Consumed by Books: July 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Giveway: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Hey everyone! I've been excited for The Immortal Rules since I first heard about it, since I really enjoyed Julie Kagawa's debut, The Iron King. Now, thanks to the lovely folks at Harlequin Teen, I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader!

"In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity."Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of "them." The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

Want to win? Check out the rules below.
*One reader will win a finished copy of The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.
*Open to U.S. residents only. Sorry, international friends, I'll try to have something for you soon.
*You must be 13 years of age or older to enter.
*The giveaway ends on July 30th at 11:59 p.m.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Review of The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

***THIS IS REVIEW OF BOOK TWO IN A SERIES. TO READ MY REVIEW OF THE FIRST BOOK, THE DARK DIVINE, CLICK HERE***

A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace's relationship with Daniel is put in danger - in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her - not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

Bree Despain delivers sizzling romance and thrilling action in the heart-pounding sequel to the The Dark Divine.

When I read Bree Despain’s debut The Dark Divine, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was eager to see where Grace, Daniel, and Jude’s story would go next, even though it took me a while to get around to reading my ARC. Unfortunately, Despain’s protagonist wasn’t what I remembered, and I didn’t find myself enjoying this one as much.

In The Lost Saint, Grace Divine has werewolf powers and high hopes of saving her brother Jude. Personally, when I religious issues tackled in YA literature, I prefer when shades of gray are involved. Instead, Despain tackles Grace’s character by making her more religious and choosing what was right based on her faith. As a teen, I felt a lot more conflict about my faith, so this did not ring true to me. I also think more cynical teens would criticize her character.

The writing in this book also didn’t work for me. I get that Despain wanted to write a fast-paced story that her readers would become invested in, but honestly it bordered on excessively dramatic at times.

At some point in the future, I’ll try to pick up , but I don’t know that I’ll make it through the entire book. The Lost Saint was lackluster for me, and I think that for readers looking for a werewolf story, there are better options out there.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Review of Baby Lit Books from Gibbs Smith

A few months ago, I got an e-mail about classics that were being remade into board books, which is a format targeted at infants and toddlers (hey, I didn’t know what a board book was until I began volunteering in libraires). As someone who is studying for an MLIS and has been flipping through a lot more board books in the past year, I decided to jump on this BabyLit stories right away, and received copies of Little Master Carroll and Little Miss Bronte. These are perfect purchases for any parents who want to turn their baby into a total bibliophile.

Little Miss Bronte is a counting book where as Little Master Carroll tackles colors and objects. Each of these books is nicely laid out and beautifully illustrated. Neither is too text heavy for an infant, and the pictures are nice and large. Little Miss Bronte counts some obscure objects that a baby might not see in his or her everyday life, like towers, but also includes items such as trees, chalkboards, and drawings.

Of the two titles that I received, I actually preferred Little Master Carroll, because I simply adore the design of this entire book. The cover is stunningly bright and eye-catching, and I think that will attract parents. When you crack it open, each righthand page contains an adjective as a noun, such as “white rabbit,” and the lefthand page contains a picture of whatever’s just been described. The illustrations are absolutely stunning. Plus, one detail that I love is that on each righthand page, a pattern is lightly drawn on the background, such as flowers or stripes. In addition to preventing the book from becoming too plain, I think these illustrations offer further opportunities to teach vocabulary when flipping through this book with a young one.

If you’ve got a baby in your life that you plan to buy books for, I highly recommend these titles. While kids will enjoy and cherish these unique books from an early age, they’ll love picking up these titles again as they grow up and read the novels that these titles are based on. Gibbs Smith, I applaud your highly successfully effort to create board books, and will be picking up the rest of the books in this series soon.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Review of In Honor by Jessi Kirby

Hours after her brother’s military funeral, Honor opens the last letter Finn ever sent. In her grief, she interprets his note as a final request and spontaneously decides to go to California to fulfill it.

Honor gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen Rusty in ages, but it’s obvious he is as arrogant and stubborn as ever—not to mention drop-dead gorgeous. Despite Honor’s better judgment, the two set off together on a voyage from Texas to California. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn’s memory—but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

A road trip book that also tackles the subject of a deceased soldier? When I first heard about In Honor by Jessi Kirby, I was intrigued by the fact that it married a trope that I often think of as light-hearted with a gut-wrenching story. In Honor had both of these elements, and while I enjoyed the few hours I spent reading it, this book left no real impact on me.

Last semester my Resources for YA class had me reading two to four young adult novels a week. As I read more and more books at an increasing pace, I’m starting to get pickier and develop some pet peeves. One of my latest? Characters who are cardboard stereotypes. I’m not going to lie, at times I found Rusty mildly attractive. However, he also fit a stereotype that constantly pops up in books, movies, and television geared at teens: the hot friend of the older brother who’s a bad boy. There are times when this type of character can work, but you have to give them a little something extra so that they stand out from similar characters.

I also had serious problems with the ending of this book. After the big revelation, things ended pretty abruptly. I wish I could have seen more of what Honor was thinking after everything that happened. Instead, it felt as though Kirby was trying to placate by giving me the thoughts off the very top of Honor’s head. While I’m talking about the ending, can I discuss how ridiculously similar this book is to Saving June by Hannah Harrington (another one that I didn’t really care for)? Think about it: deceased sibling, road trip with strange but attractive boy, big revelation, abrupt ending. That was a serious turn-off for me. While I merely have a manuscript that I peck at now and then, I believe that in order to successfully write in any genre, you need to read a lot of it. Perhaps Kirby knew about Harrington’s novel, but I’m surprised that both of these novels were published so close together and that everyone seems to be eating them up with little mention of their similarities.

For all its faults, In Honor did have some fun moments. Rusty and Honor act ridiculous and get themselves into a certain amount of trouble. I chuckled and even smiled at some of their antics, but even the romance had some moments that felt unoriginal. It didn’t help that while I had nothing against Honor, her character lacked the inexplicable spark that made me care deeply about her.

In Honor is not abysmal, nor is it mindblowing. It simply falls into the unfortunate middle ground of being a quick, compelling read, but nothing especially memorable. Kirby’s debut is sitting on my shelves and while I may still give it a shot, I’m feeling a bit wary after my first experience with Kirby’s work.