Read Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver for Free!

Thanks to Freda over at Freda's Voice for making us aware of this opportunity to read Leisl & Po courtesy of Harper Collins. Browse Inside Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver, Illustrated by Kei Acedera while still available!

Is This The Next Big Hit?

The American Dervish 

by Ayad Akhtar

Read more about this debut novel here.  

The book industry and Hatchett Books liken it to The Help and The Kite Runner, saying it is the book of the season.  Keep your eyes on this one!

Delirium Is Contagious!

Delirium
Author:  Lauren Oliver
Published: 2011 (on sale date 2/1/11)
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Pages: 448
ISBN 9780061726828
Genre/Classification:  Teen Fiction ages 14 and up
Source:  Borrowed ARC

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.  (from the author's website http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/delirium.php)

My Review:  

"The most dangerous sicknesses are those that make us believe we are well." - Proverb42, The Book of Shhh

Delirium is set in future day USA (Portland) where scientists have discovered a cure for the terrible disease...amor deliria nervosa...love.  Sixty-four years previous, love was identified as a disease.  Twenty-one years later, scientists have a cure!  Sure it requires a surgery involving a laser and the patient's brain, but everyone has the procedure at or slightly before their eighteenth birthday.  Everyone looks forward to it!  The government has effectively brain-washed the population into believing that love is an awful contagious disease that must be eradicated.  Cities are patrolled and electric fences run their perimeters, in the effort to keep out The Wild, the Invalids, those who don't believe and are not treated.  It is in this society that Magdalena (Lena) has grown up. It is graduation year.  She will be evaluated and receive the procedure.  She will be paired up with her future husband.  Her life is mapped out for her.  That is, until the disease strikes.

New trade paperback cover

I loved this book!  I know, my readers know I don't read much Young Adult Fiction but this one is definitely worth every second of your time!!  I was mesmerized as I read of this society, captivated by the story, drawn into Lena's life.  I laughed. I cried. I cheered.  Not necessarily in that order.  

Do I recommend it?  Wholeheartedly!!  Am I following author Lauren Oliver's blog?  You bet!!!  Am I anxious and excited for the second book in the series?  That is an automatic and enthusiastic yes!!

Delirium is contagious!

Pandemonium, book 2, will be available February 2012!

Requiem, book 3, will be available Spring 2013!

Cinder Makes the Top Ten Bestseller List With the New York Times!!!

Amazing news everyone!  Cinder made the New York Times Bestseller List!!  To see all the books in the children's category who made the list, click on the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2012-01-22/chapter-books/list.html

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday again, yawn.  Do you get the Monday blues?  Back to work.  I love my job, I do work in a bookstore so... good times,  but Mondays mean the weekend is over. Stretch..... On the bright side, we can visit each other to see the exciting books everyone is reading.  I love to see what's new and what everyone is enjoying.  My wish list is ever so long but I keep adding to it and perhaps someday it'll dwindle somewhat.  Who am I kidding?  It likely won't.  There are no limits are there?  Not when you love to read!

Sheila over at Book Journey hosts this weekly meme.  I'm glad you could stop by to say hi and see what I am up to, as I visit you too.

Last week I finished and reviewed:

Summer Shack by Kelli Sue Landon (young adult suspense/thriller)
Falling Backwards by Jann Arden (biography/memoir)
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (children 9 and up.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret was also written by Brian Selznick)

This week I am reading:

Off stage on stage by Michael Buble (memoir)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (young adult dystopian)

The Magic Room by Jeffrey Zaslow (not sure how to classify this one - non-fiction?)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (adult fiction - book club read)

Up Next:
To be determined.  Likely these books will last me another week at least.

What are you reading?  Do you have any favourites you'd like to recommend?  What is your favourite genre?  I love your visits and always welcome comments.  I'll even visit back!  Have a terrific week everyone!

Exciting News From Marissa Meyer and The Lunar Chronicles!!!!!

As mentioned in my previous post about Cinder and the Lunar Chronicles, I contacted the author, Marissa Meyer, to see if I could get a peek into the future of The Lunar Chronicles.  Here's our mini interview:


Hi Marissa,

I recently read Cinder and loved what you did with the retelling of a Cinderella story with a futuristic twist!  A few of us at work (we work in a bookstore here in Edmonton Alberta) have read it and we are all dying to know what the next book's title will be, who of the fairy tale realm it will be about and when to expect it out.  Some are hoping you will continue Cinder's story (me and another) and some don't think you will (gasp!).

Would you mind sharing some insight so we can share with our excited customers (and staff, of course)?

Hello Shirley,
 
Thank you so much! I'm delighted that you and your coworkers enjoyed the book and I'm more than happy to let you in on some of the upcoming books.
 
Scarlet - Jan. 2013 - based on Little Red Riding Hood
Cress - Jan. 2014 - based on Rapunzel
Winter - Jan. 2015 - based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
 
Cinder will continue to be the main hero throughout the series, so you have much more Cinder and Kai to look forward to! However, in each book, there will be duel storylines between Cinder and the other fairy-tale based heroine. Eventually their paths will cross and they'll join forces against Queen Levana and her court.
 
I very, very much hope you'll enjoy the rest of the series just as much as Book 1!
 
Thank you again for your email.
 
All best,
Marissa


Thank you Marissa!!  I just love it when authors take the time to write back to their readers!  We have one  year before we can read the continuing chronicles of Cinder and Little Red Riding Hood!  That gives all of you an ample opportunity to read Cinder before the next in the series comes out.  Enjoy!!!




Watch the book trailer: http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/12/20/cinder-book-trailer-marissa-meyer-exclusive/

Blog: http://marissameyer.livejournal.com
Twitter: @marissa_meyer
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MarissaMeyerAuthor + http://www.facebook.com/lunarchronicles

Next in the Lunar Chronicles.....

January 3 of this year (2012) saw the release of the first book of the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.  It has not been out long and already several of us at work have read it.  I classify it as dystopian young adult fiction but others have put it in the science fiction for young adults genre. If you've read my review you'll recall that Cinder is a "mock-up" of the Cinderella story starring Cinder, a cyborg, who is orphaned and living in New Beijing with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Technically that is not correct.  It's more like the stepmother's deceased husband "adopted" her.  At any rate, the plague runs rampant, killing young and old alike within a very short period of time and scientists are working vigorously to find a cure.  Cyborgs are their guinea pig of choice.  When Cinder's step-sister is stricken with the illness, Cinder's cold-hearted stepmother offers Cinder as a test subject.  Thus begins the realization that there are more secrets around Cinder's true identity than perceived.  (though the reader often has them figured out long before Cinder does).

The ending left me mouth agape!  What happens to Cinder, Prince Kai, and the Lunar Queen?

I expected hoped Marissa Meyer would carry the story forward to the next book in the series but an interview on Amazon reveals other intentions.  Below is a portion of the interview:

"The next book in the Lunar Chronicles is called Scarlet, and is about Little Red Riding Hood. What is appealing to you most about this character as you work on the book?

 Scarlet is awesome—she's very independent, a bit temperamental, and has an outspokenness that tends to get her in trouble sometimes. She was raised by her grandmother, an ex-military pilot who now owns a small farm in southern France, who not only taught Scarlet how to fly a spaceship and shoot a gun, but also to have a healthy respect and appreciation for nature. I guess that's a lot of things that appeal to me about her, but she's been a really fun character to write! (The two leading men in Scarlet, Wolf and Captain Thorne, aren't half bad either.)"

Surprised?  I was!!  This blogger has sent off an email to the author, Marissa Meyer, hoping for some secrets to be revealed.  I will keep you posted!  If you hear anything, please let me know in the comments below.  Until then, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Cinder and see for yourself what all the fuss is about!

PS Is there a Snow White story coming in the chronicles?

Cover Reveal: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/pandemonium.php

On sale February 28, 2012!

Meet a Charming Inspector in Louise Penny's Mysteries...Perhaps You Will Fall In Love!

Mystery lovers have you discovered Canadian author Louise Penny yet?  If not, you will definitely want to find a copy of one of her novels after you read this interview posted with CBC books wherein Louise Penny discusses her book "Bury Your Dead" featuring her famous detective Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.  He's the kind of man the author would fall in love with and want to marry!  Perhaps you will fall in love too!


http://soc.li/0CAPvCG

The Summer Shack by Kelli Landon - a YA book review

Summer Shack - A Killer Vacation
Author:  Kelli Landon
Published:2011
Self-published (Indie)
Pages: 258
Genre:  Young Adult Suspense
ISBN 9781463778323
Source:  A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

(from the back cover)  It's summer vacation and Deborah Walker invites childhood friend Kimberly Foster to stay in her parents' cottage retreat in Wisconsin.  Deb's goal is to film a documentary of the area as a pre-college project.  Shortly after arriving, they find out that a serial killer has just been arrested.  Deb's plans for her film soon change as curiosity takes over.  She wants to be the first person to film the killer's shack which is where he stashed the bodies.  They are successful in making their way into the shack on the beach, but will they make it out?

My Review:

I've read both Kelli Sue Landon's previous books, Sudden Moves and Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood, so when Kelli comes out with a new novel, I want to be among the first to know!  Kelli writes a gripping tale in Summer Shack, just as she masterfully wove the tales of her two previous young adult books.  

In Summer Shack - A Killer Vacation, high school is over and once childhood friends make plans to spend a few weeks together at a cottage in Wisconsin.  Deb, whose parents own the cottage, has an ulterior motive, though.  She needs a filmographer, and Kim is it.  Kim welcomes the opportunity for a vacation at a cottage, just the girls.  Beach, sun, no adults...sounds perfect right?  That is until curiosity and the desire to get an "edge" in her what Deb hopes to be her future profession as a journalist, drives her and ultimately Kim and two friends into the realm of nightmarish danger with a psychopath lurking in the background.  When they find out a suspected serial killer has recently been arrested, Deb and a reluctant Kim investigate.  The shack near the beach is where the bodies were found.  The shack is where they are headed to get some good footage.  The shack presents unsuspected lethal dangers to both Deb and Kim and their friends.

Kelli does a great job building the suspense in Summer Shack and casting suspicions about and though the reader suspects one, another is a great surprise!  The characters are believable and their life dramas have played out in many a high school.  Probably even yours!  Which makes it.  

One minor issue, there are a few instances where editing didn't catch small errors like a repetition of words, or a wrong word which spell check wouldn't have caught.  But these do not detract from the story.  

Each subsequent book shows the author's growth in her ability to create drama and suspense.  I've said it before but it bears repeating, with editing, the right marketing and a publishing house behind her, Kelli Sue Landon is a YA voice to be reckoned with.  She has a bestseller in the wings.  I just know it!

Rated:  4/5 adult themes