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Showing posts with label Dystopian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dystopian. Show all posts

Aug 9, 2013

"Mama, Mama, help me get home..."

Today was like a trip down Delirium-memory-lane. When I first read Delirium back in March of 2012, I was blown away by Oliver's beautiful writing. It was poetic, deep, touching, simple, and just... all the pull-at-your-heartstrings things. When I was Googling graphics to use for today's post, I was yet again reminded of how amazing and gorgeous her writing is.

You're probably wondering why I'm out-of-the-blue talking about Delirium and the reason for that is because my good pal, DJ, has something quite awesome to share with all of you, today! I'm serious, it's really awesome! So, without further ado, check it out!

Apr 5, 2013

Rise Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway


Welcome to my stop on the Rise Blog Tour hosted by WovenMyst. For today's stop, I've got Anna Carey here with an awesome guest post on some things she learned from writing The Eve Trilogy.

Also, I've got a giveaway to share with you that I hope you all enter! And now, I hand over it over to Ms. Carey!

About the book:

Rise (Eve, #3)Title: Rise (Eve, #3)
Author: Anna Carey
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: April 2, 2013


How far will you go when you have nothing left to lose?

When she lost her soul mate, Caleb, Eve felt like her world had ended. Trapped in the palace, forced to play the part of the happy, patriotic princess of The New America—and the blushing bride of her father's top adviser—Eve's whole life is a lie. The only thing that keeps her going is Caleb's memory, and the revolution he started.

Now, Eve is taking over where Caleb left off. With the help of Moss, an undercover subversive in the King's court, she plots to take down The New America, beginning with the capital, the City of Sand. Will Eve be able to bring about a new, free world when she's called upon to perform the ultimate act of rebellion—killing her father?

In Rise, Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight as Anna Carey's epic tale of romance and sacrifice in the chilling dystopia of The New America comes to a stunning conclusion.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | IndieBound | Book Depository

Nov 13, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (27): Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi



This meme is brought to you weekly by MizB over at Should Be Reading.


Hmm, look at all that chocolate! Now that the cold weather has set in, I just want warm chocolate-ly yumminess. All that chocolate was definitely a tease, although not of the literary sort, lol. That picture was set there to distract you guys for a bit before I get back to this week's Teaser Tuesday.

May 30, 2012

PRE-BEA BUZZ TOUR: Crewel by Gennifer Albin


BEA is almost upon us - in a week (I think, not too familiar with the date[s]) - and if you guys haven't heard, Crewel is a chosen BEA Buzz Book which is like...totally awesome! So, if you're going to be there, definitely keep an eye out for Crewel and make sure you stop by to meet the insanely awesome, Gennifer Albin!

I found out about Crewel some time in December of 2011, I believe, and the second I found out about it, I wanted to read it right then and there because it just sounded uber amazing!

Crewel (The Crewel World, #1)Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young
Release Date: October 16th, 2012

Crewel (The Crewel World, #1)

Find Gennifer Albin Online: Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Website
Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.
I've had the honor of reading Crewel and let me tell you it certainly does not disappoint! The thing that hooked me super hard about Crewel was the fact that they could weave time with matter! That idea was so intriguing to me that I just couldn't wrap my head around it.


Mar 18, 2012

In My Mailbox (13)


IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie where we post about books we have received during the week via mailbox, local library, or store bought, etc.
________________________________________________



• A Touch Morbid by Leah Clifford (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Hallowed by Cynthia Hand (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Fracture by Megan Miranda (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Everneath by Brodi Ashton (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Timeless by Alexandra Monir (Goodreads | Amazon)
• The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Black City by Elizabeth Richards (Goodreads | Amazon)
• The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin (Goodreads | Amazon)
• The Right & the Real by Joelle Anthony (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Cold Fury by T. M. Goeglein (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (Goodreads | Amazon)
• The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Goodreads | Amazon)
• Masters of the Veil by Daniel A. Cohen (Goodreads | Amazon)

A close up of the ARCS from Putnam


• Angelfire/Wings of the Wicked bookmarks
• Ten bookmarks
• A manuscript that I'm beta reading for the awesome Cait from Writer's Wanderings
• A CD of Alexandra Monir's book playlist for Timeless

Now, the copies of Angelfire, Wings of the Wicked, Incarnate, Everneath, Unearthly and Hallowed have already been featured in previous IMMs but I got them back yesterday from Katie over at Mundie Moms after she did me a huge favor by taking them to a Pitch Dark Days tour stop to get them signed for me!





Reapers, did ya see that? I'm her favorite! ;)


The three books below are also signed copies that I won in giveaways!



________________________________________________ 

Overall, it has been a pretty epic mail box week. I received my Dark Days Book and the Putnam ARCs just yesterday but the other books arrived earlier in the week or the previous week.  I am beyond excited to get to all of these awesome books!

A ginormous thank you to Putnam, Katie B., Cait, Amy from the YA Sisterhood, HarperCollins, Alexandra, Daniel, and Angela from Reading Angel!

Whew, it took me a decade and a day to get those photos formatted correctly! Anyway, it would be an understatement to say that I am excited to read all of these pretties; I've got enough to keep me occupied for a while! Eep! So, my awesome lovely bookworms, what did all of you receive this week? Leave your links or a comment below and I will surely check out your load!

Happy Sunday everyone! Omgomgomgomg, Sunday! Aah, the Walking Dead finale is tonight! WOOT WOOT!

Mar 15, 2012

Book Review: Pandemonium

Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)Title: Pandemonium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 28th, 2012

Find Lauren Oliver Online: Twitter | Website | Blog | Facebook
I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.
My $0.02

I didn’t think I was going to be this affected by this book.  Everyone has a number one most favorite book.  Well, that book became your number one most favorite because there was something about it that touched you personally or something about it that tugged and hooked onto you—hard.  After you find a book like that and the feelings you felt when you read it, you’re constantly on the search for the next book that will deliver that same high to you—a higher high than that favorite book, even.  My point is, those kinds of books are rare.  You can read a thousand books and all of them could become your favorite but only a small percentage of those would be your most favorite; you’ll like all of them but you’ll only love a few of them.  Okay, I shouldn’t make this such a general statement because I’m not sure about anyone else but for me, this is true.

It’s no secret that Delirium, very quickly, became one of these books for me.  Something about everything in those 441 pages that made it unforgettable.  The words tumbled out of the pages and whispered sweet nothings into my soul (no joke!) and before I knew it, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t not love this amazing series.  So, of course I was very eager to dive head first into Pandemonium.  When I start the next book in a series, I get bored—sometimes.  For example, with the way how Delirium ended, I wanted to open up Pandemonium and get taken right back to the very second where Lena was before my eyes swam across that last word in Delirium.  But naturally, that didn’t happen.  Various times during my reading of Pandemonium, I kept searching for that little thing that would stand out to me and make it better than Delirium and overall, Pandemonium was highly enjoyable but for some reason, it was…slow to me.  I was looking for that spark that would pull me back in whenever I lost a little bit of interest.

Oliver distributed those “sparks” perfectly—right when I was going to close the book and stop my reading for the night, I was pulled in for another few pages that turned into one more chapter, three more chapters, five more chapters—un. put. down. able!  The slowness for me came when Lena took us back to the then parts of the book, which is ironic because at the beginning, I wanted so badly to know what happened to her after…the ending in Delirium.  All of this was overlooked as I got to the ending.  I knew from many people that the ending in Pandemonium was going to be a killer; I prepared myself, or at least, I tried to.  But no matter how much I tried to prepare myself, when I got to that very last page, the tears came and came and came and came.  I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I became hysterical; my hands were shaking, I ran out of breath, I was making weird shrieking noises—I was a mess. I couldn’t and I still can’t even comprehend…deep sigh.

Pandemonium definitely had a different feel to it than Delirium.  I’m not the biggest fan of dystopians and I guess one reason why I love Delirium so much is because it didn’t really feel like a dystopian to me, not completely.  But when I got to Pandemonium, those dystopian factors were very present and it kind of drew me away from the story.  A lot of bombs were dropped into the plot; Oliver has a way of hinting at them as you read but they’re so vague you hardly pay any attention to them so when they’re brought to light, you’re dumbfounded, left speechless.  I didn’t see a bunch of them coming but after they were explained the oooh effect set in.  Also, Oliver has a way of creating the biggest impact of the entire book on the very last two pages of both books.  So, I highly recommend you staying away from those two pages because without a doubt, you will be spoiled rotten if you flip to them, even accidentally, so don’t even think about looking back there.

Everything that happens in Pandemonium builds you up for the earth-shattering ending.  When people say that the ending will kill you, trust them because they know what they’re talking about!  Pandemonium is a swirl of crazy emotions: angst and confusion and happiness and pain and sadness and cold-heartedness, and so many other emotions that I can’t even identify right now.  Needless to say, Oliver has made a crazy, obsessive fan out of me and I absolutely cannot wait for Requiem—I’ll seriously do anything to get my hands on a copy. Anything, I tell you!  I can’t even believe that we have to wait basically a whole year until we get to see that pretty on shelves! WAAAH!  Anywho, read Pandemonium, stat!  If you’ve read Delirium and you still haven’t gotten to Pandemonium…well, then you’re crazy and I can’t be friends with a crazy! ;) Trust me, read it…because you’ll fall insanely in love with it!  You will, I dare you not too!


Links to purchase Pandemonium: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Mar 13, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (15)


This meme is brought to you weekly by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

Anyone can play along, just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and the author, too, so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR List if they like your teaser!
I really suck at the two line thingy, no surprise (if you look at all my TT, they're hardly ever just two lines), but this week, I'm really pushin' it. Also, instead of just one teaser, I have two for all of you awesome sugah muffins!

My 1st Teaser
But it's not just me. Everything looks beautiful. The Book of Shhh says that deliria alters your perception, disables your ability to reason clearly, impairs you from making sound judgments. But it does not tell you this: that love will turn the whole world into something greater than itself. Even the dump, shimmering in the heat, an enormous mound of scrap metal and melting plastic and stinking things, seems strange and miraculous, like some alien world transported to earth. In the morning light the seagulls perched on the roof of city hall look like they've been coated in thick white paint; as they light up against the pale blue sky I think I've never seen anything so sharp and clear and pretty in my life. Rainstorms are incredible: falling shards of glass, the air full of diamonds. The wind whispers Alex's name and the ocean repeats it; the swaying trees make me think of dancing. Everything I see and touch reminds me of him, and so everything I see and touch is perfect.
- Page 261-262, Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium (Delirium, #1)I could have easily stopped this quote after the third sentence and it would have gotten my point across but I didn't just want to share with you one of my favorite quotes from Delirium, I wanted to share with you the beauty and elegance and simplicity of Lauren Oliver's writing. Those lines that are colored are a few examples of what I love most about Oliver's writing. <333

As some of you know, I just finished Delirium on Sunday and boy, am I still on that high or what! Delirium doesn't leave you with a feeling of, "WOW! THAT WAS AMAZING!" It's more like, "Wow. That was breathtaking." There's a subtle difference. ;) It's just too good to pass up!

My 2nd Teaser
Old words; words that nearly brought me to my knees.
Life free or die.
Four words. Thirteen letters. Ridges, bumpes, swirls under my fingertips.
Another story. We cling tightly to it, and our belief turns it to truth.
- Page 86, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)I don't even have to say anything about that one. Just know that right now, where I'm at in the story, I'm all sorts of sad. The way how Delirium ended to the way how Pandemonium started...I just...have the strongest gloomy, melancholy feeling hovering above me - I can't shake it! I've become emotionally, mentally and maybe even physically involved in Lena's story that it's become a part of me.

I've heard/read from everyone who has read Pandemonium that it ends with a killer cliffhanger; that makes me scared and excited. As I'm reading, I'm trying to come up with various scenarios as to what could possibly occur on that last page of the book...just so I won't be too shocked...but who am I kidding? We all love those little jaw-dropping surprises! ;)

As if it's not obvious enough, I'm knee-deep into this crazy world that Lauren Oliver has created and...quite frankly, I don't wanna leave it. For a while. But I guess I could spare a little time to check out your Teaser Tuesday, if I must, so leave your link below and I'll be by.

Happy Tuesday!
And because I'm feeling inspirational...or whatever.










Mar 11, 2012

Book Review: Delirium

Delirium (Delirium, #1)Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 1st, 2011

Find Lauren Oliver Online: Twitter | Website | Blog | Facebook
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
My $0.02

Wow, Delirium is nothing short of amazing!  I knew before I even started reading that everyone loved it for a reason and sure enough, every good thing anyone said about it was the truth.  It didn’t take long for me to get wrapped up in the words and the beauty of Ms. Oliver’s writing.  Every few paragraphs, the descriptions that Oliver delivered just left me breathless.  I wanted to take a highlighter and light every single word up!  Oliver’s writing flowed together and it was soft and gentle with the truth swimming beneath it all.

It was a trip to read about amor deliria nervosa—what it is, what it does, what it means—I couldn’t wrap my head around it.  I just knew that I kept thinking, “Wow, Lauren Oliver is a pure genius!”  To take this idea of love, something so common to us, and twist it into something so forbidden…just blew my mind away and up into the clouds, into little pieces of nothingness.

Here we are, introduced into this world where without love, all is good in the world.  It’s drilled into everyone’s minds that love, is the deadliest of all deadly things.  Lena can’t wait to get cured so she can be happy…because that’s what they’ve drilled into her.

            Unhappiness is bondage; therefore, happiness is freedom.
            The way to find happiness is through the cure.
            Therefore, it is only through the cure that one finds freedom.

While I’m reading this, my mind’s going off and shouting, “What the eff? What kind of BS is that?!” But of course, this is a fictional story we’re talking about here. ;)  I’m not going to go into detail the plot of the story because you could read and find out for yourself, but I am going to talk about all the times Lena had with Alex because those moments are what stood out to me the most, like they should.  It’s no surprise that Lena and Alex are the leading male and female of Delirium…just so no one’s surprised or spoiled or anything like that.  Anyway, I couldn’t get enough of all the times they spent together.  When they were together it wasn’t like an omg-you’re-so-hot-and-I-want-you kind of thing, it was gentle and sweet and soft—like when you blow bubbles and sometimes you catch a bubble in the palm of your hands and then you cup them together ever so calmly as to not pop the bubble—their love was fragile.  It was sweet, innocent, passionate; they didn’t have to say anything at all to convey the candle of love burning ever so brightly within them.  It was, they are, the Romeo and Juliet of our time.

To point out a few favorite scenes of mine:

·      • When Alex recites back to Lena what she said during her first evaluation. Which is why I nearly jump out of my skin when he leans forward and directs a single word into my ear: “Gray.”

·      • The barn party scene. Alex: “Would you like to?”
Lena: “Would I like to what?”
Alex: “Dance.”
We dance.


·     • When Alex saves her. …and there’s an arm around my waist and a voice in my ear—a voice so familiar in that moment it’s like I’ve been waiting for it all along, like I’ve been hearing it forever in my dreams—breathing out, “This way.”

and last, but most definitely not least:

·     • The tiny wooden shed scene. Lena: “Why do you care?”
Alex: “I told you. I like you.”
Lena: “You don’t know me.”
Alex: “I want to, though.”

Like I said, and I’ll keep saying, Lauren Oliver is a genius, she might even be my hero and another reason why is because in Delirium she kept bringing up how life always goes on.  It doesn’t stop, or slow down for anyone.  There were a few scenes where Lena described how certain events would occur, yet the next day, everything kept going on like usual—people got up to go to work, people got up to clean the house, do the dishes, brush their teeth, go to school, etc. as if nothing ever happened.  And it…just the idea of it, put into words, struck me dumb.  You know how when an idea hits you so hard, you don’t know how to think or function for a while?  Well, yeah Delirium was that idea that hit me like a freight train—caught me in the headlights, leaving me stunned.


Delirium is brilliant and it undeniably wedged its way up into my favorites shelf!  When I turned that last page of the book, Delirium left me with a feeling of happiness and sadness.  Sadness for Lena and Alex because….WAAAAH, how could Delirium just end like that; totally tore me apart!  But happiness also, because it definitely makes you think twice about what you have and after I closed the book, it made me want to love harder, it made me want to shout I love you at the top of my lungs to anyone who cared to listen, it made me hopeful, it made me full, it made me more brave, it made me never, ever want to stop loving, even if I loved the littlest, craziest, weirdest things.  Love.  I’m only eighteen—and what do I know about love—but from all my years, I’ve come to learn that love is a beauty and a beast; there are times when it’s the most amazing thing in the world and times when all you have are black days.  Yet despite all the blackest days of all the blackest days, it’s better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.

Okay, I didn’t mean to get all philosophical on you there but I don’t know man, Delirium did something to me and…deep sigh.  I just love it crazy!  I want everyone to stop reading whatever book they’re reading at the moment and go out and purchase Delirium and Pandemonium (because it’s out and because it’s what I’m going to do after this) and start reading them as fast as you possibly can.  I don’t know how someone cannot not read this book; everyone has too and that’s all there is to it!


Links to purchase Delirium: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Feb 7, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (14)


This meme is brought to you weekly by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

Anyone can play along, just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and the author, too, so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR List if they like your teaser!
My Teaser
His lips tilted up at one corner, like amusement. I'd known, but still, the familiar expression stunned me so much I almost didn't act.

I kissed him.
- Page 263, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Incarnate (Newsoul, #1)
First of all, the computer screen does not do this cover any justice, whatsoever. It's uber gorgeous in person and I end up petting the cover ever so softly every time I look at it. ;)

This week's teaser I absolutely love. I just read this scene two nights ago and everything leading up to this scene was just ahhhhhhsome! <3 I won't say much more because if I do, it might become a spoiler...sorta; depends on how you view spoilers but anyway, I just loved this scene and this moment and what came afterwards, lmao!

If you have a Teaser Tuesday this week, link me below and I'll be sure to stop by! Happy Tuesday and happy reading! OOOOH, tonight's also Jane By Design - yes, day made!

Dec 30, 2011

Top 10 Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2012


Top 10 of 2011 is a week long event hosted by the awesome Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic, Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Rachel from Fiktshun and Patricia and Jaime from Two Chicks On Books where we look back on all the awesome books of 2011 and look forward to all the amazing new releases of 2012.

There are a ton of books that I'm looking forward to next year so this post shall be easy to write up. For some really weird reason though writing this post brings up the saying, "Out with the old and in with the new." Hmm...I don't even know if it has anything to do with this post, but whatever. :)

NOTE: I'm not going to list a why for all ten books because if I did, they would pretty much all conclude to this: Why: Because it sounds freakin' amazeballs. That's why. And then that would be the end of that. I wanna read these ten books because they all just sound like something I would enjoy...based off their summary from goodreads. I can't see the future, hello, so who knows if I will after I read them but as of now, in this very moment, I want to read all ten of these choices.

TOP 10 BOOKS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2012

1. Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Publisher: Harper Collins/Balzer + Bray
Expected publication: January 24, 2012
Add to Goodreads

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

2. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Expected publication: January 31, 2012
Add to Goodreads

NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all? 

3. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Expected publication: January 3, 2012
Add to Goodreads

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

4. Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: March 1, 2012
Add to Goodreads

I slowly opened my eyes. The sun speared its first bright rays of golden orange into the sky and I leapt from the cliff, with the sorrowful knowledge that no matter what the outcome, at least part of me would die that day...

Violet Eden is dreading her seventeenth birthday dinner. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. The one bright spot is that Lincoln will be there. Sexy, mature and aloof, he is Violet’s idea of perfection. But why does he seem so reluctant to be anything more than a friend?

After he gives her the world’s most incredible kiss – and then abandons her on her front doorstep – Violet is determined to get some answers. But nothing could have prepared her for Lincoln’s explanation: he is Grigori – part angel and part human – and Violet is his eternal partner.

Without warning, Violet’s world is turned upside down. She never believed in God, let alone angels. But there’s no denying the strange changes in her body ... and her feelings for Lincoln.
Suddenly, she can’t stand to be around him. Luckily, Phoenix, an exiled angel, has come into her life. He’s intense and enigmatic, but at least he never lied to her.

As Violet gets caught up in an ancient battle between dark and light, she must choose her path. The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity...

5. Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Expected publication: January 5, 2012
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Wilde Island is in an uproar after the recent death of its king. The uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is fraying, and a bloodthirsty witch hunter with a hidden agenda whips villages into frenzies with wild accusations. Tess, a blacksmith’s daughter from a tiny hamlet near the mysterious Dragonswood, finds herself caught in the crosshairs of fate when she is accused of witchery and has to flee for her life along with her two best friends.

Not even Tess’s power to see the future can help the girls as they set off on their desperate journey, but she keeps having visions of a man wielding a sword. And when she finally meets him, Tess has no idea how to handle the magnetic attraction she feels for him, or the elusive call she hears from the heart of the Dragonswood.

In this epic romance, an ancient prophecy comes true in a way neither dragon, fairy, nor human would have predicted.

6. Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Expected publication: September 18, 2012
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Dying sucks--and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

7. Forbidden by Syrie James & Ryan M. James
Publisher: HarperTeen
Expected publication: January 24, 2012
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She should not exist.

He should not love her.

Claire Brennan has been attending Emerson Academy for two years now (the longest she and her mom have remained anywhere) and she’s desperate to stay put for the rest of high school. So there’s no way she’s going to tell her mom about the psychic visions she’s been having or the creepy warnings that she’s in danger.

Alec MacKenzie is fed up with his duties to watch and, when necessary, eliminate the descendants of his angelic forefathers. He chose Emerson as the ideal hiding place where he could be normal for once. He hadn’t factored Claire into his plans. . . .

Their love is forbidden, going against everything Alec has been taught to believe. But when the reason behind Claire’s unusual powers is revealed and the threat to her life becomes clear, how far will Alec go to protect her?

8. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Expected publication: April 24, 2012
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You will kill. The only question is when.

In the dark days since the insidious Red Lung virus decimated the human population, vampires have risen to rule the crumbling cities and suburbs. Uncontested Princes hold sway over diminished ranks of humans: their "pets." In exchange for their labor, loyalty and of course, their blood, these pets are registered, given food and shelter, permitted to survive.

Unregistered humans cling to fringes, scavenging for survival. Allison Sekemoto and her fellow Unregistereds are hunted, not only by vampires, but by rabids, the unholy result of Red Lung-infected vampires feeding on unwary humans. One night, Allie is attacked by a pack of rabids, saved by an unlikely hero...and turned vampire.

Uncomfortable in her undead skin, Allie falls in with a ragtag crew of humans seeking a cure, or cures: for Rabidism and for Vampirism. She's passing for human...for now. But the hunger is growing and will not be denied. Not for friendship—not even for love.

9. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Publisher: HarperTeen
Expected publication: May 1, 2012
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What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil.

Anna, a tender-hearted southern girl, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

A cross-country trip forces Anna and Kai to face the reality that hope and love are not options for their kind. When it's time for Anna to confront her demons, will she choose to embrace her halo or her horns?

10. Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Publisher: Straus and Giroux Books for Young
Expected publication: October 16, 2012
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Crewel does not have an official book cover yet.

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.
Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Man, 2012 is going to be one hell of an awesome book year! I'm so excited for all ten of these and I can't wait to read all of them, hopefully! If you haven't added these books to your to-be-read shelf on Goodreads, I recommend you scroll back up and click on all ten of those links and add 'em now.

So, have you ever heard of these books before? Which one sounds most appealing to you? Have you already read a few of these? If so, what did you think? Leave all your thoughts in the comments section below because I can't wait to see what you think!

Well people, we are at the end of 2011. Minor sad face. Man, I can't...wow, a whole year has gone by again. Unbelievable...well, not really but you know what I mean.

In yesterday's post I said I was going to include some stats and all that but turns out that I didn't really keep track of anything plus I'm really tired right now so no fun stats this year. Maybe next year, I'll actually keep track of everything and then I'll include that into my Top 10 of 2012 post! ;) Just maybe.

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