September 2013 New Reads

I know this is a few days late sorry guys!  I had friends visiting last weekend so I didn't have the opportunity to get this post out.  There are also a lot of really great releases for September, here are a few that I'm really excited about. 

September 3

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Why I'm Excited:  First I have to say I love the title, it's wonderful.  This book sounds crazy and suspenseful and I hope it's as dark of a thriller as I want it to be.






September 10

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake
#1 in the Goddess War series

Why I'm Excited:  I love the premise for this book.  What if supposedly immortal gods start developing strange and horrific diseases?  I love the take on Greek mythology and I can't wait to see where this will go.





September 17

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
#2 in The Raven Cycle

Why I'm Excited:  I really enjoyed The Raven Boys and I have to know what will happen next!  There was a lot of mythology introduced in the first book and I'm really interested in seeing it further explored.

Frozen by Melissa De La Cruz and Michael Johnston
#1 in the Heart of  Dread series

Why I'm Excited:  I love the setting for this series, a dystopian Las Vegas covered in ice?  Ok!  Sign me up.

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Why I'm Excited:  Gretchen McNeil isn't afraid to really get out there with her writing.  I love that she takes risks and writes horror for the YA genre, which is really under represented.  I love horror so of course I want to read this one!






September 24

 Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Why I'm Excited: I have to admit I am really drawn to this cover.  I love that it's not a person on the cover and the colors are beautiful.  I also really like the plot, it sounds like a unique idea and I'm excited to see how it is executed.

Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Why I'm Excited:  Everyone I know just raves about Victoria Schwab's writing, and I have yet to read one of her books (I am ashamed!).  If I'm correct this is her first jump into adult fiction and I'm excited to have a book that's a little more intense.





Other Notable Releases

September 3 - All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
                        Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney
                        Sweet Legacy by Tera Lynn Childs
                        The 100 by Kass Morgan

September 8 - Gold by Talia Vance

September 10 - Smoke by Ellen Hopkins
                           Monster by Ilsa J. Bick
                           The Final Descent by Rick Yancey
                           The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White
                            The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman
                           Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

September 17 - The Wicked Within by Kelly Keaton
                           Once We Were by Kat Zhang
                           This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales


September 24 - Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter
                           A Radiant Sky by Jocelyn Davies
                           Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender
                          Where the Stars Shine by Trish Doller
                           Find Me by Romily Bernard
                           Fallout by S.A. Bodeen
                           Inhuman by Kat Falls

Legend by Marie Lu

Published November 29, 2011 by Putnam
#1 in the Legend series
4 Stars

Goodreads Review
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

Review:  Legend is a great start to a series with will definitely fill your Hunger Games void.  It has fight scenes, snappy dialogue, kissing, and a government conspiracy!  I listened to the audio book and really loved the two readers. They were excellent and I recommend the audio book to everyone, especially if the gold text puts you off (as it did for me).

I really enjoyed Legend, especially the two main characters.  Day and June were both really great characters and I really enjoyed their banter as they got to know one another.  With that said, I do wish they lived up to the described intelligence.  We're told again and again how exceptionally smart they are, but they seem to get tricked and trapped a lot.  I really would have liked to learn more of Day's back story and his motivations behind his crimes.  We know he's done all of these crazy stunts (like attacking an airbase) but we never really learned why because he's kind of rogue and doesn't belong to a rebel group. 

I did have some issues with the world building. In dystopian books set in America I really like to understand how we got from present day to the current government in the novel. There were some hints at this so I'm hoping this will be discussed more in future novels. I also would have liked to know some more answers to the Republic plague conspiracy as well as why they are at war with the colonies, but again I think that will be covered more in later novels. I also wanted to know more about the trials, especially what exactly when down with Day's trial.  There are a lot of interesting concepts that I hope will be fleshed out in further novels.

Overall I really enjoyed Legend.  The writing was really great and the pacing was spot on.  I know dystopian is a real trend right now is YA literature, but Legend is at the top of the pack.  If you liked The Hunger Games and Divergent, make Legend your next pick.

Bout of Books Day 7 FINALE!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

This is the final day of the read-a-thon, we made it!  I have to admit I went out with a bit of a whimper.  I woke up today and just did not feel like reading, so I didn't.  I watched 3 movies instead (Fight Club, We need to Talk about Kevin, and The Ruins.  They're all adaptations of novels though, does that count?).

I did go to Starbucks for a little while and read 31 pages of City of Lost Souls, but that's it.  I'm ok with it though, because I made a lot of progress and finished quite a few books I'd been working on for a long time.  So what was your final count?  Did you meet your goals?  Let me know in the comments below and thanks for reading with me this week!

Number of pages today:  31
Total number of pages:  1551

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5

Bout of Books Day 6

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

It's the weekend and the end of the read-a-thon is in sight!   We're having friends coming over to have a board game night so I'm not sure if I'll be reading more today so I decided to do my update a little early.  I've still had a good day for the read-a-thon.  I finished The Walking Dead graphic novel for 234 pages.  I also have been listening to my Shades of Earth playaway at every available opportunity and I think I'm around 67%, so an additional 102 pages. 

Today there were two challenges and the first one was hosted by Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf.  This challenge was easy, we just had to answer the following questions.

Question 1: If you could be like any character from a fictional book, who would it be? What do you like about them?Tell me why!

This is a really easy question because I've had the same answer since i was 11 years old.  I would be Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series.  I absolutely love and admire Hermione.  She's smart and brave and loyal and an excellent friend.

Question 2: There’s lots of books out there, but is there one that you've been dying to read that doesn't seem to be written yet? Describe it briefly.

This is a harder question to answer.  I think I would like to read a book that has a character with realistic new age/Wiccan/witchcraft beliefs and practices.  No flying broomsticks or shooting fire out of their hands, but a real spiritual belief.  That would be interesting because I have yet to read a book where that group of people is accurately portrayed.  

The second challenge was hosted by I Read, Ergo I Write and we were to create an acrostic poem using a title of one of your favorite books.  I decided to write a poem about Mira Grant's Feed because I love the book and the title is only 4 letters haha (is that cheating?  oh well)

Friends, rise up while you can.
Everyone has someone on the wall, and
Everyone must know the truth.
Do not be afraid.

So that's my update for today, it's a quick one, but I hope you are all doing well on your challenges!  Maybe I'll update this later tonight if my friends don't stay too long.  Happy reading!

Number of pages today:  336
Total number of pages:  1520

Books started:  2

Books completed:  5

Bout of Books Day 5

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Day 5 of the read-a-thon was really busy day so my reading progress has been minimal.  I listened to more of my playaway of Shades of Earth and I think I'm about 40% finished, so I'm guessing I read about 72 pages today.  I was really bored with all of my books that I'd been reading so I decided to start The Walking Dead graphic novel but of course the pages aren't numbered, go figure.  I made it through the first chapter which was 70 pages after counting.

Today's challenge was hosted by The Space Between and it was a bookish madlib, which is a great idea.  Here are my randomly selected words

A. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
B. The Joker, Batman comics
C. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
D. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
E. Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle mead
F. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
G. Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

And here is my completed madlib!

Help! I'm being held captive at The Red Pyramid by The Joker!
It is very Sweet here!
He is demanding 13 Gameboards to set me free!
I have just discovered that Hermione Granger was captured too!
On second thought, please send Cherries, and don't worry if you don't hear from us for awhile!

Much Love,Pearl the Book Girl

That was a fun little challenge!  Fill out your own in the comments below if you want!  I'm hoping to finish Shades of Earth and the Walking Dead graphic novel tomorrow, we'll see.

Number of pages today:  142
Total number of pages:  1184

Books started:  2

Books completed:  4

A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner

#1 in the Infinity Ring series
Published August 28, 2012 by Scholastic Inc.
4 Stars

Goodreads Review
When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

Review:  The Infinity Ring is a really fun and interactive series for kids.  Not only is it a fun science fiction series that incorporates historical events (educational!) there is also an online element where kids can play a game that continues the adventure.  It's a great series for reluctant readers and could be used by parents to connect with their kids on the computer as well.

I think the Infinity Ring series could be a great tool for teachers.  Each book focuses on a different point in history and this could be used in the classroom to discuss the events around those major historical events and why they are important.  The computer game is a great hook to help draw kids in to introduce them to reading about history.

I was lucky enough to go to a book signing for A Mutiny in Time.  James Dashner is one of the most passionate authors I have ever met.  Not only does he enjoy the writing process, but he really cares about education and getting kids excited to read.  On the day of the signing he had spent his morning at local elementary schools talking to kids about reading and getting them excited about books and school.  It was very encouraging to see many young kids (and boys!) at the book signing event.  Dashner had obviously made an impression on the kids and it was so awesome to see their enthusiasm about the series.

Overall A Mutiny in Time is a great start to a fun multi platform series.  The Infinity Ring will appeal to kids ages 9-11, which I think is a very crucial age for developing an appreciation for books.  It's series like the Infinity Ring that will lay the ground work a life long love of reading.

Bout of Books Day 4

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Well, we've passed the half way mark of the read-a-thon and I think I'm starting to burn out a little bit.  Last night before bed I finished a book I'd been working on for around six months, 158 pages of How to Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.  I gave it 4 stars.  I really liked the majority of the book which was about how your attitude and perception of a situation will influence what happens in your life, but I disagree that serious illness such as cancer is caused by resentment or childhood issues.  I think people just get sick sometimes, and there's no real reason for it.  Even with those concerns I still related to a lot of the book and found it to be an interesting read.  

I also listened to 25 pages of City of Lost Souls and I started Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, but I don't know how far I am.  I say this because I got a playaway from the library, which is awesome but they don't tell you page numbers.  The hardback edition is 369 pages and I'd guess I'm no more than 20% finished, so I'll estimate 75 pages read.  I'll be sure to finish this before the read-a-thon's end so I can know an exact page count.

And that's as much as I've read today.  When I got home I decided to play a new video game called Gone Home.  It's a beautiful story and at first I thought it was going to be scary but it's not so don't worry.  I won't spoil it for you but I would recommend it if you have a free evening.

There were two challenges today.  The first was hosted at In Wonderland, and this is the road trip challenge.  For this challenge we're supposed to come up with a list of places we want to visit and then find a book set there.  Here's my list, some of the places I've already visited and want to go back and some are destinations I've yet to see.  

Bookish Road Trip

Amsterdam, Netherlands - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Prague, Czech Republic - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Florence, Italy - A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Portland, Oregon - If I Stay by Gale Forman

Seattle, Washington - Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

New York City, New York - The Diviners by Libba Bray

Austin, Texas - Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan

The second challenge was hosted by Paperback Dreamer and was definitely one of my favorite challenges so far.  It was a game of book shelf I spy and we had to look around our shelves and find books with certain images on the cover.  I managed to find 13/15 which is pretty good!

1.  Snowflakes - Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle  (You can't really tell but there are snowflakes on the wrapping paper of the present as well as on the spine)
2.  Flames - The Kill Order by James Dashner
3.  A City Skyline - The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
4.  The Moon - Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
5.  A Sword - The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
6.  A Wedding Dress - Envy by Anna Godbersen (this may be cheating because I don't know if that's actually a wedding dress or just a white one, but it could be a wedding dress so I'm counting it)
7.  High Heels - Cinder by Marissa Meyer
8.  Fog -  Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
9.  A Christmas Tree - ??? (damn my first one I couldn't find!  I have a copy of A Christmas Carol so I thought I had this one in the bag but nope!  The cover just has people at a party, not a tree in sight!)
10.  Sunglasses - Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John  (This might work for the combat boots as well)
11.  Lightning -  Drink Deep by Chloe Neill
12.  A Tattoo - Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
13.  Combat Boots - The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth  (Another one where I'm kind of cheating because I'm pretty sure those are cowboy boots.  Oh well close enough I guess)
14.  Hand Cuffs - ???  (And here's the second one I couldn't find.  Maybe I need to read more erotica?  What other genre of books would have handcuffs on the cover....uh true crime, police drama, dang it of course my mind goes to the dirty things)
15.  A Road -  Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts

These challenges were a lot of fun!  How many can you find on your shelf?

Overall today was a lighter day, but that's ok I'd been going very hard for three days straight, I needed to do something else!  I think we're going to go see the City of Bones movie tomorrow and then we're having a board game night with our friends on Saturday, but I think I'll be able to finish at least one more book.  Good luck to everyone else in the challenge and happy reading!

Number of pages today:  258
Total number of pages:  1042

Books started:  1

Books completed:  4