Cover of the Week - Between the Sea and Sky

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore  
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Publication Date: October 25, 2011
Page Count: 352

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. Then Dosinia runs away to the mainland, and Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

This book comes out in October so keep your eyes peeled! I can't wait to get my hands on it!

A Borrowed Scot

A Borrowed Scot by Karen Ranney - Kindle edition 
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Publication Date: March 10th
Page Count: 384

Description from Goodreads: 
Veronica MacLeod knows nothing about the man who appears from nowhere to prevent her from committing the most foolish and desperate act of her life. Recently named Lord Fairfax of Doncaster Hall, the breathtaking, secretive stranger agrees to perform the one act of kindness that can rescue the Scottish beauty from scandal and disgrace--by taking Veronica as his bride.

Journeying with Montgomery Fairfax to his magnificent estate in the Highlands, Veronica knows deep in her heart that this is a man she can truly love--a noble soul, a caring and passionate lover whose  touch awakens feelings she's never before known. Yet there are ghosts in Montgomery's past that haunt him still. Unless Veronica can somehow unlock the enigma that is her new husband, their powerful passion could be undone by the sins and sorrows of yesterday. 

Veronica has a Gift. she can feel what other people are feeling. She decides to try and find some answers and finds herself drugged and in a very dangerous situation. That's where Montgomery comes in to save her from a terrible fate. When her rescuer returns her to her uncles home, she is thought to be ruined and is kicked out. With no where to go Montgomery takes her in and decides he has to marry her to save her, again.

Karen Ranney delivers another thoroughly satisfying novel. I liked the characters and the story. I wish that Veronica and Montgomery had come together sooner emotionally, though I can understand why they didn't as they both had some ghosts from their pasts to overcome. Witty dialog and hot sex scenes...what more could a girl ask for?

Cover of the Week - Timeless

Timeless by Alexandra Monir
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 11, 2011
Page Count: 304 

Description from Goodreads:

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2011

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves ( all those things that annoy you in a story, with book covers, bookstores, etc.)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the blog The Broke and the Bookish. To participate, go here.

 

1. Stickers on books. 

I can't stand when book stores put any kind of sticker on the book, especially if its across the title or the description!

 

2. Library dust covers. 

Oh crinkly, clear, barely hanging on dust cover, how I despise you! I would gladly rip you off of my borrowed book but the librarian has decided to use an entire roll of scotch tape to try and hold you together and in place.

3. Covers that have nothing to do with the story! 

Why would a book about a drought in some landlocked place have a picture of the ocean on the cover? Good job illustrator, I can tell you read what the book was about before coming up with that awesome cover!

4. Names that require a pronunciation guide in the back of the book.

I don't mind some names that are a little tricky like Gaelic names but not every character needs to have some impossible name that I have to spend so much time trying to say that I give up and change it to my liking!

5. Overly describing everything in the story. 

I don't need to know the exact color of the tapestries in this room or that. I don't care if there is a side table next to the bed with a nick knack from the time you went to Disney Land with your grandparents. If it doesn't directly relate to what your trying to tell me I don't care!

6. Finding word errors and bad kindle copies. 

I can handle a few misspelled words here and there but if I'm constantly finding errors or words have been replaced with something that makes no sense then it gets a little annoying!

 

7. Stopping mid-chapter. 

I have a really hard time putting a book down if I'm mid-chapter. I can't just put a book down in the middle of a page or chapter...I just can't. My husband, who doesn't really read much, just can't seem to understand this!

 

8. Trilogies or series with a wonky book thrown in. 

I love when I read a really good book and find out there are more books to continue the story. What I don't like is when one of the books is just kind of there, it might have one or two characters from the previous books but has nothing to really do with them.

 

9. Too tight spine. 

I want to be able to fully open my book not have to wrestle with it to see the words close to the spine.

 

10. Rushed endings. 

The ending of a book is one of the most important parts to me. It can leave you feeling fully satisfied or it can leave you feeling like you must have grabbed a bad copy that missed the last few chapters or something. There is nothing more disappointing that reading a great book and coming to the end and feeling like it just didn't live up to the rest of the book.

 

StoryBook Fridays

To all the parents out there, who like myself, enjoy reading to their little ones,

this list is for you! 

Every Friday I will post 5 children's books that I enjoy reading to my daughter.

I hope you discover some new and interesting books from my suggestions. 

Remember to read to your little ones every night!

1. If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff

If you give a moose a muffin he's going to want some blackberry jam to go with it and chances are ...if you start reading this book you won't be able to put it down! My daughter loves all of the "If you give a..." stories!

 2. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka 

This is an adorable retelling of the classic childrens book, The Three Little Pigs. In this telling you'll get to see the Big Bad Wolfs side of the story!

 

3.  Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

What’s Cooking in the old white cabin? Pumpkin soup, the best you ever tasted! This story is about working together, taking turns, and trying new things. It is filled with beautiful illustrations and is a story I don't mind reading over and over.

 4. Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton

What happens when a sheep can't sleep? 

Follow this adorable sheep in his quest to get some shut eye!

5. Friends by Helme Heine

Friends is a story about three friends who do everything together but when night falls they learn that sometimes friends have to be apart but that it's ok because true friends can always find each other, even if its just in their dreams. Nice watercolor pictures and an adorable story about friendship!

Cover of the Week - Steel

Steel by Carrie Vaughn
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: March 15, 2011
Page Count: 304

 Description from Goodreads:

It was a slender length of rusted steel, tapered to a point at one end and jagged at the other, as if it had broken. A thousand people would step over it and think it trash, but not her.

This was the tip of a rapier.

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.

The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate's life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home—one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain.

Time travel, swordplay, and romance combine in an original high-seas adventure from New York Times bestseller Carrie Vaughn.

Angelfire

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: Harper Collins / Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
Page Count: 464

Description from Goodreads:

This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

I finished reading Angerfire last night and have been trying ever since to think of something to write that would explain the AWESOMENESS that is this book! I'll start by saying that before I was even half way through I was on goodreads.com seeing if there would be another book after this one...and I'm SO happy to say that yes, this will be a trilogy!! The only bad part is having to wait til 2012 to read it!!

Don't walk, run to the nearest store to get your hands on this book!