Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Queen's Library (8)

For Review
Never Enough by Denise Jaden
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Won from Frenetic Reader
Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

Received for Splash Team
Just For Fins bookmarks, tattoos, button (not pictured)

I cannot wait to read Never Enough and Stormdancer! Thanks to S&S, Amazon Vine, Khy, and Tera Lynn Childs!


What did you get this week?


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Friday, June 29, 2012

Book Trailers: Forsaken, No Safety, and Something Strange

The Forsaken – Lisa M. Stasse

Nicely done. I'm very interested in this book!

No Safety in Numbers – Dayna Lorentz

Short, exciting...This book wasn't even on my radar until I saw this trailer, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for this novel. 

I'm also a fan of the Something Strange and Deadly trailer. In order to view it, you have to complete a scavenger hunt (and you can win prizes)! I highly recommend checking it out, the trailer is great!

Have you seen any great book trailers lately?


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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (83) (times 2!)

WOW is hosted by Breaking the Spine

January 22nd, 2013

I was unable to find a summary. I still need to read Hallowed, but I enjoyed Unearthly, so I'm excited for this book! :)

February 12th, 2012
"Reminiscent of the movie Sliding Doors, Pivot Point is about a girl who has the power to Search alternate futures. When faced with a life changing decision, she lives out six weeks of two different lives (in alternating chapters), both holding the potential for love and loss, and must ultimately choose which path she is willing to live through."
Interesting cover + summary! I'm definitely curious about this story. 

What are you waiting on? 


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Monday, June 25, 2012

Review: Once by Anna Carey

Once (Eve #2)
Anna Carey
July 3rd, 2012
368 pages (hardcover)
HarperCollins
Source - Publicist (unsolicited)
When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.
When I first read Eve, I found myself torn - there were aspects I enjoyed and others that frustrated me. With Once, Carey proved herself capable of delivering a strong sequel filled with surprises. There is no sequel slump here. Instead, Eve journeys to reunite with the boy she loves while also discovering that sometimes the right choices are the most difficult ones to make. I'm going to keep quiet on specifics, because this is one story that is better read without knowing the big moments.

Carey's greatest achievement in 
Once is with the characters. Eve battles circumstances that would make anyone want to give up and give in. She's forced to smile and pretend in the City of Sand, even though she's nothing more than glorified prisoner. Her composure is admirable, along with her efforts to aid those that oppose the King. With each new chapter, Eve presses onward to become a stronger, smarter heroine and one worthy of rooting for. A story brimming with deceit, secrets, romance and more, Once is a magnificent sequel. 

Highlights: I was completely captivated by this story and the direction it went. A few of the revelations and twists, like the true reason why the King wanted Eve so badly, had me hooked. There was more to the characters in this story than I expected (especially the King, Arden, Moss1, and Beatrice). I loved the descriptions of the City of Sand, and the ending left me curious for the next novel. 

Lowlights: I felt like Eve and Caleb became a bit reckless with their safety for the sake of the plot and the direction it needed to go. A couple times, they ran headfirst into trouble, despite knowing the possible consequences. 

Rating:  

1 Moss's identity within the city blew my mind, I can't believe I didn't realize it earlier. One of the many great twists in this story!


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Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Queen's Library (7)

For Review
Once by Anna Carey

Won from Pure Imagination
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Free Audiobooks
Irises by Francisco X. Stork
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen

Thanks to HarperTeen for the surprise package, Lori for SLN, and Sync for the wonderful audiobooks!


What did you get this week?


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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (82) (times two!)

WOW is hosted by Breaking the Spine

April 16th, 2013
There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends...and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?
WANT. It sounds so, so good. That cover is also very awesome. I love the raised "K" and the mirrored surface...and the creepy tree.

February 2013
Known amongst locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than The Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld, New Orleans lures Josie in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.
I'm a fan of Between Shades of Gray, so I am extremely excited for another story by Ruta Sepetys. It's bound to be great!

What are you waiting on this week?


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Note: I know the blog has been a bit dead, but posts on YA Book Queen should normalize by Monday -- many of my reviews + posts vanished from my "Draft" section on Blogger, so I'm rewriting them....luckily, some of my reviews are saved in other places, so fortunately, it's going a lot faster than I thought it would. 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Queen's Library (6)

Inspiration for TQL
For Review
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Free Audiobooks
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Many thanks to Ksenia and Macmillan for the review books; Sync, Scholastic Audio, and LA Theatre Works for the audiobooks!


What did you get this week?

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (81)

WOW is hosted by Breaking the Spine

There's an island off the coast of Maine that's not on any modern map. Shrouded in mist and protected by a deadly reef, Trespass Island is home to a community of people who guard the island and its secrets from outsiders. Seventeen-year-old Delia grew up in Kansas, but has come here in search of her family and answers to her questions: Why didn't her mother ever talk about Trespass Island? Why did she fear the open water? But Delia's not welcome and soon finds herself enmeshed in a frightening and supernatural world where ancient Greek symbols adorn the buildings and secret ceremonies take place on the beach at night. Sean Gunn, a handsome young lobsterman, befriends Delia and seems willing to risk his life to protect her. But it's Jax, the coldly elusive young man she meets at the water's edge, who finally makes Delia understand the real dangers of life on the island. Delia is going to have to fight to survive. Because there are monsters here. And no one ever leaves Trespass alive.
"Frightening and supernatural world where ancient Greek symbols adorn the buildings and secret ceremonies take place on the beach at night" -- Hooked me. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this one.

I'm also waiting on...
About a high-school senior, who, in the aftermath of a car accident that kills her boyfriend and throws her carefully planned future into complete upheaval, retreats to the deep woods of Maine to live with the artist father she barely knows and meets a boy who threatens to pull her from her safe, hard-won exile.
I am absolutely in love with that cover (so gorgeous). Plus, it sounds like it could be a touching, memorable story. 

What are you waiting on?


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Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Queen's Library (5)

Purchased
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
(signed, along with my copy of Cinder)

Won (not pictured)
Glow in the dark Through to You wristband
Signed Through To You Bookmark

From the Fierce Reads event
Bookmarks
Temporary Tattoos
Shadow and Bone pins (love these!)
Two Fierce Reads posters autographed by the authors!

Thank you to Emily Hainsworth! Also, many thanks to the lovely Fierce Reads authors for the swag, and for signing an extra poster - click here to enter to win an autographed poster + swag


What did you get this week?


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Friday, June 8, 2012

Autographed Fierce Reads Swag Giveaway

I just got back from a Fierce Reads event (which I highly recommend you attend, if possible!) and the authors were kind enough to autograph a poster for one of you lucky readers...
One winner will receive

Sorry I couldn't include a signed book or two - but sadly, I'm pretty much broke right now (much to my dismay, since I desperately want to read Struck, Monument 14 and Of Poseidon now). Which also, unfortunately, means this is US ONLY. Sorry! 




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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (times two!) (80)

WOW is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Linked by Imogen Howson
S & S Children's Publishing
2013
Elissa discovers her nightmarish visions and inexplicable bruises are caused by a telepathic link to a twin she didn’t know existed. When she helps the girl evade government capture, a Bourne Identity style chase ensues.
I was sold at "Bourne Identity style chase," because I love a good BI style chase. Can't wait to see a full summary... 

***
The Archived by Victoria Schwab
Hyperion
January 2013
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. 

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive. 

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. 
I like the sound of this one, a lot. And the cover is so eerie & cool!

What are you waiting on? 


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