In My Mailbox!

Hey fellow book lovers! It's that weekly post again! In My Mailbox, hosted by The Story Siren, this week I got...

For Review:

Shooting Stars -- Allison Rushby

Saving You Saving Me -- Kailin Gow

Undertow -- Callie Kingston

From Library: 

Slide -- Jill Hathaway

Partials -- Dan Wells

Graffito Moon -- Cath Crowley

That's all the books that I got this week. Be sure to leave your link so I can see what you got in your mailbox :)

Review: The Shapeshifter's Secret by Heather Ostler

                                     E-book: The Shapeshifter's Secret by Heather Ostler
                                     Pages: 330
                                     Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
                                     Source: NetGalley

Short Synopsis: Living alone with her father, Julia has always had a normal life. It isn't until she meets a new boy at school, named Caleb, that her whole life starts to change.

My Thoughts: An interesting take on the shapeshifting genre, with characters that grow and stay with you till the end.

Julia Lavesque has always lived a normal life. She has a best friend named Sierra and a father named Lancer. It isn't until Julia meets a new boy in class named Caleb, where things start getting weird, but Julia starts to find some answers.
In class one day, due to anger brought on by a teacher, Julia attacks a student. Horrified, she runs out and is met by Caleb, and is shocked by her actions. In one second, she's standing there as a normal human being, and in the next second, she feels herself transform into a beautiful white tiger.
As soon as Julia changes back, Caleb explains that Julia and her father are royalty in a different world called Ossai, and that they can shapeshift into tigers. He explains that Julia is no longer safe and must attend a school in Ossai, in order to control her ability, and to be safe from a group called the Guild who wants her dead.
As Julia starts a new life in Ossai, her father explains that her mother is part of the Guild and will do anything to gain more power. As Julia learns to control herself at school, strange things start happening, and Julia must get to the bottom of things before it's too late. Can Julia solve the mystery at school, and keep the students safe from the Guild?

A very entertaining story. I was immediately attracted to this adventure from the first page. Great characters, who aren't always perfect, but are determined. I loved reading about the relationship between Julia and Terrance, and wanted to read more of a connection with them. And though I liked their relationship, and everyone seemed to trust Terrance, I also felt like he couldn't really be trusted, and kept waiting for Terrance to turn on Julia. And maybe it's just me, but I felt that the relationship between Julia and Caleb kind of fizzled after she gets to Ossai, and her feelings for him weren't really returned.

There was also a section in the novel, where Julia gets in trouble for writing the graffiti on the painting. It really wasn't addressed, and kept the reader thinking what the connection was. I kept wanting to know who the actual culprit was, and what the message actually intended to be.

Ostler created a world with colorful creatures, mystery and intrigue. With an entire group called the Guild and and an evil mother, what more could a reader want? Overall, a great read that kept me wanting to find out more, and hopefully there will be a sequel in the story. 

Would I recommend this book: Yes

Rating: I give this book a 4/5. 

Follow Friday!

Hey fellow book lovers! It's another posting of Follow Friday! Hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read, this week's question is...


Q: Have you ever bought a book BECAUSE of a bad review?

A: Like most people, probably not. If I've read a bad review, most likely it will not go on my TBR list. But there have been past reviews where people praised a book and gushed about it so much, that I thought I had to have it, and when I finally got around reading it, I was sorely disappointed. Be sure to leave a link so I can read your answer. :)

Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

                                                 Book: Hourglass by Myra McEntire
                                                 Pages: 390
                                                 Genre: Young Adult, Science fiction
                                                 Source: Library

Short Synopsis: Emerson Cole feels like she's gone insane. Seeing people that aren't really there from a different time era. It isn't until she meets a boy named Michael who claims to be exactly like her, that she starts to have all her questions answered.

My Thoughts: Not quite what I expected, but was a nice entertaining surprise.

Emerson Cole doesn't really know what to think. After a tragic accident occurred where both her parents died in a horrible accident, Emerson starts to see dead people. But these aren't just any dead people. They all appear from a different time era, and Emerson thinks that she's gone insane.
Emerson's brother, Thomas, has sent Emerson to multiple shrinks, witch doctors, and whatever imaginable thing he could think of, to help Emerson. It isn't until Thomas hires a different consultant, a boy named Michael, who claims to have an idea what Emerson is going through.
Thomas explains that what Emerson is seeing is actually called Time Ripples, or Rips for short. They are links to the past, and Emerson has the ability to travel through time. Michael also explains that they aren't the only ones with a special power, and that that the company called Hourglass, is responsible for helping these special individuals enhance and control their powers.
But ever since the death of their president, a new individual has taken over. This new president is a power hungry and greedy individual and uses these individuals with special powers to gain more power. Michael convinces Emerson to go back in time to save a life, which may change things forever, as well as Emerson's life.

I wasn't expecting to like this novel as much as I did. First off, the cover put me off to reading this book for the longest time. Don't know what it is about the cover, but I didn't find it too attractive. The cover aside, I also wasn't a fan of time travel novels, because there is usually some amount of science fiction explanation involved and I usually have no idea what authors are trying to explain. This novel was no exception to the rule. I didn't really enjoy reading the scientific explanations because it didn't really make sense to me.

These issues aside, I thought it was going to be a psychological novel due to the fact that Emerson saw dead people. And I was totally wrong. This novel had a lot of twists and turns and things that I wasn't expecting, and I'm not exactly certain if it's a good or bad thing. It certainly kept me guessing what would happen, and why they happened the way they did.

I enjoyed the relationship between Emerson and Michael, but was rather frustrating with all these rules and regulations that did not allow them to progress. I also wasn't too fond of the character Jack, and what he had become. McEntire also did an excellent job of disliking the character Ava, and the fact that she tried to sway Michael away from Emerson didn't help all that much either. Overall, scientific explanations aside, I enjoyed reading about the romance, the different twists and turns, and the mystery of it all. 

Would I recommend this book: Eh

Rating: I give this book a 3/5. 

Waiting On Wednesday!

Hey guys! It's a posting of Waiting On Wednesday! Hosted by Breaking The Spine, this week's pre-publication is...




Revived
by Cat Patrick
Expected Publication Date: May 8, 2012

As a little girl, Daisy Appleby was killed in a school bus crash. Moments after the accident, she was brought back to life. 

A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been Revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and as she discovers the agency’s true goals, she realizes she’s at the center of something much larger — and more sinister — than she ever imagined.

--From Goodreads. 

I love the cover, and after reading the synopsis, it sounds like a novel that really hasn't been done before. It has a bit of a science fiction, and mystery involved, and I absolutely am digging it. There isn't much to go on from the summary, but I also like the fact that it has a secret government agency involved, and can't wait to read more. Be sure to leave your link and let me know what pre-publication you are waiting for. 

Guest Author: Dave Becker

Hello fellow book lovers. Today I glad to welcome guest author, Dave Becker. Mr. Becker just recently published a young adult novel, titled, The Faustian Host.

Here's more with Dave, and his views on how the idea of The Faustian Host, came about...


In 2009, while my wife and I were on vacation in Cancún, we visited Chichén Itzá, the most popular Mayan archeological site in the world. Crammed in a bus before the crack of dawn, we began the three-hour drive to the ruins, expecting to supplement our sleep during the drive. Then our tour guide began to talk, and talk, and talk. He began with the creation of the world (from a Mayan perspective) and took us step-by-step through every development in Mayan mythology.

As it turned out, our guide was a genuine Mayan descendent, which was interesting for the first few minutes he spent talking about the history of the ancient culture. But as he droned on and on about Mayan religion, customs, and calendars, I found myself dozing off. I was awakened from my stupor when the young man trailed off from whatever mind-numbing information he was covering with, "But that won't matter, because the world will end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar, and none of us will be here."

My wife and I chuckled to each other, until we realized he wasn't joking.

"So I don't know about you, but I'm going to try to enjoy my life for the last three years we have."

As an ancient history buff, I was very familiar with Mayan dates and lore. I had also encountered my share of misguided zealots who seemed to believe the world was going to end soon, but I'd always lumped them together with Y2K freaks and flat-earthers in a category labeled "kooks." It never occurred to me that there was a larger contingency that genuinely believed in imminent doom.

Then the movie 2012 was released. And the History Channel specials on Mayan prophecies began. And the earthquake devastated Haiti. And the volcano erupted in Iceland. And the tsunami hit Japan. And the news stories kept coming back to the end of the world. Clearly, a handful of Mayan descendants weren't the only people speculating that there might be something up at the end of 2012.

Fear is a deeply-rooted, enigmatic emotion in the human heart, perhaps the most primal emotion we have. I'm not an alarmist, nor do I subscribe to a predictable end-of-the-world philosophy, but as we walked around some of the most magnificent structures ever conceived - pyramids, ballcourts, cenotes, and temples - the idea for The Faustian Host was born. Despite all logic and reason, there's something that grips us when disasters and plagues strike, and every one of us entertains the idea, if only in a passing thought, that this might be the end of it all.

It's no coincidence that The Faustian Host was released in 2012. But it's also no coincidence that I've planned sequels to be released after 2012. If I'm right in suspecting there's nothing to the Mayan calendar, we'll be able to follow the adventures of Tony and his friends for many years. If not, I guess our Mayan friend is right - none of it really matters.

In that case, perhaps The Faustian Host could serve as a sort of guidebook. Probably not, though. What are the odds that two different prophecies could come true in the same year?


The Faustian Host can be found on Amazon.

Review: Fallen In Love by Lauren Kate

                                                 Book: Fallen In Love by Lauren Kate
                                                 Pages: 201
                                                 Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
                                                 Source: Library

Summary from Goodreads:
Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.
And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they
least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce
will spend a night together like none other.
Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.
True love never says goodbye. . .

My Thoughts: Though I initially loved the story of this series in the beginning, I felt that this story was a bit too different. I felt that Kate strayed a bit too far from the original story line. There were too many stories going at once. First it started out with Miles and Shelby time traveling all willy nilly, with apparently no consequences of their actions, which I wasn't really a fan of, and once I got used to it and wanted to read more, it changed to yet another story with Roland. Again, not much of a fan of that aspect, and as I continued on, another story developed with Tess and Arriane, which I completely disliked. 

And though all stories were centered on the theme of love, I felt that the way Kate left them wasn't too fulfilling, and left too many questions. And on top of it all, there was still the original story line between Luce and Daniel. Basically, the main reason I really disliked the novel was the constant switching back and forth between these multiple adventures. In this novel, I felt that Kate was trying a bit too hard to have a unique story, and all these other stories added together, made one big fat mess. It's unfortunate that what started as a great novel turned into a disaster for me, and is most unlikely that I will continue on with this series.

Would I recommend this book: Depends

Rating: I give this book a DNF.