing really happened? Granted there was quite an embarrassing revelation of Phyre's affections, but I guess I was just expecting something a bit more intense. But, in a way, it's a nice direction to go in. Like hey, it happened, and it wasn't the end of the world! 

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I could relate to it immensely on a personal level and I'm sure many other young people will also be able to. Throughout the first half of the book I was debating on whether or not to give 5 stars simply because of how lovely the writing was, but once I finished it out I was a little disappointed with the lack of a really good climax. Even so, it was still a good story. I definitely recommend! 

_________________________________________________________________

You can also check this out on my goodreads

ARC Review of The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

★★★★★ - This thing is heaven in book form.

The Lost Prince
By: Julie Kagawa
Review by: Kaede

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 379
Star Rating: ★★★★★/ Go out and buy it now.
Release Date: October 23rd 2012


Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’s dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myths and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

My name is Ethan Chase. And I may not live to see my eighteenth birthday.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"For something to be given, something must be taken."

For me, the original Iron Fey series is irreplaceable. Try if you will. You can shower me with classics or dozens and dozens of newly released YA titles, but you won't be able to divert my attention should I be in the process of re-reading one of the Iron Fey books. They are my darlings. So when details surrounding The Lost Prince was up for the public, I was nothing if not skeptical. Spin-offs usually don't end well with me. If anything, they typically end up ruining the original story and the characters I'd come to love in it. But then I actually read this jem of a book. And while I still lived for the moments where Ash, Meghan, Puck, and Grimalkin showed up, Ethan Chase's tale is a story in it's own right.

Ethan is no Ash or Puck, but nonetheless, I couldn't help but love him all the same. He's certainly not without his flaws, but they only serve to endear him as a more realistic person. He does complain quite a bit, and often about his sister, but he has a good heart underneath. And for all the negativity he has stored up inside, he has Kenzie to balance him out.

And speaking of Kenzie, she's probably the most bubbly, full of life person I'll ever meet fictionally or even in everyday life. Kenzie is just the kind of person you wouldn't be able to hate. Her kindness, and just the fact that she doesn't back down when she's challenged was more than enough to win me over.

Now let us discuss the new characters that stood out most to me, and the twists and turns.

PRINCE KEIRRAN

In all honesty, Meghan and Ash's son, Keirran, was like a combination of a slightly less witty Puck who had the stubbornness that Ash had when he refused to give up Meghan and return to his rightful place as a Winter Prince. However, he was eventually able to make his place in my heart, if you exclude the ending. He just wasn't the Keirran we meet and love in the first half of the book anymore by then. And the sequel's title. WHYYY? I look forward to seeing Keirran in The Traitor Son. Righttt...yeahhh. *sniff*

THE FORGOTTEN

"We are forgotten. No one remembers our names, that we have existed."

Boy were those things creepy. I really don't see the appeal of them, I really don't. Perhaps that's why no one wanted to remember them. Maybe. I SAID MAYBE. IT WAS JUST A SUGGESTION SO DON'T KILL ME YOU CREEPY FEY.

I think that's just about it. Anymore and I'll just give in to the temptation of erasing everything I've written up to this point and just scream, "READDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! THIS THING IS HEAVEN!"

Mhm hmm. I tend to gush when I like things. You musn't judge me. The Lost Prince is enchanting and beautiful, romantic, yet still full of action. It has something for everyone. Pre-order your copy now. Mine is already on the way. Cheers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review also found at: Goodreads

Contact Kaede: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Review of Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

by: Sarah

 Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Release Date: May 8th, 2012

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Pages: 335 pages 

Series: 1 of 5

My Format: ebook

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ / 1.5 out of 5

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.

--

I know I'm going to offend so many people with this review, and I'm sorry in advance, but I'm gonna have to lay it all out there anyway.

I laughed pretty much throughout the entirety of this book. And not in a haha this is a well-written funny book kind of way, but more in a I actually can't believe this is real kind of way. So in that sense, I enjoyed it. I thought it was hilarious. But that's probably kind of bad, because I don't think it's supposed to be. 

I'm all for the hot asshole romantic male lead. ALL FOR IT. But in this book it doesn't actually ever make any sense. Usually when the male lead in a romance is standoffish and rude toward the heroine, it's because of some unseen danger he is ultimately protecting her from. But let's just say, realistically, if this were to be the case, I feel like any (para)normal guy would simply make his case known and leave the heroine alone or more likely, for the sake of keeping the story interesting, keep her at an awkward arm's length until they are passionately thrown together by circumstance and raging hormones. 

That...kind of happened in this book. Only mix in a whole lot of filler characters and sub plots that lead nowhere and big shiny ice-cream tubs (literally) of hokey plot devices. Most noticeably, Katy's mother and her disappearing act. It was a little silly to me that she was included as a character, when her only job was to breeze into scenes and say something like "Oh, honey." and then go to sleep or work or something. And Daemon's attitude toward Katy was just ridiculous, let's be real. He constantly goes out of his way to be extremely mean to her. And not even your typical hot asshole in a YA romance mean, but like actually just really nasty. I get that he was "supposed to be that way" because, he's like, protecting her and in denial that he has the hots for her, in general. Yeah, I got it. But it was still portrayed in a cringe-worthy fashion. Every time I read the word "kitten" I threw up in my mouth a little bit. And Katy, well, she was alright. She was no Bella, that's for sure. But she wasn't really the best heroine ever, either. Outside of her interactions with Daemon she was fine, but otherwise I was side-eyeing her the entire time. The writing in this book was all over the place. It was very dialogue heavy, which I don't mind at all, but the dialogue was quite repetitive and I couldn't understand why most of it hadn't been scrapped in the editing process. The big inevitable make-out scene was nice. Who doesn't enjoy a good make-out scene? But unfortunately it was not enough to redeem the rest of the book for me.

 The good news? It seems as though I'm in the vast minority when it comes to this book. 

yikes

Its fanbase is growing by the day and I'm sure as the series continues it will only become bigger. Just please don't band together to throw things at me. That's my only request.  I do have plans to read the sequel at some point, I'm not even going to lie, this series has major guilty pleasure potential for me. IF the writing improves at least a little bit and Daemon stops being an exaggerated cliche and stars acting like a normal person alien.

Review of My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Info:

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Pages: 395 pages (hardcover)

Series: No

My Format: bought e-book

Time it Took me to Read: Four Days

Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another
“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A dreamy summer read, full of characters who stay with you long after the story is over.

I'm not exactly sure what perpetuates the idea of "The Boy Next Door". All of my neighbors are meth addicts or kids. Well, respectively. I haven't seen a lot of bleary eyed babies around here of late.

Anyway, seeing as that I'm not attracted to the concept of being high, nor am I a pedophile, you can see why I wouldn't relate to Samantha's problems.

Samantha is the daughter of a state senator, whose next door neighbors are a family of ten, AKA the Garretts. Jase Garrett is the love interest of this story,and they have an epic, and rather fluffy love story. And that's basically it. Nothing particularly radical happens in this story. As I said before, it's rather fluffy.

The big "thing" at the end didn't surprise me at all. That's because, you know the copyright page at the beginning of books? You know how there's a summary on it? Well that summary give the BIG FRUGGING THING AWAY. However, I do have to admit, though I knew what happened, it gave me some chills reading Samantha's narration during it. If Fitzpatrick had written the whole book like that moment, I'd have given this book eight million stars.

I wasn't particularly happy with the romance in this either, though this is mostly a romance book. It was very rushed at the beginning. Let me give you an example. (Minor spoilers from first 100 pages, highlight to see)

Samantha asks Jase if he is a serial killer, because it's only, like, their third time talking. He says he's not. Guess what happens after this exchange.

Guess.

Guess.

NO.

They KISS.

(End spoilers)I wanted to slam my head into a bed of nails, it was just too painful. I considered dropping the book, but I kept going. All of the characters were archetypes, as there were just too many of them. None of them were layered or that interesting, and all of them have the luxury of being white. True, Samantha didn't much drama. But that just isn't interesting to read about.

In short, they were too goody-goody for my tastes. Which is okay, some people like that and I respect that.

However, this book did redeem one star because of Nan, Samantha's friend. I could identify with her because, I, too had a blonde, perfect, friend that I wanted to stab in jealousy and I always thought I was competing with. She was such a memorable character. From this, I can easily tell that Fitzpatrick knows how to write secondary characters- now can she do it for the main ones?

It redeemed another star because it became more readable as it eased off the romance, which I was rolling my eyes at.

All in all, you should give it a try, as I see everyone else has given this five stars, and I can't deny it is a good book. Everything's good, the characters are good, the plot is good, all is good in shangri-la. However, there just wasn't that factor that pushed me over the edge. It was too safe in my opinion. So give it a shot, you won't be disappointed, and I shall be reading Fitzpatrick's novels in the future.

3 STARS!

Review and GIVEAWAY of Want by Stephanie Lawton

This book changed my frickin life.

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: InkSpell Publishing
Pages: 318
Series: Nope
My Format: Received for Blog Tour
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche to help her. She can't understand why he suddenly gave up Boston's music scene to return to the South. He doesn't know her life depends on escaping it. Julianne must face down madness from without, just as it threatens from within. Isaac must resist an inappropriate attraction, but an indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball-the pinnacle event for Mobile's elite-forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past. Will Julianne accept the help she's offered and get everything she ever wanted, or will she self-destruct and take Isaac down with her?

Let me fill you in on a little secret. Once upon a time, I auditioned for a spot on a junior panel of piano players. It was highly prestigious, and my hands were shaking like crazy. I prepared for this for months now, and I probably played the piece a million times, had nightmares over it, and gained twenty pounds for all the ice cream I ate when I played badly. When I stepped in front of those judges, my life flashed before my eyes.

Guess what happened?

I botched the audition. And then threw up.

I'll let you decide whether that's a true story or not.

I'm pretty sure this was me.
From Parents.com

My point is, I got Julianne as she struggled with her audition to the New England Conservatory, but that wasn't important at all. The story is more than that. It's an edgy coming of age Young Adult novel with characters that made me cry my own pools. (Which was very efficient for the summer season, I might add.)

As she struggled with her crazy mother (and I do mean crazy in the most literal sense), her decade older mentor/ love interest, her decade older hilarious other love interest, and others, my hands were shaking again. What was I doing? I wasn't playing piano or anything. How could a novel make me feel anticipation that I only felt with something important? Why did I feel like I was going to throw up?

No, not because I wanted to throw up on the book. This is, in fact my favorite read of 2012. It was because I was FLAILING all over the place as I read this. Every little thing made me whisper, "Be still, my hairy heart." It was all too much for me.

Well, that, or because I was reading in the car.

The characters are amazing. Dave is perverted, older, and pretty much everything you want in a guy. Issac is akin to Heathcliff literary-wise, and also pretty hot if I do say so myself. And I know you're wary of love triangles, but let me just say, Juli is not some helpless Bella. She doesn't focus on guys. She focuses on her music, with a few sexy excursions here and there.

The writing is stellar- writers, if you want the epitome of show, don't tell, THIS IS IT. There are so many little insinuations and things you have to pick up on yourself. The writing is interactive, which is great.

So why do I refrain from giving it a glorious five stars (other than the fact that I'm afraid of odd numbers?) Well, it's purely personal, but though Juli made the right choice in the end, I DIDN'T LIKE IT. Plus, this novel left me in a literary corner for days, so really, it made me feel four stars emotionally.

Perhaps that's what actually makes WANT such "bejeezus" worthy novel. 

Now, you've probably noticed that I've refrained from saying that "This was a lyrical novel that sang to me" or something like that because I hate praise puns. But, I've got to say it.

WANT was a lyrical novel that hit the notes in all the right places.

HAPPY?


---


Oh, hey, there's a giveaway for an ebook copy of WANT, so you can possibly win the awesome.


Duh it's international! Unless your country blocks internet... in which case... how are you reading this?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Seraphina Released Today! And Giveaways! And Other YA releases! (July 10 2012)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman was released today. Everyone who read it before its release date held me at gun point and told me to read it as soon as it came out.

Unfortunately, I don't have the means to pick this book up, so I'm writing this blog post in compensation. HAPPY?

Seraphina is a mash-up of awesome: high fantasy, dragons, and incredible characters. You can quote me on that.

Also- there's a giveaway on Goodreads for this so if you want to win it, you should enter. Click that link like there's no tomorrow.

Or, if you have terrible luck like me, and your house is full of three leaf clovers and rabbit hands, you should just buy it on Amazon. Clicky!

In other new releases, we have Insignia by SJ Kincaid also released today! WOOT! From what I've read, it's a cross between X-Men and the Matrix, but a lot more kick-ass because it has World War III in it.The top reviews for this are all five stars, so I'll definitely be reading this in the future.

In another bout of awesome, Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse was yet another YA novel released today. I'm wary of this one, because the tag on Goodreads says its a dystopian trilogy, but who knows? There's a giveaway for this book as well- clicky to enter!

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown was released today, and I'm not a fan of the cover, but you can't go wrong with a road trip novel. And if you can, you're doing it wrong, bitches.

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols was released today as well (wow, a lot of releases today). If you don't frickin like Jennifer Echols, you suck majorly. She is a goddess, so I must have this book in my hands soon. Also, Jen at YA Romantics is giving this one away- so enter there.

So Close to You by Rachel Carter was released today. It sort of sounds like the Matrix meets Area 51. Should I find out? Should you? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

Yet another book was released today: Lost Girls by Ann Kelley. I haven't heard too many good things about it, not like Seraphina, but it's worth looking at all the same.

Okay, just one more July 10th release- I swear! It's Never Enough by Denise Jaden. There's a giveaway for this one too- clicky to enter!

This one was released yesterday- Crux by Julie Reece! It's been given awesome reviews, and has a healthily awesome cover, so I'm high anticipatory (new word!) of it.

In case you're itching to buy any of these, here are links to get them from Amazon. As the motif is- clicky!

My Humble 3 Months as a Book Blogger

The past three months have been a whirlwind in terms of book blogging. I’ve learned a lot of new things about the blogosphere- mostly the hard way, I should add, and I’ve decided to share my humbling experiences with you. I’ve separated it into different topics I want to address, so skip to whatever pleases you.

Getting Discouraged

 

This was me after only just one month.

It’s freaking depressing to realize that there are literally (in the correct use of literality) tens of thousands of book bloggers out there, with my genre, YA books, being at the top. I admit that it’s rather discouraging when I see that I’m not getting any traffic. I sort of hang my head low and remember “Why? Why would someone come to my blog when they can go to a less sketchy blog? A blog they probably weren’t redirected to from a spoon fetish site?”

Then I thought about it this way: isn’t writing a book the same kind of thing? Yeah, there are probably millions of books out there, but authors always have at least one fan, whether it is themselves or their moms. And authors can share fame with other authors. Who says that an author published 3 months ago can’t share their fame with JK Rowling?

Asking for Things

 

True story: I was very rude to a successful (dare I say famous?) blogger. I basically snubbed her while asking for a favor.

It wasn’t intentional, but I wasn’t expecting much to come out of this encounter. See, I was just starting out blogging, and I was really eager, sort of like a girl who’s just got her first boyfriend. When this famous blogger accepted my request for a guest post, I probably rolled around in my bed screaming for ten minutes.

Then, she didn’t respond for, I think four days. That’s a perfectly reasonable amount of time not to respond to something, but I thought they were ignoring me. So I sent an email that was along the lines of, “I know I suck and I don’t have many followers and stuff and I understand if you’re ignoring me.”

Yeah.

YEAH.

I was a happy Cephalopod.

I didn’t say THAT precisely, because I had a more careful way of skirting it, but nobody’s really an idiot these days, so people read into it that way. I really didn’t mean to offend her, but that’s a side effect of getting discouraged. You feel like you have nothing to lose, when in fact, you have a lot to lose.

Anyway, everything was sorted out, and we were happy clams. (Or campers. Can’t remember what the saying is.) I got a lot of traffic to my blog, and I gained some new online friends.

Moral of the story: Ask and you shall receive.

Blog Tours

 

In an extension to that anecdote, I must say that I’ve had pretty good luck with asking for things. I am scheduled for a blog tour with the famous blogs. Mundie Moms, Story Siren, Bookish Brunette! *SQUEEL!* You don’t know how happy I am to be a part of it! And I only have 73 followers as of this post. Can you believe it? Neither can I.

It should be taken into account that as long as you are willing to review the book and post everything on time, there shouldn’t be a reason for a blog tour company to reject you, at least with my understanding. Besides, what do you have to lose? A little scrap of your dignity? Well, yeah, but with blogging, you have to aim high or don’t go at all. It’s hard to be a small fish in a big pond, so make yourself known right away.

NetGalley and Edelweiss

 

A lot of people are addicted to NetGalley.

*Shudder* I have not even ventured near this territory, so I can’t tell you what they’re like. I reckon I could actually request books right now, because I’ve seen blogs with 50 followers get eARCs from there. I will try to request things in the near future, but for now, I’m sticking to my library and out of pocket purchases.

Networking

 

Dear God, this is such an extensive part I can’t even tell you. For now, I’ll just say it’s been a pleasure. In general, networking as a blogger on twitter is pretty easy. Other bloggers are more than happy to talk to you, although some authors have turned the cold shoulder to me. (And I don’t really care, either.)

Goodreads seems to be the book network of choice, however. I’d recommend it for a newer blogger.

Print ARCs 

 

You know my position on this. I posted this post the other day. And another blogger friend of mine posted this.

That doesn’t freaking mean I’m immune to free things. The other day, someone on Goodreads was giving away ARCs, and I couldn’t resist. I requested something from her. 

I thought, “Damn. I AM a greedy bitch. It looks like I can’t really justify my ARC post anymore.”

But that’s not true. I thought about it more (probably to justify my actions) and I realized that I had a 100% probability of getting these books so I went for them. And shit, I’m going to give them away in a giveaway probably, so it doesn’t matter.

What my point is, I’m not going to try to request Print ARCs or any of that crap until I have an established following. Like maybe 1000 followers. Because until then, I’m taking books out of the hands of people who really will help the book.

Co-Blogging

You should try it. It's made life a whole lot easier.

Review of The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jenson

★★

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare

By: Melissa Jenson

Review by:  Kaede

Website/ Goodreads/ Amazon

Publisher: Speak

Pages: 380
Series: No

Star Rating: ★★/ I could live without it.

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. She's got her friends - the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She's got her art - and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they're dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable with anybody, much less a fictional female character. I just really hope that I don't ever meet anyone who talks to a picture of a dead old guy like one talks to their boyfriend/girlfriend. It's just not right. And to take advice from him constantly?...*shudders*

Now I could certainly settle for doing a bullet list for the things I didn't like and be done with it, but then it'd look a whole lot like this:

Things I Hated:

•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Ella.
•Alex.

I don't think you'd like that very much. But that doesn't mean that the list doesn't just sum up my feelings perfectly. Oh how I hated Ella. I bet you can't say, "Stereotypical character.", faster than I can choke our lovely protagonist to her death. And Alex.





No. Just no.

---------------------------------------Q&A TIME-----------------------------------------

Q: Did you find any redeeming qualities where Ella was concerned?
A: Why good sir, no I did not. Do you think you can any redeeming qualities when a girl-who-talks-to-dead-people-for-advice-and-thinks-she's-the-shit is involved?

Q: If not, did you find any redeeming qualities at all?
A: Actually, yes I did. I mean, dude, have you seen Frankie? He reminds me of Adrian. And if someone reminds me of Adrian, he has to be awesome.

Q: Did you like Alex, the love interest?
A: *disgusted face* (I don't even want to know how a disgusted face looks like...)

Q: What changes do you think the author should make?
A: Well if I were her, I'd first remove everything but Frankie. Then I'd open a copy of Anna and the French Kiss to see how a real contemporary is done. But sadly, the world doesn't revolve around me. *sighs* I might have to contemplate taking over the world one day if that's what it takes...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I think that's just about it! If you still insist of reading, I have only two words for you darling. Good luck. Believe me, you'll need it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review also found at: Goodreads

Contact me at: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com

Great YA Deals on Kindle and iBooks

Here are some great deals I found on the Kindle and iBook store for Young Adult ebooks. (You should disable adblocker if you want the items to show.)

Kindle Books:

$0.99


Under $2



$2.99
 

$3.99


$4.99



Now Under $6.00



That being said, MOST of these deals are also on iBooks. However, there are 3 iBooks exclusive deals under $3...

Variant by Robinson Wells $2.99
Possess by Gretchen Mitchell $2.99 
The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten $2.99




 Tell me in the comments if I missed anything! I hunted for these deals myself, so I can't get everything.

If you want to post this on your blog as well, just email me for the HTML code, and make sure you say that it's from Wake Up at Seven.