Waiting on Wednesday (5): The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

This weeks pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" is:

By: Kay Cassidy
Publication Date: April 2010

When the Prom Queen becomes your fairy godmother…

Sixteen year old outsider, Jess Parker, gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join a secret girl power society dedicated to defeating the mean girls of the world. The Cinderella Society guides all new recruits through its top secret ultimate life makeover. It’s all part of preparing them to face down the Wickeds and win. Determined not to let the Cindys down, Jess dives in with a passion. Finally, a chance to belong and show the world what she’s made of.

… be careful what you wish for.

Jess’s transformation wins her the heart of her dream crush and a shot at uber-popularity. Until the Wickeds–led by Jess’s arch enemy–begin targeting innocent girls in their war against the Cindys, and the Cindys in power need Jess on special assignment. When the mission threatens to destroy her dream life come true, Jess is forced to choose between living a fairy tale and honoring the Sisterhood… and herself.

What’s a girl to do when the glass slipper fits, but she doesn’t want to wear it anymore?

I'm really looking forward to reading this. The unique take on Cinderella caught my attention and I love the idea of the "Cindys" and the "Wickeds"! This is also a series, with book #2 coming out in 2011.



Waiting on Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Teaser Tuesday, June 30, 2009: The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should be Reading.
Rules:

-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!

From The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan




Pg. 128

"Power," he said. "As I understand it, just using the power makes you want more. It's a rush; it's addictive, and it's not just that. Once you have enough power, you can have anything you want."

This book seems like a really fresh take on demons, magic and magicians. I've had a hard time putting it down so far!

Books to Wish For!

The following are some of the books I keep stumbling upon during my wanderings on amazon.com, blogger pages and author websites. They are all yet to be released titles that I can't wait to read!

Candor by Pam Bachorz (September 22nd 2009)
Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block (October 1st 2009)

Ghost Huntress Book 2: The Guidance by Marley Gibson (September 7th 2009)
Betrayals (Strange Angels #2) by Lili St. Crow (November 17th 2009)

Possessions by Nancy Holder (September 3rd 2009)
Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder (January 5th 2010)



Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (March 2nd 2010)
The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones (September 1st 2009)

Dreaming Anastasia: A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams by Joy Preble (September 1st 2009)
Devoured by Amanda Marrone (September 8th 2009)

Soulless (Parasol Protectorate Series, Book 1) by Gail Carriger (October 1st 2009)
For Keeps by Natasha Friend (April 2010)

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (March 16th 2010)
Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (September 14th 2009)

Sleepless by Thomas Fahy (August 11th 2009)
Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (March 2010)

Award Time!

I received a couple of awards and just wanted to say thank you to the wonderful bloggers who gave them to me. Thanks Ladies! Everyone should stop by their blogs, they're great!

The Kreative Blogger Award from Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century.

The Humane Award from Jenni at Falling off the Shelf and Jessica at A Book
Lover's Diary.

Mailbox Monday: June 29, 2009

Mailbox Monday is a way for readers to share new books that have come into their homes over the past week. It was started over at the Printed Page by Marcia. I have to agree with Marcia when she said "Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists." That couldn't be more true!

I was fortunate to receive a copy of Ghost Huntress: The Awakening by Marley Gibson in my mailbox. I ended up reading the whole book within one day and really enjoyed it. I'll be posting a review soon.

About the Book:
The first in a trilogy. Get out your tape recorders, crystals, and extra batteries— you're about to go where our world meets the spirit world.Psychic Kids, Paranormal State, Haunting Evidence—these and countless other television shows are making believers out of millions of people: Ghosts exist, and they're living right beside us. For centuries, individuals have been trying to prove the existence of ghosts. But without hard evidence, it's been difficult to make the case. But now as science and technology have progressed, ghost hunters have been able to use scientific means, along with more traditional psychic tools, to make their case. Photographs, video recordings, and sound recordings are all producing some amazing results.

In this new series, Ghost Huntress, meet Kendall Moorehead, a seemingly typical teen. When her family moves from Chicago to the small historical town of Radisson, Georgia, her psychic abilities awaken. She's hearing, feeling, and seeing things that seem unbelievable at first, but with the help of the town psychic, Kendall is able to come to terms with her newly emerging gift. So, together with her new BFF, Celia, Kendall forms a ghost hunting team. They've got all the latest technology. They've got Kendall for their psychic. Now they're going to clean up Radisson of its less savory spirits.

The story is fiction. The science is real. Welcome to a new reality.


I am extremely excited to read Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard.

About the Book:
To impress the popular girls on a high school trip to London, klutzy Callie buys real Prada heels. But trying them on, she trips…conks her head…and wakes up in the year 1815!

There Callie meets Emily, who takes her in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. As she spends time with Emily’s family, Callie warms to them—particularly to Emily’s cousin Alex, a hottie and a duke, if a tad arrogant.

But can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, and win Alex’s heart, before her time in the past is up?

I am finally going to read the Shifters series! I've heard so many great things about them and I'm really looking forward to reading the books. This one is the first in the series, Stray, Shifters #1 by Rachel Vincent.

About the Book:
I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.
Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I'd been warned about Strays: werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever and whoever I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them.

What's in your mailbox?

Author News Flashes

I picked up a few interesting tidbits this morning and thought I'd pass along -

MELISSA MARR
As posted on Publishers Weekly this week:

"YA author Melissa Marr has closed her first adult deal with her longtime publisher, HarperCollins. Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House brokered the deal for two books for mid-to-high six figures. Jennifer Brehl at HC took North American rights. Heifetz described the first book, Graveminder, as “Six Feet Under laced with ancient Irish evil and a dash of Faulkner”; the second book is currently untitled. Marr’s teen books Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, dark paranormal titles featuring fairies who coexist uneasily with the few humans who can see them, earned starred PW reviews and were Book Sense Picks."

ALYSON NOEL
Alyson Noel posted on her boards that she's signed on to write another Immortals book (making that a total of 6 books). She will also start a new series starring Ever's ghostly sister Riley and that is set to debut in Fall 2010! Also--movie rights for Evermore were purchased so it is possible we could see a film in the works!




CLAUDIA GRAY
Claudia announced this on her blog back in May but for Evernight fans who missed it like I did, you'll be excited to know that Balthazar is getting his own book (aptly titled "Balthazar"), which is a continuation of the Evernight series delving "into the complicated past of the title vampire".



MELISSA DE LA CRUZ
The first chapter of the Van Alen Legacy was mailed out to Melissa de la Cruz's newsletter subscribers last week! I found a link to read it online. To do so, click HERE!





SCOTT WESTERFELD
Scott Westerfeld wrote a great post about his conversation with the production team for the Uglies Movie. It's to lengthy for me to paste here, but if you want to read the full post, click HERE. I liked how he told them most fans really want the roles of Shay and Tally to be with unknown actresses, while Dr. Cable could possibly be a famous face. I picture Nicole Kidman possibly playing Dr. Cable, what do you think?

Book Review: Swoon by Nina Malkin

SWOON by NINA MALKIN

What do you do when the boy of your dreams is too bad to be true?

SINopsis: by Sinclair Youngblood Powers

Welcome, dear reader, to our story. It’s the tale of the lovely Dice Moskow and the also lovely Pen Leonard—yet, truly, for the large part, it’s about me.

Sinclair Youngblood Powers.

Call me Sin.

For it is I who was unjustly condemned to death in the town of Swoon, Connecticut, in the year of Our Lord 1769. It is I who swore vengeance upon the place, and I who returns to latter-day Swoon, slipping without sanction into the unsuspecting vessel of Pen’s body, possessing her, using her as an instrument of retribution. And it is I who inveigles Dice to free me from that vessel, make me flesh once more, infuse me with great vigor and determination and…

Yes, I coerce Dice.

Yes, I defy her.

Yes, I betray her. I do.

Yet above and beyond all that I love her, and if you doubt it I beseech you to read this story, this SWOON, and find out for yourself if my love, her love, our love—impossible though it may be—is true.

REVIEW: Torn from her native New York City, nickname-loving Candice (or Dice) is resigned to accept her fate when her family moves to Swoon Connecticut, a place where nothing ever happens. That is until spoiled cousin Penelope, better known as Pen, has a near fatal fall from an ancient ash tree. Pen's body is infiltrated by the vengeful spirit of an eighteenth century man bent on revenge against the descendants of those who unjustly murdered him. In an attempt to save Pen from the possession, Dice accidentally frees the spirit of Sinclair Youngblood Powers (aptly nicknamed Sin), and installs him into the body of a real flesh-and-blood man. Now more dangerous than ever, Sin awakens the quiet, cookie cutter small town to their darkest, most suppressed desires and subsequently leaves a path of destruction in his wake. Dice is the only person who can save her friends and family from Sin. But there’s just one problem- she’s inexplicably, utterly in love with him. In setting Sin free, she knows she’ll lose him forever.

Swoon was a dark, edgy and sensual read. The starkly beautiful prose in which Malkin constructs her sentences was like a breath of fresh air, and I found myself wanting to savor each delicious turn of the page. By far, my favorite character was Dice. Told in the first person narrative, her observations were so wry and so honest, I felt like I was transported into the book and literally sitting right next to her while she told me her story. I understood why she was so conflicted in her feelings, especially when it came to Sin. And let’s talk about Sin, shall we? Sin was so witty, so ruthless and so insanely passionate. Not to mention gorgeous and a gentleman (in his own warped way). There were times when I knew I should hate him, but I simply could not. It was easy to see how Dice could fall for him, who wouldn't?

The following is a really great moment between Sin and Dice after she realizes she was tricked into releasing Sin into a body of his own, and illustrates how mischievous and conniving Sin could be-

It was impossible. I believed in the big bang theory, in evolution. Besides, I was no god, or goddess, witch, whatever. Except Sin was there, in flesh and ...what, mud? Leaves? That extra special ingredient of my own tears? Only he couldn’t be! I did those things, yes – but for the opposite reason. “What I did” – each word was a sharp pebble from a quarry below my lungs- “was supposed to bring you peace.

Sin smiled. A dissolute, ferocious thing in his face.

“It’s a lovely night, my belly is full, and I’m in the presence of a beautiful woman. I couldn’t be more at peace.” (Page 152)

There are a lot of conflicting reviews I have read about this book. Though I agree with other reviewers that the writing could meander a bit, the characters were so well developed and the atmosphere so hauntingly decadent, I was able to overlook it with no problem. Many people also objected to the parade of “lust” left behind as Sin ran rampant through the former mild mannered town. While I can understand that, I personally did not think it was portrayed in an overtly explicit manner. However, with that being said, Swoon is not a book that everyone will love, and it's definitely geared toward older, more mature teens.

BOTTOM LINE: Swoon is a novel that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. It’s a smartly written, achingly beautiful novel about improbable love and unimaginable loss.

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 19, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416974342
ISBN-13: 978-1416974345
Buy at: Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, etc

Official Website of Nina Malkin

Read an excerpt from Chapter One HERE

Nina Malkin is the author of three YA novels, one novella, and an adult memoir. Before turning to books, Nina was a journalist specializing in entertainment, pop culture, and lifestyles. She has held executive positions as an editor and writer at Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Teen People, and her work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Seventeen, Real Simple, In Style, and numerous other publications. A New York native, Nina lives in Brooklyn with her musician husband and assorted felines. Find out more at ninamalkin.com.

Samples Anyone?

There are some great upcoming books on the horizon with sample chapters available to readers. I compiled a list of ones to check out-

Caution: they will leave you wanting more!


THE VAN ALEN LEGACY
by Melissa de la Cruz
Release date: October 6th 2009

Read Chapter One HERE!



THE HOLLOW by Jessica Verday
Release Date: September 1st 2009
Read a sample of Chapter One HERE!

THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain
Release Date: December 22nd 2009
Read a sample of Chapter One HERE!


DEMON PRINCESS by Michelle Rowen
Release Date: September 29th 2009
Read the first two chapters HERE!


Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
Release Date: September 15th 2009
Read a sample of Chapter One HERE!


BLUE MOON by Alyson Noel
Release Date: July 7th 2009
Read a sample of Chapter One HERE!

DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE by Jeaniene Frost
Release Date: July 28th 2009
Read sample of Chapter One HERE!


ONCE A WITCH by Carolyn MacCullough
Release Date: September 14th 2009
Read a sample HERE!


STUPID CUPID by Rhonda Stapleton
Release Date: December 22nd 2009
Read a sample of Chapter One HERE!

Waiting on Wednesday (4) : Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Waiting on Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This weeks pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" is:

Ice



By: Sarah Beth Durst
Publication Date: October 6, 2009
Pre-order at: Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-million, Amazon, etc

When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairytale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth to become a prisoner of the trolls. Now that Cassie is older, she knows that this was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, she is determined to become a scientist, and she has no time for make believe.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face to face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned in the troll castle. And that he can bring her back -- if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie's own real-life fairytale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knew will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her -- until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of ICE.

To read an excerpt, click HERE.

The elements of magic and romance in the description of this book really captured my imagination. I also LOVE the cover. Can't wait to get my hands on it!

What are you waiting on?

Books By Their Cover

I wanted to do a post dedicated to really great book cover designs. To me, a great book cover has a striking and creative design that conveys the idea of a book on a single page. Out of many books, I picked a few favorites to display here. These covers really drew me in and made me feel compelled to buy them before I even knew what they were about!

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (July 7th 2009)

The Van Alen Legacy, a Blue Bloods Novel by Melissa de la Cruz (October 1st 2009)

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (September 7th 2009)

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitpatrick (October 13th 2009)

Ash by Malinda Lo (July 2nd 2009)

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain (December 22nd 2009)