Waiting on Wednesday (61)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers devote a post to an upcoming book release they are particularly looking forward to.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

SCARLET BY MARISSA MEYER

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prise--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

I cannot even begin to describe how unbelievably excited I am for the release of Scarlet. I absolutely adored Marissa Meyer's debut, Cinder, when I read it earlier this year and ever since I have been dying to find out what happens next with Cinder and Prince Kai. And I'm also really excited to meet new characters. From what I've heard from people who've already read it, it's just as good as the first book in the series, if not even better.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer will be published February 5th, 2013 by Feiwel and Friends.

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian (Lux #2)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: August 14, 2012

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon's determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I've sworn him off, even though he's running more hot than cold these days. But we've got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense is here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I'm a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who's got a secret of his own. He knows that's happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I've see someone who shouldn't be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he's never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them--from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

Ever since reading the last page of Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout I have been dying to read Onyx. So when the copy I had on pre-order arrived I couldn't help but start reading it right away. And boy did it deliver. If anything, Onyx was even better than Obsidian. And it was also way hotter.

Katy never thought moving to West Virginia was going to be as crazy as it turned out to be. It doesn't help that her next door neighbors are aliens and that she has been marked by one of them. Because of that, Katy now has to spend all her time with Daemon Black. Which shouldn't be so bad considering how hot Daemon is. But he's also really infuriating and has the ability to really get under Katy's skin. But now Katy has more to worry about than just being attacked by Daemon's enemies, the Arum. Because the Department of Defense has shown up in town and if they find out about Daemon and the other Luxen's abilities, things might get dangerous for everyone involved.

So, um, yeah. About Onyx. Be sure to have a lot of time on your hands when you start reading this book because you will not want to put it down. Unfortunately for me, I made the mistake of picking up Onyx when I only had a few minutes to read and then I kept on wanting to go back to reading it even though I couldn't. What I especially liked about Onyx was that the action started straight off the bat. There was no waiting for something to happen. And as you may have guessed, that action took on many forms. If you thought Obsidian was hot, it was nothing compared to Onyx. Jennifer L. Armentrout really knows how to write those sexy scenes…and how to leave you begging for more once they are over. The story itself was also quite intense. There was a whole lot more happening in Onyx and it kept me turning the pages as quickly as I possibly could. And then I got to the end, and as soon as I read the last word I started wishing I had Opal  already. 

Once again, I absolutely loved that Katy is a book blogger. All the references she made to books and blogging just put a smile on my face and it allowed me to relate to her that much more. Though I can't really say I relate to falling in love with my alien neighbor. Beyond her being a blogger, I love Katy for her determination and her stubbornness, granted the latter has a tendency to get her in tricky situations. And those tricky situations usually tend to involve Daemon in some way. Though because they were tricky, that isn't to say the situations weren't fun. But Daemon. I loved that I got to get in his head a little more. I know why he's doing the things he's doing and even when he's being an ass, it's usually for the right reasons. And the more I saw of Daemon, no matter how infuriating he was, the more I liked him. Because let's admit, he's pretty hard to resist. And Blake had nothing on him.

Onyx was an absolutely thrilling read. With every page I turned, I just kept on wanting more and when it was all over I was practically begging for Opal, the next book. Over the past year, Jennifer L. Armentrout has made a name for herself in YA and books like Onyx only serve to show why her writing has become so popular.

Update!

You may or may not have noticed that I have been somewhat absent for the past couple of weeks. Beyond blog tours that had already been scheduled, I haven't really been posting much. The main reason for that is that I had family visiting, and then I was visiting family and I kept on going from one place to the next. But now I'm back at home and posting should be back to normal this week. Though this week is also when classes start up again for me so things might still be a little hectic. 

But through all of this I have still been reading so I have plenty of books that need to be reviewed. In the coming weeks expect reviews of Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout, 7 Clues to Winning You by Kristin Walker and Entice by Jessica Shirvington. So be sure to keep checking back as posting will be back to what it usually is!

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Confessions of an Angry Girl

Today, as part of her Kismet Blog Tour for Confessions of an Angry Girl I have the pleasure of having author Louise Rozett here on the blog to talk about how her book originally started out. Because you see, Confessions of an Angry Girl didn't start out as a young adult novel, but rather as an adult one. But I'll let Louise Rozett tell you all about that.

The Angry Girl's Origin Story

by Louise Rozett

Confessions of an Angry Girl was originally called Canceled. It was a novel for adults. And a psychological mystery. With an element of magic realism.

Huh?

Yeah, I know! Here’s how it happened.

One day, almost 12 years ago, I was on the subway, looking out the window at the station stops as they went by. Suddenly, a few lines just popped into my head, so I wrote them down in my datebook. (Yes, people still wrote in datebooks back then.) (Okay, yes, I still write in datebooks, on actual paper with an actual pen—just call me Old-School Rozett).

Anyway, here’s what I wrote, more or less:

“The subway doors close, the motion starts, and I think about all the lies I told in the weeks leading up to my disappearance. They just waft through my head, a different one for each stop... The subway is often about lies all by itself. It doesn’t need me to sit there, thinking about what a big, fat liar I am. There are lies all around me. Lies about people’s comfort levels with each other. Lies about what people are reading. Lies about what people are drinking. Lies about where people are going...”

When I got home, I typed up those lines and started writing a story about a woman in her 30s who has what may or may not be a psychotic break after she gets two devastating communiqués just a few minutes apart: a voicemail message that someone she once loved has died, and a wedding invitation from someone else she once loved. What I wrote that day was the first chapter of a novel for adults that I eventually titled Canceled.

I worked on this novel on and off for a long time, and the chapters alternated between the woman in the present, and the woman in high school. At some point, I realized that I was really drawn to the high school character—I worked on her chapters even when I was supposed to be working on the chapters in the present. So I decided to pull out the high school chapters and string them together to see what I had. And that’s when 14-year-old Rose Zarelli really came to life.

I loved writing about high-school Rose—she had a lot to say, and she was really, really mad, all the time. I didn’t even know why at first—it took me a while to figure her out because she wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk. But eventually, we developed a good working relationship and she started telling me how she felt, and why. And I loved the idea of writing about a girl who refused to hide her anger from the world and buy into the notion that girls are supposed to be happy and accommodating and polite all the time. It’s a notion that I feel is still somehow communicated to girls today, despite the fact that in many places in the world (but certainly not all), girls have more freedoms and rights and modes of self-expression than ever before.

So what will happen to those discarded chapters that tell us about Rose as an adult? Will 30-year-old Rose get mad about the fact that I haven’t finished telling her story and start talking to me again?

I wouldn’t put it past her.

It's always interesting to know how stories start out, but keep reading to find out more about what Confessions of an Angry Girl became and for a chance to enter in a pretty awesome giveaway.

Freshman Rose Zarelli has rage issues.

First of all, her father lost his job, took work as a contractor in Iraq…and never came home.

Second, she likes the wrong guy and his super-intense, scary cheerleader girlfriend is now her nemesis.

Third, her fashionista best friend, Tracy, is suddenly infinitely cooler than she is—and talking about losing her virginity. (What?!)

Rose is ahead when it comes to studying for the PSAT, but she’s so far behind socially that she might as well be moving backward. She needs Tracy’s help choosing the right clothes, she likes all the wrong extracurricular activities, and she can’t even make a decision about which photo of her father to put on the memorial website she’s making (and hiding from her adolescent-shrink mother).

With her brother away at college and her mother always locked in her office with her messed-up teen patients, Rose struggles to get through each day without inflicting bodily harm on anyone.

THE GIVEAWAY

Today you have the chance of being entered into two giveaway simply by filling out the Rafflecopter form below. First off, one lucky winner will receive a copy of Confessions of an Angry Girl. Secondly, by simply entering the first giveaway you are entered to win the grand prize pack shown above. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to follow the tour!

Monday, August 27th - Pure Imagination

Tuesday, August 28th Book Birthday - Book and a Latte

Wednesday, August 29th - Emilie's Book World

Friday, August 31th - The Book Cellar

Monday, September 3rd - Supernatural Snark

Wednesday, September 5th - Harlequin Tour Stop

Friday, September 7th - Fictional Distraction

Blog Tour: (You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki

Title: (You) Set Me on Fire

Author: Mariko Tamaki

Publisher: Razorbill Canada

Release Date: September 4, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon.ca / Chapters Indigo

This is a story about college, about fire and also about love.

Allison Lee is seventeen and off to college in the fall. So far, she' s been in love once (total catastrophe) and on fire twice (also pretty bad). Both love and fire have left their scars.

Looking a little more burnt chicken and a little less radiant phoenix, Allison takes up residence in Dylan Hall (a.k.a. Dyke Hall) at St. Joseph's College, where she discovers the true gift of freshman year: the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Miles away from the high school she's happy to leave behind, her all-female dorm is a strange new world, home to new social circles and challenges. Allison still feels like the odd girl out…until Shar appears. Beautiful and blinding Shar quickly becomes the sun at the centre of Allison's universe, drawing her in with dangerous allure. 

Will Allison get burned again? And, if she does, what kind of scars will she earn this time?

(You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki is a book that I hadn't heard anything about until I was asked to be on a the blog tour for it. And even then, I didn't really have any expectations since I didn't know anything about the author. And when I started reading, I realized that there would be more to the story than I originally expected. 

Allison Lee is ready to start over in college. High school wasn't exactly a picnic in the park for her. Especially since she's already been on fire twice. Literally on fire. And she's been burned many times too. But college should be a different experience. And Allison truly believes that maybe this time, things will go her way, especially when she meets the beautiful Shar. With Shar, Allison is ready to let herself fall in love again, let herself be on fire again. But if she's not careful, Allison could get burnt again.

(You) Set Me on Fire was an interesting story to read. For most of the book, I didn't really feel like the story was going anywhere. It always seemed like everything was only about what was on the surface. But the more I read, the more I realized that even though it looked like I was only scratching the surface, there was a whole lot more going on. And that's because (You) Set Me on Fire wasn't so much about the story but a lot more about Allison and how she came to terms with everything. Beyond that, it was really interesting to read a story that took place at college. As a college student myself, it was a lot easier to relate to certain aspects of the story, more so than when the story is taking place in high school. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the book was really more about the characters than it was about the story.

This story was all about Allison. She was the one telling it and she was the one living it. Despite Allison being the main character in this story, it took a while for me to finally grasp who exactly she was. At times it almost felt like the story was more about Shar, which makes sense since Shar was such an important part of Allison's life. In that way, it really was all about Allison since she was all about Shar. But that was a toxic friendship and it was interesting to see Allison work to come to that same conclusion. And the way she eventually found that out to herself was what was most revealing about her character. 

(You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki was definitely an interesting read. I always love reading books that are about the characters instead of the story and this book definitely satisfied that need. And if you're an older YA reader looking for something that takes place in college instead of high school, you may want to give (You) Set Me on Fire a chance.