Music Monday ~ Metric

My current music obsession is the band METRIC and their song HELP I'M ALIVE off their CD Fantasies. You can take a listen here.

DARKLIGHT by Lesley Livingston Contest

DARKLIGHT by Lesley Livingston

In this sequel to Wondrous Strange, Kelley Winslow finds her NYC acting career blossoming as she takes the lead in Romeo and Juliet. But she also finds herself desperately missing Sonny Flannery—who was forced back to the Faerie Otherworld, charged with a dangerous mission by Kelley’s father, King Auberon.


When Kelley finds herself thrown into the Otherworld following a deadly chase in Central Park, her passionate reunion with Sonny is cut short. Ancient magick is stirring, and a dangerous enemy has Sonny and Kelley caught in a web of Faerie deception that could tear their love apart.
From lesleylivingston.com

So here's your chance to win a copy of DARKLIGHT. It is an ARC even though the real copy is released. In order to enter to win a copy, comment below with your email. You may comment as many times as you wish in order to win. Every comment counts as an entry. YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER IN ORDER TO ENTER.

Contest ends in two weeks, on June 13th. I will email the winner and the winner will have 48 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond during that time period, then a new winner will be chosen.

So what are you waiting for? Get commenting. Every comment is a new entry :) Enjoy!

EDIT: This contest is open to the US ONLY. Sorry guys, I don't have money to ship overseas.

EDIT 2: I've decided to extend the contest for another week in hopes that you all will spread the word. Thanks to all who have entered so far, but I will choose a winner on 6/20, so keep commenting and get more people to enter!

THE OWL KEEPER - Book Review

Maxwell Unger has always loved the night. He used to do brave things like go tramping through the forest with his gran after dark. He loved the stories she told him about the world before the Destruction -- about nature, and books, and the silver owls. His favorite story, though, was about the Owl Keeper.

According to Max's gran, in times of darkness the Owl Keeper would appear to unite owls and sages against the powers of the dark. Gran is gone now, and so are her stories of how the world used to be. Max is no longer brave. The forest is dangerous, the books Gran saved have been destroyed, and the silver owls are extinct. At least, that's what the High Echelon says. But Max knows better.

Max Unger has a secret. And when a mysterious girl comes to town, he just might have to start being brave again.

The time of the Owl Keeper, Gran would say, is coming soon.
From owlkeeper.com

I am a huge fan of dystopian novels, which was what originally drew me to The Owl Keeper. In this novel, an event which is labelled as The Great Destruction has taken place, leaving only small towns which are governed by the Dark Brigade, an overpowering government that keeps its citizens in the dark as to what is really happening, though rumors of experients and projects have escaped.

The novel centers around an eleven year old kid by the name of Max who is diagonised with being allergic to the sun, and therefore spends his days inside with his guardian, Mrs. Crumlin. His only contact with other people is through his parents who work all day and arrive home exhausted, the doctor who comes by once a month to give him his shots, his private tutor, and a classmate who brings by his schoolwork every day.

Max's life has become a routine in which his only freetime is at night when his parents are asleep. It is then that Max sneaks out of the house to the Owl Tree where the only remaining silver owl, known as the guardians against darkness, has been living since Max saved her. He is the only person who knows of this owl until the night a girl shows up beneath the Owl Tree.

Over the nights that pass, Max and the girl, Rose, form a close friendship and secrets are revealed as the pair grow closer, eventually leading them on an adventure to find the Owl Keeper who, they hope, will return peace to their land.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel. Let me begin with layout. The book cover itself draws attention, but inside the book, each chapter opens with an illustration, and despite that the book takes place years in the future, feels as though it is something of a fable.

The author does a wonderful job with crafting a mindwashed world reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, though, to be honest, it took me a while to get in to the book considering that the main character was eleven years old. Throughout the book, both Max and Rose spoke as though they were older, and it took some thinking to realize that age is relative. In The Owl Keeper, children are expected to be apprenticed at the age of twelve, and in a society as harsh as that, it is expected that children will mature faster than those of today.

But despite the age issue, the characters of Max and Rose are relateable through the emotions that their adventures lead them to discover, though at points the book does fall in to the cliche that states that every book that has a boy and girl must end with them falling for one another, though this is remedied by the fact that the characters are twelve years old, not old enough to fall in love.

The book comes to an easy closing which was enjoyable and leaves room for a sequel if the author is to write one, yet also closes in a way which doesn't leave the reader feeling confused. The Owl Keeper is fit for multiple ages, middle school and high school, and was a great story of adventure.


MY RATING: A-

You can check out the book trailer for The Owl Keeper below.

Things I've Learned Thursday ~ 1

No matter how nice they appear to be, caretakers are scheming against your good will. Take caution when eating whatever they give you.

Huge Giveaways Coming Up

So I don't know how many people have actually seen this blog so far, but in order to motivate people to log on and follow my blog, I have a large group of books that I will be giving away in the next month or so. If you would like a chance at winning any of these, please follow the blog. I will start the giveaways once I get a couple of followers, but as a preview, here are the books I will be giving away.



In case you can't see the picture, here is the list of books in the prize pile.
Canterwood Crest: Take the Reigns - Jessica Burkhart (PB)
Darklight - Lesley Livingston (ARC)
Devil's Kiss - Sarwat Chadda (ARC)
Dreaming Anastasia - Joy Preble (PB)
Dreamrider - Barry Jonsburg (PB)
Looking For Alaska (Used PB)
Ruined - Paula Morris (HC)
The Anatomy of Wings - Karen Foxlee (HC)
Wherever Nina Lies - Lynn Weingarten (PB)

For those of you who don't know
PB = Paperback
HC = Hardcover
ARC = Advanced Reader's Copy
All the books are new except the copy of Looking For Alaska which is used.

Waiting on Wednesday ~ Grace

GRACE by Elizabeth Scott
September 16, 2010

A fable of a terrifying near future.

Grace was raised to be an Angel, a herald of death by suicide bomb. But she refuses to die for the cause, and now Grace is on the run, daring to dream of freedom.

In search of a border she may never reach, she travels among malevolent soldiers on a decrepit train crawling through the desert. Accompanied by the mysterious Kerr, Grace struggles to be invisible, but the fear of discovery looms large as she recalls the history and events that delivered her uncertain fate.

From elizabethwrites.com


List of things I love . . .
Elizabeth Scott
Dystopian
Strong Female Characters

This book seems to have it all. I can't wait for this new release from an author who has already shown so much promise in books such as Love You, Hate You, Miss You and Living Dead Girl for being capable of writing on a darker side.

Teaser Tuesday ~ Mistwood

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

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! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Mistwood by Leah Cypess
From Page 87

"She is an unnatural creature, with no human feelings, and the kings of Samorna are fools to believe they know her purpose. Don't be swayed by her delicate form, and don't make the mistake of trusting her for a second."

Comment with your own Teaser Tuesday and be sure to check out MixB's blog!

Music Monday ~ Florence + The Machine

Another band I recently started listening to is FLORENCE + THE MACHINE. The first song I heard from her was COSMIC LOVE off her CD LUNGS. You can give the song a listen up above.

In My Mailbox

This week, I recieved a signed copy of Take Flight by Kayt Harris, a signed copy of Morpheus Road: The Light by DJ MacHale, and a copy of Secrets of the Dragon Riders by James Owen, all won through contests.

New Blog

Hey everyone. My name is Jessica and I'm starting up my own book blog here at The Lovely Reader. I know, I know, another YA book blog. Please help me make this not another book blog by giving me some tips and suggestions in the comment box. Over the next couple of days, this blog will be purely for getting my act together before I start posting, so things will be spotty at first as I learn blogger. Please, please spread the word about me and this blog, and I promise to send some contests your way. I've got a pile of books to give away as I start up this blog, but can't do that until I get some followers! So spread the word, leave me some comments, and I'll make this work. Thanks :)