Showing posts with label Egmont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egmont. Show all posts
Character Interview: Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt
Squeee! Guess who we have on the blog guys? Okay so I guess you already know with the blog post title and all but yeah it's Laura Jarratt!! Round of applause people! We have the author of the fabulous book Skin Deep.
Let me just assure you guys that it's more than what meets the eye. I'm sure you've heard of the phrase- "don't judge a book by it's cover" because it's true just don't! Saying that, you should deffo check the Australian cover. It's absolutely gorgeous.
Well, if the neither cover grabs your interest, I'm sure you'll have a reason to read Skin Deep with this interview below!
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Thanks for stopping by to chat guys. We're so excited to have you today. Jenna, I realise it's a touchy subject but we're all keen to know about your experience after the car crash. How did you handle everything?
J – Looking back, I think I did okay. Not amazingly well but not awful either.
At first when you wake up in hospital, it hurts too much for you to care how you look. You want the pain to stop but the painkillers make you woozy so when it does you can’t think straight so at the start, it’s pretty much a blur. People keep telling you it’ll be fine and you just want to believe them. A few days later though, that’s when you start to be scared, when it hits you that it might not all be okay after all. Then you’re faced with the consequences – they get you to talk to staff to try to get you ready but really that just makes you more scared because you know it must be bad if they have to do that. When you do see your face for the first time, there’s a split second where you don’t know it’s you and you see yourself as everyone else will. Then it hits…and you feel so sick you want to throw up right there but you can’t so you scream instead, like you’re in a nightmare and you can make it go away.
It’s the day after day stuff of trying to piece your life back together when the person you were has changed forever – that’s what I found hardest. It takes ages to get to a place where you’re happy with being you again. The accident changed me a lot, not all in bad ways though, but it took me a long time to find out who I am now.
Not forgetting Ryan though. Ryan, you were the perfect knight in shining armour for Jenna. How did your feelings change as you got to know Jenna?
R- I hope my mum doesn’t read this. She’ll go off on one of her feminist rants if she does!
I guess at first I felt sorry for her – and she’s gonna kill me for saying this – but that was because I know what it’s like to have everyone looking at you and judging. Mum used to dress me in all this weird tie-dyed hippy stuff when I was a little kid so all the other kids you met knew straight off you weren’t like them. I reckoned that’s what the scar was like for Jenna. Other kids staring and shutting her out right off because of it. And some people are that stupid.
But then I got to know her and I realised she’d hate me feeling sorry for her and actually there was no reason because inside was this kinda tough, funny girl who might get knocked down by people being dumbass with her, but she was gonna bounce back even if it did take her a while.
And yeah, Jenna, you can stop sticking your tongue out at me!
So I did want to smack anyone who upset her, sure. And the more she got under my skin the more I wanted to make everything okay for her. But a lot of what did make her get under my skin was she is tough and funny, and all the time she was looking out for me as much as I looked out for her. Tough, but tough in a definitely cute way…hehe…Yes! I made her blush.
Aww. Yep. Jenna's face is turning red! Jenna, your life completely changed when you met Ryan. How exactly would you say however?
J – Nobody ever wound me up that much before, that’s how!
No, seriously, I think just making friends with someone who didn’t know me before the accident and so they didn’t have to be friends, it was just something genuine they wanted now…yes, I think it was that. It gave me back a big load of confidence. So even at the start, just hanging out with him when he didn’t have to be with me – it made me feel normal again. Also when we got together, he’s used to dealing with people who look at you as if you’re different to them. And he knows how not to care. That helped massively too.
Um…also I’d never been…um…you know…that into someone before, like going out and stuff, so that was totally different. And good…when he’s not teasing me to death! But I get him back, of course. I always get him back!
Ahem. Ryan. Boxers or Briefs? We're dying to know!
R – Boxers. Always. Black cotton jersey’s my favourite.
J – He’s got no shame, you know. He’ll love you asking him that…see, look at that grin. Mr. Smug!
Tut tut! So, a question for you both. What would be the perfect date?
R – Actually we did this on Jenna’s birthday. We both wanted to do something different, and Jenna picked because it was her birthday obviously but it would have been my top choice as well –
J – I picked a hot air balloon ride, but then he went crazy and booked us this sunrise balloon flight for two. You’re in the basket with just you and the pilot and the balloon drifts up over the trees as the sun rises and you feel like you’re rising up into the dawn. It’s the most amazing feeling. A friend of Cole’s did the ride and he took some photos for us.
R – Yeah, they came out really well. He did us a special favour too and landed us down near this horse sanctuary – you know Jenna’s into horses and this bit was a surprise. I’d fixed up for us to have a special visit where they took us round and we got to meet all the residents.
J – They have a lot of horses who’ve been ill-treated there and they nurse them back to health and look after them until they can be re-homed. Some stay forever, and then…no, you can tell them this bit, Ryan, because it was your idea…
R – No, you…I’m not telling them that…
J – LOL! Now he is embarrassed. Okay, he’d adopted one of the horses for me and I got to meet her. She’s called Bonnie and she was found abandoned and starving but she’s getting her strength and confidence back now. She’s a totally beautiful skewbald with the sweetest nature.
R – Er, yeah, moving on at speed… so that was my perfect date because it’s different, you know. Anyone can do cinema and dinner and that stuff but to make it perfect, you’ve got to surprise her with something she’ll remember.
J – It was awesome, it really was.
After reading Skin Deep, we're all ecstatic to read Laura's next book. Ryan, Jenna...Details please!
R – I like the guy in it, that’s all I’m saying. He’s alright – I’d hang out with him.
J – Okay, I’ll leak a little bit. It’s about a girl who goes into the witness protection programme. And hey, if I’m ever tempted to flatter myself I was brave about my face, when I see what she has to put up with… when she could just have walked away…
R – She’s not as cute as you though.
J – Ignore him. He’s just saying that. She’s actually really pretty. I didn’t like her that much at first because I thought she was a bit snobby but people aren’t always what you think from first impressions, especially when they’re not happy.
R – We think you’ll like it anyway! Even if it hasn’t got me in it.
J – Excuse me now, I need to go and deflate his head. Bye, everyone x
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Thanks for stopping by to chat guys. We're so excited to have you today. Jenna, I realise it's a touchy subject but we're all keen to know about your experience after the car crash. How did you handle everything?
J – Looking back, I think I did okay. Not amazingly well but not awful either.
At first when you wake up in hospital, it hurts too much for you to care how you look. You want the pain to stop but the painkillers make you woozy so when it does you can’t think straight so at the start, it’s pretty much a blur. People keep telling you it’ll be fine and you just want to believe them. A few days later though, that’s when you start to be scared, when it hits you that it might not all be okay after all. Then you’re faced with the consequences – they get you to talk to staff to try to get you ready but really that just makes you more scared because you know it must be bad if they have to do that. When you do see your face for the first time, there’s a split second where you don’t know it’s you and you see yourself as everyone else will. Then it hits…and you feel so sick you want to throw up right there but you can’t so you scream instead, like you’re in a nightmare and you can make it go away.
It’s the day after day stuff of trying to piece your life back together when the person you were has changed forever – that’s what I found hardest. It takes ages to get to a place where you’re happy with being you again. The accident changed me a lot, not all in bad ways though, but it took me a long time to find out who I am now.
Not forgetting Ryan though. Ryan, you were the perfect knight in shining armour for Jenna. How did your feelings change as you got to know Jenna?
R- I hope my mum doesn’t read this. She’ll go off on one of her feminist rants if she does!
I guess at first I felt sorry for her – and she’s gonna kill me for saying this – but that was because I know what it’s like to have everyone looking at you and judging. Mum used to dress me in all this weird tie-dyed hippy stuff when I was a little kid so all the other kids you met knew straight off you weren’t like them. I reckoned that’s what the scar was like for Jenna. Other kids staring and shutting her out right off because of it. And some people are that stupid.
But then I got to know her and I realised she’d hate me feeling sorry for her and actually there was no reason because inside was this kinda tough, funny girl who might get knocked down by people being dumbass with her, but she was gonna bounce back even if it did take her a while.
And yeah, Jenna, you can stop sticking your tongue out at me!
So I did want to smack anyone who upset her, sure. And the more she got under my skin the more I wanted to make everything okay for her. But a lot of what did make her get under my skin was she is tough and funny, and all the time she was looking out for me as much as I looked out for her. Tough, but tough in a definitely cute way…hehe…Yes! I made her blush.
Aww. Yep. Jenna's face is turning red! Jenna, your life completely changed when you met Ryan. How exactly would you say however?
J – Nobody ever wound me up that much before, that’s how!
No, seriously, I think just making friends with someone who didn’t know me before the accident and so they didn’t have to be friends, it was just something genuine they wanted now…yes, I think it was that. It gave me back a big load of confidence. So even at the start, just hanging out with him when he didn’t have to be with me – it made me feel normal again. Also when we got together, he’s used to dealing with people who look at you as if you’re different to them. And he knows how not to care. That helped massively too.
Um…also I’d never been…um…you know…that into someone before, like going out and stuff, so that was totally different. And good…when he’s not teasing me to death! But I get him back, of course. I always get him back!
Ahem. Ryan. Boxers or Briefs? We're dying to know!
R – Boxers. Always. Black cotton jersey’s my favourite.
J – He’s got no shame, you know. He’ll love you asking him that…see, look at that grin. Mr. Smug!
Tut tut! So, a question for you both. What would be the perfect date?
R – Actually we did this on Jenna’s birthday. We both wanted to do something different, and Jenna picked because it was her birthday obviously but it would have been my top choice as well –
J – I picked a hot air balloon ride, but then he went crazy and booked us this sunrise balloon flight for two. You’re in the basket with just you and the pilot and the balloon drifts up over the trees as the sun rises and you feel like you’re rising up into the dawn. It’s the most amazing feeling. A friend of Cole’s did the ride and he took some photos for us.
R – Yeah, they came out really well. He did us a special favour too and landed us down near this horse sanctuary – you know Jenna’s into horses and this bit was a surprise. I’d fixed up for us to have a special visit where they took us round and we got to meet all the residents.
J – They have a lot of horses who’ve been ill-treated there and they nurse them back to health and look after them until they can be re-homed. Some stay forever, and then…no, you can tell them this bit, Ryan, because it was your idea…
R – No, you…I’m not telling them that…
J – LOL! Now he is embarrassed. Okay, he’d adopted one of the horses for me and I got to meet her. She’s called Bonnie and she was found abandoned and starving but she’s getting her strength and confidence back now. She’s a totally beautiful skewbald with the sweetest nature.
R – Er, yeah, moving on at speed… so that was my perfect date because it’s different, you know. Anyone can do cinema and dinner and that stuff but to make it perfect, you’ve got to surprise her with something she’ll remember.
J – It was awesome, it really was.
After reading Skin Deep, we're all ecstatic to read Laura's next book. Ryan, Jenna...Details please!
R – I like the guy in it, that’s all I’m saying. He’s alright – I’d hang out with him.
J – Okay, I’ll leak a little bit. It’s about a girl who goes into the witness protection programme. And hey, if I’m ever tempted to flatter myself I was brave about my face, when I see what she has to put up with… when she could just have walked away…
R – She’s not as cute as you though.
J – Ignore him. He’s just saying that. She’s actually really pretty. I didn’t like her that much at first because I thought she was a bit snobby but people aren’t always what you think from first impressions, especially when they’re not happy.
R – We think you’ll like it anyway! Even if it hasn’t got me in it.
J – Excuse me now, I need to go and deflate his head. Bye, everyone x
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Links:
Website | Blog | Goodreads | Buy the Book
You have gotta admit. Aren't Jenna and Ryan just an adorable couple. Hearing them talk with each other is just so cute! Just read the book guys. Read the book! You can find so much more about them and how their relationship develops. It's just amazing. I know that you're going to read it now, or go buy it. RIGHT? You know you want to.
And Laura. It's been a pleasure to have her on the blog today.
A big big thank you for this fab interview :D
Website | Blog | Goodreads | Buy the Book
You have gotta admit. Aren't Jenna and Ryan just an adorable couple. Hearing them talk with each other is just so cute! Just read the book guys. Read the book! You can find so much more about them and how their relationship develops. It's just amazing. I know that you're going to read it now, or go buy it. RIGHT? You know you want to.
And Laura. It's been a pleasure to have her on the blog today.
A big big thank you for this fab interview :D
Blog Tour: J D Sharpe, Author of Oliver Twisted recommends must reads for Teens!
by J D Sharpe
Pages: 274
Release Date: February 6th 2012
Publisher: Egmont Books
“FLESH, the woe-begotten moaned at Oliver, baring teeth which were ragged and black. “FLESH,” came another moan, and he turned to see two more woe-begottens behind. They began to shuffle towards him, barefoot – toes blue from cold, arms outstretched. The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.
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Hi, it's great to be here on Grippedintobooks, thanks for having me! As my guest post today, I’ve been asked to recommend some teen reads.
When I started to think about this, I realised that many of the books I wanted to recommend were books that I read and loved as a teenager. I think the reason for this is that books we read when we are young have a way of shaping us and our reading tastes in ways that can’t really be appreciated until we are older.
So here are some of the teen books that shaped my reading DNA. First up is Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. This book had a huge influence on my understanding of the world and people when I was a teenager. I almost did a philosophy degree because of it! I love this story for its clarity yet complexity and urge you to have a read – you won’t see the world in the same way afterwards, I promise.
Next is the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I read the books and listened to the radio plays and loved them both but for different reason. I’ve chosen these books for their sheer delight in the English language, general silliness and its cast of crazy characters.
I was a huge fan of Lois Duncan when I was younger. She wrote Stranger with My Face and I Know What You Did Last Summer. These were fab thrillers that would stick to your fingers as you raced through the pages.
And lastly, Judy Blume was another big favourite of mine. There was something amazingly honest and comforting about her writing. It’s exactly what you need when you’re a teenage girl trying to figure out the world.
So these are some of the books that shaped my reading DNA as a teenager but here are some more recent teen books that you should definitely add to your reading double helix if you haven’t encountered them yet!
Genesis by Bernard Beckett. This is an extraordinary book that fuses the exploration of complex ideas with fantastic thriller elements. The ending of this book bothered me massively but for all the right reasons.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This book held me like a vice from the beginning and didn’t let me go once. The story is relentless and I felt exhausted by the end of it, battered even, but I loved every moment. Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes. I read this with my book group and it really divided us. I absolutely adored it though and a lot of that is to do with the characters. I think the Rat is one of the most engaging, unique characters in children’s fiction –she’s one in a million.
15 Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins. I should admit right off the bat that I am the editor of this book and I’m mighty proud of that fact! Dave Cousins is a phenomenal new talent and 15 Days Without a Head will have you crying, laughing and wanting more. Happy reading....
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Thank you J D for this interesting post! I haven't read any of these, so I really need to add them to my TBR list! And don't forget to add Oliver Twisted too :)
Blog Tour: Cynthia Hand dishes her thoughts on Angels!
UnearthlyPages: 403
Release Date: January 2nd 2012
Publisher: Egmont Books
Buy the Book: Amazon
For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.
Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.
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As part of the Hallowed blog tour, the lovely Cynthia Hand has written an exciting post on Angels. What's fun and what's hard about writing about them. Hmmm, Lets find out shall we?
The Angel Angle:
What’s fun and what’s hard about writing about angels
I started writing about angels by accident. When the idea of Unearthly first came to me, I knew that Clara was special in some way, that she had powers and abilities beyond that of a regular human being. But I didn’t know what she was, exactly. None of the run-of-the-mill paranormal creatures seemed to fit.
She definitely wasn’t a vampire, or a werewolf, or a fairy, I knew that. I wanted her to feel like a normal teenager, with a tiny element of the extraordinary. It was a real dilemma, trying to figure Clara out, until from some distant corner of my brain, I remembered a passage in the Bible I once read about the “sons of God” and the “daughters of man”: the Nephilim, the offspring of angels and men. This was perfect, I realised immediately. It meant that Clara wasn’t a supernatural creature so much as she was a human with a touch of the divine thrown in. I also loved the way that the angel angle learnt a whole new layer of moral and spiritual questions that Clara would be forced to deal with. The idea of destiny is hard enough, but the idea of destiny when you find out that you’re part angel? Brutal.
That’s what we call a goldmine, fiction-wise.
Here’s what else is fun about writing about angels:
• There’s a wellspring of rich, textured mythology that a writer can draw from, not only in the Christian religion, but in many other religions, far and wide. I do loads of research for every book I write, which is huge fun; I dig research. For Unearthly I did a lot of investigation into the idea of the Nephilim, taking the elements of that mythology that I liked and making up the rest. In Hallowed I went more in depth into specific characters, and researched the characters of Semyaza (Samjeeza) and Michael in angel mythology, in particular. There’s so much good stuff out there to work with, and I ended up using only the smallest tip of the massive iceberg of angel mythology, but as a writer it’s awesome to have so much to draw on.
• Angels are beautiful. When you write about angels you get to write about wings and flying off into the wild blue yonder, seeing the world from above. I’ve always loved the idea of flight, so this was great for me. Angel mythology also deals with the contrast of light and dark, the halo around the angel’s head-- comae celestis, as Angela calls it (a Latin phrase I mangled to make suit my purposes), the idea of glory, flaming swords and arrows, all good stuff as far as imagery goes.
• There’s a sense of redemption and hope that’s implied in angel mythology, of falling from grace and being redeemed. I love this dynamic. The stakes are naturally higher in fiction about angels, since it is not only the body at stake, but the soul. The problems that Clara faces always operate on two separate but intertwined levels for me: the surface problem, i.e., someone I love is going to die and that is going to suck, a lot, and the spiritual problem-- is it my fault that this person is going to die? Am I being punished? Can I fix it? Stop it? Am I supposed to accept my fate or fight it? All good questions that lead to good storytelling.
But writing about angels also has its pitfalls. Sometimes I feel like I am a tightrope walker when I write, struggling to balance as I slowly and carefully follow the line of my story across a high wire. Here’s what’s hard about it:
•People will think it’s too religious. It’s very difficult to extract angels from the idea of God. I didn’t try to do that; I wanted Clara to live in a world where there is a definitive God, but I also wanted my story to be friendly to people who didn’t believe in God or people who believed in vastly different things than I do. I am not a preacher, and I don’t have any kind of religious agenda underneath my writing, but because of the subject matter there are always going to be people who think I am trying to influence them, religiously speaking, and who are going to resist my story because of that.
•People will think it’s not religious enough. I’ve found that there are actually more people who are offended that Clara doesn’t go to a specific church than there are people who are offended that Clara believes in God. To which I can only say, I didn’t want Clara to ascribe to a particular religion because I wanted the book to be friendly to people of all religions (see what I said above about not being a preacher), and because I wanted the spiritual questions of the book to operate under the surface, not on the surface. If you’re religious I think my books can work on a different, metaphorical level, but I don’t want to shove the reader’s face in it.
•People will think your characters should be perfect. This is similar to what I wrote about above, but it works in a different way. There’s an argument that’s made that if Clara is part-angel and therefore a representative of the divine, she shouldn’t make mistakes. She shouldn’t act selfishly or complain too much or consider doing things that a fine upstanding angelic being shouldn’t do. But this would make for very dull fiction, in my opinion. Characters need flaws, and those flaws, those conscientious mistakes, are what produce the kind of conflict that drives a good story. I don’t want Clara to be a representative of the divine. I want her to be a realistic, flawed-but-growing person. I want her to be wrestling with the idea of the divine inside of her. I want her to make mistakes, sometimes huge mistakes, that have both real and metaphorical consequences.
Sigh. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to write about vampires.
But that brings me back to one of the best things about writing about angels, which is that it’s a thought-
provoking subject. It’s something people can interpret a bunch of different ways, and argue about, and feel passionate about, and have complicated reactions to, based on their individual notions of
spirituality and history.
Which. I happen to think, is the best kind of subject matter there is.
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An amazing post right? A great insight into the mind of Cynthia! A great big thank you to Cynthia for this post...
Let us know your thoughts!
Angel's Fury by Bryony Pearce
Pages: 304
Release Date: July 4th 2011
Publisher: Egmont
Buy the book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
I've started to have dreams while I'm awake. I remember music I've never heard ... I've got all this extra stuff in my head, but I'm forgetting things from my own life. I feel like I'm being taken over.
Cassie Farrier has always suffered from terrifying nightmares. On a trip to Germany she recognises scenes from her dreams and finds evidence of a sixty year-old massacre. Fearing for her sanity, her family sends Cassie to a retreat where she meets others with symptoms like her own and finds out that she has lived a number of past lives.
However, the Doctor at the retreat is not what she seems. Cassie and the boy she comes to love must escape the Doctor’s influence but can they also escape the misery of their shared past?
My Thoughts
As soon as I started reading Angel's Fury I knew that it was a book I would really like. It's a different sort of book and I think that was the main thing that held my interest. It was a combination of genres, a bit of love, thriller, historical and so I really enjoyed reading it!
Cassie, a teenage girl, constantly has these terrible nightmares. As time goes on they get even worse and terrible so she really is desperate for a way for them to stop. But then, one day on a school trip to Germany she realises so many things. Her dreams somehow awaken inside and she discovers that they are in fact scenes from her past lives.
Cassie's emotions go down really deep. As much as the dreams are fascinating she is really frightened and scared. That is when a specialist doctor comes into the picture, called 'The Doctor'. There is no doubt that I despise 'The Doctor', she is just intolerable. Then, Cassie has to move into this manor in the hope of getting rid of these dreams.
At the manor, she meets Seth and she starts to feel a sort of attraction towards him. Romance isn't a dominant theme in the book but I look forward to reading the moments between them and seeing how their relationship progresses.
I love the ideas behind this book. A great debut from a great British author. It is without doubt an original, and brilliant read. I would definitely recommend this!
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
by Cynthia Hand
Pages: 384
Release Date: May 2nd 2011
Publisher: Egmont UK Limited
Buy it: Amazon
In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.
My Thoughts
Unearthly at first, didn't seem much appealing to me around the first 100 pages or so. It was quite slow paced. But, that's just the beginning of the book. It was bound to not have action right at the start. After I finished, I really did not mind. It totally rocked. I don't even realise why I was complaining when the book overall was definitely so so awesome. I just loved it!
One thing I really liked was how Clara knew she was an angel already. It wasn't something she discovered so it was nice to see how she approached certain situations. Heck, even if the angel part wasn't in the book, it still would have lived up to it's awesomeness.
I loved Clara straight away. She's a normal type of character, she's smart, timid and quite self centered. You'd sure want to be friends with her. But she wants to be more than friends with someone in particular... I had many expectations. I was guessing who she would probably be with. Let me just say, It's was a surprise. Clara and Christian. Clara and Tucker.
Hand's writing has much simplicity and power. It just kept me at pace and really engaged within the book. Her descriptions, characters, well everything was just great.
Unearthly is a unique addition to YA fiction. With an unpredictable storyline, exciting love story and breathtaking supernaturals, I can't wait to be more engrossed with the series!
The Lost Saint by Bree Despain
by Bree Despain
Pages: 416Release Date: 7th March 2011
Publisher: Egmont
Series: The Dark Devine
Other books in series: The Dark Devine
Buy it: Amazon
A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.
Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must do. She must become a Hound of Heaven.
Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot—a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel is put in danger—in more ways than one.
Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her—not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung...
My Thoughts
Okay so I extremely LOVED The Dark Devine, but I didn't love the lost saint just as much. It was really. A great read in fact. But it just didn't top the last one.
It’s mainly because of the relationship between Grace and Daniel. I loved to see how their love will blossom and strengthen and so you don't see that on this book. That may as well be a fab thing seeing as nothing I'm expecting is happening. A pretty unpredictable book which of course is a very good thing.
I must say that the conflict between Grace and Daniel was intense. I didn't think it would play out like it did. They've both made mistakes. And great to see how they work it all out.
The Lost Saint was definitely more action packed. Many things were going on, especially with Grace. She learns so much and we see her character develop. Lots of new creatures were introduced. WOW.
Definitely captivating, this book will get you on your feat. An awesome follow up and I'm eager to read the next book in the series!
The Dark Devine by Bree Despain
The Dark Devine
by Bree Despain
Pages: 384
Release Date: July 5th 2010
Publisher: Egmont
Series: The Dark Devine
Other books in series: The Lost Saint
Buy it: Amazon
Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared—the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in blood—but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.
The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry, glint in his eyes.
The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boys' dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it—her soul...
My Thoughts
WOW! An awesome debut. When I first saw the cover it wasn't that appealing to me but as started to get into the book I found myself getting tangled into the many events that were occurring.
I just could not put it down. Everything of it was just spectacular- The characters, the writing, the story. I really LOVED it!
The plot was fast and engaging. As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she realises many feelings that are growing towards him. But Jude won't have any of it and that's when the secrets start to get revealed.
I loved how Grace's and Daniel's relationship grew and developed. It was nice to see how they got to know each other better and also bringing in past memories. I love the bad boys. I love DANIEL!
Despain's writing is full of elegance and splendour. I loved how she presented and enlightened this book and werewolves? I did not see that one coming! Great ending. Fantastic debut :)
I just could not put it down. Everything of it was just spectacular- The characters, the writing, the story. I really LOVED it!
The plot was fast and engaging. As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she realises many feelings that are growing towards him. But Jude won't have any of it and that's when the secrets start to get revealed.
I loved how Grace's and Daniel's relationship grew and developed. It was nice to see how they got to know each other better and also bringing in past memories. I love the bad boys. I love DANIEL!
Despain's writing is full of elegance and splendour. I loved how she presented and enlightened this book and werewolves? I did not see that one coming! Great ending. Fantastic debut :)
Zelah Green: One More Little Problem by Vanessa Curtis
by Vanessa Curtis
Warm, winning and real, Zelah Green is back! My name is Zelah Green and I'm a Cleanaholic. It's the summer hols and I'm on major Flirt Alert. I've joined mysortaspace.com and ever since I've been getting emails from loads of boys. Boys are Dirt Alert AND Germ Alert. Don't even talk to me about kissing... The rest of my life's a bit rubbish too. That's because: my dad is moping about the house missing his girlfriend; my ex-best friend still isn't speaking to me; my grumpy weirdo Satanist friend has turned up to stay; my cleaning rituals are are taking up way too much time; and, most importantly, the guy I really like, Sol, has disappeared off the face of the earth...
My Thoughts
Oh Zelah Green. This was such a fun to read and no doubt an enjoyable too. It was different from the books I usually read- Paranormal romance novels. It's nice to be out of your comfort zone and simply go back to the REAL world for once and this book showed it wonderfully.
Zelah Green has OCD. Because of her problems in her life her condition does get a tad worse. I love her character. She is kinda weird but in a very good way.
Zelah's 'ex best friend' seems to be a great mate. Even though they fell out, she helped and supported Zelah when she was in need and that's what friends are for, right?
The one thing I didn't like about the book is that there wasn't that element of suspense. So yes, it was very easy to guess what will happen follow. Like, Zelah kept thinking about Sol and then she was chatting to this guy called Alexandro... You can pick up the pieces rather quickly and put them together.
This isn't the type of book I would read over and over again.
However, it was a good read. (:
Zelah Green has OCD. Because of her problems in her life her condition does get a tad worse. I love her character. She is kinda weird but in a very good way.
Zelah's 'ex best friend' seems to be a great mate. Even though they fell out, she helped and supported Zelah when she was in need and that's what friends are for, right?
The one thing I didn't like about the book is that there wasn't that element of suspense. So yes, it was very easy to guess what will happen follow. Like, Zelah kept thinking about Sol and then she was chatting to this guy called Alexandro... You can pick up the pieces rather quickly and put them together.
This isn't the type of book I would read over and over again.
However, it was a good read. (:
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