Waiting on Wednesday

Lips Touch-Laini Taylor

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:

Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

This books looks fascinating! The cover alone is intriguing, but I also love that its three stories in one, all by the same author. The dark fairytale-esque quality about it is nice as well. Lips Touch will be released on October 1st. Looking forward to it!

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Sorry I haven't posted a review in a while. I've been so caught up in reading the Pretty Little Liars series and just haven't had time to put them down and write! I will probably just do a review of the whole series when I'm done, so I decided to review one of my favorite books for you.

"Do not pick up a copy ... if you have anything else you need to do in the next eight hours or so". Four American tourists vacationing in Cancun make friends with a German traveler and join the hunt for his brother, who has mysteriously vanished after following a new flame to an archeological site. As they venture into the jungle, their day of adventure turns into horror, where both the natives and the jungle are aligned against them, and their own relationships unravel under the strain.
Dark and sinister, The Ruins is a horror must-read, and not just once, but again and again! The third time around I am still enraptured by Scott Smith’s amazing story-telling and word-weaving talent. One of only a few books I have read that places you right in the middle of the setting amongst the characters. The writing is so vivid and real you can feel the tension and panic building, feel the ache of thirst in your throat, the slither of the vine as it moves across your skin, probing its way under your flesh. Keep in mind this book is not for the faint of heart or weak-stomached; the gory descriptions are so lifelike it is as if they are happening in real time. Not only does Smith deliver a thrilling adventure novel, but also delves into the human psyche, uncovering aspects of human nature that we would rather not think about. An instant horror classic, The Ruins (and its accompanying movie) is a story that sticks with you long after reading it.

Supernatural Summer

Finally! Over at Harperteen.com, they are promoting what is called the Supernatural Summer. There you will be able to connect with 5 authors: Claudia Gray, Melissa Marr, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, and Aprilynne Pike. At the site they've got podcasts, blogs, and as free eBook sampler filled with sneak previews from their books. Not only that, but there will be a five-city author tour the first week of June, and guess what! Melissa Marr, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong will be at Anderson's bookstore in Naperville, just 20 minutes away! I have never met an author before, not to mention one who has written one of my favorite books (Wicked Lovely). I seriously have never been this excited in my life! If you want to join in my happiness, click on the link and see if there is an author visit near you!

Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday

A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn

Talia fell under a spell . . . . Jack broke the curse.
-I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic. . . .
-I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.
-I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger's soft kiss.
-I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen.
-Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!
-Now I'm stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels. . . . The good news: My parents will freak!
-Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?

This book looks like a humorous and original modernization of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. It's nice to see a book characterize the princess as a snob, instead of a "princess". And Jack doesn't seem like your ordinary prince either. A Kiss In Time will be released on April 28th.

Waiting On Wednesday was created by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: a brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Step by step Sylvia Plath takes us with Esther through a painful month in New York as a contest-winning junior editor on a magazine, her increasingly strained relationships with her mother and the boy she dated in college and eventually, devastatingly, into the madness itself. The reader is drawn into her breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies.
Never before have I read a novel quite like this. The Bell Jar is a largely autobiographical work about Sylvia Plath’s own summer of 1953, when she worked as an editor at Mademoiselle magazine and suffered a breakdown. This book was the first of its kind to delve so deeply into the human psyche that it grew to become a harrowing American classic. I found Plath’s writing to be absolutely flawless, filled with gorgeous descriptions of everyday life through Esther’s eyes. Plath’s background as a poet served her well, with the prose flowing effortlessly across the page. The subtle, yet powerful references to the bell jar (which is a piece of laboratory glassware that can be connected to a pump that sucks out the air, creating a vacuum) helped create the image of sanity slowly draining out of Esther’s life. Plath brings together many complex subjects such as social pressures, coming of age, sexuality, and the mentally ill without losing an essence of humanity. The reader isn’t just reading about a woman’s breakdown, but experiencing it as you would watching a bug try and escape from a steep bowl. The character of Esther Greenwood is so well-developed that the reader can easily identify and sympathize with her. I believe that at some point or another, everyone goes through something similar to what happened to Esther/Sylvia in varying degrees. The Bell Jar is a very approachable novel, with its eloquent writing style, short length, and intriguing storyline. This novel and its author deserve the highest praise in regards to a work whose storyline will stand the test of times.

Waiting on Wednesday

Killer by Sara Shepard

Gossip thrives amid the Mercedes-Benzes, mega mansions, and perfectly manicure hedges in the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Everyone has something to hide, especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna.

I tried but couldn't find a synopsis for Killer, so this will have to do. I am currently reading Perfect, the third in the series and am completely in love (I started the series two days ago!) The intriguing mystery mixed in with the chick-lit atmosphere produces a compelling guilty pleasure series. Killer will be released on June 30, 2009. (I've heard there will be 8 books in the series...yay!)

Waiting On Wednesday was created by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

The Devouring by Simon Holt

THE VOURS: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice. When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?

This book gave me chills down to the bone! What I thought would be a tame paranormal novel quickly escalated into a truly horrifying, wonderfully written, instant favorite. I adored the characters, especially Reggie and Alex, who were very deep and connected well with the reader. I literally devoured (yes, pun intended) this book-I couldn’t get enough and if Simon Holt doesn’t write a sequel, I am sending some hate mail ;). Something I actually didn’t notice until the third time I picked up the book was that the word “vour” was in the title of the book, deVOURing-sad, huh! Anyway, if you’re a fan of true horror, you will love this book.

Days after reading it, I still find myself chanting the little Vours rhyme—it’s just so catchy and creepy!
"When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter's blackest hours,
Comes the feasting of the Vours,
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body's here but not your soul..."

Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne

Kayla is the nature lover, the all-American beauty who can't understand why she's so drawn to distant, brooding Lucas. Adopted as a young child, she has no way of knowing that she's inherited a terrifying—and thrilling—gene that will change her life forever. Lucas is dangerous, gorgeous . . . and a werewolf. As leader of the Dark Guardians, shape-shifters who gather deep within the state park, he has sworn to protect his pack. But when Lucas finds his true soul mate, his love could put them all in harm's way. As Lucas and Kayla struggle with their feelings for each other, a greater danger lurks: Humans have discovered the Dark Guardians and are planning their destruction. Kayla must choose between the life she knows and the love she feels certain is her destiny.
This is my first Rachel Hawthorne read, and unfortunately, probably my last. It seems to me that lots of first-time paranormal authors are having trouble breaking away from the Twilight clichés. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t help comparing. To me, Lucas was like the ugly, dumb-downed version of Edward, and Kayla didn’t have much of a personality. Plus, they fell in love way too fast, even if they were “soul-mates”. The only interesting and original part of the story was that there were humans after the shape-shifters. But all-in-all, unless you have a fetish for werewolves, skip over Moonlight and pick up something a little more redeeming.