150 followers contest: Closed

This contest is closed.

Yep, this blog reached 150 followers. Thanks everyone! (L) In honour of such a momentous occasion *wipes tear* I'm giving away Academy 7.

In My Mailbox 10

So I got just one thing in the mail this week, and it's...

Oh.My.Gods by Tera Lynn Childs

Title: Here	Loved it	Graded
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Speak
Elements: Greek mythology
Series: Book 1 of a duo

A modern girl's comedic odyssey in a school filled with the descendants of Greek gods.

When Phoebe's mom returns from Greece with a new husband and moves them to an island in the Aegean, Phoebe's plans for her senior year and track season are ancient history. Now she must attend the uberexclusive academy, where admission depends on pedigree, namely, ancestry from Zeus, Hera, and other Greek gods.

That's right, they're real, not myth, and their teen descendants are like the classical heroes - supersmart and superbeautiful with a few superpowers. And now they're on her track team! Armed only with her Nikes and the will to win, Phoebe races to find her place among the gods.

If Phoebe Castro can keep her grades up and have another stellar cross-country season, her dream of attending USC with her best friends is only a track scholarship away. She’s made all her plans, so it’s a complete shock when her mom announces she’s marrying a mysterious stranger and moving them half-way around the world—to Greece.

Phoebe’s stuck on a secret island in the Aegean attending the super-exclusive Academy, where her new stepfather is the headmaster and the kids are anything but your average students—they are descendants of the Greek gods, super powers included. That’s right, Greek gods are no myth! If Phoebe thought high school was hard, she knows this is going to be mortal misery.

Securing that scholarship seems like Phoebe’s only ticket out of Greece, but training and maintaining her grades will be grueling, even without a sabotaging stepsister from Hades and a gorgeous guy—what a god!—who just might be her Achilles heel. One thing is for sure—summoning the will to win and find her place among the gods could be Phoebe’s toughest course yet.

Oh.My.Gods is a fun, fresh venture into Greek mythology. It had a nice flow to it, the characters were totally faboosh, and the plot line was definitely unique. Gods and mythological characters are portrayed at their best, from what little we read of them. We even get to read a cameo of The Apple of Discord!

We're introduced to Phoebe flushed with happiness after she wins a race, and then we're presented with the contrast right after that when her mum announces their move to Greece.

Personally, I thought Phoebe's mum is very irresponsible. It's contradicting; she's supposed to be a therapist (yknow, someone who dwells on stuff, and thinks and talks about things through nonstop) and then out of the blue, after a week long visit to Greece to visit her late husband's family, she comes back with a new husband and announces to Phoebe that hey! They're moving to Greece, halfway across the world, just because she got marrried. Sorry Phoebe, but you definitely have to come with.

SAY WHAT?!
O_O

That was my reaction for the first part of the book. By the way she was acting, I couldn't imagine Phoebe's mum as someone motherly at all. It seemed like Phoebe was the one who takes care of her. I'm not sure if that's what Tera Lynn Childs wants the character to be portrayed, but that's how I felt. Her stepfather too seemed a little insensitive in the beginning, but I suppose I can chalk that up to honeymoon jitters.

Then I got over that, because heck yeah! There is definitely much more to the story than Phoebe's new parents' romance. Soon after, they arrive at the secret island (which I'm not going to name, because it's you know, sekrit) and that's when the fun really begins. Phoebe finds out that her stepfather and stepsister are decendents of gods, along with everyone else at the school she's attending. Be it faculty or students, all of them are descendents of gods, with superpowers to boot!

Phoebe is someone without a god in her lineage, so she's immediately labelled an outcast: a nothos, or in less polite terms, a kako. In a place where people click together based on their lineage, it's tough for Phoebe to make friends, especially since there are no other nothos there. Lucky for her, two of the students, Nicole and Theo, don't follow the social norm and they become fast friends.

The ending is predictable (but who cares? :D)and seemed a bit rushed somehow. Things seemed to be wrapped up too neatly, with the exception of Nicole's story. The part about Griffin: I'll say this once: Phoebe was too easy on him. I was kind of weirded out to see that their relationship didn't progress much in OMG, and yet they got together? Odd.

It was just so easy to enjoy OMG! The characters just seemed to come to life, each of them full to the brim with personality and candor. My favourite character has to be Theo, Phoebe's friend. I can't list down the ways I love him, he's just so awesome and lovable! As for Phoebe's other friend, Nicole, I can't wait to find out the mystery about her in the sequel, Goddess Boot Camp.

Bloggiesta Final Summary

Done

• Hours spent: 48 hours (I'm trying to live up to Natasha's expectations.)
• Comments: 180. For the blogs I haven't commented on: I'm sorry! I'll comment later, but for now I really am going to sleep. School starts in... 6 hours. Check below or click here to get actual summary of comments posted.

Bloggiesta Update: 52h 02 minutes

1431h: Writes reviews manually outside. The weather was perfect too! What a great way to stay in on a Saturday.

In My Mailbox 9

This week was a pretty good week!

Bloggiesta: Mini Challenges Post

Challenges

• Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog
  Getting out from underneath the feed reader.

Bloggiesta Update: 30h 27 minutes

Hey everyone! How are you guys holding up? :D

Something that you might be interested in: Here's a new Blogger widget that counts the number of posts and comments you have.

Bloggiesta Update: 26h 01 minutes

2127h: Editing the blog roll.
0304h: Only halfway through blog roll editing. Is grumbling at all the editing. Does review for Oh.My.Gods manually.

Bloggiesta Update: 14h 40 minutes

To do list:
Reviews

Bloggiesta Update: 13h 27 minutes

>0800h: START! I'm blogging this while trying to figure out what to do. I think I'm going to add a bunch of blogs to my blog list. It has about 1000 blogs on there, so updating is going to take time.

Bloggiesta starts NOW.

It's is now 7.55am.
Now 8am! START!

"What's On Your Desk" Wednesdays

'What's On Your Desk?' Wednesday is a weekly meme created by Sassy Brit over at book blog Alternative Read. Click on the image for the rules. Tagged by the lovely Jo from Ink and Paper. Thanks Jo!

Writing Circle, Square Triangle

November Rain

Bloggiesta!

ARE YOU IN?

Hosted by Natasha at Maw Books Blog, here are the details:

What to do during the Bloggiesta?

The Sacred Sin by Estevan Vega (+ giveaway!): Closed

Title: Here	Loved it	Graded
Author: Estevan Vega
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Elements: Horror
Series: Stand alone?

Jude Foster is on the verge of a mental breakdown. A world weary and jaded cop, he's seen too much in too short a time. It's been a year since his partner tried to kill him and things have gone seriously downhill since then.

Tormented by his inner demons, all Jude wants is to leave the past behind and move on. When a new case opens, Jude jumps at it. When he gets to the crime scene, he fins that the body bears no hint of murder upon it, yet that's clearly what happened. The only clue is a cross that is somehow etched, almost like a birthmark, on the body.

Armed with a brand new (unwanted) partner, he finds that the case is not as open and shut as he thinks it is. With no lead, how are they supposed to proceed with the investigation?

Another body soon appears.

And another.

In order to stop the killer and solve the case, Jude must confront his past. But how can one stop a killer who's slaying his victims by stealing their souls?

"Do you think you're crazy?"

This is a very dark, gritty, no holds barred tale. We're brought into the twisted world Jude Foster lives in. He's a tired detective who covers up his true feelings behind sarcastic remarks and wise cracks. After his partner tried to kill him a year ago, Jude has turned numb against the crimes of the world. There's a scene where he kills a teenager who was holding an old man hostage. It made me squirm a little, the cold bloodedness of the act.

There's a sense that Jude had been an excellent detective, so it was heartbreaking to see him deteriorate as the story progressed. That's not to say that Jude is uncaring; on the contrary, he feels guilt and even cries at the death of the teenager. But the fact that he's the one who committed that murder, even while protecting an innocent... it bugged me.

I liked reading this. It was different. I also liked the fast pace and the fact that there was close to zero purple prose in there. It gets straight to the heart of the matter, so perhaps that was why the previous scene affected me so much. The supernatural factor was one of the things that kept me engaged and reading the book till the end, along with the question that maybe all of this wasn't actually supernatural, but the creations of Jude's mind.

The witty, engaging dialogue kept me entertained, especially the banter between Jude and his new partner, Rachel. She's the one character who really appealed to me, a breath of fresh air in a sea full of messed up characters. And it was really nice to see her show Jude that there is some good in life too.

Here's my favourite scene in the book. Eliam is a priest who loves to curse and/or blasphemise. Being that Jude and Eliam's meetings only take place in the church where Eliam is staying at... Tsk tsk. Naughty priesty.

Eliam nearly leapt in his skin. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“This is a church; I came to talk to a priest.”
“You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Jude smirked. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you curse.”
“Don’t be silly. Everyone knows hell is not a curse; it’s a place.”

While there's a sense of closure, the ending is not pretty and it's not meant to be. All in all, if you like dark, gritty tales with a dash of the supernatural, here's the perfect book for you.

Giveaway!
Estevan has very nicely offered a signed copy of The Sacred Sin up for grabs. What you have to do is simple:
+1 Leave a comment, with your email.
+1 What's the darkest book you've ever read?
+3 Why? (at least 50 words)

Ends June 19th.
Open to US and Canada only, no P.O. boxes.
For the international giveaway, you can check it out here. And yes, you can request The Sacred Sin as a book you want to win.

In My Mailbox 8

This is just a collection of books from the past few weeks or so. :)

TTT6

Thanks everyone! ♥

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev

Title: Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I	Loved it	Graded
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Elements: Theatre
Series: Book 1 of the Eyes Like Stars series

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.
That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right
NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.
COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.
ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.
BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

So I was having a pretty hard time writing a review for any of the books I've read for the 48 hour book challenge. Then I realised it was due to my excitement at finishing Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars. -.-

Here's the review before I go all Twilight fangirl on you.

Michievious, strong willed Bertie Shakespeare Smith has lived in the Theatre Illuminata for as long as she can remember. Her friends and family are the cast and crew of the stage. After one in a long run of miscreant doings, Bertie is asked to leave the Theatre. Now Bertie must prove that she belongs in the Theatre with the rest of them. But with only four days to "make an invaluable contribution", can Bertie do it?

I fell in love with this book so fast, it's magic. ;) This is one of the most imaginative and unique books I've ever read in all of my life. I loved everything about it: the setting, the plot, the characters (Oh, Ariel!). Every. Single. Thing.

It was hard to put down this book, and I found myself reading it as slowly as possible so as to absorb every nuance and emotion written. It's THAT captivating. It was lighthearted and just so much fun to read! The writing is fluent, witty and fast paced.

Bertie's best friends, the four faeries from A Midsummer Night's Dream, are just too cute! They complement Bertie well, supporting her without fail in everything she does and lifting her spirits up whenever she was down. I liked both Nate and Ariel, but I have to say I prefer Ariel much more.

It was nice to see different aspects of Shakespeare's characters. My only Shakespeare experience is the summarised version of Hamlet (about 25 pages?) so it was awesome to get to know more of his plays. I feel like a bard now! *nods sagely*

I think I'll stop with the gushing now. I need the sequel PRONTO. I'm aware that the book is on sale on July 7th. You, yes you, should definitely pick this up! Pre order it here!

As for me, I'm definitely picking up a copy or two (do they sell it in Singapore on 7th July? Must check.) and holding a contest if the response is positive. What do you think? Want it? Leave a comment. :P

Girls In Trucks by Katie Crouch

Title: Here	Loved it	Graded
Author: Katie Crouch
Genre: Comtemporary
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Elements: Southern
Series: Stand alone

Sarah Walters, the narrator of GIRLS IN TRUCKS, is a reluctant Camellia Society debutante. She has always felt ill-fitted to the rococo ways of Southern womanhood and family, and is anxious to shake the bonds of her youth. Still, she follows the traditional path laid out for her. This is Charleston, and in this beautiful, dark, segregated town, established rules and manners mean everything.

But as Sarah grows older, she finds that her Camellia lessons fail her, particularly as she goes to college, moves North, and navigates love and life in New York. There, Sarah and her group of displaced deb sisters try to define themselves within the realities of modern life. Heartbreak, addiction, disappointing jobs and death fail to live up to the hazy, happy future promised to them by their Camellia mothers and sisters.

When some unexpected bumps in the road--an unplanned birth, a family death--lead Sarah back home, she's forced to take another long look at the fading empire of her youth. It takes a strange turn of events to finally ground Sarah enough to make some serious choices. And only then does she realize that as much as she tried to deny it, where she comes from will always affect where she ends up. The motto of her girlhood cotillion society, "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia," may turn out to have more wisdom and pull to it than she ever could have guessed.

Readers get to follow Sarah Walters from her early innocent years training to be a Southern debutante in Charleston to her adult, jaded years in New York and back again.

This novel doesn't feel like a story somehow, but more of a collection of short stories. It's touching and painful (very painful), even funny, to read about Sarah's misadventures in life. One of the things that really stood out was how much problems Sarah had in her relationships! It's a whirlwind of disasters, from her fixation on an abusive ex-boyfriend to a forced relationship with someone she is not attracted to.

It's not my type of novel. Seeing Sarah's life journey was interesting, but I'd have loved it if Katie Crouch gave us more of an insight into Sarah's thoughts rather than just gloss over the surface of her experiences.

At times Sarah made me so frustrated with how she dealt with things that I wanted to smack her and prompt her to do something. She was just so self destructive! It was like watching a trainwreck: horrifying but you just can't stop watching to see what happens. Other times I wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

And the ending? It just didn't seem like enough of a conclusion, but I guess that's just how life is. Still, I can't deny that Katie Crouch has a distinctive style of writing. It's a good novel, but I just wasn't satisfied.

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Title: Here	Loved it	Graded
Author: Katie Alender
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Hyperion
Elements: Ghosts
Series: Book 1 of a series

Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude. When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening--to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

I thought this was the perfect YA thriller/creepy novel. I loved everything about it. It was haunting, it had hints of romance and it had the one thing I loathe most in the world: creepy dolls. I've been scared of dolls ever since watching the movie Chucky. It probably doesn't help that my sister had LOADS of stuffed toys in her room. Luckily most of them are Pokemon stuffed toys, so phew! She once had this lifesize Teletubbies doll in her room.

It looked like Chucky's mother at night. Brr.

Alexis was hard to relate to at the start. She was just so difficult to everyone! Then as the events rolled on, she became someone I actually admired, being rational and keeping her cool when dealing with Kasey. Most importantly, she manages to keep her mouth in control. I cringed whenever I read scenes with Kasey in it. I didn't know what to expect, and it made me very jumpy.

The pacing worked well for the novel, being neither too slow that things might get draggy, thus ruining the suspense, nor too fast so as to ruin the whole "creep" factor.

Pick this up for a good scare! It's totally unique, and reading about creepy dolls is a nice change from reading about supernatural creatures.

#48hbc Final Summary

My Reading Center, along with a "You can do it! It's only 48 hours!" poster. After every hour done, I add a star on the poster.

#48hbc Update: 53 hours 14 minutes

Hehe, so technically I'm done already. But I couldn't resist one last post with the time updates. I've been feeling pretty hardcore doing this. Even as I tweet, and do the necessities, I'm listening to an audiobook just so I won't lose any time. Tsk! Next year, I hope to be more laid back. Or train myself to be able to read faster and longer with less eyestrain.

(Sob story: It's the holidays, so doing this is really MUCH better than chilling at home. All my other friends are still schooling. ): )

I'll be commenting on everyone's posts today!

#48hbc Update: 48 hours 09 minutes

I'm done!

#48hbc Update: 43 hours 12 minutes

Does no one want to sponsor my cause? ):

#48hbc Update: 30 hours 35 minutes

1945h: Reading Wintergirls.
2113h: Finish Wintergirls. Plugs in earpiece, listens to Airman audiobook again while cleaning room.
0135h: Audiobooking is very restful calming. Decides to blog updates due to passing the 30 hour mark. Is happy with the way things are going. Still very stressed, but happy. Kind of like mugging for an important test.

Anyways.

#48hbc Update: 24 hours 42 minutes

I have survived!
Or more importantly, I am alive!

#48hbc Update: 19 hours 06 minutes

Firstly: YAAAAAAAAAAAWN!

#48hbc Update: 11 hours 02 minutes

0210h: Curled up in bed reading Terrier. Couldn't update due to cautiousness at not being caught using the Internet. Discretion is the key.
0548h: Somewhere there, realises that I've already moved on to Bloodhound. Where's Mastiff when you need it?
0550h: Fatigue sets in. Wants to poke eyes out. Somehow perseveres.
0559h: Opens The Forest Of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Did you know it's an actual place (in the book, I mean)?
0602h: Remembers to update progress.

#48hbc Update: 7 hours 10 minutes in

2141h: Grabbed Oh.My.Gods.
2237h: Changes to Girls in Trucks.
2355h: Finishes GIT with a new best friend, Mister Headache. Thinks speed reading is doing harm rather than wonders. Continues OMG.
0059h: Finishes OMG. Still thinks Phoebe was too easy on Griffin.
0100h: Sees confusing Twitter self-updates. Gets confused. Taking a ten minute break for some human contact. Human contact is overrated. ): Parents angry with amount of internet usage. Chooses Tamora Pierce's Terrier and Bloodhound to read.

#48hbc Update: 2 hours 37 minutes

Time chart

And it starts...

NOW(7pm)!

The Fourth Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge

48 Hour Book Challenge

This is my first time taking part in the challenge and I'm pretty excited! This is a great chance for me to catch up on my sad towering TBR pile and IMM pile. Just had a long sleep (I think I can totally beat Sleeping Beauty, especially during the holidays; I'm like a disgusting slug in hibernation.) so I think I can hold out for 48 hours. :D

Silver Phoenix contest!

Cindy Pon is celebrating her debut novel, Silver Phoenix, with a charming contest. Earn raffles in many different ways, such as spreading the word or writing a review.

What will you win?An original framed brudhpainting by Cindy herself!
A signed copy of Silver Phoenix!

First Ever Contest - Giving Up The V: Closed

This contest is closed.

What’s So Wrong With Waiting?