COVERS: Chantress, Criminal, and Vengeance

One of the first things I notice about a book is it's cover, so I very much enjoy cover-hunting on Goodreads to see if I can find any covers that are new to me. These are a few of the ones I've come across:

         BLAZE                                 THE DIFFERENT GIRL

Awesome pink hair on the left. TDG cover is so odd...I don't really like it, but it does make me wonder about the story. 

 CHANTRESS                                  CRIMINAL

The Chantress cover reminds me of The Faerie Ring, but that's not a bad thing. I quite like the cover, especially the tagline and expressive font. And I love how there's a bullet shooting through the title on Criminal - it's dark, clean, and fascinating. 

            LEGEND                           VENGEANCE BOUND

 

The spray-painted effect change for Legend's cover looks great (and I'm glad they didn't change it too much). I love the sound of Vengeance Bound, but I wish the cover was a bit stronger. 

                  TIDES                          CHOSEN AT NIGHTFALL

I really like the cover for Tides, and how the two seem to reflect one another. And of course, I adore the lighting for Chosen at Nightfall.

Have you spotted any interesting covers?

In My Mailbox (73)

IMM is hosted by The Story Siren

For Review - Kindle book

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Purchased - Kindle bookThe Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan¹Born at Midnight by CC HunterPartials by Dan Wells²
1 Yes, I am a total newbie to this series. The first book was fun, so I can't wait to see where this one goes...2 After reading reviews like the ones on The Book Swarm and I Swim For Oceans, I figured Partials was worth buying. Sounds like such an amazing story!
What did you get this week?


Images from Goodreads

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter (A Shadow Falls Novel #1)

Release: March 29th, 2011

Pages: 416 (paperback)

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Source: Publicist

Summary: 

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever.  Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.”  Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either.  Or does she?  They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason.  As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas.  Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past.  Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…

Review: Born at Midnight is fresh, addictive, and completely spectacular. If you're a fan of YA paranormal fiction, you'll thoroughly enjoy this novel. 

When it comes to a third person narrative, it can be a hit or a miss for me, and C.C. Hunter nailed it perfectly. I cared about Kylie, found myself agreeing with her most of the time, and relating with her utter "newness" to the supernatural aspects of her life. The supernatural characters truly surprised me, and I loved learning about all the different sorts of gifts they have - I especially adored Kylie's roomies as the story went on. 

The romance aspect was intriguing. For a few chapters, I was genuinely curious who Kylie was going to set her sights on. There's even a bit of a mystery mixed into the plot, along with the tribunals of friendship, family, and the complications that go on with being a teen trying to find yourself. For being such a supernatural story, it was shockingly easy to relate with. From vampire roommates and pesky shape-shifting boys, all of the characters were unique and fun to read about.  

Supernaturalness + Boys + Kittens + Odd Friends + Dysfunctional Families + Humor + Mystery + Camp = Born at Midnight. Seriously, give this book a chance because it just may surprise you. It's 100% fun to read. 

Highlights: There's a few surprising moments and revelations at the end, and I loved one of the two romances Kylie starts building. I know which guy I'm rooting for in the end, so I'll be happily awaiting book two. And if I'm being completely honest, Born at Midnight rekindled my love for supernatural/paranormal stories (a genre I was contemplating setting aside for a few months in favor of something else - I'm so glad I didn't set this book aside). 

Lowlights: A bit predictable here and there, which is to be expected. The plot and amount of characters seemed a bit chaotic and too much to handle at first, but once I got into the story, I couldn't get enough of everything. 

Rating:   

In My Mailbox 44

IMM is hosted by The Story Siren, inspired by Pop Culture Junkie

Books from last few weeks: 

For Review

Almost True by Keren David (so excited to read this!)

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab ARC

Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens (won from RB)

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter + Bookish Swag 

(Pen, two mini notepads, compact hairbrush/mirror! So cute!)

All You Get is Me by Yvonne Prinz

Bought

Matched by Ally Condie (my review)

She's So Dead To Us by Kieran Scott (my review)

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney 

(signed to me with a very nice note - and I recommend going to Daisy's events if you can!)

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand 

(I couldn't resist buying it signed - it was too tempting!)

Kindle Freebies

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Thank you so much to Deborah from Disney Hyperion for sending two fabulous books, Jessica, Eileen, Random Buzzers/Random House, Stephanie Dray and Kayleigh, and to Yvonne Prinz and HarperCollins :)