My name is Amber and I'm an aspiring YA author with a passion for movies and novels. If it's young adult AND paranormal and/or romantic (best if all three!) I'm there. Also, it seems fair to warn everyone that I am not a robot or a zombie and when it comes to the all important question: zombie or unicorns, I must side with the unicorns because they were my first love.
Friend me on Goodreads and Twitter!
Happily Ever Endings are ending summaries of novels that will be in series for your reading pleasure. That way, you can refer to them when the next book comes out if you can't remember exactly what happened.
It's that time of week again! I'm showing another couple of covers that make me green with envy and stuck sitting on my hands until the novels they cover come out. I hope you enjoy!
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins- The combination ethereal, with of the bodies floating in water and creepy, the guy holding onto the girl like he's drowning her, really make this cover stand out. I love that they put the model in a white dress as it suggests innocence and then used the dark greenish gray background to wash out the white. My absolute favorite thing about this cover though is how her foot is placed on top of his. Gorgeous!
From Goodreads:
Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is out September 27, 2011.
The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon- Holy moly, this is the kind of cover that's screaming at anyone who passes by on a shelf. Again, it looks like the model is underwater which gives it that ethereal feel and I love how her dress is made of the blue stuff underneath. It looks like she's busting free but it also seems like the blue gas is trying to pull her back down. I'm also in love with the fact that the lettering is white where it comes across her. Absolutely beautiful.
From Goodreads:
A move to Ireland is about to introduce Megan to her destiny, her real destiny, can she embrace it and will she survive it?
A tragedy in Megan’s past set her on a predetermined course. A chain of events has been set in motion that brings Megan to Kinsale, a small town in the south of Ireland where her destiny awaits her. Her life starts to fall into place as she makes new friends and settles into her new school. However, the reclusive and distant Adam DeRís calls to her body and soul.
She finds herself increasingly drawn to Adam and his strange family. Adam knows a secret from her past and he and his family hold the key to her future. A future that binds her to Adam and his world, a world of power, mystery and ancient orders. A world that unbeknownst to her, she very much belongs in.
In my mailbox is a weekly meme created by The Story Sirenthat encourages other book bloggers to share what they bought, won, begged for or borrowed. It is usually held on Sundays!
I got two novels in the mail this week and I'm excited to get started out them!
The book blog hop is hosted by Jennifer over at Crazy For Books. The idea behind it is to link up your blog and check out others who did the same!
I want to welcome everyone stopping by from the Hop!
I'm a 23-year-old aspiring YA novelist and on my blog it's all about YA novels, writing and movies! I'm really excited to be meeting everyone! Feel free to have a look around my blog!
This week's question:.
What are you most looking forward to be published in 2011? Why?
I'm definitely looking forward to Angelfire by Courtney Alison Moulton. I've heard such great things about this novel and I love, love, love the summary. Angels, reincarnations, and a boy toy? I'm so there. I'm also really looking forward to Bad Taste In Boys by Carrie Harris because I follow her blog and she is FREAKING hilarious. Not to mention that gorgeous little cover and book summary. And lastly (though I could go on and on) The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab because the premise sounds so unique is a little bit creepy, a little bit rock 'n' roll.
Reading Level: Young Adult Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Language: English ISBN-10: 0385739141 ISBN-13: 978-0385739146 Source: Bought from Amazon.com Cover: In *love* with this cover. Didn't think it be possible to top the last cover but by god, they did. The pose, the model, the color palette is all perfect! But what I'm especially in love with is the carry over of the birds in the background! Nice throwback to the first novel! First Sentence: "Daniel stared out at the bay."
Mini- Review: If you fell for Fallen, you'll flip for Torment!
Book Summary:
Hell on earth.
That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true?
What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?
The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.
The Review:
There were so many things I loved about Torment-- the great cast of characters was back along with some new ones, the fresh change of scenery, the same fluid writing I came to expect from the first one and a fast moving plot. It had a lot of bright points but it did have a few downfalls which I'll being going into in this review. What I will say is, as a whole, I liked Torment more and that's always a step in the right direction!
Going back into Luce's world was exciting and I was happy to be there. I really liked the supporting characters in the first one, with a special emphasis on Arriane and Roland, so I was glad to see them back. Kate did an amazing job of giving us great characters on each side of the spectrum of "good" and "evil" which really blurs the line. This was especially reflected well in Steven and Francesca and trickled out to all the people. Plus, the addition of Miles and Shelby really gave the story some fresh life and I loved those characters. Luce's friendship with both of them was really great. However, I found myself liking Luce and Daniel less and less.
I understand that Luce was confused about a lot of things but I was frustrated that she lost her way halfway through the story. She was so wishy-washy about everything and a lot of the times when she felt like she was trying to assert her independence, she was just being purposely dumb. What I liked about her in the first novel was that she was pretty good at figuring things out for herself. By the time she put two and two together, so had I. But in this novel she was a lot slower.
Daniel also took a turn for the worst. He was demanding, controlling and kind of jerk for someone who loved Luce so much. I just wish those two would learn how to talk. Luce often said that when they were doing anything else with their mouths besides kissing, everything turned to Hell and she was right about that. I didn't understand why he would just talk to her about things. But when Luce kissed Miles, I felt for Daniel, a lot. So I'm ready to be done with him but I do want these two to learn how to communicate stat.
The changing scenery was exactly what this story needed. I was a big fan of the atmosphere of the first one but after I closed the book, I didn't want to go back there again. I wanted something new and lush to make up for all that brown and grey. Obviously Kate felt that way too and she went all out to make us marvel at the school she created. From the salty sea breeze to the huge redwood trees, I was totally there in California and loving it!
The plot of this one seemed a bit less breakneck. I wasn't dying to find out anything but I was enjoying the moral grey lines that Kate threw up. It was interesting to see demons portrayed as regular people with different beliefs and even more interesting that I think Luce was leaning towards them. Those Announcers she was playing around with were way more dark side than light because we only saw the demons really using them. We got to see that the angels knew how but it was the demons that mastered it. I really hope the third novel dives into this full fledged and we go back into her lives to figure out who she is. I also hope that Luce emerges stronger because of it.
Kate has a way of making third person feel like first person but with the added bonus of getting to figure out how more than one person feels about what's going on. The writing is smooth with an amazing balance of character's feelings and perceptions and details to make the world come alive.
Torment was a great read but because of the good stuff, the bad stuff became all that more obvious. I think it's that Second Story Syndrome coming into play. Torment suffered pretty badly when the author tried to ripe the two main characters apart instead of making them try to talk to each other and in there lay its faults. But it was still a great ride, more fun than the first, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second one. If you liked Fallen, I highly suggest continuing the journey with Torment. I'm a fan and I'm sticking it out till the end!
I'm working on a Super Secret Project currently and I need some help to finish it. So if you or anyone you know has any bookmarks lying around for books that you don't want or if you are a super magical author who wants to donate, please email me (AmberInBlunderland[at]yahoo[dot]com)! I'd really appreciate it. It's going to be epic when it's done but I don't want to talk about it until it's finished. Then I'll premiere it on the blog.
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where you can post about upcoming books you're looking forward to.
This is a wonderful chance for blogger to show off what's coming out soon that they are excited about! Every week my wishlist balloons thanks to this awesome meme.
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.
For some reason, I always read this book title in my head to the melody to the Madonna song "Papa don't preach!" so it's definitely got that going for it. I never got what all the fuss was about this novel because I wasn't wild about the cover. But then I read the summary and my eyes got as wide as saucers and I though I might choke on something. So basically, I fell in love. And now all I can say is, this novel isn't coming out soon enough.
Talk To Me Tuesday is a fun new meme created by the wonderful Melissa over at i swim for oceans.
Talk to Me Tuesday is a brand new weekly meme where we will discuss anything (and everything) literary-related in an open forum of honesty. Questions for the next week will be posted one week prior to the post on the Features page. If you'd like to participate in this weekly feature, simply create your post, link back to me, and add your post to the wonderful Mr. Linky on Melissa's page. Have fun, and have at it!
This week's question: Do you have any specific literary pet-peeves in the genres you read and why?
Ya lit is my heart. Seriously, I love the genre but like any love that has possession over your heart, it can break it sometimes.
I've been reading a boatload of sequels lately so here's what my biggest pet peeve currently about YA in sequels. I hate, hate, hate that the guy and the girl end up together in the first novel and then all of a sudden the two leads don't trust each other in the second. If I'm going to be fair about this then I'll say it's because love at first sight doesn't work and by the second novel, the characters suddenly find out they don't know everything about each other by just looking at each other longingly from afar and a romantic date once or twice.
But let's not be fair for a second. The reason this is happens is because the writer knows that no one wants to read about a character whose life is perfect so the writer forces the neatly tied bow of the first novel apart and the best way to do that is to make the guy go poof.
It's happened in so many different novels and it drives me crazy.
The girl finds out a sliver of truth about the guy's past and instead of just talking to him about it, they get all suspicious and angry and decide to do something reckless because of the way they feel.
One of the things I loved about Linger by Maggie Stiefvater is that Grace and Sam stayed together in the novel. They still had problems but Sam didn't go all aloof and mysterious on Grace for a plot device.
It's that time of week again! I'm showing another couple of covers that make me green with envy and stuck sitting on my hands until the novels they cover come out. I hope you enjoy!
This version of Cover Envy is going to be a special version because I'm going to showcase a series with covers I can't live without!
Fallen Series by Lauren Kate
Did it hurt... when you fell from heaven? *Couldn't resist the excuse to use a cheesy pickup line*. But seriously, these covers are gorgeous and create a lot of Envy from me. I love how each cover creates a certain bleak mood with the background colors and somber pose of the model.
Fallen- I love the blue background. It fits perfectly with the novel and Luce is always describing how she hates forests because of the shadows. For me, the model looks like Luce and I like how she has her face buried in her hands as it express the sorrow that this novel starts out with. There is a photo described in the novel where Luce is wearing a black dress and has gloves on her hands that show her fingers. I've always thought the gloves were such an interesting touch and my eye was drawn to them. So g;ad there is a reasoning behind it!
Torment- We follow the same black dress, long black hair theme but this time on a completely new color palette. I like that the model was carried over and so were the ravens from the first cover. It instantly allows me to identify that this novel is in the Fallen series. This cover for me really shows Luce's confusion which is great because she's trying to sort though a lot in this second installment. Again, we get the beautiful dress with the interesting detail of the shaw or undershirt sticking out, adding something a little extra to stare at.
Passion- I wish the birds had carried over. Regardless, the second I saw this, I knew it was part of the Fallen series and that's exactly what it needed to do. I'm with the others though when they say that this is their least favorite of the three but I have odd reasoning-- the model's arms got too skinny. It looks like the hacked them off with photoshop and now she looks sickly especially with her head being down. I love the blue in the background but I could have down without the yellow clouds and I think the added touch of the red rose is beautiful.
Altogether, this is a beautiful set of covers and I can't wait to see what the final installment will look like.
Reading Level: Young Adult Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Language: English ISBN-10:0385738935 ISBN-13:978-0385738934 Source: Books-A-Million Cover: This cover leaps off the shelf. It sets the tone of the novel perfectly (though not the character). I love the model's pose, her long dark hair falling down her back and the fact that they added gloves to her hands because Luce mentions she did. The background is also gorgeous. I really like the birds flying through the dark woods. An amazing first cover for an amazing debut novel! First Sentence: "Around midnight, he eyes at last took shape."
Mini-Review: You're bound to fall for it!
Book Summary:
There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.
The Review: In a crowded market, Fallen sets itself apart from the others with a great leading character, a balanced love triangle, an interesting plot line and exceptional writing. Right down to the last page, Fallen had me by the wings and wouldn't let go. Luce was in a really bad way at the beginning of the novel and her situation had me hooked. I felt like she was fleshed out and capable of complex emotions. Her feelings of confusion and grief seeped off the page and I was able to identify with her confusion. One of the things I really loved about Luce was that no matter what, she trusted herself even when her instinct was almost unbelievable. That made her decisions, even her decidedly stupid ones, feel plausible because she was trying to do what she believed. I can see how some people would dislike Luce because she did lead Cam on a bit but I also understand why she did that, even though she was attracted to Daniel. I thought her interactions with both Cam and Daniel worked well to showcase the confusion she was feeling on the inside. The love triangle is getting to be a staple in YA paranormal romance and as thus, can be a bit tiresome. It was good to read about another balanced one. Even though Cam turned out to be not all Luce originally thought (though I'm elbow deep in the second book by the time I'm writing this and know a bit more about him), I still felt I could see Luce choosing Cam. I liked that both boys were drastically different towards her but in intriguing ways. I'm enjoying figuring out where Cam's character is going to take us further into the series. Daniel is the atypical bad boy character with a heart of gold but he's believable in the role and he's got the added bonus of falling for Luce over and over again. Though I knew Daniel would her choice in the first novel, I'm not sure where Luce will ultimately end up going (though I do think Daniel will be it in the end as well). The supporting character were all really fascinating too. I found myself drawn to Arriane the way Luce was and I wanted to know Penn from the moment she showed up with a bottle of shampoo in the girl's bathroom. Even Gabbe had her own appeal and I was dying to figure out more about Roland. I really liked the pairing of reincarnation and angels and demons. It's not something I've seen mixed before but it made for a really interesting plot. What would you do if you had to fall in love and watch the one you love die over and over again? However, I'm still a bit confused as to why Daniel just can't break to her the details of their relationship, especially since touching is so well... touchy. I'm just not loving the "because she'll burst into flames" excuse without a reason why she'll burst into flames. But I loved not knowing what was going to happen and this novel was great at not revealing too much at once. The atmosphere really lent itself to the plot. I could see Sword & Cross perfectly in my head. With the sweltering heat, the sticky stagnant air and marshes surrounding the school and the colors leeched from the land, it was depressing to be there. I liked how Kate was so skilled at adding things of beauty in between the terribly bland and depressing landscape-- the cementery with it's bowl-like ground and intricate fence and the church that is falling apart with the beautiful stain glass. What I was most impressed about though was Kate's writing. There aren't many novels that I enjoy in third person but Kate is so effortless with her point of view that I barely even notice. I feel like I know Luce as well as I know any of my favorite first person characters. A lot of times there is this wall between the reader and the character in third person but in Kate's novel, this literally doesn't exist. The writing is fluid and easy to read with details slipped in at the right time to give the reader a complete understanding of their surroundings. I highly reccomend Fallen to fans of YA paranormal romance. The only reason this is getting a 4.5 is because of some of the plot things but I can tell already from Torment that these things are working themselves out. Can't wait for the final novel in this series!
In my mailbox is a weekly meme created by The Story Sirenthat encourages other book bloggers to share what they bought, won, begged for or borrowed. It is usually held on Sundays!
I had another unusual book buying week this one. I usually limit myself to one or two but this week I got five but I got two sent to me by publishers so that's sorta kinda okay. I'm very excited about each title.
Holy moly, I had a ton of entries for this giveaway! That's why it took my so long to do the mall. There were 290 individuals who entered and out of that 1076 individual entires. So it was a lot of adding up. So here is the book being given away:
The winner of this contest is 681. EDNA who wanted Across The Universe by Beth Revis!
But since there were so many contestants, I added a second winner.
The second winner is 239. ASHLEY from Book Labyrinth who also wanted Across The Universe by Beth Revis!
Congrats to both winners! An email will be heading your way in a few and you each will have 72 hours to respond. Thanks so much to all the amazing people who entered!
The book blog hop is hosted by Jennifer over at Crazy For Books. The idea behind it is to link up your blog and check out others who did the same!
I want to welcome everyone stopping by from the Hop!
I'm a 23-year-old aspiring YA novelist and on my blog it's all about YA novels, writing and movies! I'm really excited to be meeting everyone! Feel free to have a look around my blog!
This week's question:
Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?
We got the great news that The Mortal Instrument series is being made into a movie which is just super exciting. It got it's director and then we got a Clary, actress Lily Collins (aka The Blindside):
Thanks to Reading Teen, I just found out that Alex Pettyfer, almost EVERYONE's pick for Jace, was offered the part of Jace.
This is so super exciting! So I decided to do a little snooping to see if the rumors are true and it look like they are. But I also found out something alarming. Cinemablend reports that Pettyfer was indeed offered the part but "there's a catch. Apparently studio chief Clint Culpepper is so insistent about getting Pettyfer as his lead that should he turn it down, the project will be CANCELED."
Don't get me wrong, I was Pettyfer as Jace as much as the next girl but I'm not sure if I'm willing to put this project at stake just to see him play the part. So everyone, cross your fingers! All I can say is this, Mr. Pettyfer, think long and hard about this offer or otherwise you might have some super pissed off fans. Anyway, not sure if this is wholly true but it was reported and I wanted everyone to be aware!
Just a quick update, two people never got back to me about winning their prizes so I've picked two new winners.
Winner of The Riddle by Alison Croggon is Vivien! Congrats!
Winner of Fade by Lisa McMann is Sophia L. Congrats!
Both winners have been notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond with their address.
I'm still working on tallying up all the entries for the Dreaming of Books Hop. I had 290 individual entries and still have a hundred to sort through to add up the extra entires. Right now that 750 entries and more to go so hang in with me. Hope to have the winner posted sometime tomorrow.
Recently I read Ms Revis's debut novel Across The Universe and fell head over heels in love with it (review here) so I contacted her in hopes that she might agree to do an interview with me. And she did (or else there probably wouldn't be this post). So check out what Ms. Revis had to say to all of my questions and don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a copy of her amazing novel!
1) How did you come up with Across The Universe? Was there something in specific that served as inspiration?
The idea for AtU came from the ending...I had an idea for a twisty solution to a mystery, and decided to write a book around it.
2) I loved that Across The Universe was told in dual perspectives. Did you always plan on telling both Amy and Elder's side of the story? Which perspective did you identify with more?
I did always intende to write both POVs--for the story to work, I knew I wanted to show different perspectives. I think I identified most with Elder in the beginning, but when Amy became much more vulnerable near the end, she matched my personality more.
3) On this adventure, Amy and her family were allowed to pack some suitcases full of things to bring. Your suitcase can only hold five things. What's coming with you?
-My laptop, filled with all my writings and photographs and music and audio books
-My iPod, to use as a backup for all the rest, and to keep it all close
-My jewelry box, filled with my wedding ring and the jewelry passed down from my family
-My favorite book: CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia
-My journal
(Although I do feel as if I've cheated by putting things inside of things and filling up my lap top...)
4) Another one of my favorite aspects of the novel were the inventions on the ship. If one could be real, what would you like to have?
I want floppies! I would LOVE to have something that thin and portable that can do ANYTHING electronic you want. So cool.
5) Was there anything that got cut during the editting process that you miss? Reversely, was there anything added that you love?
Not really--I was totally cool with all the cuts I made. And I really like all the things I added--in particular, Luthe's character was mostly added in during edits, and I'm really pleased with how he turned out.
6) Giving Amy a hobby like running and then sticking her on a small ship really made me feel her clastrophobia. What is one of your phobias?
This is SO weird, but I HATE looking at myself in the mirror when the room is dark. It's so creepy!
7) Sci-fi is not a popular genre is YA fiction. What made you choose sci-fi or did it choose you?
The story needed the sci fi setting--I made the setting to fit the story.
8) Is there a particular song (besides, of course, the obvious one from the title) or band that you feel represents Across The Universe?
I LOVED Mads Langer's song "Fact/Fiction." I listened to that one on repeat a LOT.
9) Have you read anything recently that you loved?
Too many books to count! I recently finished PRISONERS IN THE PALACE and loved it, and I'm currently reading and really enjoyed MAGIC UNDER GLASS.
10) Are you working on anything new at the moment?
I'm focused on some short stories now, but then I'm going to need to buckle down on the edits for Book 2.
Win Across The Universe by Beth Revis
Rules:
This is an INTERNATIONAL contest (if Book Depository ships to you, then you are eligible)
This contest ends February 2nd
You must be a follower of my blog
You must be 13 years or older
You may only entry once
Leave a comment in the section below about the interview for an extra point!
