IMM (In My Mailbox)

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.


I got a few buckets of awesomefulness this week:

I've seen lots of good review on this one!

I was in need of a interesting paranormal.

You know Figment? The teen writing website I'm absolutely addicted to? Well, author of The Freak Observer came to Figment and was the judge of a forum game! It was an epic battle of creativity, and in the end I won second. Here are the bookishawesome goodies I won:

The troika of old witches hunched down to preform their myomany for the newly made
 Vybran, as they have been doing for thousands of years, and will be doing till the end of
days.
(Now that's a winner.)   ; D

Book Blog Hop/ Follow Friday.

This is from Crazy for Books.

"Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?"


Nope, Even though it IS a mouthful!




 This is hosted by Parajunkie.   Q. Share your current fav television show! Tell us a bit about it...

It's a tie between Pretty Little Liars and Glee. I loved the PLL series and the show is so much more drama filled awesome.....
Glee... have you watched that show? So amazing! My favorite character is Brittany. The way she says stuff is hilarious.

Waiting on Wendsday.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that book bloggers are eagerly anticipating.

Here is the amazingtastic first chapter of plague.
Here is the awesometastic book trailer.

The summary from Goodreads:
This is a blood-pumping, white-knuckle sci-fi thriller of epic proportions. The FAYZ goes from bad to worse...The darkness has been foiled once again and the resurrected Drake has been contained. But the streets of Perdido Beach are far from safe, with a growing army of mutants fighting against the humans for power in the town. In a small room of a house near the edge of town, Little Pete lies ill on a bed. In his fevered dreams, he continues his battle with the hidden evil that seeks to use his power to bring about anarchy and destruction


This book needs to hurry up and get published.
April? *Counts on fingers* that's, like, three months from now! A.k.a. FOREVER!  

Dan Brown awesomeness.

His website is awesome if you want to know more about the books. Really interesting if you want to get more info on his topics.




I've only read the Da Vinci Code so far:

And right now I'm in the middle of Angels and Demons (I'm liking this one a liitle bit more):

Both these books have rocked my imaginary socks off.

I know... this isn't YA. If you're only iffy about that, try it! This is the best mystery/suspence book I've read so far.

Random stuff (for people who have read the books):

... This struck me as weird: Why does the book alway begin with a dead body? 
Does his other books begin with dead bodies? (Yes, this is the detail I choose to remember.   : P )

Are there any other awesome books like these? Because, if there are, I need to read them!

Release date of the second I am Number Four

It's called The Power of Six. Hmmm.... foreshadowing?  : P





Here is the Goodreads page.


Summary:

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.


And Number Three in Kenya.


They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio and failed.


I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.


And I'm ready to fight.
 
 
 
Sweet!
 
This was on the official fan website:
 
“I can feel it in my bones that he is one of us. And I know somehow, that I must find him.”

Sweet-er!

I read this book months ago. I liked it, but then I put it on my shelf and forgot about it.
Today I saw the movie, which was pretty good by the way, and it inspired me to go sequel-hunting.
Tada!

Hello, my name is Bethany.

Bethany (another one :) from Joyfull Girl Creations, the fabulous maker of my bloggy layout, is hosting this challenge.

(Yes, I stole her post title... I can't help that we have the same name!)

Behold! My twenty-first try at a decent self portrait. Decent being the operative word. It wouldn't be discriptive of me unless it included books, of course!

I like landscapes photography WAY better:

(no photoshop was used, it came out this way!)

Or photos of persons other then muah..:

(Rachael Flatt was my favorite, totally the best <3 <3)

The "about me part"... *ehem*

When you ask people what they think of me I always imagined people would say something like this:

• "Bethany? Uhhh, she's okay. I don't really know her, so I guess." (Random people at the school would say that.)

• "The girl that reads a freaking book a day? Yeah, she's cool, I guess." (Less random people.)

• "OMG, SHE IS SO FREAKING AWESOME!" (At least, how I hope my friends would react. ; )

  

I am involved with gymnastics, dance, and I'm a black belt in Taekwondo. Do not underestimate my ability to kick some serious butt.
At school I'm the caterpillar (literally, on crack) in a twisted play of Alice in Wonderland, and I'm thinking of trying out for track.
Although I love being active and whatnot, I dislike team sports. I'm not the team player type; if I do a team sport I'm always afraid of letting people down.

Something I think defines me is my choice of food in EVERY restaurant.

The only thing I see on the menu is a kids grilled cheese sandwich, and pink lemonade. Yuumy.

I know, I know. Thirteen is a little too old for the kiddy menu. But if there was ever an upside to being short, that is it. I'm going to use it to my advantage ; ).



 

 This is me...

In my eyes.

(Cheesey poeticness.)

Everfound news!

A few months back I mentioned my undying love for Everlost. Now new things are being revealed.
*Poof!*



From Neal Shusterman's website:
"So everyone wants to know what to expect in Everfound. Well, I only just finished the first draft so there will still be changes from my editor but I’m hoping those changes will be finessing what’s there, and not reinventing it. I hope that the story is mostly in place. I can’t tell you too much without giving you too many spoilers, so I’ll tell you a few important things.




The largest Everlost city has yet to be discovered. It will be discovered in EVERFOUND.



Mary Hightower, already a danger, becomes even more so in this concluding book.



There’s a new character who has the power to “extinguish” afterlights. That is basically worse than killing someone, because if you’re extinguished, you cease to exist entirely. At least one major character will be extinguished in Everfound.



The Hindenburg will not stay adrift forever.



There will be some interesting and unexpected relationships between characters, both new and existing.

And some characters who you really don’t like, you’re going to change your mind about… And some character’s who you hate, you’re going to hate even more.


Skinjackers do some pretty cool, and pretty scary things with their powers –including being able to skinjack more than one person at a time…


And you’re going to love how it all ends….


Look for Everfound in June 2011…"




*Fangirl moment*
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
So sad that the release date got moved : (
Any Skinjacker fans out there?
I feel lonely...

Movie recommendations? Plus, happy Valentine's Day

OK, so we got this awesome online movie rental thingy and it has, like, EVERY movie invented.
  *confession*                                            ....I am not very "movie educated"....
The only things I've watched so far on the thingy is:
She's The Man
Ever After

They were both blogger recommended and I loved them!
Movie recommendations would be awesome. Keep it PG-13    :  D
Thanks!

Plus happy Valentine's Day! It's also my dad's birthday, so happy B-day to him!

Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst

Stars: 5

Summary from Goodreads:

What Lily Carter wants most in the world is to attend Princeton University just like her grandfather. When she finally visits the campus, Grandpa surprises her: She has been selected to take the top-secret Legacy Test. Passing means automatic acceptance to Princeton. Sweet!


Lily's test is to find the Ivy Key. But what is she looking for? Where does she start? As she searches, Lily is joined by Tye, a cute college boy with orange and black hair who says he's her guard. That's weird. But things get seriously strange when a gargoyle talks to her. He tells her that there are two Princetons—the ordinary one and a magical one—and the Key opens the gate between them. But there are more secrets that surround Lily. Worse secrets.



When Lily enters the magical Princeton, she uncovers old betrayals and new dangers, and a chance at her dream becomes a fight for her life. Soon Lily is caught in a power struggle between two worlds, with her family at its center. In a place where Knights slay monsters, boys are were-tigers, and dragons might be out for blood, Lily will need all of her ingenuity and courage—and a little magic—to unite the worlds and unlock the secrets of her past and her future.







Review:
Three words to describe is book is:
Enchanting, cute, fun.
If I could use more words I would say:
 A cute read that will make you smile during a bad day. (Or a good one)

I connected with Lilly surprisingly well. I often find that in third-person books that I don't really care what happens to the characters. Enchanted Ivy read like a first-person book would, but with all the perks of third-person.

I can't say enough about the discription. It's REAL!  *dies*

 Here is a photo of the Literate Ape, who plays a part in the book. Reading and then putting a picture to everything Princeton made the book so much better. I really want to take a tour of Princeton now. (And walk through the gate! Graduating? Meh, too overrated.) 

Tye and Jake are both the perfect combo of sweet n' funny. The perfect guys... Enchanted Ivy needs a sequel! Were-tigers dominate vampires and were-wolves!

If you won't buy the book for the awesome story, buy it for the cover. It's a freaking work of art. It would rock if they made a poster out of it.
Judge this book by it's cover (unless you think it's ugly, then don't), I did, and I don't regret it!

Favorite book quotes

Here are some book quotes that have stuck with me through out the ending.


"The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit."
- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
It's so unexpected! I had to take another look when I first read it.


"The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't"
- Delirium by Lauren Oliver
(It's talking about love) That is just so poetic...



"The only French word I know is oui, which means "yes," and only recently did I learn it's spelled o-u-i and not w-e-e."
-Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
I wish I could quote this whole book, but since I can't, I'll settle for this.  


       "Oh my God. Did she look malnourished?

Her hair was kind of frizzy..."
-She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott
Ha! Nuff said.


So these are some of the awesome quotes that I remember long after finishing the book :)
What are some that stuck to you?  

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Stars: 4

*Debut author challenge*

Summary from Amazon:
Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.
Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.


Review:
I have been looking for a good fairy tale ever since reading the Goose Girl. I fouuuund it!

Sinda had been training to be a queen since she was a baby. She knows everything to be known about how to rule a kingdom, and that was all she would ever need. Until, on her sixteenth birthday, she learns she's a stand-in, a fake princess put there so if anyone ever tried to kill the princess they would only get, Sinda, the fake. What. A. Relief.

The king and queen send her off to live with an aunt that doesn't know Sinda was even alive. Sinda wants to help her aunt, but knowing about politics can't help with dying the cloth. So begins her journey though all things magical.

Sometimes, I wanted to punch those royals in the face. They had no idea how mean they were being, UHHH!  
I dislike all the princessey aspects of princess books, which is weird since I enjoy everything else. The whole, "it's your destiny, and no one else can become the queen" spiel that's used in all the princess tales, annoys me. Am I the only one?

There were so many twist in this book. I tried to guess them all, but failed miserably.
 I cried at the end of the book , : ( so it must be good! I rarely get attached enough to the book to cry when something bad happens.

For fans of fairy tale books, the False Princess is a definite add to your TBR pile!

Blog Hop/ Follow Friday

This awesome meme is hosted by Crazy For Books.

This week's question is...:
"What are you reading now and why are you reading it?"


I'm reading the False Princess by Eilis O'neal. I've saw lots of great reviews for it, so I'm checking it out! It is pretty good so far : )
 


 This (also) awesome meme is hosted by Parajunkie.

The question for this is...:

What is the book you are currently 'pushing'? (Pushing mean trying to get people to read it)

Anna and the French Kiss. I've started to run out of girl friends to recommend it to, so I've began "pushing" it onto my guy friends : P They aren't that happy about it.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Stars: 4.5

*Debut author challenge*

Summary: A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.




Review: This book is frexing good. Nuff said.

Elder was a character to remember. His decisions, his fears, his confusion, makes him feel real. He has been fed lies his whole life, yet he still has opinions of his own. Following Elder around the ship as he makes discoveries, was probably the best part of the book. I think Harley was the best secondary character I've ever read. He had this quirkiness that made it hard not to like him. Amy, at first, was a boring character. But, when she got out of the cryo tank and got added some deph to her, she was relatable. I wanted to have her as a friend. Strong and determined to do whats right, but she also had her weak moments. A good blend.

The plot made the book hard to put down. Always another twist that had to be read through. My jaw, literally, dropped  open at some parts.  Every time the book thew something new at me I was like, no way.

The setting was so believable, I could see it in my minds eye. The people and their society didn't feel forced, it was something that made sense. The creepy (awesome) cows (I want one as a pet), and the creepy people were easy to picture. The language was normal except a few words, I think I have to start talking in AtU speak, because those words were just so catchy!
 Sometimes a book tends to overdescribe/underdescribe. Across the Universe was more of overdescribing, but it was used the right way. The overdescribing was in the right places, so it helped.

 This book was like sci-fi for paranormal lovers. I even think guys could read this book, and like it. I mean, it does have a little romance, but it mostly focused on the mystery.
I recommend it! Across the Universe is way brilly.     =)

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

                                                                      Stars: 4

Summary from Goodreads:

  Imagine waking up one day in total darkness, unsure of where you are and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a bizarre place devoid of adults called the Glade. The Glade is an enclosed structure with a jail, a graveyard, a slaughterhouse, living quarters, and gardens. And no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and every day some of the kids -- the Runners -- venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this hellish place. So far, no one has figured it out. And not all of the Runners return from their daily exertions, victims of the maniacal Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines.

Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade in this Truman-meets-Lord of the Flies tale. A motley crew of half a dozen kids is all he has to guide him in this strange world. As soon as he arrives, unusual things begin to happen, and the others grow suspicious of him. Though the Maze seems somehow familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of the place, despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. What is this place, and does Thomas hold the key to finding a way out?

Review:

This book reminded me kind of the T.V. show, Persons Unknown. If you haven't herd of it, check out the trailer. I promise! The show is WAY better (and less creepy) then the trailer suggests. If you have a chance to watch it, take it!  People are comparing it to Lost ( I've never watched Lost so I can't say of that's a good thing).

OMG THAT WAS OFF-TOPIC.

So... the Maze Runner. Thomas woke up in an unfamiliar place with no memory, except for his name. Interesting, right?
The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because with Thomas trying to learn about the Glade the whole first half, the info dump was pretty annoying. Although I can't think of a better way to have done that. And at the time (before I got the second book) I thought the ending was kinda off-topic. Just like mentioning Persons Unknown, but more. I'm glad about the ending now because the second book was epic. If you can, I would defiantly recommend buying the two books at the same time to avoid throwing the first book into a wall.

I liked... the suspense. I stopped in the middle of a very suspenseful scene. That was all I could think of in school the next day. I was all like, "Who needs monomials?! (What IS a monomial anyway? That concept went in one ear and out the other = P) Not me! I need to FINISH THAT BOOK!"

Waiting on Wendsday

This is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. : )


This doesn't have a cover yet, and the summary is not revealing much.  : (
The book is Twisted by Sara Shepard!

The summary:
 You thought Wanted was the last book? Well, you were wrong.


It's expected to be published July 2011.

I wonder what else could possibly be squeezed out of the series.
Any guesses?