It's Monday! What Are you reading? (11 Jan. 2010)

It's Monday! What are you reading is hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog. It's a weekly meme where we can share with our readers and followers which books we finished reading last week, what we're currently reading and what is to come for the rest of the week.

Finished last week:

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Secret Society by Tom Dobly

**Reviews to come!**

Currently reading:

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Wake by Lisa McMann
---For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does-they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd thing she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant...

Coming up this week:

Frostbite (A Vampire Academy novel) by Richelle Mead
Revelations (A Blue Bloods novel) by Melissa de la Cruz

Review: Beyond the Valley of Thorns

Title: Beyond the Valley of Thorns

Author: Patrick Carman

Publisher: Orchard Books

Pages: 221

Description from the back of the book:

Alexa Daley thought her troubles were over when she defeated the man who had threatened to bring down Bridewell from within. But now that the walls around her land have fallen, a new, unexpected threat has risen from outside. Suddenly, Alexa is involved in a battle much, much larger than her own life…a battle in which she is destined to play a key role in.

Sinister forces are gathering in strange and vile forms, all with the goal of bringing darkness to the land. In order to help good defeat evil, Alexa and her friends must venture farther than they’ve gone before-confronting giants, bats, ravenous dogs and a particularly ghoulish mastermind in order to bring back peace.

My thoughts:

I really enjoy reading this book series. Although they are children’s books, they are really exciting. In the first book, Alexa had to find her way outside of the walls to find one of the few remaining Jocasta (a gem with microscopic writing on it that when worn allows her to talk to animals) so that the animals and her can help warn her people about the attack of the convicts. Also, by bringing down the walls they no longer have to live in captivated fear and are given the freedom to roam about the land.

In Beyond the Valley of Thorns, Alexa must again use the help of the animals to free a small village that has been suffering under the rule of a merciless and blood thirsty dictator. Will she be able to do what she needs before her and her friends get lost in the fight?

This book was really good and I read it in about a day. The Land of Elyon Books are always full of adventure, secret maps, talking animals, giants and midgets and at the end there is always a fight of good vs. evil. It even has a very surprising twist at the end and I was very shocked. These book are really good and I would recommend them to anyone who likes a great adventure book.

Review- Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: Masquerade

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children

Pages: 305

Schuyler Van Alen wants an explanation for the mysterious deaths of young vampires. With her best friend, Oliver, Schuyler travels to Italy in the hope of finding the one man who can help-her grandfather. Meanwhile, back in New York, preparations are feverishly under way for the Four Hundred Ball, an exclusive gala hosted by the city’s wealthy, powerful, and unhuman-a true Blue Blood affair.

But it’s the after-party, a masquerade ball thrown by the cunning Mimi Force, that the real danger lurks. Hidden behind the masks is a revelation that will forever change the course of a young vampire’s density.

Rich with glamour, attitude, and vampire lore, this second installment in the Blue Bloods saga will leave readers thirsting for more.

My thoughts:

YES!!! I am definitely left thirsting for more! Masquerade continues to follow Schuyler and her struggle to find her grandfather (who holds the key to taking down the Silver Bloods) and to find out who is behind the Silver Blood attacks on the young vampires. She is also trying to make sense of her relationship with Jack Force who she has an undeniable chemistry with but he insists they’re just friends. Will Schuyler be able to find who is harboring the Silver Blood and fulfill the prophesy before more young vampires are killed?

This book was so good I couldn’t put it down. It is a constant roller coaster in the fight of good and evil. And you never know what it around the next corner. I was constantly surprised with the events and shocked at the end. I want to say so much but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. I would never have guessed the end. All I can say is READ IT!!!! I hope the third one is just as good as the first 2!

"Waiting on" Wednesday- Forgive My Fins

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Title: Forgive My Fins

Author: Tera Lynn Childs

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

Pages: 320

Release Date: 01 June 2010

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

I can't wait to read this book. Not only does it sound really good and interesting, but the cover art is beautiful. This might be one of the few books I buy in hardback. June: come quick!!

Review- Revealers by Amanda Marrone

Witchin' ain't easy.

Jules has a rebellious streak, a massive crush on Connor, and the abilities of a Revealer witch. By day, she and her coven friends seem like typical high school seniors. By night, they have the power to make werewolves, vampires, and ghosts reveal themselves, so they can destroy them. It's not exactly cheerleading, but at least the girls know they're doing the world some good.

One by one, Jules's friends turn eighteen and are initiated into the coven's inner circle. And one by one, they are getting completely freaked out. Jules is the youngest, and though her friends are too scared tell her what's going on, something's clearly not right. As her birthday approaches, Jules realizes she's got to find out what's behind the shadows of her coven before it's too late to save her friends...and herself. But what she discovers may be too powerful for even the toughest witches to defeat.

My thoughts:

Revealers is a somewhat coming of age story. It tells about the experiences of five best friends over the span of a couple months. Throughout their lives, they were raised in a witch coven, led to believe that they were riding the world of its monsters. As coven tradition, the girls are officially initiated on their 18th birthday and become privy to the coven’s most valuable secrets. Jules, the youngest of all her friends, notices the difference in the other’s after the initiation ceremony. Not only does she have to worry about her friends acting weird but she is also starting to notice the amount of monsters that they are “ordered” to kill. Because they are revealers, they are able to force almost anyone to reveal their true nature. But when Jules discovers the true motives behind the coven’s actions, she is forced to make the biggest decision of her life.

At first I had no idea what was going on because chapter 1 just jumps right into the story as if you were there and you know what’s going on. The idea of the story is really interesting but I believe it could have been written differently. She hints on the coven’s mating rituals and why the girls are not allowed to date but she doesn’t really explain it and I was left confused and wanting to know more about it. She also doesn’t really talk much about the history of the coven.

Overall, this book was a pretty quick read and the story line was somewhat interesting. If you’re a big fan of witch books I probably would not recommend it because there was not much meat to the story. I expected more of it and it failed to deliver.

In My Mailbox/It's Monday! What are you reading?

This past weekend has been absolutly crazy! Packing, trying to spend as much time with my family as possible, last minute shopping, and traveling have kept me away from blogging the past couple days. So to make up for missing two of my favorite memes, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and post them together.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.



From Inter Library Loan I got:

Secret Society by Tom Dobly

Tempted by P.C. & Kristin Cast

-2 things about this book:
--1. I requested this book about 2 months ago and I couldn't wait to get it. Withing those months I read some reviews and needless to say, I'm not looking forward to reading it.
--2. I read Hunted and was not that impressed. I had high expectations until I read that it was changed around a little bit; the story being told from multiple view points. If I don't read it I will always wonder what happened so the only way to be fully satisfied is to read it.

From paperbackswap.com

The Tenth City (Book of Elyon #3) by Patrick Carman

Books I bought:

Frostbite (A Vampire Academy Novel) by Richelle Mean
Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog. It's a time during the week when we can share with our readers and fellow bloggers what we read last week, what we are currently reading and what we might read later on this week.



Last week I read:

Beyond the Valley of Thornes by Patrick Carman
Revealers by Amanda Maronne
Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

**Reviews to come!!**

Currently reading:

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Elena Michaels seems like the typically strong and sexy modern woman. She lives with her architect boyfriend, writes for a popular newspaper, and works out at the gym. She's also a wereworlf.

Elena has done all she can to assimilate to the human world, but the man whose bite changed her existence forever, and his legacy, continue to haunt her. Thrown into a desperate war for survival that tests her allegiance to a secret clan of werewolves, Elena must reckon with who, and what, she is in this passionate, page-turning novel.

If I finish Bitten this week (it's really long) then I will probably move on to Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz.

*Just so everyone knows, I still have the next two weeks off from school so I will be catching up on all my book reviews. There will be a lot and I hope you all enjoy them!*

No kiss blogfest

I do not consider myself a writer and I have not authored any books. But I still wanted to participate in the No Kiss Blogfest hosted by Frankie Writes. I picked a scene out of a book I had just recently finished. Let me set up the scene.

Rose Hathaway has just returned to St. Vladimir's Vampire Academy for vampires and their guardians after being away trying to protect her best friend and Moroi princess, Lissa Dragomir. Because Rose has missed so much training, she has been fast tracked and assigned to train with Dimitri, Lissa's very hot, strong guardian. Rose has noticed how attractive Dimitri is and he has more than once defended her honor.

Judging by his stiff posture, I'd clearly caught him by surprise. And yeah...I'd actually caught myself by surprise, too. But he relaxed a few moments later, and when he reached around and rested his hands on my lower back, I thought I was going to die.

"I'm glad you're better," he said. His mouth sounded like it was almost in my hair, just above my ear. "When I saw you fall..."

"You thought, 'Wow, she's a loser.'"

"That's not what I thought."

He pulled back slightly, so he could see me better, but we didn't say anything. His eyes were so dark and deep that I wanted to dive right in. Staring at them made me feel warm all over, like they had flames inside. Slowly, carefully, those long fingers of his reached out and traced the edge of my cheekbone, moving up the side of my face. At the first touch of his skin on mine, I shivered. He wound a lock of my hair around one finger, just like he had in the gym.

Swallowing, I dragged my eyes up from his lips. I'd been contemplating what it'd be like to kiss him. The thought both excited and scared me, which was stupid. I'd kissed a lot of guys and never thoughts much about it. No reason another one-even an older one-should be that big of a deal. Yet the thought of him closing the distance and briging his lips to mine made the world start spinning.

A soft knock sounded the door, and I hastily leaned back.

-Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead pg. 250-251