is set in futuristic Beijing, China. In this world, Asia is all one country also inhabited by Lunas which look like humans. Book two, Scarlet, will be set in France, book three, titled Cress in the Sahara Desert and book four, Winter, in the Lunars. The Lunar Chronicles are all going to be based on fairy tales. Cinder– Cinderella, Scarlet-Little Red Riding Hood, Cress-Rapunzel, and Winter-Snow White.And if by chance you missed the event last night…no worries you can head to Provo Library tonight at 7 PM for another chance to see Marissa Meyer!
As Abby has learned, she is now a Shadow, sent to inhabit the lives of strangers in trouble. Dropped into the life of a gorgeous senior with a heartbroken best friend, Abby is instructed to “reunite the lovers” by her cute but maddening Guardian, a 19th century ghostly teenager named Will. Now Abby must navigate high school keg parties, football games and power couples, only to discover that love and revenge are sometimes the same thing.
This second installment in the Abby Grace series was as entertaining and intriguing as the first (find my review here). Abby is a Shadow and as such becomes someone else in order to help them solve life problem. Her instructions to “reunite the lovers” seem obvious, but over time she discovers that her first thoughts might have been wrong. I enjoyed getting to know Will (Abby’s Guardian who helps her navigate her missions) a little more in this installment. We see a friendship start to develop between Abby and Will as Abby tries to navigate the High School party scene. The content was a little darker and edgier this time around, which at times made me a little uncomfortable, but all in all I enjoyed following Abby Grace in her attempts to fix the lives of others (and possibly her own).
This ebook is a quick read, but doesn’t feel too short. You can easily read it in an afternoon, so it is the perfect weekend read.
Content: some language, high school students discussing sexual activity and drinking in a party scene, homosexuality.
Learn more on the author’s site/ Goodreads and buy the Kindle edition for only 99 cents now on Amazon.
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Paperback, 550 pages
Published December 18th 2007
ISBN 0375842209
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
The Book Thief is one of the books I have on my must read list for 2012. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it. And lucky for you, I own an extra paperback copy that I am going to give away! To enter to win simply comment below with one book you hope to read this year. Giveaway is open internationally. Ends January 24, 2012.
by Alecia Whitaker
Hardcover, 375 pages
Published January 2nd 2012
by Poppy
ISBN0316125067
Book Source: Publisher
4 stars
Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would prefer to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer’s daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new “sophisticated” clothes and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids table. She’s on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door Luke says he misses “plain old Ricki Jo.”
Caught between being a country girl and wannabe country club girl, Ricki Jo begins to forget who she truly is: someone who doesn’t care what people think and who wouldn’t let a good-looking guy walk all over her. It takes a serious incident out on Luke’s farm for Ricki Jo to realize that being a true friend is more important than being popular.
The Queen of Kentucky has so many things going for it. First is the cover, which is one of my favorites I’ve seen come in the mail. It’s not that often we see covers in yellow- it jumps out at you. The second thing is the fun trailer and third is the author. I admire authors who take time our of their busy schedules to tweet and thank you for reading their book. The setting is the deep south which wide open spaces, dusty dirt roads,a pond and acres and acres of tobacco. I became immediately immersed in the rural roots of Ricki Jo Winstead and her best friend Luke. It’s the summer before Ricki Jo’s freshman year, her first year in high school. She’s determined to reinvent herself, ditch the two names for a sassier version- Ericka. Fortune falls on her side when the four most popular girls end up in her homeroom and the school stud muffin sits next to her in Spanish. Wolf looks like he just stepped out of an Abercrombie ad and smells like it too. He’s the guy everyone is vying for, the top of Ericka’s wish list. Buy some new clothes, make the cheer leading squad, get asked to homecoming and go through puberty then Ricky Jo might just pull off the new and improved Ericka.
A coming of age tale of a 14 year old girl, this book brought back so many memories of ninth grade year (we were still in junior high). As Ericka moves up the social chain she begins to shed some of her most important friends and values. She also gets repeatedly made fun of and mistreated by her “friends.” It was painful for me to read. She has fabulous parents,a religious upbringing and the perfect boy next door but she’s willing to give it all up for a chance at popularity. Soon a middle grade lifestyle turns much more YA- into sneaking out, lots of talk about sex, streaking, drinking, cheating on school work and belittling her once closest friend. While I can sympathize with the fact that Ericka is young and has a mission, I would have liked to have seen more development of character as the book progresses. Time and time again she is mistreated by her love interest and group of new friends. Instead of standing up for herself or rebuilding those whose names she has defamed …in her upward climb, she takes it all in stride. The ending was just what I wanted to see, but too little too late for me to sympathize fully with the the main character.
Alecia Whitaker is a very talented writer. You can tell she weaves her knowledge and love for the South into her story. Her characters were well fleshed out and vivid. I like that she handles the very hard issue of alcoholism of a parent and domestic violence as it influences the children in the home. I also really liked her references to reading the bible and the importance of sticking to your roots. I could have lived in the county with Ricky Jo before she became Ericka and Luke forever. He is everything you’d want and more. I savored the innocence and closeness of their friendship. Thank so much to Poppy for a chance to read The Queen of Kentucky.
Although she graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BFA in Theatre and a BS in Advertising, she’s always been a writer. She won the Soil Conservation Essay contest in the 4th grade, was selected as a Governor’s School for the Arts student in Creative Writing in the 10th grade, and then in college, she was a Top Ten Finalist in the US Southeast Region for a Ten Minute Playwriting competition at James Madison University.
Since then, she has been in loads of commercials, as well as on stage in a few small theatrical productions and poetry slams. She appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show numerous times, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, and was a contestant on Deal Or No Deal.
Her personal essays have been published in the anthology Blink: Fiction in the Blink of an Eye and several times in Underwired Magazine. She co-wrote the popular one act play Becoming Woman with a grant from The Kentucky Foundation for Women. The Queen of Kentucky is her first novel and proudest artistic accomplishment.
Now living in New York City with her husband and son, she is amused at how often her big imagination takes her back to a simpler life in Kentucky.
Learn more about Alecia on her website.
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine
-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.
Phenomenal! I love that this is so completely real. That reality helps make this so much more tragic. I can feel the emotions and completely understand them. For instance, the relationship problems between Delaney and her best friend make complete sense. In reality we “ruin” relationships all the time by saying or doing the wrong things. It really does seem like something permanent. When Delaney plunges head long into the deeper darker parts of her experience I felt as if I was in the same boat. It is just written so convincingly. I love that the author has taken something so real that I would normally balk at reading and softened the edges by adding something “other”, as she would put it. It made it so much easier for me to put down my barriers and fully take in the many messages contained among the pages. By far my favorite is how it ends. When I first read the ending I accidentally skipped the second and third pages from the end. I guess they were sticking. I felt a bit let down. On turning back I discovered two very crucial and perfect pages that made the book complete. As with reality, there aren’t any concrete promises of happy endings. Simply the author prescribes a strong dose of hope that leaves life feeling worth living.
Content: some swearing, sexual tension and underage drinking
About the author: Megan is a scientist – turned – teacher – turned – stay-at-home-mom – turned – writer. She is not nearly as indecisive as she sounds. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, where she volunteers as an MIT Educational Counselor, does the mom thing by day, and writes by night.
Find more about author Megan Miranda on Goodreads/ Twitter/ Website/ Facebook
Fire and Ice would like to welcome ephrielle, another part-time reviewer this week!
Bio: “I like to read. I love to read. I’m obsessed with reading. If I had twins, I’d have to hire someone to hold my book for me while they fed. My poor children. What were their names again? OK, so I’m not that obsessed. I like romantic dinners and long walks on the beach, in the books I read, but not in real life. Romantic dinners are too much hassle and I don’t like tracking sand in the house, besides who actually does that sort of stuff in their happily ever after anyway? That’s the whole reason why books have endings, so we don’t have to hear about all the dirty diapers, temper tantrums, and marital issues. So, that pretty much sums it up, I’m a wife, a mother, and I escape through books.”
Special Diets for Special Kids, Volumes 1 and 2 Combined by Lisa Lewis- Chrsitmas gift
A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice-ARC for review
The Case of the Deadly Desperados (The Western Mysteries #1) by Caroline Lawrence-ARC for review
Dark Eyes by William Richter-ARC for review
The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George- ARC for review
Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard-ARC for review
Truth (XVI #2) by Julia Karr-ARC for review
Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne-ARC for review
What books did you buy, borrow or receive in the mail this week?
Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
by Lauren Oliver
Hardcover, 375 pages
Expected publication: February 28th 2012
by HarperTeen
ISBN 006197806X
Book source: publisher
I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.
We are accepting seven readers in the U.S. for this blog tour. Must be 18 or older. First come first serve. For a full list of Fire and Ice ARC tour rules and to sign up click here and fill out the form.
1) Lizz N.
2) Tara T.
3) Jenna D.
4) Nina L.
5) Reaganstar M.
6) Kate T.
7)
