Waiting on Wednesday (127)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Blood of My Blood
Author: Barry Lyga
Series: Jasper Dent #3
Hitting the Shelves: September 09, 2014

Jazz Dent has been shot and left to die in New York City. His girlfriend Connie is in the clutches of Jazz's serial killer father, Billy. And his best friend Howie is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's own home in tiny Lobo's Nod. Somehow, these three must rise above the horrors their lives have become and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy. But then Jazz crosses a line he's never crossed before, and soon the entire country is wondering: "Like father, like son?" Who is the true monster?
The chase is on, and beyond Billy there lurks something much, much worse. Prepare to meet...the Crow King.

Why I want this: I love reading about serial killers and I have been a big fan of this series since day one! I'm so excited to see how this ends! I would say this is a mix of Criminal Minds and that ID show Nightmare Next Door. There's not a lot of hype surrounding it but I would totally recommend it to those who love a good mystery. It's all about nature vs. nurture and I'm excited to see which one wins out in the end! 

Early Review: The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

Title: The Cure for Dreaming
Author: Cat Winters
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Source: ARC via ALA
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

My thoughts: 

Going into The Cure for Dreaming, I was super excited and really looking forward to reading something somewhat spooky! Hearing about books like this really makes me excited that fall is coming in a couple months and makes me wish it was coming much sooner.  The Cure for Dreaming takes place in the overcast city of Portland which just makes me think that creepy things can happen there all the time.  

The main character Olivia lives in a time people when women were finally voicing their concerns and really wanting to be treated as equal with men.  When she hops on board with the Women's Suffrage movement, her father becomes so concerned that she is becoming too independent that he hires a hypnotist to help "cure" her dreams of going to college and other "nonsense". 

100 page Evaluation: Really interesting so far! Set in Portland so totally dreary but in a good way. Gives the book a really creepy feel. May have a paranormal aspect? They talk about Dracula a lot which makes me was to read it. Perfect fall read for around Halloween. Interested to see where this hypnotism thing goes.  I really like the creepy pictures.  

Overall thoughts: I was really hoping for something a little scarier, maybe something that was scary enough that I couldn't read it at night for fear that it would keep me up.  But it's nothing like that. The whole tone of the book is just creepy. It ends on a fairly good note and, I don't want to spoil anything, but she definitely doesn't turn out to be the typical girl in the end.  It was a little disappointing only because I thought it was going to be absolutely amazing and the cover just makes it seem like it's going to be different than it really is.  I'm definitely glad I read it because it was one of my most anticipated reads of this fall! 

Waiting on Wednesday (126)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Trial by Fire
Author: Josephine Angelini
Hitting the Shelves: September 02, 2014

Love burns. Worlds collide. Magic reigns.

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying many of the experiences that other teenagers take for granted...which is why she is determined to enjoy her first (and perhaps only) high-school party. But Lily's life never goes according to plan, and after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly Lily is in a different Salem - one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruellest of all the Crucibles is Lillian . . . Lily's identical other self in this alternate universe. This new version of her world is terrifyingly sensual, and Lily is soon overwhelmed by new experiences.

Lily realizes that what makes her weak at home is exactly what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. It also puts her life in danger. Thrown into a world she doesn't understand, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone, and a love she never expected.

But how can Lily be the saviour of this world when she is literally her own worst enemy?

Why I want this: Alternate universe? Check. Witches? Check. Salem witch trials? Check.  Pretty much everything I love thrown into one book! Awesome!! I got it at ALA but I had no idea what it was really about until I sat down and read the synopsis! And I will definitely be reading it soon :) Here's hoping it's everything I hope and dream it will be! 

What Does the Bookworm Say?: Social Media

Hey guys and welcome to this weeks What Does the Bookworm Say! Today we are talking about those very popular social media sites! Don't forget to give some love to my bookworm friends Thuy @ Nite Lite Book Reviews and Kimberly @ The Windy Pages! 

Social media sites. Thoughts about them? Favorite social media sites? Are they important to blogging? 

I don't have a problem with social media sites.  As someone in her late twenties who really got to see the development of the internet and the evolution of how we communicate and connect with people I can really appreciate sites like Facebook and Instagram.  If someone is trying to build a business the best way to get their name out there is through social media.  Word of mouth just isn't what it used to be.  And as a blogger who relies on the internet to express myself in the form of talking about books, I really love the way social media sites can connect me to my readers and fellow bloggers! 

I would have to say my favorite social media site is Instagram! I like it's limitations in the fact that you can only post a picture instead of a "status update." I really wish I was better at Instagram and that I posted more on it but honestly I'm not much of a picture taker.  I like Facebook because it connects me with friends who live far away and with those I have lost touch with.  I also like Facebook because I can see which blogs my blogger friends are liking and discover some awesome new blogs that way.  I wish I liked Twitter.  Honestly, I just don't get it. I just connect it with my other social media sites and let it do the work for me! 

I think if you really want to make your blog prominent in the blogging community it's important to use social media sites wisely and to your advantage.  I love using Bloglovin because it keeps all your blog subscriptions in one place.  Facebook is also a great way to let your reader know that you've written a new post. There are many other social media sites like Klout (which I don't really use) and Goodreads (which I'm on all the time!) that can be helpful for a blogger to use.  Social media is fun as long as we're using it in positive ways! 

What do you guys think about social media? Do you use some sites for your blog? Let me know in the comments! 

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: September 10, 2013
Source: Purchased
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Thoughts:

Rainbow Rowell is definitely an author that I have loved from the very beginning! Although I have not read Attachments, Eleanor & Park was one of my favorite reads of last year and Fangirl is, so far, one of my favorite reads this year! 

Fangirl speaks to my heart especially strong because I am a huge Harry Potter fan! Although I do not write fanfiction myself, I have been known to read a little Harry Potter fanfiction from time to time! It's a very vast world with stories that I would never have imagined on my own.

I love Rowell's characters in Fangirl. As with her other novels, her characters are very real and they feel very genuine.  It's as if she is writing about something that has actually happened and based her characters off of real people.  Cath and Wren, twins, couldn't be more different.  Cath the introverted one who is super shy with a pinch of social anxiety and Wren is totally outgoing who loves to party and self-medicate.  Levi isn't the typical fictional love interest and I totally thought it was going to be Nick until he turned out to be a complete douche bag. So again, totally believable characters because not everyone ends up with the dreamy super cute guy because they're not always nice. 

I love stories like this where the main character comes out of her shell to take a risks and end up being glad that she did because good things can happen.  Fangirl is such a great novel and one that I will not forget for a long time to come! 

Waiting on Wednesday (125)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: The Whispering Skull
Author: Jonathan Stroud
Series: Lockwood & Co. #2
Hitting the Shelves: September 16, 2014

In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.

Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom.

Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.

The author of the blockbuster Bartimaeus series delivers another amusing, chilling, and ingeniously plotted entry in the critically acclaimed Lockwood & Co. series.

Why I Want This: I just finished reading Lockwood & Co. #1: The Screaming Staircase this morning and it was pretty great! Once you get immersed into this world it's hard to knot want more right away! Luckily this book comes out soon and I scored an ARC at ALA! Definitely going to be reading it soon! Happy reading! 

Waiting on Wednesday (124)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Winterkill
Author: Kate A. Boorman
Hitting the Shelves: September 09, 2014

Emmeline knows she’s not supposed to explore the woods outside her settlement. The enemy that wiped out half her people lurks there, attacking at night and keeping them isolated in an unfamiliar land with merciless winters. Living with the shame of her grandmother’s insubordination, Emmeline has learned to keep her head down and her quick tongue silent.

When the settlement leader asks for her hand in marriage, it’s an opportunity for Emmeline to wash the family slate clean—even if she has eyes for another. But before she’s forced into an impossible decision, her dreams urge her into the woods, where she uncovers a path she can’t help but follow. The trail leads to a secret that someone in the village will kill to protect. Her grandmother followed the same path and paid the price. If Emmeline isn't careful, she will be next.

Why I want this: 1. Debut author. 2. Creepy fall/winter book set in the woods. 3. Awesome cover! The typography is especially great! This is another gold mine of a find at ALA for me that I hadn't read heard about at all until I picked it up! Now I can't wait to read it! Will definitely be knocking this one out soon! 

Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Title: Fire & Flood
Author: Victoria Scott
Series: Fire & Flood #1
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: February 25, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Time is slipping away....

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Victoria Scott's breathtaking novel grabs readers by the throat and doesn't let go.

My Thoughts: 

I can’t help but mention the Hunger Games while writing this review of Fire & Flood. Major aspects of these two books are very similar and I feel that’s why Fire & Flood has not been given its fair chance. Just because a book has some similarities to the Hunger Games doesn't mean it has to be a bad book. Fire & Flood is probably one of my favorite books of this year so far and I found myself more emotionally invested than I have been in a really long time!

Here are the similarities between Fire & Flood and The Hunger Games: There are contestants in a competition where there is only one winner and people die along the way. That’s it! Pretty much everything else is different. The main character Tella finds a communication device that tells her she has been invited to compete in the Brimstone Bleed and if she is the winner they will provide a cure to her brother’s fatal mysterious illness. So she follows the instructions and she chooses an egg which will eventually hatch and become her Pandora which will be her animal companion during the competition. There are four legs of the competition, one for each terrain, and they have two weeks to complete each leg which means making it to base camp without dying.

Fire & Flood is a crazy fast-paced adventure right from page one. I could not stop reading it. And I was so invested in almost all the characters, especially Maddox! There was always a new twist or turn around every corner and I had no idea what to expect next. I usually don’t like characters like Tella, who underplay dangerous situations and laugh them off after they’re over but she was quite likable to me. She wasn't annoying and she really stood up and became a leader among her little group.

If you haven’t read Fire & Flood, please, please give it a chance! Don’t let its similarities to The Hunger Games deter you! It is a very fun and exciting read and one of my favorite reads this year!

Book Haul: June 2014 ALA Edition!

Hey there! Welcome to this week's Stacking the Shelves! This awesome meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and we get to show each other the books we acquired this week whether bought, from the library or for review!

So I went to ALA Las Vegas last weekend and let me tell you! It was so much fun! It was so relaxed and so much more mellow than ALA Anaheim two years ago! People weren't too crazy and if you wanted something that was a pretty coveted book all you had to do was ask and the publicists just gave it to you! Needless to say I had a pretty good time and pretty much got what I went for: BOOKS!

I got a whole lot more than just these books but these are the books that I'm most excited to read and I will hopefully knock them out by the end of the summer!

From the top:

Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman (September 2014)

Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini (September 2014)

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters (October 2014)

Maplecroft by Cheri Priest (September 2014)

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh O'Brien (September 2014)

The Young Elites by Maire Lu (October 2014)

Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre (August 2014)

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (September 2014)

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper (September 2014)

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios (October 2014)

Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (July 2014)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (September 2014)

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (September 2014)

I have a whole lot of reading ahead of me and I literally can't wait! Are you guys excited for these books? Let me know in the comments!

What Does the Bookworm Say? Book Trailers

Hey there! Welcome to this week's What Does the Bookworm Say discussion.  This week we're talking about book trailers and whether we love them, hate them or just don't care.  Don't forget to visit my friends Thuy @ Nite Lite Book Reviews and Kimberly @ The Windy Pages and read their two cents on book trailers.

In all honesty, I never watch book trailers.  It's not that I think that they're bad or they're stupid or anything like that, I just never realized that book trailers are that big of a thing. Are they? Are they made often? Who makes the book trailer? The publishing company or the author? Where do they post them and how do I find them? Youtube, Facebook or the publisher's website?

In research for this discussion post, I had remembered that Richelle Mead posted something on her Facebook about a teaser trailer for her upcoming release Silver Shadows (which I'm super excited about) so I went back and I found the trailer so I could watch it.  And I really liked it! Now looking back I realize they have all kinds of book trailers for the whole Bloodlines Series! So if you haven't seen the recent book teaser trailer for Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead then here it is!!




I think book trailers are something I could definitely like.  I'll definitely start keeping my eyes open for more book trailers in the future and maybe start posting some of them here at Books Unbound!

What do you guys think about book trailers? Yay or nay? Let me know in the comments!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I'm heading to a couple BBQs today and hopefully seeing a few fireworks.  I can't stay out too late cause I have to work in the morning but it's still going to be a nice holiday! 

I hope you guys have fun out there and stay safe! 

Waiting on Wednesday (123)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Maplecroft
Author: Cherie Priest
Hitting the Shelves: September 02, 2014

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.

This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

Why I want this: Lizzie Borden??!!??? YES!!!!! This sounds like the epitome of horror stories to me! I just received an ARC at ALA and I'm definitely going to start it soon!!! I hope I love it!