Supernatural Summer. Free e-book sampler from HarperTeen

Supernatural Summer has a free e-book sampler for books these books: Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr (The prologue and chapters 1 and 2), Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison (Prologue and chapter 1), Stargazer (Evernight book 2) by Claudia Gray (chapter 2), The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong (chapters 9, 10, and 11), and Wings by Aprilynne Pike (Chapter 1)

I read all but Stargazer, because I haven't read Evernight, and they are amazing! You should check it out.

If I was rich (or a Librarian)

If I Was a Rich (or a Librarian) is my version of the Waiting On Wednesday/Books to Pine For weekly post. Every Monday I'll post about 8-20 books I randomly selected (off my Amazon wish list) that I'd buy if I was rich or a librarian. These books might not be released yet, in which case I'll put the release date for them, or they might already be released. There's no rhyme or reason to my list, I just pick them in order off of my wish list on Amazon. If you click on the title it will take you to the Amazon listing for that book, if Amazon has one. Not all these books will be YA.

The Immortal Realm: Faerie Path #4 by Frewin Jones [5 May 09]
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell
Poison Study by Maria Synder
Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones
Living With the Dead: Women of the Otherworld #9 by Kelley Armstrong
Meridian by Amber Kizer [11 August 09]
Giving Up the V by Serena Robar [release date unknown]













Evermore by Alyson Noel
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Fade by Lisa McMann
Plan B by Jenny O'Connel






















Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog [23 June 09]
Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis [1 September 09]
You've Got Blackmail by Rachel Wright [2 April 09]
Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter book 14) by Sherrilyn Kenyon [4 August 09]













Wings by Aprilynne Pike 5 May 09
Sucks To Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) by Kimberly Pauley
Reaching For Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry

Review-Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

From Amazon:
"When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart."


This book was amazing. I love that it deals with such serious issues. I love how Brittany and Alex interact with each other. Their banter and insults and ultimately their flirting and compliments. I felt so bad for Brittany and Alex. I have to admit I was a little worried in the end for a chapter or two, but it turned out okay. The alternating point of view in every chapter made the book so much better than if it had been from just Alex or Brittany's point of view. There isn't one thing about this book I didn't like or even would change.

Review-Across the Pond by Storyheart

"Finding himself packed off to friends in the USA, fifteen-year-old English born Fred Squire is not happy.

Then he meets Brittany.

Struggling with his feelings for Brit and the language, Fred is further confused when he meets Brit's flirtatious friend, Angel.

Escaping from a confrontation with Steve Harris, the neighborhood bully, Brit tells Fred her dark secret about Harris, and Fred's world is turned upside down.

Life continues to throw Fred a curveball when he catches a baseball worth a small fortune. Further run-ins with Harris, a crazy family barbecue, and a chase through a mall all add to Fred's American adventure.

'Brit and her Brit' know that their young love will be followed by heartache when Fred has to return to England but not before some final twists in the tale."


I liked this book. I don't know if its worth 17.99 considering its paperback and only 114 pages though (Storyheart left me a comment saying you can get a signed copy from him for $15 so if you're looking to buy I'd do that). I liked the characters and story line, but there was one thing that irked me. The fact that Brit and Fred "fell in love" in like a day or two. It didn't make sense how their love just popped up out of nowhere, it reminded me of when 3rd graders say they're in love with their boyfriend/girlfriend that they've just met. Other than that I don't really have a problem with the story. Its a quick read, but I devoured it all the same. Steve was a jerk and once scientists invent a machine to bring fictional characters to life I will bring Steve out and punch him :). I loved Brit's parents, they were the kind of parents a lot of kids want. Another cool thing about it is because of a school assignment Fred has, you get to learn some English terms. Which may come in handy if you ever find yourself in England or meet an English person.



I want to thank Storyheart for sending me a copy I enjoyed it. Thanks!

In My Mailbox March

Okay so I guess I'll start a In My Mailbox thing. But instead of weekly I'm going to do it monthly and just updated when i get new books. Oh and this was created by The Story Siren.
bold= newest

From Amazon:
The Vampire Dairies: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith
The Coven (Sweep 2) by Cate Tiernan
Blood Witch (Sweep 3) by Cate Tiernan
Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
In Too Deep by Jennifer Banash

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty
Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty


I got my first order from BookSwim:
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen

And my first order from Boosfree:
Blood Witch (Sweep 3) by Cate Tiernan (I'm sending it back to get the forth one)
Awakening (Sweep 5) by Cate Tiernan

Another order from Booksfree:
Dark Magick (Sweep 4) by Cate Tiernan


From authors:
Across the Pond by Storyheart
Dreams of Beauty by Aubrey Dionne (e-book)

Review-Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.

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."

I don't really know how to review this book, but here's my best try.
It's wonderfully written and an incredibly sad story. It's powerful and something you couldn't forget if you tried. It's also addicting in a way. You want to stop reading cause it only gets worse, but you want to keep reading cause you hope, in the end, it'll all turn out okay. You have to know how Alice's story ends.
You'll hate it because it makes you realize the kind of cruelty and evil humans are capable of. You'll hate it because now you know, really know what someone could be going through right now. You'll hate it because it opens your eyes. Even though you might feel all of that, in the end I don't think you'll regret reading it.
I don't know why anyone loves this book. I don't know if anyone will admit to loving such a sad story. I love this book. Why would I love reading about something so real, so terrifying, so heartbreaking? I don't know.
It's written in a way to paint the picture in your head, you know what's going on, even though the book doesn't come out and say exactly what happens. It doesn't describe anything explicitly. It's written in a very unique style, like I said it doesn't describe in terrifying detail what's going, but you know.
I really don't know what else to say. I'm not going to recommend it, but I'm not going to say don't read it. Some people need to read this book, some people want to keep their eyes closed and pretend things like this don't happen. So this choice is yours. Are you going to read it?

I'm also not going to rate this book. I don't think book can be rated. I thank Elizabeth Scott for writing this. You did a wonderful job.

Review- Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Summary:
" 'My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.'

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyper-observant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again."


OMIGOD! This book is hands down my favorite book ever!
I swear reading this book felt like reading my diary. Jessica Darling is so much like me (or I'm so much like her) it was scary. There are differences obviously, but personality wise its like we're twins. Kind of creepy when I started guessing what she'd say or do, and was right.

Things I loved about this book:
It had cussing-I know that its a weird reason to like a book, but I'm tired of reading YA chicklit books that act like cussing, sex, and drugs don't exist. This book was real.
The characters- All the characters had distinct personalities. You might get the Bubblegum Bimbos mixed up at first, but even they had their differences. Scotty was awesome. I love how he says "gee dee" or "eff" instead of the cuss words. Its so cute. Marcus Flutie was so cool. How he views the world and the school and how he makes Jessica realize so much made me love him.

Things I didn't exactly like but not complaining about:
That Hope wasn't in it. I mean it makes sense cause she lives in Tennessee but I was expecting a phone call convo or something. And we only read Jessica's emails to Hope. Not the ones Hope sends to Jessica.
Bethany. Could not stand her. I want to jump in the book and smack her every time she spoke.
The Counselor was kind of on love/hate relationship with me. I couldn't stand her but I loves the fact that she (can't remember her name) reminds me of Ms. Pigpen (my dad and I came up with that nickname for my school "counselor") She was just as stupid and ignorant and trying to be hip as mine was. Ugh she was such a loser.

I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind cussing. I ordered 1-4 as soon as I finished it. They'll be here on the 20th. Ahh I have to wait 7 days! If anyone has read 1-4 can you email me? I have some questions and I don't want to give anything away by asking them here.
Megan McCafferty is an amazing author and I can't believe I didn't read this book when it first came out.

Another Award??

I was nominated for the Premio Dardos by Donna at Bites. Thank you Donna!

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 acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.


I haven't decided on the 15 yet. So right now I'm just accepting this award. Then I'm going to think about who deserves the acknowledgement. Thank you Donna and to everyone else who has nominated me for an award and to the people who read it.

Help me (and Hayden) save the whales.

So as you can see ^up there^ I want to help saves the whales. You can sign the petition up there and grab the widget to put on your MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Blogger, and some other sites. Also, on the SocialVibe site you can pick sponsors (I chose MAC) and every time someone visits your site they donate money to the cause. (That means every time you visit my site you help! So come more often haha) You can also pick out other causes to support. If you want to save the whales please sign the petition and add the widget to your site. And don't forget to spread the word. We only have 81 days so get to it!
Hayden, me, and the whales thank you!

Review-The Vampire Diaries The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith

"LOVE CAN KILL

Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.


Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, hes determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all-whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize his brother is not his only enemy.

Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle."

Once again I am amazed. The writing and the characters just ahh, amazing, incredible, addictive.
WARNING: If you haven't read the first one this review might contain spoilers.

The Fury picks up right where we left off in The Struggle. Elena is now a vampire and Stefan blames Damon. Elena has to try and come to terms with being dead to everyone who knew her and being a vampire. When something evil comes to Fell's Church it's up to Elena, Stefan, and Damon to stop it. But what is "it", exactly? Along the way they start to realize that maybe Damon isn't as evil as they thought. Well, I guess I should Elena starts to realize. Stefan still holds to his opinion of Damon. Matt, Bonnie, and Meredith, who now know the secrets Elena kept before, help the vampire trio find this third Power and they'll do whatever they can to stop it. But at what cost? This was by far my favorite of the four I've read.

Dark Reunion was pretty good, too. I didn't like as much as The Fury but it still has the enticing nature to it as the first two. I couldn't put this book down. I just kept wanting to read the next word, next sentence, next paragraph, next page, next chapter, until I had finished both books. Praying that it would all turn out okay, and everybody would be fine. L. J. Smith is a very talented writer and I'm so glad I finally listened to my friends advice and started this series.


I can't wait until I read The Return: Nightfall. Is it as good (or bad) as everybody says? Oh and guess what?! The Vampire Diaries might be a TV Show on the CW!! How awesome is that?!

"The Vampire Diaries TV Pilot
Yes, it is true: the script has been approved to make a pilot for The Vampire Diaries. This doesn't mean that TVD will be a TV series: first it has to go head to head with the other pilots that are being made for next fall. Here is what I know so far: the CW picked it up to make a pilot, and one of the executive producers (and writers) for it is Kevin Williamson, who wrote Dawson's Creek, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer. In any case, if you're a dead ringer for Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, or any of the other characters, this might be a good time to visit sunny southern California and see if they're casting." From L. J. Smith's webstie

Review - Night World No. 1 Secret Vampire; Daughters of Darkness; Spellbinder by L. J. Smtih

Summary:

Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters-they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws if the Night World.

Secret Vampire - Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy's only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.

Daughters of Darkness - Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring them back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.

Spellbinder - Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It's a battle between black magic and white magic.



One thing I like about short stories is the only things you know about the characters are general background and things relevant to the story. You don't have half the book wasted describing the characters. Short stories are short (obviously), sweet, and to the point. You don't have to read through boring filler to get to the good stuff, it's basically all of the good stuff. The only thing I don't like about them is its hard to review it without giving the whole story away.
I loved this book. I love the characters. I'm so glad they reprinted Night World with 3 books in one. I think it flows better. I also love how all the stories star different characters that are mentioned or featured in every one. L. J. Smith did a fantastic job writing this collection and I can't wait to read the next volume.

Secret Vampire - This story was my least favorite of the three but still a four heart and crossbone thingie. I loved Ash, even though he wasn't completely good.

Daughters of Darkness - Ash is back, and this time with his sisters. And now he'll find out what James was talking about with Poppy.

Spellbinder - This one was my favorite of the three. It focuses on Thea and Blaise who were in a little cameo in Secret Vampire. I don't like Blaise all that much. She's vain and he way she treated all those guys made me kind of want to kill her. But she comes through in the end so that's good at least.