Books I’ve Pre-ordered

Do you pre-order any books? Let me know what you've pre-ordered via a comment!

I follow a lot of series so I usually pre-order those next in the series to ensure I get them as soon as they are released. But sometimes I forget. Here are the books I have on pre-order as of today!

Drink Deep releases November 1. I hope to be participating in the Blog Tour, just waiting for a confirmation on a date! I just let my sister borrow this series! We'll both be anxiously waiting for this book!

Reckoning (Strange Angels, # 5) also releases November 1. I recently shared this series with my sister and she loves it just as much as I do!

Crossed, oh how I love this series! Matched was one of my most favorite reads last year. Crossed is also releasing on Novemer 1. Man, I'm going to have a hard time deciding which November 1 release I'm going to read first! It'll have to be one of the first two so that I can pass it along to my sister. This one will be passed on to my mother-in-law, aunt, and cousin and her daughter!

I've been reading so many awesome reviews of this book that I decided to pre-order the paperback edition that features the new improved cover that matches the upcoming release of Prized (Birthmarked, #2), which releases November 8th but I have a review copy waiting for me from NetGalley.

I'm a John Green fan. I haven't read all of this books yet but I just know I'll love them so I'm kinda saving them for a rainy day. This book is special because if you pre-order it from Amazon.com you will receive a first edition SIGNED copy but this is only good for pre-orders and is not guaranteed after the on-sale date, which is January 10, 2012.

There are quite a few other books I'd love to pre-order but I must feed my pre-existing conditions first. :)

Review: Feed by M.T. Anderson

Feed by M.T. Anderson

299 pages, Young Adult

Candlewick (February 23, 2004)

$7.99 (Amazon, paperback)

Procurement

I received this as a gift for Christmas from the Hubby.

My Grade

Plot: 5

Setting: 5

Writing: 5

Originality: 5

Characters: 5

Passion: 5

Overall: 30/30 = 100% = A+

Cover/Title Bonus: 5

Books YOU Need To Read

I recently finished two books. One I’ll be reviewing in a bit and one that doesn’t come out until May so I’ll post my review closer to that date but it was soo good I need to talk about it a bit now.

First, I just finished Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready. I hate the descriptions that are up for this book but it was freaking amazing.

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready When her boyfriend dies a most untimely death, Aura--who can see ghosts--is forced to reconsider her relationship with the living and dead in SHADE.

Shade will be released May 4, 2010 and I’m so sad that you can’t get a hold of it until then! Pre-order this. It’s worth it!

I haven’t read any of Jeri’s other books, which are adult, but I think this book just converted me and I may have to check them out soon.

This book kicked major ass. It has paranormal, teen angst, GHOSTS!, awesome friends, music, lots of action, well not really action but this book flowed awesomely and kept me awake most of the night to try and finish it in one day!

The thing that I liked the most was the concept of time. You know how a lot of books revolve usually around a few days to a few weeks? And you’re like, how did they fall in love in such a short amount of time of knowing each other? Well, this is nothing like that. It’s at least a years worth of time but it’s not drawn out and boring at all.

The characters in this book were another thing I just loved. They were so deep and alluring and REAL.

The issues/topics of this book are another strong point. Death, sex, drugs, love, and trust.

You will want to read this.

Books that I think are similar, yet nothing like this book because it is truly an unique book are:

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (ghosts)

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent (dark, shady things)

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (ghosts, historical elements)

Feed by M.T. Anderson In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

I read Feed by M.T. Anderson last week. I’ve had it on my wish list for quite a while and the hubby bought it for me for Christmas.

It is awesome and you need to read it. That is all. Review coming soon.

If you’ve read either of these already please link me to your review or tell me in comments what you thought!

Disclosure:
Amazon.com Associate. If you click on my links and purchase anything a very small percentage of the purchase price will be awarded to Book Reviews by Jess.

Best Read Books of 2009

I’ve seen a lot of posts about best and least favorite books read in 2009.

Here are a few I just can’t believe how awesome they were! I’m including links to my reviews, if available. I’ve broken it down into Adult and YA categories.

 

Upcoming Release: Firespell by Chloe Neill (contest info)

I’ve talked about this book in the past. I did a WoW and a Sneak Peek post.

Firespell: A Novel of the Dark Elite by Chloe Neill

Firespell will be released January 5, 2010 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Alert! The Hunger Games: Three by Suzanne Collins

In case you haven’t heard yet, the release date of the much anticipated third book in The Hunger Games trilogy has been announced with a release date.

The Hunger Games: Book 3 by Suzanne Collins

 

20 Things in 20 Days! 20 Boy Summer Contest

Have you heard about this yet?

Sarah Ockler is hosting a 20 Things in 20 Day contest to promote her 20 Boy Summer book release.

Head over to her blog to get all the details!

Today's clue is hosted by I Heart Monster. And don't forget to go to Book Blather for the bonus point today too! Go visit and enter! :)

Sneak Peek: Soulless by Gail Carriger

I'm reading this right NOW!

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger
September 29, 2009
Orbit
373 pages (ARC edition)

It is just delightful. It's so Mary Poppins meets paranormal it's comical.

And I just love saying Miss Tarabotti. :)

Description from Amazon.com:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.
First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both
Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking
all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there?
From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire
-- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and
werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With
unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing,
everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what
is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless
ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain
embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle
tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

What a sneak peek?!

Page 16:

The earl gave her generous curves a rude once-over, observed that Miss Tarabotti was nicely padded in exactly the right places, and refused to be suckered into becoming sympathetic. He maintained his frown. "I suspect that is precisely what the vampire was thinking when he found you without a chaperone. An unmarried female alone in a room in this enlightened day and age! Why, if the moon had been full, even I would have attacked you!"

Alexa gave him the once-over and reached for her brass parasol. "My dear sir, I should like to see you try."

Isn't it just amazing?! Loving it! And I'm only on Chapter 2.

Connect with Gail Carriger:
Website
LiveJournal
Twitter
Blogger
Facebook
Facebook (The Parasol Protectorate)

Pre-order it from Amazon.com.

BEA 2009 Wrap Up

Yeah, I've been hording my BEA wrap-up from you!

Lets start at the beginning:

Friday my car was in the shop getting some repairs. I got a call mid-day Friday letting me know it would NOT be ready to pick up until Monday. I'm supposed to leave for NYC Saturday morning at 4:00 AM! I rushed to find a rental car. It wasn't a big issue but it did increase my BEA budget significantly ($108). Not too crazy but I wasn't expecting to spend more than $100 on the entire trip.

Friday night was crazy. I wanted to go to bed no later than 9:00 pm. I went to bed at 12:00 am! I then got up at 3:30 am, showered and started on my 4 hour trip to NYC. It took me 5 hours to get to NYC! My stomach was a mess. I'm assuming lack of sleep, nerves, and just plain excitement had everything to do with it. I made several stops along the way, only ran into one accident on the interstate and only made one wrong turn in the city.

I paid $50 for parking right across the street from the Javits, which was awesome cause I unloaded my heavy ass bag full of books mid-day into the car! :) The parking was scary though. The lot was sooo small! The guy sardined the cars onto the lot and I about had a heart attack because it was a rental car he was parking so close together with the other cars! Geesh! All was well though. The guy was a sweetheart.

When I first arrived I picked up my badge and the lovely BEA Bible. I ventured into the exhibit hall and sighed in relief. I made it. I was here on personal/blog business and I was going to have fun and grab some amazing books! I referred to my "to-do" list and set out to conquer my conquests.

My first stop was the Penguin booth to grab a signed copy of Fire by Kristin Cashore. The signing was being held in the "traditional" area, which was downstairs in the children's section. I got in line and left with a signed copy of Fire! :) (NOTICE: It's not in my picture because I've lent it to my good friend Kevin, who lent me Graceling.)

After that I browsed the children's exhibits and then headed upstairs until it was time to go to the Harlequin booth to pick up two amazing books by two of my most favorite authors! Rachel Vincent and Gena Showalter! They were both signing at the same time at the Harlequin booth. So I had to pick who's line to get in first! Such a dilemma because I hated to pick! But it really was easy because, I'm like, obsessed with Rachel Vincent and all of her books are just amazing, Gena's are too but Gena's books have never hit me as hard as Rachel's. When an author brings me to tears they are forever going to be at the top of my favorites list and the first author I'm going to read when it comes down to picking. So, there I was in line to get a signed copy of My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. I knew she would recognize me once I showed her my badge. And I was right. It was such a pleasure to meet her in person. I only wish I could have "talked" with her or had my picture taken with her. I also picked up a very cool white MSTT t-shirt. I wore it while I read it. :) I finished MSTT in one day and will be posting my review one week before it's release day in coordination with Rachel and a giveaway. So stay tuned! :)

After I grabbed my copy of MSTT I jumped in Gena's line. She too knew who I was. I only stalk my favorite authors. ;) It was great to grab a copy of Intertwined by Gena Showalter. I really want to read it and will probably make it my next couple of books to read. (I really need to read Witch Fury by Anya Bast! She was so kind to send me a copy before it's release date but I put it aside. Sorry Anya! :() Anyhow, I'm super excited about Intertwined.

Those two books were my must haves of BEA. I spent the next hour or so browsing the booths. I grabbed a few other books before my scheduled "blogger signing" at the NetGalley-Firebrand booth.

The signing was great. I meet a few fellow bloggers and publishers as well as some authors. My time was scheduled with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Sarah Wendell, who got a ton of people to come see her, which only benefited me! :) Thanks Sarah! A few pictures were taken during that time. One shows the amazing "trading cards" that were created, printed and available for us to "sign" for our visitors by Glatfelter Paper, Melissa Klug @PermanentPaper.

And here's a picture of Sarah and I (I didn't know it was being taken, obviously).

The signing was fun and I thank Mr. Fran Toolan @ftoolan for the opportunity to have a presence at BEA! Connect with Follow the Reader #followreader on their blog.

After the signing I continued to browse the booths. I soon meet up with an online friend and aspiring author, Lacey. Lacey and I meet years ago on, strangely, an online multi-player shoot'em up game Counter-Strike, which I still play. She was a blast to send a few hours with. We walked the children's section mostly, because that's her specialty. She's currently working on a young adult novel. Check out her website, which I just LOVE! Thanks Lacey for meeting up with me. It was a pleasure to meet you in person! :)

I ventured over to the Blogger Panel. I didn't stay very long because it was 2:00 and I hadn't eaten yet. It was cool to see the panel of bloggers representin' us bloggers. I'm proud that we are being recognized as a legitimate and very influential marketing tool. We do deserve some recognition and praise for our hard work to get the word out about the books and authors. I ended up spending $13 for a very crappy Chinese lunch. :(

The very last thing I wanted to accomplish before leaving BEA was obtaining a copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I did and I was sooo excited! I read Shiver right after My Soul to Take and I've already posted my review of it too.

I left shortly after obtaining Shiver.

Overall, BEA was a blast. I got everything BUT Another Faust while at BEA. I requested a copy of Another Faust from Dina, one of the authors, via email when I got back home. I ended up with two copies some how. So, I'm going to have a contest for my extra copy this week.

Books From BEA:

Fire by Kristin Cashore
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Pushing Past the Night by Mario Calabresi
Dreaming Anatasia by Joy Preble
The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones
Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
If I Were You by L. Ron Hubbard
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Emperor's Mercy by Henry Zoo

False Gods by Graham McNeill

Not from BEA:
Another Faust by Daniel & Dina Nayeri

I'll be posting the contest for my extra copy of Another Faust very soon!

Put Twenty Boy Summer On The Map Contest

Put Twenty Boy Summer on the map!

Twenty Boy Summer has escaped from its boxes before the official June

1 release date and has already been spotted in the wild at a bookstore

near Buffalo, NY. Author Sarah Ockler is hosting a contest to track

sightings of TBS all over the country. Now through June 30, if you

spot her book in a bookstore or library, you can enter to win a cool

TBS Beach Prize Pack!

Guidelines:

1. Take a picture or video of Twenty Boy Summer on the shelves in the
   
   store, kiosk, or library
   
   
2. Email it with your first name, store/library name, and the city and
   
   state where it was taken to sarah (dot) ockler (at) gmail (dot) com
   
   with the subject "TBS Map Contest"
   
   
3. For an extra entry, take a picture or video of the book with YOU in
   
   it, holding it or pointing at it or singing to it or doing some other
   
   creative (but not illegal) thing :-)
   
   

Pics and videos will be posted at SarahOckler.com along with a Google

map showing all of the places Twenty Boy Summer has been spotted in

the wild. The more times you find and document TBS in different stores

and libraries, the more times you can enter!

The contest is open to U.S. residents only. Participants under age 13

must have a parent/guardian enter for them. Sarah will randomly select

a winning entry from all of the entries on July 1 and will notify the

winner by email.

Good luck and happy book hunting!

Waiting on Wednesday!

I love a good series. And a good series is the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning.
This series is a Balls Worthy series. It's totally kick ass!

So, today, Wednesday, I'm waiting for the next release! Dreamfever (Fever Series, Book 4)!

The other books of this series are:
Darkfever (Book 1)
Bloodfever (Book 2)
Faefever (Book 3)

They are chronological and should be read in order.

Aren't these covers cool too?!

Visit Karen's site to get more detailed info on her books! There are excerpts for the books. However, after just visiting I see that it hasn't been updated too recently because she doesn't even have the cover art for Dreamfever up yet. What's up with that?!

She does have an April contest going though, for an audio book of Faefever. She also has a newsletter that you can sign up for.

Dreamfever (Book 4) is scheduled to release August 25, 2009! I wish she would release these 6 months apart instead of 12 - 13 months! Drives me crazy to have to wait sooooo long for the next book in a series!

You can pre-order Dreamfever now or order the other books from this series! I promise you won't be disappointed! Click on the cover images above to go to Amazon.com!