Okay, so my friend Debbie is doing this right now, and since I currently don't have anything better to post, I'm gonna do it too!

Basically, comment with a question you want to ask me. Any random ol' question. Then I'll answer them in my next post.

This will either be very interesting, or very boring. I'm hoping for the former.

Have at me!

Release Date: June 22th, 2010
Pages: 256
Genre: Dystopian/Feminism (or maybe anti-feminism?)
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Sometime in the future, a lonely, windswept island is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers—expert equestrians and archers—whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they’ve been told, is men. When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects—high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, make-up—found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed—at all costs?

Review: I didn't really like this book. I think the reason I didn't like it is that the summary made me think that it was going to be about these really cool amazon women. Instead, it was about these teenage girls who were raised to be emotionless warriors, but ended up becoming teenage girls.

And I didn't really understand the main character. What were her motives? Did she redeem herself in the end? Did she need redeeming? I dunno. Lots of unanswered questions and confusing things.

So, just go in knowing that the summary is a little decieving. I think I would have liked this more if I hadn't read the summary.
 

Have you guys ever heard of ARC tours? Basically, people donate their ARCs to a blog, and then they get shipped to a bunch of people. It's actually really cool.

I've been wanting to start my own tour for a while, but was hesitant. But when Hope over at 1 ARC Tours sent out a cry for help, I was quick to volunteer!
If you head over to the site, you'll definitely see some of the classic Enna Isilee flair. ;) (I designed the layout)

Things there were a little rocky for a few months, but now that Hope and I have teamed up, we'll be unstopable!

There are some GREAT tours that just opened! Head on over and sign up!

Now, I'm not a huge fan of shopping for clothes. But I LOVE shoe-shopping. But not just for any ol' kind of shoe. No. I want fun shoes. To give you an example of the kind of shoes I like, here's some pictures of my last two pairs of fun shoes:


Anyway, the point of this post is that it's almost time to buy another pair of fun shoes! I'll show you guys the ones I'm considering, and you say which ones you like the best. There are 10 pairs, so a LOT of choices. But they're all so fun!






Which are/is your favorite? I can't decide!

Release Date: June 8th, 2010
Pages: 451
Genre: ADULT fiction, Vampires
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Sick of vampires? So is Meena Harper.

But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them.

Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her; no one ever does).

But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side . . . a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.

The problem is, he already is dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own.

And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.

Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . .

If she even has one

Review: See that big, red, screaming ADULT up there under genre? Yeah. Just wanted to make sure you noticed that. This is an ADULT book. At points it got a little steamy. Almost too steamy. I came close to putting it down a couple times, but I didn't.

Adult fiction just reads differently than YA. It reminds me why I like YA the best.

Everything in this book was sex-driven. Just saying.

When I reviewed this on GoodReads I said:

 "Confusing. Ironic. Slightly hypocritical. And overly lusty. "

All true. Some of the sentences were so convoluted that I had to read them a number of times to get it. And when I tried to read them out loud, I couldn't. Tongue twisters! But I was reading an ARC, so maybe they're fixed in the final version.
 
Plus, the book is supposedly about a person who is sick and tired of the vampire stories in books and on TV (me! Me! ooh! pick me!) and yet this is a TOTALLY stereotypical vampire book.

But the story as a whole was interesting and engaging. So. If you're in the mood for some MATURE Twilight-ish action. Go ahead and pick up Insatiable.
 
You younger readers, STAY AWAY! I'd call this a 17+ for sexual content. You're welcome to take into account that I have been told that I'm "overly sensitive" to that kind of stuff, but still. That's my opinion.
 

Well, after HOURS of searching the blogosphere and goodreads and compiling the data, links, images, etc. I have created a new page!

The Upcoming Releases page shows you all the books I know of that are being released in the next 5 months (I'd do more, but I'm only allowed 10 pages). Let me know what you think. And PLEASE comment if there's a problem, or if there's a book you want to see on my list.

What'd'ya think? Worth the effort?

Release Date: July 20th, 2010
Pages: 368
Genre: Fantasy, Mythological creatures
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past...and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves...and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love--the light and the dark, the warm and the cold--in a way you will never forget

Review: "Woah." <-- that's what I wrote on GoodReads after I finished this book. Just. Woah. It was good. I don't think I have to really do anything to plug this book. This series has cycled through the blogosphere plenty. So I'll just give some snippets of my opinion.

I like Isabel.

Grace has the worse parents in the world.

I still love that Grace is a math-girl.

Cole is... interesting.

And, I think I liked Shiver better. But I'm not positive. Some parts were better in Linger others in Shiver. I definitely liked the ending to Shiver better, but really, how can you top that?

The cover is so preetty and green. I want.

There you go. Less than a month before this book makes it into the hands of the populous en masse.

Holly Cupala's book birthday is today!!!

That's right, her first book Tell Me a Secret came out today and she's been having a party over at her blog! (If you look carefully enough, you might see yours truly)

Sorry for the late notice, I've had a crazy-busy day! But she's doing a live chat tomorrow, and you should totally join in.

Release Date: September 1st, 2008
Pages: 240
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

When Reggie finds an old journal and reads about the Vours, supernatural creatures who feast on fear and attack on the eve of the winter solstice, she assumes they are just the musings of some lunatic author. But soon, they become a terrifying reality when she begins to suspect that her timid younger brother might be one of their victims.

Risking her life and her sanity, Reggie enters a living nightmare to save the people she loves. Can she devour own her fears before they devour her?

Review: I'm gonna keep this review brief, hopefully, and tell you that this book is creepy. Really creepy. It's got plenty of gross stuff in it.

When I read a book, it's kind of like I'm watching a show through three sheets of wax paper. I can see it, but it's really fuzzy. Not vivid at all. If you're the kind of person with a really vivid inner-eye, you might want to be careful. This is the kind of stuff you see in movies like The Grudge, The Ring, etc. (In case you were wondering, I haven't seen either of those. I don't have the stomach for scary movies.)

Release Date: August 25th, 2009
Pages: 402
Genre: Fantasy, Teen angst (ha!)
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student ... an attraction that could jeopardize everything.

Review: Trying to recover from my last post, here comes unicorns! Sure, they're man-eating unicorns, but at least it's not a video game! ;)

I really liked the idea of this book. I mean, unicorn hunters? That sounds totally stellar! However, I've got to admit that I'm starting to miss fantasy books that take place in a world I don't live in. Even The Iron King had "real world" characters (though it did have a fantasy world). I want a book where the characters have no idea what an iPod is!

BUT, despite the fact that the idea was good, I wasn't a HUGE fan of the excecution. Apparently unicorns have a thing for virgins (yep. That's in a lot of the lore. Okay) but this book REALLY capitalized on it. They were talking about virginity ALL THE TIME. Granted, it was an important part of the book, so it couldn't have just been taken out. But it made me uncomfortable.

Is that a reason not to read it? Certainly not! It was a great book. (3.5 stars!) But if talk of s-e-x (tee hee. Spelling.) bothers you, then you might want to tread carefully.

Now, this isn't something I readily admit. But while I do consider myself a book person, I'm also a mathematics major, and there's some required geekiness that comes with that.

What's my weak-spot?

Zelda. Specifically, Legend of.

Seriously. I have a love affair with the Legend of Zelda games. I've played OoT (Ocarina of Time) more times than I can count! Same goes for MM (Majora's Mask). I've only played Twilight Princess three times, but that's because I don't own that one(but I'm working on it! Darn expensive games). If you've never heard of them, what ROCK have you been hiding under for the last FOREVER?!

Whoops. Sorry. Some of my crazy is showing.

Anyway, the reason why I'm saying this is because E3 happened on the 15th and they announced a NEW LoZ game. When I watched this trailer, I cried. Seriously.



Isn't it SO COOL?! His sword moves where YOU move! And there's some kind of flying hookshot! And he jumps off a CLIFF! WAAHHH!!!!!

Okay. I'm gonna put my geek away now and go write some reviews, like a good little blogger.

Howdy y'all. I'm working on a new page for my blog similar to the New Reads page over at Kristi's blog (but I'm not going to copy it! Certainly not after that post she wrote about someone who did copy it.)


Anyway, what's coming out this year (or even next year) that you're SUPER excited for? Or even books that your kinda excited for. And certainly books that you're curious about.*

Anyway, spill. I've got a few on my list, but what do you have on yours?

Thanks!




*Please be aware that I will only put books on my Upcoming Releases page that uphold the Squeaky Book standards (no extreme profanity, or vivid sexual scenes.)

All right. Here's another edition of my original Awards! post!
From Elizabeth from Swords for Fighting

From Myrna at Night Writer

From 1inseveralbillion @ Books A La Carte:


 

And here's a NEW award that I made! I'm quite proud of it.

Fun! Hope you like 'em. And if you didn't get one, don't worry. I'm sure there will be more in the future. ;)

Well, the final vote came down to 7 people liking the flowers the best, and 3 liking the swirls. So we're gonna go flowers. I've already got it all set up in the sidebar. Copy and paste. Yee-haw!

But there was another reason for this post, one that I really want your guys' input on.


It used to bug me. It used to bug me a lot. But that was before things like google Reader came about. I've always hesitated to post more than once a day. I have done it occasionally (I did it just now to illustrate my point), but not regularly.

Is there any reason for my hesitance? Do you guys like more than one post a day? It seems like everyone is doing it... not that that's a reason for me to do it if people hate it.

Well?

All right, you got me. Technically it's a storage ottoman. Not a stool. (nevermind. You got it.) But you still win. But you didn't guess what I store in it!

Ha! Such a clever post title.



Opinions please?

Release Date: February 1st, 2010
Pages: 363
Genre: Fantasy, Faerie
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Meghan Chase has never fit in at her small-town high school, and now, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she discovers why. When her half brother is kidnapped, Meghan is drawn into a fantastical world she never imagined--the world of Faery, where anything you see may try to eat you, and Meghan is the daughter of the summer faery king. Now she will journey into the depths of Faery to face an unknown enemy . . . and beg the help of a winter prince who might as soon kill her as let her touch his icy heart

Review: I was kind of disappointed when I read this book. I guess from everything I'd read about it I was expecting something amazing. But it was just... meh. Judging from GoodReads, I'm not the only person who thought so. I think Oberon and Titania are kind of overdone, personally.

In addition, the swearing really bothered me. Most of it was completely uncescesary. The language bumped this book up to the equivalent of a PG-13 movie (because it contained one F-bomb and many other *-bombs).

Other than that, It just read like any other faery story to me. So if faery/fairy stories are your thing, you'll probably really like it. When it did get to the truly-original part of the story, the part I really wanted to know about, it went super fast! I'm looking forward to the sequel just in the hope that I'll get to know more about that part. And I think we will.

So here's hoping for good things!

Release Date: April 1st, 2010
Pages: 320
Genre: Sci-fi/Dystopia
Rating:

Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

Keep Your Head Down.
Don't Get Noticed.
Or Else.

I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

Review: I'm a sucker for a good dystopian novel. Seriously. I adored this book. It's probably one of my favorites ever. It kept me wondering throughout the entire novel, and when the big secret was finally revealed I actually shouted "WOAH! WHAT THE HECK?!"

There were some character aspects that annoyed me, but in a good way. The characters seemed real. The mistakes they made were terribly frustrating, but understandable.

There was also some of the "Tech No" stuff that confused me, as well as the base 100 number system, but I survived without having to know all of that stuff. (This is high praise from me. Usually stuff like this drives me CRAZY in a sci-fi. But I was so wrapped up in the story I didn't dwell on it.)

I will warn you (this is for you Mary), THIS IS A SERIES. The ending is NOT satisfying in any way. I'm craving the next book (cleverly titled Outside In) but it won't be out until 2011. Sigh.

SO GOOD! Snyder strikes again!