Review: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst


The Scoop:


Pearl is part of The Family. Of vampires, that is. She's living her undead life, visiting the local ice cream shop and persuading the guy manning the counter to eat a specific flavor of ice cream so when she drinks his blood she gets a little extra flavor. One night when she leaves she is startled and then stabbed in her heart by a unicorn. Yes, a unicorn, a mystical being that even her family of vampires doesn't believe exist. The result of the unicorn attack is that Pearl


loses her "allergy" to sunlight, can start to see her reflection and, horror upon horrors, she starts to feel sympathy for humans (it's really hard to see somebody as your meal when you have sympathetic feeligns toward them). Amidst this change in Pearl's personal being The Family has been asked to host the Vampire King's Fealty Ceremony for the new crop of vampires. And a feast requires something to feast on, right? Well, enter Pearl and her new "talent" and the ability to attend high school and make friends that can fill that certain role in the feast. Will Pearl be able to overcome her new sympathetic feelings towards humans in order to follow the orders of her Family and appease the requirements of the Vampire King? Or will whatever happened when she was stabbed by the unicorn continue to change her and her focus in life? And, will she ever find that freakin' unicorn again?

What a Prize! Ya-Aholic's 900 Follower Giveaway

Lovely Haley over at Ya-Aholic is well over 900 followers and is having a giveaway to celebrate. There are nine, count them, NINE, bundle packs of four books included in this giveaway. So follow this link to the generous list and enter yourself in the drawing. After adding to her following, of course.

Good Luck. Contest ends 10/20/11 and is open internationally.

What a Prize! Unabridged Andra and her 500 Follower Giveaway

Andra, of Unabridged Andra has broken the 500 followers barrier and she is rewarding those who helped. With a giveaway prize that consists of giant mystery box full of books! Follow the link and then follow her and enter to win. And the more followers she gets the sooner she'll have another amazing giveaway (I would assume).

Ends October 28th and is open internationally.

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Love? Maybe. by Heather Hepler

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are barely able to restrain our enthusiasm for.

My pick this week is Love? Maybe. by Heather Hepler due out January 5, 2012 by Dial.

From goodreads.com:

Just because Piper's birthday is on Valentine's Day does not mean she's a romantic. In fact, after watching her father and then her stepfather leave, she's pretty sure she doesn't believe in love at all. Then her friends concoct a plan to find them all Valentine's dates, and somehow Piper finds herself with the most popular guy in school. But true love never follows a plan, and a string of heartfelt gifts from a secret admirer has Piper wondering if she might be with the wrong guy.

In this heartwarming romance, true love is more than a maybe - and it might be closer than you think.

My Thoughts:

I loved Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, which Hepler co-wrote. I'm also a sucker for a mysterious admirer giving cute and meaningful gifts. Let's hope the combination of the two make for a great read.

What are you waiting on?

Teaser Tuesday (9/27/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"I had thought, France! Romance! Chocolate! French boys who'd kiss me on the Eiffel Tower! I hadn't expected to feel so out of place."


Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski, pg. 39 

Review: The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa


The Scoop:


When we last left Meghan, Ash and Puck, Meghan had just become the Iron Queen, she had released Ash from his knighthood oath and Puck was his usual goofy self. In The Iron Knight we flip to the point of view of the Winter Prince, Ash who has been banished from the kingdom of Tir Na Nog by his mother, Queen Mab. He decides to take the journey to the End of the World to gain his soul so he can live with Meghan in the Iron Kindgom. Along for the ride are Ash's best frenemy and constant prankster, Puck and the ever enigmatic and disappearing cait saith, Grimalkin. They are joined by The Big Bad Wolf and a surprising blast from both Ash and Puck's past. They all must survive the trip the very scary, but not scarily named River of Dreams so Ash can try his luck at the testing grounds that will give him the ultimate prize of a soul--unless the trip and tests make him change his mind.

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Bitterblue (tentative) by Kristin Cashore

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are barely able to restrain our enthusiasm for.

My pick this week is Bitterblue (tentative title) by Kristin Cashore due out June 21, 2012 by Dial.

From Kristin Cashore's blog, This Is My Secret:

Book 3, tentatively titled Bitterblue, is a companion book to both Graceling and Fire and takes place in the seven kingdoms eight years after Graceling (not six, as I'd written previously). As you may have gathered, the protagonist is Bitterblue. Yes, Katsa, Po, and others from Graceling do appear in the book. I will be able to provide a release date soon for Bitterblue; it won't be too much longer; but that's all I can say about it at this point.

(No cover art as of yet. Boo-hoo. So instead I'll share one of the international Graceling covers. This is the Danish language volume 2--for some reason they split the book into two volumes.)

My Thoughts:

I loved the audio of Graceling and mostly enjoyed Fire. I'm waiting to get back to the time that includes Katsa and Po (love them!) and find out how their kingdoms are doing. And I really enjoyed the character of Bitterblue in Graceling so for her to get her own story would be great.

Teaser Tuesday (9/20/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

"I hesitated. Images of pillows being tossed and furniture being overturned coursed through my mind. I wasn't exactly a slumber-party expert, but I could just picture the chaos of twelve-plus girls piled into one room."


Shut Out by Kody Keplinger, pg 81.

Review: Don't Stop Now by Julie Halpern

Don't Stop Now by Julie Halpern

The Scoop:


Lillian is all set to enjoy a relatively peaceful and uneventful last summer in Illinois before college. Until she gets the somewhat cryptic voicemail of "I did it" from her sort-of friend Penny on her cell phone. And from that one short sentence Lil somehow determines that maybe Penny was faking her own kidnapping. And maybe, since the last phone call from Penny's phone (conveniently left behind a the scene of the "kidnapping") was to Lil, she might know something about it. Dodging questions from the local police and eventually the FBI, Lil easily talks her best friend, Josh (he of the mostly absent father and very large, very guilt-sponsored bank account that will ultimately fund their trip) into a road trip to Oregon. This trip is all based on a hunch that comes from a discussion between Lil and Penny about a boy Penny met at Disney World who lives in Portland. Along the way Lil and Josh find out if possibly their friendship might be more than they expected and Penny finds strength to reach for a future beyond overbearing family and boyfriends.

Review: Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock


The Scoop:


Fortitude (known as Trudy) and Tomas (known as Tips) grew up together as orphans in the town of Bacio in the kingdom of Lax. Before they had quite finished growing up a man known as Felis el Gato (or the Booted Maestro) happened upon Tips performing one of his daring feats upon the water mill at the mill house where he was raised. Trudy, having been blessed with the gift of a seer, knew that apprenticing with Felis el Gato for what she thought would be a life of soldiering would be a better life for him than being the go-fer for his over-bearing and lazy brothers who had inherited the mill. Trudy became a kitchen maid in the local inn that her mother worked in before she died.


Wisdom (known as Dizzy), her grandmother, Dowager Queen Benevolence (known as Ben) and sister, Queen Temperance (known as Temperance) live in Montagne in the kindom of Lax. Duke Roger of Farina had come to Montagne with the expressed intent to offer marriage to Queen Temperance but found younger sister Dizzy much more to his liking. Once Dizzy accepted they all (except for Temperance) set off for Farina to meet with Roger's mother, the most deliciously evil and status-grubbing Wilhelmina, Duchess of Farina and plan for the wedding.


All of these main characters ultimately end up in the same town--Farina--with Trudy joining the royal entourage as a lady-in-waiting and Tips and Felis already in Farina. They determine that Roger and Wilhelmina have a nefarious plot planned to take over the ruling title of Montagne and the rest of them have to find a way to stop it. Told by 8 different narrators by way of a play, encyclopedia entries, diaries, memoirs and letters we follow these citizens of Lax in their quest to save their nation by way of magic, insight and sheer will and talent.

In My Mailbox (5)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren where bloggers share what books we have either received or purchased that week.

I've had a pretty light last few weeks after my glut of incoming items from the library after vacation and the scouring of the local closing Borders and online sales at Barnes and Noble. These are the total of my last few weeks--all from the library.

From the library:

Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Home to Woefield by Susan Juby

It has a chicken on the cover!

Siren by Tricia Rayburn

The cover on the hardback kinda freaks me out. The paperback cover is a bit more welcoming.

Waterfall and Cascade by Lisa Tawn Bergren

I'm hoping this time travel series is a little bit more Quantum Physics for Dummies than the last one I read.

So, what are you crowing about in your mailbox this week?

Review: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens by Sloane Tanen

Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same:The Life and Times of Some Chickens by Sloane Tanen


The Scoop:


What's there to say? Sloane Tanen creates super cute dioramas featuring super cute chicks in entertaining situations. Since, in this instance, goodreads can explain it better here goes: 


With more personality than most people have to spare, New York artist Sloane Tanen's tiny yellow chickens negotiate the tricky modern world, filled with three-headed blind dates, menacing KFCs, playground popularity battles, and annoyingly crowded yoga classes. They perch amid doll furniture, in scenes photographed in glorious color and brilliantly captioned- and their lives will strike you as strangely familiar...

Charming, spiky with off-kilter wit (or waxing jobs gone terribly wrong), and somehow larger than life, these chickens win the hearts of all who behold them. 


And to intrigue you even further here is a tease of what you can find within the pages.

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are barely able to restrain our enthusiasm for.

My pick this week is Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling due out October 11, 2011 by Crown Archetype.

From goodreads.com:

Comedy's fastest-rising star takes to the page in a book of essays, personal anecdotes, and impassioned pleas.

Multi-hyphenate Mindy Kaling is an Emmy-nominated writer, the actress famous for playing the beloved Kelly Kapoor on The Office, and the author of one of Twitter's most popular and quoted feeds.  She is a keen and witty observer of life, romance, and pop culture, whom the New York Times recently called "an entirely original and of-the-moment" performer and Entertainment Weekly deemed “one of the ten funniest actresses in Hollywood.”


In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy shares her observations, fears, and opinions about a wide-ranging list of the topics she thinks about the most: from her favorite types of guys (including Sherlock Holmes, NBA players, Aaron Sorkin characters, and 19th-century fictional hunks) to life in the Office writers' room to her leisure pursuit of dieting (“I don’t travel, speak other languages, do crafts, or enjoy sports, but I love reading about new diets”) and how much she loves romantic comedies.  Loaded with personal stories and laugh-out-loud philosophies, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is a must-read by one of the most original comedic voices working today.


My Thoughts:


So, I'm pretty much really waiting for the audio version of this book to come out. If you've read my review of Tina Fey's Bossypants you'll know that I'm a sucker for a comedian reading their own book. And, Mindy Kaling, her of many, many funny and crazy episodes (as a writer) and one-liners (as Kelly) of The Office is sure to be a blast. I can't wait! And for a little something extra here is a behind-the-scenes on the music video of "The Girl Next Door" she directed for The Office.

Teaser Tuesday (9/6/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

"So it was that I most indignantly found myself conducted through the circus bowels by a short little man who has the highest opinion of himself of any individual I have ever encountered, the sole possible exception being Escoffier. This Felis el Gato--or, as he prefers, "the Booted Maestro"--possesses a voluminous knowledge of both Circus Primus and combat."


Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, pg 126 

Review: The Forgotten Locket (Hourglass Door Trilogy #3) by Lisa Mangum

The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum


The Scoop:


As we start with the final book of the Hourglass Door Trilogy Abby has follwed through with her decision to go through the version of the hourglass door she created (built with Dante's blueprints from the time of da Vinci after the original one was destroyed) in order to close the loop to save Dante from blindness and possible death. But, it's not as simple as it sounds. Abby has to battle Zo (Dante's evil equal as a Master of Time), assimilate into a new time period so she herself doesn't get thrown in the dungeon and become useless, make sure the people that are from that time period (Dante and his brother, Orlando) don't run into their present (or past?) selves, and try and keep the river from rendering the (correct)present time non-existent. Will Abby be able to harness the power of time and the river and find out her own magical connection to the river, the bank and time before Zo takes away her one chance to save Dante and her family from a future that is anything but shiny?

What's New in YA--September 2011

It's a brand new month and that means there are brand new books to look forward to! Well, ok, there's brand new books to look forward to all the time but I'm one for the big picture and what's bigger than a month? Ok, I know a year is bigger but that's way too ambitious for me. So, on a small scale, I love being prepared (no, was never a boy scout) and this lets me compile a list of what I can look forward to in the exciting world of YA literature for the coming month. And I'm here to share my preparedness with you. Each title is linked to goodreads.com.

01

Floors by Patrick Carman

Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Bronxwood by Coe Booth

05

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

The Shattering by Karen Healey

06

Vengeance (Private #14) by Kate Brian

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

Vanish (Firelight #2) by Sophie Jordan

Shelter (Mickey Bolitar #1) by Harlan Coben

Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

The Hidden (The Hollow #3) by Jessica Verday

Following Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin

08

Witch Eyes (Witch Eyes #1) by Scott Tracey

Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars by Nick James

Bloodborn (Other #2) by Karen Kincy

Stay With Me by Paul Griffin

Pure Red by Danielle Joseph

Damage by Anya Parrish

13

Fateful by Claudia Gray

After Obsession by Carrie Jones & Steven Wedel

Going Underground by Susan Vaught

Frost by Marianna Baer

Perfect (Impulse #2) by Ellen Hopkins

Kill You Last by Todd Strasser

Burnout by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

You Against Me by Jenny Downham

Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

Empire of Ruins (Hunchback Assignments #3) by Arthur Slade

Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Point Me to Tomorrow (Amigas #6) by Veronica Chambers

Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

15

Away (The Line #2) by Teri Hall

The Downside of Being Up by Alan Sitomer

What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur by Book Wish Foundation and various authors

As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott

20

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

First Kill (Slayer Chronicles #1) by Heather Brewer

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Beautiful Days (Bright Young Things #2) by Anna Godbersen

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

27

My Beating Teenage Heart by C. K. Kelly Martin

A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd by Patrick Ness

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Absolute Midnight (Abarat #3) by Clive Barker

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
Lost In Time (Blue Bloods #6) by Melissa De La Cruz

29

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson