Cover Reveal: Rua by Miranda Kavi

Rua by Miranda Kavi

Expected Pub: September 3, 2012

A girl with an unknown destiny.

A boy from a hidden world.

When Celeste starts at a new school in a small, Kansas town, she hears whispering voices, has vivid nightmares, and swarms of blackbirds follow her every move. She is oddly drawn to aloof Rylan, the other new student who has his own secrets.

The exact moment she turns seventeen, she wakes to a bedroom full of strange creatures, purple light emanating from her hands, and Rylan breaking in through her bedroom window.

He knows what she is . . .

Intriguing and deeply romantic, RUA is page-turning YA novel with a supernatural twist. 

 

Author Bio

Miranda Kavi is a YA and Urban Fantasy author. She has worked as an attorney, an executive recruiter, and an assistant in a biological anthropology lab. She loves scary movies, museums, and is hopelessly addicted to chocolate. She lives in the Houston area with her husband and daughter.

Author Links:

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Stacking the Shelves (7/29/12)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! Visit Tynga's Reviews to know more about this weekly meme.

We've been MIA for the past week. You know the reason... school, school, school, I was sick. Fortunately, we got some good stuff in the mail and they all look good to not showcase. They're all gifts or won from blogs since the three of us are in a book buying ban until August. Anyway, here's our 2 weeks  worth of book haul :) 

Gifted/Won

Sirenz Back in Fashion (Sirenz #2) by Charlotte Bennardo, Natalie Zaman (Signed) 

12.21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason (ARC)

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton (ARC)

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa

The Lesser Evil (The Lesser Evil #1) by Shane W. Smith 

The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

Cobbogoth (Cobbogoth #1) by Hannah L. Clark (Signed)

Thank you so much to Natalie Zaman, Karen, Melissa of Book Nerd Reviews, We Fancy Books, My Devotional Thoughts and Hannah Clark! 


What books did you get this week? Please feel free to leave a link of your post in the comments.

Review: Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram

Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram

Hardcover: 374 pages

Release date: July 10th, 2012

Publisher: Bluefields
Goodreads Rating: 3.95

Goodreads Summary: Ellie’s sweet sixteen is a summer of firsts. First car. First kiss. First boyfriend. First serial-killing stalker?


Hockey-obsessed tomboy Eleanor Westley has never been the object of a guy’s affection before. So when the hottest boy she’s ever seen moves in across the street and starts treating her like she’s the center of his universe, naturally she’s going to be a little skeptical. But everything starts to make sense when girls who look just like Ellie start dying all around the city. Obviously the new guy is the killer, and of course he only likes her because he wants to slice her into tiny pieces. Right?


The more Ellie gets to know Seth the more she’s convinced he’s a psychopathic killer. The problem is he’s the sweetest psychopathic killer she’s ever met. Not to mention he’s brutally hot. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t help but fall for him. Will Ellie find true love, or will her summer of firsts turn out to be a summer of lasts?

Witty contemporary book. Thumbs up! <3

The concept was a breath of fresh air for me in a contemporary. I think I remember reading something about stalker/killer too though I didn’t get to finish it, luckily this one really caught my fondness for books.

Ellie’s more on the carefree and sporty type of girl, she's confident in her differences and who she is, and does have a lot of sense of humor. While Seth brought zest to the story--that’s for sure, a mysterious and swoon worthy boy who turns Ellie’s world upside down. He’s not only sweet but also protective in some ways. Though his protectiveness were sometimes misapprehend by the people around him, because of his murky past that led him to his personality problem towards other people. Of course there are also the minor characters which feel as interesting and three dimensional as Ellie—Angela, Dave and the J’s. I love how Angela became a sister to Ellie through tough times in the story. I would say I want more of the J’s in the story, because they really had a very limited part on it.

I like how the story goes, the affection that was build between Ellie and Seth come off beautifully, Ellie’s relationship with her sister and about the psychopath killer. However if I’ll get a chance to add something in the story, that would probably on the anonymity of the psychopath killer. I would love to add more twists on the cruise on sorting out who is the true murderer. But what lure me to finish this book was Ellie--her journey on doing things she haven’t done before and being open to the changes she embarks upon throughout the story.

Overall I enjoyed every part of this book, and being one of the first readers to read this before the release date! Love and will recommend it to everyone who wants a witty but meaningful read to have

Review: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Hardcover: 387 pages

Release date: January 3rd, 2012

Publisher: Fewel & Friends
Goodreads Rating: 4.08

Goodreads Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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.

Being a huge fan of fairytales since I was little girl, I’m always skeptical about retellings. In my opinion they’re either a hit or miss. So since retellings have been a trend the past few years, I try as much as possible to choose which ones to read. Cinder went it to my must-read list the moment I read the synopsis. Cyborg Cinderella? Count me in!

Cinder turned out to be one of the coolest fairytale retellings I’ve ever read and one of my favorite debuts this year. The author created an original twist to the Cinderella concept and added a mixture of Dystopia, Sci-fi, and Paranormal elements in the story. To top it off, Marissa Meyer introduced us to a fascinating world and amazing characters.

Cinder is far from the damsel in distress that I thought she would be. She’s tough; she’s stands up for herself as much as she could, which is not so much because her stepmother owns her, she’s smart; she’s the best mechanic in the city! And she’s sarcastic and caring. If in the fairytale there’s an evil stepmother with her equally evil daughters, this book has only one evil sister while the other one is really kind and sweet. That compassionate one is Peony. I also love Cinder’s android Iko, who has a penchant for all things girly and is more human than the stepmother will ever be. Of course this won’t be complete without the Prince Charming. I totally adored Prince Kai and his determination! I loved how our two main characters meet and their relationship builds slowly throughout the entire story. The romance lacked development, which I can overlook since there are three more books in the series for progress. 

I love it when the twists and turns in the plot take my mind to the world inside the pages. My nose had been literally in this book when I was on the bus and in the jeepney to school. But if there’s one thing I can complain about, it’s the predictability of one major twist. I think I figured it out halfway through so the ending made a lesser impact than I would have liked. With that being said, I still highly enjoyed it. I’m now even more excited when I found out that the rest of the series will be based on other fairytales! How cool is that?! Cinder will still have the central role and hopefully we’ll see more of Prince Kai in the next books. 

Taken By Storm by Angela Morrison Epic PROMO Blitz

 

Taken By Storm by Angela Morrison
YA Contemporary
Date Published: New Paperback/e-book release 06/2012

A harrowing story of love and survival. In a future of scarce resources, where the possession of gas and diesel is punishable by death, a teenage boy and a pregnant girl must find a way to save their impoverished family. They risk their lives on a terrifying journey to sell stolen fuel on the black market. 


 "[Morrison] handles the topics of religion and premarital sex gracefully without passing judgment. The message has less to do with religion than learning to respect and cherish others while staying true to one’s own beliefs.” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review 
 Brand new paperback and reformatted ebook with fully scalable fonts. Includes bonus, never-before-published scene, "Airport Good-bye!"

Buy a copy: 
Amazon Author Page

Taken By Storm

Unbroken Connection (Book 2) 

Cayman Summer (Book 3)

10 Year Anniversary

Ten years ago this week, Taken by Storm's scuba-diving hero, Michael, swam out of Angela's brain and onto her page. Join the anniversary celebration! Win your own copy of the brand new paperback! Snag Taken by Storm's Kindleebook for only $ .99! Unbroken Connection (Book 2) and Cayman Summer (Book 3) are free on Kindle! Hurry. The promotion ends Friday, July 20th. Don't own a Kindle? Download free Kindle apps for your laptop, tablet, iTouch, or phone.  

Short, Short Excerpt

I’m lost to his firm chest, 
his slender fingertips, 
his long wavy hair, 
his mouth sucking my bottom lip— 
The world spins, the stars shift, 
and I can’t see anything except his smoky gray eyes gazing into mine. 


 You scare me, 
whispers from my mouth across his. 


 Good, he breathes into me. 
 I need you to save me.

 

Author Bio

Angela Morrison is the award-winning YA author of Taken by Storm (Books 1-3) and Sing me to Sleep. She graduated from Brigham Young University and holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up in Eastern Washington on the wheat farm where Taken by Storm is set. She's an advanced NAUI, Nitrox certified scuba diver. The hurricane that kills Michael's parents was inspired by a real-life diving accident. 
 After over a decade in Canada, Switzerland, and Singapore, Angela and her family are happily settled in Mesa, Arizona. She enjoys speaking to writers and readers of all ages about her craft. She has four children--mostly grown up--and the most remarkable grandson in the universe.

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Opposite poems for younger readers