Geek Girl's Book Blog

REVIEW Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

2012-03-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Article 5
by Kristen Simmons
Hardcover
Tor Teen
January 31, 2012
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New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

This book was both intriguing and terrifying for me to read. The world that Kristen Simmons has created is a scarily-possible future that has become uber-puritan and is enforcing its new rules with an iron fist.

I would not do well in this society. Let me just tell you that much.

The story follows Ember, a teenage girl whose mother has just been arrested for not following one of the new rules, Article 5, and Ember herself has been dragged off to what is basically rehabilitation school for her association.

What the back of the book doesn't tell you--and what was probably one of the most terrifying things about the book--is what Article 5 actually is.

Article 5 is the new rule that forbids women from having children out of wedlock.

Yeah.

And since Ember's mother wasn't married when she had her--seventeen years ago!--she gets carted off for breaking the law, and since Ember is under the age of eighteen, she is also guilty by association. And one of the arresting officers is the boy she's been in love with all her life.

This was a hard book for me to read at times. It was excellent, don't get me wrong, but seeing a glimpse of a world like that--one where pretty much all the freedom we have gained as females throughout the decades has been lost--really made me shake. Add that to the fact that females are now branded as the enemy, as temptresses...yeah. I would not do well in this society.

I liked seeing how Ember dealt with it, though, and how she interacted with Chase as he re-enters her life at the lowest point of it. Their relationship is complicated and there were times where I wanted to throttle both of them, but that's what made the characters real. They were flawed people who were dumped in this terrible situation, and they're just doing whatever they can to survive.

This was an excellent read, and it's going to stick with me for quite awhile.

I can't wait to see where the author goes with the sequel.

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

REVIEW Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

2012-03-07T19:38:00.001-05:00

Embrace
by Jessica Shirvington
Hardcover
Sourcebooks Fire
March 6, 2012
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It starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”

Violet Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. As if that wasn’t enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave her with very real injuries. There’s a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms that wasn’t there before.

Violet is determined to get some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a secret: he’s only half-human—oh, and same goes for her.

A centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity has chosen its new warrior. It’s a fight Violet doesn’t want, but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. When angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden…

Okay, let me just say one thing, and then I can get on with the review.

TEAM PHOENIX!

Ahem. Okay.

This was a really fun start to a series. It begins just before Violet's seventeenth birthday, right before her entire life changes. Before her birthday her biggest problem was trying to figure out how to tell her super-hot trainer Lincoln that she wanted to go out with him. After her birthday, well... that's less of a concern. Because now she knows things are different. There are dangerous fallen angels wandering the earth, and apparently Violet is supposed to help stop them.

The only problem is that she isn't sure if she's ready for all this.

Torn between her loyalty to Lincoln and her hot new friend Phoenix (sigh...Phoenix) who isn't what he seems, Violet has to decide whether she wants a normal life where she'll be hunted for what she is, or if she wants to be a hero.

Now, I know I'm not easy to please. I have issues both with the whole "I'm keeping secrets from you to protect you but it's clear you'll find out later and etcetera" and the "info-dump: here's everything you ever need to know about EVERYTHING that's ever happened in our universe" and I'm pleased to say that while Embrace did scoot close to the edge of both these issues at times, it didn't topple over. This made me happy.

I also liked the fact that Violet managed to keep her best friend in her life while this was all going on, even if the book did have a bit of absent-parent-syndrome going on.

And, oh, the love interests were dreamy. Lincoln and Phoenix. At first I couldn't decide, but in the end I have to go with Phoenix. Because while Lincoln was all noble and protective, he was also jealous and did the whole "I'm keeping secrets to protect you" thing a little too much for my liking. Phoenix was just a bad ass. A pretty, sarcastic bad ass and I loved him.

Embrace was a great start to a new series, and I can't wait to see where it goes!

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

REVIEW The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith

2012-03-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith
Hardcover
Poppy/Little Brown
January 2, 2012
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Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Okay, this book did everything in its power to make me cry. I didn't cry, but that was only because I happened to be at work on my break while I was reading it, and I couldn't figure out a way to explain myself without dissolving into emotional handflapping. So I didn't cry.

But I came as close as I ever have.

This is a love story, but it isn't (if that makes sense). It's the story of Hadley and Oliver as they meet and start falling for each other, but it's also about Hadley's family. She's close to falling apart because her father, who had left her and her mother over a year ago, is getting remarried to a woman she's never even met. She's hurt and abandoned and she wants nothing to do with any of it...except she's stuck being a bridesmaid. So she's pretty much at her wit's end before she misses her flight to London, and has to wait around for hours for the next one.

And that's when she meets Oliver and they start to bond.

Hadley and Oliver are ADORABLE. I loved them. They were so much fun to read, especially the way they played off of each other and got under each others skin. LOVE.

The thing I loved most about this love story was that, at its heart, it wasn't a love story. It was a story about Hadley's life changing. Also, despite the fact that the title is about love at first sight, I don't think that's really what Hadley and Oliver had. They didn't see each other and instantly swoon. They bonded.

Jennifer E Smith, you need to write so many more books so I can nearly-cry at work ALL THE TIME. Because it was worth it.

Loved this book.

-geekgirl

REVIEW The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin

2012-02-24T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Girls of No Return

by Erin Saldin
Hardcover
Scholastic
February 1, 2012
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Erin Saldin's The Girls of No Return is a lacerating young adult debut about girls, knives, and redemption. The Alice Marshall School, set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area, is a place where teenage girls are sent to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, Jules, and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. Everyone has their secrets – the “Things” they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.

I'm not really sure where to start. It was a good book to be sure, but it was a lot heavier that I was really prepared for when I picked it up. When I picked it up, I was expecting something more lighthearted, and with a lot more focus on surviving in the wilderness. This book is more about surviving in yourself.

The Girls of No Return follows Lida as she recounts her months at Alica Marshall, a wilderness-driven school in the middle of nowhere that's geared towards troubled teenage girls. It's told in flashbacks from the "epilogue", which was scattered throughout the book and it follows Lida's life at Alice Marshall in sequence, from her grim arrival to her startling departure.

This book was more character-driven than I was expecting, and I was left wondering what was going to happen next, because, though there were a bunch of interesting events that occurred during Lida's stay, they didn't seem to be leading up to anything for most of the book. But maybe that was the point. The seemingly innocuous or slightly annoying events in our life don't always seem like they're leading up to something, until that final something happens. (No, I'm not going to spoil it for you.)

Boone, the "bad girl" at Alice Marshall was probably my favourite character of them all. She's strong where Lida was often weak, and, while she seemed to annoy Lida from time to time, I didn't find her nearly as annoying as I did Gia, the new girl that Lida becomes infatuated with. With Boone, I found that Lida really had a chance to focus on herself, while when she was with Gia, all she could think about was her.

The Girls of No Return was a good read, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

2012-02-24T10:20:00.000-05:00

A romantic sci-fi thriller about love and second chances.

Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. Viv was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after a career-ending football injury, picking up the pieces when his home life shattered, and healing his pain long after the pain meds wore off. And now, he’d give anything for one more glimpse of her. But when Cam makes a visit to the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees some kind of apparition. And it isn’t Viv.

The apparition’s name is Nina, and she’s not a ghost. She’s a girl from a parallel world, and in this world, Viv is still alive. Cam can’t believe his wildest dreams have come true. All he can focus on is getting his girlfriend back, no matter the cost. But things are different in this other world: Viv and Cam have both made very different choices, things between them have changed in unexpected ways, and Viv isn’t the same girl he remembers. Nina is keeping some dangerous secrets, too, and the window between the worlds is shrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with who this Viv has become, and the part Nina played in his parallel story, he’s forced to choose—stay with Viv or let her go—before the window closes between them once and for all.

This sounds so interesting! I love the idea of parallel worlds and how the different choices we've made will turn out.

Can't wait for this one!

What about you?

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Elemental by Antony John

2012-02-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

A lost colony is reborn in this heart-pounding fantasy adventure set in the near future . . .

Sixteen-year-old Thomas has always been an outsider. The first child born without the power of an Element—earth, water, wind or fire—he has little to offer his tiny, remote Outer Banks colony. Or so the Guardians would have him believe.

In the wake of an unforeseen storm, desperate pirates kidnap the Guardians, intent on claiming the island as their own. Caught between the plague-ridden mainland and the advancing pirates, Thomas and his friends fight for survival in the battered remains of a mysterious abandoned settlement. But the secrets they unearth will turn Thomas’ world upside-down, and bring to light not only a treacherous past but also a future more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.

Dude, this has magical powers and pirates. PIRATES! And a male main character. I'm all over this one.

Love it!

-geekgirl

REVIEW The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

2012-02-23T18:19:00.000-05:00

The Humming Room
by Ellen Potter
Hardcover
Feiwel & Friends
February 28, 2012
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Hiding is Roo Fanshaw's special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment's notice. When her parents are murdered, it's her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life.

As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn't believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing? And who is that strange wild boy who lives on the river? People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth.

Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room--a garden with a tragic secret.

Inspired by The Secret Garden, this tale full of unusual characters and mysterious secrets is a story that only Ellen Potter could write.

Oh, I knew this was going to be a retelling of The Secret Garden, but I wasn't expecting THIS!

This book was so good. And it's not just my ever-abiding love of The Secret Garden saying that. The book really is wonderful.

The Humming Room is a middle-grade novel that follows Roo, a young girl, after her father and her father's girlfriend are killed. Roo hasn't had the best life, and she likes to be left alone so that she can curl herself up somewhere small and safe and listen to the sound of the ground beneath her. But when her father is killed, she is whisked off to live with her uncle on--get this--Cough Rock Island, an island in the middle of nowhere that houses an abandoned children's hospital that her uncle has converted into his home.

At first, though Roo finds the place strange and a little creepy--the stories about the kids who died in the hospital as told to her by one of her uncle's staff really didn't help--but luckily her uncle is like her, and likes to be left alone. It's only when a tutor is hired for her, one who follows her around everywhere, that Roo discovers the secrets that the island holds.

Seriously, this book wasn't what I was expecting at all, and yet it stayed true to the tale of The Secret Garden better than I ever expected it would. The settings and the secrets of the house are completely different, though, and that was very exciting for me and I couldn't stop myself from flipping through the pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen next.

The characters were great too. Roo, Jack and Peter were wonderful, and Violet, was charming.

This was such a wonderful read. This is a book that I can totally picture giving my someday-children.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Waiting on Wednesday

2012-02-22T07:12:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

My Waiting on Wednesday picks are a trio of highly-anticipated sequels.

Let's have a look, shall we?

Underworld
by Meg Cabot
Hardcover
Point
May 8, 2012
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, the dark reimagining of the Persephone myth begun in ABANDON continues ... into the Underworld.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn't dead.

Not this time.

But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey.

Her captor, John Hayden, claims it's for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they've come back as Furies, intent on vengeance . . . on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves.

But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there . . . and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies.

And unless Pierce is careful, this time there'll be no escape.

Abandon was such a fun read, and I love the tale of Persephone, which this series is based off of, so I can't wait to get my hands on book two!

Sapphire Blue
by Kerstin Gier (translated by Anthea Bell)
Hardcover
Henry Holt & Co.
October 30, 2012
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Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve.
In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle
really mean.
At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

I'm so upset that the release date for this one has been pushed back. I've been waiting on the edge of my seat for Sapphire Blue ever since I finished Ruby Red. Hurry up October!

Days of Blood and Starlight
by Laini Taylor
Hardcover
Little Brown
September 2012
Pre-order the Book

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed "Daughter of Smoke and Bone," Karou must come to terms with who and what she is, and how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, mysteries and secrets, new characters and old ...

This one doesn't even have a cover yet, and I'm featuring it here. That should tell you how MUCH I want this title. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was FABULOUS! The worldbuilding, the romance, and the CLIFFHANGER ENDING. *grabbyhands*

Well that's it for me, my lovelies.

What are you waiting on?

REVIEW The Whisper by Emma Clayton

2012-02-21T20:47:00.000-05:00

The Whisper
by Emma Clayton
Hardcover
Scholastic
February 1, 2012
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Suddenly alert to the microchips implanted in their brains, the army of stolen children revolts! But the response of the tyrant Mal Gorman is swift and brutal: He quickly quells the mutiny, sweeping up the fleeing children in spiked nets like so many trapped fish and dragging them back to their training camp.

Juiced by potent Everlife pills, the once cadaver-like Gorman has chemically reversed the aging process; his diabolical mind is now powered by the body of a teenager. But psychic twins Ellie and Mika can read his every evil thought, and they refuse to let him wage his battles. Using their mutant powers, they abduct Gorman and take him beyond The Wall, to the wildlife he so fears. Before all-out war erupts, the brother and sister are determined to reconcile humankind with nature -- and to free the captive children.

This is the sequel to The Roar, a middle-grade dystopian that I ADORED. You can read my review of that one here, but if you haven't read it, I suggest you pick these both up and read them back-to-back.

I don't want to give too much away, since The Roar had so many twists and turns (and, much to my joy, a monkey friend) that I don't want to ruin the ending, but The Whisper picks up right after it left off. At first, I was afraid that I would have to re-read The Roar, but this book managed to scoop me back up and take me along on an adventure that I didn't see coming.

Where the first book had a lot of world-building and a lot of plot and character development, The Whisper was pretty much non-stop action and I was completely swept up in it. I loved seeing the characters of the children again, and how they interacted with eachother. I also liked the changing viewpoint, as most of The Roar was from Mika's point of view, now that the children are a little more scattered, it was great to see all that was going on in the world around them. I also loved how the relationships between the characters had developed.

And Mal Gorman, you are dastardly.

If you haven't checked out this series, I higly recommend it. It's definitely a middle-grade title, as the main characters are all 12 to 13 years old, but it's full of action and the world they inhabit certainly isn't for the faint of heart. These two books, The Roar and The Whisper, have a high place on my shelf, and I will definitely be reading them again.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Cover-Judgers Anonymous - Queen of the Dead

2012-02-21T15:56:00.000-05:00

Never judge a book by its cover.

If you've read my blog, you've probably heard me refer to myself as a shameless (SHAMELESS!) cover-judger. I know, I'm seeking help. But I don't think I'm the only one out there who does it.

So I invite you, readers, to share your opinion, and maybe we can find a cure for this problem together...or not.

Let the (shameless! SHAMELESS!) cover-judging begin!

In today's edition of Cover-Judgers Anonymous I bring you a favourite series of mine, The Ghost and The Goth. Here's my problem...I NEED to get myself a copy of this one (my bookcase just won't be complete without it) but they've changed the cover for the paperback, and I CAN'T DECIDE!

After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, "alive"), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this, ugh, "helping of others" is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she'd like.

Before Alona can make a final ruling on Will's "friend" or "more than friend" status, though, she discovers trouble at home. Her mom is tossing out Alona's most valuable possessions, and her dad is expecting a new daughter with his wicked wife. Is it possible her family is already moving on? She's only been dead for two months Thankfully, Alona knows just the guy who can put a stop to this mess.

Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She's the first ghost-talker Will's ever met--aside from his father--and she may hold answers to Will's troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately puts a check in the "clearly not" column. But Will is, "ahem," willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.

Packed with romance, lovable characters, and a killer cliffhanger, "Queen of the Dead" is the out-of-this-world sequel to "The Ghost and the Goth."

Here's the original hardcover. I love the pink, I love how pretty and girlie the diner looks, and then poor Will is sitting right in the middle of it. I love how flirty Alona looks, and how the look on Will's face manages to convey how he's both smitten and annoyed by Alona at any given moment. In other words, this cover = LOVE.

...and here's the cover for the upcoming paperback. You see my problem now, don't you, dear readers. It totally fits the book (the scene is perfect) and Alona's both bubbly and smug (as only Alona can be) and Will has the most long-suffering look on his face EVER. I love it. (and I love the fact that they kept the same models for Alona & Will)

I'm TORN. What do you think, my lovelies? What would you choose?

REVIEW Switched by Amanda Hocking

2012-02-20T18:08:00.000-05:00

Switched
by Amanda Hocking
Paperback
St. Martin's Griffin
January 3, 2012
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When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - a world both beautiful and frightening, and Wendy's not sure she wants to be a part of it.

I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up this book. Ages ago, I'd heard about the Trylle trilogy and was intrigued by the new and different use of supernatural creatures, but then I managed to completely forget about it. It wasn't until I was several chapters in that I remembered what the Trylles really were.

The Trylle, as they like to be called, are Trolls, and I thought that was a great change from the norm in YA fiction.

Wendy's mother tried to kill her when she was just a little girl, and ever since then, something has always told Wendy that her mother's crazed ramblings were right, that she WASN'T her mother's child. She just never fit in. So when Finn, the strange boy who's been following her around, tells her the truth--that she isn't human, she's Trylle--she believes him, but, unlike all the other Trylle teens he has collected and brought back home over the years, she doesn't want to go with him.

That's when she's attacked. As a way to protect her, Finn takes her back to the Trylle community, and, in order to keep her brother and her aunt out of harms way, Wendy lets him.

And when she gets there, her entire world is turned upside down.

While I really enjoyed this story, I was left floundering a little with the romance that seems to be blossoming between Wendy and Finn...for the most part, I just didn't see it. Personally, I preferred Rhys, as Wendy's interactions with him seemed more genuine. Wendy's mother terrified me. Both of them.

All in all, I think this had a really great premise and was a great lead-in to the trilogy, and the story really picked up the pace as it went on. By the end, I couldn't wait to see what happened, and now I'm DYING to get my hands on book two, Torn, so I can see what's going to happen next.*grabbyhands*

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

P.S.
I've included the trailer below for you to have a look.

REVIEW Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

2012-02-19T17:31:00.000-05:00

Anna Dressed in Blood
by Kendare Blake
Hardcover
Tor Teen
August 30, 2011
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Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

I didn't really know what to think when all the amazing reviews started to pour in for Anna Dressed in Blood. It was a ghost story, right? But...the ghost hunter falls in love with the ghost? And the ghost has a bad habit of killing people?

I may have been a little skeptical. But I was willing to give it a shot.

And, boy, am I ever glad I did.

This was a scary, bloody, rather disturbing horror story that begins when Cas decides that the next ghost he's going to "kill" is Anna, Anna Dressed in Blood. So when he and his mother move to Thunder Bay, he gets close to the popular crowd at his new highschool in hopes that they'll shed some light on the history behind the ghost story. Unfortunately, he ends up flirting with the wrong girl in order to get his information, and her jealous ex-boyfriend (after leading Cas to Anna's haunted house and informing him of the fact that no one who goes in ever survives) bashes Cas over the back of the head and dumps him inside the house, leaving him for dead.

That's when Cas first sees Anna, and when his world gets turned upside down.

Anna is flippin' terrifying. And she is very, very dangerous. So when she doesn't kill Cas, he is left floundering, and starts focusing more on WHY Anna's still there, and why she's so powerful, instead of actually trying to get rid of her.

There's SOOOO much more to this story, but the part that makes it terrifying is the fact that you don't see it coming. I've spent the last two days trying to figure out how to gush about my absolute fave scene in Anna Dressed in Blood, without spoiling it, and I've come to realize that I just CAN'T. Here's what you need to know... it's about three-quarters through the book and I was shaking in my seat. When you read it, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. When you've finished, email me and we can discuss further.

This book is definitely topping my list of fave reads for this year, and the fact that there's going to be a sequel is making me so, so happy.

Horror fans, this one's for you!

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

REVIEW Legend by Marie Lu

2012-02-18T11:28:00.001-05:00

Legend
by Marie Lu
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
November 29, 2011
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What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias' death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

I'm not gonna lie, this book broke me a little (two days later and I'm still reeling), which was surprising since when I first picked it up, I didn't make it past the first few pages. I'm glad I gave it a second chance.

This book is told in alternating points of view. The first point of view is Day, a teenage boy who has basically become the dystopian equivalent of Robin Hood. He steals from the rich government to feed and protect the family that thinks he's dead. He's the most wanted criminal in the state, but, luckily for him, the government has no idea what he looks like. The problem? His latest mission to steal a plague cure for his baby brother takes a wrong turn, and a soldier ends up dead.

The other point of view is from June, the dead soldier's sister. She's the government's prodigy, their shining hope for the future. She's the only citizen to achieve a perfect score on their standardized test, EVER, and she's only fifteen and she's already almost ready to be a full-fledged soldier and protector of the state. She's also the one in charge of hunting down Day after he kills her older brother.

There are so many twists and turns in this novel, so much world-building and incredibly detailed secondary characters.

I don't want to give too much away, because I want you to experience this book for yourself, but just know that things aren't always what they seem in this place, and, as everything falls apart around them, you only love the characters more.

It was wonderful to have two such strong main characters in one novel. They're completely alike and dissimilar at the same time, and I love how they played off of each other.

I can't wait to see where this series goes next.

So very recommended!

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

In My Mailbox

2012-02-18T10:33:00.000-05:00

Once again, it's a snowy Saturday where I am, so the adorable mail-squirrel is warranted. Thanks to Wendy at A Cupcake and a Latte for the graphic!

Anywhoo, In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren where we can all share the books we picked up during the week (please let me know what you received in the comments. I love to hear from you!)

Here's what I got...

Purity by Jackson Pearce - Thanks to Hachette

Goodreads Amazon

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad - Thanks to Hachette

Goodreads Amazon

Pure by Julianna Baggott - Thanks to Hachette Canada

Goodreads Amazon

Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo - Thanks to Macmillan

Goodreads Amazon

White Horse by Alex Adams - won from Goodreads.com

Goodreads Amazon

Girl Meets Boy edited by Kelly Milner Halls -

Thanks to Raincoast Books

Goodreads Amazon

Among Others by Jo walton - Thanks to Raincoast Books

Goodreads Amazon

And since I'm at my parents' place this weekend, I'd like to introduce you to the gentleman who made all this possible, Oscar the Grouch.

So what did you get in your mailbox this week?

Cover Watch - What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

2012-02-17T11:43:00.000-05:00

I spy with my little eye...something ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

What's Left of Me

by Kat Zhang
Hardcover

HarperTeen

September 18, 2012
Pre-order the Book

NEVER LET ME GO meets HIS DARK MATERIALS in a beautiful, haunting YA debut, the first book in The Hybrid Trilogy.

Eva and Addie live in a world where everyone is born with two souls, but where only the dominant one is allowed to survive childhood. Fifteen years old, and closer even than twins, the girls are keeping Eva, the ‘second soul’, a secret. They know that it’s forbidden to be hybrid, but how could they ever be apart?

When a dramatic event reveals what really happens to hybrids if they are discovered, Eva and Addie face a dangerous fight for survival, neither wanting to be the one left behind…

Isn't that GORGEOUS? And the premise sounds amazing. Can't wait for this one. Hurry up September!

-geekgirl

REVIEW Dearly Departed by Lia Habel

2012-02-17T09:52:00.001-05:00

Dearly Departed
by Lia Habel
Hardcover
Del Ray
October 18, 2011
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

Okay. WHY did no one tackle me to the ground and tell me how good this book was? I'm serious, people. You're falling down on the job.

I haven't seen all that many reviews floating around out there for this book, but the ones I've noticed have been favorable. So why, oh why did I wait so long to read this book?

Well...somehow I got it into my brain that this book contained insta-love. (Aside: one of these days I'm going to do a post about how much I HATE insta-love. It's epic, people. EPIC!) But as soon as I started reading Dearly Departed, I was hooked. (That first scene, people. Oh My Goodness! That scene pushed all my buttons). There was not a trace of insta-love to be found. So I'm sitting there reading, wondering in the back of my mind how I got the idea that this book would have it. And, for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I read the entire book. I re-read the summary on Goodreads. I puzzled. I pondered. I gave up.

Then, this morning, as I was packing up to go to work, I picked up the book, and flipped it over.

This is what I found...

THAT! That was it!

Mystery solved.

But seriously, that scene doesn't happen until you're way, WAAAAY into the book, but when you put it on the back cover, where I expect the summary to be, it threw me off.

So yes, for all the people like me out there who put this off due to fear of insta-love (insta-love with a zombie, no less), rest assured, it will not be found here.

Here you will find an amazing tale filled with zombies and steampunk and amazing heroines and beautifully flawed guys and oh, how I loved it so.

The characters were spot-on brilliant. Nora, or "Miss Dearly", as she's mostly called in the novel, as this takes place in a world that is all posh and proper) is a teeny-tiny, beautiful teenage girl, who just so happens to be obsessed with what are essentially war movies, and is all tough and plucky and I adored her.

Bram is a zombie. But the zombies in Dearly Departed are not your average walking undead. Depending on how long it took them to wake back up after they went into the light, some of them are still completely there mentally, and, along with the help of some clever doctors, have managed to patch themselves up pretty well. Bram is one of these lucky ones, and he's the captain of a branch of the army that protects the unknowing public from those of his kind that are more inclined to eat them. I love Bram. He's gentle and sweet and all kinds of protective. And he sings.

Also, very rarely in YA are the secondary characters so incredibly detailed and wonderful in their own right. Dr. Sam, Chas, Tom, Ren, Pamela. Oh, how I loved them all!

Seriously. If you hadn't noticed by now, this is me tackling you to the ground and telling you to read this book. It's incredible.

Go on. why aren't you reading it yet? Shoo!

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

REVIEW Tempest by Julie Cross

2012-02-16T13:59:00.001-05:00

Tempest
by Julie Cross
Hardcover
St. Martin's Griffin
January 17, 2012
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Okay, the time travel in this book is a little hard to explain. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, it makes perfect sense, but I'm having a lot of problems trying to put it into words. Basically, the way Jackson travels through time is paradox-proof. He can go back in time to a day in his own life (not forward, he's tried, and not any further back than before he was born) but he can't change anything. He can experience that day however he wants, and mess with things to his hearts content, but when he jumps back to his "home base" time--the time he is the age he is, if that makes sense--everything he did in the past un-does itself as though he'd never been there at all.

*deep breath* Okay, so there's that.

Jackson, oh how I loved Jackson. He's such a boy! (I LOVE teen boy POVs) He's this bad-boy rich-kid that has recently discovered he can travel through time. He's just starting to figure out his new power when suddenly he's cornered by a strange group of people and they shoot his girlfriend Holly.

Without meaning to, Jackson panics and jumps back in time, but this time it's different. He's stuck there, two years before his girlfriend was shot and left for dead. Now he has to figure out how to get back and save her.

I loved learning about Jacksons power as he was learning about it himself. His attempts to fit in in the past alternated between nerve-wracking and hilarious, and the story was filled with twists and turns I couldn't have expected.

My brain is still reeling a little from it--time travel will do that to you--but I LOVED it.

And the ending...*flail*

I need book two now.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

The Great Dust Jacket Debate

2012-02-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

So...let me just say, that when I posted my question on twitter (Show of hands people. Do you take off the dustjacket when you read books so you don't damage it? Because I do & I feel stupid every time.) that I had no idea so many people would weigh in with their two cents. And I NEVER intended it to turn into a blog post, but after so many people weighed in, well, I'd like to hear what the rest of you think.

The reason I asked is because every time I pick up one of my hardcovers to read, I slip off the dust jacket and put it back on the shelf, and I feel really, really dumb about it.

You see, I have always been under the impression that the dust jackets were there to protect the book*, and here I was, letting the book go out into the wild (aka my purse) unaccompanied by what was essentially its bodyguard. Because the bodyguard was just so. damn. PRETTY. Honestly, it's ridiculous. The other day, IMMEDIATELY after I took the dust jacket off a book I DROPPED THE BOOK. And that didn't bother me. At ALL. I shrugged, picked the book back up, and went along my way. And the adorable dust jacket bodyguard just sat on the shelf, giggled prettily, and began painting her nails.

Okay, that part didn't happen. But you know what I mean.

Seriously, does ANYONE else think this way? I feel so ridiculous so much of the time.

I hate to say it, but the safety of the bodyguard somehow became more important than the safety of the guy she's supposed to be guarding!

Okay... *deep breath*

I KNOW that the dust jackets have become a pretty nifty promotional tool over the years. They're gorgeous, and they make me want to buy the books even more (shameless cover-judger here) but really, it's gotten to the point where I've seriously considered buying these things which are essentially bullet-proof vests for the cute bodyguard so that I can protect them even more.

What do you think? Have I gone mad?

It's entirely possible.

Okay, it's time for you two weigh-in, my darlings. Are you obsessive about your dust jackets like I am? Do you protect them, or use them to protect the book? Or do you just toss them out (according to wikipedia, historically, that's what people DID...I'm a little shocked, not gonna lie).

Do you think I'm insane?

All comments welcome (and encouraged)!

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

*Okay, I might be basing my entire "the dust jackets were there to protect the book" belief on this scene from Back to the Future 2. Don't judge.

Book Trailer - 50th Anniversary Edition of A Wrinkle in Time

2012-02-16T07:35:00.001-05:00

Hello Readers!

On Monday I posted about the 50th Anniversary Edition of A Wrinkle in Time on the topic of reading it for the first time. I was lucky enough to be selected as part of the 50-blogs-50-days blog tour to commemorate the anniversary.

And you know what I realized AFTER I posted my review? That Monday February 13th, my post day, a random one in the midst of a 50-day-long tour, was THE ACTUAL ANNIVERSARY of the publication of A Wrinkle in Time.

Yeah, I was kind of bouncing around all day after I figured that one out.

If you missed my post, you can read it HERE, but I have another treat for you my lovelies...

If you look below, you'll see a video. Watch it. Macmillan Kids has done a lovely book trailer to commemorate the anniversary. It's AWESOME.

Enjoy, and Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Foretold by Jana Oliver

2012-02-15T09:10:00.000-05:00

This...OMG THIS! You have no idea how excited I am at this exact moment. No idea!

Do you even know what this is? This is book FOUR of The Demon Trappers series. FOUR! For some reason I thought it ended at book THREE!

Jana Oliver, you made my day. I thank you.

*toddles off to go stare at the pretty cover*

Oh, you wanted to know what it's about? Well, I don't know the details, but here's the scoop, as snagged from Amazon...

Stand by as Riley prepares to kick some serious demon butt for the last time in this thrilling, dramatic and sexy conclusion to THE DEMON TRAPPERS series. Riley's always known that Beck had a chequered history, but she's not prepared for what it actually means to be in love with a guy with this many dark secrets. Now that he's finally admitted to himself that he's in love with her too, there's no more hiding the truth about his past. And as it turns out, fending off a demon apocalypse is nothing compared to what's to come. . .

*swoon* Beck.

I love you Jana Oliver. That is all.

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

2012-02-15T07:56:00.001-05:00

Fever
by Lauren DeStefano
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster
February 21, 2012
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine's twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can't seem to elude Rhine's father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano's harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

WARNING: I've tried to make my review of Fever as spoiler-free as possible, but as always, read at your own peril!

Fever picks up right where Wither leaves off. I don't want to give too much away, since this book isn't out yet, but things have just gone from bad to worse for Rhine and Gabriel.

Where Wither was more of a world-building novel, Fever is definitely an adventure. Rhine is on the run, and getting back to her brother Rowan is about a million time harder than she expected. And they're being chased.

The good: The world DeStefano has created continues to get more complex, and frankly, a whole lot creepier, since we as readers have to follow Rhine, who has left the lap of luxury and is now tumbling down the rabbit hole into the darker, more dangerous parts. I loved following Rhine and Gabriel as they traveled and encountered new people (Wither had a pretty set cast of characters, since they never really left the mansion, that is not the case anymore) and it kept me on the edge of my seat, as I never knew what would happen next.

The not-so-good: While I love both Rhine and Gabriel to death, Rhine's strength, which is such an inherent part of her character, sometimes highlighted Gabriel's weakness. He's been torn from the only life he can really remember, and he's not taking it as well as I had hoped he would. Closer to the end, though, he starts regaining his footing and finally becomes someone Rhine can lean on again.

The bad: The sweater. There was something about the sweater I hated. I'm sorry, but it had to be said.

The AMAZING: The ending, guys. Holy crap. *hand flailing* That ending just killed me. Seriously, I need book three STAT.

In Summary: Fever was a great sophmore novel. It picked up where Wither left off and ran with it (quite literally at times) and it was quite the adventure.

I can't wait to see what happens in Book 3.

Fever comes out February 21st.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday

2012-02-15T07:20:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

My Waiting on Wednesday picks are a veritable trio of end-of-the-world enjoyment. Yeah...that was hard to say in my head before I typed it out.

Nevermind.

Let's have a look, shall we?

Rage Within
by Jeyn Roberts
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster
September 4, 2012
Pre-order the Book

Aries, Clementine, Mason and Michael have survived the first wave of the apocalypse that wiped out most of the world's population, and turned many of the rest into murderous Baggers. Now, they're hiding out in an abandoned house in Vancouver with a ragtag group of surviving teens, and trying to figure out their next move.

Aries is trying to lead, but it's hard to be a leader when there are no easy answers, and every move feels wrong. Clementine is desperate to find her brother Heath, but it's impossible to know where he'd be, even if he is still alive. Michael is still haunted by the memories of his actions during his harrowing struggle to survive. And Mason is struggling with something far worse: the fear that he may be a danger to his friends.

As the Baggers begin to create a new world order, Aries, Clementine, Mason and Michael will have to trust and rely on each other in order to survive.

I loved the first book in this series, Dark Inside, more than I ever expected I would. It was all StephenKing-like in awesomeness. Evil and the end of the world and the struggle to survive. I need book two immediately!

No Safety in Numbers
by Dayna Lorentz
Hardcover
Dial Books
May 29, 2012
Pre-order the Book

Life As We Knew It meets Lord of the Flies in a mall that looks just like yours

A biological bomb has just been discovered in the air ducts of a busy suburban mall. At first nobody knows if it's even life threatening, but then the entire complex is quarantined, people start getting sick, supplies start running low, and there's no way out. Among the hundreds of trapped shoppers are four teens.
These four different narrators, each with their own stories, must cope in unique, surprising styles, changing in ways they wouldn't have predicted, trying to find solace, safety, and escape at a time when the adults are behaving badly.
This is a gripping look at people and how they can—and must—change under the most dire of circumstances.
And not always for the better.

Aaaand this is another one that's going to have me packing my bug-out bag, I can feel it now. (note: props to anyone who knows what a bug-out bag is. Double props if you HAVE one...please ignore the fact that I used the word "props". Please). The thought of being trapped in a mall with a ton of other people during a plague is absolutely terrifying to me. Therefore I must read this book.

This Is Not a Test
by Courtney Summers
Paperback
St. Martin's Griffin
June 19, 2012
Pre-order the Book

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Zombies. Let me say that again... ZOMBIES.
Yes, I'm a fan.
Let's leave it at that before I embarrass myself, okay?
Thanks.

So what's on your waiting list this week?

Link me up in the comments so I can take a look.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

2012-02-14T15:25:00.002-05:00

Wither
by Lauren DeStefano
Hardcover/Paperback
Simon&Schuster
March 22, 2011
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

So...I have a confession to make...

Ready?

I only read Wither in the last month. I KNOW. What the heck, GeekGirl? Why didn't you listen to everyone who was telling you to read it? Why did you just leave it sitting there for NEARLY A YEAR, looking so flippin' gorgeous? Why didn't you pick it up?

Why?

Well, my readers, this was another one of those books that had a HUGE amount of hype surrounding it, and, quite frankly, that SCARES me. I'm always afraid that I'm going to settle in and read a book that everyone else loves and I just...won't. (What? It's a CONCERN!)

But let me tell you this...all the hype around Wither? Totally deserved. I LOVED IT.

The world that DeStefano has created is intricate and terrifying at the same time. It's made up of two extremes--the lower class, where Rhine grew up with her twin brother, which is populated by factories and orphanages and brothels; and the upper class, where technology and fashion and elegance reigns supreme. The story begins as Rhine is torn from the world she knew, and is thrust into the other as she is kidnapped and sold as one of three new "brides" to a twenty-one year old man named Linden.

At first, Linden is one of the villains of the piece, a despised figure that Rhine is determined to escape. But as she grows closer to Rose, Linden's First Wife, his favorite, who's on her deathbed--females only live to the age of twenty in this dystopian, and males only to the age of twenty-five--she starts to realize that he knows nothing of what's going on in his own home, and it is his father, Housemaster Vaughn, who's really pulling the puppet strings.

It soon becomes clear to Rhine that in order to escape, she has to get close to Linden, because he is the weak link. But it's not as simple as that. It never is.

The characters in this novel were so diverse and well crafted that I went from wanting to soothe one to wanting to throttle another as I read from scene to scene. Rhine is flawed and more than a little single-minded, but she is the hero of the story. She's not waiting around for anyone to save her. She intends to save herself.

Seriously, I LOVED this book. The sequel, Fever, comes out in just one week (keep an eye out for my review of Fever tomorrow), so if you haven't read Wither, NOW is the time!

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Cover-Judgers Anonymous - All These Things I've Done

2012-02-14T10:26:00.001-05:00

Never judge a book by its cover.

If you've read my blog, you've probably heard me refer to myself as a shameless (SHAMELESS!) cover-judger. I know, I'm seeking help. But I don't think I'm the only one out there who does it.

So I invite you, readers, to share your opinion, and maybe we can find a cure for this problem together...or not.

Let the (shameless! SHAMELESS!) cover-judging begin!

In today's edition of Cover-Judgers Anonymous, it's not only the covers we're taking a look at, but the blurbs. You see, I've had Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done sitting on my to-read pile for a LONG time. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely planning on reading and reviewing it, but something about it just hasn't managed to grab my attention.

Let's take a look...

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.

It sounds good, but something about it just wasn't holding my attention.

But then I saw this...

Sixteen year-old Anya becomes the head of a mafia family after her parents are both murdered by rival gangs. Although Anya is embrolied in the criminal world, she is determined to keep her brother and sister out of the mafia family, but her father's relatives aren't so keen to let them go. When Anya's violent ex-boyfriend is poisoned with contaminated chocolate – chocolate that is produced illegally by Anya's mafia family – she is arrested for attempted murder and sent to the notorious jail on Manhattan Island.

Eventually she is freed by the new D.A. in town, who believs she has been framed. But this D.A. is the father of Win, a boy at school to whom Anya feels irresistibly drawn, and her freedom comes with conditions. Win's father wants to be mayor, and he can't risk having his ambition jeopardised by rumours spreading that his son is seeing a member of a notorious crime family. Anya knows she risks the safety of her family by seeing Win again, but the feeling between them may be too strong to resist...

And this, my darlings, is what I'm talking about. For some reason, the UK cover just GRABBED me, and the blurb hooked me a lot more than the US/CDN cover.

So what do you guys think? Which do you prefer?

Let me know in the comments! Don't be shy! I've turned on anonymous comments for just this reason.

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Embers & Echoes

2012-02-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

Earlier today Karsten Knight revealed the cover to his second in his Wildefire series, Embers & Echoes. The first book, Wildefire was a thrilling ride and I liked it a lot.
There's no summary up for book two yet that I could find, but here's the summary for book one (in case you missed it):

Every flame begins with a spark.
Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She's struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve's violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California's redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn't go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school--being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger--Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood...and she's one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she's got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time... And when warm and cold fronts collide, there's guaranteed to be a storm.

I can't wait to get my hands on Embers & Echoes. What about you?

Buy Wildefire
Pre-order Embers & Echoes

A Wrinkle In Time 50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Blogs Tour

2012-02-13T09:20:00.003-05:00

A Wrinkle in Time
50th Anniversary Edition
by Madeleine L'Engle
Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
January 31, 2012
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

Fifty years ago, Madeleine L’Engle introduced the world to A Wrinkle in Time and the wonderful and unforgettable characters Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. When the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, they time travel to Camazotz, where they must face the leader IT in the ultimate battle between good and evil—a journey that threatens their lives and our universe. A Newbery Award winner, A Wrinkle in Time is an iconic novel
that continues to inspire millions of fans around the world. This special edition has been redesigned and includes an introduction by Katherine Paterson, an afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis that includes photographs and memorabilia, the author’s Newbery Medal acceptance speech, and other bonus materials.

Guess what?

It's the 50th anniversary of A Wrinkle in Time...and I've never read it.

Until now.

Oh, sure, I leafed through it as a kid, but I never actually sat down and immersed myself in it. Like I should have.

My reading of A Wrinkle in Time played out something like this…

Me: *wrinkles forehead in concentration as she stares at the pages*
Boyfriend: What’s the matter?
Me: I’m confused.
BF: By what?
Me: *holds up book* The book is confusing me.
BF: Isn’t that a kid’s book?
Me: *defensive* Hey! It’s complicated, okay? There’s tesseracts and space-travel and shape-shifters and mentions of God and…and…

Yeah, it’s complicated and mind-bending as all get out. But the story is really, really good. There’s a reason this one is a classic. It presents all these incredibly complex ideas in the form of a children's novel, and it doesn't dumb them down or apologize for it.

I really wish I’d read this one when I was a pre-teen. (If you’re a pre-teen or teen right now and you haven’t read it, I highly suggest you go pick it up…right now!) Meg is definitely a character I would have identified with at that age. She’s all kinds of awkward…the glasses, the braces, the overwhelming urge to punch someone who insults her, and the overwhelming feeling that she just doesn’t fit in. Her entire family’s pretty out of the ordinary. She’s the daughter of two scientists (one of whom left for a work project years ago and they haven’t seen or heard from him since) and her baby brother Charles Wallace—who hasn’t even started school yet—is uncannily intelligent and what seems to be more than a little psychic.

But that’s nothing until she makes the acquaintance of three very odd old ladies, and, along with Charles Wallace and her new friend Calvin, gets swept up in a mind-bending adventure the likes of which we’ve never seen.

Like I said, there’s tesseracts (please don’t make me explain what that is…my brain is still struggling to wrap itself around that concept) and space-travel and shape-shifters and all kinds of other things. And there’s the shadow, The Darkness, a dark, evil force that is trying to wrap itself around the Earth—and that HAS managed to take over other planets with incredibly frightening results—that it is up to the three of them to fight.

I really think I missed out on something by not having read this in my early life. The planet Camazotz is easily one of the creepiest places I can imagine and I think that definitely would have stuck with me to this day.

Also, I know for a FACT that if I’d read this when I was young, I would have been head-over-heels for Calvin. He’s this gangly red-headed teenage boy who is a little odd himself, and he bonds with Meg and her family as though it were his own. Also, even though Meg thinks herself plain and awkward, he tells her she has “dreamboat eyes”, and holds her hand and tells her she needs to keep wearing her glasses so that he’s the only one who knows how pretty her eyes are, so someone else won’t steal her away. *swoon!*

I LOVED this book, and I think you will too.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

About the 50^th Anniversary edition:

The 50^th Anniversary Commemorative edition features:

• Frontispiece photo*†

• Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*†

• Manuscript pages*†

• Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*†

• New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature †

• New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos †

• Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork †

• Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech

* Unique to this edition † never previously published

Buy the Book

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

2012-02-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

The Way We Fall
by Megan Crewe
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
January 24, 2012
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

It starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you're dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back. Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival.

As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest. Because how will she go on if there isn't?

Megan Crewe crafts a powerful and gripping exploration of self-preservation, first love, and hope. Poignant and dizzying, this heart-wrenching story of one girl’s bravery and unbeatable spirit will leave readers fervently awaiting the next book in this standout new series.

This book...oh, this book, you guys. This book hit so many of my this-is-awesome-buttons. I LOVE apocalyptic stuff (every once in a while I'll watch a movie or read a book, and the instant result is starting to stockpile food and making mental notes of where all my tools/sleepingbag/everything useful is... I'm kind of a survivalist. What can I say. Too many zombie movies, I guess...but when the zombie apocalypse comes, by gum I'll be ready, but I digress).

In case my little aside confused you, no, there are no zombies in this book. This book is the OTHER kind of end-of-the-world my brain naturally goes to. Plagues. People dying left right and center...and the breakdown of society as it all falls down around you.

This is what The Way We Fall is about. (And it's set in Canada! How cool is that? ...where's my first-aid kit? Wait...what? Not yet? Well...okay...) It follows Kaelyn, the daughter of a microbiologist who is living in a island community in Canada. The story is told in journal entries, and picks up not long after a childhood friend of her's (who's she's fallen out with over the years, much to her regret) has moved away to attend a dance academy. It picks up as she's trying to figure out where the friendship went wrong, and she's trying to change herself s that by the time he gets back, they can give their friendship another try. But that's not what happens. What happens is that people on the island start to get sick. First her friend's father, then her friend, and soon, people are dropping like flies.

The island is quarantined, and cut off from the outside world, and Kaelyn is trying to hold everything together as everything falls apart.

I absolutely adored this book. I loved Kaelyn, she was such a great narrator, and I loved how she changed and grew as she faced the struggles that tried to beat her down. The character relationships were great, and I love how much they changed just due to the circumstances, how Kaelyn grew close to people she never would have otherwise, had this whole thing happened.

I can't wait for the next book!

But, as I wait, you guys should pick this one up.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

In My Mailbox

2012-02-11T17:36:00.001-05:00

Due to the absolute snowiness of today, the adorable mail-squirrel is warranted. Thanks to Wendy at A Cupcake and a Latte for the graphic!

Anywhoo, In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren where we can all share the books we picked up during the week (please let me know what you received in the comments. I love to hear from you!)

Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe - thanks to HachetteUKCanada

Black Heart by Holly Black - thanks to Simon&SchusterCanada

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry - thanks to RaincoastBooks

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons - thanks to RaincoastBooks

Switched by Amanda Hocking - thanks to RaincoastBooks

And then last Saturday afternoon I went to the launch party for The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe (amazing book! My review will be up soon) and got a signed copy and some swag. Had a great time!

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington - thanks to Wendy of A Cupcake and a Latte

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin - borrowed from Wendy of A Cupcake and a Latte

And from the library I picked up this one:

Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A Heinlein (watch out for stobor!)

And last but not least, a couple from Netgalley.com

The Weepers The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

The Call of Eirian (The Faelin Chronicles #2) by C. Aubrey Hall

A Million Suns - Beth Revis

2012-02-11T16:51:00.003-05:00

A Million Suns
by Beth Revis
Hardcover
Razorbill
Released January 10, 2012
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, "New York Times"-bestselling author Revis mesmerizes readers again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

A Million Suns picks up not long after the end of Across the Universe, and if you remember, I was a big fan of that book (I <3 sci-fi like you wouldn't believe...we clearly need more of it in YA fiction. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Someone needs to get on that STAT).

I don't want to give too much away, since this one just came out not too long ago, and I know there are a lot of people haven't read Across the Universe yet, but there are three things you need to know.

One. This book is EXCELLENT. And if you haven't read book one, you need to do that ASAP, because I need to talk to everyone about this book.

Two. A Million Suns is, at its heart, a mystery. Yes, it happens to be set in space in a strange kind of almost-dystopian society, but it IS a mystery. Clues have been left for Amy to follow, and I loved how Revis managed to weave everything together without giving anything away too early. I was left flipping pages as quickly as I could so that I could figure out just what the heck was going on. LOVE.

Three. If you've read book one, you'll know that things were pretty tough for Amy and Elder. Well, for those of you who've read it and agree, I have this to say to you... Buckle up. Things have become a LOT more difficult for Elder and Amy.

In other news, I LOVE Amy. Elder's great and all, but, really, this is Amy's story. She's spunky and a whole lot tougher than I would be in her situation--a situation she shouldn't even BE in--and it's great to see the world Revis has created through her eyes.

If you like sci-fi and haven't started this series, I heartily suggest you pick up Across the Universe. And if you've finished Across the Universe, well...what are you waiting for?

Because as much as I loved Across the Universe...I think I love A Million Suns even more.

Happy Reading Everyone!

-geekgirl

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

2012-02-01T21:19:00.001-05:00

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Let me just put it this way...I've read this book twice. Yeah. TWICE. In the midst of a ever-growing to-read pile, I came crawling back to read Cinder again.

I love this book.

There are no words for how much I love this book.

First of all, it's Cinderella but with cyborgs. Sci-fi Cinderella, people! Fairy tales and sci-fi all mixed together into a delightful concoction that I devoured. Twice.

Okay, back on topic. Cinder is set in future China after several world wars have altered the governing bodies. Cinder is a mechanic who supports her step-family with her work. She's also a cyborg, and cyborgs are second-class-citizens at best, so when Kai, the prince of the nation, shows up at her stall, Cinder kind of panics. She doesn't let him know she's a cyborg. Why would she? It isn't like a prince would ever have any interest in a mechanic.

But then Cinder's world changes forever, and she's caught up in a journey of fear and betrayal, of plagues and royalty and danger and death. And while it follows the tale of Cinderella beautifully, it also has a bunch of twists and turns along the way.

The characters are top-notch. Cinder is wonderfully flawed and Kai is swoon-worthy, strong and broken at the same time.

I loved everything about this book. Execpt the fact that it ended. Someone needs to work on that.

Need book two now. So much.

Seriously, this book was so good.

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

Buy the Book:
on Amazon

Watch the Trailer:

Waiting on Wednesday - Pushing the Limits

2012-02-01T07:25:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's mine!

In Pushing the Limits, two teens, brought together by their court ordered therapist, work together to learn the secrets of their case files, but neither foresaw the shattering consequences of learning the truth regarding their families or of falling in love.

Okay, first of all, isn't this one of the hottest covers you've ever seen? Secondly, I adore tales of falling in love, especially through hardship. And thirdly, it's a Harlequin Teen title.

What more do you want?

Can't wait to get my hands on this one!

What about you? What are you waiting on?

Let me know in the comments!

Love ya!

-geekgirl

Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare

2011-12-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

5/5 Stars!

This book has been out for a week now, and if you haven't picked up a copy yet...well...what are you waiting for?

As I mentioned to Cassandra Clare on twitter, normally I HATE love triangles--usually they're done in such a wimpy fashion, all "oh, I can't decide...one's all broody and the other's all...broody" but that isn't the case here. The dynamic between Tessa, the main character, and the two boys, Will and Jem, is unique. Usually the two guys in a love triangle are in a perpetual battle for the girl's affections, and they can't stand each other (it's all very dramatic). Whereas in Clockwork Prince, Will and Jem are best friends. There is so much love and affection between the two boys, and that makes Tessa's feelings for them both even stronger, because they ARE so close, and care for each other so much.

The problem is that she loves them both, but for very different reasons, and she finds herself torn between them.

Truthfully, I'm all kinds of torn between who I want her to choose...don't worry, Tessa. It's not just you.

This book picks up where Clockwork Angel leaves off (READ THAT ONE FIRST!!!), and now the pressure is on to find The Magister before they lose control over the Clave. The characters are getting desperate. This book is full of magic, mystery and betrayal...and possibly the BEST love triangle in YA (in my own humble opinion).

Aside: I'm sorry about going on about the love triangle, but I love it so...Tessa is just so PROPER, and everything is so SCANDALOUS!

And also? There's more Magnus Bane in this one than in Clockwork Angel, and I love me some Magnus Bane.

I loved being drawn deeper into the world Cassandra Clare has created. It's so full of secrets and unexpectedness (that's not a word, you say? I say BAH to you. It is now. So there) and magic and danger...I could go on and on...

But I won't. Go read the book and find out for yourself.

Love ya!

-geekgirl

Waiting on Wednesday

2011-12-14T07:38:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's my Waiting on Wednesday...Purple Three-quel Edition!

The days are growing darker for 17-year-old demon trapper Riley Blackthorne. With her father’s reanimated body back safely, Beck barely speaking to her because of her tryst with a hunky fallen angel and a deal freshly made with Lucifer, she has enough on her hands to last a normal teenage lifetime. Though she bargained with Heaven to save his life, her ex-boyfriend Simon has told the Vatican’s elite team of demon hunters that she’s working with Hell. So now she’s on the run, at the top of everyone’s most-wanted list.

But it’s becoming clear that this is bigger than either Riley or Beck, and rapidly getting out of control. Someone's tampering with Atlanta's Holy Water, and it’s on Riley to figure out who. On top of that, there’s something wrong with the demons; they’re working together—and refusing to die. The trappers and hunters are doing their best, but civilians are falling in harm’s way.

Caught between her bargain with Heaven and her promise to Lucifer, Riley fears the final war is coming—and it may be closer than anyone thinks…

I'm DYING for this one. I've read both The Demon Trapper's Daughter and Soul Thief and I adored both of them. (Team Beck! \o/) I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

In the end, all that’s left is an echo.

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice.

When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye....

Loved Loved LOVED the first two Body Finder novels. And while I'm more than a teeny bit wary of Rafe (I love Jay like there's no tomorrow) I'm really looking forward to this one.

The third book in the Paranormalcy trilogy.

The final chapter of Evie's adventures. Old friends, new ones, all wrapped up in impossible decisions. And some ball gowns. Because what's a life of normal and paranormal drama without a ball gown or two?

So many three-quels this coming year are purple. Coincidence? I think not. But they're all gorgeous and I want them all! And since I adored Paranormalcy, there's no way this one wasn't going to make my list.

So that's it for me, lovelies. What about you? Let me know what you're waiting on in the comments!

Love ya!

-geekgirl

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare

2011-12-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

I love the mythology that Cassandra Clare has created. This is a prequel to her Mortal Instruments series, and it takes place in historical London. Tessa Gray has traveled to London to find her brother only to find herself swept up in a supernatural world that she had no idea even existed. She's captured by the Dark Sisters who force her to...change.

Because Tessa Gray has the ability to take someone's belonging in hand and change her shape to mimic them. But not only mimic, but to see into their minds. It's a gift that she never even knew she had, and it isn't exactly welcome when it results in her being taken hostage.

But then she is rescued by Will Herondale, a Shadowhunter, and she ends up immersed in their world and in a war between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders and a new enemy in The Magister who wants Tessa for his own purposes.

I love the characters Cassandra Clare has created. Tessa is a great introduction to the world, and Will is both dreamy and infuriating. Jem is calm and mysterious and Jessamine is the character I love to hate. I think I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Sophie and Thomas, not to mention Charlotte--the leader of the local group of Shadowhunters--and Henry, her scatterbrained inventor husband.

I also loved how so much of the story was kept shrouded in mystery. This story kept me guessing as to what was going on, and there were some things I just didn't see coming.

Great read! Loved it!

-geekgirl

(slightly belated) In My Mailbox

2011-12-12T19:58:00.000-05:00

Due to a bunch of computer issues over the weekend (my laptop's harddrive crashed & had to be replaced) my In My Mailbox post is a teeny bit belated...but here it is!

adorable graphic snagged from MochaLatteReads.blogspot.com

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren!

From Macmillan for review:
Monstrous Beauty
Struck
The Raft
Of Poseidon
Monument 14

Bought (because they were shiny and I'm a magpie):
Unearthly
Shatter Me
Dark Eden

From Hachette for review:
The Last Princess
The Way We Fall

From RandomHouseCanada for review:
Dearly, Departed
The Death Cure

From the Library:
Queen of the Dead

So, as you can see, I had an AMAZING book week.

I know it's a little late, but let me know what you got in your mailbox this week in the comments!

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

In My Mailbox - December 3rd

2011-12-04T10:41:00.003-05:00

adorable graphic snagged from MochaLatteReads.blogspot.com

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren!

Sooo...after weeks of empty mailboxes, things got kind of crazy around here...

First, a HUGE box of books from Hachette UK Canada arrived, and this is what was inside...

I was practically DANCING when I saw this.

Then, even more goodies arrived...(this time from Penguin Canada and Raincoast Books)...

And then I went to the library, and these lovelies were on the hold shelf for me...

And then, in case THAT wasn't enough...I went book shopping with a group of other Ontario Book Bloggers, and THIS happened...

So, in summary, I had an AMAZING book week.

How about you?

What did you get in your mailbox?

Tell me in the comments!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - Drummer Girl by Karen Bass

2011-12-02T13:27:00.000-05:00

The Fourth Down needs a drummer, and Sidney's easily the best in the school. But the all-male band has conditions for her to be allowed in—such as dressing like a girl. Accustomed to invisibility, Sid soon discovers the consequences to her makeover. It's not only that playing kit in a skirt is impractical. But as someone once taunted about her sexuality for being a drum-playing girl who likes shop class, now Sid is forced to deal with guys who think her new look makes her fair game. Sidney begins to realize the price of compromising who you really are.

4/5 Stars!

Readers, if I could tell you one thing about this book, it would be this: Do NOT let the adorable cover fool you.

This book was way rougher on the main character than I expected it to be. All Sid wanted was to be in a band. She's been kind of floundering ever since her big brother left for school and her father got a promotion that's been taking up all of his time. The one constant in her life is her drumming. But she's not content to keep it hidden in the basement any longer. She wants to get out there and play! So when she hears the school's local rock-group is holding auditions for a new drummer, she goes for it.

But there's a problem. One of the guys is dead-set against having a girl in the band, and will only vote her in if--as a great deal of the school thinks--she's a lesbian. Another of the guys is cool with having her in the band, but has vetoed her because of her look--or lack of one. So Sid is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She's not actually a lesbian, and doesn't want to pretend to be one, so she bids her old look--and her beloved baggie jeans and band t-shirts--goodbye, and tries for a new look.

But that brings her all kinds of attention she doesn't want, and her best friend is pissed at her for changing herself just to fit in.

Sid has to deal with so many jerks in this book. I felt so bad for her. But Sid is tougher inside than she knows.

I loved seeing how she related to all the different characters--from her best friend, who's pissed at her and has his own problems, to Wes, her worst enemy, who makes her life tougher every step of the way. Also? Brad is one of the most adorable love interests in history.

So, in summary, do NOT let the cover fool you. It's a great cover, and totally showcases the joy Sid feels while drumming, but that's only part of the story. It's a rough ride through highschool for Sid, and I enjoyed it every step of the way!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

2011-12-02T10:49:00.000-05:00

In Pushing the Limits, two teens, brought together by their court ordered therapist, work together to learn the secrets of their case files, but neither foresaw the shattering consequences of the learning the truth regarding their families or of falling in love.

Add To Goodreads

This...looks...AMAZING. I love the cover, and the premise.

*WANTS*

What about you?

-geekgirl

REVIEW Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

2011-12-01T08:57:00.000-05:00

A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger

Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

2/5 Stars.

There is nothing more depressing than looking forward to a book forever, only to read it and not care for it.

I could see why so many people so far had liked it—the mythology was good, the history of the Speakers and the Protectors. And the romance sweeping back generations of reincarnations was swoon-worthy at times.

But mostly…I just felt lost.

Lenzi, the main character, just felt blank to me. She just didn’t have a lot of personality or backstory for me to get attached to her, so following her along on this story felt strange to me.

Lenzi is the reincarnation of Rose, who has been a Speaker (read: she can speak to the dead, and it’s her job to help them pass on) for probably dozens of lifetimes. The only problem is that Lenzi doesn’t remember any of her past lives…and all the other Speakers and Protectors (basically, the Speaker’s helpers) do, so they expect her to pick right back up where she left off. But she’s completely blown out of the water by all of this, and is relying on Alden, her Protector, for help. She feels an instant attraction to Alden, but he resists her because Rose (past-life Lenzi, who was in charge of him) had always told him that they would never have a relationship, and that they just had to focus on their job.

It was weird for me to read about a character that was essentially jealous of herself, and to listen to all the other characters tell her about “herself”. Also, Alden, who was supposed to be helping her, kept keeping stuff from her (and the whole pain/pleasure thing? That gave me the heebie-jeebies), and kept expecting her to be just like Rose, when it was obvious she wasn’t anything like her…it kind of drove me bonkers.

Like I said, I liked the mythology of the Speakers and the Protectors, but this just wasn’t the book for me.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

-geekgirl

COVER WATCH - Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

2011-11-30T08:45:00.000-05:00

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

A huge store isn’t the worst place to be stranded. There’s food and water, bedding and books. But what if it’s not safe to leave? Emmy Laybourne had us from the get-go with her utterly fresh and fast-paced debut.

Six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids are trapped together in a chain superstore. Together they build a refuge for themselves inside, while outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapon spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Look at it! Isn't it gorgeous?

It looks so badass. I love it. I always get a thrill when I spot new covers.

I'm dying to read this one, too. I love end-of-the-world stories.

Thoughts, my darlings?

-geekgirl

Waiting on Wednesday...

2011-11-30T00:05:00.002-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's mine...

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

GORGEOUS cover & I love the dystopian/reality-show kinda feel. <3

THE CONCLUSION TO ONE OF THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT NOVELS OF LAST YEAR

It’s been thirty-five weeks since twin sisters Harmony and Melody went their separate ways. And now their story has become irresistible: twins separated at birth, each due to deliver twins…on the same day!

Married to Ram and living in Goodside, Harmony spends her time trying to fit back into the community she once believed in. But she can’t forget about Jondoe, the guy she fell for under the strangest of circumstances.

To her adoring fans, Melody has achieved everything: a major contract and a coupling with the hottest bump prospect around. But this image is costing her the one guy she really wants.

The girls’ every move is analyzed by millions of fans eagerly counting down to “Double Double Due Date.” They’re two of the most powerful teen girls on the planet, and they could do only one thing to make them even more famous:

Tell the truth.

I, for one, ADORED Bumped. And I love how the egg is now cracked in this cover. I can't wait to dive into this one!

Alona Dare has been living as Lily “Ally” Turner for over a month...and it's not been easy. Besides being trapped in a body so not as good as her original one, she's failing miserably at playing the sister and daughter of people she barely knows. Plus, she can't help but think that Will Killian - the boy she hates to care about - somehow wishes the real Lily were back.

She and Will have been trying to find a solution, looking for a two-for-one miracle that would free Alona and keep Lily alive. Visits to local pyschics have proven useless, but then they stumble across Malachi the Magnificent, who seems to be different. His office is full of ghosts, for one thing. But Malachi doesn’t seem to hear or see them, which is odd. Plus, he bolts the moment he sees Will. To make things even weirder, Misty Evans, Alona's former best friend, is waiting in Malachi's lobby and claiming that she's being haunted. By Alona.

Will's convinced that Malachi has answers, while Alona is all kinds of pissed that someone's impersonating her. But their efforts to uncover the truth will bring them much unwanted attention and put them directly in the path of a ghost who will stop at nothing for another stab at life. Even if it means destroying Alona.

I just finished The Ghost and The Goth and I LOVED it! I'm currently trying to track down book two, but I couldn't resist putting book three on my list!

So that's it for me, my darlings.

What are you waiting on this week?

Let me know in the comments!

-geekgirl

REVIEW The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade

2011-11-29T18:52:00.001-05:00

The Ghost and The Goth
by Stacey Kade
Hardcover/Paperback
Hyperion
June 29, 2010
Buy the Book
Buy the eBook

Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.

I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation?

I have been putting off reading this one FOREVER. I don’t know why. I shouldn’t have. I guess I built the story up in my head (I’m a huge sucker for cheerleader/loner-gothboy stories) that I was afraid that it would end up being…well…not what I was looking for.

I was wrong. This book is almost criminally adorable. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

Alona is the very definition of a Queen Bee. She’s pretty much the stereotypical mean girl (even though she doesn’t think she’s being mean at all), and so she’s taking the fact that she just got run over by a bus a little hard.

But when she realizes that Will can see her, everything changes. Suddenly she has purpose. She will get his help to be whereever the heck she's supposed to end up...you know...bright light at the end of the tunnel.

The only problem is, all the other ghosts realize that Will can see them at pretty much the same time...

Will has been trying to ignore the dead for his entire life, and it hasn't been going well, especially with the principal taking away his iPod--his one source of distraction--and his mother forcing him to see a shrink. And now he has to deal with the Queen Bee herself.

I loved Alona and Will. They're both adorable and they're so clearly into eachother, but they still have a push-shove kind of relationship, each trying to make the other back down. It's good for both of them, and it's the cutest thing ever to watch.

Seriously...this book was EXACTLY what I wanted it to be. I'm hoping the rest of the series is more of the same, because I LOVED it!

Great read!

-geekgirl

My NaNoWriMo Experience

2011-11-28T21:15:00.001-05:00

Day 0
Took the day off work to simultaneously relax and gear myself up for what was to come. I had warned everyone of what I was planning, and that I was not to be disturbed.

Had a mini freak-out over what I was about to get myself into.

Talked to the Boyfriend on the phone. While he has always been supportive of my writing, he's always been kind of teasing about it if there are things he finds ridiculous (read: vampires, werewolves, etc). He asked what my story was about. I told him I didn't want to tell him because he would think it was silly. He responded with what was quite possibly the most PERFECT answer ever. It was something to the effect of "but isn't that what you're trying to do? Tell a story?" And you know what? He was right.

Spent the evening telling the Boyfriend exactly what the story was, and reading him all the notes I'd prepared in advance. He liked it.

The Boyfriend then asked me a question that made me feel like a REAL WRITER: "Where do you get your ideas?" It made my day.

I was ready. This thing was going DOWN.

Day 1
Woke up.

Fell back asleep.

Woke up.

Fell back asleep.

Woke up to the phone ringing. It was The Boyfriend. He asked if he could come visit, to which I responded something like this: "OH MY GOD! NO! YOU KNOW THIS IS MY WRITING DAY! DO YOU WANT ME TO FAIL?!?!"

I may have been a little dramatic. But, being the guy he is, he wore me down, telling me he just wanted to see me, and that he wouldn't intrude at all. He'd make sure I wrote all day.

So I sighed and agreed and hung up the phone. Then I pulled my lazy butt out of bed because I had to get some writing done before he got here, or he'd realize I'm a lying liar about how productive I was going to be.

This, despite my protests, ended up being a blessing. The Boyfriend showed up, handed me a coffee, asked me how many words I'd done. Then he settled down on the sofa and, for the rest of the day, every time I got up from the desk or paused too long, he'd look at me and tell me to get back to work.

Most of the credit for my Day One word count of 10,145 words goes to him. Thanks babe!

Day 2
Back at work, but came home directly after and busted out another 5024 words. Feelin' Good!

Day 3
Worked, came home, wrote 5181 words. Exhausted.

Day 4
Burnout approaching. Worked, then came home EARLY and only managed 2426 words before passing out.

Days 5-7
Somewhere in there Daylight Savings Time happened, and suddenly it was all DARK at night (I know, right?). I slipped into the first stages of hibernation mode.

Day 8
Dusted myself off. Challenged two other bloggers to mini word-wars.

Then Amber (my fave writing buddy EVER) showed up on Twitter and we word-warred ALL NIGHT LONG.

Hit 30,173 words.

Passed out.

Day 9
ENTIRE body was aching from the word wars. Decided to take the day off from writing.

Day 10
Day off from writing continued into day two.

Days 11-14
Burnout and Hibernation instincts in full effect. Zero words written.

Day 15
Realized the month was half over. This of course, made me want to feel productive, but didn't actually make me want to get any writing done. Fed my manuscript through spell-check (which I'd turned off so that I could bypass my OCD instinct to fix everything with a squiggly line under it). Spell check gave me an additional 33 words (apparently I combine words that aren't actually combineable. Who knew?).

Now at 30,206

Days 16-21
You're a SLACKER McFly. Just like your old man.

Day 22
Realize I have just over a week left.

PANIC.

Make a date with Amber for some more word wars, but fall asleep before she gets there. Luckily, I managed to churn out another 2102 words before that happened.

Am now at 32,308 words.

Day 23
Brother's Birthday. Call him after work to wish him well, then I get down to writing (in between laundry loads, because, you know...NaNoWriMo isn't really conducive to doing laundry, but I was out of shirts, so...)

Manage to churn out 3636 words. The Boyfriend calls and we chat for awhile. I hang up, click SAVE again (I'm OCD with my file-saving, because I've worked my ass off at this point, and I don't want to lose anything)...and then THIS happens...

COMPUTER: *blinks*

ME: *blinks back*

COMPUTER: *sends me error message*

ME: *sighs*

*closes error message*

COMPUTER: *makes WORD close*

ME: *sighs*

*re-opens WORD*

*clicks on file*

COMPUTER: FILE NOT FOUND.

ME: WTF? *clicks again*

COMPUTER: FILE NOT FOUND.

ME: *PANICS*

*searches FRANTICALLY*

*sniffles*

Yeah, the computer ate my file. 3636 words. POOF! Gone! This is where I call The Boyfriend right back and start freaking out and working up to a good cry. I hang up with him and call my Brother--because even though he's younger than me, he has ALWAYS been my go-to-guy for making my computer work. Our conversation went something like this...

ME: Oh my god, you have to help me. I just wrote 3600 words and my computer just ATE IT. I'm freaking out. I'm going to cry if I lose this. HELPMEHELPMEHLEPME.

BROTHER: (very calmly) Okay.

Take a look. Is there a temporary file?

ME: Yes, but I CAN'T OPEN IT!

BROTHER: Okay. Make a copy.

ME: I already did but I can't open that either.

BROTHER: Okay. Take the copy...

ME: yes?

BROTHER: ...and change the file extension to .doc

ME: ...seriously.

BROTHER: Yep.

ME: *tries it* It gives me an error message, saying if I do this, the file might not work...(grumbling) you already aren't working, you bastard.

BROTHER: click OK.

ME: *clicks*

*watches as file turns magically back into a Word document* *clicks on it frantically*

COMPUTER: *opens file*

ME: *scrolls down like a crazy person* Oh thank god!

BROTHER: It worked?

ME: I love you.

He then gave me a teeny lecture on what happens when word files go to the sky. I wasn't really listening. I was too busy rejoicing that my work hadn't been eaten by gremlins. I told him Happy Birthday again and hung up. I think he was going to go eat a brownie or something. I am completely supportive of his victory brownie.

I call The Boyfriend back. I inform him that my Brother is a wizard and needs a shrine.

I manage at churn out a few more words, but at that point I'm so stressed that I can't handle it anymore.

I'm now at 36,083 words.

Day 24

Worked.

Went shopping.

Made pasta.

Finally succumbed to using Write or Die to bust out some words. Decided I'm getting this thing done NO MATTER WHAT.

Then I realized that I'd forgotten my notes for ALL THE SCENES I WAS WRITING THAT NIGHT at work. Dammit.

Wrote them anyway. That's what editing's for, right?

Played around with Twitter. Wondered why it was so dead and people were talking about pie. Then remembered it was American Thanksgiving.

Tweeted at Amber until she woke up from her food coma.

Wrote with Write or Die (I love that thing).

Hit 40,165 words. Had celebratory drink.

Chatted with Amber instead of going to sleep.

Passed out.

Day 25

Escape Scene begins! Very exciting!

Actually wrote in the morning (this is a first for the month!). Busted out 679 words before work.

Ran spellcheck.

Fought with spellcheck.

Glared at spellcheck.

Clicked "ignore" about a million times.

Spellcheck, after pissing me off mightily, only gave me an additional 5 words.

I'm now at 40,849.

Not too shabby.

Went to work. Left work. Drove to my parents' place.

Upon arriving I informed my mother that I was doing NaNoWriMo and "I'm sitting down at the table and I am FINISHING THIS BOOK. Do NOT let me sleep until it is done."

Mom: *blinks* You're writing a novel?

Me: Yes, National Novel Writing Month, and I'm nearly finished so don't let me--"

Mom: *squish-hugs me* I'm so proud of you!

Me: Oh-kay. But you're not going to let me sleep 'til I'm done, right?

Mom: Yup.

I then dropped all my stuff and ran out of the house and had lunch with The Boyfriend. Hey, I didn't say I was starting YET.

Then I got back, and I set up my laptop. Then I realized I couldn't get on the internet, and considering I was counting on using Write or Die...this was bad. Very bad. Also? This puzzled Dad far too much, so he took charge of my laptop and tried to figure it out. (it didn't work...we ended up having to call my brother at work...yeah, we're THAT family). But then we got it working and I settled in to write. Unfortunately, the place I'd chosen was a little too close to where Dad was watching football. I wrote a couple hundred words, got distracted, and had to move.

Wrote next to nothing, and then Brother came home, so I had to go greet and praise him for being so helpful with the tech.

Then dinner happened.

Finally, full and sleepy, I sat down to write. I wrote through the football sounds. I wrote through my mom and brother washing the dishes (trust me...this is a challenge) and I wrote through my family trying to actually, you know, CONVERSE with me. There was NO WAY I wasn't finishing this thing.

And then, with 5000 words left to go...yeah, you guessed it.

I RAN OUT OF STORY! what?

Or, at least, I thought I did.

Then my mom gave me some ice cream (I love you Mom!) and I stared at the computer some more. I poked it. I had a page and a half of notes left and 5000 words to write.

So I did the only thing I could think of... I KEPT TYPING AND PRETENDED LIKE I KNEW WHAT THE HELL I WAS DOING.

Yeah, well, it's my story, isn't it? I figure I can fix it in the editing process, right?

Then...finally...at approx 12:30 in the morning, I FINISHED.

Holy crap. I was done. I was at like 50,014 words, and I WAS DONE! I couldn't write another word. I was so excited. I saved like a madman, and then copied and pasted the entire sucker into NaNoWriMo's word verification thingie.

It came back and told me I had 49,936 words. I was flabbergasted. Was it serious? How could it do this to me? How could it just IGNORE WORDS?!?!

Still, I wasn't about to fight with it. I mustered up all my strength, and began scrolling through the document. I found a section I had planned to flesh out during the editing process and I FLESHED THAT SUCKER OUT.

I sighed. I wiped my brow.

I put it through the verification thingie again.

49,993 words.

Oh, the PROFANITY!

I may have growled.

I scrolled. I typed. I wrote an entire little paragraph because there was NO WAY I was going through that crap again.

And then, mercifully, I ran it through for a THIRD time and I was at 50,067 words.

My word count bar on the website turned purple (which may now be the most gorgeous colour ON THE PLANET) and I let out the biggest sigh ever.

Then I saved like a fiend, and emailed it to myself and then I ran downstairs and collapsed next to my mom.

I got a hug. It was a good hug.

Then I ran back upstairs and bestowed twitter with my news....

HOLY SHIT. I WROTE A BOOK. HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN? #NANOWRIMO

And that, my friends, was that.

I am twenty-seven years old, and I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. But, in all my life, I have never actually finished a novel.

But now, in less than a month, I did THIS....

Thank you for all your encouragement! See you next NaNo!

-geekgirl

In My Mailbox - November 26th

2011-11-26T09:30:00.000-05:00

In My Mailbox was created by The Story Siren. It's a weekly meme where bloggers share the books they've received throughout the week.

If you'd like to participate, or would like to know more, here's the link: In My Mailbox

I haven't done one of these in FOREVER, so here's what I've gotten in the past few weeks...it's been a slow few weeks.

for review
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody
Cicada by Belle Whittington

swag
Cinder pocket mirror

A HUGE thank you to Sourcebooks and Macmillan and Belle Whittington for these titles and the swag!

REVIEW - Soul Thief by Jana Oliver

2011-11-25T10:56:00.000-05:00

Paperback, US, 339 pages

Published August 30th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin

Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them…

Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad. With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether.

But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell’s attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever…

4/5 Stars!

I'm loving this series! I don't know what took me so long to start reading it, but I'm glad I'm here now.

This book picks up right where The Demon Trapper's Daughter (read my review here) ends. The Demon Trappers Guild has been attacked by a swarm of demons and they're now trying to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong.

Unfortunately, many of them are laying the blame right at Riley's feet. And it's not like Riley doesn't already have enough on her plate--what with trying to track down her dead father, trying to put up with Beck's overprotectiveness, and her boyfriend suddenly acting all strange.

I really feel for Riley in this book. She's doing her absolute best and the world just keeps going against her. I adore her though, she's such a strong character. Really, my only problem with Riley (besides her habit of buying endless hot chocolate and takeout when she's struggling to scrounge up enough money to pay her bills--which makes me kinda want to shake her a little, but that's just me) is her terrible taste in guys, but then again, that just makes her more real. I can't stand perfect characters. (But I'm still sitting over here in the corner, waving my little "team Beck" flag...don't mind me).

This book was just as full of action as the first one, which I loved, and it was great to get a little more of the background story as Riley learned about it herself.

Great read and great addition to the series.

I need book three IMMEDIATELY. *looks around frantically* Where can I get it?

Help me out here.

-geekgirl

Waiting on Wednesday - A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton

2011-11-23T08:42:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's mine...

A power she can’t deny. A destiny she’s determined to fight.

When Ari first arrived in the dilapidated city of New 2, all she wanted was to figure out who she was. But what she discovered was beyond her worst nightmare. Ari can already sense the evil growing inside her—a power the goddess Athena will stop at nothing to possess.

Desperate to hold on to her humanity and protect her loved ones, Ari must fight back. But Athena’s playing mind games, not just with Ari but with those she cares about most. And Athena has a very special plan for the brooding and sexy Sebastian.

Ari is determined to defeat Athena, but time is running out. With no other options, Ari must unleash the very thing she’s afraid of: herself.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Darkness Becomes Her (see my review here), when I read it earlier this year. Really, when I picked it up, I had absolutely no idea what it would be about, but I found myself lost in the world that Kelly Keaton had created. I loved it.

And now I can't wait to get my hands on book two!
What about you? What are you waiting on this week?

Tell me in the comments!

-geekgirl

Cover-Judgers Anonymous - Black Heart by Holly Black

2011-11-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

Never judge a book by its cover.

Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.

If you read my blog, you've probably noticed that I've pretty much been completely ignoring the fact that there is a new cover for this title.

Let's take a closer look at the new cover, just so you can see what I've been avoiding.

I'll be honest. It's a very pretty cover. I like the black and the purple and the font. I like the stylistic swirls making up the faces in the background.

I like it.

However, it's not the cover I fell in love with.

I'm a HUGE fan of this series. If you haven't read it, I really recommend that you do. The worldbuilding here is phenominal. It's very dark and mysterious and kinda film noir-esque. And the original cover for Black Heart fit it perfectly. I loved the red and black and white. I loved the models. I loved the font. I loved that the font was different colours.

I LOVED THAT IT MATCHED MY OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES.

(I know they changed the first cover when they went to paperback, but it wasn't so big of a change...just revealing the model's eyes and changing the font a little. It wasn't nearly as big a change as this is.)

Now it won't match and this saddens me.

*sigh*

-geekgirl

REVIEW - Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

2011-11-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

Hardcover, 342 pages

Expected publication: November 15th 2011 by Harper/HarperCollins

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell.
Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

5/5 Stars!

I know, I know. Did you expect anything less?

There’s been a huge amount of buzz over Shatter Me. The premise. The cover. The fact that the author is probably one of the most charming people alive…in summary, EVERYONE wants this book. So, of course, I had to approach it with a little trepidation. Because I’m always wary of everyone liking a book.

Because then I feel all left out when I read it and I don’t like it.

But luckily (and happily!) this was not the case this time.

First thing you have to know about this book, is that it’s told in a rather strange manner. Never before have I seen so many strikethroughs in a novel. And when I was just flipping through the pages before I actually started reading, I must admit, I was a little put off by them. But in the context of the novel they just make sense. Juliette hasn’t spoken to anyone in 264 days, and her only real outlet is the journal she managed to sneak into her prison. So her state of mind is a little…fragile. This really comes through in the author’s writing, especially at the beginning of the book. Juliette is a little off her rocker at the beginning, and, strangely, it takes her life being thrown into turmoil for her mind to sort of snap back to reality.

It starts with Juliette getting a roommate in her prison cell.

But there’s just one problem.

Juliette’s touch kills.

And now, instead of keeping her locked up, someone wants her to use her power.

I loved the writing, the view into Juliette’s broken mind as it began to heal, but more than anything else, I just loved the characters. Juliette was brilliant. Strong while at the same time being broken and unsure.

And Adam…oh, Adam. So rarely do I actually find the perfect guy in YA fiction. But Adam I would keep forever. And EVER.

This story is a beautiful mash-up of a dystopian, a love story, and a comic book. I didn’t know what to do with myself, I loved it so much.

I need more of this RIGHT NOW!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - The Unwanteds - Lisa McMann

2011-11-17T14:39:00.000-05:00

Hardcover, 390 pages

Published August 30th 2011 by Aladdin

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret—behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

4/5 Stars

It's not especially often that I review Middle-grade books on this blog, but every once in a while a Middle-grade title comes along that I HAVE to get my hands on.

The Unwanteds was one of those titles.

I had been wanting to read this book ever since I attended Lisa McMann's event for her Cryer's Cross tour last winter, during which she'd sat on the stage and pulled out her advance copy of this book, and had read us two chapters, after the first of which she graciously gave us the choice between hearing the following chapter, which was from another character's point of view, or the chapter after that, where we followed our original hero (Alex) after he'd been sentanced to death for being "unwanted".

Our choice had been unanimous. We had to hear what happened to Alex...but of course, that second chapter ended on a cliffhanger (and I had to force myself to remain in my seat as all I could think of was rushing the stage and snagging the book right out of Lisa McMann's hands...which probably wouldn't have gone over too well, but I digress) and I've been waiting to hear the rest of the story ever since.

The wait...was worth it.

This is a tale that is made up of both a (creeeeeepy) dystopian society, and a world full of beautiful, art-filled magic. The characters were just so real...some of them were talented and charming, others were annoying brats. They were just kids that found themselves in a horrible situation, and were trying to figure out what to make of it when it turned out to be completely different than they'd anticipated.

I don't want to give anything away, but the stark differences between the two worlds in this story--and the twins, Alex and Aaron--just blew me away. This story was full of magic and wonder and horror and terror. The history the author has created is complex and has so many differnt points of views, and I loved every minute of it.
I love the world McMann has created in this story, and I can't wait for more in this series.

Great middle-grade read!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch

2011-11-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

I've found another new cover for you today!

I'm not sure if I'm in love with the cover itself, but I'm super-intrigued by the story's synopsis.

Take a look!

So Close to You brims with the compelling “what if” mysteries surrounding The Time Traveler’s Wife and all of the the action and creepy government experiments of The Maze Runner—and, in a new twist, presents a piercing look at a dark period in history and imagines what changes could have produced an utterly different world...and what one girl would do to stop it.

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the experiments that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who’ve disappeared over the years. When she stumbles into a vessel that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, Lydia realizes that all the stories she’s ever heard about the Montauk Project are true—and that she’s in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

Alongside Wes, a darkly mysterious boy whom she is wary to trust, Lydia begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the project. But the truths behind these secrets force her to question all her choices. And if Lydia chooses wrong, she might not save her family but destroy them...and herself.

Thoughts?
Tell me in the comments!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch

2011-11-17T10:22:00.000-05:00

I spy with my little eye...

...the sequel to Eve!

So gorgeous!

What do you think?

here's the summary (warning! contains spoilers for book one!)

Sixteen years have passed since a deadly virus wiped out most of the Earth’s population. After learning of the terrifying part she and her classmates were fated to play in the rebuilding of New America, eighteen-year-old Eve fled to the wilds and Califia, a haven for women determined to live outside the oppressive rule of the king of New America. However, her freedom came at a price: she was forced to leave Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. Eve quickly learns that Califia may not be as safe as it seems and soon finds herself in the City of Sand and the palace of the king. There she uncovers the real reason he was so intent on her capture, and the unbelievable role he intends her to fill. When she is finally reunited with Caleb, they will enact a plan as daring as it is dangerous. But will Eve once again risk everything—her freedom, her life—for love?

Brimming with danger and star-crossed romance, and featuring a vivid dystopian landscape, this electrifying follow-up to Eve, which bestselling author Lauren Kate called “a gripping, unforgettable adventure—and a fresh look at what it means to love” is sure to appeal to fans who crave the high-stakes adventure of The Hunger Games and the irresistible love story of Romeo and Juliet.

Waiting on Wednesday - Black Heart

2011-11-16T07:59:00.000-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's mine...

Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.

I've been waiting with baited breath for this one ever since I turned the last page of Red Glove. Cassel is by far one of my fave book heroes, and the world that Holly Black has created is just breathtaking in its detail and mythology.

I would seriously curse someone to get my hands on this one.

How about you? Is this on your to-read list? Or do you have something else to share with me?

Let me know in the comments! I love to hear what you guys are waiting on!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - The Space Between - Brenna Yovanoff

2011-11-15T20:33:00.000-05:00

Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected publication: November 15th 2011 by Razorbill

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible.

Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts.

As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.

4/5 Stars!

I love Brenna Yovanoff's writing. She has this almost fairy-tale-like lyricism to her writing...but it's DARK.

So very dark.

You all know what a huge fan I was of The Replacement, Yovanoff's debut novel, and while I prefer that one to The Space Between, this novel certainly didn't disappoint.

This story follows Daphne, the daughter of Lillith and Lucifer, as she travels to earth for the first time (from her oh-so-cushy home in Hell) to search for her brother Obie, who's gone missing.

Her only hope? The boy Obie had saved from Hell a year ago, Truman Flynn. And, since Truman was on a path there anyway, he's less than helpful...at least, until he realizes that Daphne is for real, that his nightmare memories of his time in hell weren't dreams.

Daphne is a character who doesn't know what to do with her life. She's never even been given a choice, at least, not one other than becoming like her soul-sucking sisters. So she's just now learning what life really is. Truman, on the other hand, is a character who is just trying to numb the pain until his life ends. I loved watching the two of them interact, and the relationship that bloomed between them was so broken and desperately loving, a relationship between two people who have no idea what love is.

And the other main character. I'm not going to give anything away readers, but oh, how I loved that creepy, creepy character and how it interacted with both Daphne and Truman, and how it made them interact with eachother.

Loved it. Such a great read.

I can't wait for more from Yovanoff.

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl

Cover-Judgers Anonymous - Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

2011-11-14T00:05:00.000-05:00

Never judge a book by its cover.

If you've read my blog, you've probably heard me refer to myself as a shameless (SHAMELESS!) cover-judger. I know, I'm seeking help. But I don't think I'm the only one out there who does it.

So I invite you, readers, to share your opinion, and maybe we can find a cure for this problem together...or not.

Let the (shameless! SHAMELESS!) cover-judging begin!

click the covers for a closer look!

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed.

Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever.

Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors.

And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

Okay, the cover on the left is the UK cover, and the right one is the US/Canadian cover.

And I’m going to be completely honest about this…I don’t know which one I like better.

I know. This has never happened to me before. Help!

On the one hand, I like the stark black and white with the splash of red on the UK cover. It’s all violent (which totally fits the feel of the book. Trust me on this). I like the faces that can be seen on the edge of the crack that stretches down the middle. On the other hand, I really REALLY don’t like the use of “4” instead of “a” in the title. It bothers me. I know that the story follows four characters, but it makes the title look strange and disjointed to me. Like the title is really “d4ark inside”, which it’s not. (c’mon…back me up on this one!)

As for the other cover—and this is the cover that was on my review copy—I don’t know. Nothing about it really drew me to it. After I started reading the story, I took another look at it, and noticed that, yes, it does have several elements from the book, but…*shrug*. I don’t like the eyes. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like eyes on covers. I find it really drew my attention away from the bottom half of the cover, which upon actually, you know, NOTICING it, I LOVED. Seriously. Click on the right cover and take a look at the bottom half. It’s all end-of-the-world-type creepy. Love! But the eyes at the top—while an important element of the story—proved a little too distracting for me.

I’m having a really tough time with this, guys.

What are your thoughts?

(tell me! I must know!)

-geekgirl

REVIEW - Dark Inside - Jeyn Roberts

2011-11-11T10:51:00.001-05:00

Hardcover, US, 336 pages

Published November 1st 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed.

Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever.

Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors.

And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this book up, but guess what?

4/5 Stars!

I LOVED it. I’m a huge (HUGE!) fan of apocalyptic fiction (and movies) and my favourite bit is always watching society fall apart (I know…I have problems…but in the event of the zombie apocalypse, you’ll be glad I did all this studying), and that’s exactly where Dark Inside picks up.

The book follows the lives of four teens (Mason, Michael, Clementine and Aries) on the day the world ends…and the days that follow.

The story starts off with a bang. Mason has just been pulled from school and driven to the hospital with the news that his mom has been in a car accident, and while he’s there waiting to see if she’s going to make it or not, a story comes on the news. A group of people went into his school and bombed it. Everyone he knows has been killed. Suddenly, all over the world, the earth shakes and splits apart, buildings tumbling and people dying in the earthquakes, and even worse than that, people start going crazy.

Violently crazy.

Michael watches as a man runs a motorcyclist down with his car for no reason, watches as the people who should be helping turn on each other instead.

Clementine sits in a town meeting that is suddenly taken over by raging gunmen.

Aries finds herself on a bus in the middle of the earthquake, watching the people around her die.

This book was terrifying and exhilarating. I loved reading of how the four teens adapted and struggled to survive in (and try to make sense of) a world that was falling apart around them. My only trouble was trying to keep track of all the characters, as the book switched points of view with each chapter, and I was sometimes stuck going “wait…what were you doing again?”. But all in all? Loved it.

If you like apocalyptic tales, you will enjoy this book.

Great read!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - Jane - April Linder

2011-11-10T00:05:00.002-05:00

Hardcover, 373 pages

Published October 11th 2010
by Poppy

What if Jane Eyre fell in love with a rock star?

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.

But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

An irresistible romance interwoven with a darkly engrossing mystery, this contemporary retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre promises to enchant a new generation of readers.

Okay, in the interest of full-disclosure, I'd like to admit something...okay, two things...

Thing #1 - I have NEVER READ JANE EYRE. Never. Somehow it never came up on my required reading rotation at school, and I never actively sought it out. Trust me, there's SHAME about this. (what kind of reader AM I? *wanders away, hopelessly*)

Thing #2 - About two weeks before I read this book, I was wandering through the library near my house, and I stumbled upon the DVD set of Masterpiece Theatre's Jane Eyre.

I took it home.

I watched it.

I fell in love. So, SO in love.

And soon after that, I was offered this book for review, and, still having the Masterpiece Theatre version dancing around in my head, I swooped, snatched, and ran back to my book-filled hideout.

(This is getting pretty long and we haven't even gotten to the review yet)

Okay, so the review!

4/5 Stars!

I absolutely adored this. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for in a Jane Eyre retelling. And she fell in love with a Rock Star. A totally debauched, making bad decisions all over the place ROCK STAR!

Jane herself was pretty much spot on to how I'd picture Jane Eyre being in today's world. She wasn't all uptight, but she was hardworking and could appear cold at times, but she was longing for a place to belong. And she found that in Nico and his daughter who she'd begun nannying for.

But then the worst thing possible happened. Plain, shy, hardworking Jane fell in love with crazy, wild rock star Nico, and, having guarded her heart against disappointment ever since she was little--her family is AWFUL, by the way--she does everything she can to hide it.

But that's a little hard as Nico is dragging her kicking and screaming into spending as much time with him as possible.

Okay, for those of you out there who HAVEN'T read the original Jane Eyre, I'm not going to spoil you. (Don't look at me like that. They're out there, I swear!) But I was quite pleased both with how the story stayed true to the original, and how it navigated its way through modern life.

Such a great read. This one is still sitting on my bedside table, and it makes me smile every time I walk by it. I can't wait for more from this author.

Also? The cover is flippin' beautiful.

And so ends the EPICALLY long review.

Thanks for reading!

Love ya!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - The Demon Trapper's Daughter - Jana Oliver

2011-11-09T16:21:00.000-05:00

Paperback, US Edition, 340 pages

Published February 1st 2011

by St. Martin's Griffin

Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night.

Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen.

When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

4/5 Stars!

I just finished this one. I couldn’t put it down.

The author has created a world I was able to just get lost in. It’s the future, and society has more or less fallen. And there are DEMONS.

Yeah, that’s right. And the demons aren’t really helping society get back on its feet. That’s where Riley and her dad come in. They’re Demon Trappers. Well…her dad is. Riley’s in training...and it shows!

I loved the worldbuilding in this book. The setting was perfect. From the schools in the old grocery stores and coffee shops, to the rough and tumble streets. It's almost post-apocalyptic in scope, and I loved it!

And I adored Riley. She's a great character--tough but still vulnerable, but still trying to be tough even when she knows she's weak. She's not perfect, and I love that.

I also loved her interactions with the other characters--from her loving relationship with her father, to her attitude towards her father's protege Beck, who'd she'd had a crush on once upon a time, only to be rejected by him. Also, sweet Simon, best friend Peter, and super-mean head-honcho Harper were unique and such great characters.

Even the demons had character... read the book, and you'll see what I mean!

The only problem I had with it was her relationship with Simon. It felt a little rushed. But I could be biased. Team Beck begins its line right over here!

All in all, a great start to the series! I can't believe it took me so long to read this one!

Great read!

-geekgirl

Shatter Me Trailer

2011-11-09T07:40:00.001-05:00

The Shatter Me book trailer is taking the web by storm!

Have you seen it? Seriously, WATCH THIS! It looks AMAZING!

Oh my goodness...you guys...how does this even EXIST?

*wants*

-geekgirl

Waiting On Wednesday

2011-11-09T00:01:00.002-05:00

Waiting on Wednesday was a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, so that bloggers can feature upcoming releases that they cannot wait to get their hands on.

Here's mine...

Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn’t dead.

Not this time.

But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey.

Her captor, John Hayden, claims it’s for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they’ve come back as Furies, intent on vengeance…on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves.

But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there…and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies.

And unless Pierce is careful, this time there’ll be no escape.

I've been waiting for this one ever since I finished Abandon...and now it finally has a cover!

Can't wait!

How about you? Is this on your to-read list? Or do you have something else to share with me?

Let me know in the comments! I love to hear what you guys are waiting on!

-geekgirl

REVIEW - Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

2011-11-08T16:42:00.002-05:00

Hardcover, US, 420 pages
Published September 27th 2011

by Little, Brown & Company

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color.
Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

SHAMELESS COVER-JUDGER DISCLAIMER: I didn’t like the cover for this one AT ALL. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the mask. Because when I looked at it, I thought it was going to be about the theater or something, which gave me terrible flashbacks to when my teachers used to try to make me act/talk in front of people and I would have minor panic attacks at the very thought of it. So yeah, I didn’t like it. I still don’t. It makes me want to go stand in the corner and try to breathe slowly and calm myself down. Please don’t hate me.

But…in other news…this:

5/5 Stars!

Holy Frickin’ Heck, this book is good! I’m so very glad that I was paying attention when other bloggers were singing its praises and snapped up a copy.

Seriously. You don’t even know.

Karou is a teenage girl who has bright blue hair and can speak just about every language, has a hot ex-boyfriend and a quirky best friend. By every right she should be THE most Mary-Sue character ever created. But she’s not. I adored her. She has such depth of character, such feeling. Experiencing this world through her eyes, knowing what was happening right underneath the surface, was a huge treat. She is full of secrets, and those secrets tie in so perfectly with the mythology that the author has created, that I just couldn’t put this book down.

And her relationships—between her and the “normal” people, her best friend, her ex-boyfriend, as well as with the less than normal people, Brimstone and the other Chimera that had raised her—were just so complex and varied.

And Akiva…oh, Akiva. He was all dark and brooding and BROKEN. And as the story unfolded and you learned just why he was all those things…*sigh* you have no idea.

You can’t even know.

And you won’t know…not until you go get yourself a copy of this book.

Seriously.

Go now.

Shoo!

-geekgirl

Cover-Judgers Anonymous - Reckless by Cornelia Funke

2011-11-08T12:43:00.002-05:00

Never judge a book by its cover.

If you've read my blog, you've probably heard me refer to myself as a shameless (SHAMELESS!) cover-judger. I know, I'm seeking help. But I don't think I'm the only one out there who does it.

So I invite you, readers, to share your opinion, and maybe we can find a cure for this problem together...or not.

I haven't done one of these for AGES...but this book came in for me from publisher recently, and I've got to tell you, the cover really made a difference for me with this one!

So let's have a look, shall we?...

Click on the images for larger views.

Beyond the mirror, the darkest fairy tales come alive. . .

For years, Jacob Reckless has been escaping to another world--a world behind the mirror, where witches haunt the forests and fairies and dwarfs roam. A world for treasure hunts and magnificent quests--but also a world locked in a deadly war.

Jacob's secret seems safe, until one day his younger brother Will follows him, to disastrous consequence. Faced with a curse that is quickly turning Will to stone, the Reckless brothers are thrust into a race against time to find a cure before one of them is lost forever.

Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, master storyteller Cornelia Funke introduces a lush, enchanting landscape of fairy tales and legends re-imagined as never before. Reckless is a thrilling adventure and a tale of heroism, filled with danger, mystery, and above all, magic.

The cover on the left is the original (hardcover) cover, and I've got to say...it does NOTHING for me. NOTHING. I have never even NOTICED this book before.

Then, I was at the store, and sitting sweetly amongst the new releases was the cover on the right.

Hello, Gorgeous!

I was hooked.

So what say you? What do you think about the covers? Love 'em? Hate 'em?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch

2011-11-04T14:52:00.003-04:00

This week has be absolutely riddled with gorgeous cover reveals. I've been in heaven.

Here are just a few that caught my eye.

Come and join me as I bask in the pretty...

What do you think?

Have I missed any? If I missed any, I want to know, so let me know in the comments.

*goes back to basking in the pretty*

-geekgirl

ETA/ Oops! Missed this one! *drools*

Waiting on Wednesday - Fever by Lauren DeStefano

2011-11-02T09:04:00.001-04:00

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

I'm DYING for this one. February...hurry up and get here!

-geekgirl

Cover Watch - Body & Soul (Ghost and the Goth #3)

2011-11-02T08:53:00.003-04:00

It's not a huge pic, but I love it!

Can't wait to finally get my hands on this series. I've heard nothing but good things!

-geekgirl

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

2011-10-24T13:59:00.002-04:00

Hardcover, 401 pages

Published October 18th 2011 by Scholastic Press

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

5/5 Stars!

This one would have so many more stars if it were possible. This was pretty much my perfect book and a definite favorite for 2011.

Now if I can just do a review about this book without being reduced to some kind of drooling, mindless creature, gushing "oh my gawd, this is the best book EVER", I'll count this as a win.

Seriously, the book is THAT GOOD.

Every time I heard about a book that was to be set in Ireland or Scotland and made reference to lore, this is the book I wanted, but never got. (Not to say anything bad about the other books...they were good...they just weren't THIS).

When I heard about The Scorpio Races, all I was told was that it was a book about a race featuring killer horses. At which point I thought "Huh... Cool!" and that was that. What it didn't say was that the book really wasn't centred around the race itself--I was picturing something like the hunger games, where the games itself were a huge part of the book--but about life on the island during the days and weeks leading up to the race. The race itself is only about five minutes, and while it's a huge important part of the story, the story itself is centred around Puck, the first girl to ever enter the races, and Sean, the reigning champion.

They both have their own reasons to enter, even though they know they might not survive, and that is the real heart of the story. Their interactions with the people in the town, and with eachother, were both heartbreaking and infuriating. The characters created by Stiefvater in this book were proabably the most REAL I've ever read.

The characters...the settings...the mythology...the relationships. I adored them all.

Maggie Stiefvater wrote a blog post, saying that The Scorpio Races was the book she was always meant to write.

I agree.

It was perfect.

-geekgirl