Uncovered - 11/8/11

Look at these lovelies:

 
I know the concept of the girl in the beautiful dress has been overdone on covers, but even so, I still love them.  Regardless of whether they have anything to do with the story inside the book, I can't get enough of these gorgeous covers!

Also, the Shade series by Jeri Smith-Ready gets a makeover:


 

What do you think?  I haven't had a chance to pick up this series yet, but I think I'm a fan of the original cover art.  This kind of reminds me of the cover re-do for Andrea Cremer's Nightshade series, and I'm also not a fan of that makeover.  Oh, well...nothing I can do about it, right?

And, last but not least, the trailer for Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me has been released:

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Labels: beautiful covers, book trailers, fallen, shatter me, supernaturally

Giveaway: Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

In honor of today's release of Inheritance, the final book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, I'm giving away a paperback boxed set of the first three books in the series.  I recently bought this set for my hubby at a Borders closing sale because he had started to show an interest in reading lately, but then he learned that there would be a fourth book.  So, he wanted to wait until all four books were released before starting the series, and now he wants the hardcover boxed set that includes Inheritance.

So, I now have this extra set sitting on my bookshelf, and I'd hate to see it go to waste.  Naturally, that's where you come in.  Just complete the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win.  (You must be a follower of this blog and a US resident in order to qualify for the prize.)

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Labels: giveaways, inheritance cycle

TGIF #15 - Gateway Books

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads!  In this weekly feature, Ginger poses a question to her followers and then asks everyone to link up at the end of the post, sharing their responses.

This Friday's Question:

Gateway Books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that The Hunger Games pushed me toward my love of all things dystopian. Seriously, I can't get enough of that genre. I have to have read at least twenty this year alone that fall into that category, but I'm almost certain it's more than that. I'm just too lazy to count them all right now.

And it was this book that got my slightly younger sister to take up reading, and for that I'm thankful.  I have a lot of wonderful online friends to discuss books with, but it's even nicer to talk to someone about them face-to-face and gauge their real reactions.

However, I know most of you are probably tired of me gushing about my affinity for dystopian novels, so just to make sure you're paying attention, I read (okay, listened to) and loved a contemporary novel earlier this year.  Yeah, you read that right.  I know, I'm always saying that I'm not a huge fan of contemps, and for the most part, that's still true.  But kids, Sarah Dessen knows a thing or two about real life, or at the very least, she's pretty awesome at pretending she does.   I listened to the audiobook for Along for the Ride earlier this summer, and I gotta tell you, I really enjoyed it, and I really wasn't expecting to. 

You see, I haven't read many contemps, and I honestly don't plan to read many more because I prefer to escape into my books, which for me, means supernatural beasties and the like.  Sure, I could escape to another character's reality, but that's not what I like to read.  Not normally, anyway.  But just based on Dessen's writing, I think I would like her other works, as well.  So, if you know of an author with a similar style, by all means, recommend away.  I'm not adverse to reading contemps, per say...I just haven't given them much of a chance in the past.  I have read a few other contemporaries this year that I liked but not as much as Along for the Ride.  I wonder why that is, but I guess I just have to chalk it up to the writing, the point-of-view, and the overall storyline.

So, what are your "gateway" books?  Is there any genre that you just absolutely want no part of?  Sound off in the comments.

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Labels: contemporary, dystopian, tgif

Review: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Title:  Sweet Venom
Author:  Tera Lynn Childs
Series:  Medusa Girls
Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date:  September 6, 2011
Links:  Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: 

From Goodreads:

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Review:

So, this is another one of those books where I’ve never read anything else by the author and after finishing, I’m wondering why that is. Seriously, this book is awesome. Like, go-out-and-buy-everything-by-Tera Lynn Childs-awesome. It wasn’t the sisterhood-aspect, or the oh-snap-we’re-related-to-Medusa-aspect, or even the female-empowerment-aspect. It was all of that rolled up into one fantastically kick-a$$ action story.

Switched POVs. Sigh. I wish all authors could handle them this well. Normally, the transition is between the protagonist and her love interest, or some small variation from that. In Sweet Venom, the shift occurs between sisters. The narration starts out with tough girl Gretchen’s POV. Then along comes Grace, and a sisterly bond is formed. Way, way, way down the road, Gretchen and Grace discover that they have yet another sister that neither knew about, and she is not happy to have her perfect life disturbed. Enter Greer. Three entirely different yet formidable heroines. One destiny. And still so much to discover about themselves and each other.

And then there’s the mythology. Medusa wasn’t evil, you say? Bah. Impossible. Oh, wait…you’re not kidding. Okay, I’ll bite. She’s a protector, NOT an evil gorgon? You don’t say…well, that just makes things even more interesting. And how do you know this? Her sisters? Wait, wait, wait. There are MORE sisters in this story? Great…and I thought I had issues with MY sisters.

Sisters, descendents of Medusa at that, fighting demons by night and trying to maintain a sense of normalcy by day. Love it. There’s a touch of romance, too, but it doesn’t overshadow the real storyline.

Sweet Venom was fast-paced and laced with action and intrigue. I devoured it quickly and already find myself wanting the sequel, even with everything else on my reading plate. I’d love to go into more detail, but I’m afraid anything I say will be spoilery. Medusa is one of my favorite mythological creatures, and I’m actually kind of surprised that this is the first time I’ve seen her pop up in a YA paranormal novel. Sweet Venom is the precursor to what looks to be a fascinating series, and the author has just found herself on my auto-read list.

An ARC of this novel was graciously provided by Damaris at Good Choice Reading.

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Labels: medusa girls, reviews

Uncovered - 11/3/11

Beautiful covers revealed:

All four cover reveals this week are for sequels and are just as gorgeous as the covers for the first installments, in my opinion.  I regretfully admit that I've only started two of these series (Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini and Die For Me by Amy Plum), but I own all four of the first books and am gradually moving Abandon (the first in Meg Cabot's Abandon trilogy) and Hourglass (book number one in the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire) to the top of my TBR pile.

Which book are you most looking forward to?  Did you discover any beautiful covers this week that I missed?

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Labels: abandon, beautiful covers, die for me, hourglass, starcrossed, TBR pile, uncovered