Saturday, September 13, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Through the Zombie Glass (White Rabbit Chronicles #2) by Gena Showalter
Book Title: Through the Zombie Glass (White Rabbit Chronicles #2)
Book Author: Gena Showalter
Release Date: 09/24/13
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Summary: Zombies stalk the night. Forget blood and brains. These monsters hunger for human souls. Sadly, they've got mine...
Alice Bell has lost so much. Family. Friends. A home. She thought she had nothing else to give. She was wrong. After a new zombie attack, strange things begin to happen to her. Mirrors come to life, and the whispers of the dead assault her ears. But the worst?...(more)
Ensnared by A.G HOWARD Book Look
Book Title: Ensnared
Author Title: A.G. Howard
Release Date: January 6th 2015
Summary:After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass wor...(more)
Monday, September 8, 2014
Interview with Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell is an American author of young adult and adult contemporary novels. Her young adult novels Eleanor & Park and Fangirl both received a great deal of critical acclaim in 2013.
Interviewer:What inspired you to write a misfits-in-love story like Eleanor & Park
I have always, always wanted to write a first love story. I feel like, when you're 16, you have the greatest-ever capacity for romantic love. You fall in love with every cell of your body. But, at the same time, at that age, you have so little to offer the person you love. You don't belong to yourself quite yet—you still have school and your parents, you don't even have your own space…And you also know that what you're feeling probably won't last. First love usually doesn't. There's a built-in tragedy to falling (truly) in love when you're 16. It's like every 16-year-old in love is either Romeo or Juliet. That is what I wanted to write about.
Interviewer:The jacket copy says: "Two misfits: One extraordinary love." Do you see Park as a misfit?
He is in terms of the music that he listens to, so he's a misfit in that John Hughes movie way. Eleanor, though, is "other" in another way: she's a person who can't be invisible.
Interviewer:Emotions run high in the novel. Is it realistic?
I feel like it’s realistic. I feel things very intensely. And I also think that real life is more romantic if you allow it to be, if you don’t act like it’s immature to get excited. I want to consume love stories, but 90% of them feel totally inauthentic. When I watch a romantic comedy, I feel like they’re selling something that doesn’t exist. Two beautiful, but extremely unpleasant, people are terrible to each other for an hour, accidentally kiss, then decide to like each other during an extremely vague montage. That isn’t how people fall in love.
Interviewer:You’ve said that in creating Park, you wanted a protagonist who was masculine but also capable of real feelings and tenderness. Is Park a fantasy?
No! He’s not a fantasy. They’re out there. In Attachments, which is told from a male point of view, people asked me if a man would really think that much about whether a woman likes him. But I have a husband and three brothers and they’re all like that. And I’ve worked in industries that were male-dominated, and I was surrounded by open-hearted men. They’re totally out there.
Interviewer:Park’s parents, though, are much more in the foreground than Eleanor’s. How did that happen?
I kept trying to expand Eleanor and Park’s world and add supporting characters, but when I did, it felt wrong. The only thing that worked was Park’s parents. You can’t be in Eleanor’s house too long, so I needed his home to feel like an escape. And, though I think Park would feel that he has a really hard relationship with his dad, as an adult and a parent, you can see the care there. Plus, in every book there’s one character I end up having a crush on, and here it was Park’s dad. I never planned to write so many scenes with him, but I realized that it was a way for Eleanor to have a relationship with an adult man who was different from the others in her life.
Interviewer:What inspired you to write a misfits-in-love story like Eleanor & Park
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| Rainbow Rowell |
Interviewer:The jacket copy says: "Two misfits: One extraordinary love." Do you see Park as a misfit?
He is in terms of the music that he listens to, so he's a misfit in that John Hughes movie way. Eleanor, though, is "other" in another way: she's a person who can't be invisible.
Interviewer:Emotions run high in the novel. Is it realistic?
I feel like it’s realistic. I feel things very intensely. And I also think that real life is more romantic if you allow it to be, if you don’t act like it’s immature to get excited. I want to consume love stories, but 90% of them feel totally inauthentic. When I watch a romantic comedy, I feel like they’re selling something that doesn’t exist. Two beautiful, but extremely unpleasant, people are terrible to each other for an hour, accidentally kiss, then decide to like each other during an extremely vague montage. That isn’t how people fall in love.
Interviewer:You’ve said that in creating Park, you wanted a protagonist who was masculine but also capable of real feelings and tenderness. Is Park a fantasy?
No! He’s not a fantasy. They’re out there. In Attachments, which is told from a male point of view, people asked me if a man would really think that much about whether a woman likes him. But I have a husband and three brothers and they’re all like that. And I’ve worked in industries that were male-dominated, and I was surrounded by open-hearted men. They’re totally out there.
Interviewer:Park’s parents, though, are much more in the foreground than Eleanor’s. How did that happen?
I kept trying to expand Eleanor and Park’s world and add supporting characters, but when I did, it felt wrong. The only thing that worked was Park’s parents. You can’t be in Eleanor’s house too long, so I needed his home to feel like an escape. And, though I think Park would feel that he has a really hard relationship with his dad, as an adult and a parent, you can see the care there. Plus, in every book there’s one character I end up having a crush on, and here it was Park’s dad. I never planned to write so many scenes with him, but I realized that it was a way for Eleanor to have a relationship with an adult man who was different from the others in her life.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Interview with Stephanie Perkins
Stephanie Perkins writes romances that make you fall in love with the idea of love itself—messy, thrilling, and real. Her latest novel, out this month, Isla and the Happily Ever After, brings us back to senior year in Paris with dreamy Isla and her crush, a sweet artist named Josh. Stephanie answers your questions about writing crossover characters (Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket all appear in this book!), the John Green effect, and the answer to the big question— Étienne, Cricket, or Josh?
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Interviewer: I am a huge fan and have been anxiously awaiting Isla's story! Can you think of the hardest part about writing Isla's story? Was it difficult, since Anna and Lola's were hits, that Isla would have to live up to them? Astoria also wonders: Reading Anna and the French Kiss, the first time I realized Isla liked Josh, and so did Anna. Were you always aware that you wanted to write their story? And how did you come up with the idea of Kurt?
Thank you! The hardest part about writing it was figuring out its structure. Anna and Lola are both traditional romances in the sense that the characters don't get together until the end. In Isla the characters get together in the beginning. It was a challenge to figure out how to sustain and build that proper level of swoony tension. It took years—and a lot of help from authors smarter than me (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, GAYLE FORMAN. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, HOLLY BLACK.)—to figure it out.
And heavens. Yes. It's difficult trying to live up to reader expectations. (You actually can't.) But it would've been just as difficult if Anna and Lola had not been widely read; I would have been worried about other things. My next job, for instance. There's always plenty to worry about, if you go looking for it.
When I wrote Anna, yeah, I was aware that I wanted to write Isla and Josh's story. The seeds of it were planted with great intention! I had become rather taken by Josh, and I wanted to explore his character through the eyes of someone who loved him as I did. Someone who saw what I saw.
It's odd, but I don't remember how Kurt came about. I know I wanted Isla's best friend to be male, and I know I wanted it to be strictly a friendship. (No secret, silent yearning!) But as far as him having high-functioning autism, I'm not sure. It's quite possible that it's because I was watching a lot of episodes of Bones at the time, which has featured several smart and delightful Aspergian-type characters.
Interviewer: You've been very open with your personal struggle with depression and anxiety. Is this a topic that you would consider writing about in a YA novel, either as catharsis or otherwise?
Absolutely.
Interviewer: What book that you read in your early days of literature do you most attribute to your success as an author?
I think I'm defined more by authors than specific books. As a child, Roald Dahl made me fall in love with words. As a teenager, J.K. Rowling made me fall in love with characters. As an adult, Meg Cabot made me fall in love with romance. And there have been many, many others.
This summer I've been reading Carsick by John Waters, Landline by Rainbow Rowell, and the Robert Galbraith books. I've loved them all!
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Book Haul
I recently took a not so short trip to Barnes and Noble, Book-a-million, and other (much small ) bookstore. A few of the book I bought I have already read before, but I felt the need to own a copy. I also pre-ordered a few of these books. I ended up spending a hundred and twenty dollars more than I as suppose to (I may have a problem). Anyway I decided to share some of the books I bought(not all, just some).
Book I preordered Books
1) H20 by Virginia Bergin
Release Date: Oct 7, 2014
Summary:They don't believe it at first. Crowded in Zach's kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach's parents' frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, "It's in the rain! It's fatal, it's contagious, and there's no cure."
Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who's been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby's only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he's even still alive.
2)Stitching Snow by R.C Lewis
Release Date: Oct 14, 2014
Summary: Princess Snow is missing.
Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.
Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fill...(more)
3)Lailah (The Styclar Saga #1) by Nikki Kelly
Release Date: Oct 7, 2014
Summary:The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.
On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand...(more)
Others thing else I bought
1)The Fault in Our Stars (B&N Exclusive Edition) by John Green
Cost: $9.99 (from Barnes and Noble)
Summary: Limited collector's edition of #1 New York Times bestselling The Fault in Our Stars featuring an exclusive silver jacket, all-new endpaper art by Rodrigo Corral, and an extensive Q&A introduced by the author! TIME Magazine #1 Fiction Book of 2012 John Green is one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year 2012 #1 New York Times...(more detail)
2)The false prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Cost:$6.99 (from Scholastic)
Summary:THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him...(more)
3) One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Cost:$13.47 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary:Twelve-year-old Carley Connors can take a lot. Growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother, she's learned to be tough. But she never expected a betrayal that would land her in a foster care. When she's placed with the Murphys, a lively family with three boys, she's blindsided. Do happy families really exist? Carley knows she could never belong in their world, so she...(more)
3)The pregnancy project by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer
Cost:$15.38 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary:Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others' expectations? Would every...(more)
4)Confessions of a Murder Suspect (Confessions #1) by James Patterson
Cost:$17.40
Summary:James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a thrilling teen detective series about the mysterious and magnificently wealthy Angel family... and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another.
On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspe...(more)
5)Confessions: The Private School Murders (Confessions #2) by James Patterson
Cost: $10.00 (Book-A-Million)
Summary:In the sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Confessions of a Murder Suspect, James Patterson keeps the confessions coming breathlessly as Tandy Angel delves deeper into her own tumultuous history-and proves that she can rise above the sordid Angel legacy.
Wealthy young women are being murdered on Manhattan's exclusive Upper West Side, and the police aren't looking fo...(more)
6)Legend by Marie Lu
Cost:$13.40(Barnes and Noble)
Summary: What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal....(more)
7)Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society #2) by Ally Carter
Cost:$9.99
Summary:Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life: Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she's simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That's why Kat isn't surprised when she's asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners
Book I preordered Books
1) H20 by Virginia BerginRelease Date: Oct 7, 2014
Summary:They don't believe it at first. Crowded in Zach's kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach's parents' frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, "It's in the rain! It's fatal, it's contagious, and there's no cure."
Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who's been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby's only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he's even still alive.
Release Date: Oct 14, 2014
Summary: Princess Snow is missing.
Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.
Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fill...(more)
Release Date: Oct 7, 2014
Summary:The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.
On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand...(more)
Others thing else I bought
Cost: $9.99 (from Barnes and Noble)
Summary: Limited collector's edition of #1 New York Times bestselling The Fault in Our Stars featuring an exclusive silver jacket, all-new endpaper art by Rodrigo Corral, and an extensive Q&A introduced by the author! TIME Magazine #1 Fiction Book of 2012 John Green is one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year 2012 #1 New York Times...(more detail)
Cost:$6.99 (from Scholastic)
Summary:THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him...(more)
Cost:$13.47 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary:Twelve-year-old Carley Connors can take a lot. Growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother, she's learned to be tough. But she never expected a betrayal that would land her in a foster care. When she's placed with the Murphys, a lively family with three boys, she's blindsided. Do happy families really exist? Carley knows she could never belong in their world, so she...(more)
Cost:$15.38 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary:Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others' expectations? Would every...(more)
Cost:$17.40
Summary:James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a thrilling teen detective series about the mysterious and magnificently wealthy Angel family... and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another.
On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspe...(more)
Cost: $10.00 (Book-A-Million)
Summary:In the sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Confessions of a Murder Suspect, James Patterson keeps the confessions coming breathlessly as Tandy Angel delves deeper into her own tumultuous history-and proves that she can rise above the sordid Angel legacy.
Wealthy young women are being murdered on Manhattan's exclusive Upper West Side, and the police aren't looking fo...(more)
6)Legend by Marie Lu
Cost:$13.40(Barnes and Noble)
Summary: What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal....(more)
Cost:$9.99
Summary:Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life: Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she's simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That's why Kat isn't surprised when she's asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners
Friday, September 5, 2014
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy. Meggie has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Mo taught her to read when she was five, and the two share a mutual love of books. He can "read" characters out of books. When she was three, he read aloud from a book called Inkheart and released characters into the real world. At the same time, Meggie's mother disappeared into the story. This "story within a story" will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters.
My favorite quote: "Fear kills everything," Mo had once told her. "Your mind, your heart, your imagination.”
My review: This book is outstanding! Inkheart is the best young adult targeted fantasy novel that I have read since the Harry Potter series. Cornelia Funke has crafted a wonderful, if a bit dark, storyline filled with colorful and memorable characters, both hero and villain. I liked the blend of modern day with fantasy in this story and having the magical element of being able to read characters out of their individual stories was brilliant.
Imagine it were possible to bring the characters from a book to life. Not like when someone reads a book with such enchantment that the characters seem to jump of the pages and into your bedroom...but for real. Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into our world. Then. imagine if those characters brought their world into ours. This book is like every single YA fan's dream come true. I was so impressed with this book. This book is amazing. Watching the movie before reading the book was a gigantic mistake. The movie did not do this book justice at all. I have to applause the translator here, because this book did not read like translated work(which tends to be a little . I never would have guessed that they weren't originally written in English.
Overall, this book is absolutely amazing. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody.
I give this book a 5 out of 5.
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