2010 Holiday Reading Challenge

Coming from a person that has already been listening to Christmas music, I was very excited to hear about the Holiday Reading Challenge.  You can find more information, and sign-up at Holiday Reading Challenge at All About {n}.

Here are the rules:

1- The challenge will start Monday, November 15 and will end Friday, December 31.

2- You can read anywhere from 1 to 5 books for the challenge.

3- And now, here's the clincher... they must be holiday related books. That's right, the holiday doesn't really matter, but it would be more "jolly" if your choices were Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

4- The size of the book does not matter, nor does the genre. It is also okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. The only thing I ask is that they are not children's books. YA is okay. And so are re-reads.

5- To sign up - leave a link back to your challenge post. There will also be a post for review links as well as one for challenge wrap-ups.

6- And.... there will be goodies. That's right, we'll call them presents. At the end of every week that the challenge is running I will choose one winner from the review links. Meaning the more books you read, review and link up, the more chances you have at winning a "present".

 

I’ve been counting the days until I could start reading for this.  So far, my book reading plans include:

1. Let it Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle

2. Home for Christmas by Anita Stansfield

3. Christmas by the Book by Beverly King

4. Ex-Mas by Kate Brian

 

What Made Your Day Today? (1)

I was checking out a newer blog, http://coconutsandcream.blogspot.com, and really liked Amber’s segment, What Made Your Day Today.  I like that it’s simple, positive, and just what the title says.  So, for me:

 

My two year old now recognizes and gets excited about the color pink!  (Living in rural Alaska, I like seeing anything that girlyifies her.)

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox explores the contents of my mailbox on a weekly basis. Of course I only mention the really cool things, like books! I got this from The Story Siren's blog. If you would like to participate and have your own “In My Mailbox” post, you can find more information here.

This week I got Nightshade by Andrea Cramer in my mailbox. It was an exciting day for me :)

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Review of Matched by Ally Condie

Basic Info

Release date: November 30, 2010

Pages: 366 (hardcover)

Genre: dystopian, young adult

Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Goodreads.com

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

Review

Matched reminded me, nostalgically, of The Giver by Lois Lowry.  We have a society where everything is dictated to its participants through ceremonies as they come of age.  These decisions are supposed to be for the benefit of society.  The characters don’t question it, but as readers we do, because we are used to making the decisions that they can’t. 

Enter our heroine, Cassia, she’s followed the rules all of her life, and now something occurs that makes her question the officials, Society, everything she’s ever known.  After being “matched” with her best friend, Xander, a very rare occurance (usually the matches come from different cities and providences), Cassia finds her data card also has the picture of Ky, another friend.  Even once the “mistake” is explained away, Cassia can’t stop thinking about whether it was truly a mistake, and what it would be like to make that decision herself.

Matched was an intriguing read that made me appreciate my freedom to choose.  I enjoyed the world that Ally Condie built: the technology, the Society, and the creeping feeling that something sinister is lurking behind all of that organized perfection.  I can’t wait to see how this series unfolds.  I am starting to realize though, that dystopian literature does not equal happily ever after (case in point: Hunger Games series and the Uglies series).

Rating

Cover: 10/10 Love the dress, love the imagery of being trapped, and I love that the cover related to the story

Plot: 9/10

Characters: 9/10 I’m still getting to know them, but they did have some unexpected depth

Ending: 8/10

Mom approval: 10/10

Romance-okay, it’s not on my rating list, but still, 7/10, I wasn’t really feeling it here.  The characters were compelling, the relationship was developing, but I didn’t see it getting to the point of love yet (even though I was told that they were in love).  Judge for yourself though, I’ll be waiting to see in the next books if I feel better about it.

Overall: 88%  B+

Review of Firelight by Sophie Jordan

336 pages

Released: September 7, 2010 (Hardcover)

Debut Author Challenge

With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.

Summary from Goodreads.com

Rating: 86%  B

Cover: 10/10 Love it!

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 7/10

Ending: 8/10

Mom-Approval Rating: 10/10 (no swearing, no sex, no complaints there)

I have always been intrigued by stories of dragons.  Usually, because they involved princesses too.  I was very curious about Firelight when I learned that Jacinda is a draki-pretty much a shapeshifter who can turn human or dragon.  I was impressed with the society that Sophie Jordan created: the powers and limitations that draki would face.

Firelight was a quick read, and one that drew me in.  I felt like the characters lacked development though.  Jacinda was “rebellious” and Will was mysterious, but I did not feel like I really got to know them.  I didn’t feel like they got to know each other either.  I read a review of Firelight by Sarah-GreenBeanTeenQueen right before my copy arrived.  She’d commented how Will and Jace didn’t seem to fall in love, but into lust.  I hoped it wouldn’t be like that, but she was right.  There was plenty of making out, but no real conversations.  Yes, they were inexplicably drawn to one another, which I see in a lot of paranormal books, but when do they actually get to know each other on a deeper level?

Besides the romance aspect that I was disappointed in, I am still interested in what happens next.  The fantasy elements were good, and there are still predictions I have about the series that I want to see if they’ll come true. 

Review of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Released: August 30, 2010

Debut Author

Pages: 352 (hardcover)

Rating: 98%  A+

Characters: 10/10

Cover: 10/10

Plot: 10/10

Ending: 9/10

Mom-Approval: 10/10 (All of the “swearing” was done through the word bleep in a cleverly explained way.  I was amused!)

 

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Summary from Goodreads.com

Okay, now I can gush.  I loved Paranormalcy.  Evie was such a lovable character.  She bags and tags paranormals, yet does it with a PINK taser, which she’s named Tasey.  She’s kind-hearted, curious, totally girly, yet strong.  Paranormalcy itself was a great read, lots of mystery, and a very sweet romance.  I need to go reread the kissing scenes right now ;)

There were so many things to learn about Evie’s world: about IPCA, the fairies, werewolves, and other paranormal creatures, and than you throw in a mysterious being that is killing off paranormals.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.

I also loved Lend (our shape shifting love interest).  None of this brooding mean guy who truly likes the heroine underneath his tough exterior.  He was funny, shy, sweet, everything I would’ve wanted in a boyfriend at sixteen.  Sigh…

The ending was a little cliché-things always come to a climax at high school dances!  I’m surprised that I escaped all of mine unscathed ;)  Most of the loose ends are tied up, but the ending still whets our appetite for the next installment, and I for one, cannot wait!

Review of Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Release date: August 31, 2010

496 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: 93% A-

Cover 10/10

Plot 8/10

Characters 8/10

Ending 8/10

Mom Approval Rating 9/10 (Some swearing-less than 5, and sensuality)

Disclosure: ARC from Good Golly Miss Holly’s ARC tour

Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings.

But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth.

Summary from Goodreads.com

Alexandra Adornetto is an Australian author, and this is her first US release. Halo is the first in her trilogy to be followed by Hades in 2011 and Heaven in 2012.

Halo was a great read. I first excited because it was my first ARC tour. I started reading when I was supposed to be going to sleep and quickly found myself saying, “just one more chapter.” Venus Cove was a wonderful small town where you really wanted to live and help make a difference. The characters in the story were real. I found Bethany to be one of the strangest characters of all. She’s the youngest in our trio of angels. Gabriel and Ivy act just as you would expect angels to, but Bethany is different. It might be because she is young, or maybe her personality, but she is like Pandora with her curiosity. This gets her into trouble, often. It also makes her seem more human and easier to relate to as a reader. She may be naive, but she’s impulsive, and very loving.

Most of the story follows her relationship with Xavier. It was well developed. I was only bothered when she started talking about sex (are teen angels really supposed to be thinking like that?).

The good vs. evil conflict was also intriguing (enter Jake Thorn here). Jake moves into town and all of the good that Ivy and Gabe have been doing seems to go downhill. Eventually, they suspect Jake, but as angels, they can’t act on suspicion. That actually works pretty well for a plot device, because when things do come to a head they do it in a big way.

I’d recommend this book to fans of paranormal romance. I can’t wait to see how Hades and Heaven add to this promising new series.