25 Oct 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Where it Began by Ann Redisch Stampler



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.

This week I am featuring Where it Began by Ann Redisch Stampler



So more about the book….

Expected Release Date: 6th March 2012

 

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving and lacking a single memory of the accident that landed her there. What she can remember, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the accident.
As she takes us through her transformation from invisible girl to on-trend Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby herself does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why is Gabby left alone to take the fall?
Putting the pieces together will take every ounce of Gabby's strength. As she peels back the layers of her life, she begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex...and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

 


 

Best wishes

 

Debra's Book Cafe

 
Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday: Where it Began by Ann Redisch Stampler

23 Oct 2011

Book Review - Addison Blakely Confessions of a PK by Betsy St Arment

Sixteen-year-old Addison Blakely has tireless played the role of PK—preacher’s kid—her entire life. But after Wes Keegan revs his motorcycle into town and into her heart, Addison begins to wonder how much of her faith is her own and how much has been handed to her. She isn’t so sure she wants to be the good girl anymore. Join Addison Blakely as she attempts to separate love from lust, facts from faith, and keep her head above water in her murky, fishbowl existence.


Estimated Release Date:  1st January 2012











Best wishes

Debs :-) 


Continue reading Book Review - Addison Blakely Confessions of a PK by Betsy St Arment

22 Oct 2011

18 Oct 2011

Waiting on Wednesday - Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.


This week I am featuring Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullogh.


So more about the book….






Expected Release Date:  8th November 2011






Delaney Collins doesn't believe in fairy tales. And why should she? Her mom is dead, her best friend is across the country, and she's stuck in California with "Dr. Hank," her famous life-coach father—a man she barely knows. Happily ever after? Yeah, right.

Then Dr. Hank tells her an outrageous secret: he's a fairy godmother—an f.g.—and he can prove it. And by the way? The f.g. gene is hereditary. Meaning there's a good chance that New Jersey tough girl Delaney is someone's fairy godmother.

But what happens when a fairy godmother needs a wish of her own?



Best wishes


       
Debs


Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday - Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough

16 Oct 2011

Book Review - The Immortalists by Richard Denney


When a hooded girl shows up at Rowan Burton's front door on a snowy & windy night, thirteen year old Rowan finds himself in a life altering race to save the girl's life, before two sinister wizards claim the girl for their own.Can Rowan save the girl's life before it's too late? An Immortalist can be identified as many different things... but in this tale, being an immortalist... can cost you your life.





Best wishes

Debs :-)  
Continue reading Book Review - The Immortalists by Richard Denney

15 Oct 2011

Book Review - Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.

Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother's scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she's known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?




Best wishes

Debs :-)
Continue reading Book Review - Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

Book Review - The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon

When beautiful but aloof Claire Harkness is found dead in her dorm room one spring morning, prestigious Armitage Academy is shaken to its core. Everyone connected to school, and to Claire, finds their lives upended, from the local police detective who has a personal history with the academy, to the various faculty and staff whose lives are immersed in the daily rituals associated with it.

Everyone wants to know how Claire died, at whose hands, and more importantly, where the baby that she recently gave birth to is a baby that almost no one, except her small innermost circle, knew she was carrying.

At the center of the investigation is Madeline Christopher, an intern in the English department who is forced to examine the nature of the relationship between the school's students and the adults meant to guide them. As the case unravels, the dark intricacies of adolescent privilege at a powerful institution are exposed, and both teachers and students emerge as suspects as the novel rushes to its thrilling conclusion.

With The Twisted Thread, Charlotte Bacon has crafted a gripping and suspenseful story in the tradition of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, one that pulls back the curtain on the lives of the young and privileged





Best wishes

Debs :-)
Continue reading Book Review - The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon

Book Review - Where She Went by Gayle Forman

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance







Best wishes

Debs :-)
Continue reading Book Review - Where She Went by Gayle Forman

11 Oct 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Fever by Lauren DeStefano



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.


This week I am featuring Fever by Lauren DeStefano, which is book 2 in the Chemical Garden series.


So more about the book….




Expected Release Date: 20th September 2011


 

****WARNING – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ******



Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.


Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine's twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can't seem to elude Rhine's father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano's harrowing
Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.


 

Best wishes


       

Debs


 
Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

5 Oct 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Sharp Time by Mary O’Connell



 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.


This week I am featuring The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell






So more about the book….


Expected Release Date: 8th November 2011


 

Sandinista Jones is a high school senior with a punk rock name and a broken heart. The death of her single mother has left Sandinista alone in the world, subject to the random vulnerability of everyday life. When the school system lets her down, her grief and instability intensify, and she ponders a violent act of revenge.
Still, in the midst of her crisis, she gets a job at The Pale Circus, a funky vintage clothing shop, and finds friendship and camaraderie with her coworker, a boy struggling with his own secrets.
Even as Sandinista sees the failures of those with power and authority, she's offered the chance to survive through the redemptive power of friendship. Now she must choose between faith and forgiveness or violence and vengeance.

   

Best wishes


 

Debra's Book Cafe


 
Continue reading Waiting on Wednesday: The Sharp Time by Mary O’Connell

4 Oct 2011

Book Review - There You'll Find Me by Jenny B Jones



In a small cottage house in rural Ireland, Finley discovers she can no longer outrun the past.

When Finley travels to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, she hopes to create a new identity and get some answers from the God who took her brother away and seems to have left her high and dry.
But from the moment she boards the plane and sits by Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to Finley's plan.

When she gets too close to Beckett, a classmate goes on a mission to make sure Finley packs her bags, departs Ireland-and leaves Beckett alone.

Finley feels the pressure all around. As things start to fall apart, she begins to rely on a not-so-healthy method of taking control of her life.

Finley tries to balance it all-disasters on the set of Beckett's new movie, the demands of school, and her growing romance with one actor who is not what he seems. Yet Finley is also not who she portrays to Beckett and her friends.

For the first time in her life, Finley must get honest with herself to get right with God.


My Review




Best wishes

Debs
Continue reading Book Review - There You'll Find Me by Jenny B Jones

Book Review - Past Perfect by Leila Sales

ll Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.    

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….

My Review



Best wishes

Debs 
Continue reading Book Review - Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Book Review - Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

At Gottfried Academy, just one kiss will take your breath away. After Renee discovers her parents dead in what appears to be a strange double murder, she is sent to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious high school dedicated to philosophy, 'crude sciences', and Latin: the Language of the Dead. 

Here she meets Dante, a dark and elusive student who harbors a deadly secret, but to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. Despite himself, Dante cannot control his attraction to Renee either and their desires gradually deepen into a complex and dangerous romance. But Dante's not the only one with secrets...Gottfried Academy has a few of its own. 

When Renee begins to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a former student, she begins to realize just how deadly these secrets are...Dark romance meets haunting murder mystery in this captivating tale of love, death and destiny.

My Review :  9 out of 10



Best Wishes

Debs :-) 
Continue reading Book Review - Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

2 Oct 2011

1 Oct 2011

Fragment Friday - Beastly by Alex Flinn

Fragment Friday is a meme that was started by Book Chic Club.




I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.




Continue reading Fragment Friday - Beastly by Alex Flinn