Strange Angels Giveaway!

Amazon just messes everything up sometimes! I ordered and paid for the first book in the Strange Angels series and then they told me they were out of stock and that I wouldn't be getting it. So I went to the store the next day and bought it because I couldn't get the 2ond and 3rd books in the mail without the first one, right? Then right after I received the box, I got a smaller package with Strange Angels!

Needless to say, I have two copies and I'm giving one away!

Rules:

1. Must be a follower

2. US residents only

3. Fill out the form

4. Ends May 31, 2011

GOOD LUCK!!!

Review- 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Author: Maureen Johnson

Publisher: HarperTeen

Rating: 4/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Blurb:

When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. When Ginny doesn't know it that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

My thoughts:

Who wouldn't want to go on a super exciting treasure hunt around the world with only letters to guide you?! This would be a dream for me and I would go in a heartbeat. Of course I wouldn't want it to be at the expense of my aunt's death but it would still be so cool.

The writing was so fresh and new that I found myself flying through the book, hardly able to put it down! The character, Ginny, was so shy but by the end she had found a new sense of self-confidence after the journey she had been on.

Of course I wish it had ended differently and that she stayed in London but that's pretty unrealistic. It was still really good and I'm glad I read it!

Waiting on Wednesday (18)

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 because the covers are always amazing!

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs Release Date: May 10, 2011!!!!!

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend Mark; take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give into the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that an entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

What are you waiting for?

Review- The Summer I Turned Pretty

Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Rating: 4/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Blurb:

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer-they have been her brother figures, her crushes and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up the way it should have been all along.

My thoughts:

This book is so cute and so summery it literally made me want to go out and get a tan to get ready for summer. Belly has known Jeremiah and Conrad for as long as she can remember and they are all she talks about when she goes home during the school year. Summers are her favorite time of year because she feels like she belongs at the summer house. But the summer she turns sixteen is the summer that everything changes. Since brother is going off to college he only spends a little time at the summer house and she is left to spend time with only Jeremiah and Conrad, her mom's best friend's sons. Conrad is acting more anti-social than ever and she feels as if Jeremiah is keeping something from her.

The Summer I Turned Pretty not only follows Belly through the current summer but also flashes back to important moments of many of the summers before. We see when she fell in love for the first time, her first kiss and even sometimes, her most embarrassing moments.

This book is heart-warming and sad; I laughed and I cried. It's a great start to a series I am eager to finish.

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. It includes two sentences from your current read without any spoilers!

This week's teaser comes from The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting! pg. 79

"They knew now what Violet had know all along: that the girl in the lake had been murdered before dumped in the water. And despite the fact that the authorities could neither confirm nor deny a connection between the two bodies, locally, no one really doubted it. Two girls abducted, and then subsequently murdered and discarded so close to each other, in such a short period of time, hardly seemed like a coincidence."

I can never do just 2 sentences! I'm so glad that I'm finally reading this book!!

Review- The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Publisher: Gollancz

Rating: 5/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

Blurb:

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protect the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and it's secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future-between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

My thoughts:

At first I was a little nervous to start reading this book when I heard that it was about zombies. I've never been the biggest fan of zombie movies either. But I am so glad that I gave this book a chance. Carrie Ryan wrote this book so well that she made the world of the small village in the middle of the forest and the zombies seem real. I also loved that even though this is a Young Adult book, the author did not spare on all the gory details of the zombies, the way they killed or what it was like when they were killed. I could almost say that this is a horror book on top of being somewhat dystopian with zombies.

Ryan's word choice was also impeccable. I don't even think that the word zombie was used in this book at all. She used terms like virus when describing the initial breakout and Unconsecrated for those who were already infected.

The Forest of Hands of Teeth is also a coming of age story. Mary is forced to make hard decision and believe her heart and follow her instincts. Everything she ever learned is wrong and she has to leave everything that she has ever known and find her own way in an unknown world.

This book was amazing and I whole heartedly look forward to reading the next two in the series.

In My Mailbox (12)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at the Story Siren. For more information and how to participate, follow the link and hop on over to her amazing blog!

This week I got from Netgalley:

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Paperback Swap:

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

I read this book about two years ago and I loved it! Then I discovered that the author is finally writing a sequel to be released in about a year! So I just had to get a copy to have it ready to reread right before the next one comes out.

Won from Stories and Sweeties:

Clarity by Kim Harrington

I won this about a month ago but I just moved back to California where it was mailed so I finally had it in my hands!

Bought:

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Changeless by Gail Carriger

Heist Society by Ally Carter

What did you get in your mailbox?