Cover Reveal: Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas

Title: Luminosity (Luminosity, #1)
Author: Stephanie Thomas
Release Date: September 11, 2011
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Dystopian


Blurb:


"My name is Beatrice. When I was born, I was blessed with the Sight. I was
immediately removed from my parents and enrolled in the Institution. At
the age of twelve, I had my first true vision, earning my raven’s wings.
And when I turned seventeen, one of my visions came true. Things haven’t
been the same since.

The Institution depends on me to keep the City safe from our enemy, the
Dreamcatchers, but I’m finding it harder to do while keeping a secret from
everyone, including my best friend Gabe. It is a secret that could put us
all in danger. A secret that could kill me and everyone close to me.

But the enemy has been coming to me in my dreams, and I think I’m falling
in love with him. He says they’re coming. He says they’re angry. And I
think I’ve already helped them win."

 SO HIT OR MISS

Maybe it's the stretch of her neck, or the hint of destruction off in the distance. The blue undertones and highlights make me think of something grave. This being a Dystopian world, the grave feeling is very well placed. Overall I just am very taken with this cover. Everything is very well captured and makes me feel chills (that's a good thing). I love the books concept and so this is definitely going on my 'To Read' list. 

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Paperback Available for Pre-Order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Luminosity-Stephanie-Thomas/dp/1620611279/ref=lh_ni_t

Add to your Goodreads TBR:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13425149-luminosity

Cover Reveal: Surrender by Aimee Laine

Title: Surrender (Mimics of Rune)

Author: Aimee Laine

Release Date: September 3, 2012

Target Reader: Adult

Keywords: Paranormal Romance, Shape-shifter

Summary:

Face the past or look to the future? Both will hurt. One could kill her.

All her life, Lily Crane has supressed her childhood memories, masking the signs of abuse with a variety of looks. From brunette to blonde, tall to short — as a Mimic, changing shape is her gift. Her right. Her achilles heel.

It’s Lily’s latest likeness, chosen simply by accident, which threatens to repeat a history she’s desperate to forget. Worse, she must do so without the one man who takes all her pain away: Cael Aldridge.

Cael has no intention of leaving Lily on her own. He never has. Now, with the woman he loves in the hands of a predator who wants Lily for her genetics, Cael will do everything he can to bring her home.

Alive.

He can only pray he isn’t too late.

SO HIT OR MISS

There is so much in this cover. First off, I like the color scheme for some reason. It's just a really nice touch. The hint of red at her wrist is a nice touch. It has a certain statement to it. Pain is etched into the cover but it's a subtle thing. Not to mention I absolutely love that bra! This definitely seems like a good read. The description is very leading and I want to read more, don't you?

I haven't read many shape-shifter paranormal novels, but I will definitely be adding this to my reading list.

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Review: Wither (Chemical Garden #1)

Title: Wither (Chemical Garden #1)
Author:  Lauren DeStefano
Pages: 358 pages, Hardcover
Published: March 22nd 2011 by Simon & Schuster

Favorite Quote:
“Tell freedom I said hello.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither

Summary:  By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.
When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?
Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

                        SO HIT OR MISS

I'll start with some good points and say that yes, this is a well written book. It has an interesting plot and interesting characters. I can honestly say that this a good read, but I wanted more. I like my books to seem plausible. It makes the experience of reading, (and yes each book I read is it's own experience) more exciting and authentic. This novel had too many holes in it for me to really take it to heart.

I like details, and I like details that match up and make sense. Plausibility. Although I enjoyed reading this novel to the end I questioned my way through each chapter. One of the biggest peeves I had with this book is the lack of actual Antagonist. It is implied. Everything is alluded to, but an antagonist is never shown and that wasn't okay to me. The book just doesn't make sense to me. It's a world of over complications that just aren't needed in this, or any novel.

Every boy dies at 25 and every girl passes on at the ripe age of 20. This of course leads the society to began kidnapping their "precious" females and selling them to the highest bidder. It's basically a kidnapping love triangle on crack with a dash of polygamy. This is a world where only North America exist because when the polar ice caps melted they flooded the world.... Here I wonder how North America survied a flooding of that proportion.

I honestly don't understand why this disease that kills people off so early, which is resulted from their "cure" to cancer, is so unrealistic. It just isn't feasible. At least not to me. I'm pretty sure bio geeks around the world would dispute this to epic proportions.

And again it wasn't a bad read. It just wasn't a great read or a plausible one. If you look past all of the jumble of mess, it's a decent read. So I would recommend it to anyone who isn't detail orientated.

MISS

Review: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages: 390, Hardcover
Published: August 24th 2010 by Scholastic Press

Favorite Quote: “It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”
― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

Summary: Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding

SO HIT OR MISS

The reason I picked the above quote because I feel it best describes the direction for the third book in the Hunger Games series. For Katniss it seems as if her world is falling apart. War has affected our favorite characters in many ways. Before our eyes Kat becomes a leader, a fighter, and a grand symbol for the opposition. In the lair of District 13, Kat faces many things. With Peeta captured and his condition unknown, Kat emotions become crazed. She's worried, feels guilty, scared and every other possible thing you can imagine in a situation like this. She really doesn't seem to catch a break at all, going from injuried, to recovered, to rebel in all of 2.5 seconds. No second wind for you Kat.

I becamed engrossed in the pages of this final installment. I could not possible put this book down until I'd finished every single page, processed every single idea, and imagined every single scene in my own mind.  I really must commend Collins for her excellent job on making this world REAL. She kept true to where she took this story, to war. In war things happen whether you expect them to or not and NO ONE is safe. This story kept me on my tippy toes. Whether it was happening fast or slow I could never predict what would happen next. And that was okay with me.

The ending, well it could have been more to it. After effects should hold more detail, show more character and this ending didn't quite do it for me. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good. Anwsered all the questions I had and some I didn't. The Reuniting of certian characters, Specifically Peeta and Kat was not as developed as I would have like. I wish their was one more chapter before the last one, that kind of built their relationship back for the readers to see. It is just assumed that everything was great.

It is bittersweet to me to finally finish reading a whole series. I always wish I had more but I always love finishing such awesome stories as the author intended.

Yes this is a

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Review: Half-Blood (Covenant #1)

Title: Half-Blood (Covenant #1)

Author:  Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pages: 281, Paperback

Published: October 18th 2011 by Spencer Hill Press

Favorite Quote:

“It’s just words and words mean nothing. Only action does.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Half-Blood

Summary:

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

So Hit or Miss

 I haven't read Vampire's Academy and I honestly never planned too. As such I can't really comment on the to books in comparison to each others.

I can comment on Half-Blood, however. Despite what I have heard about this book, I absolutely loved it! This is another book that incorporates mythology, but with an interesting twist. I would call it orginal, but that seems to be up in the air at this point. I will instead say that I thought it was orginal and well written.

I was facinated with this story. I  was immediately in a world not my own. Half-Blood starts with a punch. Action and adventure in the first chapter. Alex learns quickly that you can't hide forever. Away from the protection of the Covenant, Alex and her mother meet up Daimon's. With her mother killed Alex finds herself first on the run, then back at the Covenant.

The plot was so good! Easy to follow, exciting, and very entertaining. Alex is such a strong female character. I love her interactions with her family and especially with Aiden. Aiden, he's another character that I love. At first I loved and hated him. By mid-book I just outright loved him. Strong, proud, regal, funny in a sarcastic way, and oh so dynamic. I loved how the Armentrout developed their relationships between each page. Forbidden love is always a catchy story and it was incorporated well into the plot and story culture. The relationship as a whole was so authentic. Training everyday with such a hot and steamy character as Aiden, Alex was bound to fall and hard.

Aiden is also protective. He puts his duty to Alex before what he himself wants. He will not let her bare the blunt of any relationship they may or may not have.

There were other characters that just blew my mind in subtle ways. Alex's school enemy is refreshing. Seth brought the right amount of love triangle to the book. I can't wait to see more of Seth and how he plays out in the series. I mean who won't love Mr. Badass Super Powered Half-blood God Killing Seth???!!!!

In any event this is a series that I will defintely continue to read.



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