Me on Waiting on Wednesday (64)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic

From Goodreads:

Filled with mystery, romance, and the supernatural, The Raven Boys introduces 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.

My brain freaked out when I saw Maggie's announcement about her new series. I crave this book the way I crave Shannon Messenger's Let the Sky Fall, and that comes out next March. This is what I want more of, me reading a summary and it hooking its claws into me until it won't let go. And come on, her name is Blue Sargent. Best. Name. Ever. ;)

It's possible that Maggie's books are hit or miss with me. Ballad I tried and couldn't get into. The Shiver series I enjoyed (maybe not as much as most), it was a wonderful story to say the least. The Scorpio Races I really liked. I was describing it to my sister when I was reading it, saying it reminded me of Ireland (she liked it there as well), saying it had horses (she was intrigued), saying it was a stand-alone (she won't read any of the series I have because she hates to wait). Then I said the horses ate people and she instantly said no and walked off. She has issues with dead bodies in books.

(Also, sorry if this is the billionth time someone's featured this book today. ;))

Me on The Butterfly Clues

Title: The Butterfly Clues
Author: Kate Ellison
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Publisher: EgmontUSA

Lo has always loved collecting beautiful things. Her dad's job means a lot of moving around, and she's learned to cope by collecting, or sometimes stealing, trinkets and souvenirs in each new place - possessions that allow her to feel some semblance of home. But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers an antique butterfly at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as being stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known as "Sapphire." As usual, Lo beings to obsess over it and can't get the murder out of her mind. As she attempts to piece together the "butterfly clues," with some unlikely help from a street artists named Flynt, Lo finds herself caught up in a seedy, underground world - a world that could hold the key to her brother's death.

Thrilling and mysterious, The Butterfly Clues is a thriller mystery for a YA audience, giving the reader twists and turns and suspense. When reading this, the question kept popping up in my head: where are the YA thrillers? Where are the contemporary murder mysteries? Sure, there's Michele Jaffe's Rosebush, with all its questions and partial amnesia, but I'm so pleased to have finally found this book. So many twists and questions, and it made me uncomfortable the way a raw and powerful book should.

Lo was so unique a character I couldn't help but feel for her. Her obsessive compulsions and her hoarding/stealing were very real, her voice crisp and clear, weaving its way into my head as I read her story. The author has pulled off her personality in an amazing way. It's good to read books about characters that are autistic or bipolar or depressed or have OCD. There's nothing wrong with seeing the world through their eyes, learning how they cope with the randomness and irregularity of the world around them, how the compulsions bring order to their lives and reduce the anxiety.

And the setting. The Cleveland found in this book is raw and gritty, filled with secret passages and hidden treasures, filled with the downtrodden and the forgotten.

Dark, complicated, and so very real, The Butterfly Clues will leave your heart racing as you follow Lo deeper and deeper into a seedy underbelly of runaways, strippers, and drug addicts we often ignore.

(I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher on NetGalley.)

Me on In My Mailbox (58)

In My Mailbox is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. :)

Only one book this week. Oh, well. I would've gone to the library if my holds were in. Next week will have more books.

It's February. Weird. Remember almost this time last year when I broke my ankle?? Fun times. (No, not really) It was interesting. Breaking any limb and/or needing surgery gives you an insight into another part of the world. I don't have any relatives or friends that are doctors or nurses or anything like that, so I never knew what went on in a hospital (apart from watching ER when I was younger). It was very interesting.

I discovered Crunchyroll this week. So much anime. I'm not used to the subtitles yet, I can't really put it on then listen to it in the background because I don't know any Japanese (shocker ;)). I imagine I'll pick up the easy words fairly quickly. Yes. No. Thank you. If you're curious, I've been enjoying such anime shows as Chihaya Furu (if I grew up in Japan I honestly think I would've played karuta) and Gosick (it's got a massive tower library, so awesome). I'm taking suggestions, if you have any favourites. :)

And there's a signing next weekend for Marissa Meyer and her book Cinder. And some other stuff, so look for an event post next Monday. :)

Received to review:
Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock & some fun bits (from HarperCollins Canada) (I'm so excited to read this. HC Canada is hosting a blog tour in April before Hemlock comes out in May, and I'm able to work my posts into my Canadian YA lit event so my review & a guest post from Kathleen will be kicking off the event.)

To read & review: Starters, Goddess Interrupted, Gone, Gone, Gone, Hemlock, The Last Princess, and Never Enough. :)

Me on Born Wicked

Title: Born Wicked
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Release Date: February 7, 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenille (Penguin imprint)

Everyone knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. They're too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But they're witches, and the truth coming out could mean an asylum, a prison ship, or an early grave. Cate promised her mother she'd protect her sisters, but with six months to go until choosing between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word. Especially after discovering her mother's diary and a dangerous secret that could destroy her family. The search for answers put her in danger of being discovered, and throws her into a secret romance with the unsuitable Finn Belastra. If what her mother wrote is true, Cate and her sisters aren't safe. Even from themselves.

Dangerous, dark and magical, lush and mysterious, Born Wicked wrapped me up in its magic and misty secrets. I couldn't help but keep reading to discover the secrets, to discover the ending, to learn what lengths Cate will go to to keep her sisters safe and hidden.

Cate wasn't necessarily a new and different kind of heroine, but I can't remember one that was as frustrated and stubborn as she was. She's a witch, yes, but hates it. It complicates her life when she craves being normal and not having any kind of ability. Well, she craves a normal life that won't include the Brothers and their hatred of witches and the God-fearing that drips from their lips as they speak during service.

The relationship Cate had with her sisters Maura and Tess is what stood out the most, apart from the magic. Everything was so real, the struggle Cate had to keep the both of them in check, to be a second mother to them when all they wanted was a sister. Cate needed to learn to let go, to let them learn and hide on their own. She wouldn't always be there to watch them.

The Brotherhood and its religious leaning, the Cahill sisters and their hiding their powers in plain sight, this book was rather reminiscent of the witch trials that occurred in colonial times. I imagine that was the point, to highlight this time period, to tweak it and present an alternative history.

This book had so many complications, so many secrets and hidden stories and realizations that changed hopes and dreams. I'm craving the next book desperately, I need to know what happens next. Anything could happen next, but that both scares and delights me.

Born Wicked is a book that left me frustrated, but only because it ended. I had such a visceral reaction when I wanted more and only had a blank page at the end of the book. The next book cannot come fast enough.

(I borrowed an advance copy from a friend.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (63)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Soulbound
Author: Heather Brewer
Release Date: July 5, 2012
Publisher: Dial (Penguin imprint)

From Goodreads:

What's worse than being blackmailed to attend a hidden school where you're treated like a second-class citizen? How about nearly getting eaten by a monster when you arrive? Or learning that your soulmate was killed in a centuries-old secret war? And then there's the evil king who's determined to rule the world unless you can stop him...

Meet Kaya, a young woman with the power to heal and the determination to fight. But struggle as she will, she remains tied to three very different men: a hero who has forsaken glory, a tyrannical ruler who wants to use Kaya, and a warrior who's stolen her heart. Kaya learns the hard way that some ties can't be broken...and blood is the strongest bond of all.

I really enjoyed Heather Brewer's Vlad Tod series. This sounds rather different, but still interesting. It's been a while since a fantasy like this has intrigued me the way this book does. And the cover makes Kaya look rather badass, which doesn't hurt. ;)