Book Tunes (37)

Book Tunes is a new meme that will be held on Fridays and the point is to share the book your reading and a song you think represents it.

Want to join in?:

• Write up a post
• Tell me the book you are reading, the song you picked and why
• Link up by leaving the URL to your posts in the comments

Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler

Sometimes the end is just the beginning.
Gabby lived under the radar until her makeover. Way under. but when she started her senior year as a blonder, better-dressed version of herself, she struck gold: Billy Nash believed she was a the flawless girl she was pretending to be. The next eight months with Billy were bliss...Until the night Gabby woke up on the ground next to the remains of his BMW without a single memory of how she got there.
And Billy's nowhere to be found.
All Gabby wants is to make everything perfect again. But getting her life back isn't difficult, it's impossible. Because nothing is the same, and Gabby's beginning to realize she's missed more than a few danger signs along the way.
It's time for Gabby to face the truth, even if it means everything changes.
Especially if it means everything changes.

The Tune: Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke

The Lyrics:
A tear in my brain
Allows the voices in
They wanna push you off the path
With their frequency wires

And you can do no wrong
In my eyes
In my eyes
You can do no wrong
In my eyes
In my eyes

A drunken salesman
Your hearing damage
Your mind is restless
They say you’re getting better
But you don’t feel any better

Your speakers are blowing
Your ears are wrecking
Your hearing damage
You wish you felt better
You wish you felt better

You can do no wrong
In my eyes
In my eyes
You can do no wrong
In my eyes
In my eyes
In my

In my eyes
In my eyes

In my eyes

I'm not very far into this novel but I'm already in love. Right now, no one is telling Gabby anything and she's trying to re-build her entire life with little snatches at a time. Everything is damaged accept the image of her boyfriend who still hasn't come to visit. I feel like the lyric "your mind is restless" really works for this plus the dissonance in this song really fits Gabby's current mental state and predicament. 

Do you have a perfect song for the book you are reading? Let me know by linking up in the comments? Also, what do you think of my choice? 

Cover Alerts

I've compiled a bunch of new covers I've seen around the web here. This is a list of books you've just got to look out for! I can't even pick which I'm most excited about because they all look so good.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

A supernatural series set in Manhattan during the 1920s that follows a teen heroine reminiscent of two of the era's most famous literary women—Zelda Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. The story will be a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.

The Diviners is out November 1, 2012 from Little, Brown Books.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Filled with mystery, romance, and the supernatural, The Raven Boysintroduces readers to Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III and Blue Sargent. Gansey has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on the hunt to find Glendower, a vanished Welsh king. Legend has it that the first person to find him will be granted a wish—either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there—known as Raven Boys—can only mean trouble. When Gansey and his Raven Boy friends come into her life, Blue realizes how true this is. She never thought her fortune would be a problem. But she was wrong.

The Raven Boys is out September 18, 2012 by Scholastic.

Spectral by Shannon Duffy

Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe—the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.

As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.

Spectral is out April 10, 2012 from Tribute Books.

Fissure by Lily Collins

For as long as she can remember, fourteen-year-old Renee Turner has found solace in books.

Books dull the grief left by her mother's death and her father's subsequent withdrawal. Books distract her from the cruel barbs of Evelynne Geld, and temper the indifferent brand of authority doled out at school. Books act as a spyglass to life outside the stifling West Virginia town that she's desperate to escape, but resigned to enduring.

Still, it's only when Renee steals a dusty old volume from a neighbor's attic that she truly discovers the transformative power of books. For in its pages Renee finds an enchanting new world: one where she is exalted, worshiped...and hunted.

Fissure is out in 2012 by Picyune.

Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway

Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

Touch of Death is out January 15, 2013 from Spencer Hill Press.

The Killables by Gemma Malley

Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K . . . But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again . . .

The Killables is out 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton.

The Glimpse by Claire Merie

Once you've seen into the future, can you change your destiny?

In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society and into the pits of the human soul. And as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper's abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe, but she also learns to love as she has never loved before.

The Glimpse is out June 7, 2012 from Faber & Faber.

Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.

High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.

But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business--until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers--and the consequences could be deadly.

Such A Rush is out July 10, 2012 from MTV Books.

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

When Vee is picked to be a player in NERVE, an anonymous game of dares broadcast live online, she discovers that the game *knows* her. They tempt her with prizes taken from her ThisIsMe page and team her up with the perfect boy, sizzling-hot Ian. At first it’s exhilarating—Vee and Ian’s fans cheer them on to riskier dares with higher stakes. But the game takes a twisted turn. Suddenly they’re playing all or nothing, and the prize might be their lives.

Nerve is out 2012 from Dial Books.

As you can see, there are loads of awesome titles to look forward to. What caught your eye here?

I'm Infecting You... Megan Crewe's The Way We Fall Giveaway

Aww, heck yes I did! Megan Crewe is having a massive giveaway over at her blog. For complete details, go here. Basically, you've got till February 8th to get infected and pass on this desirable disease of info to someone else!

Wanna see what she's giving away?:

Six of these nifty little survival packs. I've read The Way We Fall (my review's here) so I can promise you, you'll need them! The Way We Fall is terrifying and fast paced and addictive. Once you catch it, it's not going away!

So check out all the details on her blog and enter to win a prize!

Just a quick fact: did you know that the wonderful Megan Crewe was the first author I ever interviewed on this blog? I was so freaked out and past excited when she got back to me after I read (and loved) Give Up the Ghost!

Swoon Thursday (9): Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

The ladies over at YA Bound created a sexy meme where you share what made you tingle in your current read. If you want to join in, here is what you do:From the book you’re currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering. Shout it out on Twitter with the hashtag #YABound, post it here in the comments, or grab the adorable button above and share it on your blog!

This week's swoon is coming from Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. I finished this novel a few nights ago and it definitely has a few swoon worthy moments. Really, these two characters just make you swoon! They are too sweet together!

It wasn't an easy, sweet kiss like I'd imagined my first would be, but  frustrated and hungry. That was good, better than easy and sweet, because after everything, I was frustrated and hungry for him too.

--Pg. 262 of an ARC of "Incarnate" by Jodi Meadows

Like I said, there are a million places my swoon could come from. If you haven't decided whether to pick this novel up, then just do it! You won't regret it.

What's your swoon today?

The Time Will Come (31): Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme started by Books for Company which spotlights books that have been sitting unread on our shelves for too long.

Want to join in?:
- Pick a book you have been meaning to read
- Do a post telling us about the book
- Link the post up in the linky at Books for Company
- Visit the other blogs!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. 

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. 

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

It stinks because this novel pretty much graced everyone's must be read list of last year and I just haven't had the time to read it. I will make time for it this year though because everyone seems to love this book!

What's been on your shelf too long?

Hacky Sack Club -- We Want YOU!

So my perfectly adorable bloggy friend Janet Johnson and I got a little silly recently.

It all started with >>this post<< in which I waxed nostalgic about China and how it was so nice to be in a culture where most people had few inhibitions. I mentioned hacky sack playing in the park, and the legend goes that bloggy friend Janet made a comment about wishing American were more uninhibited, which turned into an email conversation about wishing we could play hacky sack together, which turned into Janet sending me a hacky sack in the MAIL, which turned into me sending back a hacky sack (a REAL Chinese hacky sack, purchased from a sweet little old lady sitting on the side of the road who handmade these hacky sacks and probably earned a living from them), which turned into "Wouldn't it be awesome to do a blog post about this?" 

So, here we are.

The thing is, being a writer is such a solitary occupation. You and your computer. (Or you and your notebook if you're old fashioned.) But blogging gives us a chance to rub shoulders with lots of other writers. We support each other. We read each other's books. We pat each other on the back. We spread the word and promote one another's careers. And we commiserate. 

Now comes icing on the cake. 

WE CAN PLAY HACKY SACK TOGETHER.**

 

Only virtually, of course.

But still. How fun is this to have a virtual hacky sack club?

All you have to do to join the HACKY SACK CLUB is 

1. Steal a button from the sidebar
2. Post a picture or a video of yourself playing hacky sack on your blog

And guess what? I'll send you a real hacky sack in the mail. (Just include your email address so I can get in touch with you.)

Make sure to check out Janet's post, too. Her video ROCKS. Her tight exercise pants inspired my spandex.

**I love you all or I wouldn't have embarrassed myself like this.

Happily Ever Endings... Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Happily Ever Endings... was born out of sheer frustration. You know how when you read a series and you love it but the last book takes a little while to come out and then you sort of forget parts of the novel? That's what these posts are going to serve to remedy. Happily Ever Ending... is a short post about what happened at the ending of each book that is going to be in a series for people who need a quick reminder of what happened in the previous installment. I hope this saves someone else the frustration that I went through!

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

“It seemed so right. Danny was mine, I was his, and that wasn’t going to work if he was dead. So I would make him not dead, not anymore. I didn’t think any further than what it would feel like to kiss him again, to wrap my arms around him and bury my head against his shoulder. 

That was my first mistake. It also turned out to be the biggest.” 

When her boyfriend, Danny, is killed in a car accident, Wren can’t imagine living without him. Wild with grief, she uses the untamed powers she’s inherited to bring him back. But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy she once loved. 

Wren has spent four months keeping Danny hidden, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school and somehow, inexplicably, he can sense her secret. Wren finds herself drawn to Gabriel, who is so much more alive than the ghost of the boy she loved. But Wren can’t turn her back on Danny or the choice she made for him—and she realizes she must find a way to make things right, even if it means breaking her own heart. 

Amy Garvey’s transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren’s unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

Click "Read more" to read the ending of Cold Kiss so you'll be ready for the next installment of the series! 

Wren gets a phone call from Jessica, making sure they are still on for the sleep over which she confirms. After, she goes out to see Danny and realizes Danny is no longer in the garage. In a panic, she starts to wander the streets but can't find him at his house. She calls Gabriel who convinces her to go home and pretend to get up so she won't get in trouble. Her mother checks in on her and she tells her everything is fine. Then she gets a call that Gabriel has found Danny at the site of his crash.

She finds Danny and confronts him. When she confirms he's dead, he tries to attack her but she puts him to sleep. They bring Danny to Gabriel's house and Wren finds out Olivia knows everything about what she did to Danny. Olivia also has an idea of someone who can help her. Olivia takes her to see one of their friends who can do things like Wren. Wren explains the situation and the woman laughs at her, telling her she that Wren is much more powerful than she is. She suggests that Wren needs to undo the spell on the next full moon, only a few days away. Wren misses the sleepover with her friends, causing them to be mad at her again.

Wren's mother is angry at her and they get in a huge fight. Wren accuses her mother of keeping secrets about their power and walks out. She stays at Gabriel's until her aunt convinces her to meet for coffee. Wren agrees and her aunt takes her home. Wren thinks it's a good sign that her mother will let her aunt in the house and they seem to finally be speaking. Her mother admits her part in Wren's rebellion and reveals that she is still in contact with Wren's father. She says that one day, Wren can speak to him and find out why he left. Wren's mom agrees to let Wren do what she needs to do, trusting her.

Wren works to re-write the spell she made to make Danny rise from the dead. At school, she apologizes to Jessica and tells her that she'll have to keep things from them sometimes. Jessica neither accepts noracknowledges this. Gabriel insists that he come with her and they get into a fight at school. Jessica comes up and tells Gabriel to back off, accepting Wren's apology. Later that night, Wren goes to Gabriel's to collect Danny. Gabriel tells her to be careful. She takes Danny to the graveyard and reverses the spell, finally getting to say goodbye on her own terms. She feels incredibly lonely when he leaves. She walks back and finds Gabriel waiting for her. He walks her home, hand and hand. 

Did I miss anything important? How excited are you for the next novel?