Waiting on Wednesday: Prodigy by Marie Lu

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selection is...

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Title:  Prodigy

Author:  Marie Lu

Series:  2nd book in the Legend series

Publisher:  Putnam Juvenile, an imprint of Penguin

Publication Date:  January 29, 2013

The Elector Primo of the Republic has died, with his son assuming power over what’s left of the USA’s West Coast as it teeters on full-blown chaos. June and Day join up with Patriot rebels so they can rescue Day’s brother and head east for the Colonies. In order to help, though, the rebels want June and Day to kill the new Elector, who may pose an even greater threat than his father.

Why I'm waiting:  Did you read Legend?!?  Did you not see how June and Day contrasted and complemented each other?  Did you not see that beautiful new cover, sans girl in pretty dress?!?  That's what I thought. You missed out when Legend was released at the end of last year, and now you need to catch up just so you can hurry and wait with the rest of us until 2013.  Yes.  You read that right.  2013.  Oy vey.  Luckily, there is no shortage of awesome books between now and then, so I should be able to occupy myself while I endure that mind-boggling wait.  Okay...easier said than done, but I'll manage somehow...

What book has your feathers in a ruffle this week? :P

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Labels: dystopian, legend, marie lu, penguin, src 2012, waiting on wednesday (wow)

Teaser Tuesday #5

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser comes from the following book:


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Title:  Dreamless
Author:  Josephine Angelini
Series:  2nd book in the Starcrossed series
Publisher:  Harper Teen
Publication Date:  May 29, 2012
Source:  ARC provided by publisher

Can true love be forgotten?

As the only scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.

Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out—a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies' cry for blood is growing louder.

As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen's sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.

Josephine Angelini's compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding as an unforgettable love triangle emerges and the eternal cycle of revenge intensifies. Eagerly awaited, this sequel to the internationally bestselling Starcrossed delivers a gritty, action-packed love story that exceeds all expectations.

My teaser:

"Well, Orion whatever-your-last-name-is," she said to her empty room as she stepped inside, shut the door, and slipped her feet into a pair of rubber boots.  "I hope you were serious about wanting to help me because I've never needed help more than I do right now." -- p. 71 of ARC

Hmmm...I smell a love-triangle on the horizon.  o.O  It's been a year since I read Starcrossed, but I love books with a mythological-spin, so I'm willing to give this one a chance, despite the potential for one of my least-favorite plot devices.

What tantalizing teaser are you sharing today?  Leave your link in the comments so I can visit!

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Labels: beautiful covers, harper-collins, love stories, mythology, src 2012, starcrossed, teaser tuesday

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

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Title:  Insurgent
Author:  Veronica Roth
Series:  2nd book in the Divergent series
Publisher:  HarperTeen
Publication Date:  May 1, 2012
Source:  purchased

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
 
New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

 

Insurgent was probably one of THE most highly anticipated novels of 2012, especially for me. I list its precursor among my top five reads of 2011, and I read 130 books last year, so that’s saying a lot. However, I have noticed that my taste has changed a bit over the course of a year, and I don’t find myself immediately loving every book I pick up. That’s either due to the fact that I’m reading everything as if I’m going to write a full review of it and therefore deconstructing the story as I read, or it’s due to the fact that I’m relying more on recommendations from Goodreads friends and blogger buddies. And let me tell you, we do not always agree. I’m afraid we won’t agree whole-heartedly on Insurgent either.

Divergent grabbed me from the very first chapter, and I stayed up through the wee hours of the night to finish reading it. Insurgent was released on my birthday this year, and so my bestest blogging buddy Michele over at A Belle’s Tales suggested we stay up and do an all-night read-a-thon since Divergent was what brought us together in the first place. (Okay, it was really our love of Four, but don’t tell our husbands!) With Insurgent, I never really felt like I was fully back in that factioned world. The pull from the story wasn’t nearly as strong as it was with Divergent. Whereas I was Tris in Divergent, I felt like an outsider in Insurgent, watching from the sidelines as Tris made one poor decision after another.

I loved Insurgent. I did. It’s full of non-stop action. And Tris. And FOUR. I just felt disconnected from the story in a way that I didn’t with Divergent, and even though I’d been waiting a year for this sequel, it still felt like I was waiting…or rather like something was missing. If I had to put my finger on just why that is, my best guess is that it’s because the characters themselves did not feel connected. In the first book, there was a sense of camaraderie as the initiates trained together and even when they competed against one another. They were united in a common goal, at least. In this second installment, though, there is no one left. Not really.

Still, that missing piece, that loss, really set the tone of the novel, and even though I felt apart from it, the novel’s underlying theme paralleled my own feelings about the story. Be prepared. There is no light-heartedness or carefree and fun attitude in this book like there was at times in Divergent. Instead, the book serves as more of a cautionary tale revolving around loss and picking up the pieces and of human nature in general.

Another thing that bothered me? The dialogue. It seemed quite a bit immature and inappropriate at times considering the dire circumstances and dangerous situations the characters found themselves in. Or maybe Tris and Four just seemed more mature in Divergent? I love sarcasm and snark as much as the next girl, but it is not a good color on Four. You be the judge:

“Got that gun?” Peter says to Tobias.
“No,” says Tobias, “I figured I would shoot bullets out of my nostrils, so I left it upstairs.”

Regardless, I still want to say a big thank you to Veronica Roth for not giving me a chapter or two simply summarizing the events of Divergent. And thank you for throwing me right back onto that train and continuing the story from there. (Note: If you do need a refresher, though, the author has put together just such a post, but beware that it will be spoilery if you haven’t read the first book yet.)

In summation: Do I think Insurgent was better than the first book? No. Did Insurgent at least live up to my expectations? Almost…probably. Could there have been more Four? Definitely. (BTW, did you read the Free Four short from his POV? Yummy.) Am I still excited for book three? YES, especially after that ending!

Rating: 

Book-A-Likes:  Legend by Marie Lu, the Matched series by Ally Condie



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Labels: book-a-likes, divergent trilogy, dystopian, favorites, harper-collins, reviews, src 2012, veronica roth

Children's Book Week Giveaway Hop

Children's Book Week is the national celebration of books and reading for youth.

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week is the longest-running literacy initiative in the country. Each year, books for young people and the joy of reading are feted for a full week with author and illustrator appearances, storytelling, parties, and other book-related events at schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, and homes from coast to coast!

Administered by Every Child A Reader and sponsored by the Children's Book Council, Children's Book Week celebrates the transformative power of literacy. 

--  Information taken directly from the CBW website.  Please visit the CBW site for further details and to take part in this inspiring endeavor.

Here's what I have up for grabs to celebrate:

And all of this goes to ONE lucky winner*!!!

*Please see terms & conditions at the bottom of the Rafflecopter form.

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Labels: children's book week, children's books, giveaway hops, giveaways

Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

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Title:  Enchanted
Author:  Alethea Kontis
Series:  n/a
Publisher:  Harcourt Children's Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date:  May 8, 2012
Source:  Southern Book Bloggers ARC tour

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.  

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

I love a good fairy tale retelling as much as the next girl. I enjoy reading fairy tales to my four-year-old daughter, as well, and I’m already stock-piling a few YA/MG titles to read with her when she’s a little older. Enchanted will definitely be going on that pile, probably sooner than most. I say that because it felt like it was written with a younger (or a young-at-heart) audience in mind.

Enchanted was cute and fun and completely harmless. There might be a few moments that are a tad scary for little ones, but when my daughter is capable of reading this book, I assure you I would have no problem giving it to her to read on her own. The romance is sweet and adorable and prudent, but that kind of goes along with the territory. It was shocking in those times to see two young people holding hands, let alone making out. I’m glad this retelling did not stray from those ideals.

My only real issues with this novel were the initial pacing and the sheer number of characters. This was a rather short novel – at least, compared to most I read – at 305 pages and the first 80 pages or so were spent on back-story. Add to that the fact that I practically had to draw a family tree to keep all of the characters straight, and I was a little put out.

However, once I saw how all of the characters fit into the story, it made sense. This wasn’t simply ONE fairy-tale being retold, and so all of the many characters were indeed necessary. I loved seeing how so many of my favorite fairy tales from childhood were brought to new life and incorporated into Kontis’ retelling of The Frog Prince. It was a pleasant surprise revisiting some of my old favorites.

This was a light, fluffy read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who adores fairy tales, retellings, or enjoys returning to some old friends every now and again. I can’t wait till my daughter is old enough to experience this book for herself!

Rating:  1/2
 
Book-A-Likes:  Entwined by Heather Dixon, Beastly by Alex Flinn
 

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Labels: arc tour reviews, book-a-likes, fairy tales, hmh, reviews, southern book bloggers