Book Reviews by Jess

Sunday, September 18

Trailer and Giveaway: Dreamland (Riley Bloom, # 3) by Alyson Noël

224 pages, Square Fish, (2011-09-13)

Macmillan has released the trailer for Dreamland by Alyson Noël’s third installment to her Riley Bloom series. I personally am not an Alyson Noël fan but I couldn’t say no to passing on the info as well as hosting the giveaway for my readers.

Enjoy the trailer and good luck with the giveaway!

About "Dreamland":

"Riley's finding that the afterlife can be a lonely place when all you do is focus on work. So she goes to the place where dreams happen, hoping to find a way to contact her sister, Ever. She meets the director, who tells her about the two ways to send dreams. As a Dream Jumper, a person can jump into a dreamer's dream, share a message, and participate. As a Dreamweaver, an entire dream can be created in a studio and sent to the dreamer. But Dreamweaving was outlawed decades ago, and the studio was boarded up. Thinking it's her only way to reach out to her sister, Riley goes in search of the old studio. There she finds a ghost boy, who's been creating and sending nightmares to people for years. In order to stop him and reach out to Ever, Riley is going to have to confront and overcome her own fears."

Alyson Noël continues the bestselling story of Riley Bloom as she learns how dreams are made and tries to make contact with her sister, Ever.

Trailer

Friday, September 9

I Heart Heartsy!

I know I just shared Heartsy the other day but I can’t not share the shop that’s up for grabs tomorrow.

Solocosmo is a brilliant artist. Her designs are stunning and I can’t wait to receive the prints I ordered today. I plan to frame then and hang them in my kids rooms. Most of them are for my son’s room.

Heartsy features 4 new Etsy shops each day. You have the opportunity to purchase store credit to use within 3 months of your purchase date.

Membership is free, however, there is a VIP option for $10 a month you get $10 MORE store credit than a non VIP member. Plus you get to access the next day deals one day before all regular members. As well as access to VIP only shops.

So, it works like this for the Solocosmo shop tomorrow:

For $16 you receive $40 of store credit. VIPs receive $50.

It’s a great deal and the VIP membership pays for itself right there in that first transaction! I just signed up for the VIP today because I HAD to get these prints! There was only 1 available so I wanted to be sure I got them. I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow and risk not getting them.

Here are the ones I purchased. All in the mini size except the boy with the frog is 8.5 x 11 and the mermaid is 5 x 7.

Tell me these aren’t beautiful!? I can’t wait to see what else she makes.

Sunday, September 4

In My Mailbox: Week 35

Here’s what I got this week!

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren for hosting!

NetGalley

Prized (The Birthmarked Trilogy) by Caragh M. O'Brien

368 pages, Roaring Brook Press, (2011-11-08)

$10.79 (Amazon.com)

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

400 pages, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, (2011-09-05)

$8.99 (Amazon.com)

Only a sample chapter though….

Won

Nightshade: Book 1 by Andrea Cremer

480 pages, Speak, (2011-06-14)

$9.99 (Amazon.com)

Thank you Natalie @ Mindful Musings!

Wolfsbane (Nightshade, Book 2) by Andrea Cremer

400 pages, Philomel, (2011-07-26)

$10.42 (Amazon.com)

Thank you Natalie @ Mindful Musings!

What did you get this week?

Trailer and Giveaway: Hades (Halo #2) by Alexandra Adornetto

Hades (Halo #2) by Alexandra Adornetto

432 pages, Feiwel & Friends, (2011-08-30)

$10.58 (Amazon.com)

Macmillan has released the trailer for Alexandra Adornetto’s second book in the Halo series, Hades!

Trailer

I have a copy of Halo but haven’t read it yet. I will be pushing it towards the top of my TBR pile.

About Hades (Goodreads)

"Heaven Help Her.

Bethany Church is an angel sent to Earth to keep dark forces at bay. Falling in love was never part of her mission, but the bond between Beth and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier Woods, is undeniably strong. But even Xavier?s love, and the care of her archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, can?t keep Beth from being tricked into a motorcycle ride that ends up in Hell. There, the demon Jake Thorn bargains for Beth?s release back to Earth. But what he asks of her will destroy her, and quite possibly, her loved ones, as well."

The story that Alexandra Adornetto built in her bestselling debut, Halo, comes alive in action-packed and unexpected ways, as angels battle demons, and the power of love is put to the test.

Tour

Alexandra will be on tour this fall. Head over to Facebook for more information.

Giveaway

Macmillan would like to give a copy of Hades to one of my readers! To enter please fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below!

Please read the Terms & Conditions at the bottom of the entry form before completing any entries!

NOTE: Since this widget relies on Cookies, you may have issues doing the daily Tweet. If so please just put TWEET in the mandatory entry field. Questions? Email me!

Monday, August 29

A Must Read Preview: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

So, I started this book last night and finished it this afternoon. I’ve written my full review for it already. (Aren’t you proud!?)

The problem I’m having is that IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD! I have to share it with you now. A little bit any way. The other problem is that it doesn’t come out until Valentine’s Day 2012!

So, read this little bit of my review that’ll post in full on Feb. 13, 2012. You will love this book if you love YA Romance at all. Think Simone Elkeles.

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

272 pages, Knopf Books for Young Readers, (2012-02-14)

$11.46 (Amazon.com)

Overall

So much swoon I nearly died by heart bursting! An epic tale of finding love, acceptance, painting, and broken noses.

Summary (Goodreads)

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.

Most Memorable Scene

Goodness me! There are way too many. The scene where Malcolm finds Ed and Lucy in the park is one of the best! Lucy sure knows how to handle herself.

"Why don't you give it to Leo? Wait, I know, it's because you're scared of him, you cockroach-eating-coward motherfucker."

I look at her. "Motherfucker?"

"Motherfucker," she says.

"The next one to call me a motherfucker takes the message," Malcolm says.

"Motherfucker", Lucy and I say together.

Romance

Gah! This book is so packed with so much swoon it's not even funny! I thought for sure my heart was going to burst a few times with the amount of "Awwww" that came pouring out of some of these scenes! I was a giddy teenaged girl all afternoon! Yes, I read this in only one afternoon! It's amazing and you have to know what happens and it's so easy to read the words just flow into you and fill you with pure joy.

Preorder this book. I promise you won’t regret it!