Cover Art: Bloodborn (Other, #2) by Karen Kincy

Karen Kincy revealed her cover for book #2 of her Other series, Bloodborn,on the 2010: A Book Odyssey blog!

Due to a post I saw on Bookalicious I will no longer be posting "new" cover art directly on my blog but will be linking directly to the author's post so that credit is given where it is due. Read the post by Pam if you haven't! I've since changed my mind about this as I agree with the few authors that have commented. It's about getting the word out about their book, not hits on their author website. While I respect what Pam's post was about, in the end it's about getting others to pass the word along. Word of mouth, er, bloggers posting is a strong selling tool.

I think it's a pretty cover. I'm not sure if I like that the girl looks so much different than the girl on the cover of Other. Maybe it centers around a new girl? I dunno but I'll find out. :) Per Karen's comment she confirmed that it's not the main character from the first book. So now I'm excited to read it and find out what's going on! Thanks to Karen for stopping by and commenting.

Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Image Source: The Cozy Reader, ARC edition

Delirium by Lauren Oliver 448 pages, HarperCollins, (2011-02-01) $17.99 (Amazon.com)

Procurement

I received this ARC while attending BEA 2010.

My Grade

Plot: 5

Setting: 5

Writing: 5

Originality: 5

Characters: 5

Romance: 5

Overall: 30/30! Perfect!

Cover/Title Bonus: 4

Overall

A brutal society where love is disguised as a disease and is ultimately tragically and beautifully worth fighting for.

Summary (Goodreads)

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that one 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 governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway 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.

 

First Line

It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure.

Most Memorable Scene

During one of the raids an ass of an enforcer encounters a barking dog. Lena handles the situation as best as she could but it still hit a nerve with me as an animal lover.

Also, Lena and Alex visit the insane asylum, or prison, and that entire situation had me on the edge of my seat.

Plot

Love as a disease? I’ve always been a fan of dystopian societies and this book proved to me why that is. They all have something you’re not allowed or supposed to have but ultimately you find a way to want it and grasp it and if you’re lucky keep it.

Delirium portrays Lena as a young girl about to meet her life partner (I can’t remember if there’s a specific term used or not) and about to get her treatment against the delirium, love sickness.

Every aspect of the plot was meshed together perfectly. I love that there was more to it then just the love story.

Setting

Lena’s world is a pretty brutal place. A required treatment to inhibit the ability to fall in love or feel anything remotely like love or hate is one of the ultimate free will abilities humans have.

There’s a citizen curfew and required badges or identification cards. Periodically there are raids to search homes.

Writing

This was the first book by Lauren Oliver I’ve read. I did try to read Before I Fall but I just couldn’t make my way through it. This book is written awesomely. I love that it was written from Lena’s point of view. I love the detail that was given to her feelings and her surroundings.

Originality

Again, love as a disease? Pure originality.

Characters

Lena doesn’t plan to fall in love or even rethink her governments plans for controlling their citizens. I like it when characters surprise themselves; learn more about themselves.

Hana is Lena’s best friend. She isn’t too exposed as a character but we grasp her as the pretty, popular one.

My awful secret is that I like to run with Hana partly because it’s the single, sole, solitary shred of a thing that I can do better than she can, but I would never admit that out loud in a million years. – page 47 – ARC edition

Lena and Hana run quite a bit together. This is one of the most important events of the entire story. Hana is also quite the rowdy one.

Lena and Hana both meet Alex while exploring the back of one of the government buildings while on a late afternoon jog. He’s a guard. But oh so much more. Alex’s character is awesome.

Romance

Lena and Alex are amazing together. They cover so much territory in such a short amount of time. Ninety-five days of one amazing love. One could almost be happy about that. Except, you can’t because you want to hold on to that forever. But what are your options when treatment day comes?

Cover/Title Bonus

The ARC cover is a bit too meek for my tastes but it fits fine. The title is absolutely perfect.

The final cover does not appeal to me at all. I’d much prefer the ARC edition.

Ending

One of the most touching endings I’ve ever read. I was so torn to see it end. I read this May 30 – 31, 2010. This doesn’t even come out until February 1, 2011 and who knows when the next book will be out. I have so long to wait to see how this will continue.

Series

The next two book titles are already on Goodreads.

Pandemonium – publishing sometime in 2012

Requiem – publishing sometime in 2013

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves dystopias or rebellious teens. :)

$20 Amazon.com Gift Card for only $10!

LivingSocial has a GREAT deal today! For only $10 you get a $20 Amazon.com gift card!



The limit is one per person. Read the rest of the fine print on their site! :)

I bought one and wish I could buy more.

2011 Debut Author Challenge

I know I’m late but late is better than never! Right?

I’m signing up for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge that Kristi of The Story Siren is hosting.

To get more info on this challenge or to enter head over to The Story Siren!

I’ll be updating this post with books I’ve read and a link to their reviews.

January

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (review)

In My Mailbox: Week 2

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Here’s what I got this week.

BookSwim

I received my first 3 book package from my free 3 month subscription to BookSwim. I must admit so far that I’m not impressed with this service. There’s no way to see which books are available to ship so there’s no way to put the books in queue in an order that makes sense. I do like that the next package they send I have a guarantee book that I get to select.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green 304 pages, Dutton Juvenile, (2010-04-06) $17.99 (Amazon.com)

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson) by Patricia Briggs 304 pages, Ace, (2011-01-25) $7.99 (Amazon.com)

A Touch of Dead (Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories) by Charlaine Harris 192 pages, Ace, (2009-10-06) $23.95 (Amazon.com)

Won

I won this signed book from Kim at The Book Butterfly. Thanks Kim and Sarah!

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler 320 pages, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, (2010-12-01) $16.99 (Amazon.com)

Free Kindle Editions

Starlighter (Dragons of Starlight) by Bryan Davis 400 pages, Zondervan, (2010-03-30) $9.99 (Amazon.com)

NetGalley

I’m a little upset because NetGalley took away the Kindle format for their eARCs. I’m hoping they have it up and running again soon.

Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly pages, Candlewick, (2011-05-24) $17.99 (Amazon.com)

Baby Gear

If you didn’t catch my previous update about my pregnancy (I’m over the half way mark!) here are the two pairs of Bison Booties from Bison Girl’s Etsy shop. And she gave me a promo code to share with my followers! COZYREADER11 will give you 10% off until February 1st!

These booties are adorable and sooo soft it’s not funny! The inside is as soft as a cloud. I’ve asked Bison Girl about making a pair for my 6 year daughter because she loves these and of course she feels a little left out now that the baby is getting two pairs!

What did you get this week?

Cover Art: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Oh my goodness! I LOVE this cover! It's just gorgeous!

Tara posted it on her blog today, along with an adorable picture of her infant son!

Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss. -- Goodreads

Release date is June 7, 2011.

Personal Demons (Personal Demons, #1) by Lisa Desrochers

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

368 Pages - Tor Teen (Sep 14, 2010)

$9.49 (Amazon.com)

Procurement

I purchased the Kindle edition after reading a character interview on Andrea Cremer's blog.

My Grade

Plot: 5

Setting: 4

Writing: 4

Originality: 5

Characters: 5

Romance: 5

Overall: 28/30 = 93% A

Cover/Title Bonus: 3

Overall

Badass demon boy, soft-hearted angel boy and a Catholic girl who's been kicked out of Catholic school team up in a hilirious, action packed YA urban fantasy unlike any other.

Adorable Booties! And a baby update!

I haven't done much of a personal update about my pregnancy for a while but I just ordered some of the most adorable booties I've ever seen and I must share them!

I found this Etsy shop via a Pregnancy blog I follow, which is Pregnancy & Newborn: Baby Buzz.

Bison Girl Shop hand makes these adorable baby booties and I just had to have a pair. So I ordered these:

And then I saw that she also makes custom pairs too! So, I had her go shopping for some cute frog fabric, we picked our favorite and she went right to work! Here are the custom froggy ones:

Discount!

Erica (Bison Girl Shop) has offered 10% off her shop for my readers! Just enter COZYREADER11 before February 1st! Thanks so much Erica! She was such a breeze  to work with and I can't wait to order more of these! (psst... they're only $20!)

Our nursery theme is frogs and we already have a few froggy outfits so these will be  perfect additions.

You're probably wondering about our theme and thinking...hmm, frogs and blue and green are awfully boyish things. That's because we're having a boy!

We've already picked out his name: Rylie Shane (Shane is my hubby's middle name).

We're so excited about his arrival. We've started to transform our 6 year old daughter's, Madison, playroom into her new room. We've started painting and should have it done this weekend. Then we'll start on Rylie's room. We've ordered the bedding:

Click picture to see close ups.

We also ordered the matching crib mobile as well as the mural pattern as seen in this picture.

We also love the furniture in this picture so much that we tracked it down and hope to either order it ourselves or hope that maybe the grandparents can help fund the purchase. We have our old furniture but we'd love to get this dark wood as well as the advancement in safety this crib has to offer.

We had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound just before Christmas. Obviously finding out he's a he, we got a few great pictures.  Here are just a few:

To see the rest, feel free to check them out on my Facebook album. It's public so no worries about having to sign in or create an account.

All is well with little Rylie, however, my amniotic fluid measured in one point above normal so they want to double check it at 28 weeks, which will be February 7th. We're hoping to get another peek at Rylie. I'll be calling to find out if that's possible, otherwise I'll want to schedule a  private 3D/4D ultrasound with StorkVision, which we did with Madison and would hate to not have one for our son.

As of right now I'm 24 weeks and 2 days. I've been feeling good, definitely feeling pregnant. I've been sleeping pretty good since I treated myself to a maternity pillow. I haven't gained too much, about 10 lbs., so I don't feel like a whale quite yet. I gained 70 lbs. with Madison. I'm really hoping to get no where near that!

He is so active it's crazy! I've been able to feel him move since about 14 weeks and it's like he hasn't stopped since! He's so active I thought maybe there was something wrong but the doctors insist that it's not a bad thing when they move regularly, even if it's forceful, but to worry when they aren't moving enough. I'm glad that's one thing I don't have to worry about right now. :)

I'll be sure to update you with any more cute purchases as well as  updates from our next ultrasound.

Technorati Tags: baby booties,booties,Etsy,Bison Girl Shop

The "Launch" of the Good Ship Godspeed with Beth Revis

Banner created by Jeremy of http://www.novelthoughtsblog.com/


Today is the official release of Beth Revis' book, Across the Universe! Not only is her book releasing today but a newly updated website has been released too! Go check out the awesome ship, Godspeed.
Did you catch my review of Across the Universe yesterday? Go read it now!

Across the Universe by Beth Revis 416 pages, Razorbill, (2011-01-11) $17.99 (Amazon.com)

io9 will have a 111 page excerpt but only for 12 hours! Starting NOW at 11:11 am Eastern and ending tonight at 11:11 pm Eastern.
Here's a brief interview with Beth and how she came up with the idea of Across the Universe,

Interview with Beth Revis

Trailer

Connect with Across the Universe!

Connect with Beth Revis!

Connect with Penguin Teen!

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis 416 pages, Razorbill, (2011-01-11) $17.99 (Amazon.com)

Procurement

I received an ARC from the publisher. I've since given it away in a giveaway.

My Grade

Plot: 5

Setting: 5

Writing: 5

Originality: 5

Characters: 4

Romance: 4

Overall: 28/30 = 93% A

Cover/Title Bonus: 4

Overall

A sci-fi filled dystopia about murder, love, maturity, and power. Amazing technological concepts and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end.

In My Mailbox: Week 51 - 1

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday! Here’s what I’ve gotten since just before Christmas.

Review

Rosebush by Michele Jaffe 304 pages, Razorbill, (2010-12-07) $16.99 (Amazon.com)

NetGalley

American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout 336 pages, Mira, (2011-02-22) $7.99 (Amazon.com)

Won

I won the GhostGirl series by Tonya Hurley and a pillow case from T.V. and Book Addict. Thanks Lisette!

I won a giveaway a few months ago from Karin’s Book Nook but never received it. Luckily Karin graciously reordered it for me as well as the sequel! Thanks Karin!

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1) by Cassandra Clare 496 pages, Margaret K. McElderry, (2010-08-31) $19.99 (Amazon.com)

I won this awesome Kindle book from Pixel of Ink. Thanks Sharon!

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 832 pages, Del Rey, (2002-04-30) $20.00 (Amazon.com)

I also won a super cool giveaway for a 3 month subscription to BookSwim from Dark Faerie Tales. Thanks Angela! I’ll let you all know what I think of this service soon!

Christmas Gift

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin 304 pages, Square Fish, (2007-05-15) $7.99 (Amazon.com)

Bought

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers 368 pages, Tor Teen, (2010-09-14) $9.99 (Amazon.com) I bought the Kindle Edition and it was awesome!

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White 352 pages, HarperTeen, (2010-09-01) $16.99 (Amazon.com) I bought the Kindle Edition. I really enjoyed this one!

Free Kindle Editions

Don't Die, Dragonfly (The Seer Series) by Linda Joy Singleton 288 pages, Llewellyn Publications(Flux), (2004-09-08) $9.95 (Amazon.com)

A Taste of Magic by Tracy Madison 292 pages, Love Spell Paranormal Romance, (2009-02-24) $6.99 (Amazon.com)

What did you get recently?

Giveaway Alert: Win a Nook Color and more!

Pam over at Bookalicio.us is celebrating her 2nd blogoversary and she’s got a lot of awesome prize packs to giveaway. And a grand prize of a Nook Color!

To enter, just head over to her blog and do at least one of the entries available before February 10th!

If I were to win this Nook I’d probably use it to see if I like it better than my Kindle, but I don’t think that’s possible so I’d probably give it to a family that doesn’t have an ereader yet.