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Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler Goodreads link Published April 2011 Arc from Star Book Tours Rating: 4/5 stars Chosen to ride as War, one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, Melissa Miller must fight. She is in a war with those around her, and a war within herself. Melissa is a cutter, which is something I am not familiar with except in fiction (and for that I am lucky), but she is not weak. In fact, Missy is kind of kick ass. While this is the second book in a series ( Hunger being the first), a reader does not have to read Hunger in order to follow Rage. I had some concern going into this book that the author would kind of repeat the story in a way that was formulaic. But my worries were unfounded. This story is very original, interesting, and the ending was satisfying. Without giving anything away, I can say that Missy goes through something with her classmates that no one should ever have to experience. There is a message about bullying here that may be hidden under the layers...

It's been a few weeks since I read a zombie novel and I think I may be in withdrawl. So, I am waiting like a zombie against the fence in the Rot and Ruin for the third installment of Carrie Ryan's series. I have high hopes for Beauty Queens. I am picturing a Hunger Games with cat fights. Meow! At least they can use the giant cans of hairspray as flamethrowers.

Warped by Maurissa Guibord Goodreads link Copy from personal library Rating: 3/5 stars * The story: Tessa finds a tapestry in which a unicorn has been woven. She pulls a thread and a young man named Will falls out. Add to this the sisters Norn (the weavers of Greek mythology) and a nasty witch and the adventure begins. Good quote: "You know your life is completely screwed up when you have to look up the mythological figures who talk to you in the bathroom mirror."pg 179 This is first novel and it felt like one. There is a lot of telling and not showing. I loved the setting of this novel. It started out so great. My problems with the story were the main characters. Tessa is lacking in personality and Will is really unbelievable. Everyone is so passionless. I had a really hard time with the "romance" in this story. Guibord never lets us into the heads of the characters, I still don't understand WHY the characters did the things they did in the story. Add to the m...

Instead of doing classwork this morning, or volunteering (I'm in grad school-taking two classes this quarter, and I volunteer multiple times a year for multiple causes) I spent the morning pondering this article . To break it down, the author questions what it means to be well read and why it is important. So, to clarify, is being well read having read a percent of The Best Books Ever list (not a real list)? What percent is well read: 80% of the list? 40% of the list? More importantly, what does it matter? I consider myself to be well read, but my definition has more to do with the idea of reading the choice titles from every genre. I don't like romance novels or really deep science fiction, but I have read Asimov and Austen. One would think that my being well read would help in my job at the library. The truth is many of the folks I work with could not be considered "readers" let alone "well read" and they function just fine working the card catalog. Ju...

In My Mailbox is run by The Story Siren. You can read about it/link up here . This week I picked up a few books I have been very excited to read. I bought: Across the Universe by Beth Revis Warped by Maurissa Guibord From the Library: Mistwood by Leah Cypress The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone Nothing by Janne Teller A small, but important haul. I read Across the Universe already. See my review here .

Across the Universe by Beth Revis Out 1-11-11 Goodreads link here I had such high hopes for this book and it does not disappoint. ATU is very enjoyable. The real star of the novel is not Amy, who is okay or Elder (who is wonderful) but the world that they live in. First, the world is a ship-one that is racing across the universe to a new planet. I found myself getting more and more uncomfortable as the story evolved, and I am not usually claustrophobic. They (the inhabitants of the Godspeed ) are truly cut off from EVERYONE. No calling Houston with problems, that's for sure. And there are some major problems in this world! So much of the story is layered-secrets piled on secrets. Some of them are shocking, others you can kind of see for yourself, and the pages just could not turn fast enough. This is an excellent read and I could not believe it was a debut novel. Revis has chops. I have two teeny tiny issues. Really, they are minuscule, but I have to mention them. One, the book fea...

photo from so funny, thanks! IMM is a meme hosted by The Story Siren . The meme is on vacation, but I promised in my New Year's Rezzies to start posting about the books I have received, so here we go! UPDATE: Apparently, IMM is back in action. No one tells me anything. Go here . Read, learn, link up. I won a giveaway on Michelle's blog , and with the 15 dollar gift cert. I was able to pick up: XVI by Karr The Water Wars by Stracher Next I bought: Personal Demons by Desrochers Dogsled Dreams by Johnson and preordered a whole bunch more. From the library: The Iron Fey series (book one and two) Dirty Little Secrets by Omololu And, bum bum bum, the motherload in egalleys for review: Red Glove by Black Cryers Cross by McMann Haven by Cook Darkness Becomes Her by Keaton Stay by Caletti Ten Miles Past Normal by Dowell

Okay, so I only subscribe to Family Circle magazine because I get it for free, but I admit to loving the human interest stories....anyway, I just opened my mailbox and found this inside: First, Across the Universe is a reader's pick! Imagine all of the mother/daughter book connections that will be made over this. Or for people like me who are a little older than YA but not yet, you know, moldy oldy, think of how many will see this! Second, my mag came with a free sheet (and it is poster-sized) of wrapping paper designed by Eric Carle for a charity. How cool is that? If you are like me and know a million youth services librarians, this will come in handy. Or wrap a book as a gift for your favorite kid (or child at heart). Or just use it as a poster. I love this! I just had to share! Now, back to school work (only 27 more articles to read!). Sigh. As soon as my work is caught up, I plan to 1. share with you the first award I have ever won as a blogger (squee!) and 2. whip up my fi...

Image from PetLiferadio.com Last year I decided not to fight the power anymore and gave up on "adult" fiction and switched to my true love: YA fiction. Almost everything I read last year was classified YA by my library and I am not going back. However, some stuff is really getting on my nerves lately. Where better to air it than on my blog? I've actually been crafting this post for a few weeks, but until I read the rants on The Book Smugglers I was going to keep this list to myself. The ladies make some valid points! My favorite is that your blog is your blog, so blog the way you want to. I write honest reviews. No, they are not perfectly written-if they were I would review professionally. They are just my opinion. I don't lie and say I love a book just because someone was kind enough to send me a free copy. I am grateful to get it, but I will NOT say something is good when I didn't think it was. Go, read the article at Book Smugglers (especially the point about...

The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson Hit the shelves on 1/01/10 Review copy from Flux (thanks!) Goodreads link here After hanging with the vampires, angels, and what-have-you I decided I was excited to read a DARING contemporary read. This was not it. The back promised a shake up of the world of people who did not recognize people of color. The title promised a "rebellion". The word terrorist was thrown around in the first few pages- whoo , I thought, "This one will be a thought provoking, discussion starting blaze of a novel!" Nope. The main problem here, for me, was Asha . I didn't like her. The reason I did not like her is that she is miserable. She has something negative to say about everybody-for someone who is going to start the fight against labeling people perhaps Asha should learn that not every cheerleader is part of the Bimbocracy and not every skater is a stoner . Asha also hates herself, and that is so obvious. The other problem I ha...

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Goodreads link here Released 1/04/11 egalley from netgalley (thank you) Wow. It is so much harder to write great reviews than bad ones. What can I say besides WOW. This novel is beautiful. It is unputdownable . Clara is wonderful. Wow. I lack a good adjective for this book. Wonderful just isn't powerful enough. I read this in one shot because I just couldn't put it down. The writing is stupendous. I was sucked in right away. So, how to write a spoiler-free review and still prove to you that you should stop what you are doing and run to the bookstore? Hmm . I will point out my 3 favorite things. One. Clara has a Purpose (don't we all, but her purpose is a purpose with a capital "P"). She never waivers about having a purpose, but instead grapples with how to remain true to herself while accomplishing her purpose. Clara is very mature. Two. Clara is already on task when we meet her. Thank God, no angst about " OMG I'm an angel...