First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts- Lari Don

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 26•12

Synopsis: Helen has absolutely no interest in becoming a vet like her mother. So she isn’t best pleased when asked to help an injured horse. Only this horse isn’t entirely normal … nor are his friends.

Without warning, Helen is thrust into an extraordinary world filled with magic rituals, fantastic creatures, and a dangerous, powerful beast known as the Master, who would destroy it all. Everything hinges on finding the lost Book of Wisdom before the Winter Solstice. Can Helen work out the riddles and help her new friends to make amends for a foolish prank?

First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts offers a wonder-filled mixture of fable and fiction, woven into an exciting race through Scotland’s diverse landscapes and accompanied by an array of creatures from legend and folklore.
-Goodreads

Review: It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book involving fantastical features, even longer since I’ve read a middle grade book that really got my imagination whirring away. First Aid for Fairies is a fun story where the main character Helen stumbles into a world she didn’t know existed and ends up making a difference where she had no idea she even could. Pretty much exactly what I’ve always thought a middle grade story should be. Bring on the wonder!

Normally, Helen would be a character I would consider kind of dull and unimaginative but I think in the context of this story, she worked well. The basic It’s easy to put yourself in her shoes and get whisked away in her story. I loved, loved, loved how many different magical creatures were featured in this book. They all managed to bring back little pieces of stories we all grew up with and get me thinking about “what if”? So much fun!

While I would absolutely recommend this book to any older readers looking to spike their imaginations a bit, who I really recommend this book for are kids in the 9-12 age range.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Zoe’s Book Blog
@Sharon the Librarian

Posted in Young Adult Books , , | No Comments »

The Hunger Games Movie

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 25•12

So, I just got back from watching The Hunger Games (writing this Saturday afternoon) and I am just so, so blown away. I LOVED this movie! I’m not usually a super gushy fangirl but really, it was better than I could have even imagined.

I keep going back and forth on calling this the best movie version of a book I’ve seen since it held a lot truer to the original material than sooo many others and really kept the overall mood, even if it did tone things down a bit… buttt, LOTR might still have that honour. Not sure. I think I might have to wait and see how this entire movie series comes together.

Anyways, everything about this movie was great. The camera shots and the music, really added something already brilliant scenes. The actors were fantastic, the sets were perfect… I have very, very little that I’d criticize. But, in case you really want to know…

1) The cornucopia wasn’t at all what I was hoping for or what I had imagined… it’s just kind of there
2) Cato and Peeta looked a little too similar in that when their fighting, you’re not entirely sure who your rooting for

That’s it… seriously, as of right now those are the only things I would think to change. Some people didn’t think the movie showed how heartless or thoughtless the people of the Capitol are, but I think it was captured perfectly without spelling it out for anyone. There were nuances to this movie. I love nuances.

I LOVED THIS MOVIE!

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , , | 2 Comments »

The Girl Who Owned a City- O. T. Nelson (Graphic Novel)

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 24•12

Received the ARC from NetGalley for a fair and unbiased review. Expected publication is in April 2012.

Synopsis: A deadly virus killed every adult on Earth, leaving only the kids behind. With her parents gone, Lisa is responsible for her little brother, Todd. She has to make sure they stay alive. Many kids are sick or starving, and fierce gangs are stealing and destroying everything they find. Lots of people have given up, but on Grand Avenue, some kids are surviving. Because of Lisa.

Lisa figured out how to give the kids on Grand Avenue food, homes, and protection against the gangs. But Tom Logan and his army are determined to take that away and rule the streets themselves. How long can Lisa’s group keep fighting them off? They need to find a place to live safely. A strong place. A secret place.

In a world like this, someone has to take charge. But does Lisa have the strength to take charge of a whole city? -NetGalley

Review: Looking at some of the reviews on Goodreads, it’s obvious that not enough people read this book growing up. More than one mentioned how the idea of a dystopia where there are no parents isn’t a new concept, but for me… The Girl Who Owned a City is the original. This story is older than I am, and still holds up today. It’s probably fair to say that it’s a less realistic version of how events might unfold than some of the newer versions, but you can’t deny that this story sparks imagination.

TGWOC holds up beautifully as a graphic novel, and the illustrations fit the mood of the story perfectly. The cover alone was enough to get me to read the entire graphic novel right through as soon as I got the copy from NetGalley. The characters are all vivid, with defining characteristics but what really stood out for me was the quality of the backgrounds. You could really envision the post-apocalyptic world that these kids are living in, trying to survive.

I do feel like some of the pacing was off, due to the limitations of a graphic novel, (the ending seemed almost too easy) but the story is still strong enough that it might leave the same impact on kids reading it today as it did for me in fourth grade.

Highly recommended for anyone who didn’t have a chance to read this growing up, or for kids today who will live living Lisa’s story through this wonderful graphic novel. I’m so glad someone decided to breathe new life back into this story, and I’m sure it will be very well received.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos, Young Adult Books , , , | 1 Comment »

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games – Valerie Estelle Frankel

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 23•12

Synopsis: Who was Cinna? What do the hawthorn and primrose symbolize? Or President Snow’s roses and Peeta’s bread? What about Katniss’s last name? Bringing details from myths, herbal guides, military histories, and the classics, English professor and award-winning pop culture author Valerie Estelle Frankel sheds light on the deeper meanings behind Panem’s heroes and villains in this hottest of YA trilogies. In her series, Collins not only weaves a heroic tale of deep complexity but harnesses the power of Shakespeare and Rome to retell an ancient epic of betrayal, violence, and glory on the stage of an apocalyptic future. The perfect treat for fans of all ages. -Goodreads

Review: Katniss the Cattail looks into the meanings and patterns behind the names that Suzanne Collins chose for her characters throughout all three novels in the Hunger Games series. I was really blown away by some of the patterns and hidden meanings that you could see  for so many of the characters. Some characters were clearly named based on their purpose, others to correspond with their geographical area in the story and the really interesting ones managed to do both at the same time. I only picked up The Hunger Games series last year but have already read through it multiple times, so it was a fantastic treat to be able to add even more to think about when considering this great series.

To be fair, I’m fairly sure that even Suzanne Collins did not have quite so many reasons for each character name as this book explains. Some characters have at least three possible explanations for where their name came from and so some are likely to just be a happy coincidence but either way each explanation gets you thinking and really helps you to appreciate just how well thought out The Hunger Game novels really are. Valerie Estelle Frankel has definitely uncovered some interesting possibilities about where character ideas came from and who or what each person is supposed to represent.

So, if you’re going to go see The Hunger Games movie tonight (especially if you haven’t read the books) enjoy and consider picking up a copy of Katniss the Cattail to add a whole new dimension to his super fantastic series that we all love way too much.

I’m not going to see the movie until tomorrow night but I pretty much can’t wait. I’m going to see it with a few people who I recently forced to read (or listen to) the book so it will be really cool to experience this new version of it with them for the first time together. Anyways, cheesyness aside… I’m excited and I’m sure you all are too!

On a final note, I’ll be featuring quite a few of Valerie’s titles over the next few months so keep an eye out as the majority of her titles focus on examining or re imagining some of our favorite stories and characters so I have really high hopes!

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Sarah’s Reviews
@Bibliophilic Monologues
@Snow Drop Dreams of Books

Posted in Other Books , , , | No Comments »

Vanish- Sophie Jordan

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 21•12

Synopsis: To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?
-Goodreads

Review: Love, love, love this series! This is one of the few YA series right now where I really can’t think of any other books quite like these ones which makes for a really refreshing read while still managing to be engaging and an overall, great story! Vanish is the second book in the Firelight trilogy and I enjoyed it just as much as book one, Firelight. These books follow Jacinda,who is a Draki (basically… capable of being in both human and dragon form) and while she loves what she is, she has all kinds of issues with the culture that comes with it especially once her love life gets involved. Eep! Anyways, the dragon concept alone sold me on these books and now I’m hooked!

One element I really appreciated is that the relationship between Jacinda and her twin sister didn’t follow an overly stereo typical path which was something I was worried about. In book one Jacinda and Tamra aren’t close and don’t see eye to eye on most issues so as the story progresses their relationship obviously needs to grow and change as well. The direction Sophie Jordan is taking the two of them together is great so far and I can’t wait to see where their little family stands at the end of this trilogy.

My biggest complaint about book two is that not much actually seemed to happen. With the exception of one big “everything is going horribly wrong” scenario, most of the book focuses more on the social aspects of Jacinda’s life, which on it’s own isn’t a bad thing but it just felt like the story could have used some more progression and a bit of growth from it’s characters.

On sort of that same note, Vanish offers a more in depth look into Draki society and gets you really rooting for some big changes so I’m excited to see how everything comes together for the final book in this series which is coming out in September of this year.

Visit Sophie Jordan online at her website!

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Musings from A to Z
@Read Breathe Relax
@Parajunkee

Posted in Young Adult Books , , | No Comments »

Susan Beth Pfeffer Interview

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 20•12
ReaWrite- Please introduce yourself, tell us a little about your books and who you are.
Susan- I wrote my first book that got published (Just Morgan) my last semester in college. Since then, I’ve written over 70 books, for children and teenagers. I’d always wanted to be a writer, so it seemed to make sense that I turned professional at such a young age.
My career has had many many ups and downs. I’d almost given up on writing when Life As We Knew It sold. Since then, all the news has been good. Well, maybe not all the news,but enough of it that I don’t mind the bad news when it happens.
ReaWrite- When you’re not writing, how do you keep busy?
Susan- I don’t know. Even when I’m not writing, I’m writing, answering fan mail and fan emails. I have a blog that takes a fair amount of time and attention (if for no other reason, than I pose my cat Scooter for pictures to liven things up).
I’m also reading a lot more than I had been. And I’m plowing my way through unwatched DVDs. Last night I watched 12 Angry Men, and it was unintentionally fascinating. It questioned the validity of eyewitness testimony (very forward of it), but it also made the jury process seem like a parlor game, where it helps to be softspoken and good looking.
I also have a lot of friends, and a 100 year old mother.
ReaWrite- How much research went into planning this series? Were there any areas you had to take license with your research in order to make the story work?
Susan- One of the things I really like about writing fiction is you get to make stuff up. And the thing is, when I wrote Life As We Knew It, I didn’t think of it as science fiction. I thought it was a family problem novel, with a really really big problem. So I never thought of doing research.
I knew the moon controls the tides and I knew that when the right kind of volcano erupts, cloud cover can kill off sunlight, and the lack of sunlight can make crops die. I knew a flu epidemic could prove to be fatal to huge amounts of population.
My brother came up with a couple of suggestions (the loss of offshore oil rigs, and the loss of communication satellites).
But for me the story was how does a family cope with a worldwide catastrophe. I felt (I still feel) that the important thing was to get the feelings right.
ReaWrite- The first two books in this series follow completely different characters. Which book was harder to write and why?
Susan- The Dead And The Gone was definitely harder. That was a book I had to do research for, since I’m not a Catholic, and Alex’s religion is very important to him, and I don’t speak Spanish, which is Alex’s second language. Google was definitely my friend on that one.
Also, I had to follow the timeline I’d established in Life As We Knew It. As a matter of fact, I had intended The Dead And The Gone to go longer until I discovered I’d written a second snowstorm scene in Life As We Knew It. I couldn’t cope with a second storm, so I rearranged the story, and the book ends before New Year’s, while Life As We Knew It goes into March.
Finally, while I’m not Miranda, the main character in Life As We Knew It, I’m a lot more like her than I am like Alex.
So Life As We Knew It was definitely easier, but I take more pride in The Dead And The Gone.
ReaWrite- How did the idea for this story come to you? What made you take the less traditional approach of focusing on day to day survival rather than a more adventure driven story?
Susan- I was killing time one afternoon, and for some reason I had the TV on. I ended up watching a movie called Meteor, the standard end of the world kind of thing, but it got me thinking about what it would be like to be a teenager living through a worldwide disaster. Since I love writing about families in difficult situations, the idea really appealed to me. I did about 3 weeks worth of pre-writing, and then began the book.
Generally, in disaster stories there’s a scene I call Leaping The Lava. The hero is trying to escape a volcanic eruption, while protecting a variety of character actors, children, and heroines. As the lava streams down, the hero says, “Climb on my back, and I’ll leap over the lava.” Which he then does.
I have no ability to write a leaping the lava scene. Frankly, I have trouble watching them and keeping a straight face. So I knew as soon as I began the pre-writing, that there weren’t going to be any leaping the lava scenes. I was far more interested in how you do your laundry when the world comes to an end.
ReaWrite- What prompted you to tell these stories from the perspectives of teenagers rather than adults?
Susan- It never occurred to me to write from an adult perspective. My career has been devoted to writing books with kids as the main characters.
I did want Mom to feel like a real person, and not just the mother in a YA novel. But I simply never thought of writing the book from her point of view.
ReaWrite- How much of This World We Live In was planned from the get go, and how much evolved as your wrote the first two stories?
Susan- I love the term get go. I usually spell it get-go, but to be honest, I have no idea whether I should or not. Either way, it’s one of my favorite things to say.
Okay, back to This World We Live In. Here’s what happened.
I loved writing Life As We Knew It. It was one of those books that was very involving to write. I figured since I loved it so much, and wanted to know what happened next, people who read it would love it and want to know what happened next. Or at least they’d want to know what happened next.
So I said to my editor, “Let me write a sequel so I can find out what happens next.” And my editor said, “No.”
I gave it a fair amount of thought, and said, “How about if I write a book about the exact same catastrophe but with a different set of characters.” And my editor said yes.
What I didn’t tell my editor was I figured I’d write the second book with a boy and then I’d write a third book where the boy and the girl would meet. So I’d get to find out what happened next.
It took a long time to convince my editor that I should write that third book, but eventually she agreed, and I wrote This World We Live In. And it was very tricky, since there was a three month gap between the end of Life As We Knew It and The Dead And The Gone.
So get go or get-go, it was completely unplanned!
ReaWrite- Without giving too much away, what were the hardest scenes for you to write?
Susan- I don’t remember anything being hard in Life As We Knew It, although there was at least one fairly minor thing I changed, and my editor helped me tighten the book.
In The Dead And The Gone, there was a note Alex found that his sister Bri had written, and I had to get the note absolutely perfect, and that was a challenge.
And finally, I had some trouble working out the ending of This World We Live In. I knew the basic concept, but I changed the characters around a lot.
But mostly all three books were a lot of fun to write.
ReaWrite- Do you have any upcoming titles we should all be on the lookout for?

 

Susan- My most recent book, Blood Wounds, came out a few months ago. And I’ve been putting some of my older titles (The Year Without Michael, Evvie At Sixteen) on Kindle and Nook.
Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , , , , | 1 Comment »

Starters- Lissa Price

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 19•12

This ARC was provided by the publisher VIA NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis: Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator’s grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . .  -Goodreads

Review: I had so many back and forth moments with what I thought of this book that it was really difficult to decide what to rate it. As I was reading I think it went from a four, to a three, to a two and back to a three. There was so much potential in this story, but the execution just left a lot to be desired. Plus, on another weird note… the first few chapters of this book left be with a weird sense of deja vu. I felt like I’d read it before. Very weird.

The concept of Starters was great and offered a lot of potential for a really interesting dystopian read. The Spore War has left only children and super long lived seniors alive and a big, evil corporation begins renting out ‘Starter’ bodies to the seniors, or Enders. My problem is that the society is never really established for the reader, we don’t get a lot of background on exactly what happened to the adults, why the seniors live for so long now or what turned society against the swarms of unclaimed minors. More answers would have been really helpful in getting me more engaged in the story.

+3 points for a very cool cover. I’ve only seen the ebook version but apparently the print cover is pretty fantastic and definitely stands out on a shelf.

The flow of the story was a little hit and miss where some plot points would have you madly flipping pages, wondering what was about to happen and others felt disjointed or forced. At times it felt like things were happening just for the shock value and not because it fit well with the story, and we all know how frustrating that can be.

Not to say that Starters was all bad, because it definitely wasn’t. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people who really love this book, but as someone who has been reading a lot of dystopian lately I don’t think this one was really for me and I doubt I’ll be picking up the next book in the series.

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

Rating:

 

 

 

Second Opinions:
@Mundie Moms
@Icey Books
@Once Upon a Prologue

Posted in Young Adult Books , , , | 1 Comment »

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 16•12

Set of custom made Irish bookmarks with hand pressed shamrocks!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I wanted to do something special for this one, so enter for your chance to win 3 custom made bookmarks, each with a hand pressed shamrock. You can have a closer look at them here.

I realize this giveaway is not showing up properly on Internet Explorer and am looking into getting that fixed.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , | 9 Comments »

IMM (03/16/2012)

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 16•12

As someone who rarely has anything to do an IMM, the fact that I am doing two within one week is pretty mind blowing. Not a huge haul this week but two things that I’m more excited for than usual.

The book is a title I am realllyyy excited to read. The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson. I got this book through HarperCollins Canada, specifically The Savvy Reader who I have interacted with a little before this and as of right this second am totally in love with.

Anyways, here is a little about The Lost Code, for some reason this title really jumped out at me and made me less nervous to go request a title. Look for it on May 22nd and my review sometime around then!

“The ozone is ravaged, ocean levels have risen, and the sun is a daily enemy. But global climate change is not something new in the Earth’s history.

No one will know this better than less-than-ordinary Owen Parker, who is about to discover that he is the descendant of a highly advanced ancient race—a race that took their technology too far and almost destroyed the Earth in the process.

Now it is Owen’s turn to make right in his world what went wrong thousands of years ago. If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry…and that less-than-ordinary can evolve into extraordinary.”

The second thing I got in the mail this week was my very own Danbo. What’s a Danbo? The little cardboard guy standing beside the book in the picture who you see pretty much all over my website. I’ve already started taking some pictures with him but I need to find myself some teeny tiny little books to pose him with to work on my Danbo collection for ReaWrite.

Anyways, between all this and some personal stuff (I am planning a fundraiser for my local humane society that is going extremely well), it has been a pretty fantastic week.

Now onwards to St. Pat’s!

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , | 1 Comment »

Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference 2012

Written By: Kellie - Mar• 13•12

So, just a few hours ago the 2012 Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference ended, and I miss it already. The BBPOC was a 5 day long series of discussion about blogging and the publishing industry, and I learned so so much.

The host Terry Kate of Romance in the Back Seat, was fantastic and covered a lot of topics I was genuinely interested in. Time Management, Negative Reviews and way more topics that are really relevant in today’s blogosphere. There are still quite a few panels I need to catch up on but ahhhhh, it was all so good!

For me, the other highlight was the live discussion that went on in the chat room throughout the entire conference. I met so many other fantastic bloggers who I really respect. I really love this community. I may have even found some roommates for BEA, and I’m pretty excited about that too.

The one down side… I am now epically behind on my reading. I was off school this week (reading week) and had planned to focus mainly on playing catch up with my TBR pile. No luck. I have a few NetGalley titles and feature weeks I need to focus on, while at the same time managing to graduate. So… now I’m off to read!

If you participated in the BBPOC, what did you think? If not, you can still register and have access to all of the panels which were recorded throughout each day. Highly recommended to anyone who is passionate about book blogging and is always on the lookout for ways to improve as well as some fantastic discussion

Posted in Fun Stuff & Promos , | 4 Comments »
<<3233343536>>