Book Exerpt: Cin by Christina Leigh Pritchard

Title: Cin
Series: C I N
Author: Christina Leigh Pritchard
Release Date: April 2010

Aunt Millie stood a few feet away. “Alex, honey, could you fetch me one of the chickens, please? I want to fix a nice dinner for Lisa.” Alex nodded his head and snatched a passing chicken by her neck. She clucked and scared all the other hens. They scurried around and hid inside their coop. Alex looked up at me. His eyes were blank.

“I better go get the eggs,” I mumbled, frozen.

Alex took out an axe, stretched the hen’s neck across a tree stump and dropped his weapon. The headless body ran around. That poor chicken. She didn’t even see it coming. Alex didn’t even flinch. Could I call PETA on him?

I doubled over and vomited. Probably not a case for PETA.

I think vegetarian is the way to go. A chicken free diet never hurt anyone; especially not the chickens.

Pig inched closer. He sniffed the air and snorted. “I know, I know, get the eggs.” I took a deep breath. Pink’s song, ‘Funhouse’ played inside my head. This used to be a funhouse. But now it’s filled with evil clowns. Yeah, that’s how I felt. It’s time to start the count down. I’m gonna burn it down.  I think someone already burned this family. They were cranky and angry. Even the animals seemed troubled.

Alex stood inches away with the dead, twitching body of the hen in his hand. “Breakfast is ready.” I turned and narrowed my eyes at the chicken killer.

   

CIN by Christina Leigh Pritchard

CIN by Christina Leigh Pritchard


Published by Createspace in 2010

256 Pages

Themes: Overcoming Difficulties, Family Troubles, Learning to Love

First Sentence: " 'Lisa if you don't finish packing your things, I swear you'll go with nothing," my mother, Amber, threatened."

“Lynn, Lynn, city of sin; you never come out the way you went in.”

Lisa Brown is just about to be shipped off to Lynn, Massachusetts to go to the CIN Boarding school , while her mother checks herself into a psychiatric hospital. As she waits for her Aunt Millie to pick her up, a boy named Michael does instead and after their first conversation together Lisa learns that there are quite a few strange things about who she'll be living with and even the town she's living in. When she arrives at the house she meets Alex, who definitely minds her staying there. Along with meeting a dog named Pig, who constantly follows her around but never lets her touch him, and a cat named Rat, who everyone says to not touch, she doesn't feel very welcomed. But that's not all. In the early hours of the morning shes awakened by Allie, Alex's sister who is no more welcoming than the rest. Morning comes and Millie sends Lisa to feed the chickens, and while attempting to do so, more like Alex doing all of the work, she bumps into Alex and feels a sudden shock. It hurts but she feels addicted to it. This is the first of the many strange happenings she experiences in Lynn. As the book goes on we learn that there is a secret behind Lynn and the other teens there.
                    I really enjoyed this book. While not being the most descriptive book it sure hooks you and is really fast paced. I enjoyed the back-stories of all of the characters and the whole aspect of lightening in this book was really interesting. The characters, especially Alex and Ally, are very interesting and peculiar. This is a great book, especially for readers who enjoy fantasy.

           A little input on what how I pictured Alex throughout the book. I kept picturing him as Jack Frost from the new movie rise of the guardians.
           Anyway, you can purchase this book on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback. Go check it out!


4/5 Stars

Cover Reveal of Pledged by Gwynneth White

Title: Pledged
 Series: The Soul Wars Saga
 Author: Gwynneth White
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis via Goodreads

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient promise is tearing him away. And Reuel, the demon to whom the promise was made, will stop at nothing to force Seth to forsake Erin and to worship him.

How can Erin win against a pledge so binding that it has damned countless others to the same fate she and Seth will face if Reuel wins – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a promise.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya to break the pledge that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

Another Bad Dog Book by Joni B, Cole

Another Bad Dog Book by Joni B. Cole

Published by Publishing Works in 2011

224 Pages

Themes: Memoir, Anthology, Slice of Life.

First Sentence: "Not another one."

This being the first book I was offered to review, I was very excited to read it. Thought it took me almost a year to finish it, I have to say I'm glad I didn't take anymore time slacking off. A lot of these stories have some quirks to them that I really liked and I'm glad I finally finished it.
               It starts off with Joni telling the time of how she was in a bookstore with her daughter and saw that a new book came out. And it was, hence the title, a "Bad-Dog book". This starts off the twenty-eight stories that Joni shares from her past that stood out to her. While reading these I noticed I could find some similarities between her stories and things that have happened in my life. Like in the story "Grieving My Left Foot", I found out that I was not the only one with this strange foot problem. Or having to go to an event where you don't know anyone else there and have no idea what to do.          
One of the stories called "Tween a Rock and a Hard Place" made me realize the troubles our mothers go through when were annoying, moody tweens (and teens). Though some of these stories I can't compare to now I might in the nearby future. Overall this was as very good put together Anthology/ Memoir and I loved reaing it.

4/5 Stars

A Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope King

A Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope King

Published by Ascendence Press in 2011

315 Pages

Themes: Demons, Love, Friends, Loss, and Revenge.

First Sentence: "Whoever says Hell is the worst place imaginable obviously never spent a day at Dove Creek
High School."

When I first heard of this book, I was a little skeptic about it. But when I heard it was about a girl who has a demon possessing her, I thought I could give it a chance. As soon as I started it I was drawn in.

It starts off with Liora, one of our main characters, at school getting yelled at by her  English teacher. This is where Lucky, Lioras demon side steps in. After Lucky gets a few words in about his teaching she is sent to the Principals office, but very quickly leaving after freaking him and his secretary out. While Liora is ditching school she runs into the very attractive Kieron, the new boy who just came from the big cities. For some reason he shows interest in Liora, which confuses her greatly. After hanging out in the woods for a few hours, she heads comes home to Tatiana her caretaker who is also a very powerful witch. This is where the confusing part comes in.
                It turns out Liora is only in control of her body for the morning and in the evening Lucky steps in. This is result from a very tragic attack by a pair of very creepy demons, which causes them to follow this routine everyday. While Liora goes to school everyday, Lucky goes into the demon world to hunt down some other demons, collect debt, or go drinking in a bar. But when humans and demons begin to go missing and end up dead, Lucky and her friend Bones, an Incubus, plus someone else, go searching down the ones who have committed these murders. All in all it's a very well put together story line and I have to say Lucky does act badass at some points.
               Another thing I have to add is this, if they switch on and off like that, how is their body not extremely tired!? It has been confusing me for awhile. Other than that, I suggest this to people who love a good fantasy novel.

4/5 Stars

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Published by Dutton in 2011
338 Pages
Themes: Love, Friends, Costumes, Accepting Who You Are
First Sentence,"I have three simple wishes."

This book is the companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, and I have to say it definitely lives up to its predecessor! Yet another good YA novel. And I have to say this cover is really cute!
The story is based around Dolores (a.k.a Lola) Nolan. She lives with her two dads in San Francisco. She has a really interesting (and awesome!) hobby of hers where she dresses up in something other than herself, (wigs, crazy outfits, etc.) Next door "new" neighbors move in. It just so happens to be the Bell twins, who she had previous history with. Also having to deal with the struggles of having a 22-year-old boyfriend and having to deal with Cricket Bell, her past love interest.

On top of that Lola is making a Marie Antoinette dress like this ->and her hanging out with her friends Lindsey, Anna and St. Clair. Yeah that Anna and St. Clair! Going through many conflicts involving these characters and some very fashionable outfits, Lola learns many things about herself and her friends.

Rating 4.5/5 Stars

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Published by Dutton in 2010
372 Pages
Themes: Love Interests, France, Drama, Foreign Exchange Schools
First Sentence," Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amalie and Moulin Rouge."
The first thing I have to say about this book is: It is amazing! This is one of those cases where you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I completely dived into this book.
The main scenario of this book is Anna Oliphant, or as her friends Bridget calls her, Banana Elephant, is being sent to SOAP (School of America in Paris) by her father. Her father, who has a strangely close description to Nicholas Sparks, thinks she needs to get out. So Anna is left in her dorm in the middle of Paris with no clue of what to do. Then, she meet her new friends, Meredith, the soccer (Football) player, Rashmi, the very intelligent and mysterious girl, with her boyfriend Josh, an aspiring artist with a tendency to ditch class. And finally, the magnificent St. Clair. He catches every girls attention in their school. Unluckily he has a girlfriend, Ellie, a previous student there and best friends with Rashmi. After getting to know him, Anna begins to have feelings for him. Just those feelings cause many ups and downs of the story. It's a wonderful roller coaster of love and true friendship. I suggest this to anyone who loves a good book.
5/5 Stars

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs
Published by Katherine Tegan Books May 19th, 2010
293 Pages
Themes: Mermaids, True Love, Acceptance, First Kiss, Comedy

Lily Sanderson has been living on land for the past three years. Living on land? She is a mermaid princess from a kingdom in the Caribbean. Once she found out her mother was a human she wanted to go see what it was like living in the human world- and experience her high school years there too. From the first day of school she knew she would stand out- and not in a good way. And the only boy she wants seems to be unreachable, mostly because of her arch nemesis, Quince. For those three years all of her attempts to confess to him have been completely seized from her. Until Quince offers a deal to her so she could finally get a chance with him. But low and behold something goes wrong that sends both Lily and Quince scrambling to go find the solution to their problem-at the bottom of the sea.

I thought this books was very cute and fast paced. I loved the aspects of the book and of course the mermaids! Though sometimes Lilys denial throughout the book can be annoying it was a nice fluff read!

4/5 Stars

Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie
Published by Dutton in 2010
Pages 366



Themes: Dystopian Society, Love, Rebellion, Truth

First Sentence:" Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?"

Cassia Reyes is about to be Matched on her 17th birthday. This is the first step into something she would not expect at all. She has always followed the rules of their society and never doubted the government. That is until she sees Ky Markhams, a fellow friend, not Xander, her Match, face on her datapad that she receives at her Matched ceremony. Since then he has always been on her mind. When her grandfather shows her a poem hidden inside an Artifact, something past down within her family. Little does she know that this poem will help tie Ky and her together.
This has been the second time I have read this book and I have to say, in doing so my hesitation on whether I liked it or not was put to rest. This is such an in depth book and I really loved it this time. Despite the fact that this was a book I needed to read for school it was much more enjoyable. I loved when Cassia became more rebellious and found out more about the government because it made the plot way more intense.

4/5 stars (sorry if this sounds a little cheesy, I'm a bit rusty )

Off the Shelves Challenge

I finally found a challenge that is perfect for readers like me!
I will be taking part in the Off the Shelves Challenge where you set an amount of books you own and have been trying to get around to read for awhile and try to read these books within this year. I have decided to choose the challenge level - On a Roll. Hopefully I will be able to read this many!
Check it out! Info on the sidebar!

The Alchemyst by Micheal Scott

The Alchemyst By Michael Scott
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers in 2007
Pages 375
Themes/Subjects: Magic, Immortality, Prophecies, Evil vs. Good

When I picked up this book I thought it would be terrible. Not just because I had to read it for a reading competition but also because it didn't seem like it would have a good plot. But boy I was wrong! The main characters in the book, Josh and Sophie, are twins working at a bookshop and coffee shop. Little did they know that they would be thrown into a world of magic. The owner of the bookshop, Nick Fleming and his wife Perry turn out to be immortal and really Nicholas Flamel and Perrenelle Flamel, two of some of the most powerful magic users in the world. Nicholas is the best Alchemyst in the world but when the book of codex (which holds all of these important spells in them) is stolen, except for the two most important pages, he must save the twins who are confused why they are being put in the middle of it. Little do Josh and Sophie know that they are a big part of the prophecy that says if the world is going to end.
This book was amazing! The only part that I do not like in the book is that you don't get any background info on the main characters. But after the first hundred pages or so I got sucked into the plot. The descriptions were very clear and you saw everyones point of view which made it even more interesting!

4/5 stars

Sorry!

im so sorry that i havent been on since last year! ive been busy because of graduation and all these projects! will be putting up more blog posts soon!

Review For Jessicas Guide To Dating On The Darkside

Jessicas Guide For Dating On The Darkside
By Beth Fantaskey
Published By Graphia In 2009
Pages 372
Subjects/Themes:Vampires, Romance, Family, Royalty

This book was about Jessica Packwood (a.k.a Antanasia) who starts her Senior year off by being followed by Lucius Vladescu who tells her and her parents that he is Jessicas betrothed and that she is a vampire princess. Her parents let him live in the house and during that whole time she is trying to wrap her head around the fact that shes a vampire and tries to think of a logical explanation about all the weird things that are happening. The whole book is a journey for her to except her true self.
I have to say this book was very good and had lots of drama that kept you going. But at the end it got very boring with politics in the vampire world.

4/5 Stars

Review For Goddess Of Yesturday

Goddess Of Yesturday
By Caroline B Cooney
Published By Random House Books For Young Readers
Pages 254
Themes/ Subjects: Fake Identity, Gods, Greek, Treason

First Line:" I was six years old when King Nicander came to the island of my birth, demanding tribute and hostage."

This novel is about Anaxandra who is taken from her birth island when she is 6 by the King Nicander who takes her to the island Siphnos to accompany his daughter Callisto who is not able to walk. There she shes new things and is taken in as a hostage daughter. The Kings family, which includes queen Petra his wife, don't see her as a simple peasent. They see her as a daughter and think of her marked by her goddess of yesturday, whom they worshiped back on her old island. But as six years pass their island was sacked by pirates and she is the sole survivor. Callisto burned to death, Nicander stabbed in the back, and Petra is taken as a slave as soon as she was forced to walk on her husbands body. Anaxandra scares off the pirates by taking an octapus on her head and impersonated Medusa (who is really said to have an octapus and not snakes on her head). When King Menelaus comes to the island seeing the smoke from the buildings, Anaxandra takes the identity of Callisto and is taken to Sparta where Menelaus rules. But his wife Helen does not believe that she is Callisto. Than Paris of Troy comes to Sparta to get a blood debt from killing a baby and he seduces Helen. He takes Helen to Troy to marry, which is treason. Anaxandra is forced to go with in Helens daughters Hermoine since everyone knew she would be killed. There she falls in love and has to fight for her life.
This was one of my favorite adventure books so far and I could not put it down. It had very interesting facts and many battles.
4/5 Stars

Review For Wicked: Witch & Curse

Wicked: Witch & Curse
By Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
Published By Simon Pulse In 2006
Pages 627
Themes/ Subjects: Witches, Past Generation, Revenge, Covens
First Line: "Oh Great."
These two books combined are about two rival witch covens that have a long, old history: The Cahors and the Deveraux. 17-year oldHolly Cathers was in Arizona for a vacation and they were rafting in the Grand Canyon when there was a huge storm and all of the people including her parents, best friend, and tour guide. She was the only survivor. She goes to live with her best friends mom but she is severly hurt and no one knows why she won't get better. So she goes to live with her aunt, Marie-Claire Cathers-Anderson, her uncle Richard, and two 17-year old cousins Amanda and Nicole who Holly didn't know existed until her parents died. While there in Seattle she gets a deaf, completely white, blue-eyed cat named Bast, after a goddess. Whenever Holly tells her a wish it comes true. Then she meets Jer Deveraux, whom she didn't know was her families enemy, and she falls in love with him even though they are not able to associate with each other. Throughout the rest of this book Michael, Jer's father, tries to kill the rest of the Cathers family. This trails on into the next book where Holly and her cousin Amanda start there own coven and practice their wizardry. They battle the Deveraux etc. etc.
The rest of the book drags on and it made me really bored with it.
2/5 Stars

Review For Heart On My Sleeve

Heart On My Sleeve
By Ellen Wittlinger
Published by Simon Pulse in 2004
Pages 214
Themes/Subjects: E-mails, Relationships, Family, Love

First Line" Hey Julian!"

The main character Chloe goes to Connecticut for a weekend to check out a college and she meets a guy Julian. They get to know each other in many "ways". When Chloe leaves she starts emailing Julian and thinks that maybe she should break-up with her boyfriend Eli who is also her best friend. Chloe launches herself into a world of e-mails and IM-ing. She can't wait until Julian comes to Boston and while shes waiting the whole summer for it to happen her sister comes out of the closet, she goes to volunteer at the camp which is her second home and meets ANOTHER guy that she thinks is a jerk but then starts to really like in the end. Her whole summer is full of drama, big crushes and learning to accept the new.
Overall this book was very drawn out and sometimes you got bored with the long messages and you just skip over those parts. There were some very good parts to it but at the end you just think "Well that wasn't worth the time" This wasn't the worst but not the best
3/5 Stars

Teaser Tuesday

I found out about this on Zakiya Ladywings blog (Butterfly Feet Walking on Books)
Anyone can join
All you have to do is the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two "teaser" sentences from that page
*Be Careful Not To Include Spoilers!(Don't give away too much information about the book)
*Share the title and author as well, so other Teaser participants can add that book to their TBR
My teasers this week are from Wicked:Witch and Curse by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

"She'd pushed and finally he'd opened up just a crack"

"She was beginning to wonder who had really done all the work on it"
(from page 188)

*Spolier Alert* Review For The Dead And The Gone By Susan Beth Pfeffer

book: The Dead And The Gone By Susan Beth Pfeffer
Published By Graphia 2008
Pages 308
Themes/Subjects: End Of The World, Survival, Faith In God, Family

First Line:" At the moment when life as he had known it changed forever, Alex Morales was behind the counter at Joey's Pizza, slicing a spinach pesto pie into eight roughly equal pieces."

This book was about Alex Morales, a 17 year old puerto-rican boy living in New York City. One day while at work an astroid hit the moon and pushed it closer to the Earth causing catastrophic events which cause most of the people in the world to die. His Father, who was in Puerto-Rico when this happened, his Mother, who went to work in Queens that night, and his brother Carlos, who is in the Marines, are never to be heard of again. He is left to take care of his two younger sisters, Brianna, who is 14, and Julie, just on the verge of 13. He sends Brianna off to a convent where she would get food and warmth. This would help Julie and him save food since it was all running out around the world. Just as soon as things couldn't get worse, all the volcanoes in the world start errupting causing ash to block out sunlight.
Then, many bodies started appearing on the streets so Alex and his friend Kevin go bodyshopping to get coats and many other things to trade for food. This goes well until Brianna comes bad with a horrible case of asthma which was caused by all the ash in the air. All three of them struggle through December, and they are hit with grief. Kevin died while body shopping with Alex and a tree limb fell on his neck, and Brianna died on an elevator going up to the floor they are on, with her inhaler and rosary beads in her hands. Alex and Julie finally get a way to get out of New York before they run out of food.
This book was not the best because Alex was always ordering his sisters around and he didn't care if they wanted to do it or not. Also because they had a lot of dead bodies in it which were described very well and gave you a bad image. I would recommend this to anyone who is a guy and won't get grossed out at the descriptions.

2.5/5 Stars

YAY! i got a blog award :D

So i just found out i have won the Oh My Blog award from Zakiya and i am jumping down right now. One things for sure is that i wasn't expecting it since i only started my blog last week. So thank you Zakiya :D
Rules:

1. Get Really Excited that you got the coolest award EVER! (Already Done)
2. Choose one of the following options of accepting the OMB Award :

• Get really drunk and blog for fifteen minutes straight , or for as long as you can focus.
• Write about your most embarrassing moment.
• Write a "Soundtrack Of Your Childhood" post
• Make your next blog a "vlog" (video blog). Basically your talking to the camera about whatever.

• Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair, makeup, etc,) and post it
  

3. Pass the award on to at least three, but preferably more, awesome bloggers. Don't forget to tell them


I can't drink the wine, and i will not be posting videos or pics and i will have trouble doing the songs so i will do the embarrassing moment.
My embarrassing moment is from this past May when my whole grade went on a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we went to a buffet at the end of the trip and me and my friends were cracking up about something and then another girl told us that something weird was going on in the womans bathroom so me and my other friend followed the other girl (we were still cracking up and not paying attention to anything) so when we got to the bathroom my crush happened to just appear out of no where so me and my friend shrieked really loudly.


I think i shall pass this along to Paperdoll at Book Memoirs , Elyssa at Broken Daydreams & A Literary Odyssey, and Julie at 5-squared

Giveaway for Silent Scream by Lynda LaPlante

Check out the giveaway for Silent Scream by Lynda La Plante at Crazy for books

Heres a Link: www.crazy-for-books.com/