Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sentence Sneak Peek - Rewrite Redemption

Rewrite Redemption by J.H. Walker

The first sentence from each chapter of Rewrite Redemption, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book received from the author for review

 “I killed my mother.”

“Lately, I’ve had to remind myself; I’m just a kid, not some attendant in a psych ward, or an actor in a horror movie waiting for my turn to scream.”

“I met up with Lex at the locker bay.”

“The screen door slammed behind me as I walked out on the back deck of the new house.”

“A.J., wait up!”

“I sensed the power the second I set foot in the school.”

“I watched Sam lug the box to the trash bin.”

“I was up half the night obsessing.”

“The hell?”

“I became a one man/one goal detective agency, immediately snagging her name from a girl on the way out of class.”

“Sam steered the Subaru, looking at me anxiously and smiling his sweet Sam smile.”

“Devon and my mom were gone.”

“Awareness morphed in slowly...”

“Heart pounding, I woke abruptly about an hour after I’d crashed.”

“A.J., you okay?”

“The night-of-the-living-dead screeched in my ear, yanking me out of a deep sleep.”

“I heard them arguing softly.”

“I didn’t catch her before school and I didn’t sense her energy all morning.”

“I spent the afternoon whipping my history paper into shape.”

“I waited as long as I could before heading home.”

“I don’t know what you’re expecting here,” I said, as Lex applied a hot oil treatment on my hair.”

“The good me and the screw-up me fought in my head nonstop for the first two miles of my run.”

“Wake up, guys.”

“I sent this text to my friend, Daniel, who was the drummer in my band.”

“The weekend was the best I could remember.”

“I welcomed Monday as if it was Christmas and I was five.”

“On the way to school, we chatted happily about the weekend.”

“After I escaped the flies, I wandered the central hallway, hoping to run in to her.”

“You should have seen her, Ipod,” Lex said, laughing.”

“I was in love.

“The afternoon went by slowly.”

“I cued up some metal to get moving.”

“Earth to A.J.....”

“All I wanted to do was shower and crash...”

“I had no appetite.”

Hospitals have a pulse.”

“I felt the tingle and rolled over, thinking I was dreaming.”

What had I done?”

“It was a harsh awakening.”

“It took me ten times longer to walk back to the hospital than it had taken me to run to A.J.’s house.”

“I hiked upstream.”

“Back at the parking lot, I tossed my dad’s sweatshirt in the car and went inside the hospital.”

“I opened my eyes to white cloth as if I was encased inside a coffin.”

“My dad was gone when I stumbled to the kitchen the next morning.”

The Indian just stood there, head cocked; scanning me as if he wasn’t quite sure I was real.”

“Once again, we walked in silence.”

“Whadda we have here?”

“She poked me in the back.”

“Before I could blink, the Indian was between the cowboys and me.”

“We were still sprawled on the sofa.”

Edgar’s hand gripped so tightly across my mouth, it cut my lip on my teeth, and I tasted copper.”

“By late afternoon we ordered pizza.”

“I fell asleep to thoughts of Constantine.”

“Wow!”

“For one magic moment, I was in perfect harmony with the universe....”

“By the middle of the first song, we reached the meadow.”

“Constantine!”

“Ohmygod, ohmygod!”

“I woke in his arms.”

“I trucked across the bridge and snuck into the bathroom—no Sam in sight.”

“Constantine returned, dressed in Ipod’s tee shirt and his own bloodstained jeans.”

“What the heck happened?”

“Slow down.”

“All the drama had really taken a toll on me...”

“The ride home was tense.”

“That was amazing!”

“Ipod couldn’t believe all that had gone down.”

“I slammed the car door shut and gunned the engine.”

“I checked myself one more time in the mirror before leaving the big house.”

“In English, we read this turn-of-the-century story about a man and woman who were deeply in love.”

“I returned with the pizza to find A.J. gone and Lex and Ipod still laughing and talking about the changes.”

“I’d been dreaming—one of those magical dreams that you wish would never end.”

“Slowly, over the next few days, I began the task of acclimating to all the changes.”

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

"Waiting On" Wednesday - Let the Sky Fall


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

This week I'm waiting on... 

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger


* Book will be released March 5, 2013
* It has kind of a spoilery description so I highlighted some parts

Check out the description from Barnes & Noble:
 

"A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this “charged and romantic” (Becca Fitzpatrick), lush novel.

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them."

I love the cover of this book.  Having a character be an air elemental is interesting because it’s new/not anything I’ve seen before.  Can’t wait to learn all about these characters and I really hope the story is as unique as it sounds.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Courtly Cougars

Surrounded by Woods by Mandy Harbin

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
 
5 out of 5 tiara wearing bats

I love this book, it is a fun read that starts interesting and just gets better. The whole shifter thing is neat. I have read other books about shifters but I like the story and bit of background that is given.

Being a shifter ain't all good and this book decently does let you see the good with the bad as there are four brothers looking for mates still after the fifth one died in a failed attempt.

Great strong charectors along with a fun plot told from multiple points of view come together to make a book that you just can’t put down. I finished it in a night and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sentence Sneak Peek - Surrounded by Woods

Surrounded by Woods by Mandy Harbin

The first sentence from each chapter of Surrounded by Woods, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

“You can’t be serious, Bill.”

“Ah, Ms. Patterson.”

“What the hell am I going to do about him?.”

“What the hell are you doing?”
 
“Mikeala spent the next several days with her nose in her work and her eyes off Josh.”

“Mikaela stomped around her room, ripping off her suit, and hastily donning her pj’s while her anger fumed.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Mikaela got up early to have breakfast with the guys, so she could see Josh again right away.”

“Mikaela awoke with something that she hadn’t had in quite some time.”

“Day after day, Mikaela stayed quarantined in her room like some diseased patient.”

 A Tiny Reverse Vampire Post

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Top 5 Sundays - Favorite Female Book Characters!

This feature was thought up by the awesome Larissa's Bookish Life
Rules:

1 - Write a post listing your TOP 5 choices within the theme I chose (or was chosen on a poll) for the week.
2 - Mention this Blog on the post and link back to it.
3 - Feel free to use the Features image
4 - After you've finished your post, add your link (of the post, not your blog's main page) to the Mr.Linky at the end of that week's post.
5 – If you don’t have a blog to post, just leave your list in the comments =)    

 Top 5 Sundays - Favorite Female Book Characters!

Seraphina is a strong character who must hide who she is because the world would not at all understand.  Being different takes a tremendous toll out of her but she does have one love in life, music.  She's a tad bit prickly/grumpy at times but when she plays or sings music everyone stops to listen.
 
Justine Jones, is not your typical kick butt action heroine but as the story progresses she finds herself letting go of her hypochondria related fears. 
 

Katherine "Kitty" Katt is a heroine that kicks butt and always has a plan, she’s such an awesome heroine who loves music and actually has a sense of humor.

Sabriel is a really epic heroine.  This series is really fantasy at its best with the mixing of life, death, the real world, and a magical world.

Mackenzie Bishop is a really great kick-butt character.  Her character is truly complex and will have you rooting for her to succeed.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gnome Story - Sebastian Gnome

drawing by Chris Andresen


Sebastian Gnome by Chrysoula Tzavelas, author of Matchbox Girls and Nightlights

Sebastian Gnome was a very small gnome. He liked very large books, though! You could do so very many things with them. With a waterproof cover, they made a great house! They made a great platform for climbing trees to reach delicious fruit. And of course, he could read them, often while sleeping under them in the rain. His mommy and daddy gnomes sometimes told him that when he got larger, he wouldn't be able to sleep under books anymore, but Sebastian knew otherwise. Books could always get bigger, just like little gnomes!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Weekend Read - Fuse

I love the first book in this series, Pure, as you can see from my review here.  The series so far has been very intense and has a plethora of characters and multiple points of view.  It's the kind of story that immerses you in the action and never lets go.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Spectral Story

Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

* ARC received from the publisher for review

2 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes

Oh Notes from Ghost Town, I thought we would be good friends but no you really weren’t what I was expecting.  I mean everything started out great with your prologue, that’s what drew me to you.  After that initial meeting though things became confusing/weird.  

At first I thought your main character was in college and just back home for the summer but then I was really thrown for a loop when I found out that she was only sixteen.  I thought from the first chapter you were going to be one of those New Adult type books and I was cool with that.  I think you misrepresented yourself just a bit and maybe could have been stronger if the main character and her friends were in college instead of high school.  

I would have liked to know more about pretty much all of the relationships portrayed.  Olivia is an interesting character, she just feels rather disconnected from the other characters especially her best friend and the guy she might just like/love.  I believe she’s supposed to be seen as an unreliable narrator but from the prologue and first chapter I had the feeling that all of these events had already happened (so you get the feeling the whole time that everything turned out all right in the end.)

You had some great paranormal stuff going on, I just wish there had been more and maybe have a certain ghost be explained more.  I mean your tagline is “First loves never die.”  When you have a great line like that I really want to see more love happening before characters are inevitably pulled apart.

Your mystery was a tad too easy to solve and (I’m someone who’s usually terrible at solving mysteries and figuring out who the bad guy is.)  This murder mystery didn’t seem to have enough urgency, maybe the story would have been more exciting if it had been told right after the murder happens.

I spent much more time with you then I originally thought I would because I kept trying to find ways to avoid you.  I finally finished with you and just felt kind of meh.  You certainly have a lot of build up but they you just fizzle out at the end.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Sentence Sneak Peek - Notes from Ghost Town

Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

The first sentence from each chapter of Notes from Ghost Town, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* ARC received from publisher for review

 Think about a moment, a little centimeter of time you’d happily exist in forever, if time  could be laid out along the spine of a ruler.”

Unfreeze.”

A little less than a year,” I tell Dr. Levine, my optha-mologist, face planted against a heavy metal con-traption as I stare at shapes projected against the wall in colors I can’t distinguish.”

Where’s the freaking fire?”

I can’t take my eyes off him—his deep black curls, the cream of his skin, the little cleft in the chin.”

They’re not real.”

Liv.”

I consider calling Raina for help, but only for a second.”

I call Carol Kohl first thing before work Friday morning, but all I get is the drone of her voice on the machine.”

Buzzzzzz.

As soon as I come home, I plant myself in front of my MacBook.”

Six days.

I sleep—a lonely, heartsick sleep—the whole musty shuttle ride back to the city.”

I’ll call you if I think of anything else,” Debra Kilmurray tells me before I walk, dazed, back to my car.”

A lamp is still burning in the living room, casting a glow on the driveway.”

I kiss Mom’s piano goodbye, finish closing it up with the gentleness of someone laying a baby down to sleep, and hurry out of the flicker-lit halls of E-Z-Store and out to my car.”

Please enjoy this Verizon ringback tone while your party is reached.

We’re so glad you could join us, Olivia,” Ted says, wink-ing as he pours wine into each of our glasses.”

Olivia Jane.”

Four days.”

I call Austin as soon as I get home and realize it’s the last place I want to be: alone, in my bed, thinking of Stern.”

I think of Mom as I half-jog-half-walk home, down the boardwalk, from Ghost Town.”

I pick up my cell phone.”

Click.

The office is full of fog and black air.”

Wake up, Livie.”

I watch, poised with sketchpad on my lap, from the top of an overlooking hill as the wrecking ball arcs through the sky and crumbles the charred walls of Ghost Town to the ground.”

But Mom doesn’t come home.”

On the other side of chaos is order.”