Waiting on Wednesday #72: Reckoning

Waiting on Wednesday is a wonderful meme created by Jill from Breaking the Spine where we highlighted an upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

Reckoning (Silver Blackthorn #1)
by Kerry Wilkinson 
Hardcover, 368 pages
Expected publication: July 1st 2014 
by St. Martin's Griffin (first published May 22nd 2014)
by HarperTeen

Goodreads | 

One girl. One reckoning. One destiny. 

In a far-off future, after years of war and famine have eliminated all technological advancement, returning society to a feudal system, in the village of Martindale, hundreds of miles north of the new English capital of Windsor, sixteen-year-old Silver Blackthorn takes the Reckoning. This coming-of-age test not only decides her place in society – Elite, Member, Inter or Trog – but also determines that Silver is to become an Offering for King Victor. 

But these are uncertain times and no one really knows what happens to the teenagers who disappear into Windsor Castle. Is being an Offering the privilege everyone assumes it to be, or do the walls of the castle have something to hide? 

Trapped in a maze of ancient corridors, Silver finds herself in a warped world of suspicion where it is difficult to know who to trust and who to fear. In this novel by Kerry Wilkinson, the one thing Silver does know is that she must find a way out . . . 

I'm not sure to which sub-genre does this qualify? Dystopian? Historical YA? It's a mixture of both. I'm just curious as to how the story will played out.

Review: The Taking

The Taking (The Taking #1)
by Kimberly Derting 
Hardcover, 368 pages 
Expected publication: April 29th 2014
 by HarperTeen
ARC from Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. 

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Have you ever watch this show called 4400 where people just vanished into thin air and then came back so suddenly without seeming to age and now they gained cool new superpowers?

Yes, this is basically the plot of this book. Kyra; the star of her high school soccer team suddenly disappeared after jumping out of her dad's car during an argument. Five years later she re appeared and discovered that everyone had thought she was dead and had moved on with their lives. 

As Kyra desperately tried to come to grips with the changes around her (her mother had remarried, her boyfriend's kid brother now have the hots for her) she also found out that she's not the only one who has been taken and all of the taken returned with some kind of superhuman abilities but not without some consequences. Their blood is apparently lethal to normal human beings and once come into contact can cause immediate death.

With sinister secret agents hell bent on hunting and rounding up all of the taken, Kyra is forced to flee her home with the help of Simon; a stranger claiming to be one of the taken. Despite the obvious similarities between the book and the show, it's hard not to get swept away by the conspiracy theory and the burning desire to uncover who or what actually abducted all of these people in the first place and the real reason why they were taken. For me,the main pull of the story is in solving that mystery  because the characters (especially Kyra) just annoyed me most of the time.

Understandably since it is part of the series, we will not get a conclusive explanation regarding to the kidnapping but that ending is just way bizarre for me to even make sense of.

Waiting on Wednesday #71: The Fever

Waiting on Wednesday is a wonderful meme created by Jill from Breaking the Spine where we highlighted an upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Fever: A Novel 
by Megan Abbott 
Hardcover, 320 pages 
Expected publication: June 17th 2014 
 by Little, Brown and Company

Goodreads | 

The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community. 

The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hocky star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community. 

As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security. 

When I first saw the cover, I really thought that this is a ghost story reminiscent of The Exorcist. But apparently its more Contagion than The Exorcist. Still, I might just give it a try.

Review: A World Without Princes

A World Without Princes 
(The School for Good and Evil #2)
by Soman Chainani 
Kindle Edition, 400 pages 
April 15th 2014
by HarperCollins
ARC from Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected.

When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed. 

Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.

Just as we thought that both girls had their own version of happy ending in the previous book, Sophie and Agatha are forced to face the consequences of their choices. As much as I like the first book which I really thought was a stand alone, the second book tend to feel drawn-out at times.

I just feel as if this is not up to the excitement of the first book maybe because I feel so bad for Agatha most of the time and was annoyed how clueless and ignorant Sophie can be. And as the girls discovered that the witches and princesses have banded together to re-write new fairy tales and create a new Ever After, things took a very evil new twist with princes now becoming the girls' adversary of sorts. You could say that this book is like an epic battle of the sexes.

And the turn of events in that jaw-dropping ending is like a turn-around to the final chapter of book one where each girl make their own choices of happy endings or in this case a not-so-happy ending. I'm just intrigued to find out how things will be in the next book.

Review: Big Fat Disaster

Big Fat Disaster 
by Beth Fehlbaum 
ebook, 288 pages 
Publsihed April 18th 2014 
by Merit Press
ARC from Netgalley
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

Insecure, shy, and way overweight, Colby hates the limelight as much as her pageant-pretty mom and sisters love it. It's her life: Dad's a superstar, running for office on a family values platform. Then suddenly, he ditches his marriage for a younger woman and gets caught stealing money from the campaign. Everyone hates Colby for finding out and blowing the whistle on him. From a mansion, they end up in a poor relative's trailer, where her mom's contempt swells right along with Colby's supersized jeans. Then, a cruel video of Colby half-dressed, made by her cousin Ryan, finds its way onto the internet. Colby plans her own death. A tragic family accident intervenes, and Colby's role in it seems to paint her as a hero, but she's only a fraud. Finally, threatened with exposure, Colby must face facts about her selfish mother and her own shame. Harrowing and hopeful, proof that the truth that saves us can come with a fierce and terrible price, Big Fat Disaster is that rare thing, a story that is authentically new.

This is not a necessarily a bad book to begin with. I know the writer is trying to get a message to her readers about loving yourself no matter what but Colby is surrounded so many unpleasant characters. Her whole family are shallow and delusional people and the situations that they were in just went from bad to worst. 

Everything in here is just so cringe-worthy which makes it so hard to enjoy. I can't help but wince when Colby found herself in these so-called bad moments. She has no friends, her family hates her and she's the victim of bully by her own cousin. 

I just really wished that things would get better by the end and well it does not. Colby did finally come to terms with her body issues but the people around her still have a long way to go. Maybe if Colby is a bit more likeable to begin with, I would really enjoy this book more. I mean..yes you're overweight but you could still be awesome and funny and not let other people walk all over you most of the time. In this case, the light at the end of the tunnel for Colby only appeared at the eleventh hour. And that did not redeemed all the bad things that happened to her in the first place.

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Arms of Anu

Hi, everyone! Today I'm having a Book Blitz for the book Arms of Anu by Christina Mercer.

Arms of Anu by Christina Mercer
(Arrow of the Mist #2)
Publication date: March 13th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Sypnosis:

Follows Award-Winning Preteen/Teen Fantasy ARROW OF THE MIST

Blood of body, blood of soul,
Entwined for life, then unfolds;
If blood still runs when magic binds,
Soul is never too far to find.

In ARMS OF ANU, Lia and Kelven battle through a land of tyrants, war and magic.
Can Lia escape the foes who ensnare her?
Will Kelven’s love withstand the darkness taking root inside Lia?
Is freedom too high a crown to reach, or will they forever remain in the hollows?

Goodreads |  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | 

AUTHOR BIO:
Christina Mercer is an award-winning author of fiction for children and young adults. She placed in the Semi-Finals of the Amazon Breakout Novel Award Contest, won an Honorable Mention in the 21st Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards, and took Writer's Best in Show at the SCBWI CA North/Central Regional Conference. She resides in Northern California enjoying life with her husband, two sons, four dogs and about 100,000 honeybees. For more about her and her writing visit her Web Site.

Website |  Twitter | Facebook |  Goodreads

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Waiting on Wednesday #70: The Fire Wish

Waiting on Wednesday is a wonderful meme created by Jill from Breaking the Spine where we highlighted an upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Fire Wish (The Fire Wish #1) 
by Amber Lough 
Hardcover, 320 pages 
Expected publication: July 22nd 2014 
by Random House Children's

Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

A jinni. A princess. And the wish that changes everything. . . . Najwa is a jinni, training to be a spy in the war against the humans. Zayele is a human on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad—which she’ll do anything to avoid. So she captures Najwa and makes a wish. With a rush of smoke and fire, they fall apart and re-form—as each other. A jinni and a human, trading lives. Both girls must play their parts among enemies who would kill them if the deception were ever discovered—enemies including the young men Najwa and Zayele are just discovering they might love.

I'm always on the look out for YA fantasy books with an Asian setting. This sounds way amazing and the fact that this is probably the first book that I've found with a jinni as a main character made me want it so bad.

Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Accidental Socialite

Hi, everyone! Today I'm having a Book Blitz for the book The Accidental Socialite by Stephanie Wahlstrom.

The Accidental Socialite

by Stephanie Wahlstrom 

Release Date April 5th 2014
Swoon Romance

Sypnosis:

Quirky and clumsy twenty-two-year-old Paige Crawford arrives in London on a cold Saturday in January. Just when Paige starts to think that moving thousands of miles away from home with no real plan was a bad idea, Jason Frost appears. Confident and classy, Jason is the complete opposite of Paige and just what she needs in her life, or so she thinks.

But before their romance has time to blossom, Paige trips and falls into the arms of a mysterious man on a drunken night out. She’s snapped by paparazzi, and newspaper headlines the next day suggest that she’s having an affair with a married footballer.

Paige finds herself instantly elevated to tabloid celebrity status which isn’t exactly a picnic, particularly when trying to juggle her new job at Fashionista magazine, a catalog of dating disasters and a nagging doubt that she maybe she can’t conquer London after all.

When a trip back to Canada for Christmas reminds Paige why she left her old life behind, she returns to London with renewed vigor realizing that while jobs, flats and men may come and go, friends in London are forever.

Goodreads |  Amazon | 

AUTHOR BIO:
Growing up in Edmonton, Canada, a significant amount of Stephanie’s time was spent making up and acting out stories. She was studying to be an actress when she realized there weren’t any parts for women being written. So, Stephanie wrote herself a short screenplay just to be in it, and quickly realized that writing was her true passion. She graduated from the University of Alberta with an English and Sociology degree and she also has a Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts from Red Deer College. After a fateful trip to Mexico in 2006, Stephanie decided to move to New York City to work in film development. A year later she went back home to write My Green House, a factual TV series. Stephanie moved to London in 2008 and aside from being obsessed with eggs benedict, fruit roll- ups and travelling, she also works in children’s television. The Accidental Socialite is her first novel.

Website |  Twitter | Facebook |  Goodreads

It was 3 A.M. and all I wanted was a cheeseburger.

“Miss, we only sell Big Macs after midnight,” said the McDonalds employee. My stomach grumbled. My diet since I got off the plane had consisted mostly of Champagne, Vodka, and seared tuna.

“Yes, I understand that and I will pay for a Big Mac, but I would like a cheeseburger, so can you, like, remove a patty and mid bun and hold the secret sauce? Please?”

“Miss, I am sorry but we do not have this item.”

Liar. He didn’t look sorry. I immediately wanted to get on the next flight home. It rained cheeseburgers in Canada.

A tall, drunk and incredibly beautiful blonde South African girl appeared at the till next to me.

“I’ll have a hot dog.” That was my new best friend, Lucinda.

We walked out of McDonalds with a small fries to ‘split’, which really meant Lucinda was going to watch me eat them. As I was elegantly shoving eight fries into my mouth at once, not unlike a four-year-old, a swarm of camera wielding hyenas approached. One flash triggered the rest and little white dots burned into my retina. I stumbled, almost dropping my fries.

What was going on? I looked for the celebrity garnering all this attention. I couldn’t believe my luck, I was about to spot someone famous on my first day in London! But when Lucinda slapped the second fist full of fries out of my hand and pulled me towards a taxi, I realized with confusion that the so-called celebrity was me.

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Review: House of Ivy & Sorrow

House of Ivy & Sorrow 
by Natalie Whipple 
ebook,251 pages
Published April 15th 2014 
by HarperTeen
ARC from Edelweiss
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

Josephine Hemlock has spent the last 10 years hiding from the Curse that killed her mother. But when a mysterious man arrives at her ivy-covered, magic-fortified home, it’s clear her mother’s killer has finally come to destroy the rest of the Hemlock bloodline. Before Jo can even think about fighting back, she must figure out who she’s fighting in the first place. The more truth Jo uncovers, the deeper she falls into witchcraft darker than she ever imagined. Trapped and running out of time, she begins to wonder if the very Curse that killed her mother is the only way to save everyone she loves.

For those of you have been following my blog for some time, you guys must know how much I like witches  and kick-ass chicks. With that in mind, this book was definitely love at first sight. And for me it is without a doubt one of the best YA fantasy that I've read this year and the fact that it has some cool witches in it just made me love it to bits. And yes! It's a stand alone! Time to celebrate, people!

Let's get to the nitty gritty. Jo who was raised by her witch grandmother was having one of the best year of her high school life. Surrounded by two wonderful friends, she caught the eye of Winn; one of the popular guy in school. But suddenly a strange, mysterious man appeared right in front of her ivy covered, magically fortified house and all hell breaks loose. 

What made me love this book so much aside from the interesting use of witches, curses and magical elements, are the characters. Jo's two best friends; Gwen and Kat are polar opposites. Gwen is the friendly, outgoing one while Kat is the grouchy no nonsense girl. Winn Carter; the love interest in question is a sweet farmboy witch secrets of his own. And I guess, after losing her mother to the curse ten years ago, Jo is kind of desperate to protect those close to her from suffering such fate. And even the Hemlocks' closest family friend; the Crafts are one zany family of witches which make it hard not to smile when I'm reading about them. And the appearance of Levy; the unusual bewitiching boy who seemed to have a thing for our dear Jo just makes this book so exciting.

Wonderfully written, charming characters and an action filled  plot make this book one witchy book that everyone should definitely check out!

Review: The Geography of You and Me

The Geography of You and Me 
by Jennifer E. Smith 
Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Published April 15th 2014 
by Little, Brown for Young Readers 
ARC from Edelweiss
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met. 

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

I used to think that YA contemporary did not have real depth and considered it as mere fluff. But after giving this popular genre a go this year, I found so many cute stories that are hard to resist.

The Geography of You and Me is a fine example of that. It's short, sweet and simple plot is not for everyone but for those looking for a light read then this might just be for you. Lucy's and Owen's romance is not instantaneous and while some will dismissed the encounter on their apartment's rooftop as not romantic enough, I really like the chemistry between those two. The way they instantly click and the funny conversations they had with each other is the real attraction here. And it is sad to see two people so made for each other are forced to separate because time and fate are just not on their side.

Because you see after their first meeting, Lucy had to travel all the way to Paris and later to Edinburgh when her father was offered a job there. While Owen's dad who was fired from his job decided to go for a road trip. And Owen being the good son that he is, decided to joined his dad since he's worried that his dad is depressed due to the fact that his mom just died.

And although they were reunited once again in San Francisco, the situations are not ideal and they were forced to part again. Despite the fact that both of them did try to have relationships with other people, consequently in the end fate intertwines them back again. The ending is just so- so sweet in my opinion. Although the characters are far from perfect, they are definitely perfect for each other.