Waiting on Wednesday #7

Expected Release: July 8, 2014

You take it for granted. Waking up. Going to school, talking to your friends. Watching a show on television or reading a book or going out to lunch.

You take for granted going to sleep at night, getting up the next day, and remembering everything that happened to you before you closed your eyes.

You live and you remember.

Me, I live and I forget.

But now—now I am remembering. 

For all of her seventeen years, Molly feels like she’s missed bits and pieces of her life. Now, she’s figuring out why. Now, she’s remembering her own secrets. And in doing so, Molly uncovers the separate life she seems to have led…and the love that she can’t let go.

The Half Life of Molly Pierce is a suspenseful, evocative psychological mystery about uncovering the secrets of our pasts, facing the unknowns of our futures, and accepting our whole selves.

Expected Release: July 1, 2014
Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole's story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole's darkest secret -- his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel's life. Can this sinner be saved?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Teaser Tuesday #4: Star wolf Kathryn Lasky

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

A great cold has seized the Beyond. The warmth of summer, the smell of sweet grass and the great caribou migrations are distant memories. Now the wolves know only ice, dark, snow and endless cold. The order that kept the wolf clans strong for thousands of years has broken down completely.

The wolves have only one chance for survival. They must find their way to a new land, a land of warmth and summer. But the journey will take them over a frozen sea and through thousands of miles of perilous territory. Will the wolves trust young Faolan to lead them? 

Teaser: 
Rags had seen many awful thing sin his life in the Outermost, but for the first time, he was truly frightened. As he watched the mad wolf bellow at the moon, it was as if a trickle of light had seeped into his head and illuminated his brain. He will lead us to our death because of his vengeance. He is as blind as an old wolf with the milk-eye sickness, this one. As dumb a brute as a musk ox. 
p95, Star Wolf by Kathryn Lasky
Amazon|B&N|Goodreads

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Giveaway & Review: Queen & Commander by Janine A. Southard

Title: Queen & Commander

Author: Janine A. Southard 

Publication: May 2014

Publisher: Janine A. Southard 

Source: Author/Publisher

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Audience: 15+

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads

Synopsis: 
On a world where high school test scores determine your future, six students rebel. They’ll outrun society as fast as their questionably obtained spaceship will take them.

Rhiannon doesn’t technically cheat the Test. She’s smarter than the computers that administer it, and she uses that to her advantage. She emerges from Test Day with the most prestigious future career possible: Hive Queen.

Gwyn & Victor are madly in love, but their Test results will tear them apart. Good thing Rhiannon is Gwyn’s best friend. Rhiannon can fix this. Queens can do anything.

Gavin is the wild card. Raised off-planet, he can’t wait to leave again... and he’s heard of an empty ship in orbit. The Ceridwen’s Cauldron.

Both Luciano and Alan fit in the system. They don’t need to leave. Only their devotion to Rhiannon spurs them to join the Cauldron’s crew.

Spaceships. Blackmail. Anywhere but here.

My Thoughts: This is a story about friendship and loyalty. Rhiannon is a determined girl as are her friends. She is determined to be queen even though she is natural inclined toward perceiver. He need to be Queen was born out of her desire to be with others. The death of her mother was the driving force of this need. No one thought one could study for the test but Rhiannon found a way. 

This book has great character development. Time is spent getting to know each character a little and a basic understanding of their individual motivation for wanting to create/join the hive. During the course of the story many problems arise. As a result of these problems the hive's first mission could be their last. 

Author Bio:

Janine A. Southard writes and edits speculative fiction in between working on videogame projects. She’s attended more than the average number of universities, which she claims is a FEATURE. (“Oxford educated, but Californian at heart.”) She’s also lived and traveled in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Currently, she lives in Seattle with a husband (and a cat) and sings with a Celtic band.

Website|Goodreads|Twitter

Giveaway: This giveaway is for three (3) signed copies of both books in the Hive Queen Saga and one (1) ebook copy of both books in the Hive Queen Saga plus an unrelated novella. This giveaway is sponsored by the Author and/or Xpresso Book Tours. Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Audio Review: Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep by Liz Kessler

Title: Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep 

Author: Liz Kessler
Narrator: Finty Williams
Publisher: Listening Library
Format: Unabridged Audio
Length: 4 hours 13 minutes

Publication: December 6, 2007

Source: Library

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads

Synopsis:
An enchanting tale with a fabulous monster, engaging characters, plenty of mermaid magic, and a page-turning story, Liz Kessler's new middle-grade fantasy has all the charm and warmth of its predecessor, THE TAIL OF EMILY WINDSNAP.

Picture an island set in a glittering blue sea, sparkling with white sand and palm trees, a secret place where humans and merfolk live together and where a girl who grows a mermaid's tail when she enters the water is not considered a problem. To Emily Windsnap - half mermaid, half human - her new home is perfect. That is, until Emily ruins everything by waking a legendary sea monster known as the Kraken from its hundred-year sleep. As the Kraken rises from the deep, putting the future of the islanders in jeopardy, Emily makes a desperate attempt to save them. But how could she have dreamed that her best friend, Shona, would stop talking to her, or that Mandy Rushton, her old enemy from junior high, would turn up when least expected?

My Thoughts: Emily drags her best (and only) friend, Shona into a restricted cave in attempts to impress some of the mer girls. In the process Emily and Shona awaken the terrifying Kracken. This action drives the girls apart. Will Emily be able to defeat the Karcken on her own? 

In this second tale of Emily Windsnap Mandy, Emily's nemesis, and Emily's stories intertwine. Neither girl is anxious to encounter the other as they both feel the other has ruined her life. Emily struggles with friendships and jealousy all the while trying to adjust in new surroundings and getting use to having a father. Emily's curiosity could be the end of her new home as she may have crossed Neptune one to many times. 

Waiting on Wednesday #6

Expected Release: July 1, 2014

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane comes a chilling mystery—Prepmeets The Crucible. 
 
It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.
 
First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.
 
Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .
 
Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?

Expected Release: July 1, 2014
Kerana is being sent to Earth to begin her duty as an Eldurian. Hers are a perfect people, without flaw and without sin, never experiencing the fall of man. Created by God to shepherd His people on Earth, they remain in the shadows, unnoticed. Kerana looks human, speaks like them, and has been taught to act like them. Above all her mission is to serve the humans.

Arriving on Earth, Kerana meets Eli at school. He is an ordinary human, with a father suffering from alcoholism, and a past that threatens to ruin his life. A star scholarship lacrosse player, Eli has to forget his true passion and live in a shell that doesn’t let anyone in. Until he meets Kerana. They find themselves intertwined in a connection that neither can quite explain. When this connection puts the two of them in danger, they find comfort and protection from each other. When Eli discovers that there is more to Kerana than just her stunning looks and grace, the Eldurians and their home planet of Eden may not remain a secret for very long.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Teaser Tuesday #3: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Teaser: 

"Do it" she says through tears "I want to die. Do it. Please. We don't have a choice" 

"It'll be quick," i whisper. Then I drive the dagger right into her heart. 

p , The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings
Amazon|B&N|Goodreads

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Audio Review: The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

Title: The Silent Wife

Author: A.S.A. Harrison

Narrator: Karen White and Donald Corren

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Format: Unabridged Audio

Length: 8 hrs 57 mins

Publication: June 29, 2013

Source: Library

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads

Synopsis: 
A chilling psychological thriller about a marriage, a way of life, and how far one woman will go to keep what is rightfully hers

Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept. Expertly plotted and reminiscent of Gone Girl and These Things Hidden, The Silent Wife ensnares the reader from page one and does not let go.

My Thoughts: This story really made me think, what would I do in the same situation? Many times I found myself yelling at Jodi. As a mental health professional I felt that she should know how to respond to the situations she is faced with and not be in denial. At the same time I realize that I probably would have done the same thing. 

Todd is a self made man. He has worked hard to become the businessman that he is today. He is selfish yet he wants to do the right thing. I both loved and hated Todd. I loved him for wanting to do the right thing and hated him for treating Jodi as if she were nothing. In the end I wasn't sure as to who was actually responsible but I was pleasantly satisfied with how things ended. 

This is a multi-voiced unabridged audio production. The original work is appropriated for the audio medium. The narrators bring feeling and depth to the story. Each narrator clearly differentiated each character. Pace is well maintained throughout the production and plot flows with interruption.