Sunday 12 February 2012

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)

by Michelle Hodkin

Publication: February 2012

Publisher: Simon And Schuster Australia

Pages: 452

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Price: $16.99

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

My Thoughts.

What can I say that hasn't already been said about this book?

Ever since I'd read the synopsis for this book I've wanted to get my hands on it, it didn't help that the cover is so gorgeous either, or that it was so hyped up.

This book was amazing and I can't say enough good things about it, the concept was fresh and original, the characters were great and where can I get my own Noah Shaw?

Mara wakes up in hospital with no memory of being in a building that collapsed on her, she definately doesn't remember being there with her boyfriend Jude, best friend Rachel and Jude's sister Claire, she's shocked to discover that she's the sole survivor and she got out relatively unscathed except for a bruise on her face.

It is recommended that Mara makes a fresh start so her and her family move to Florida, Mara starts hallucinating and keeps seeing Jude and Claire, she loses track of time and her memory slowly comes back to her in dreams.

On her first day she meets the most gorgeous boy in the whole school, he's British and has himself quite a reputation, but Noah is hiding something and it's not till further on into the book we find out what that is.

Added to the hallucinations are deaths of people in the exact same way that Mara had seen them in her head and she starts to wonder if maybe she killed them herself as a lot of the time she doesn't know what's real or not, and her parents start to worry and even send her to a psychiatrist.

What's great about this story is that you don't know what to believe whether what you're reading is fact or fiction or just some hallucination that Mara is experiencing.

There are so many great characters in this book including Mara's brothers Daniel who always sticks up for her and Joseph, she also has a friend Jamie who I really like as well.

This book will have you guessing as to what is actually happening to Mara and how Noah ties into it, and the ending is a complete shocker and I can't wait for the next book to find out what is going to happen.

I'm definately a fan of Michelle Hodkin's and I'll be eagerly waiting for the second book in the amazing series.

A Big Thanks To Caroline @ Simon And Schuster Australia.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Feature And Follow Friday (15).

Q: What would your prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

I would pick reading my favourite book over and over, because you can never have too much of a good thing.

10 Book Covers With.....

Gorgeous Dresses.

O.k so I thought I'd try something new, I was inspired by the Listopia lists on Goodreads and thought I might take this idea and do them on my blog, I don't know how often I'll do them, or if they'll be at all interesting to anyone.
These are in no particular order.

From doing this list I realised I like poofy dresses that have long trains, I think I'm living in the wrong era!

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Australian Vs. U.S.A. Book Covers.

Choker

by Elizabeth Woods

Australian.

American.

Waiting On Wednesday (8).

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

Touch of Death

by Kelly Hashway

15th January 2013 Spencer Hill Press

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.

The Unnaturalists

by Tiffany Trent

14th August 2012 Simon And Schuster

In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.

Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

Slated (Slated #1)

by Teri Terry

3rd May 2012 Orchard Books

Kyla's memory has been erased, her personality wiped blank, her memories lost forever.
She's been Slated.
The government claims she was a terrorist, and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla's mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth?

Saturday 4 February 2012

In My Mailbox (15).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Kristi The Story Siren.

Review.

The Shiny Guys - Doug MacLeod (Penguin Australia)

Pre-Order.

Fallen In Love (Fallen #3.5) - Lauren Kate

Life Eternal (Dead Beautiful #2) - Yvonne Woon

Angel Fire (Angel #2) - L.A Weatherly

Darker After Midnight ( Midnight Breed #10) - Lara Adrian

Diabolical (Tantalize #4) - Cynthia Leitich Smith

Lenobia's Vow (House Of Night Novellas #2) - P.C Cast & Kristin Cast

Brought.

Entangled - Cat Clarke

Steel - Carrie Vaughn

Original Sin (Personal Demons #2) - Lisa Desrochers

Remembrance (Transcend Time Saga #1) - Michelle Madow

Vengeance (Transcend Time Saga #2) - Michelle Madow

Book Review (51).

Fated (Fated #1)

by Sarah Alderson

Publication: February 2012

Publisher: Simon And Schuster Australia

Pages: 320

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Price: $16.99

What happens when you discover you aren't who you thought you were? And that the person you love is the person who will betray you? If your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

When Evie Tremain discovers that she’s the last in a long line of Demon slayers and that she’s being hunted by an elite band of assassins –Shapeshifters, Vampires and Mixen demons amongst them – she knows she can’t run. They’ll find her wherever she goes. Instead she must learn to stand and fight.

But when the half-human, half-Shadow Warrior Lucas Gray - is sent to spy on Evie and then ordered to kill her before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy, their fates become inextricably linked. The war that has raged for one thousand years between humans and demons is about to reach a devastating and inevitable conclusion. Either one or both of them will die before this war ends.

If your life becomes bound to another’s, what will it take to sever it?

My Thoughts.

I wanted to read this book long before it was released and had been on my wishlist for a really long time and boy was I excited when I got my hands on a copy and I wasn't disappointed and I will definately be checking out Sarah Alderson's previous book.

Evie is just your normal typical seventeen year old girl, so she thinks, after the death of her father she works two jobs to help support her mother and herself and it's while working at one of her jobs at the diner doing the nightly close up taking out the rubbish that she is ambushed by beings that are not quite human.

She is saved by a customer who had offered her another job and who she finds out is a Hunter just like her and just like her biological parents who died saving her life, she discovers that the Brotherhood (a group of different demons ) are out to kill her before she comes into her full powers and completes her part in a prophecy.

Lucas who is half human, half Shadow Warrior (he's able to turn invisible in shadows) works on the side of the Brotherhood offers to go undercover to get close to Evie and then kill her, but what he doesn't plan for is to fall in love with her and betray the Brotherhood.

One thing that Lucas does want is revenge against Victor (who is training Evie) because he was resposible for the death's of Lucas' parents.

I loved the different species of supernaturals we have our usual vampires (they are called Thirsters in this book), shapeshifters, mixens and scorpios, in this world they are called the unhumans.

I loved the characters and the slow developed romance between Evie and Lucas and I definately can't wait to read more about this world and it's characters.

I give this 4/5.

A Big Thanks To Caroline @ Simon And Schuster Australia.