In My Mailbox (20)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board.

This past week I had a larger mailbox than usual and had to become an even speedier reader than I already am.

ARC tours

A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker (1 ARC Tours)

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can’t get any worse. Then she marries her “husband”: Jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona’s long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very mysterious Johnny Mercer. Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Holly's ARC Tours)

Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day... a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucy's own beautiful mother. It turns out the two women are identical twins, separated at birth, and raised in dramatically different circumstances. Lucy's mother quickly resolves to give her less fortunate sister the kind of life she has never known. And the transformation in Aunt Helen is indeed remarkable. But when Helen begins to imitate her sister in every way, even Lucy isn't sure at times which twin is which. Can Helen really be trusted, or does her sweet face mask a chilling agenda?

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus (Star Book Tours)

His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.

Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.

The Eternal Ones by Kristen Miller (Star Book Tours)

What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

Return to Paradise (Leaving Paradise, #2) by Simone Elkeles (Star Book Tours)

Maggie and Caleb just went through the worst year of their lives. Hit by a car and starting life over with a limp, Maggie never thought she would forgive Caleb. But she did-and fell in love. What they shared was real. But Caleb wanted to be free from the past-and a terrible secret: he wasn't the one who hit Maggie. So he left Paradise-and Maggie-forever. 

When Maggie and Caleb run into each other in a different town, they can't deny their true feelings. Will Maggie let Caleb get away again? Or will Caleb face the truth and return to Paradise?

Won from Contests

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater (signed) (thanks to S.F. Robertson)

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles (thanks to YA Books Central)

It's 1962, and it seems everyone is living in fear. Twelve-year-old Franny Chapman lives with her family in Washington, DC, during the days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Amidst the pervasive threat of nuclear war, Franny must face the tension between herself and her younger brother, figure out where she fits in with her family, and look beyond outward appearances. For Franny, as for all Americans, it's going to be a formative year.

Bought

Other (Other, #1) by Karen Kincy

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate-into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and-most importantly-stay alive.

Promise (Soul Savers #1) by Kristie Cook

Alexis Ames has a life full of promise…but not all promises can be kept.

When Alexis Ames is attacked by creatures that can’t be real, she decides it’s time she learns who she really is, with or without the help of her mother, who guards their family’s secrets closely. After meeting the inhumanly attractive, multi-talented Tristan Knight, however, Alexis retreats behind her façade of normalcy…until she discovers he’s not exactly normal either. Then their secrets begin to unravel.

Their union brings hope and promise to her family’s secret society, the Angels’ army, and to the future of mankind. But it also incites a dangerous pursuit by the enemy – Satan’s minions and Tristan’s creators. After all, Alexis and Tristan are a match made in Heaven and in Hell.

Review: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will be left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

Maggie Stiefvater is an author who is known for being fun and eccentric and this passion of hers comes out in her writing. When I picked up Shiver and read the book jacket, I was expecting a typical paranormal/fantasy young adult read. What I was not expecting to find was a love story to rival the likes of Bella and Edward (for the Twilight fans), or Elizabeth Bennett and Mr.Darcy (for the Austen fans like myself.) Grace and Sam have now been cemented in time as having a love story that is swoon worthy. Their relationship will make you jealous and envious, frustrated and worried, but above all else, readers will find themselves caught up in hoping against all hope that these two will get the happy ending everyone knows they deserve.

Stiefvater gives us not one narrator but two in Grace and Sam, and I have to tell you this may be one of my favorite things about the book. More often than not, we only see a story unfold from one character's perspective but Shiver leaves nothing out. We get alternating points of view, feelings from both characters, and because of this you will only find yourself loving these characters and their story all the more. Grace is a sweet and innocent girl who is a truly kind person that has had only herself to rely on despite having two parents under the same roof, but that's until Sam enters her life. And Sam, well Sam is that boy that every girl hopes to eventually find because to him, making Grace smile is his main task every day...that and of course fighting like hell to stay with her. What's not to love about these two? If you read Shiver and find something lacking let me know, because after reading it myself, to me, these two are the epitome of perfection.

This is one of those reviews where I don’t want to get into the plot too much because every tiny detail Stiefvater weaves has its own significance and deserves to be discovered in her way through the pages by each reader. I will say I did get my paranormal/fantasy fix with this read but not in the normal ways that most novels in these genres provide. There are spins on details like what controls the werewolves’ shifts, and how the transformation may not last forever. An expiration date is laid on these characters and their time together and as a reader I was constantly thinking about the unfairness of it all. Yet somehow these two maintained their own version of hope and kept mulling through it. They didn’t want a pity party; they were just moving forward with their lives and taking nothing for granted, most especially not each other. It was a lesson learner for me.

This is yet another novel that I’ve had on my TBR list for way too long and I wish I had gotten to it sooner, but there is a silver lining in my procrastination…Linger, the sequel to Shiver comes out soon. If I had to wait much longer I’m not sure I would be what you could call a “happy camper”. I’ve heard from so many readers and fellow bloggers that this is a novel that has made it into their top “10” lists of all time favorite books they’ve read. They continuously piqued my curiosity and after reading the novel for myself I now understand. There’s just something different about Shiver. It has that “it” factor that not many novels do. It’s that extra something that makes a novel not just good, but great! Go out and get this book if you haven’t read it yet, you won’t regret it. I can’t wait for Linger to hit the store shelves.

I gave Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) 4 shamrocks!

Teaser Tuesday (4)

It's that time again....

“Teaser Tuesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Mizb of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can do it, here’s how:

1. Grab your current read
   
2. Open to a random page 
3. Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page .
4. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

• Be careful not to include SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, you don't want to ruin the book for others.)

I decided to share ANOTHER teaser from Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater to go along with the review I'll post later today.  The book was just so good that one teaser wasn't enough.

"I closed my eyes and just listened to the thud of his heart until mine matched pace with his.  Finally, he rested his cheek on the top of my head and whispered, 'We don't have time to be sad.'"

Sounds good doesn't it?  Admit it....you're already wanting to start reading this...and you haven't even read my review yet!

Teaser Tuesday & More (3)

Yes it's that time again...

“Teaser Tuesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Mizb of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can do it, here’s how:

1. Grab your current read
   
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
4. Share the title and the author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

• Be careful not to include SPOILERS!  (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, you don't want to ruin the book for others.)

This week my teaser comes from Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

"For once in my life, I was here and nowhere else.  

And then I opened my eyes and it was just Grace and me - nothing anywhere but Grace and me - she pressing her lips together as though she were keeping my kiss inside her, and me, holding this moment that was as fragile as a bird in my hands."

I'm not even half way through the book and this quote alone makes me want to keep reading to see what happens next.

In other news I recently joined...Hop Around the Blogs!

This is hosted by Jennifer over at Crazy-for-Books and it's just a fabulous idea that I couldn't resist participating in.  In case you are a fellow blogger or just want to check out other fabulous blogs, here are the details from Jennifer's blog.

This is a weekly event, hosted here, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read. It's a great way to network with other bloggers and make new friends! Every day I seem to find another book blog that I start following. In the spirit of the Friday Follow, I thought it would be cool to do a Book Blogger Hop to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!

So hop on over and check out some other blogs, I've already found a good number that I've started following that I'm not sure I would have found otherwise, and I've been told a few people have found me this way and began following me as well, so thanks for that!  Eventually I'm hoping to get my number of followers up so that I can start hosting some great book giveaways...but if that doesn't happen, I'll host them all the same :)

Happy Reading as always!

In My Mailbox (2)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. Every week we’ll post about what books we have received (whether they’re bought/borrowed, etc… you get the idea). This is generally done on Sunday, but I’m told that it’s really whatever day works for you; I’m going to be posting mine on Fridays because I tend to post less on the weekends. Everyone participating will try and visit other lists to comment and possibly pine for the new arrivals everyone’s talking about. I’ve learned that it’s a great idea to really try and stop by at least two or three lists because I’m constantly finding out about new books that I’ve later added to my TBR list.

Happy Reading!

This week I’ve added the following to my collection:

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will be left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him.

In return for this gift, Wayland North is offered any reward he desires—and no one is more surprised than Sydelle when, without any explanation, he chooses her. Taken from her home, Sydelle hardly needs encouragement to find reasons to dislike North. He drinks too much and bathes too little, and if that isn’t enough to drive her to madness, North rarely even uses the magic he takes such pride in possessing. Yet, it’s not long before she realizes there’s something strange about the wizard, who is as fiercely protective of her as he is secretive about a curse that turns his limbs a sinister shade of black and leaves him breathless with agony. Unfortunately, there is never a chance for her to seek answers.

Along with the strangely powerful quakes and storms that trace their path across the kingdom, other wizards begin to take an inexplicable interest in her as well, resulting in a series of deadly duels. Against a backdrop of war and uncertainty, Sydelle is faced with the growing awareness that these events aren’t as random as she had believed—that no curse, not even that of Wayland North, is quite as terrible as the one she herself may carry.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #1) by Mary E. Pearson

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just awoken from a year-long coma—so she’s been told—and she is still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. But what happened before that? She’s been given home movies chronicling her entire life, which spark memories to surface. But are the memories really hers? And why won’t anyone in her family talk about the accident? Jenna is becoming more curious. But she is also afraid of what she might find out if she ever gets up the courage to ask her questions. What happened to Jenna Fox? And who is she really?

Numbers (Numbers, #1) by Rachel Ward

Whenever Jem meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die.

Burdened with such an awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. But while they’re waiting to ride the Eye Ferris
wheel, Jem notices that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today’s number. Today’s date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem’s world is about to explode!

And finally a big thank you to Ace over at BookMooch for letting me mooch this book.

Tantalize (Tantalize, #1) by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.

So that's what I got in my mailbox this week, I can't wait to start reading. What did you get in yours?

Happy Reading!