Free book alert! I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

Here's something exciting - I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler is featured this week as the iBookstore Book of the Week!  So if you have iTunes and an Apple product to read a book on (iPad, iPhone, what have you...) head on over and check it out for free!

"I'm Not Her is a journey of self-discovery for one teen who learns more about herself and her relationship with her sister and family when tragedy strikes. Tess is the exact opposite of her beautiful, athletic sister. And that's okay. Kristina is the sporty one, Tess is the smart one, and they each have their place. Until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly Tess is the center of the popular crowd, everyone eager for updates. There are senior boys flirting with her. Yet the smiles of her picture-perfect family are cracking and her sister could be dying. Now Tess has to fill a new role: the strong one. Because if she doesn't hold it together, who will?"

Ah sounds like a great contemporary.  And to celebrate I'm Not Her being the iBookstore Book of the Week, here's 10 Fun Facts about I'm Not Her from Janet Gurtler herself!

10 Fun Facts About I’m Not Her by Janet Gurtler

1. In a hospital scene in I’m Not Her one of the nurses is named Tracey and she takes Kristina’s flowers home to her daughter, Carly.  Tracey is the name of my sister, Carly is her daughter in real life.
2. Every single one of my books has a character named Carly in it. This is a tribute to my niece, Carly. The characters are not based on her per se, but there has to be a Carly in my books. Like a superstition or good luck charm or something.
3. This book is dedicated to my sister Tracey.  I was able to keep it a secret until Final Page Proofs came in.
4. My niece Ciara plays volleyball and her nickname is CEE. She got recruited by a university in the States and is playing there. None of the volleyball players in the book were based on her though. She is a cool like a rock star.
5. I thought Clark Trent was a funny name because of Superman’s secret identity. The Superman cape Clark wears in a scene cracked me up.
6. I named a couple of the teachers in I’m Not Her after dogs I’ve had.  Peppsy (Mr. Pepson) and Meeko (Mr. Meekers)
7. In a scene Tess listens to Hedly on her iPod. I LOVE Jacob, the lead singer for the band. He was on the only season of Canadian Idol I watched.
8. I named the golf course that Nick works at and Tess’s Dad plays at after my husband. Largurt (Larry Gurtler)
9. I’m Not Her was originally called The Weight of Bones, but when I first started writing it I titled it Dance Big Sister.
10. Tess’s love of the Discovery Channel and Myth Busters were inspired by my son

Black City (Black City, #1)

Black City
Elizabeth Richards
374 pages
Released: November 13, 2012
Publisher: Speak
Source: Gifted/purchased (how did I end up with two copies of this one?)
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

It was good-bye reading slump when I picked up Black City!  Black City had two elements of what I love most in YA literature: short chapters and a fast, action-packed pace that made the book fly by.  I was eating it up!  Black City has a little something for every YA lover: it was action packed, had paranormal beings, and of course, a heart-pumping, steamy romance.

In a post-war world filled with humans and Darklings (a vampire-like species), Natalie is the daughter of a government official and Ash is half-Darking, half-human.  No one would expect these two to be together, but when Natalie starts a new school and they meet, they're instantly attracted to each other on a deep level.  But why?  What's pulling them together?  Meanwhile, their city is still recovering from a dramatic war and the government wants to segregate Darklings from humans.

I'm a girl, so you know I have to gush about this romance for a minute.  Yes, it was insta-love reminiscent of a Twilight kind of romance, but there was something so endearing about it.  The chemistry between Natalie and Ash is palpable and they were an exciting couple to read about.  By the end of the Black City I couldn't wait to pick up the sequel to find out how their story continued.

What I really liked about Black City, beyond the exceptional romance between Natalie and Ash, were the issues Black City covered.  So much more than a fluffy teenage romance, Black City covers serious topics like racism, war, and prejudice.  As I was reading, I also found parallels to the Holocaust.  Black City really helps demonstrate to the reader how unfair prejudice is and how all people should be treated as equals.

Five stars!  As I was reading I came across similarities to Twilight, Hunger Games, and Romeo & Juliet.  It might seem contradictory, but Black City flows so well I was turning the pages late into the night.  Overall, I loved Elizabeth Richard's debut novel and since I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of its sequel, Phoenix, due out this June - I've already started reading it!  Get on this series as soon as you can, it's going to be big!

Help support Brian Rowe's latest project!

In 2011 and 2012 author Brian Rowe contacted me to review his Happy Birthday trilogy and I loved them.  So when he recently contacted me about his latest endeavor, I was interested.  Over The Rainbow is Brian's latest work and is the story of a teenage girl whose family tries to send her to "anti-gay" camp when she falls in love with another girl.  As you might guess from the little, it's based off The Wizard of Oz, which seems to be all the rage right now.  Sounds great, right?  But Brian needs a little help from book lovers to get this project moving, which is why he started a Kickstarter campaign seeking donations.

I'm going to get on my tiny soapbox for a minute.  Brian is a talented writer and his Kickstarter page mentions that he's tried to submit Over The Rainbow to some publishers, but even though they liked the book, they won't take it on because they don't know how to sell a book with a lesbian female protagonist.  This is unfortunate to me.  It's about time that traditional publishers start figuring out how to market these books.  In fact, I don't think it would be all that difficult because I'm positive there's an audience for this kind of thing.

So now I'm stepping off my soapbox to tell you how you can get involved!  Visit Brian's Kickstarter page to learn more about the book, read an excerpt, and consider donating for his project.  The money will be used for marketing, a new cover, and a professional book trailer.  Everyone who donates gets a little somethin'-something' in return.

PS: Here and here are the links to my reviews of Brian's Happy Birthday trilogy.  If you haven't had a chance to check them out, consider getting the ebooks - or even better, donate to his Kickstarter campaign and get the ebooks for free!

Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires, #14)

Fall of Night
Rachel Caine
338 pages
Released: May 7, 2013
Publisher: NAL
Source: the publisher
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I'm still in love with this series and as always, the latest installment has me salivating for the next.  Fall of Night picks up where Bitter Blood left off - Claire is leaving Morganville for the elite halls of MIT and a personalized graduate program.  Things are different, exciting, and a little bit terrifying for Clarie in Massachusetts.  Her roommate is an old high school friend, but comes complete with a crazy stalker.  And Claire can't completely escape Morganville - her professor is also from there, and when they begin to work on Claire's invention, things quickly get out of control.

There was something refreshing about the latest Morganville Vampires book... the setting.  We're taken out of Morganville and transported to MIT - new characters, new plots, new experiences - a breath of fresh air!  And while I really enjoyed the new experiences Claire was facing, I also loved that she couldn't really escape Morganville.   Her professor hails from that very town and it really demonstrated how the vampire world is much bigger than Claire originally thought.  Who knows what other places Claire might find herself in in the future.

The most exciting part of the novel to me was Claire's relationship with her old friend/roommate, Liz (who seemed to have some sort of personality disorder, maybe?) and her crazy stalker.  This guy was seriously creepy.  Of course, Claire's work on her VLAD device was also interesting to read about.  If I lived around vampires, I could see the benefit of a device that would hold off attack.  Think of how profitable that device would be!

I don't want to give anything away, but I will just say I really liked how Shane was in this book.  That's all I'm going to say about that.   I can't wait to see where the next book takes us!  I'll be waiting eagerly for Daylighters, due out this fall!

The After Girls

The After Girls
Leah Konen
303 pages
Released: April 18, 2013
Publisher: Merit Press
Source: the publisher
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Sydney and Elle are going through a rough time after their best friend, Astrid, commits suicide in their secret cabin.  They're each dealing with the pain differently, but then weird things start to happen and they must come together to figure out what's going on.  How can it be that Astrid is dead, yet Elle is receiving Facebook and text messages from her?

I thought this book was going to be a lot more paranormal than it was, but I still wasn't disappointed because it took on human emotions seriously and honestly.  Not only are Sydney and Elle dealing with the death of a loved one, but as the book goes on we get to learn more and more about Astrid, her psychology, and what led her to commit suicide.  There's also Astrid's mother, a character who is experiencing some dark emotions as well.  In that way, The After Girls is a little bit heartbreaking, but also honest and raw.

The one issue I had with The After Girls was the dynamic between Sydney and Elle.  They're supposed to be best friends, but several times as I was reading I was wishing they would tone down the drama and just be there for each other.  But of course, everyone deals with loss in different ways and they were both experiencing other problems in their lives (read: boys) so perhaps that's why they butted heads so much.

Four stars!  Throughout the novel, The After Girls kept me interested, which is impressive since I've been feeling pretty scatterbrained with my reading recently.  I recommend this one wholeheartedly for those readers who like to read about loss and mystery.

Sever (The Chemical Garden, #3)

Oh my gosh, it has been entirely too long since I've blogged.  Or finished a book.  But, sometimes life gets in the way of what you really want to be doing.  I re-read The Fault in Our Stars last week and hopefully that has given me a kick in the butt to love reading and my blog again.  Here's an admittedly very short review of my latest conquest, Sever.

Sever

Lauren DeStefano

371 pages

Released: February 12, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I so didn't want this book to end because that meant the end of a fantastic trilogy that I loved every minute of.  But, all good things must come to an end - or so they say - so I was eager to get this from the library and start reading.  In this final installment of The Chemical Garden trilogy, Rhine grows concerned about her brother's involvement in underground resistance.  Her brother, Rowan, believes Rhine to be dead, but Rhine is determined to find him and find out about their past with their parents.

The biggest question in my mind as I read was obviously, how is this going to end for Rhine, Cecily, and Linden?  Will there be a cure?  An explosion?  How bat-shit-crazy is Housemaster Vaughn going to get?  As I read along I was enjoying the storyline and trying to savor every last minute I could with these characters, but I still wanted to know - what's going to happen to them?

Obviously I can't tell you what happened.  But.  There was a couple plot twists towards the end of the book that surprised me.  And then the ultimate ending - well.  Let's just say I love Cecily that much more now, the little spitfire.

If you haven't started this trilogy yet, you must.  Lauren DeStefano is such a gifted writer who can truly paint a world with words.  While I'm sad The Chemical Garden trilogy is over, I'm really looking forward to reading her new series The Internment Chronicles.  There's no way that's not going to be awesome.

January/February Recap!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I never got a chance to do a January recap and now February recap time is upon us.  Sadly, I haven't has as much time to read as I would like so there's room for both months in one post.  Without further ado...

JANUARY: 

Skinny by Donna Cooner

Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman

Earthseed by Pamela Sargent

Empty by K.M. Walton

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

William and Kate: A Royal Love Story by Christopher Anderson

One Moment by Kristina McBride

Now by Morris Gleitzman

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Poison by Bridget Zinn

FEBRUARY:

Winter White by Jen Calonita

Stitch by Samantha Durante

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Reached by Ally Condie

Total books read in 2013: 16 (I'm behind 19 for my goal)
Total pages read in 2013: 4875