Bliss

Bliss
Author: Lauren Myracle
Series: ---
Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
How Recieved: local library

When Bliss’s hippie parents leave the commune and dump her at the home of her aloof grandmother in a tony Atlanta neighborhood, it’s like being set down on an alien planet. The only guide naive Bliss has to her new environment is what she’s seen on The Andy Griffith Show. But Mayberry is poor preparation for Crestview Academy, an elite school where the tensions of the present and the dark secrets of the past threaten to simmer into violence. Openhearted Bliss desperately wants new friends, making her the perfect prey of a troubled girl whose obsession with a long-ago death puts Bliss, and anyone she’s kind to, in mortal danger.

This book was... odd.
Not good, not bad.

Just... odd.

I went in expecting a horror story and ended up with a bordering-on-fantasy story. It was interesting, but I felt no connection to the story whatsoever.

It was an interesting waste of my time.

Overall Rating: 5/10.
Bliss or Pet Cemetery:? Stephen King = king of horror. Lauren Myracle = apparently only able to write in chatspeak.

~ N

Final Fridays -- Jennifer Echols

Eight Questions With Jennifer Echols
Jennifer Echols used to be in the marching band in high school. She knows how to waterski. She really has had somebody smear her with bryozoa.

And she's this month's Final Fridays interview!

Going Too Far is different from your other books - like Boys Next Door, for instance. Which did you prefer writing?

Going Too Far was more freeing, because where I would edit myself while writing a romantic comedy, I just went ahead and wrote.

Let the spirit of the novel be with you... You're on a deserted island, and you can only bring one thing with you. What would you bring?
I have a volume of all Jane Austen's novels. That would keep me happy for a long time.

I would've said a boat. If you're on that same deserted island, who would you bring with you?

My husband! It is cold and rainy here today, and the idea of going with my husband to a deserted tropical island sounds pretty good right now.

It's nice and sunny here! Though by summer, I'll be wishing for it to be cold and rainy. All of your novels have a hint of romance in them. Who is your favorite male character?

Oh man, I have to choose? I can't believe you're making me do this. I'll always have a soft spot for Drew from Major Crush, because he was my first hero. But poor Adam from The Boys Next Door is so vulnerable. He needs me. And John from Going Too Far is strong yet adorable, with those dreamy dark eyes...

Nah, I'm not choosing. ;)

You could just pick all three to do a competition, and whoever wins the competition wins your heart! You do a lot of events - book singings, speaking, etc. What has been your favorite trip so far?

Last April I spoke at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery with R. A. Nelson and Jay Asher. It was a gorgeous spring day in Old Alabama Town, a restored historic village. The sun was warm.. Flower petals fell from the trees onto the brick paths. And everybody there was a book nut. I talked to so many fun readers and hilarious librarians.. I have very fond memories of that day.

Favorite candy. Go.

Cadbury Creme Eggs. No-brainer.

I LOVE Cadbury Mini Eggs. Let's say their making a movie on YA fiction writers. Who would you cast to play yourself - and do you have any other authors you'd like to see cast, and who?

Ashley Tisdale. She is great at playing the well-meaning dork, and that's me. (I give the same answer for the actress who I'd cast as Lori in The Boys Next Door, because Lori and I are so much alike.)

Molly Ringwald could play Rosemary Clement-Moore, who is writing a wonderful new book set in Alabama. We could road-trip over to Georgia and hunt ghosts with Marley Gibson, played by Keri Russell.

Ghost Hunters: Young Adult Writers. I can see it now! If you could write about ANYTHING with the knowledge that somebody would buy it, what would you write about?
I wrote part of a YA romantic comedy about an out-of-control rock band in Atlanta and the manager who tries to whip them into shape. I have always regretted that book didn't sell. I crack myself up just thinking about it. (Of course, I crack myself up a LOT.)

"Nicole, thank you so much for having me on your blog!"

Waiting on Wednesday - Shrinking Violet

Shrinking Violet
Danielle Joseph

High school senior Teresa Adams is so painfully shy that she dreads speaking to anyone in the hallways or getting called on in class. But in the privacy of her bedroom with her iPod in hand, she rocks out -- doing mock broadcasts for Miami's hottest FM radio station, which happens to be owned by her stepfather. When a slot opens up at The SLAM, Tere surprises herself by blossoming behind the mike into confident, sexy Sweet T -- and to everyone's shock, she's a hit! Even Gavin, the only guy in school who she dares to talk to, raves about the mysterious DJ's awesome taste in music. But when The SLAM announces a songwriting contest -- and a prom date with Sweet T is the grand prize -- Sweet T's dream could turn into Tere's worst nightmare....

I can understand being who you want to when nobody knows who you are, so I'm kind of interested in seeing how she reacts to being forced into revealing her identity -- though the rest of the plotline is obvious.

Comes Out May 5 '09

Barnes and Noble

I went to B&N to work on that 50's project I mentioned earlier with my group.

What is it with B&N workers?

Us: Do you have any specific books on the 50's or with sections on the 50's?
Them: *look it up* No.
Us: ... *stare at computer* Are you sure? *five different books mentioned*
Them: Yes.
Us: *shrug* Maybe they have to order them.

Ten minutes later.

Group Member 1: Found two!
Group Member 2: Found four!
Me: Found one!

Us: *stare at B&N workers*
Them: *smile*
Us: *growl*

New Moon

So maybe Edward doesn't show up a lot in New Moon.

But it's okay.
Because this poster is THUD-worthy.



Kudos to Sarah MacLean for finding it first. ^^


And it does look a little bit fan made, so maybe it's not the real one.
But still.
WOW.




Upon farther research, that one WAS indeed fan made, as are these awesome Jane and Bella ones.



Her eyes need a bit of work, but that looks good.



What do you guys think?

Because I think if Summit's smart, they'll pay to use these and have somebody create a Jacob one.

Then we'd be set.

Shelter Me

Shelter Me
Author: Alex McAulay
Series: ---
Publisher: MTV Books
How Received: publicist

Maggie Leigh just wants to be a normal teenager, but when German bombs tear apart London during World War II, her ultra-religious mother sees the destruction as divine punishment. She sends Maggie to a remote boarding school in coastal Wales, supposedly to keep her safe, but also to keep her in line. The school is creepy, the headmistress is a lunatic, and the students range from spoiled rich girls to speechless trauma victims. But when a tragic accident happens on the beach, Maggie and three friends are forced to flee the school, plunging into the nightmarish world of Europe during wartime. Now every decision Maggie makes is fraught with danger, and living to see another day depends on how quickly she can think and act...and how far she's willing to go.

Sounds good, right?

My tendency to cover-whore and the plot line gave me hope for this book - it sounded really good, and the character, from the description, actually reminded me of Bloody Jack.

Oh, how wrong I was.

If you want to read this book, SPOILER ALERT ahead.

Well, wrong.
The story goes...
- Maggie goes shopping with her aunt.
- Something that wasn't supposed to collapse collapses and crushes her aunt.
- Her aunt goes into a coma.
- Her super religious mom sends her to her uncle.
- No, wait, it's really to a nunnery.
- A crazy nunnery with a lady with burns all over her face.
- A crazy nunnery with a lady with burns all over her face and other crazy nuns.
- Which is five thousand times overcrowded.
- And segregated, rich vs. poor.
- Maggie makes friends with a troublemaker and a dummy.
- She then makes penance with the crazy burned lady.
- She has to go face her fear of the sea to atone for her sin.
- With the dummy.
- When a Nazi shows up.
- With a baby.
- And the dummy kills the Nazi.
- They hide the baby.
- Various other things happen that lead up to Maggie getting locked up.
- She's rescued by a troublemaker.
- They run away with the dummy and the baby.
- A rich girl tags along.
- They jump on a wagon full of corpse-filled coffins.
- They jump on a wagon full of corpse-filled food-filled coffins.
- They jump OFF a wagon full of food filled-coffins.
- They jump onto a train and leave the rich girl and the troublemaker behind.
- They get to their destination.
- It was really a plot to turn Maggie into a prostitute.
- She's tortured to become a prostitute.
- Her aunt, who was in a coma, saves her.

[/SPOILER ALERT]
...
yeah.
He can write.
He just can't PLOT.

Overall Rating: 3/10. He can write, and he can write well. But somebody should outline his books FOR him...


~N

Friday Favorites -- The Freedom Series

Freedom's Landing
Anne McCaffrey

It's the dawning of a new age for mankind when the Catteni descend to Earth and easily overcome the Earth's population. Thousands are herded onto slave ships headed for the intergalactic auction block.

Kris Bjornsen is captured in Denver on her way to her college classes and wakes up on the primitive planet Barevi. Courageous and resourceful, she manages a single-woman escape from the Catteni and is living in the wilds of the planet when she comes to the aid of a Catteni soldier pursued by his own ranks. Recaptured together, they join forces with other slaves to outwit their captors and a hostile planetary environment.

First of all, the plot line itself is one of the best, well thought out plot lines I've ever read. The description is vivid. The characters are a-mazing!

Anything Anne McCaffrey does is awesome, but this is my favorite series of hers, I think. It's just wonderful.

~N

Writer's Workshop

I love my Writer's Workshop class. I get a lot of writing done and am forced to think outside the box.

This week, however, was copy cat week. We were supposed to pick a great author who is/was admired by his/her peers and "changed the way they write".

I jumped on Anne McCaffrey like a squirrel jumps on nuts.

Apparently, though, I couldn't pick her, simply because /my teacher did not know who she was/. Now, normally, that would be okay. I'd list examples and would be able to give the teacher examples of other authors who admired her.

'cept with this teacher, it's their way or the highway.

I gave the teacher examples. She didn't believe me. When I said Anne McCaffrey was one of the greatest sci-fi writers of all time, she said I couldn't use a "genre author".

So she told me to use Isaac Asimov. And two minutes later, somebody chose Edgar Allen Poe, and somebody else chose C.S. Lewis.

Now, did Isaac write anything /but/ sci-fi?
Did E.A.P write anything /but/ horror?
Did C.S. Lewis write anything /but/ fantasy?

I tried to push it with her, and she glared at me and told me to go away.

And I know I'm right.

Any respect I had for this teacher was just lost. I'll do the project, I'll do the class - but if you're not going to expand outside what you already know, and if you're going to keep inside you're own little circle...

... well, you're not a very good creative writing teacher, now, are you?

Waiting on Wednesday

Broken Soup
Jenny Valentine

Positive.

Negative.

It's how you look at it. . . .

Someone shoves a photo negative into Rowan's hands. She is distracted but, frankly, she has larger problems to worry about. Her brother is dead. Her father has left. Her mother won't get out of bed. She has to take care of her younger sister. And keep it all together . . .

But Rowan is curious about the mysterious boy and the negative. Who is he? Why did he give it to her? The mystery only deepens when the photo is developed and the inconceivable appears.

Everything is about to change for Rowan. . . . Finally, something positive is in her life.

Doesn't that sound interesting?
I think it sounds interesting...

I'll let the plot speak for itself.

~N

Treason Keep

Treason Keep
Jennifer Fallon
Others in Series: Medalon

Take the plotline of Medalon. Throw in a spoiled princess, a talkative Karien boy, and a whole lot of trouble... and welcome to the plotline of Treason Keep.


And it's just as good as Medalon, might I add. Jennifer Fallon's books aren't the ones you can't put down - there the ones you like to take slow, a bit at a time, and savor every page of it. There's description, but not overly so, there's action, but not enough to be, like, "WHERE DID THE PLOT GO!?"

It's one of the near perfect fantasy novels out there.

Medalon or DragonRiders of Pern?: Shoot me now. I love DRoP, I do. And it will always be one of my favorite series. But Medalon is more consistent with it's delivery of the story.

Rating: 10/10.

~N

Wake

Wake
Author: Lisa McMann
Series: Dream Catcher (#1)
Publisher: Simon Pulse
How Received: library

Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.

Ways to know I liked it: I couldn't put it down and I thought about it after I read it.

Ways to know it wasn't amazing: I had to look up the main character (Janie)'s name to do this review.

It's a solid, short read that engages the reader quickly and leaves them wanting more by the end. All in all, I enjoyed it. It wasn't amazingly brilliant, but it was a fun tale.

Overall Rating & Final Comments: A good 7.5/10. I'm not going to go to anyone going, "ZOMGGOTTAREADTHIS" like I would, say... oh, I don't know... The Hunger Games.

~N

Barnes and Noble

You know you're a book addict when...


... your force your mother to come into Barnes and Noble with you because you know you can't just run in and pick up one book.

I went to pick up A Drop of Red by Chris Marie Greene and ended up coming out with that and Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I have no idea if I spelled her middle name right. x_x

I'm about four segments into Eternal - not bad so far, not bad. I like the guardian angel. ^^



But really. I should have more willpower than that...

~N

Wow.

Apparently, I instill ethnic values. o.O

I'll try to figure that one out later. XD

Thanks, Bites!

Rules:

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.



All the blogs I can think of have been nominated...
... so... you can self nominate.

TOO COOL, though. Thanks!

~N

Waiting on Wednesday

Fragile Eternity
Melissa Marr

Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone—but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he'd ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who'd always terrified her—but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever imagined.

In Melissa Marr's third mesmerizing tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and each other in a milieu of shadowy rules and shifting allegiances, where old friends become new enemies and one wrong move could plunge the Earth into chaos.

I don't ZOMGLOVE this series, but I really enjoy reading them and the next one seems just as interesting as the last two. I can't wait to see what Marr comes up with this time!

Comes Out April 21 '09

Medalon

Medalon
Author: Jennifer Fallon
Series: Hythrun Chronicles(#1)
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
How Received: bought

The small country of Medalon lies between the vast nation of Karien in the north and the nations of Fardohnya and Hythria in the south. For centuries the Medalonians co-existed peacefully with the Harshini, a magical race that abhors killing. But now they are gone and in their place the Sisters of the Blade rule Medalon from the Citadel. An elite army of Defenders enforces the Sisterhood's oppressive rule. The Harshini and their demons are believed to be extinct and Medalon has an uneasy peace with its northern and southern neighbours.

R'shiel Tenragan, daughter of the First Sister, and her half-brother Tarja find themselves caught up in the political infighting amongst the Sisters of the Blade. When their mother's scheming becomes too much to bear, R'shiel and Tarja are determined to follow their own path and they flee the Citadel. Their lives take a turn neither could ever have imagined and the Defenders of Medalon hunt them as traitors.

Meanwhile, far south in Hythria, Brak, a Harshini outcast, is called to find the demon child, the half-human child of the dead Harshini King, Lorandranek. But what can this mean to R'shiel...?

Before I review, I would like to note that I HAVE read this book before and remembered enjoying it. Like, five years ago. XD That's all I remembered; I couldn't remember what it had in it except the god Dacedaran. Who rocks.

On to the review.

As far as fantasy series go, this will probably always be one of my favorites. The world is vividly descriped with esquisite details, not one character fell flat and, let's face it, Brak and R'shiel and Tarja just ROCK as characters.

So does Dacedaran. But you'll learn more about him when you read the book. ^^

Because if you like fantasy, you should. It's solid material and yes, sometimes it gets slow - but Fallon had to set up for the bigger picture, so it's acceptable. This is also one of those novels that jumps from points of view, but as with Starfinder, though some may not have necessarily been needed, they were acceptable.

Overall Rating: 10/10. *lovelovelove*
Medalon or Starfinder?: Medalon. Starfinder was good, but something about Fallon's writing style... or maybe her characters... just makes me love it more. It's just a better book for reasons I can't explain.


Happy reading!

~N

March '09 Giveaway -- "Out Like A Lamb"

This giveaway is over.

Without further ado, here's March's contest!

The same rules still apply. You can enter by emailing me at nickiheart16@aim.com or leaving a comment on this post. Tell me what's the oddest book experience you've ever had -- whether it was putting Blanche from "A Streetcar Named Desire" together with Blance from The Golden Girls, or if it was looking down and seeing your best fried's full name as a character. (Yes, both have happened to me.) If you blog about the contest or link to the contest, you improve your chances of winning (but you must tell me)!. This contest is only valid to U.S. citizens. Sorry, I don't have the money to ship overseas.


This month's books are...

Jennifer Echols' Going Too Far
*Don't forget to come back later this month; she's also our Final Friday Author!*

All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge — and over....

Rudy Josephs' The Marine

Following a rescue mission in Afghanistan, discharged marine John Triton returns home to South Carolina and into the loving arms of his wife, Kate. Though happy to be home, Triton soon discovers that adjusting to a 'normal life' doesn't come easy for him. In fact, suppressing his intense training and strong survival instincts may be the greatest challenge he has ever faced.

That is, until a camping trip to the mountains results in an unfortunate encounter with five ruthless killers on the run, and Kate becomes their unwilling hostage. Left for dead, Triton relentlessly pursues his quarry deep into backwoods country, determined to get his wife back safely at any and all costs. But he's wounded, unarmed, and outnumbered. All he has left are his wits and an almost-animalistic rage that made him an unstoppable killing machine in the frontlines overseas.

The marine is waging a new war, and his enemies have no idea how much trouble they're in...

Lisa Samson's Hollywood Nobody and it's sequel, Finding Hollywood Nobody

Fifteen-year-old Scotty Dawn has spent her young life on the road, traveling to movie sets with her single mom, Charley, a food designer. Yet even though Scotty is wise beyond her years, she still struggles to find her identity. Complicating matters is a mother who offers no guidance and a father she's never met.

Now Scotty is determined to discover what she wants from life. She's even documenting the journey on her "Hollywood Nobody" blog. But as Scotty begins to find dark answers to tough questions, will her story have a happy ending?

Elizabeth Scott's Living Dead Girl

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

Oh, How I Love My Blog

Oh, how I love my blog.
Oh, how I hate school projects.
Oh, how they interfere.

I've read a lot less books this year than I planned... >< The Page Flipper. :3 I haven't read very many... only a quarter.


Instructions:
Put an "X" next to the books you've read
Put a "+" next to the books you LOVE
Put a "#" next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your "X"s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams
2. Kit's Wilderness / David Almond
3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson X
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor
12. Forever / Judy Blume
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray X
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus
19. Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card
20. Postcards from No Man's Land / Aidan Chambers
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky X
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn
24. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer X+
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins X+
27. The Midwife's Apprentice / Karen Cushman
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer X
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman
35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen X
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins X
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause X
47. Arrow's Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey X+
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr X
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix X
70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini X
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen X
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman X
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison X
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X
80. Holes / Louis Sachar X
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger X
82. Push / Sapphire
83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi
84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli X
87. Chanda's Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld X+
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak

Friday Favorites -- Bloody Jack

Friday Favorites, started by yours truly, has people state one of their favorite books every Friday. Because... it's fun. And interesting.And because favorite and Friday rhyme. And yes, other bloggers can do it, too!

Bloody Jack
L.A. Meyer

The tale of Mary, an 18th-century London street urchin who dresses as a boy, renames herself "Jacky" and goes to sea as a ship's boy, soars to new heights in the audio format. Mary's distinctive Cockney dialect is tailor-made for reading aloud. And with award-winning narrator Kellgren at the helm, the result is pure magic. She creates authentic character voices, switching effortlessly among Mary's Cockney, the melodic Irish lilt of sailor Liam, the educated American voice of schoolmaster Tilden, the chillingly sinister, leering tone of Jacob Sloat and many other voices without missing a beat. Her acting is also first-rate: her tone of pride as Mary boasts of her achievements, her tenderness as she speaks of Jaimy, the boy she secretly falls in love with, and the sheer terror in her voice during scenes of violence and danger will have listeners on the edge of their seats.

I've ranted happily about this book enough. ^^ Don't need to get into it...

~Nicole

Waiting on Wednesday

The Red Queen's Daughter
Jacqueline Kolosov

Orphaned as a young girl because of the imprudent marriage of her mother, Queen Katherine Parr, Mary Seymour vows never to fall in love-and under no circumstances will she marry. Lady Strange, her mysterious guardian, offers the young woman an extraordinary alternative to marriage: Mary is to become a white magician who will join Queen Elizabeth's court and ensure the success of the Virgin Queen's reign.

Accompanied by her magical hound, Perseus, Mary sets out to learn the properties of different stones and the art and precision of natural spells. Soon after her sixteenth birthday, she joins Elizabeth's court as a lady-in-waiting. Upon her arrival, Mary realizes that Elizabeth's court is rife with men and women who are vying for power. The most dangerous of all is Edmund Seymour, Mary's disturbingly handsome cousin. From the moment she meets Edmund, Mary has to fight her growing attraction, especially once she discovers that he is a black magician, the dark mirror of her own self. But, despite the threat Edmund poses to Mary, he seems to be the only one who truly understands her. When Edmund becomes involved in a plot against the Queen, Mary finds her beliefs tested in ways she never could have imagined.

I love 18th century novels -- they're beginning to become some of my favorite things to read -- and fantasy. Combine the two, throw in some royalty, and WELL-AH! A potential to get a good score on WORD.

Comes Out April 28 '09

Love and Lies Winner

The winner of the Love and Lies giveaway is Katie, from Katie's Book Blog!

I'll update with March's giveaway ASAP.

Happy (soon to be) spring!

~N