[Book Haul] In My Mailbox #4

Tags

adventure, book, books, fiction, recommendations, young adult

The Story Siren‘s In My Mailbox meme: for book bloggers to share their book haul from the week, or month…or whatever.

I haven’t done a book haul in a long while, especially since my reading and blogging time has dwindled with college, and thus I’ve tried to control my book intake. BUT TODAY IS SPECIAL. BECAUSE TODAY I FINALLY BOUGHT HOME THE BOOKCASE I MADE FOR SCULPTURE CLASS LAST SEMESTER (but my professor kept it for display purposes until now.) Which would’ve fit more books if I wasn’t so lazy and only made it half size. Don’t look at it too closely, lest you want to catch all my mistakes. WOODWORKING IS HARD STUFF. Excuse the poor lighting, but it’s actually a retro, cream green. It’s also supposed to be shaped as a television set, because reading is my entertainment…is that too cheesy? I know I should’ve had added some stubby legs, made the borders thicker, added a glass pane, etc. etc. So onto the books I’ve added to my bookcase over this past month!

• Drain You by M. Beth Bloom (Thank you, M.!)
• Mind Games & Endlessly ARCs by Kiersten White
• Dualed ARC by Elsie Chapman (The YA Bookcase was incredibly sweet and sent me this along with the Kiersten White ARCs and swag because I mentioned wanting to read it in a comment! I literally squealed when I saw it!!)
• The Headmaster’s Wager ARC by Vincent Lam (Thank you, Nicole from Paperback Princess!)
• Etiquette for the End of the World ARC by Jeanne Martinet (Thank you, Chick Lit Central!)
• The Intercept ARC by Dick Wolf (Thank you, Random House!)
• Throne of Glass UK Edition by Sarah J. Maas (Thank you, Novel Sounds!)
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Thank you, Tiffany from Book Cover Justice!)
• Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins (Thank you AGAIN, Tiffany from Book Cover Justice!)
• The Mockingbirds SIGNED by Daisy Whitney (Thank you, Daisy!)
• If You Find Me ARC by Emily Murdoch (Thank you, Emily!)
• The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore (Thank you, Hatchette!)
• Cinda Williams Chima Poster + Swag from Amelia at The Authoress (I STILL NEED TO GUESS YOUR NAME, RUMPELSTILTSKIN!)

Got your own book haul? Link me up! I would love to drool over your goodies!

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[Waiting On Wednesday #9] Feedback by Robison Wells (2012)

Tags

adventure, book, dystopia, dystopian, fiction, prison, recommendations, young adult, young adult fcition

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Feedback(2012)
by Robison Wells
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy’s deadly rules and brutal gangs.Or so he thought.
But now Benson is trapped in a different kind of prison: a town filled with hauntingly familiar faces. People from Maxfield he saw die. Friends he was afraid he had killed.

They are all pawns in the school’s twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force. As he searches for answers, Benson discovers that Maxfield Academy’s plans are more sinister than anything he imagined—and they may be impossible to stop.

Variant blew readers away with its breakneck pacing, flawless plotting, and impossibly high stakes. It earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and VOYA, which described it as “an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read that combines psychological themes from works like Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Ender’s Game in a truly unique way.”
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
A BEA book. And I am green with envy from seeing it on so many haul posts. I was hesitant to feature it since it’s already been on quite a few blogs (thanks to BEA), and I like to be hipster–but I just had to give in to the temptation since it’s my most eagerly anticipated YA release of Fall 2012. Seriously. It’s also the sequel to Variant, which is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year! Sadly, I also think it’s one of the underrated “dystopian” books. Even though I wasn’t too keen on the character-development, nor the “gang” idea–I loved the pace, the plot twists which never failed to keep me on my toes in excitement. I’m not a fan of the covers (it makes it look like a horror novel)–but the story is just so addicting!

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[review] The Vindico by Wesley King (2012)

Tags

action, adventure, book, book review, conspiracy, fighting, school, super powers, super villains, superhero, young adult

The Vindico (2012)
by Wesley King
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: June 14th, 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Book Promo:

The Vindico are a group of supervillains who have been fighting the League of Heroes for as long as anyone can remember. Realizing they’re not as young as they used to be, they devise a plan to kidnap a group of teenagers to take over for them when they retire—after all, how hard can it be to teach a bunch of angsty teens to be evil?Held captive in a remote mansion, five teens train with their mentors and receive superpowers beyond their wildest dreams. Struggling to uncover the motives of the Vindico, the teens have to trust each other to plot their escape. But they quickly learn that the differences between good and evil are not as black and white as they seem, and they are left wondering whose side they should be fighting on after all . . .

My Thoughts:
X-men meets the Breakfast Club? Doesn’t that sound exciting or what? I was interested when I heard about The Vindico in the beginning of the year, and I was excited to finally read it when I saw it on the shelves. Unfortunately, The Vindico just didn’t work for me on so many levels. The concept was fresh, but the execution was just disappointing. Perhaps it would have been better suited as a lower-middle grade novel rather than young adult with it’s simple writing style; the plot was fun but also unbelievably unrealistic along with the poorly fleshed out characters. The more the story progresses, the messier it becomes with the countless introduction of new minor, forgettable characters left and right, and messy fight scenes.

I am surprised Putnam picked this one up; The Vindico was like a graphic novel that didn’t translate very well into novel format. I’m disappointed that an interesting concept was turned into a very corny (borderline lame) superhero story. However, it is a fun and often humorous book–and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to a younger audience (especially Marvel/DC fans.)

[review] Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (2012)

Tags

adventure, book, book review, dystopia, dystopian, family, friends, kidnapped, love, love story, novel, romance, survival, young adult

Pandemonium (2012)
by Lauren Oliver
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: February 28th, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push, push, push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

My Thoughts:
I loved Pandemonium–perhaps even more because I was one of the few who didn’t like Delirium very much. I am glad the flowery, beautiful writing was toned down to more manageable levels to allow room for action without dragging the pace down, which was my main problem with Delirium. The quotations in the beginning of Delirium’s chapters have disappeared (honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of them), instead chapters are separated into Then and Now. I was pleasantly surprised with the new format, it allowed a break between tense moments and to give the readers backstory without a deluge of flashbacks or the dreaded info-dump. Lena learns to be more independent: she learns to take initiative, and decide things for herself.

[review] Delirium by Lauren Oliver (2011)

Tags

adventure, book, book review, family, friends, humor, love, love story, romance

Delirium (2011)
by Lauren Oliver
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

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.

My Thoughts:
It appears I am in the minority that didn’t fall head over heels for this book. I suspect I went in with high expectations and left with disappointment when the book didn’t deliver. I found it much like The Uglies series with the whole “cure” thing, but with less action and more lovey-dovey stuff. However, I know why so many people love this book: the prose is absolutely beautiful. I liked the idea of a society where love is a disease; it made me contemplate the purpose of this society and if the people are still human if they have no love. However, the story it was just so unbelievably predictable where everything was all rainbows and butterflies…until maybe the last twenty pages or so. Delirium is really a love story more so than a dystopian novel.

I needed more depth in the world, and the society to make me believe Lena’s world–because right now I think he dystopian society is just background information to build tension for the Lena’s love story. I should’ve played Rihanna’s “We Found Love” while reading this: “we found love in a hopeless place~”

[review] Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011)

Tags

adventure, book, book review, contest, cyberspace, dystopia, dystopian, eighties, geek, monty python, movies, nerd, pac-man, pop culture, romance, video games, virtual reality

Ready Player One (2011)
by Ernest Cline
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: August 16th, 2011
Publisher: Random House; Crown
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize.

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

My Thoughts:
I completely fell in love with Ready Player One. At first, I was skeptical about the deluge of eighties/video game culture, but then I gradually didn’t even care if I had no idea what the book was referencing and just wanted to go along for the ride. I always like my books to carry a deeper meaning, something to be pondered after the last page is turned-and I was delighted to find it here; Ready Player One isn’t simply an adventurous brown bags to riches story, but more importantly, it’s about how advancing technology may not be all that glitters and virtual reality has a cost. Ready Player One is just so fun and utterly addicting-like a video game. Every time I put it down, it would nudge at me in the corner of mind, time just slipped away while I was immersed in the novel. Now I see why this was amongst the top Sci-fi books of 2011; it’s definitely my favorite read of the year so far.

[review] The Hunger Pains by The Harvard Lampoon (2012)

Tags

adventure, book, book review, douchebags, funny, humor, movie, parody, the hunger games

The Hunger Pains (2012)
by The Harvard Lampoon
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Publisher: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster)
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Book Trailer:

WINNING MEANS WEALTH, FAME, AND A LIFE OF THERAPY. LOSING MEANS DEATH, BUT ALSO FAME! THIS IS THE HUNGER PAINS. When Kantkiss Neverclean replaces her sister as a contestant on the Hunger Games—the second-highest-rated reality TV show in Peaceland, behind Extreme Home Makeover—she has no idea what to expect. Having lived her entire life in the telemarketing district’s worst neighborhood, the Crack, Kantkiss feels unprepared to fight to the death while simultaneously winking and looking adorable for the cameras. But when her survival rests on choosing between the dreamy hunk from home, Carol Handsomestein, or the doughy klutz, Pita Malarkey, Kantkiss discovers that the toughest conflicts may not be found on the battlefield but in her own heart . . . which is unfortunately on a battlefield.

My Thoughts:
I’m a fan of The Hunger Games series (and yes, I read it before the movie because I’m so hipster), and when I saw The Hunger Pains: A Parody at the library-I just had to grab it off the shelf. It looked like a perfect short read (though fourteen bucks for such a tiny book baffles me.) I’ve read The Harvard Lampoon’s Twilight parody titled Nightlight, so I had an idea of what I was getting into: ridiculousness. Imagine 5% of the original Hunger Games mixed with lame fart jokes, Saturday Night Live, Jamaican accents, completely randomness, and no wit. The Hunger Pains is completely silly, the writing is laughably simplistic (reminiscent of the crazy stories I wrote as a kid with my friends), the characters borderline inane, but I enjoyed The Hunger Pains. The story was just so absurd, I couldn’t help giggling at its ridiculousness: Pita (incredibly fat with manboobs and constantly needs attention) in an effort to camouflage himself, turns himself into a wedding cake. If you didn’t think that was funny, this book isn’t for you.

I can see readers either go one way or the other: either they embrace the randomness, or be butthurt that their favorite characters are parodied as undesirable messes.

Rating: B-

[review] Variant (Variant #1) by Robison Wells (2011)

Tags

adventure, androids, book, book review, cyborgs, dystopia, dystopian, robots, young adult, young adult fiction

Variant (2011)
by Robison Wells
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: October 4, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive. Where breaking the rules equals death.
But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape–his only real hope for survival–may be impossible.

My Thoughts:
Easily the most gripping YA novel that I’ve read so far this year; I happily ate it up in one sitting. Rob Wells always seems to be a step ahead and prepared to ambush his readers with a plot twist. You will not see what’s coming, I promise you. Maxfield Academy may be dark and frightening with its secrets–but it’s a place where you’ll want to keep exploring, even if Benson wants to escape. I was breathlessly surprised with Variant, a book I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any dystopian fan. A stunning debut.

[review] Lunatics by Dave Barry, Alan Zweibel (2012)

Tags

adventure, book, book review, douchebags, funny, humor

Lunatics (2012)
by Dave Barry, Alan Zweibel
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Penguin; Putnam Adult
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

One of them is a bestselling Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist. The other is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Together, they form the League of Comic Justice, battling evildoers in the name of . . . Okay, we made that line up. What they do form is a writing team of pure comic genius, and they will have you laughing like idiots.
Philip Horkman is a happy man-the owner of a pet store called The Wine Shop, and on Sundays a referee for kids’ soccer. Jeffrey Peckerman is the sole sane person in a world filled with goddamned jerks and morons, and he’s having a really bad day. The two of them are about to collide in a swiftly escalating series of events that will send them running for their lives, pursued by the police, soldiers, terrorists, subversives, bears, and a man dressed as Chuck E. Cheese.

My Thoughts:
Lunatics must’ve been a whole lot of fun to write, and just as fun to read–if you like fart jokes and forensic plumbing. It’s the unexpected adventure of two douchebags, one more than the other, who meet at an AYSO girls soccer match and end up tangled in a mess that involves Donald Trump, a terrorist in a Chuck E. Cheese suit, being naked on cruise ship, eating quesadilla de harina de yuca rellena con camarones y queso (I looked it up on Google, it looks delectable despite its extremely long name), and peeing on Sarah Palin. And there are also bears–two of them. And yes, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. A fun read for anyone who loves Jackass, The Hangover, or a douchebags doing ridiculous things. Who cares about unlikable characters (you don’t know what’s a douchebag until you’ve met Jeffery Peckerman) and plot when you are too busy laughing?