Kilt and Keeley: SHINE Preorder Giveaway!!

Okay, first off: Do you love the SHADE series by Jeri Smith-Ready? 


Yeah, stupid question, right? Of course you do!!


Well, the fabulous folks over at Kilt and Keeley are hosting a giveaway to help encourage people to preorder the third (and final!) book in the series, SHINE!


They're putting together an awesome prize pack of swag and various SHADE-related items. All YOU have to do is preorder SHINE and send them a copy of your receipt or proof of purchase! All the details are on their blog, HERE!


If just the chance of an awesome prize isn't good enough incentive for you, how about the fact that EVERYONE who enters gets an exclusive ZOGAN trading card!!

Awesome, right?


And finally, the best part is that the more people that preorder SHINE, the bigger the prize pack gets! So go, now! Preorder!!


Don't forget, all the details for entering are HERE!


So go check it out, and PREORDER SHINE!!


(:D)
~Mag

In My Mailbox (4/8/12)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren, and it's all about talking about what you got in your mailbox each week!

First off, Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you all have a great day :)


I didn't get much this week (I haven't ordered anything and I still have a lot of library books left over from last week) buy I did get a few books!!


FROM THE LIBRARY


-Variant by Robinson Wells. I'd heard of this a while ago, but my library didn't have it (which is pretty typical of my library). HOWEVER, when I was there browsing the shelves earlier this week, THERE IT WAS! So yay.

-Everneath by Brodi Ashton. ANOTHER AWESOME SOUNDING ONE THAT I RANDOMLY FOUND! I guess my library recently bought a bunch of books, because I keep stumbling across new ones I didn't know they had (as happened last week, too).


-Shattered Dreams by Ellie James. I THINK I'd heard of this one before, because when I saw it on the shelf it seemed familiar, and pretty cool. So, despite the fact that I have approximately fifteen thousand books to read, I grabbed it, too.

ON MY KINDLE


-Pure by Jennifer L Armentrout. EEEP! I've been dying for this book for a looooong time! I love all of her books (especially the Lux series), but Half-Blood was the first book of hers I read, so finally getting to read the sequel is AWESOME!


And yeah, I finished it already. I couldn't help it.

So, what's in your mailbox this week?


(:D)
~Mag

Review: Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

Okay, so, confession time. I've had this book for SO LONG. I tried to start reading it like three times, but I could never really get into it. Finally, with the due date coming up before I had to return Awaken to the library, I decided I just needed to try one more time.


So I did. 


And OH MY GOSH.

Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

Maddie lives in a world where everything is done on the computer. Whether it’s to go to school or on a date, people don’t venture out of their home. There’s really no need. For the most part, Maddie’s okay with the solitary, digital life—until she meets Justin. Justin likes being with people. He enjoys the physical closeness of face-to-face interactions. People aren’t meant to be alone, he tells her.

Suddenly, Maddie feels something awakening inside her—a feeling that maybe there is a different, better way to live. But with society and her parents telling her otherwise, Maddie is going to have to learn to stand up for herself if she wants to change the path her life is taking.

In this not-so-brave new world, two young people struggle to carve out their own space.

------

As I said above, STARTING Awaken was a little hard for me, but once it got going, this book seriously ROCKED.


Awaken is a different kind of dystopian than the usual, one that is--in my opinion--even scarier. Instead of exceeding amounts of violence or hugely different societies (like Hunger Games and Matched), Awaken takes place in a society disturbingly similar to our own, and it's set only about fifty years in the future.


In this world, computers are everything. Spending time outside or with friends is an infrequent event. Why would you, when you can chat it up with your contacts online, or go for a virtual walk along the beach, or go on a virtual climb of Mount Everest? Your computer can tell you anything you need to know, make connections, run your life. 


The fact that everyone's always too busy on their computers or phones to pay attention to each other, even when they're hanging out in person, totally freaked me out as it's so close to what's happening in our society now. Even the timeline of this story is realistic. I can completely see this happening within the next fifty years, and that's scary.


There's a point in the book where Maddie compares going without technology to being an alcoholic going through withdrawal, and that REALLY got me thinking. Because I think a lot of people (myself included) would feel like that if we went very long without our computers or iPods or phones. It makes me think that maybe we should all unplug more often before this book becomes our reality. 


But that was just one of the things that made this book awesome. The story itself was great. Maddie was a fun, smart, strong character. She's pretty much been under house arrest for three years, but that doesn't stop her from fighting against her dad's rules and opinions every chance she gets. Some part of her understands that society has taken a dangerous turn, but it doesn't really become clear to her until she meets Justin.


Justin...is awesome. I loved his character. Extroverted, smart, brave, and selfless to a fault, Justin is different than most typical YA heroes these days. All of his friends were great, too, especially Clare. Clare was HILARIOUS, and I'm looking forward to seeing her and the others in future books. 


Now, I know I don't usually share quotes in my reviews, but I found a couple that were just so good I want to share them with you guys.

     She rolled her eyes. "Scott can be such a drama queen. It never crossed his mind that mocking and ridiculing you to your face might not be the wisest strategy to convince you to join our side." 

     -Page 145

     "I took a self-defense class," I added.
     He raised an eyebrow. The gesture only made him sexier.
     "Online? What did you learn, push the up and down arrow keys really fast to get away?" 

     -Page 155

Altogether, Awaken definitely gets <*><*><*><*><*> 


(:D)
~Mag

Waiting on Wednesday: Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted over at Breaking the Spine, spotlighting books that have not yet been released but are being greatly anticipated. Today, my pick under the category "Check out this utterly awesome unreleased book of...awesome" is an awesome (because I haven't used that word enough yet)-looking book by Brigid Kemmerer called Storm.

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming . . .

------

 Doesn't that sound awesome? It's not often that I'm really, really excited for a release that isn't a sequel to something else. (That's a general rule, of course, not something that's always true.) When I love a book, of course I'm excited to see what happens next. But for a NEW book (or series), I have no background on what might happen, and no attachment to the characters (yet). BUT THIS BOOK LOOKS AWESOME! I'm really looking forward to checking it out!!


(Don't forget to grab a countdown widget for Storm!! --->)


What are you waiting for this week?


(:D)
~Mag

Teaser Tuesday: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play, and the rules are simple:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today's Teasers come from Incarnate by Jodi Meadows! I'm about 65% percent in (according to Goodreads), and I am LOVING it! So, without further ado:

1.

     "Shaggy?" I sat, blankets knotting around my legs, and reached for the nearest mug of dark liquid. Then I answered my own question with a smirk. "The horse? Creative name."

     "His full name is Not as Shaggy as His Father, but that's a mouthful."

     -Page 33

2.

     He shook his head. "You're coming home with me, no matter what anyone says."

     -Page 86

Seriously, though, did I mention how much I LOVE this book??

What are you reading this week? Leave me  your TT links in the comments!!

(:D)

~Mag

SHINE Teaser Trailer!!

So, you guys. I have another awesome video to share with you! This one is a teaser trailer for the third book in the ~AMAZING~ SHADE series by Jeri Smith-Ready, SHINE! Jeri made this herself, and it is crazy awesome! (Jeri herself said you might want to watch it after reading the first chapter, which you can see HERE)





I know. I know. Oh my gosh, there aren't even words for that awesomeness! May 1st now seems both closer and infinitely farther away!!


One more thing: You can enter to win a SIGNED paperback copy of SHINE from Jeri herself, details HERE!


What do you think of the trailer? Leave me a comment! And don't forget to share the trailer and spread the AWESOME! Oh, and as long as you're freaking out over SHINE, you should grab a countdown widget for your blog. (You can get the code of the one on my sidebar, if you like!)


(:D)
~Mag

In My Mailbox (4/1/12)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren, and it's all about talking about what you got in your mailbox each week!

I didn't buy anything or get anything in my mailbox this week. BUT. I got some excellent awesomeness at the library!


FROM THE LIBRARY

First on the list (I'll go by order of pictures, I suppose!) is Incarnate by Jodi Meadows!! I have been wanting to read this book for sooo long! The awesome part is that I had no clue my library had finally gotten it! I found it randomly on the shelf when I was just browsing. :)


The Dark Divine by Bree Despain I went to the library with the intent of giving. I'd heard of it a while ago, and was interested, but I think the reason I noticed it again was someone's teasing it on Teaser Tuesday. 


I'd tell you the long story about how I found Croak by Gina Damico, but it's essentially the same as Incarnate's, so...

The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges I heard about a few months back, I think, and randomly found on the "newish" display at the library.


Next up is Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala, another random-stumble I was vaguely aware of. I read the blurb, and it sounds cool, so into the pile it went!


Finally we have Wherever You Go by Heather Davis, which is the only book I got this week that I hadn't already heard of. I found it on the "new" display, too, and it sounds pretty awesome! I can't decide whether it's contemporary or more paranormal, since it's apparently got some serious ghost action. I guess it's ghostly contemporary :)


Anyway, that's what I've got this week!


What's in your mailbox this week?


(:D)
~Mag