*Review* Tides – Betsy Cornwell

 Tides

Betsy Cornwell

304 pages

ISBN: 9780547927725

Read 8-31-13

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

Add it on Goodreads!

When high-school senior Noah Gallagher and his adopted teenage sister, Lo, go to live with their grandmother in her island cottage for the summer, they don’t expect much in the way of adventure. Noah has landed a marine biology internship, and Lo wants to draw and paint, perhaps even to vanquish her struggles with bulimia. But then things take a dramatic turn for them both when Noah mistakenly tries to save a mysterious girl from drowning. This dreamlike, suspenseful story—deftly told from multiple points of view—dives deeply into selkie folklore while examining the fluid nature of love and family.

This was my Random Reads pick for the month of August and I was excited to read it since I love stories with mermaids and such.  This was my first selkie story and it was interesting and a nice read.  The story was very well-written and I enjoyed the visuals that came from the author’s descriptions.  I have never been to New Hampshire, but I hope it is as lovely in real life as it is in the story.  We get to see the story from different views, so we get to see on land and in the water with the selkies and hear some abut selkie lore.

As for the characters, I liked them, but I wasn’t as connected with them as I would have liked to have been.  Noah was nice and hardworking and Lo was quiet, but a good sister.  I liked them, but I just didn’t fall in love with them.  Mara was interesting, but I felt it was kind of weird that Noah would want to immediately befriend a girl who was running around in an oversized men’s shirt and string as a belt for clothing.  There were a couple more issues that were a bit more serious that were touch on in this story, but not talked about in great depth; it was part of the story, but not THE story.

I loved the cover and it’s soft colors.  I like to think that the person on the front is Mara, seeing her both in her human form and her selkie form.  I also liked the title with the fancy scripted letters of the T and S.  I really enjoyed reading this book, even if I didn’t connect to the characters the way I wanted to, it was still a great story.  I will definitely read more by this author since she writes such lovely scenes.  I definitely recommend this book to those who love stories about water creatures!

Beautiful writing, selkie lore, good characters, didn’t connect to them like I wanted to.

Random Reads (6)

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 791 books, I got number 451!

 When high-school senior Noah Gallagher and his adopted teenage sister, Lo, go to live with their grandmother in her island cottage for the summer, they don’t expect much in the way of adventure. Noah has landed a marine biology internship, and Lo wants to draw and paint, perhaps even to vanquish her struggles with bulimia. But then things take a dramatic turn for them both when Noah mistakenly tries to save a mysterious girl from drowning. This dreamlike, suspenseful story—deftly told from multiple points of view—dives deeply into selkie folklore while examining the fluid nature of love and family.

I just looked at this book yesterday, so it is kind of funny that it is the one I will be reading.  I am excited for it since it is selkie folklore.  I really hope I enjoy it!  Anybody have opinions on it yet?

*Review* Struck – Jennifer Bosworth

 Struck

Jennifer Bosworth

373 pages

ISBN: 9780374372835

Read 6-30-13

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

Add it on Goodreads!

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

This was my Random Read for June, and since I was on vacation and finished the book the day I was getting on the plane, I am now able to finally post my review.  This was the first book I have read that involves cults, and it sounded like it could be a pretty intense read, plus, the book trailer was one of the best I’ve seen.  I can’t say this one held up to my expectations, though I did enjoy it I wasn’t blown away by it.  The idea of someone being a lightning was also tugging at me to read it, but I didn’t really feel the “addict” part of it.

Mia was mostly a pretty good character.  It took a lot to shake her up (it would take a lot to shake me up to if I had been hit my lightning so many times) and she stood her ground for what she believed in.  She had a lot of hard decisions to make, sometimes making the obviously wrong ones, and she had a ton to deal with like a stubborn brother and a sick mother.

Jeremy was interesting and I thought it was cute how Mia compared him to Clark Kent at times because of his glasses.  By the end of the book, I had some mixed feelings about him because of some of the things that happened.  Rachel, one of the main Follower characters, I greatly did not like.  If she were a real person, I would have liked to punch her in the face a few times.  But, I’m sure this is what the author was going for, so, well done on her.

The book was written pretty well as were the descriptions; I just wasn’t wowed.  If you are interested in reading it, by all means, still pick it up because it was an enjoyable read and I liked the way it ended.  Also, if you have time you should look up Lichtenburg scars (the scars the MC has), they are pretty awesome looking!

Good descriptions, interesting story, good ending, didn’t wow me.

Random Reads (5)

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 665 books, I got number 225!

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

I have missed doing the Random Reads for the past couple of months, so it is time to jump back on it!  I’ve heard some good things about this one and it had a really awesome book trailer, so I hope I enjoy it!

Random Reads (4) February 2013

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 602 books, I got number 39!

Cassia and Ky both narrate their quests crossing the ochre mountainous Carving to reach their love. She seeks the resistance, The Rising led by the Pilot, but does he? New teen friends red-haired Indie, fishing Vic, and chatty Eli 11, join them. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

I have been meaning to read this one for some time, so it’s good that this one is my Random Read!  Reached is also out now, too, so I will probably read them pretty close together.  I’ve been pulling some great books for Random Reads!

*Review* Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins

 Lola and the Boy Next Door

Stephanie Perkins

338 pages

ISBN: 9780525423287

Read 1-16-13

Format: Hardcover

Source: Own

Add it to Goodreads!

 Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion…she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit–more sparkly, more fun, more wild–the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket–a gifted inventor–steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

This was my Random Read for January and I knew I was going to love this just because I loved Anna.  This authoris an incredible writer and really knows how to put you in the shoes of her characters and feel exactly what they feel.  Both of these books were so real and readers can easily relate to Anna and Lola.  I also loved seeing Anna and St. Clair in this book.

Lola is a wonderful character.  She is smart, lively, fun and different; different in a very good way.  I would love to meet someone like Lola.  And Cricket?  Who wouldn’t want to fall in love with the thoughful, sweet, hot next door boy?  As for Max, at first I kind of liked him, but he became a jerk quickly.  We have all made the mistake of being blinded by love, but when nobody liked the guy you’re with, then something is wrong.

This story is set in San Fransisco, and because of this book, I really want to go, especially to see the wild parrots and the Japanese tea garden.  It’s obvious that the author is very familiar with this area (she used to live there) and she portays it beautifully.  The cover of the book is cute, it isn’t super fantastic, but it goes perfectly with the story becuse it really captures Lola and Cricket right down to the star on his left hand.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see St. Clair on the cover of Anna, so I’m very glad we got to see Cricket.

I am definitely a die hard fan of Stephanie Perkins now and she is on my auto-buy list.  I am very excited about her upcoming Isla, plus, next year, she is publishing a teen slasher novel and it will be really interesting to see how she does in that from romance.  Aside from a few words missing from sentences in a couple of spots toward the end of the book, it was pretty near perfect.  I loved it almost as much as I loved Anna!

Beautiful setting, incredible characters, couldn’t put it down, LOVE!!

Random Reads (3) January 2013

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 573 books, I got number 150:

 Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion…she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit–more sparkly, more fun, more wild–the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket–a gifted inventor–steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I am so stoked about getting this one as my Random Read!  I loved Anna and the French Kiss so much and I can’t wait to read about Lola and Cricket!  I was slack on last month’s Random Read since I was so busy with Christmas, but this one is definitely one I should fly through!

Random Reads (2) December 2012

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 560 books, I got number 227:

 In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures–if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father–and every other witch there–fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it’s only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

I really enjoyed Wicked Lovely and Graveminder by this author, so hopefully I will enjoy this one as well.

*Review* Girl of Nightmares – Kendare Blake

 Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

Kendare Blake

332 pages

ISBN: 9780765328663

Read 11-29-12

Format: Hardover

Source: Own

Add it on Goodreads!

It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he’s seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong…these aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

This was the book that was chosen for my first Random Reads with I’m Loving Books, and it was the perfect selection since I was wanting to read it anyway!  Anna Dressed in Blood was one of my favorite books last year and  wasvery excited for the sequel.  Kendare Blake is an excellent writer and makes wonderfully sassy female characters.  There probably isn’t any characters in her books that aren’t well-written and she does an amazing job of making them all feel like real people.

I enjoyed the way the story wrapped up and my heart went out to Cas with everything he had to go through.  The only real complaint I have is that we don’t get to see much of Anna, aside from the visions Cas has and the last 30 pages of the book, she is nowhere else in it.

The ghost scenes are great with incredibly vivid descriptions.  I loved it!  The hell that Anna is trapped in is such a strange and horrible place, and the Suicide Forest is quite creepy.  I can’t stress enough how great of a writer Kendare is.  If her other books are anything like the Anna books, I will get everything she writes.

Incredible writing, wonderful characters, fast read, not much Anna.

 

Random Reads (1) November 2012

Random Reads is a monthly meme hosted by Sarah at I’m Loving Books.  This feature is to get us reading a random book within the month that is in our TBR stack.

Want to join?

1. If you have Goodreads, enable the sorting on your To Be Read shelf.
2. Go to Random.org and using the True Random Number Generator enter the Min 1 and Max for the number on your TBR.
3. Get your random number and find the corresponding book on your shelf.
4. Post and link up!

My Random Read:

Out of 514 books, I got number 164:

It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

This actually works out really well since I wanted to read it anyway.  I wanted to read is around Halloween time, but I also had a ton of other stuff to read, too, so I didn’t make it for Halloween on this one.  I can’t wait to start it!