Choker By Elizabeth Woods

Choker by Elizabeth Woods
Release Date - January 4, 2011
Publisher - Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages - 233
My Rating 8/10

Here is the GoodReads synopsis -

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

The book opens with a flashback to when Cara and Zoe were young girls. The tone of the novel is immediately set and you know what kind of journey you’re about to take.

I really enjoyed the writing style. It kept me turning the pages and wanting to find out what happened next. The mystery of what was going on kept you reading. This is a good thing as some of the characters I felt were not flushed out as much as I would have liked.

I did feel sorry for Cara. I was transferred back to high school and recalled how awful it can be for some people. The author did a great job at showing us how little self esteem Cara had. You really saw that she just wanted to blend in and almost become invisible. The choking incident where she gets her nickname just makes things worse for her at school.

Zoe is exactly what you would expect. She was sweet and Cara’s best friend one minute and creepy the next. Zoe is the more outgoing and outspoken of the two girls. She seemed like she could control Cara in a way. As the story goes on her behaviour gets more and more strange and erratic which leads to Cara questioning what Zoe has done.

When I was about halfway through the book I figured I was going to give it a rating of about 7. It seemed to be very predictable and had very little in the way of surprises or anything really different that made it stand out. I then got to the last couple of chapters and had the entire thing flipped on me. The ending is simply jaw dropping fantastic. It’s something I NEVER saw coming and it bumped my review up to an 8. It’s one of those great end twists that when done properly can stay with you for awhile. It has you rethinking the rest of the book and searching for clues that you might have missed. I have to applaud the author for a well planned and perfectly revealed twist.

The cover of this book does not reveal the darkness inside. Don’t let delicate and pretty cover fool you. Choker is full of scary, shudder inducing moments that I loved. If you enjoy a little bit of a scare this is one you should add to your reading pile.

Waiting on Wednesday...

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

My pick this week I actually saw first on The Bucket List blog. Thank you to them for bringing it to my attention!

My pick this week is Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay.


Here is the GoodReads synopsis

The most tragic love story in history . . . Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

I LOVE Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It's one of my favourite Shakespeare plays (along with Macbeth). I love that this novel is going to twist the story on it's head. The premise sounds very interesting and could be quite unique. The cover is also very pretty. I can't wait until September 13, 2011 when this is scheduled to be released!

Trailers and Posters..

The trailer for Kelley Armstrong's new book The Gathering was released. I enjoyed her previous YA series so I am looking forward to reading this one.



It's pretty awesome and the end left me curious as to what happened!

They also released the trailer for Gayle Forman's Where She Went. I loved If I Stay and am looking forward to reading this one when it's released.



I am a huge Harry Potter fan. Love the series and the movies. The last movie(sniff)is coming out later this summer and they released an amazing poster for it.



Amazing right? I am so excited and yet sad for this movie to come out. It's going to be so bittersweet.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Release Date - January 11, 2011
Publisher - Razorbill
Pages - 398
My Rating 7/10

Here is the GoodReads synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

I was a little unsure picking up this book as I am not normally into science fiction. I am so glad I did. The science fiction aspect of it was not at all what I was expecting.

Right from the first couple of pages where Amy is describing the freezing process I was hooked. The freezing sounded painful, excruciating and very unpleasant to go through. The author had me feeling each part of the process as Amy felt it.

I was very hooked by the whole “who is the killer” mystery. I was able to guess who it was pretty early on in the book but was pleasantly surprised by a couple of twists towards the end of the book that I did not see coming. I love it when books are able to surprise me. I liked the premise that it was only a select few people who had access to commit the crimes. It made it feel like the classic “locked room” scenario but with a twist. The fact that a few people were initially good suspects also made it more interesting.

Amy was a great character. She was strong, and very capable. She also seemed very “real”. She seemed like a typical girl caught in some crazy circumstances. I also really liked Harley. I may have been the only one but I sort of wanted Amy and Harley to get together. Harley was the tortured artist that I sadly find attractive.

I was glad that we got to see Elder’s point of view as well. If we had not seem his side of things I may not have liked him. I did think that his feelings and thoughts about Amy were very romantic and sweet. In the end I just did not get attached to him as much as I did with Amy or Harley.

With the events of the book taking place on the ship the whole book had a very claustrophobic feel which I felt the author did a fantastic job of making you experience and feel. You really got how isolated and closed off the people of the ship were and it helped explain some of their actions. I know that I could never do what Amy did and sign up to go into space. I am pretty sure I would have a nervous breakdown or something.

If you are at all leery about picking this one up because of the science fiction aspect I say give it a chance anyways. It’ll surprise you and you might even enjoy it.

Follow Friday/Book Blogger Hop

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee. It's a great way to meet new blogger friends. This weeks question is:

Q. Inspired by the inane twitter trend of #100factsaboutme, give us five BOOK RELATED silly facts about you.

1. I started a book club that has been together for the last 3 years.

2. My favourite place to read is my bed.

3. I am the "go to person" for my friends when they want book recommendations. They know I read A LOT.

4. I have yet to listen to an audio book. This will most likely change with Ed Westwick reading City of Fallen Angels. Sigh...that accent :)

5. I read while on the treadmill!



Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy-For-Books.com. It's a great way to meet new people and friends around the blogworld!

Today's question is "If you could physically put yourself into a book or series…which one would it be and why?"

I am going to go with the Harry Potter series. I would love to go to Hogwarts. I think I would have liked to have a student with Sirius, James, Lupin, etc though. I would have been one of those silly girls with a crush on Sirius.

If you do comment or follow me please leave a link to your blog post so I can take at a look at yours in return.

Happy Friday everyone.

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Release Date – Oct 26, 2010
Publisher – Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages - 272
My Rating- 8/10

Here is the GoodReads synopsis

“I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.” So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the New York Times bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favourite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

One of the things that I thought was interesting about the book right from the beginning was that the authors rotated chapters. I am sure this is common when two authors co-write a book but I think it was highly effective here. You can distinguish the two styles, and it gave Lily and Dash unique voices. I like to imagine the authors not really planning anything out and each having to read the chapter they just received to see how they would proceed with their own next chapter (I am sure I am hugely mistaken).

I loved how funny this book was. It has been awhile since a book made me laugh as much as this one did. OUT LOUD! The baby scene, the sitting on Santa’s lap scene, and Lily talking to her parents were just some of the hilarious scenes that came to mind. It was also easy to like both Dash, Lily and so many of the other characters we meet. Lily’s brother and extended family, Dash’s friends, all made the story what it was. Lily’s shy, quirky, animal loving self is someone I could relate to. Dash was the snarly, sarcastic sense of humour guy with the heart of gold underneath. Loved him so much. I love that he refers to himself as “bookish” it’s probably one of my favourite quotes from the book. Ultimately, I love that both Dash and Lily learn something about themselves and step outside their comfort zone…it’s something everyone should do once and awhile.

The dares themselves were fun (and often funny). The whole concept of this book was adorable to me. It’s something I would totally want to do with a friend for like a Secret Santa thing. However, it really only works because Dash and Lily don’t know each other. It’s a way for them to get to know each other without meeting face to face. The premise is fanciful and almost fairytale romance (it would never happen in real life between strangers) but it was nice to take the journey with them. It made you want to wish for there to be a red moleskin book on the shelf at your local thrift bookstore.

The inclusion of the Christmas season was a nice touch. It fit the warm fuzzy feeling the book gave you and made me want it to be Christmas again. The fact that it took place in NYC was just icing on the cake for me. I have been and fell in love with the city while I was there. Reading about the places they had them visit during the dares made me excited to go back in May.

I ended this book with a huge smile on my face. It’s one of those light, feel good, sweet reads that really just make you happy. I dare you to read it…

Waiting on Wednesday....

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

My pick this Wednesday is The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis -

She thought there was something wrong with her. She was right. Finley Jayne has known for quite some time that she isn’t ‘normal,’ but when she beats up the son of her employer and is forced to flee, she stumbles into a world where there are bigger freaks than her. They take her in, treat her like family and demand her trust. How can Finley trust them when she can’t trust herself? And why is she drawn to the powerful Griffin as well as the dangerous Jack? She has to get herself under control before she gets into trouble she can’t get out of. Griffin King is one of the most powerful men in Britain but he couldn’t save his best friend from almost dying. He is determined to save Finley and help her become the person he knows she can be, but there’s evil afoot in London. Machines have attacked humans under the orders of a nefarious criminal called The Machinist. He has sworn to protect his country against such a threat, but he’s never faced any foe like this. However, when he discovers The Machinist’s connection to his past, Griffin vows to end the villain once and for all — but he’ll need the help of all his friends, including the beautiful Finley Jayne – the girl in the steel corset

The cover is gorgeous. The dress, the steam punk elements, the potential love triangle are all very much working for me. I am curious to see what this one is like. The synopsis is very intriguing as well. Expected release date is May 24, 2011.