Waiting on Wednesday.....Mystic City

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 is Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided. A political rebellion ignited. A love that was meant to last forever.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

I love the sound of this. The whole marriage to the enemy family thing sounds like Romeo and Juliet to me. Add in Hunter and we have a love triangle that hopefully will not disappoint. I love the cover of this as well. I hope it's as romantic, and action packed as I am thinking it will be.

Expected release date - October 9, 2012

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
Release Date –  June 12, 2012
Publisher Website –  Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publisher Social Media -  Twitter
Pages -  303 pages
My Rating- 3.5/5
**provided from Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

Lies Beneath has one of the best first chapters I can remember reading in a long time. Seriously. Chapter one Calder is telling us exactly what he does to humans and it chilled me like the cold waters of Lake Superior. It set up a darker, more sinister mere lore than I was expecting. I was quite excited after that chapter, but sadly the novel overall didn’t wow me.

There are a lot of really great aspects to the novel. The mythology being the biggest. I loved the sinister and malicious intent these mermaids had. The darker theme was perfect for these creatures. Drowning is a real fear of mine and having these seductive mere folk absorb your energy while having you at the bottom of the ocean is scary. Calder’s sisters were especially vicious and cold. They looked at humans as things to play with and discard.

The writing itself flows very well and is immensely readable. The pacing was great. You’ll finish the novel rather quickly and it is rather short. This may actually be a negative though. I didn’t feel the mythology was developed as much as it could be. The book could have been a little longer if only to gain more insight into the underwater workings.

The vengeance part of the story was well flushed out. Calder’s inner struggle with doing what he has longed to do to avenge his mother, and doing what now feels right to him is not only well expressed, but relatable. We all rebel against our families at some point or another.

I was not a huge fan of Lily, or the instant love between her and Calder. It was not a gradual thing, and for Calder to turn his back on what has been a driving force for him for a long time didn’t feel true to me. I wish it had been more gradual. I didn’t really feel we got to know any of the characters except for Calder. Lily, Calder’s sisters all remained very surface characters for me. A hightlight for Lily’s character though was her reaction when finding out what Calder was. It was a reaction that you would expect.

Overall I did enjoy Lies Beneath and appreciated the darker tone of the novel. I debated giving this one a 3.5 or a 4 star rating. There are things I loved, and things I wished would have worked a little different.

From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas

From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Release Date – May 15, 2012
Publisher Website –  Hyperion/Hachette Canada
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages -  462 pages
My Rating- 4/5
**received for an honest review from publisher**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

KYLIE: Tijuana WHAT? I should be putting the finishing touches on my valedictorian speech. Graduation is TODAY, and is this a wedding band on my finger.

MAX: It all started with Kylie's laptop and a truck full of stolen electronics Okay, it was kind of hot, the way she broke us out like some chick in an action movie. But now we're stranded in TIjuana. WIth less than twenty-four hours before graduation. Awesome.

WILL: Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation. Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring thier passports across the border--but there's no reason to rush back home right away. This party is just getting started.

LILY: I just walked in on my boyfriend, Max Langston, canoodling with Kylie Flores, freak of the century. Still, I can't completely hold it against him. He NEEDS me. It's even clearer now. And I'm not giving him up without a fight

Kylie wakes up in Mexico with only vague recollections of the night before. In bed beside her? School hottie Max. That alone is enough to cause Kylie to freak out. Even more shocking to Kylie is the wedding ring on her finger. So begins this fun, twisty, often surprising tale of one last adventure before graduation. I went into this expecting a funny novel that would be more on par with The Hangover movies. However, this novel is a touching story of living life to the fullest, taking chances, and following your heart.

We get quite a few points of view in this novel. Kylie, Max, Will, Lily and Kylie’s brother Jake all take turns narrating the story. This provides the unique perspective of letting us know what is going on outside of Kylie and Max’s journey. This many narrator switches seems like it would be hard to pull off, but it really works for this novel.

Kylie is this hot tempered, driven, fun, amazing girl. Sadly, she doesn’t realize this. She withdraws from everything, and doesn’t open herself up. She has put her own life on hold to help with her autistic brother and a family that needs to communicate more.

Will Bixby is Kylie’s best friend. An out and proud gay teenager who is learning to see past the front he puts on, and reinventing himself. He does things for shock value, and provided much of the comedic parts to the story. I enjoyed Will immensely. His relationship with Kylie was great. They are both there for each other no matter what.

Max, the golden boy of the high school. The type of boy that would be Prom King. Kylie and he barely know each other before getting caught up in getting Kylie’s laptop back. At first I figure he was going to be someone I didn’t like, I didn’t see much depth to him. He actually annoyed me at first. As Kylie gets to know him better, and fall for him so did I. He showed his good qualities as they progressed on their journey.

Movies are a huge part of this novel. Kylie and Will are both movie fanatics and routinely quote from them. Kylie's chosen career involves scriptwriting. Even the chapters start with movie quotes. As a huge movie fan myself I loved this. The novel quotes Pump Up The Volume, Mean Girls, Scream and many others. This whole novel actually reminded me of a movie. One of those John Hughes teen comedies that are timeless and resonate with everyone. It had romance, action, off beat characters, and implausible situations.It's totally one of those summer movies that you watch while eating popcorn and just have fun during. If I had to chose one word to describe From What I Remember it would definitely be fun.

You'll fall in love with the quaint Mexican town they visit, the characters and most of all you'll be reminded that “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”. Bonus points if you know where that quote is from!*

*Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

New To My Book Closet

It's that time of the week again. Time to show you what bookish goodies made their way into my home and book closet (to be saved from the evil book eating cat monster named Aria). This is inspired by the various "mailbox" posts out there (eg. In My Mailbox by The Story Siren, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews).

I had a pretty busy book week. I got some fantastic titles and other goodies.

For review

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel (goodreads)
Flirting in Italian by Lauren Henderson (goodreads)
Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill (goodreads)

I enjoyed Dearly, Departed so much so I am freaking excited to start this one! Meant to Be is all about cuteness and London and swooning so I am looking forward to it. Flirting in Italian = cute Italian boys hopefully so perfect for the summer. VERY EXCITED!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House for these titles.

From the library

Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff (goodreads)

The Academie by Susanne Dunlap (goodreads)

I was very happy to find both of these in my library! Hoping to get started on them very soon.

A huge thank you to Elizabeth Richards who sent me some signed (and so pretty) Black City bookmarks!

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!

Book Expo Here I Come! Weekly Obsessions!

The awesome Kelly at KellyVision started posting a weekly post highlighting whatever she happened to be obsessed with that week. I LOVE this idea, so much in fact that I will be doing it myself every Saturday.

Here are my obsessions this week:

Starting off my weekly obsessions with my Book Expo America info and letting you all know what will be happening on the blog during the week while I am gone.

Not only do I have BEA itself to look forward to but there are other events and signings going on in the city at the same time. Teen Author Carnival is one I am planning on going to, and possibly a signing Monday night.

I am leaving Sunday night and will be gone most of the week. I have reviews and such scheduled while I am away.

Next week on the blog looks like this:

Monday June 4 - review of From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Tuesday June 5 - review of Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
Wednesday June 6 - Waiting on Wednesday post
Thursday June 7 - review of Timepiece by Myra McEntire

Hopefully they all post as scheduled.

Now moving on to the weekly obsessions

BOOKS

Title for Masque of the Red Death sequel

Novel Novice revealed the title for the Masque of the Red Death sequel! I am super excited by this and the title is perfect

Dance of the Red Death

DYING! I want this book. Immediately would be awesome. I am hoping for dancing, and lots of kissing. Especially if it involves Will.

cover for Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

This cover is in the running for prettiest cover of 2012. It's romantic and soft, and I love it. Based on the Goodreads synopsis it seems like a perfect fit. 

OTHER

Teen Author Carnival panels


All the panels sound AMAZING! I have selected the two I am going to attend.

My first panel is going to be - "Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy?" and my second panel is all about the boys with "Where have you been all my life? (Let's talk boys)" If you are curious about the other panels (or what fantastic authors are on the panels I am attending) visit the Teen Author Carnival Tumblr.

Have a great week everyone. I can not wait to see what I missed while away.

So what you are obsessed with this week?

Friday Hop!

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

Q: You are a matchmaker -- your goal, hook up two characters from two of your favorite books. Who would it be? How do you think it would go?

Hmm....I would set up Izzy from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare with Phoenix from Embrace by Jessica Shirvington. Izzy loves the bad boy, and Phoenix likes a strong, tough girl. I think they would have some pretty epic arguments, but their relationship would be full of fire and passion (while it lasted).



TGIF at GReads! is a weekly blog hop hosted by Ginger from GReads

This weeks question is

Issue Books: Which books have you found to be very rewarding when it comes to tackling tougher issues?

Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why is the first one that comes to mind. I love how you tackled bullying, teen suicide, and how people should consider how their words and actions impact others.

Happy Weekend!

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Release Date –  April 24, 2012

Publisher Website –  Kensington

Publisher Social Media -  Twitter

Pages -  353 pages

My Rating- 4/5

**purchased**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream. 

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death. 

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca. 

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all. 

The storm is coming . .

After hearing Brodie from Eleusinian Mysteries rave about this book I knew I had to read it. It promised great characters, action, and the intriguing Merrick brothers. I am happy to say it delivered.

What I love most about Brigid Kemmerer’s writing was the characters. She created these complex, realistic characters that she layers by using the story. She doesn’t tell us their characteristics, she uses the plot and actions to SHOW us. The mythology of the elements and the feeling of being connected to that element is well described and developed.

Reading a book from a guy’s point of view written by female author is sometimes a hit and sometimes it’s a miss. I felt Brigid did a fantastic job of presenting her male characters, and giving them a believable voice. 

Becca is someone that will appeal to most readers. She has had a rough school year after some rumours get spread about her and the soccer team. She carries around a lot of guilt and grief over decisions and choices she made, and you can not help by sympathize with her. I loved that she wanted to learn self defence, and was capable, but it was within reason. She felt just like the girl next door, which really worked for this story.

Chris is the misunderstood, quiet guy that Becca saves. He really keeps people at arms length for their own protection, but also because he seems happier that way. While the death of his parents has impacted him I didn't find him as bitter as some of his other brothers. He also wasn't one to last out, or make jokes like the twins. I just found him to be a little hesitant, lost, but wanting to connect.

The romance, while not overpowering, is quite sweet. I loved the push/pull between Becca and Chris. Whenever I think of Chris and Becca I think of the line “Almonds, Vanilla, Torture”. This line for me sums up how Chris feels whenever Becca is close. He’s hyper aware of her, and it’s torture because he doesn’t trust himself not to lose control around her.

Gabriel is as volatile as the element he controls. His actions and words are filled with fire, anger, and passion. He was easily the Merrick I could see going out of control. His complex feelings towards Michael showed how much everything has really impacted this boy and his whole family. While Gabriel and his twin Nick look the same, they are as different from each other as can be Nick is much more level headed and focused. Both twins seem like a lot of fun, and charming though.

Michael is a bit of a jerk. It’s warranted however. I felt so bad for this young man who suddenly finds himself the head of the household and raising three younger brothers. His own guilt serves as barrier between him and his brothers who are harbouring their own resentment and confusion. My heart broke when the consequences to the events in Elemental are revealed. It explains so much about Michael that I urge everyone to start with that novella.

The relationship between the brothers is really what shines in the novel. It’s complex, feels real and will pull at your heart. So much as gone wrong for these guys, you just want something to go right for them.  Their powers are unpredictable, and the urge to loose control is always there, but each of them fight it. You want to scream at them to talk, work it out and just admit they love each other. Sigh...boys!

Four hot brothers, intense action, a few surprises and a fun mythology made me fall in love with Storm. The storm may have passed, but it’s far from over for the Merrick brothers and Becca. I can’t wait to see what happens next.