So, I'd really like to do an IMM, but I've been REALLY busy this week (hence the lack of reviews). Which means when I do it next week there will be a TON because it will cover three weeks and I've had a SERIOUS book-buying problem. We may have to do more than one song. Or a REALLY long song.

Anyway, happy Halloween and all. 'round these parts we celebrate Sunday holidays on the Saturday before, so today is Halloween for me. How am I spending it? Oh. Just going to see some authors. No one big. Just some guy... what's his name? Scott... Westman? Easterfield? I can't remember. You probably've never heard of him anyway.

;)

One last thing. Remember how I hinted that you should vote on those nifty "Upcoming Releases" posts I've been doing? No? Well check this post to remind you and see what books you can vote on.

And you really should vote. Like... today and tomorrow. Because something special might happen with the book with the most "yes" votes.

Here are the current standings:

Bright Young Things: 13 votes

Anna and the French Kiss: 49 votes (woah!)

The Lost Saint: 32 votes

The Water Wars: 33 votes

Unearthly:  35 votes

Entangled: 43 votes

Across the Universe: 30 votes

 Drought: 13 votes

I read a ton of books that I don't ever finish for various reasons, and I never review them on this blog. But that's not fair! Maybe you guys want to read them, or want a warning not to read them. If you want to see what other books I started, but didn't finish, here's Unfinished Friday (1), and Unfinished Friday (2). In #2 I describe why I have such a strong issue with profanity.

These are books that I haven't finished over the last year(from October '09 to present). I won't go into a ton of detail, but here they are:

A Touch Mortal
I stopped this one at page 20 because I had read 3 F-words by then, along with a smattering of other curses. Not necessary at all. But I really want to know what this was about. Anyone who's read it want to give me a synopsis?





Accomplice
Casual swearing, and a story that wasn't interesting enough to make it worth it.




Rising Shadow
This was a self-published book, and while I liked the pretense, it needed a firm editor's hand. Too many writing issues for me to spend the time to finish.




The Mark
I really, really wanted to enjoy this. Really. But the writing sounded liked something I could have written. It was very 1st-draft-esque. I stopped after 50 pages because I knew I wasn't going to be able to give it a good review. However, I do intend to pick it up again later. Maybe it's just because I'd been reading some really heavy hitters at the time.




Numbers
Stopped because of profanity. However, I had a trusted source ask me to give it another go, so I'm going to give it another go when I have time.



The House of Dead Maids
I did not know this was a Wuthering Heights prequel when I picked it up. I strongly dislike WH, and so it made reading the measley 160 pages of this book a chore. Someday, when I'm more mature, I'll realize that this book is NOT Wuthering Heights and I'll give it another try.


Please keep in mind that I am not trying to "attack" these books IN ANY WAY. I have often said that I believe that every book has a place, even if it's not on my shelf.

It's time! Time to announce the winner of the Matched Recreate a cover contest! Yay!! *streamers, confetti, etc*

The entries were all AMAZING. And the voting was really close. I was actually nervous we were going to have a tie!

But enough of that! Let's pick some winners.

First things first. Winner of the random prize pack of books, chosen by random.org, is....


Winner of a finished copy of Matched chosen by Ally (who wanted me to let y'all know that she LOVED all the covers) is....


I thought this was cool because #11 actually got 2nd place in the votes. :)

And winner of the popular vote, and a signed, personalized ARC of Matched is...


Congrats! I will contact you all after my midterm tonight (eeks!), or you can contact me first if you have time (Squeakybooks@yahoo.com). Jami be on the lookout for my e-mail (or e-mail me with your info)! I have to go fast so that I can get your ARC personalized when I see Ally on Saturday. Other winners you have 48 hours.

Thanks to everyone who participated! Look for more cover contests coming up! It was fun. :)

Release Date: January 11, 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
GoodReads Page
Summary:

Ruby Prosser dreams of escaping the Congregation and the early-nineteenth century lifestyle that’s been practiced since the community was first enslaved.

She plots to escape the vicious Darwin West, his cruel Overseers, and the daily struggle to gather the life-prolonging Water that keeps the Congregants alive and gives Darwin his wealth and power. But if Ruby leaves, the Congregation will die without the secret ingredient that makes the Water special: her blood.
So she stays.

But when Ruby meets Ford, the new Overseer who seems barely older than herself, her desire for freedom is too strong. He’s sympathetic, irresistible, forbidden—and her only access to the modern world. Escape with Ford would be so simple, but can Ruby risk the terrible price, dooming the only world she’s ever known?

Why I want it:This book sounds so curious. I haven’t read Bachorz before, but I’m game for any kind of dystopian/mystery.

Do you want to read Drought?
Take a second to answer in the poll!
(Those of you viewing in feed readers may not be able to see it)

Remember that today is the last day to vote for your favorite recreated cover of Matched. The cover with the most votes wins a signed ARC, another cover (chosen by Ally) wins a finished copy, and a random voter wins a mystery prize pack of books!

THREE WINNERS! Hurry up and vote now!

I'm participating in the Book Spooks "Cast Your Villain" Feature


So there ya go. That's my villain.

Release Date: January 11, 2011
GoodReads Page
Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Why I want it:Have you EVER heard of anything like this? IT TAKES PLACE IN SPACE! It sounds SO COOL!

Do you want to read Across the Universe?
Take a second to answer in the poll!
(Those of you viewing in feed readers may not be able to see it)

So it's been a while since we've had a discussion post, and I have something I want to discuss:


I recently accepted a query to read a self published book. This is something I never do. But the author was so nice, and her query was a personal e-mail to me (rather than just a "Dear Reviewer"), and the book sounded really interesting, so I said yes.

And when I was about 75% done with the book, I updated my goodreads status like this:

There is a reason I don't usually agree to read self-published books. *sigh*

Which instantly flew to twitter for the world to see.

*facepalm* *facepalm!* *FACEPALM!*

Almost immediately I got an e-mail from the author saying she was so sorry I was unhappy with her book.

Did I mention *facepalm*?

I immediately wrote her back a FAR too long e-mail discussing why I had said what I said. I'll summarize for you:

What I said has nothing to do with your book at ALL. I feel awkward writing reviews for self published books, because I don't feel like it's fair for me to compare them to a HarperTeen book or a Little, Brown book or a Simon & Schuster book, etc. Books from those people have whole TEAMS devoted to making them the best they can be. Self published authors have only what they can find themselves.

Therefore, do I write a review that says "This could have been good with an editor or some reshaping" or do I just say "this was bad"? Will you ever go back and write a 2nd edition? Is this book final? How much editing did you do before you published? How did you know when it was ready to be printed?

And then I realized: actually, I know virtually nothing about self-publishing. Do you guys?

How do you feel about self published books?

Would you ever self publish?

I asked the author if she would be willing to answer some of my questions on this issue. I haven't heard back from her yet, but do any of YOU have questions? What would you like to know about the world of self-publishing?

Release Date: June 22nd, 2010
Genre: Teen Pregnancy
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 265
Rating:
Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary: 

Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one…

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

Review: This book was hard for me to relate to, but I knew it would be before I even started. It's so unlike the books I usually read.

Because of the way I was raised and where I grew up, I never knew a person in high school who had ever had a drink of alcohol, had sex, etc. Oh, sure, I knew of those people. But I didn't know them.

Because of that I found it very hard to be sympathetic towards Miranda, and that really made me struggle through the first half of the book.

And then I had a realization: I didn't have to sympathize with her.

She was in no way perfect. She made a lot of mistakes throughout the book. She wasn't always the most rational creature. But she wanted to be good. And because of that, I could respect her. So many people around her had these deep, emotional problems, including her! And it was fascinating to see how each different person dealt with those problems. Some pretended they weren't there, some resented them, and some flaunted them.

I read this book in one sitting, and by the end my eyes were stinging (both from emotion, and because I had been reading for 4 hours straight). Even though I wasn't able to relate to this book or the characters, I have something that goes beyond relation: respect.

What a beautiful insight into the difficult aspects of the human existence.

I found some more ARCs and a paperback copy of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies to trade/exchange. Check out the form for specific titles.

Howdy y'all!

So lots of book bloggers around the blogosphere regularly put up a list of books that they would like to trade/sell/exchange. I figured I'd give that a try my own self.

I've gone through ALL of my books, and come up with the following list. Take a look. See if there's any you like.

I prefer Amazon gift cards. They are easy to mail, and it's easier for us to agree on a price. Plus, only one of us has to ship something. But if you want to trade, we might be able to work something out too.

I also believe that if you have a book I really want, I'm more than willing to give you multiple books for it. We don't have to do a 1-for-1. But if you don't have anything I want, I am under no obligation to trade with you. Make sense?

I'll e-mail everyone who requests titles, and the person who gets it is first come first serve. And I don't mean first to fill out the form, I mean the first I come to an agreement with. Coolio?

A lot of these are older titles, but there are also a lot of new ones. ALL OF THESE BOOKS ARE IN NEW OR NEARLY NEW CONDITION. I take VERY good care of my books. These are just books that I didn't like, don't want, or have multiple copies of.

You know how I feature 2 or 3 upcoming releases per week? Well, I think it would be REALLY good if voted on the ones you want to read. Why? Oh... no reason [that I'm going to tell you], but I think you should.

Here's a reminder of the titles featured so far this month, and links to their posts/polls: VOTE ON THE POLL ON EACH POST, NOT HERE!! and you can certainly vote for more than one. You can vote for all of them! But something special will happen with the book that gets the most votes...




Be sure to check back during the month. I'll update this post as I put up the new releases. If you want to own any of these books... well... maybe you should vote. Just sayin'.

Release Date: August 3rd, 2010
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Adventure
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 360
Series: Lorien Legacies #1
Rating:
Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary: 

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

Review: This book was good. Really good. And it’s going to make a fantastic movie. I’m SO excited to see it. The writing flowed well, I believed in the characters, the pacing was EXCELLENT. Never a dull moment (except for MAYBE some of the romance, but even that didn’t bother me too much).

This is such an original story. Sure, it’s kind of like “Transformers” in that an alien race comes to our planet when their planet is destroyed but all they really want is to go home, but not really. This book had a lot of potential to be cheesy with the silly names like “Mogadorians” and “Pittacus Lore” and so on, but it wasn’t. Not in the least.

However, I COULD NOT give it five flowers. Why? Grr. Casual swearing. I HATE casual swearing! I mean, I COMPLETELY understand if the characters are in life-and-death situations and they let out some profanities. But there is NO excuse for just using profanities like candy. Throwing them out whenever you feel like it.

They weren’t the more “serious” words, but they still bugged me!

I know swearing doesn’t bug most of you at all. And even if it does bug you, you’ll probably just be annoyed by it rather than offended. That’s all I was. Just annoyed.

But overall, a GREAT story.

Release Date: January 6, 2010
GoodReads Page
Summary:

The same questions whirl round and round in my head:
What does he want from me?
How could I have let this happen?
AM I GOING TO DIE?

17-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got here.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget. There's falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see?

Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?

Why I want it:Really it’s the mystery of this book that intrigues me. I want to know just as much as Grace: Why is she there? So curious.

Do you want to read Entangled?
Take a second to answer in the poll!
(Those of you viewing in feed readers may not be able to see it)

I had some great entries into the Halloween prize pack contest. Y'all have seen some CrAzY costumes. Ready for the winner? Without further ado, the winner of Lips Touch: Three Times, The Devouring, and Lockdown is....

Lesley is a new follower (welcome to Squeaky Books, Lesley!), and she said:

my favorite [costume] I ever wore was Wayne from Wayne's World lol, so fun.


The best I've ever seen was a girl that was Leeloo Dallas from the Fifth Element. LOVE that movie, and it was the coolest costume! :)

Congrats! I will contact you soon to get your mailing address. Or you can contact me first, if you'd rather. :)

Be sure to vote for your favorite recreated cover of Matched! And look for more Squeaky contests coming up soon!

FIRST: Exciting news! The book trailer for Matched has been released! Check it out! Click here.

This is the first recreate a cover contest I’ve ever held and the response was AWESOME! I don't know how we'll ever pick a winner.

We had 14 entries. I know that I said that I needed 20 to add that extra prize. But I think I was being a little too optimistic since this is my FIRST recreate a cover contest. So there WILL still be a second prize winner that Ally herself will pick.

Beyond that, I am going to give a prize pack of random books to one lucky voter! So everyone can be a winner. Let's review the rules:

RULES:

• Use the form to vote for YOUR FAVORITE cover.
• You MUST be a follower to vote. This is to prevent people from flooding the votes with friends and family, etc.
• One [1] vote per follower.

WINNERS:

• The cover with the most votes will win the signed ARC of Matched
• Another winner (chosen by Ally) will win a finished copy of Matched
• A random voter will win a prize pack of random books (The winner of the prize pack will be US only, but you may still vote if you are international. In fact, please do!)

DEADLINES:

• Voting ends at 9:59 MST October 27th.
• Winners announced October 28th.

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I'm overjoyed to be participating in the fabulous Nicole's (from Word For Teens) Book Spooks!


I get to feature Inara Scott. Her debut book The Candidates came out just in August. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm dying to!

Check out what Inara said her favorite part of Halloween is.

"Here's my personal favorite part of Halloween: Watching all the little girls dress up like faeries and princesses. Because really, in my heart I still want to be a faerie. And a princess. Besides, what other time of year do you get to wear a fancy dress, sparkly make-up, and wings?"

Check out the rest of the book spooks events if you get a chance!

Release Date: January 4, 2011
GoodReads Page
Summary:

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what it is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place--and out of place, at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make--between honesty and deciet, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Why I want it: This sounds like a new and unique take on the inter-species relationship genre, since the MAIN character is actually the “alien” species. However, the idea of a good/evil love triangle makes me a little nervous. I tried to get this from NetGalley and was denied several times. *sigh* Guess that's a sign that I'm not meant for ebooks, which is FINE with me. Luckily, I got on the tour for it at Around the World Tours! Yay!

Do you want to read Unearthly?
Take a second to answer in the poll!
(Those of you viewing in feed readers may not be able to see it)