Teaser Tuesday ~ BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

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!


Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

It had always looked more like an apothecary than a bedroom, with a low white single bed tucked beneath rows of shelves. On the shelves were neatly stacked rows of newspapers - Amma never threw away a finished crossword - and Mason jars full of her stock ingredients for making charms.

Mockingjay Monday

In a mere two weeks and a couple of hours, the final installment in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins will be released and all will be revealed. For those of you fans who live in Illinois, specifically near Oak Park, the Magic Tree bookstore is running writing, illustration, and fashion contests that ask the question

What Role Would You Play in the Uprising Against the Capitol?

Check out their website here for more details, but the winner must be able to attend Suzanne Collins' book signing at their store in order to have their picture taken with the author and receive their $100 prize money. Check it out if you live in the area! They are also the only bookstore I know of so far that is hosting a midnight release party. Details can be found here, at their website. Leave a comment if you enter or are going to the midnight party. I may see you there!

TORCHED Review

When Ellie’s parents are busted for possession of marijuana, the FBI gives her a choice: infiltrate the Mother Earth Defenders (MED), a radical environmental group, or her parents will go to jail. At first Ellie is more than willing to entrap the MEDics, but the more time she spends undercover—particularly with Coyote, the green-eyed MEDic that she can’t stop thinking about—the more she starts to believe in their cause. When talk turns to murder, Coyote backs out, but Ellie is willing to risk everything to save her family—even if it means losing Coyote and putting her own life on the line.

April Henry, author of the acclaimed YA thriller Shock Point, pulls an issue straight from the headlines as she deftly explores what happens when good intentions get out of hand. With the environment a hot topic, this blend of explosive action and romance will make Torched a must-read for all suspense lovers.
From Goodreads.com

The story begins right away as Ellie meets the group of MEDics and her attention is instantly drawn to Coyote. Instantly, the novel grabs your attention by skipping the regular boring back-story and starting the main point of the novel instantly. With an interesting prologue, Torched draws readers in from the start, making the novel hard to put down. It also helps that the novel is short and an easy read without slow points to make the reader think of putting it down.

As the story develops, Ellie's character grows and becomes stronger, more sure of herself, in a way that is relatable but not overly pushy like some novels. A love a strong female character, even when she's faced with one of the most swoon-worthy guys in fiction.

The plot stays strong throughout the novel and doesn't have a point where it jumps the shark. If there is one thing that annoys me the most in reading a novel, it is a character or a plot point that goes against everything written before it. The characters in April Henry's Torched came through strong. Thankfully, in a novel written for teens, nearly all the main and supporting characters are teenagers who are involved in supporting their earth, which was great to read. Why write a novel for teens where teens only play supporting roles? No, Torched took a look into how the earth was effecting teens which gave it a unique standpoint.

Another great thing. So many novels about the ecosystem and saving Mother Earth are preachy stories that teach a moral to be kind to the earth when this is something we have known for years. Torched brought up a different idea in the end that questioned how much was too much and what you can do to take control of your environment in a way that is healthy for everyone.

The only downside to this novel was the involvement of the FBI. For some reason, their tactics seemed awkward, as though this wouldn't actually happen in real life. I can't see the FBI letting off two people who grow drugs in order to infiltrate an environmental group that is rumored to turn towards violence. Besides that, the story flowed well and I enjoyed reading it.

Rating: A-

Things I've Learned Thursday

Never trust the FBI. They will always get what they want. Always.

Cover Updates

So, I'm trying to break out of doing so many memes on my blog, and will do some occasionally, but I would like to rely on them less and less. So, here is a brief post compiling all the covers you (probably) have seen already, but covers I haven't covered (pun intended), and blurbs if the book has it. These are all reads I'm looking forward to. Leave your thoughts in the comments.


The Lost Saint (The Dark Devine #2) by Bree Despain
Releases December 28, 2010
A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must do. She must become a Hound of Heaven.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot—a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel is put in danger—in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her—not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.
From Goodreads.com



Desires of the Dead (The Body Finder #2) by Kimberly Derting
Releases March 15, 2011
The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

When Violet Ambrose's morbid ability to sense the echoes of those who've been murdered leads her to the body of a young boy, she draws the attention of the FBI. She is reluctantly pulled into an investigation that will endanger more than just her secret...but her relationship and possibly her life as well.
From Goodreads.com



Outside In (Inside Out #2) by Maria V. Snyder
Releases March, 2011
No blurb yet, but I loved the first book and love the cover. More details when they're released!



Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Releases February 8, 2011
The small town of Cryer's Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing - someone close to Kendall's heart - the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall¹s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school - messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there - Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

Something's not right in Cryer’s Cross - and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.
From Goodreads.com

Suzanne Collins Tour

With exactly three weeks left until the release of Mockingjay the final book in The Hunger Games series, Scholastic has released the entire tour schedule for Suzanne Collins. You can view the list of events below and can follow this link to Scholastic's page to read the entire post.

•August 23, 2010: Midnight Party at Books of Wonder, New York, NY
•August 24, 2010: 1:00PM-2:30PM at Borders (Columbus Circle), New York, NY
•August 24, 2010: 7:00PM-9:30PM at Barnes & Noble, Huntington, NY
•August 25, 2010: 2:00PM-3:30PM at Bank Street Books, New York, NY
•August 25, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Books, Bytes & Beyond, Glen Rock, NJ
•August 26, 2010: 11:00AM-Noon at The Scholastic Store, New York, NY
•August 26, 2010: 5:00PM-6:30PM at Oblong Books and Music, Millerton, NY
•August 27, 2010: 1:00PM-2:30PM at RJ Julia Booksellers, Madison, CT
•August 27, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Uconn Co-op, Storrs, CT
•August 30, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Borders, Braintree, MA
•August 31, 2010: 1:00PM-2:30PM at The Children's Book Shop, Brookline, MA
•August 31, 2010: 6:00PM-7:30PM at Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, MA
•September 20, 2010: 5:00PM-6:30PM at Harleysville Books, Harleysville, PA
•September 21, 2010: 6:00PM-7:30PM at Barnes & Noble, Fairless Hills, PA
•September 22, 2010: 6:00PM-7:30PM at Children's Book World, Haverford, PA
•September 23, 2010: 3:00PM-4:30PM at Politics & Prose, Washington, DC
•September 23, 2010: 7:30PM-9:30PM at Books-A-Million, Hanover, MD
•September 25, 2010: National Book Festival in Washington, DC
•October 1, 2010: 4:00PM-5:30PM at Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis, MN
•October 2, 2010: 2:00PM-3:30PM at Red Balloon Bookshop, St Paul. MN
•October 3, 2010: 2:00PM-3:30PM at Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, IL
•October 3, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL
•October 4, 2010: 3:00PM-4:30PM at The Magic Tree Bookstore, Oak Park, IL
•October 4, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Borders, Schaumburg, IL
•November 3, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, CA
•November 4, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Hicklebee's, San Jose, CA
•November 5, 2010: 7:00PM-8:30PM at Barnes & Noble, Lynnwood, WA
•November 6, 2010: 11:00AM-12:30PM at Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
•November 6, 2010: 4:00PM-5:30PM at Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA

I have no idea which event I will be attending, but will be at one of them in IL. Let me know in the comments if you're going and where you'll be attending. Scholastic's blog post brings up an important note about the signing so be sure you check it out here if you haven't already!

Music Monday ~ Carolina Liar

This song has been playing in my head for the past couple days, and I love it! Here it is, I'm Not Over by Carolina Liar.