Books Unbound

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Fairyland Giveaway!

Rules:

US residents only
Must be 13 years old to enter
The giveaway will end promptly at 11:59 on July 14
Winner will be given 48 hours to respond to email or another winner will be chosen

Friday, July 6, 2012

Hey friends and fellow book lovers!! I'm doing another giveaway! Since going to ALA it became a necessity that I clean out my bookshelves. I decided that the easiest way to get rid of the them would be to put as many as I could in a box and give them away! It's a pretty good little mix of book with contemporary, steampunk, paranormal and even time travel! Check out the Rafflecopter box below for the books that will be in the box.

Don't forget! Today is the last day to enter for your chance to win a signed copy of the Golden Lily by Richelle Mead! You know you want to enter!

Rules:

US residents only
Must be 13 years old to enter
The giveaway will end promptly at 11:59 on July 31
Winner will be given 48 hours to respond to email or another winner will be chosen

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Review: Insurgent

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

My thoughts:

**CAUTION!! SPOILER ALERT! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Divergent was one of my favorite reads of last year! I gave it to my mom to read and she loved it as well! I’ve come across very few people who didn’t like this book. Of course, like the crazy fan that I am, I pre-ordered Insurgent as soon as it had a cover! I could not wait to get it! Since I’m a nice person I let my mom read it first because was itching to read it just as much as I was. Before I even got a chance to read it, my mom told me that it reminded her of that movie The Village. WHAT??!!?? Thanks for the spoiler, mom!

That spoiler wasn’t too bad though. I still got to experience to story and all that led up to the discovery of the video and the ending, but I always had that in the back of my mind. Insurgent was just so full of action I thought I would have a little bit of trouble keeping up with everything that was going on. But Roth is such a great storyteller that I was sucked in immediately!

Insurgent really shows a lot of what goes on between Tris and Four and we get to see the growth of their relationship. They kept things from each other way too many times and I found myself frustrated by them. If they want to be able to work together throughout the rest of the story, than they really need to communicate better. The foundations of their relationship were really tested but they turned out okay at the end.

My one complaint is that I thought the story was somewhat choppy. After reading Divergent I was under the impression that the factions were separated by at least twenty miles or so. So when they go from one scene to the next in different factions, I found myself confused. How did they get there? Did they walk or drive? But then at the end when they’re driving to Dauntless, it takes a few hours. I found those parts a little inconsistent.

I wasn’t overly shocked by the ending because of the spoiler my mom told me, but I still got shivers while I was reading it! I’m really interested to see how the story plays out and what is going to happen to the factions at the end! I give Insurgent 4 hearts because it was a really great follow up to Divergent!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (61)

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: Fragments
Author: Dan Wells
Series: Partials #2
Hitting the Shelves: February 26, 2013

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is only just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues as to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence—it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that Kira knows she is a part of, a plan that could save both races. Her allies are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what’s left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira’s journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and they will both discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn’t even know existed.

Why I want this: I just finished reading Partials last week and it was quite excellent! I don't know why I waited so long to read it! The cover is also pretty fabulous and very fitting for the story! I really hope that is Samm standing next to her!!

What are you waiting for?

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Review- Skeleton Creek: Ryan's Journal

Title: Skeleton Creek: Ryan's Journal
Author: Patrick Carmen
Series: Skeleton Creek #1
Publisher: Scholastic
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

A breakthrough new series from bestselling author Patrick Carman, featuring text and technology in an innovative new way.Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek . . . and Ryan and Sarah are trying to get to the heart of it. But after an eerie accident leaves Ryan housebound and forbidden to see Sarah, their investigation takes two tracks: Ryan records everything in his journal, while Sarah uses her videocam to search things out. . .and then email the clips for Ryan to see. In a new, groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts -- Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.

My thoughts:

Patrick Carmen’s Land of Elyon series is one of the first few books I read when I started my blog. He writes really great books for children and teens! When I first read the synopsis for Skeleton Creek: Ryan’s Journal, I knew that this would be a series I would love!

I was initially intrigued by the mix of videos and text. Once you get to a certain point in the book, there would be a website address and a password which would unlock a video. Sarah and Ryan have been best friends for a long time and have always found ways of getting into trouble together. Their parents have forbidden them to see each other after their latest adventure lands Ryan in the hospital with a broken leg. They have discovered their only way of communicating is email and videos. Ryan documents all this in his journal just in case something goes terrible wrong, he hopes someone would find his journal and read their story.

The mystery of the story is interesting enough without adding the scary as hell videos. The only times I put this book down was at night when I was literally too afraid to watch the videos alone in my room before bed. Some of the videos were Blair Witch Project style and that movie scared the shit out of me in middle school! I was totally engrossed in the story and the videos just added to the suspense.

I think the videos really make the book! It's one thing to read a book and picture the characters in your head by the way they're described. Sometimes when I imagine characters, they're kind of cartoonish in my mind. But with these videos the characters come to like and they're right there on the screen! They make the story more real!

I love this sort of scavenger hunt adventure that Sarah and Ryan are on. Every clue that they found just led them to a bigger and more complicated mystery that involves so many people in the town. There are hidden symbols carved into buildings and secret societies. These are my favorite type of mysteries! And that ending! OMG that ending!! That is one of the best cliffhangers I’ve ever read!

I absolutely loved this book and I would find myself counting down the minutes to the end of the work day so that I could go home and watch the next video (you know, before it got too dark, haha). I give Skeleton Creek: Ryan’s Journal 5 hearts for being the perfect mix of scary and mystery.

Monday, July 2, 2012

ALA Recap!

It’s been about a week since ALA ended and it has literally taken me this long to recover from my book haze! I didn’t know what to expect coming into the event, but it ended up being one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time!

I was really unprepared for what the exhibit floor consisted of at ALA. A friend of mine has said that she had gone a few years ago and that she went home with over one hundred books and I really didn’t understand. I didn’t think it was possible! But it is; it totally is! I was really unprepared in the sense that I didn’t know there were going to be tons of book signings and authors at the various booths at specific times. I had no idea. Luckily I was with some people who a somewhat tentative schedule and a loose plan. I feel like ALA would have eaten me alive if I wasn’t with Thuy from RNSL Nite Lite, Kimmy from The Windy Pages and Nicole from The Reader’s Antidote.

I was really hesitant going into ALA being just a blogger and book lover. I thought people would ask and maybe publishers would only give books to librarian. But that wasn’t the case at all! Almost everyone was super nice and polite except for a few obnoxious people that stood out to me. I found that if you actually talked to the publicists that were working the booths then they were more willing to give you books. I also liked talking to them about their favorite books which were usually the books that weren’t getting all that much hype.

Overall, I had a really great time and I would love to go again if there is another annual close enough to me! If you ever plan on going to ALA or BEA I highly recommend reading Nicole from the Reader’s Antidote’s tip and tricks post that she learned when she went to ALA this year. Huge book events like these need to be attacked strategically!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Stacking the Shelves (7): ALA Edition Pt. 1

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!

Last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to attend the annual ALA convention which took place in Anaheim! I don't live to far from there so I knew I had to attend. But being only a blogger and book love and not a librarian I wasn't sure how my attendance would be perceived by others. I surprised to see that everyone was really nice and aside for a few obnoxious people, everyone was really nice.

For this week's Stacking the Shelves, I want to show you guys all the books I picked up at the Harper booth. They were putting books out like crazy and I definitely got more books from Harper than any of the other books.