Releases This Week

      

Goddess Interrupted (Goddess Test #2)  by: Aimee Carter - 3/27/12

Spellcaster (Spellbound #2) by: Cara Lynn Shultz - 3/27/12

The Blood (Morpheus Road #3) by: D.J. MacHale - 3/27/12

Another Jekyll, Another Hyde (Another #3) by: Daniel and Dina Nayeri - 3/27/12

        

Forgiven (Demon Trappers #3) by: Jana Oliver - 3/27/12

Elemental (Elemental #0.5) by: Brigid Kemmerer - 3/27/12

Invisible Sun (Black Hole Sun #2) by: David Macinnis Gill - 3/27/12

Slide by: Jill Hathaway - 3/27/12

      

Sisters of Glass by: Stephanie Hemphill - 3/27/12

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by:Brendan Halpin and Emily Franklin - 3/27/12

Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska by: John Green
Publication Date: March 3, 2005
Publisher: Puffin
Page Count: 221
Format: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon

Summary from Goodreads:

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. 

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction. 

My Review:

When I finally opened this book, I didn't know what to expect. I was blown away. There wasn't  a moment when I wasn't giving Looking for Alaska  my full, undivided attention. 

Attending Culver Creek was the best thing to happen to Miles. He was living an uneventful shell of a high school life. When meeting Alaska, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara he transformed into a person willing to take risks and mess up. It was great seeing him grow into himself like that.


Alaska and Miles had strange and wonderful chemistry. Alaska had a boyfriend in college but honestly I don't think that affected her and Miles much. She was acting bipolar and crazy most of the time, and Miles half-hated her. This made for the one of the most complex relationships I've encountered because the other half of him loved her more.


Alaska was a troubled soul. Still, she is an imprint left on every reader in some way, I think. For me, I got a closer look at what makes people the way they are and learned that every moment can mean a lifetime.

Official Rating:

Five Un-Birthday Cakes!

Review: Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Darker Still by: Leanna Renee Hieber
Publication Date: November 8, 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Page Count: 317
Format: Paperback Original
Series: Magic Most Foul #1
Genre: Historical, Paranormal Romance, Mystery
Buy the Book: Amazon

Summary from Goodreads:

I was obsessed. It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.

My Review:


I have The Picture of Dorian Gray sitting on my shelf and I have yet to read it. Having read Darker Still, I must pick it up soon! I adored the similarity to the Oscar Wilde classic. Usually, I don't prefer books written in diary form, but this one is an exception. The action was replayed in Natalie's words as if it was actually happening right there so the diary form didn't deplete the action.

This setting is New York City in the 1800's. This is probably my favorite time and place pairing in historical fiction. The wonders and perils of the city were portrayed in a fully descriptive and magical way.

Natalie is the type of girl who doesn't fit in anywhere. Mostly it's because she is mute, or so she thinks. I thought that she was just different and fit in with a different crowd. She soon finds that out when she joins the company of Ms. Northe and the life-like painting of Lord Denbury.

I thought it was great for Natalie to be able to talk with the real Denbury and not have to worry about her muteness. This gave her the strength she needed in the outside world. All of the runes and ancient script in Darker Still was so marvelously creepy and intriguing!

When I started the book, I thought it was a standalone, but alas, it will have more books as it is a series. I am utterly excited about it! There were some great hints in this book about the content of the next.  I can't wait to see what comes next in Natalie and Jonathan Denbury's story!

Official Rating:

Four Un-Birthday Cakes!