Peering through the glass at Ethan Wate

Here's Ethan from Beautiful Creatures to tell you more about himself and the small town of Gatlin. Hello Ethan, it’s nice to meet you. Will you tell us more about yourself?
I live on chocolate milk and sugar. I like to read- comics at school, real books at home. Snow Crash and Slaughterhouse Five are two of my favorites. My best friend is a crazy drummer, except he’s better at the crazy part.

Describe Gatlin the three words.

Winners of TUG Gift Cards

Yatta!

Congrats to:

Defenders of The Scroll by Shiraz

Title: Defenders of The Scroll	Loved it	Graded
Author: Shiraz
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: iUniverse
Elements: -
Series: Stand alone

When Alex "the Axeman" Logan is pulled from his world to help young princess Dara save her kingdom from the Shadow Lord, he thinks there has been a mistake. He's a teen guitar player close to failing 11th grade, not some defender of the realm. All he has are some school books, his wits, and his love of fantasy movies.

Overnight his life is history. Alex must confront the Shadow Lord and his minions when he is thrust into a land that has changed from a magical paradise to a barren, hopeless, helpless realm invaded by a dark army.

But Alex is not alone. He has the help of Dara, a magic scroll, and a band of unlikely companions drawn from his own history books: a hardened Roman Legionnaire, a swift Japanese Samurai, a mighty African Warrior, a fiery Amazon Archer, and a spirited Shaolin Monk. Can Alex become more than he believes and lead his small band of Defenders to the Hall of Shadows, the birthplace of the Shadow Lord? The fate of the realm and everyone in it rests on him.

Defenders of The Scroll has everything you'd want in a YA fantasy/ adventure book. It has my favourite parts of a book in it: action and adventure and excitement, with great mythology, history, legend and lore.

Just like the full title says.

The cover is gorgeous, but very misleading. My first thought was that the storyline would be something akin to a video game's plotline, but I was wrong. We're first introduced to the king of Mythos and his daughter Dara. The king is the epitome of what all future kings should aspire to be like: powerful, kind and just, kind of like Albus Dumbledore but with a title.

So this king, he had a great idea: to banish all the evil to a sekrit place called Shadow Hall, hidden deep within a forest. One day, all hell breaks loose, and the Shadow Hall takes on a life of its own, and guess who the main course is?

Yep. The King of Mythos. Om nom nom.

Dara then finds out that he left her a sekrit scroll. As this is a sekrit scroll, it has a great magical power: the ability to summon people! Dara uses this scroll to summon the leader of the Axeman to help her, but instead accidentally calls up Alex, the leader of the band Axeman...and just a teenager.

While Alex is in many ways just your normal, everyday teenager, he proves himself to be a handy person to be around, using his skillz and wit to help protect Dara and the scroll.

This book has such a great plot and action, and amazingly likeable characters. I won't reveal any spoilers, because this book is just that awesome and I'd rather you find it out for yourself firsthand. I wish though, that there was a more complete ending, with a better resolution. What is this "So ends book one" ending?

Stoopid cliffhanger.

Now let me talk about the actual book itself, not the story. I've already said that the cover is gorgeous. When you open the book, it's just amazing. The design is such that it's like we're reading from an actual scroll, but without the iffy writing and language. Then you add in the illustrations, which were apparently drawn by Steve Criado. It's a great package, illustrations, design and of course, the story.

10 Reasons Why: The Books of Faeries by Maggie Stiefvater

10. Bloodthirsty faeries. With all the fairy books out there, it's nice to read one where the bad guys are just deliciously evil. Voldemort was creepy, cold evil. The baddies here are fun, clown like evil. That's bad.

TENtalizing Tidbits: Julie Kagawa

Here's one of the coolest authors I have ever had the pleasure of talking to. Let's welcome Julie Kagawa, author of The Iron King! Hit it, Julie! (Click on the picture of the cover for an up close and personal look at its awesomesauce.)

Vamped by Lucienne Diver

Title: Vamped	Loved it	Graded
Author: Lucienne Diver
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Flux
Elements: Vampires
Series: Book 1 of a series

Top Five Perks of the Vamp Life
1. Eternal youth and beauty rocks!
2. Free clothes. Hey, might as well embrace the dark side.
3. Going vamp turns geeks, like my new boyfriend Bobby, into studs.
4. No need to breathe, except when a dramatic sigh or a heaving chest is called for.
5. Superhuman powers, like I can totally spot a hot Versace skirt a mile away - literally!

Top Five Drags of Vamping Out
1. No reflection! Oh well, I'll just have to sire my own entourage to confirm my hotness.
2. An all-liquid diet and no tanning options.
3. This vampy queen Mellisande who's taken an interest in my boyfriend.
4. Pointy-stick phobia.
5. Getting locked up by skanky Mellisande, who's transforming the entire high school into her own personal vampire army. The nerve!

I’m used to vampire books that are full of brooding main characters, bemoaning their lack of soul, life and friends. Vamped was different.

Usually, this would be a good thing.

Readers are first introduced to Gina as she wakes up and finds herself stuck in a coffin. She doesn’t panic, and after some quick thinking, deduces that she is dead and now a vampire. The obvious conclusion: if she’s dead and not a zombie, she’s definitely a vampire. Right?

After clawing her way out, she meets Bobby, the chess geek turned hottie who turned her into a vampire unintentionally after their one and only make out session. Their relationship was unrealistic to me, with them somehow claiming ownership of one another, and initially nothing other than that one make out session to call a "relationship".

Things take a turn for the worst as Mellisande, or “Smelly Melli” as Gina calls her, kidnaps both of them in her plot to have her very own vampire army, located under… wait for it… the high school.

I’ll stop here and say that I had to put Vamped down a few times just to get over the whole feeling of absurdness. It’s not the plot, the plot was fantastic. Another time, I would have loved the whole plot about an undead fashionista trying to save the world. It was reminiscent of the Queen Betsy “Undead and Un…” series by MaryJanice Davidson, except that the protagonist was a teenager in high school instead of a female in her twenties. It wasn’t the writing either. The writing and dialogue were witty and there were some good laugh out loud moments when I went “Oh, snap!”.

It was the characters and lack of a backstory.

One of the main things that matter to me when reading a story is the characters. How do the main characters interact with the other characters? How do they interact with their surroundings? How do they react when they are thrust in new situations?

No matter how good the writing is, how stellar the plot, it's not enough if the characters are flat, one dimensional and don’t have any sort of growth over the length of the story. And to see if there is growth in a character, there needs to be a backstory.

I couldn’t see any sort of growth in either Gina or Bobby, or between Gina and Bobby. This is mostly due to the lack of backstory for me to relate to. What I did see was that Gina took the initiative to stand up for herself and lead a revolution while the others just sat down and took what was given to them. But without something to compare to see whether she improved from when she was alive, or if she was naturally a leader, it just felt lacking and left me feeling out of sorts.

An Apple Pie a day...

Hey there Christophe! It’s nice to finally meet you. *swoons* How are you?
Christophe Reynard: Busy. It's not easy having all your friends try to kill you. I guess that makes them not your friends. But I knew that.

Can you tell us more about yourself?
What is there to tell? I am Kuoroi, and I'm passing good at killing nosferat. Unfortunately, I'm apparently not so good at protecting a certain foolhardy svetocha. But I'm about to remedy that.

Describe yourself--what is your best quality? What is your worst?

Chicks dig guys in gloves, or so Graves says

Hi there Graves! May I call you that?
Graves: It's my name. Sure. Go ahead.

How’re you doing?
Well, Jesus. At the end of the third book I'm not a happy camper. To say the least.

Tell us more about yourself.
I'm not interesting. I was going to be a physics professor and I got bit by a werwulf. But I met someone interesting and I got the hell out of my hometown, so I guess it balances out.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen Dru do?

TENtalizing Tidbits: Karen Kincy

Let's welcome Karen Kincy as she talks about the new cover for Other, out in 2010. (Click on the picture of the cover for all its full glory. Check out that tiny werewolf in the corner!)

What was your first reaction upon seeing the cover?

Betrayals Launch Contest: Closed

This contest is CLOSED.

Interview With a Vampire... uhh, Lili St Crow

Kicking off Betrayals/Lili St Crow week is Lili herself! Also known as Anna Beguine, the author of the Dante Valentine series for adults is here to talk about her YA series, Strange Angels.

Hi Lili! Thanks so much for agreeing to take part in this interview!
Lili St Crow: Thanks for having me.

Pitch Strange Angels, Betrayals and Jealousy to us in three separate one liners.
Strange Angels: Girl's dad gets turned into zombie, she discovers she's not quite human, and she has to figure out who's trying to kill her. Betrayals: Dru's at a school full of werwulf and djamphir boys; but it's not where she's supposed to be and then the vampires show up. Jealousy: Girls are mean, and half-vampire girls are meaner.

When and how did the idea of Strange Angels come about? How did it go from there to publication?

Hush, Hush Breaking News: Meet Patch!

Credits go to FallenArchangel.

...or Drew Doyon. Check out his portfolio here. The below picture is NSFW/S... but I betcha gonna look.

The Dead Can't Dance by Pam Calabrese MacLean

Title: The Dead Can't Dance	Loved it	Graded
Author: Pam Calabrese MacLean
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Ronsdale Press
Elements: -
Series: Stand alone

With a mother’s touch, a lover’s touch and the sure hand of an undertaker, MacLean compels the reader to take a dangerous look behind every façade, even though we will long to look away. Her women are fierce with their men, protective of their children and abrupt with the world. She observes the minutiae of life with an eye of appreciation, and looks at the grandeur with suspicion.

MacLean’s love poems are blunt instruments, ready to strike: “So far I’ve loved men / whose names are short / for nothing. / Kent. / Luke. / Kirk. / Quick blunt pokes / of sound.”

Throughout these poems, MacLean offers up a solid understanding of what death leaves behind. Death of dreams, death of desire, death of a beloved. Always we are “Left holding nothing, / surprised by the weight of it.”

MacLean’s poems are unforgettable landscapes of grief and tenderness with just enough wicked wit to plunge the reader into new insights on what it means to be alive.

Written in poems, The Dead Can't Dance is a compilation of stories by different women; a scorned lover who's slowly moving on, a daughter who just lost her father and can't let go, an unfaithful wife and more. You'd have thought that it'd be weird reading stories written in the form of poems, but it's not. They evoke such contrasting emotions in the different stories: joy and amusement, and in the next instance, sorrow.

My favourite story in this book has got to be The Ida-Mae Poems. This is the story of a beautiful woman, who from young was obsessed, if not obsessed, then intrigued by sex. Wed to a man couldn't give her any children, Ida-Mae starts having affairs to finally have her children. Here's an example:

Pet Names
Ida-Mae has pet names
for all her lovers,
helps keep straight
who belongs to who.
On each child's birthday
Ida-Mae spends time
remembering the father.

She chuckles
over her last lover,
Catherine-Billy's dad.
Ida-Mae nicknamed him
Bungalow Bill
nothing upstairs
but lord, the basement.

The Dead Can't Dance is a great book. It's a light read, and my favourite part is the fact that it leaves me wondering afterwards, if perhaps there are other hidden meanings that the one I found while reading.

This review is part of the Green Books campaign . Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a  a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

Let's Discuss

Michelle from Galleysmith has a great ongoing discussion going on: YA Literature Fluff or Not? Here's what I have to say:

What’s their definition of fluff? Do they mean fluff because some YA literature aren’t as gritty, world weary or serious as their genre?

In My Mailbox 21

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

Blue Moon by Alyson Noël

Title: Blue Moon	Loved it	Graded
Author: Alyson Noël
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Elements: Resurrection
Series: Book 2 of The Immortals series

Eager to learn everything she can about her new abilities as an Immortal, Ever turns to her beloved Damen to show her the way. But just as her powers are increasing, Damen's are waning.

In an attempt to save him, Ever travels to the magical dimension of Summerland, where she learns the secrets of Damen's tortured past; a past which he has always kept hidden from her.

But in her quest to cure Damen, Ever discovers an ancient text that details the workings of time.

Now Ever must chose between turning back the past and saving her family from the accident that claimed their lives - or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows sicker every day...

Warning: There is a massive amount of spoilers ahead. MASSIVE. Do not continue reading if you have not read Blue Moon. Because what I'm going to say? It's not so nice.

So you still chose to continue reading? Good. Let's start.

Blue Moon starts off with Ever and Damen making out, and Ever not having the guts to cross The Line. It may have been 400 years for Damen (not that he spent that time in celibacy) but for Ever it's only been what? A few months? Considering the fact that Ever was always killed before doing the deed, one would have thought that they'd get it over and done with now that Drina's gone. Still, for Ever, losing her virginity is a big deal. (It should be a big deal.) I'm wondering if they'll ever sleep together. Look at their history, there's bound to be something else stopping them, at least until near the end of the series. Really. Maybe they'll finally do it in Shadowland. Blue Moon? Not so much.

In this case, the barrier comes in the form of jolly newcomer Roman (Romen? What's with all the 'E's?). It's not that there's a love triangle, at least not in the traditional sense. Everyone in their high school likes him, everyone that is, except for Ever. He just rubs her the wrong way. He rubs ME the wrong way too, what with the underlying sleazyness. He's like a pesky, persistant salesman, that guy. Since he came around, Damen's been getting sick and everyone's being buddy buddy with everyone else. For example, Haven becomes buddy buddy with the irritating Stacia who loved to shun her.

And the best part? Everyone loves everyone else...except Ever. They all hate Ever, even her irritating "best friends", who look at Ever like she's some sort of disease. Call me prejudiced, but I always thought that the friendship between Ever and Haven and that-guy-whose-name-I-always-forgot-other-than-the-fact-that-he's-fabulously-gay* rang false.

Their choice to ditch Ever, even if they're being mind controlled, just proves that theory. How easy for them to do that! You'd think that some feeling of loyalty would be there, but no! And oh, that Haven. She's one of the most irritating and horrible best friends I've ever read about. She's always jealous of Ever and wanting what she doesn't have (Roman over Josh, her boyfriend. Hello! Ungrateful, much?), and seriously, the ploy for getting attention is getting old and it. is. just. no. freakin'. excuse. Get over yourself, girl! It's no wonder you're never satisfied!

The storyline continues in that vein for most of the book, and it was a fast read, if vaguely unbelievable and depressing. Ever stops moping around and finally takes it upon herself to find out what's happening, why Damen's being an ass to her ("Damen, who grows sicker every day..." Tsk. Sicker in his mind, maybe. Ass. Is his love for her really that small? Does he just want to get in her pants, because really, that's his first thought after being affected by said mind control.) and everyone's acting all weird. It was hard to read Blue Moon at that part. Ever's feeling of isolation was just so intense that I had to put the book down and spend some time in happy people's company.

The ending left me feeling all sorts of WTF. Ever's considering sacrificing herself to save Damen and the horribestfiends, and she gives touching goodbyes to them. But her aunt Sabine who's been there for her always? Natch. Nothing. Nada. You're not as important to her as those two backstabbing $%^&#@, Sabine. Okay, I won't elaborate so much on the ending.

Alyson Noel is a great writer, and her writing is engaging as always. However, the characters in Blue Moon felt severely lacking to me, whether it's the fact that they deviated so much from the previous book, Evermore,  and did so many things out of the ordinary or the fact that there was no character growth to be seen in some of the cases.

Let's just say that I'm hoping things will turn out better in Shadowland, probably the hell equivalent of Summerland. Things are getting to be so intense, and I'm really hoping that Ever will put Haven in her place, appreciate Sabine more and learn some kick ass fighting moves. And for Damen's sake, stop moping around!

EDIT 17 November 2009: After reading an interview about the research Alyson Noel did for series, I have to say that I'm impressed both by her dedication and visual descriptions in the book. I'd love to see more about how it all works.

*Is there a depressed, emoish gay guy best friend in books? I want to read that book.

TENtalizing Tidbits: Suzanne Young

Suzanne Young, author of The Naughty List, is here today to battle deadlines and a teeny weeny Twitter addiction. Don't tell me she's the only one! *refreshes Twitter* Welcome, Suzanne!

Waiting on Wednesday 5

Firespell by Chloe Neill
As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…

When Lily’s guardians decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.

Darke Academy: Secret Lives by Gabriella Poole

Title: Darke Academy: Secret Lives	Loved it	Graded
Author: Gabriella Poole
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Hodder Children's Book
Elements: Vampires
Series: Book 1 of the Darke Academy series

The Darke Academy is a school like no other. An elite establishment that moves to an exotic new city every term, its students are impossibly beautiful, sophisticated and rich. And the more new scholarship girl Cassie Bell learns about the Academy, the more curious she becomes.

What sinister secrets are guarded by the Few -- the select group of students who keep outsiders away? Who is the dark stranger prowling the corridors at night? And what really happened a year earlier, when the last scholarship girl died in mysterious circumstances?

One thing Cassie will discover is that a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but knowing too much can be deadly!

I opened Secret Lives with trepidation and frankly, low expectations. What would this be, another vampire novel, something like Claudia Gray's Evernight? A poor, spunky but undefeated girl gets a scholarship to an extravagant and posh boarding school which has a darke sekrit. Ooh, where have I heard that before?

The plot was strikingly similar to many novels which I've read. One good thing about Poole's writing is that the characters are vivid. They seem to come to life when you read them. Cassie was slightly unlikeable; her bravado seems like a pretense. Her roommate and best friend, Isabella, was overdramatic and seemed like an exaggerated caricature of the happy go lucky girl, but she had a lot of presence on the novel.

There were some parts I didn't like, such as Cassie thinking about Philip and Jilly Beaton, two people from her past which frankly, I have no idea what they had to do in Secret Lives, except as a build up and a slight back story for Blood Ties, its sequel. The writing was a bit choppy, and it was hard to get into the story. But a good story has a strong pull, and pulled in I was. (Yoda speak. xD) There was a nice balance between Cassie's school days and nights, between her studying in the day (not that there was much to show why she even got the scholarship, she doesn't really seem very smart) and prowling the school grounds at night to find out why some of the students are acting all mysterious. The ending left me pleasantly surprised. I'll reread the story in an entirely different light.

Hush, Hush Launch Contest...WINNERS!

Firstly, I thank you all so much for taking part in this contest, leaving comments non stop. Did you have fun? I had a lot of fun reading your comments, and I'm so proud of you guys for reaching 8107 comments in such a short time! Now that is dedication. Colour me impressed. *applause*

As much as I'd love to bestow a prize to all of you, there can only be one eight.

In My Mailbox 20

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
When the Prom Queen becomes your fairy godmother…
Sixteen year old outsider, Jess Parker, gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join a secret girl power society dedicated to defeating the mean girls of the world. The Cinderella Society guides all new recruits through its top secret ultimate life makeover. It’s all part of preparing them to face down the Wickeds and win. Determined not to let the Cindys down, Jess dives in with a passion. Finally, a chance to belong and show the world what she’s made of.

… be careful what you wish for.