Waiting on Wednesday (10)

Hi everyone! Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm waiting on...

7 SOULS by Barnabas Miller & Jordan Orlando

Mary expected her seventeenth birthday to be a blowout to remember, courtesy of her best friends, fellow New York City prepsters Amy and Joon, and her doting boyfriend, Trick.
Instead, the day starts badly and gets worse. After waking up in a mortifying place with a massive, unexplainable hangover, Mary soon discovers that nobody at school is even aware that it's her birthday. As evening approaches, paranoia sets in. Mary just can't shake the feeling that someone is out to get her—and, as it turns out, she's right. Before the night is over, she's been killed in cold blood.
But murder is just the beginning of Mary's ordeal. Her soul gets trapped in a strange limbo, and she must relive the day of her death through the eyes of seven people—each of whom, she finds, had plenty of reasons to hate her. As Mary explores the mysteries of her world, discovering secrets that were hidden in plain sight while she was alive, she clings desperately to the hope that she can solve her own murder, change the past, and—just maybe—save her own life.

That sounds pretty awesome, right? I love reading books that involve different concepts of afterlife - they're always so interesting, and this one sounds pretty unique and different too!

7 SOULS will be released on July 13th, 2010, by Delacorte.

A Winner is Announced

Hello everyone! As I mentioned yesterday, I ended my Summer Contest early due to some things that came up, which would make it hard for me to mail the prizes.
Anyhoo. I've picked the winner! And that winner is...

JOSETTE!!!

Congratulations to the winner! I've already contacted her about winning and she's already replied, and she has picked my copy of Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen.

This contest was fun! :D My first one, and I think it was quite a success, actually. AND. Guess what, guys? There are two upcoming opportunities for contests...one, I'm really close to 100 followers, which would definitely require a contest, and my birthday is coming up too! I might be holding separate small contests for these, or I might combine the two into one mega giveaway. Let me know what you guys think I should do!

And again, congrats to Josette for winning my Summer Contest! :)

Review: The Line

Book: The Line
Author: Teri Hall
Pages: 220
Published: March 4th 2010 by Dial
Source: Bought

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

The Line sounded like a great dystopian read from the moment I heard about it. This book has a great premise and I wasn't sure if it could live up to it - luckily, it did.

It took me a little while to get a good sense of the characters. For the first few chapters, there wasn't much interaction between them, because it was mostly narration. When I did understand these characters, though, I loved them. Rachel was an admirable girl, and she was so brave and I loved her curiosity and ability to think clearly in the most panicked situations. It doesn't really describe much of what she looks like, so I couldn't really picture her in my mind, but what I could picture, I liked. Even the supporting characters, like Jonathan and Pathik (even though Pathik becomes more of a main character near the end), were very well built and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book.

The first half of this book felt really slow to me. It wasn't dull, by any means, but it takes a while to provide the full history of the dystopian world. I thought the things that happened seemed realistic (to a point, of course), and that was a little scary, but I was really impressed with the world Teri Hall had created. The action really starts to kick in only about halfway through with the introduction of Pathik, and that was when I really started getting really into the story. The action parts and suspenseful and intense, and completely absorbing. I loved how thorough Hall was with her world and her story.

The Line was a really impressive debut and it ended on a pretty major cliffhanger, so I'm really excited for the sequel, Away!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: I love the mystery element of this cover. It doesn't take long to figure out what the cover means, once you start reading, but I love the mystery it presents when you haven't read it yet and have no idea what it means. Really eye-catching, and I love the font used for the title!

**I'd just like you all to know that I've ended my Summer Contest early. I'd like to give the contest winner 48 hours to respond to my email, and if I end my contest on the 30th, I'd be unable to mail the prize to the winner for at least a week, and I really want to get the books to the winner as soon as possible. Therefore, I ended my contest today. The contest winner will be announced tomorrow. :)

I was interviewed!

Hey everyone!
This is going to be a brief post, but I just wanted to let you guys know about an extremely exciting event for me.
As you can tell from the title of this post, I was interviewed! Over at The Naughty Book Kitties! If you want, you can check out the interview right over here. They are amazing book reviewers and absolutely hilarious, so even if you don't look at the interview post, seriously, check 'em out. Like, now.
Okay? Okay.
Kaythanksbye :)

In My Mailbox (10)

Hey guys! Happy Sunday. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

This week was a slow one in terms of books for me. Once again, I bought one book, and that book was...

The Necromancer by Michael Scott.
This one just came out a little while ago, and I think his books are amazing, really! The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel is one of the most original and unique series I've ever read, and I highly recommend picking them up if you haven't tried them before.

What'd you guys get in your mailboxes?

Covers of the World (5)

Hey guys! Hope you guys are all getting a great start to your weekend, and having a great summer! Covers of the World is a feature here at my blog that showcases some really interesting international covers.

This week, I'll be shining the spotlight on the French covers of one of my favorite series of all time, the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz. If you haven't picked these up before, you are seriously, completely missing out! Go and check them out first chance you get, okay? :)
Let's take a look at the American covers for the first three books in the series:



These are really gorgeous, and I love them, as well as how all of them have the same silhouette of a city on the bottom, of a place that's very significant in the story.
Now here are the French covers:



Actually, I really like these covers. I love how the eyes are like, the focus point of the covers - they're the first thing that draws your eyes cos they're made to look so intense. I don't really like the French cover for the first book, though - the cover model looks like she's about to fall asleep.

What do you guys think of these covers?

Friday Post!

Hi everyone! So it's Friday again, which means it's time for two things: The Blog Hop and Follow My Blog Friday!

The Blog Hop is a great way to find new book blogs and get word of your blog out there at the same time! You can click here to participate in this week's Hop.

Follow Friday is another great thing to participate in, hosted by Parajunkie's View. You can join this week's Follow Friday here.

To those of you clicking over from either one of those two things, welcome! And thanks very very much for clicking on my link :) Hope you have a great time here!

Review: The Oracle of Dating

Book: The Oracle of Dating
Author: Allison van Diepen
Pages: 256
Published: May 1st 2010 by Harlequin Teen
Source: netGalley

No one at Kayla’s school knows she’s the famous Oracle of Dating—the anonymous queen of dating advice, given through her own Web site. Kayla doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make her focus on everyone else’s love life. But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart—the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating--and she knows just where to find one...

Okay, so this book really interested me from the minute I heard about it. I was in love with the idea of this book! I wasn't sure how it would go, though I thought Allison van Diepen's other book, Raven, was amazing, because these two are completely different. Luckily, though, I enjoyed this one just as much as Raven!

I liked Kayla from the first page. Her voice was so animated and lively that she really came alive for me. I could so easily identify with her character and put myself in her shoes -- because, let's be honest, pretty much every girl has experienced what she has (minus the Oracle thing, of course), and that makes her so much more connectable. Jared was intriguing and I loved his character from the start, too. He's that classic tough-looking guy who's really a big softy on the inside (well…mostly). I was captivated by Jared and Kayla's scenes -- the tension between them was amazingly shown and when they weren't being all intense-flirty, their scenes were sweet and I loved them. I was rooting from them from the very beginning!

I thought the secondary characters were a little two-dimensional. I didn't really get a sense of their characters and honestly, I thought they were forgettable. It took me a while to keep their names straight, and that doesn't happen often with me. However, the thing I really loved about this book is how genuine the characters are. It's hard to find a book where teenagers act and think and speak like teenagers, real teenagers, not super-unrealistically-mature teenagers. I loved that van Diepen was able to do that with her characters.

So, I mentioned it up there, but I thought the concept of the Oracle of Dating was so much fun. I loved reading those parts about her being the Oracle, and they kept me entertained. The parts with the Oracle, those had the potential to be overused -- the book could have consisted mainly of her website and not nearly enough of her actual life, but the author kept a perfect balance between the two.

That being said, I thought the plot moved a bit quickly at times. Some scenes seemed a bit jumpy, and there were a few parts at the end that just wrapped up a little too nicely and neatly. I was really happy with the end, honestly, but I thought some of the parts could have gone more in depth so they didn't seem so sudden and without reason.

I still really enjoyed this book and I'll definitely be looking out for the second one, which I believe is called The Oracle Rebounds (not sure if that's the final title or not, but that's the one it has now)!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: Really cute, simple cover! I love the font used and I think the cover really captures the attention of the average teenage girl. I've noticed that my friends really like covers like this, so I think it will make a teenager stop and look twice. Plus, it just has such a cool title!

Waiting on Wednesday (9)

Hi guys! Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine.
This week I'm really excited for...

SHADOW HILLS by Anastasia Hopcus

His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.

Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.

Doesn't that sound great?! I know a lot of bloggers have already read and reviewed this one, but I haven't, so that makes me extremely excited for this book. Oh, and in case that didn't make you drool, the trailer definitely will.



SHADOW HILLS will be released July 13th, 2010, by EgmontUSA.

Teaser Tuesday (9)

Hi guys! Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Wanna participate? Here's how it works:

• Grab your current read
• Turn to a random page
• Share a few 'teaser' sentences from that page (remember, NON-spoilery!)
• Don't forget to share the title, author and page number of the book your teasers came from. That way, if others like your teasers, they can add the book to their TBR lists

Right now I'm reading The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran. I've just started, but so far, I'm really loving the setting and the writing. So here are my teasers for this week!

"While the court erupted into wild cheers, I felt my heart sink. I fanned away the acrid scent of perfume from under women's arms, and children with ivory clappers beat them together in a noise that filled the entire chamber. Seti, who was now only ruler of Lower Egypt, smiled widely. Then hundreds of courtiers began to move, crushing me between their belted waists.
'Come. We're leaving for the palace!' Paser shouted.
I glanced behind me. 'What about Asha?'
'He will have to find you later.'"

Page 21, The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

So guys - what are your teasers for this week?

Review: Zan Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure

Book: Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure
Author: Allan Shickman
Pages: 160
Published: July 15th 2007 by Earthshaker Books
Source: Received from publisher for honest review

Pressed by love for his brother and a bad conscience, the hero undertakes a quest which leads to captivity, conflict, love, and triumph. In three years, Zan-Gah passes from an uncertain boyhood to a tried and proven manhood and a role of leadership among his people. This dramatic and impassioned story will trill and deeply move young adults and older readers.

I've never read a prehistoric book before, which made Zan-Gah such a unique read for me. I didn't really go into it expecting much, because of the fact I'd never read a book quite like it before.

I can't really say that I connected to Zan. I didn't feel like I knew him, because the story was written from a third-person narrative and his thoughts and feelings weren't really shown much in the story. All of the characters were imaginative, though, and that I admired. One thing that bugged me about some of the character interactions though was the relationship between Lissa-Na and Zan-Gah. I didn't understand why he supposedly loved her, it was just stated in the book. However, each character was unique each in their own way and I did think that they were true to that time period in their nature and their actions. I really did feel like Zan matured throughout the course of the story.

The story was very fast-paced, I don't think there was a single slow moment in the story. The book starts out right in the middle of the action, with a lion hunt. The one thing I loved about this book was the writing. I thought Allan Shickman's writing was completely impressive, he seemed to know exactly which words would have the most effect and how to draw vivid images in the reader's mind. However, I thought that it seemed to me like there was nothing to be interpreted, which is something I usually like doing. Everything was stated out for you, very matter-of-factly, and I felt like because there was nothing to really think about, I was pretty unfocused during the story.

I thought Zan-Gah was an interesting and undoubtedly unique story, but it wasn't for me. I would recommend it to boys more than girls.

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Cover: I thought that was a hamster at first! But then I realized it was a tiger, and I was a little embarrassed, but that mistake kind of endeared me to it.

In My Mailbox (9)

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great week.
In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.
Sadly, this week I only got one book because I went to the bookstore (to get that extra book for my Summer Contest!) and I couldn't resist picking this one up to. I had some doubts about reading it before, but I've heard so many great things about it, that I couldn't help myself!

I bought...

The Carrie Diaries - Candace Bushnell

That's all for this week - but I still have a HUGE TBR pile to get through!
Sooo...what'd you guys get this week? :)

Covers of the World (4)

Hi everyone! Covers of the World is a weekly feature here on A Severe Book Addiction where I showcase the international covers of a book, because everyone loves covers, right?

So this week I'm showing you the various covers of Beautiful Creatures. Here's the US one:

This is one of my absolute favorite covers, simply because it's so gorgeous and unique. I don't think I've ever seen another cover quite like it (except maybe the cover to its sequel, Beautiful Darkness), which is why I love it so much.

Here is the French cover of BC:

It's extremely simple but I love the fact that there are only two colors actually used on the cover. Its simplicity is what makes it so pretty and attention-grabbing. I love the concept of this one - I would definitely pick this one up based on just its cover too.

Here's the Thai cover:

This one really reminds me a lot of the cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the UK version of the cover, anyway) and I actually think they probably drew some inspiration from there. But I like that they have the locket, which is such a central part of the story, on the cover, even though it doesn't look quite like I imagined it.

That's all for this week! Hope you all enjoyed seeing these different covers :)

Friday Post!

So it's that time of the week again - time for the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Crazy For Books! The Hop is a great way to find new blogs and at the same time, get word of your blog out there. This'll be my fourth week participating, and it's still great every time I do. You can start hopping here.

So, to those of you hopping your way here, hey there, and thanks for clicking my link! You can check the sidebars for giveaways on my blog and others too - there are some really awesome ones you can enter!

Also something new I discovered - Follow My Book Blog Friday! Hosted by Parajunkee, I think this is a great thing, because, well, especially us newer book blogs, we do need followers!


Anyway, that's all for today. I'll have a few reviews posted in the coming week and I think I'll do a completely random post with a whole bunch of book trailers - because I just love those so much :)

Amazing, AMAZING Contest!

Okay, so I'm not planning to make a habit out of getting extra entries for contests by writing an actual blog post about them, but this one is just so amazing that I think I'll have to!
Reggie over at The Undercover Book Lover is hosting an absolutely FANTASTIC giveaway I'm seriously just dying to win! It's for a copy of FIVE upcoming paranormal reads: Paranormalcy, Nightshade, The Eternal Ones, Pegasus, and Halo! I'm sure you've heard of all of them, since not a single one of them hasn't been making rounds around the blogosphere, and they all sound freaking awesome!!!
So this contest is international, it ends on July 15th, and I would really, literally scream and jump up and down if I won. Link to enter is here.


** The picture I used above is NOT my own photo, it's the one The Undercover Book Lover used in her contest post. I just thought I'd post it here too because all the covers are gorgeous and I think it'll make you guys a lot more excited about it :) Once again, the photo is borrowed from Reggie.

Review: Spirit Bound

Book: Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Pages: 489
Published: May 18th 2010 by Penguin/Razorbill
Source: Bought

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong…

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won't join him, he won't rest until he's silenced her...forever.

I was majorly excited when I got this one. I could not wait to read it but I was so worried when I started because, as all us fans of Vampire Academy know, Richelle Mead does like her twists. But I was so completely stunned with Spirit Bound, and amazed by it!

Rose is still an amazingly kickass character. She's completely awesome in the way that she never lets anything stop her from getting what she wants and doing what she thinks is right, and she's probably the most admirable character I've ever encountered. I wished I could be like her! Lissa is still an amazingly sympathetic character and I loved her interactions with Rose, and honestly, their friendship is just inspiring. Even though they may fight (and let's be honest, what best friends don't?) they always get past it and they love each other, because they're like sisters.

The guys in VA deserve a paragraph of their own, don't they? I'm completely Team Adrian, but I found myself warming towards Dimitri more in this book. I used to love Dimitri, but dude, once Adrian was introduced…Dimitri didn't stand a chance. I want Rose to be with Adrian, and despite his cocky demeanor and carefree attitude, we know how much he loves her and how much he's willing to give up for her, to do for her. Dimitri, though only really appears in the second half of the book, was…different. Obviously. I thought his and Rose's relationship seemed so true and real, yet it was marred by Rose's conflicting, growing feelings for Adrian. Despite my being a little biased cos I like Adrian more, I still thought both Adrian and Dimitri were completely swoony (yes, I am still using that word.) Oh, and how could I forget Christian? I loved the tension between him and Lissa, and there were a few times when, like Rose, I wanted to smack them and scream at them for being so completely stubborn.

Wow. Richelle Mead is a stunning writer. In all her books, she manages to weave in multiple story arcs and always keep her readers on their toes. There was never a dull moment in Spirit Bound and everything was relevant, which I loved. Everything was there for a reason. Mead has so skillfully created her characters and their stories in a way that makes the reader identify with them so easily and just fall in love with them, and I swear to you that I am not lying when I say that there were so many times when I jumped up and screamed or ranted to the people around me as I was reading. Her story twists so many times and I did not see any of those things coming, seriously, which kept me filled with tension and yet so completely thrilled with Mead. And oh my god, the ending? When I finished this book, I seriously jumped up and screamed "HOW COULD IT END THAT WAY?! CLIFFHANGER MUCH?! AND NOW I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL DECEMBER?!"
And I have got to give creds to Mead for being able to make me react that way. It's rare, it really is, but Spirit Bound brought my inner swimfan.

Needless to say, I am in a ten billion foot deep hole of LOVE for Spirit Bound and the Vampire Academy series, and I will remain in physical pain until December, when the next book, Last Sacrifice, comes out.

Overall: 5 out of 5 freaking GOLD stars

Cover: I love this. That's all I have to say. It's gorgeous and I love it as much as I love what's inside the cover. Massive amounts of cover love here, guys.

Waiting on Wednesday (8)

Hihihi!!! Oh, wow, super sorry for posting a late WoW, but right now, even though it's summer, I've been extremely busy. So here's my late WoW post!
Remember how it's a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine? Guess what - it still is! Woohoo!
So my pick for this week is The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood.

Jessamine Luxson lives with her father, Thomas, an apothecary, in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle. Thomas’s pride and obsession is his locked garden full of dangerous plants, which Jessamine is forbidden to enter.

When a traveler brings an orphan to their cottage, he claims the boy has special gifts that Thomas might value. Jessamine is drawn to the strange but intriguing boy, called Weed. Soon their friendship deepens into love. Finally, Weed shares his secret: He can communicate with plants. For him they have distinct personalities—and some are even murderous. From the locked garden the poisonous plants call to Weed, luring him with promises of deadly power.

When Jessamine falls inexplicably ill, only Weed’s relationship with the Poisons can save her. But Thomas is determined to exploit Weed’s abilities, even if it risks Jessamine’s life—or drives Weed to the brink of madness.…

So I'm really excited for this one because I've never really read a book that had poison playing such a critical role except maybe the Study series by Maria Snyder, and those I absolutely loved so I'm definitely looking forward to this one. Plus, the cover is gorgeous! And you guys all know that a gorgeous cover never hurt anyone ;)

The Poison Diaries will be released on July 20th 2010 by Balzer + Bray.

So what are you *points at you* waiting on this week?

3rd Award! Yes!

I just realized I completely forgot to post this yesterday. Anyway, here it is now, right?
So yesterday I received my third award! Hell yes! I was super excited for it :) I got the Versatile Blogger award from Josette of Books Love Me! A huge thank you goes out to her for this award.

So, there are a few rules that I have to follow after receiving this award.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Seven Things About Me:

1. In August, I'll be entering my freshman year of high school, and I really could not be more excited!
2. I have 47 direct cousins. I know, that's quite a lot, lol :P
3. I'll be 14 on August 23rd! Can't wait :)
4. I've only ever cried for one book in my entire life. And even then it was just one tear, but that still counts, in my mind. That book was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.
5. I've only ever lived in HK!
6. I have two brothers. One drives me insane, the other would rather drive cars in video games. But I love 'em anyway :)
7. Blogging. Is. Obsessive. Though I find this true for anyone with a blog. :P

So here are the recipients of this award, but because I couldn't think of 15, I'm just going to do ten:

1. A Reader's Adventure
2. Dreaming of Books
3. holes In My brain
4. Katie's Book Blog
5. Secretly Captivated
6. Smitten With Books
7. Shooting Stars Mag
8. The Allure of Books
9. The Bookologist
10. Book Soulmates

Summer Contest Update!

Hey guys! So, since I reached 50 followers on my blog, I'm adding another book to the pile of books to be won. And because there are now three books, I'm changing the rules a little bit.

I'm really sorry, but because this contest is international, shipping is really expensive, I don't know if you guys know that, but it really is, so I'm narrowing it down a little bit. The winner will get their choice of one or two books from the pile, it depends on them. Meaning that whoever wins has to reply to my email telling me whether they want only one book out of the pile or two of them, and let me know which ones those are.

But I did make a little trip to the bookstore today, and I picked out another book to add to the pile. That book is:

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

I'm aware that this book has been out for a while, but it's one of my favorites and amazingly, so few of my friends have even heard of it!! So that's why I'm adding it to the pile :)

If you haven't joined my Summer Contest yet, you can join here by leaving a comment. Next contest, I'm planning to use Google Docs, though :) Just a heads up.

Teaser Tuesday (8)

Happy Tuesday, everybody! So Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Wanna participate? Here's how it works:

• Grab your current read
• Turn to a random page
• Share a few 'teaser' sentences from that page (NON-spoilery, please!)
• Don't forget to list the title and author of your book so other people can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

Right now I'm reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, whi

ch is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series! I'm not that far in, but I'm loving it. Here are my teasers:

"'I'm going to pick you up,' Bill said. He sounded calm.

'I'll die if you do,' I whispered.

He looked over me carefully. 'Not just yet,' he said, after this evaluation. Oddly enough, this made me feel better; no telling how many injuries he'd seen in his lifetime, I figured."

Page 28, Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

Comment below with your teasers if you participated in Teaser Tuesday this week.

Review: After Ever After

Book: After Ever After
Author: Jordan Sonnenblick
Pages: 260
Published: February 1st, 2010 by Scholastic
Source: Library

Jeffrey isn't a little boy with cancer anymore. He's a teen who's in remission, but life still feels fragile. The aftereffects of treatment have left Jeffrey with an inability to be a great student or to walk without limping. His parents still worry about him. His older brother, Steven, lost it and took off to Africa to be in a drumming circle and "find himself." Jeffrey has a little soul searching to do, too, which begins with his escalating anger at Steven, an old friend who is keeping something secret, and a girl who is way out of his league but who thinks he's cute.

I haven't actually heard much about this book, but I honestly don't know why! I thought this book was going to be pretty light at first, even though it's about an ex-cancer patient, but it was so much deeper than that and I ended up enjoying this book so much more than I'd expected to.

I loved the characters in this book. They did not seem like eighth grade students, which I can say, speaking from the point of view of an actual eighth grader. But I guess they did, in a way, Jeffrey and Tad. I loved how unique and absolutely hilarious their voices were, and I felt like I could understand them just like that. It took no effort whatsoever. It was so easy to identify with both of them, as well as Lindsey, and I loved that!

So, this book is pretty predictable. Most books about sickness are like that - they almost seem to have a sort of formula for the story, but in After Ever After, I really didn't think that detracted from my enjoyment of the story at all. I still sympathized with them through everything they went through, and the way it was written, from the point of view of someone who sounds just like you and me but has been through so much more, makes it so much more realistic and a little scarier. I felt like everything counted in this book and I thought that was really amazing.

I seriously do not know why more people aren't talking about this book. After Ever After is a touching book, despite its seemingly light premise, and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it to anyone; it sends a great message and while it does have its funny and light parts, there are some really deep, moving scenes as well.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Cover: I understood this cover from the minute I saw it. I love its simplicity, and I really like how the title is on the back of the boy's shirt. The cover is one of those that makes you think about picking up the book, but there's a 50-50 chance that you will or won't.

In My Mailbox (8)

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend - summer's just begun, so it should be awesome!

Okay...so this is my first vlog. I'm pretty sure I look/sound somewhat retarded, so forgive me for that :) Also, I did this on Photobooth so anything I hold up is backwards...I'm so sorry about that! I'm not sure if I'll be doing vlogs for my future IMM posts - but let me know what youguys think about this! If you like this vlog, let me know and I'll think about doing it next week too, okay? :)