Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

From Inside Jacket: Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, ans she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal. Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

My Rating: 5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: I stopped reading Girl Overboard just to begin Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy because I was so excited to get it. I had such high expectations for this novel and am so glad to say it lived up to its hype.   

Evie was such an adorable character and I instantly fell in love with her! Not only were her love for all things pink, her tendency to say “bleep” instead of swear and her desire to simply be normal endearing traits, but she was also smart, witty and could kick paranormal butt. If only she was someone I could actually meet …

White’s other characters were engaging as well and I cannot wait to find out more about them – and what will happen to Evie of course – in Supernaturally, the sequel to Paranormalcy. For now though, Paranormalcy will have to suffice.

Fast-paced and with her own unique twist on the paranormal world, White’s writing completely engrossed me as I tried to find out more about the prophecy surrounding Evie and rooted for the budding romance between Evie and Lend.      

Paranormalcy was released in August 2010 by HarperTeen.    

Comments About the Cover: I love the cover! The background contrasts with the model, the title of the novel and the author’s name, allowing them to stand out more and because it’s dark, it gives off an air of mystery. I can also totally imagine Evie wearing the pink dress which, by the way, is amazing! (Where can I get it?) My only complaint would be to have the model at least smiling a bit to match Evie’s bubbly personality.

Carol's Banned Books Giveaway

In honour of Banned Books Week, the awesome Carol from Carol's Prints is giving away a very cute bracelet made up of charms that are the covers of banned YA books, two copies of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and a pre-order of Daisy White's The Mockingbirds. Click here before September 26 to enter her giveaway!

Review: Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley

From Inside Jacket: Not quite a banana (Asian on the outside but white on the inside), and not quite an egg (a white kid who gets off on all things Asian), half-and-half Patty Hot has never felt completely at home in her skin. Life at House Ho is tough enough between her ultra-strict Taiwanese mom (epic-length lectures and all) and her Harvard-bound big brother. But things get worse when a Chinese fortune-teller channels Patty's future via her belly button ... and divines a white guy on her romance horizon. Faster than Patty can add two plus two, her mom freaks out and ships her off to math camp at Stanford. Just as Patty writes off her summer of woe, life starts glimmering with all kinds of probabilities ...

My Rating: 4.5 hearts 

  

Thoughts on the Novel: A couple of weeks ago when I was browsing through the shelves of my local library, I came upon Justina Chen Headley’s novels Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) and Girl Overboard. Since I’d read North of Beautiful about a year ago and had liked it, I decided to check out both books. Though I haven’t read Girl Overboard yet, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) was a great book and I think it’s even better than North of Beautiful.

As someone who is bi-racial, Headley’s Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) really resonated with me because I can completely empathize with Patty. While I’ve been lucky to have never had to deal with racism like Patty, I do remember how it feels to not belong and hide your background to fit in better.

Patty was such a funny protagonist and the Truth Theorems and essays written by her that Headley incorporated into the novel were a very creative touch. I loved reading about Patty’s transformation from someone who was ashamed of her Asian heritage to one who embraces it!

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in April 2007.    

Comments About the Cover: The pink and green forming a purple blossom tree in the background look great together and I like how the model is smiling as if she has a secret or two. Overall, the cover is pretty and gives off a girly vibe.

Yes, I'm Still Alive!

I just wanted to let everybody know that I've been working a lot this week - anywhere from eight to thirteen hours a shift - so I haven't been able to read as much. I should have a review of Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) up in a few days however and will be blog hopping due to BlogFest.

Review: Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

From Inside Jacket: Since her sister's mysterious death, Persephone "Phe" Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts - the subject of her sister's final diary entry. After stepping on campus, Phe realizes that there's something very different about this place - an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach - and somehow she's connected to it all. But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town ... might destroy her.

My Rating: 4.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Right from the start, Shadow Hills is attention-grabbing. It begins with a dream sequence that immediately has the reader on edge and manages to keep being suspenseful right up until the end of the novel.

Each of the characters that Hopcus has created is unique and multi-dimensional, and I liked that even the bad guys may not seem so “bad” once the reader understands their motivations. It takes skill to create well-rounded characters and Hopcus does this impeccably.

It was also fascinating to read about the secrets of the inhabitants of Shadow Hills and to discover that they came with a cost – a thing most people don’t think about when wishing they too had a similar secret.

           

An intense debut novel with a mixture of romance, supernatural, science and mythology, Shadow Hills will have readers asking for a sequel!

Shadow Hills was released by Egmont USA in July 2010.

Comments About the Cover: While not amazing, the cover is eye-catching and its dark colours suit the novel. 

Celebrate Dwayne's Birthday with a Giveaway

Dwayne at Girls Without a Bookshelf is not only celebrating turning twenty with a giveaway for her followers but is allowing them to decide whether to have one winner win seven books or have seven winners win a book each. Don't forget to check it out because Crescendo and Torment are among the books that can be won. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Paranormalcy Giveaway by Reading Teen

One of the upcoming books I'm most excited to read is Paranormalcy. Isn't it awesome then that Reading Teen is giving an ARC of Paranormalcy on August 31st?

From Dusk 'Til Dawn Read-A-Thon and Updates

I was following the Dusk 'Til Dawn Read-a-thon co-hosted by Jenn at Book Crazy and Jami at YA Addict privately but officially joined tonight. So, my goal is to read a little bit of Shadow Hills tonight before going to bed. 

Aside from hoping to get quite some reading done within the next few days between 8 PM to 8 AM, I'm also going to try and participate in as many challenges as possible.  

Update on Night Two: I wasn't able to read for too long last night - only about half an hour - and so only read from pages 9 to 38 of Shadow Hills. Hopefully I'll be able to read for longer tonight.

Update on Night Three: I fell asleep after updating my entry for night two but I did manage to read pages 39 to 169 early in the morning from 4:45 to 6:00.

Update on Night Four: I read pages 182 to 168 tonight and am hoping to finish by either Monday night or Tuesday morning since I'm going to be coming home late tonight.

Final Update: Ugh, I actually didn't get a chance to read last night but I did read in the afternoon (and yes I know it doesn't count) which means that I'm now on page 302 rather than on page 168. 

Book Crazy's Mini-Challenge: If you could be read into a book, which book would it be and why? What is it about that story that you find utterly overpowering? Which world would you choose to lose what you have her on earth for? Click here for more information.

When I first read Jenn's challenge, I immediately thought, "That's easy! Hogwarts, duh!" I mean, who hasn't dreamed of getting a letter to Hogwarts one day telling them they're a witch/wizard? I'd also be able to perform magic, fly on a broomstick, watch a Quidditch match and get my mail delivered to me via an owl!

But then, I thought of something else. See, I found a loophole in Jenn's challenge :) I'd actually make myself be read into the Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne - a series I read in middle grade - and then could actually visit any world I wanted as well as the past and future. I'd no longer be limited to one world or time and when I'm tired, all I have to do is find the book I'd opened up and come right back to my time! Am I clever or what? 
  
Reading Through Life's Mini-Challenge: Write a post describing your ideal comfort food meal to break your hypothetical 15 hour fast one of the nights of this week's read-a-thon. Click here for more information.

My ideal comfort food meal would be something that's not too heavy and the first thing that popped into my head was rice and kebabs (probably because that's what I had tonight). I know that people think you can eat a lot if you don't eat anything the whole day but my stomach doesn't work that way. I like having tiny meals spread out through the day because eating too much makes me feel nauseated.
 

Anna and the French Kiss Giveaway

Stephanie Perkins, the author of Anna and the French Kiss, is giving away an ARC of her novel which will be released in December. Since I added the book on my Amazon wishlist a couple of months ago, I just had to enter.

Review: My Double Life by Janette Rallison

From Inside Jacket: My life in suburbia is about as far away from a rock star's life as one can get. So I was more than surprised when, out of the blue, I was offered the job of being Kari Kingsley's double. I may not have Hollywood skills, but I am her dead ringer, and the job will pay for college and get me closer to meeting the dad I've never known. Being Kari has its other perks too. Last month I couldn't even get a date, and now I'm hanging out with Grant Delray, who I've stared at on magazine covers for years. He's everything a girl could want - everything I want. There's just one problem. He thinks I'm Kari. Isn't it ironic that when I do finally find my father and the love of my life, I'm not allowed to tell either of them who I really am? 

My Rating: 4 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Although the premise sounds pretty far-fetched, I was interested to see how Janette Rallison would explain the eerie resemblance of Alexia to Kari. The reason given has been known to happen in reality but it would have been slightly more sensible if Alexia looked similar to Kari and not exactly like Kari’s identical twin (with the exception of her nose).

The characters were the greatest strength of the book. Alexia is a likeable character that readers can easily relate to. Her yearning to know her father so that she could finally feel complete, her confused feelings about how she would tell her father who she was and how she should feel about him, her worry over whether Grant would like her for herself and her desire to help Kari were all portrayed genuinely.

The evolution of Kari and Grant were also well done and shows that there is always more to people than meets the eyes. While Kari initially appears to simply be a dumb blonde, spending some time with her allows Alexia to learn that unscripted situations with tons of cameras cause Kari to freeze up and make stupid comments. In the meantime, Alexia’s initial attraction to Grant seems more based on his physical looks. Later on however, she realizes that aside from being handsome and rich, Grant is also an unpretentious, funny and amazing guy.  

Though Rallison’s My Double Life has a serious message or two in it, it was mostly a light and breezy novel that will keep readers hooked because pretending to be someone else is just a disaster waiting to occur. Throw in some humorous scenes and a happy ending and Rallison leaves the reader with a pretty satisfied feeling.

My Double Life was released by Putnam Juvenile in May 2010.

Comments About the Cover: I have mixed feelings about the cover. I really liked the idea of the paparazzi with their cameras taking pictures of the model because much like any celebrity, Kari is continually being photographed and asked questions about her life. The paparazzi also play an important role in how things turn out for Alexia and Kari in the later part of the story. However, the model on the cover doesn’t look at like she’s Latina and yet both Alexia and Kari are. Clearly the people responsible for the cover didn’t even bother reading the first few chapters! 

I Just Won a Giveaway!

A couple of hours ago, I was scrolling through my Hotmail inbox and noticed that I had an e-mail from Goodreads congratulating me for winning a copy of Margaret Buffie's Winter Shadows (which I'll obviously be reviewing). While I was extremely excited about this, my family didn't really seem to care or in my mom's case, thought it was a scam. So, here I am looking for someone, anyone, to share in my excitement.

On a side note: I've just learned that while I may not have the greatest luck, entering contests is a worthwhile endeavor. You just never know when you'll win!

Review: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

From Inside Jacket: Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a year-long coma, and she's still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. Her parents show her home movies of her life, her memories, but she has no recollection. Is she really the same girl she sees on the screen?

Little by little, Jenna begins to remember. Along with the memories come questions - questions no one wants to answer for her. What really happened after the accident? 

My Rating: 5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Owning a copy of Mary E. Pearson’s Scribbler of Dreams and having really enjoyed it, I decided to check out The Adoration of Jenna Fox from my local library.  I don’t generally read sci-fi – Scott Westerfeld’s work is an exception – but this book just blew me away.

Set in a future that sounds highly plausible given current medical research and technological advances, the story is written brilliantly with early chapters being short and having a confused undertone and later chapters becoming longer as Jenna begins to recover more of her memories. Two things that made Pearson’s writing even better though was the use of definitions of words that Jenna looks up and applies to herself and the questions Jenna poses to herself. The former lets the reader gain a deeper appreciation of certain words while the latter raises ethical issues that will linger with the reader.

Pearson also does an exceptional job with the creation of her characters. Jenna’s character slowly develops from an isolated and bewildered girl to one who is able to be assertive and create her own identity. The reader also learns about Jenna’s life before the accident as the “new” Jenna watches video clips of herself and so is able to empathize with Jenna’s parents’ actions. The other secondary characters like Lily, Jenna’s grandmother, and Jenna’s friends, Allys and Ethan, are also well-developed so that the reader understands their actions and motivations.

The Adoration of Jenna was released by Henry Holt and Co. in April 2008.

Comments About the Cover: I still think that the cover is kind of random but after having read the book, I at least know that the colour blue and the butterfly have some significance.