In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

Here's what I got this week:

Won (Thanks, Girls Just Reading!): 

• Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz
• Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (signed)
• Swag

Bought:

• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• But i Love Him by Amanda Grace

So that's what I got this week, what'd you get?

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Rating: ★ ★ ★ (liked it)
Release Date: 3/16/10
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 336
Source: Won from Liz @ Consumed by Books
Challenge: None
Buy the Book: Inkwood

Sixteen-year-old Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her unusual so-called gift. While her confusing feelings for her best friend are new, she has been able to sense dead bodies--or at least those that have been murdered--and the imprints that attach to their killers since she was a little girl. Violet has never considered her ability useful, but now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him. 

Fiercely protective of her, Jay agrees to help Violet search for the murderer. But even as she's falling in love, Violet is getting closer to discovering her killer... and becoming his prey herself.

I didn't really find The Body Finder to be that great. Sure, I liked it and it held my interest (I read it in two sittings) but there was something off about the book that I can't quite pinpoint. I think it's because of the writing. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, it was serviceable.

The Body Finder was a lot different than I expected. I tend to just dive into books without really knowing much about them. Sometimes I don't even read the back of the book. That was the case with this book and based on the cover I went into it expecting it to be, well, Twilight-y. I was pleasantly surprised with The Body Finder. I've never read anything like it, that's for sure.

At the beginning of the story Violet realizes she has developed feelings for her best friend Jay. The romance caused me to roll my eyes from time to time but I can't really complain about it. It's a healthy romance that evolved from a longtime friendship. The only annoying aspect of the relationship that I can think of is how long they spent pretending they didn't like each other. It dragged on way longer than necessary. The only reason they eventually got together was because of some random drama that seemed forced and pointless.

There are plenty of things I did like about The Body Finder. For instance, parts of the story are told from the serial killer's perspective. When I was reading his thoughts it felt like I was in the serial killer's mind and it was totally convincing. I found myself looking forward to those parts of the book.

I've never read a mystery with a paranormal twist before and I must say I really like that aspect of the book. I couldn't put it down because I was constantly wanting to know what happened next. Also because whenever I wasn't lost in the story I was paranoid a serial killer was about to bust through my apartment door and kill me.

All in all, I liked The Body Finder. It's not a must-read but I would definitely recommend it to people who are into the young romance thing and murder mysteries. Actually, I did recommend this book to my best friend and she ended up loving it. She's into murder mysteries and she really liked the romance between Jay and Violet too.

The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Rating: ★ (I didn't like it)
Release Date: 3/1/11
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 361
Source: Bought
Challenge: None
Buy the Book: Inkwood

Kate Lowry's best friend Grace died a year ago. So when she gets an e-mail from her, Kate's more than a little confused. 

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject) 

Kate, I'm here... sort of.
Find Cameron. He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell. They'll hurt you. 

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace's death was more than just a tragic accident. She teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not-so)-shining armor--the dangerously hot bad boy, Liam, and her love-struck neighbor, Seth. But at their elite private school , there are secrets so big people will do anything to protect them--even if it means getting rid of anyone trying to solve a murder...

When I went into The Liar Society I was expecting an awesome Veronica Mars type book. That is what all the blogs compared it too, after all, and it's the reason I put it on my wish-list. Suffice it to say, it was nothing like Veronica Mars. Aside from the trying to solve her best friend's murder thing. But that's not the reason I didn't like it. I didn't like it because the characters were flat. I didn't care about any of them. The school itself had more character than the characters did. I mean, it says a few times that Kate dyed her hair pink. That's great and all but I want to know why she dyed her hair, damn it! Kate just has no history or even any hobbies or anything else that would make her interesting

Kate and Maddie and Grace are supposed to be best friends and when Grace dies Kate is devastated about it but in Kate's flashbacks their friendship seems really shallow. And we're constantly told that Liam is the hot bad boy but Lisa and Laura never show us that he's bad. He doesn't act like a bad boy at all, especially when it comes to one of the school's mean girls, Bethany. She's pretty much got him whipped. There are a lot of almost interesting characters but that's about it, almost. I just really wish the characters had more depth to them and that I could have gotten to know them better.

Even with the horrible characterization, The Liar Society was still alright and mostly held my attention. I think the ending is what killed it for me. The ending was horrible. Since it's a mystery there is the inevitable revelation and resolution. The only problem is that there's no resolution. None! It was infuriating to say the least. And the revelation is predictable and boring. The best thing about The Liar Society was the awesome school and the cover of the book.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anybody.

Waiting on Wednesday: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly meme meant to spotlight upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. 

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Release Date: June 7th 2011

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.  

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbelievable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.  

Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

Dystopia is my FAVORITE genre and I've heard nothing but excitement and good things about this book so I'm really excited to read it. It's definitely one of those books that I'm going to go to the bookstore and buy on its release date. Can't wait!

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

A few days ago I reviewed Oryx and Crake for Dystopian Divas. You can check it out here. The most exciting part was that Margaret Atwood actually re-tweeted the link to my review! She's my absolute favorite author so naturally a lot of happy dancing ensued. Because I'm the over-excited nerd that I am I screen-capped a picture of her RT and will cherish it forever. I should probably print it out and frame it. I would share it here but Blogger is being annoying about uploading photos right now.

But i Love Him by Amanda Grace

Tonight was so much worse than anything before it. Tonight he didn't stop after the first slap.

At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track start with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel loved--and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything--and everyone--in its path.

This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.

But i Love Him by Amanda Grace is a gritty contemporary YA about dating violence. It's told in reverse chronological order, which shows how easy it is to get sucked into an abusive relationship and why it's so hard to leave. But i Love Him starts off with Ann lying broken on the floor of Connor's apartment trying to figure out what to do, whom to call. Through her recollections we learn how everything led up to this moment.

But i Love Him is an honest portrayal of a girl losing herself to an abusive boyfriend. As the synopsis says, Ann has everything going for her until she slowly gives up everything for Connor. She even forgoes college to move in with him and help him with his problems. And he has a lot of problems.

Reading it was hard at first, I kept having to put it down because it reminded me a lot of what I went through about 3 years ago, when I was the same age as Ann. But after the initial uneasiness I dove right in a stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand how one finds oneself in and abusive relationship or for anyone who has ever been a victim of dating violence. I'm one of the latter and I found the book to be deeply therapeutic. It allowed me to talk about it, which is something I've never really been able to do.

Book Poetry!

So, The Prairie Library is having a book poetry contest and giveaway to celebrate National Poetry Month. The idea (and contest) is to make a poem out of book titles. It was a lot of fun to do and here's what I came up with:

Look at the birdie

Gathering blue

Paint it black

The winter of our discontent

It was a lot of fun so I ended up doing another one and then my boyfriend decided he wanted to do one too. Here's how that turned out:

My second one entitled The God Delusion:

Invisible monsters

monsters of men

What is man?

Soulless

Matt's book poem:

The places in between

A thousand splendid suns

Farewell summer

Never let me go