I have a NEW winner...

Due to some communication issues I've had to choose a new winner to receive my extra ARC of Paranormalcy. Congrats to:

Becky Thompson!

Thanks for entering and I hope you enjoy Paranormalcy as much as I have! I've already emailed you and you have 48 hours to send me your address.

Thanks once again to everyone who entered, hopefully I'll be having another contest soon!

"Just Another One"-A Rocket To The Moon,

I have a WINNER and random babbling a plenty...

First, let's get down to business, the part you've come for: the Paranormalcy ARC winner...

The winner

is....

Caitlin Darrell!!!

Woohoo! Congrats! I'm emailing you as soon as I publish this post and you have 48 hours to respond. I'll send out your prize ASAP.

Now, onto other things. I miss you. All of you. I've missed reading your posts and responding to your comments, and I fully expected to come back to two followers. So, thanks for sticking around. I know I haven't been commenting on others' blogs or anything I should be doing. I even forgot about a blogfest and am thoroughly ticked at myself for it. (Sorry Jen!)

The truth is that I'm going back to school in a few weeks and I don't have the time I had earlier in the summer. Cheering has also started back up and I have 4-7 hour practices every week day, which means I'm usually ready for bed by 10:00. Anyway, the point is that I might only be posting once or twice a week now, but I'm going to try to put much more work into those posts and make them worth a week.

My first act of business though is catching up on what you guys have been up to. If you comment with a link to a post you've put up in the last two weeks I promise I will read and comment on it, because I've been horrible with that. Thanks and have a great weekend!

EDIT: I realize this post is all SRS BSNS and such. This is odd for me, so I decided to catch you up on my favorite eye candy of the moment. It's been so long since I've posted some! I give you Joel Kanitz from the band This Century (Enjoy.) :

*Before I go, some shameless promotion. I'm one of the thirty new bloggers participating in The Story Siren's Backstage Blogging feature and the first post is up here!

"Put Your Hands Up"-Family Force 5,

What I want in my mailbox... (9)

What I want in my mailbox is my version of Waiting on Wednesday hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine.

This week I want Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John in my mailbox.

Synopsis:

THE CHALLENGE: Piper has one month to get a paying gig for Dumb—the hottest new rock band in school.

THE DEAL: If she does it, she'll become manager of the band and get her share of the profits, which she desperately needs since her parents raided her college fund.

THE CATCH: Managing one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl who is ready to beat her up. And doing it all when she's deaf. With growing self-confidence, an unexpected romance, and a new understanding of her family's decision to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, Piper just may discover her own inner rock star. 

Doesn't it sound fantastic? I'm so excited to read this and John's first novel, Busted. Five Flavors of Dumb will be released November 11, 2010, AKA too long from now. 

What are you waiting for?

"Weekend Wars"-MGMT,

Hi5 (3): Favorite First Chapters! + very late IMM...

 Hi5 is a weekly meme hosted by myself, Nomes @ Inkcrush, & Anne @ Potter, Percy, and I in which we all share our top fives. Each Friday you can get the next day's topic at one of our blogs and link to your post in the Mr. Linky. Have fun!

This week's topic is:

First chapters that hooked you!

This is an interesting (and very hard) topic for me. I'm one of those people that needs to be pulled into a book within 50 pages or I won't finish nine times out of ten. I'm just not that patient, and knowing that the next book I read will most likely be better makes it easy for me to put a book down within a few chapters. I really didn't know if I could come up with five titles, but I managed! :

5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare- I love this series so hard. Within a few pages Clare transports readers into the Shadow World, where anything seems possible and everyone seems terrifying. It's brilliant.

4. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson- This is my go-to book for everything. Oh, my favorite title? The Sky is Everywhere. Favorite cover? The Sky is Everywhere. Favorite-? The Sky is Everywhere. Jandy Nelson's writing style is so smooth, you easily slip right into the story. I felt like I'd always been in Lenny's world and just didn't realize it. Fantastic.

3. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White- Evie's personality comes through immediately. I mean, the first chapter title is 'Oh, bleep!' The characterization is seamless and I NEED THE SEQUEL.

2. Paper Towns by John Green- I don't think I'm skilled enough to adequately describe how amazing the prologue and first chapter of this book are. But, alas, I will try. The prologue is deep and horrible and makes you think...and then the first chapter is awkward and normal and pretty darn funny. Just that transition, and the fact that it works, is amazing to me.

1. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride- I may be a bit biased since I just finished reading this.  (In one sitting, FYI.) I don't care that much because it deserves to be on this list, whatever number it is really doesn't matter. Anyway, this entire novel is hilarious and the first pages sucked me right in. Seriously, everyone should read this book.

Now that that's done, I'm posting my IMM vlog for the last two weeks because I can't wait another week or it'll be ten minutes long. Anyway, here you go:

"Wake Up"-Arcade Fire,

Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White! + A CONTEST.

Hello my lovelies! I know I haven't been posting as much as I usually do and I have a good reason for this. It's called real life. It's kind of awesome sometimes. Anyway, to make up for it I come bearing a review and a contest!

Overall Rating: 4.6 out of five

Characters: 4.9 out of five

Plot: 4.5 out of five

Cover Art: 4.9 out of five

Originality: 4.3 out of five

Concept: 4.7 out of five

Favorite Line(s):

Everything that comes out of Evie's mouth.

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal. 

Normal is so overrated.

Paranormalcy is one of my favorite debuts of the year...

I honestly don't know how to start this review so I'll just begin with my favorite part: Lend. He makes me want to dance around my house, carrying Paranormalcy of course, whilst singing show tunes.

I'll admit that I almost always like the 'bad boy' more than the good guy when love triangles are involved, mostly because they're usually much more interesting characters. This is most definitely not the case with Paranormalcy. Lend is interesting, more than a bit mysterious, and a genuinely nice person. *gasp* I know, it's unheard of. Lend's fantastic and I adore him.

I also adore Evie. She's such a fun, happy character. Instead of letting everything get her down she mostly maintains a positive attitude and actually works to get things done, as opposed to sitting on her bum moping. One character I despise with an intense passion is Reth. For some reason I imagine him looking a lot like the Shamwow guy:

...I think that alone says enough about my feelings for Reth.

Moving on! The concept of IPCA (the International Paranormal Containment Agency) is original and actually kind of logical. (I mean, if paranormal creatures were real, I'm pretty sure the CIA or some other government group that likes initials would know about and try to contain them. Hence, IPCA would most definitely exist.) It was refreshing to read a novel about paranormal creatures in which they're not ZOMGTHEHOTTESTTHINGSTOGRACETHEEARTH. Even more refreshing to see a protagonist that doesn't let the few hot paranormals mess with her head.


Besides having some awesome characters (Lish is also fantastic), the plot flowed very well and had a nice mix of Evie-teenage-superhero and Evie-sixteen-year-old-girl. The fairies were terrifying and the fairie paths even more so. Imagine being stuck somewhere that doesn't even exist in our world with a creepy, vindictive creature. Yikes! No thank you. While the action was pretty awesome and Evie's reactions were hilarious, the world of Paranormalcy is not one I'd want to spend much time in.


Summing it up:


Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. August 31st people!


Giveaway:


Thanks to a mix-up with mailing, I have one BRAND SPANKIN' NEW, never been read ARC of Paranormalcy to give to one of you fantastic readers. (Thanks to Kim at Harper Teen for allowing me to give it away!)


Since this is my very first ARC giveaway, this is followers only. I'm sorry, but this is a big deal to me! This is also US only. Contest ends one week from today or Friday, August 20th.


Fill out the form below to be entered. Good luck!

"Kiss N' Tell"-Danger Radio,

Rules to Rock By and The Mark mini reviews!

So I'm sure you all know by now that I can't write a short review for crap, but I'm going to try because my to-be-reviewed pile is almost as long as my to-be-read pile. I'm trying to cut down so hopefully for the first and last time I'm doing two mini reviews at once. Both of these are easier to sum up in a few paragraphs than the other books at the top of my list:

Rules to Rock By by Josh Farrar:

Synopsis:

You'd never guess it now, but Annabelle Cabrera used to be a rock star. And not like her mom or dad called her a "total rock star" after she won a spelling bee or something. She was a real rock star, the bassist of Egg Mountain, the most popular band in the New York music scene. But when her parents uproot her from Brooklyn and move her to Rhode Island so they can record their own album, Annabelle feels lost. Starting a new band isn't as easy as she'd hoped, the school's rival band is a bunch of bullies, and her parents are so immersed in recording that they're completely neglecting Annabelle and her younger brother. How can Annabelle truly make herself heard?

Rules to Rock By is full of surprises...

While I didn't love [or even like] the MC in the beginning, throughout the story she consistently surprised me. The plot is nicely paced and has just enough action to keep this 'coming-of-age'* story interesting without being overwhelming. The minor characters are a little under-developed, but were enjoyable and distinct. I loved the crush Annabelle has on one of the other characters and think it added a little something to the ending. A little hope, I guess. Yes, that was corny, but ultimately true. I really enjoyed this story, it's fun and very cute. I'd recommend it for younger teens and middle grade fans.

The Mark by Jen Nadol:

Synopsis:

Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark—a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. But the one time she mentioned it, it was dismissed as a trick of the light. Until the day she watches a man awash in the mark die. After searching her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Armed with a vague understanding of the light, Cassie begins to explore her “gift,” seeking those marked for death and probing the line between decision and destiny. Though she’s careful to hide her secret—even from her new philosophy-obsessed boyfriend—with each impending death comes the temptation to test fate. But so many questions remain. How does the mark work? Why is she the only one who sees it? And finally, the most important of all: If you know today is someone’s last, should you tell them?

The Mark is one of those novels that really makes you think...

While some choices the MC, Cassie, makes are utterly idotic and I may not have loved her 100% of the time, I did enjoy experiencing her story. The Mark is thought-provoking and intense, while still maintaining a young in-the-moment feel that is sometimes missing in deeper YA novels. I loved the storyline, even if it sometimes seemed a bit random. Nadol's debut pulled me in and I can't wait to read the sequel, Vision. Hopefully Jack, in all his marvelous glory, will be very present. Seriously. Every scene is made better with even a small dose of Jack.** [Defo my favorite character my friends.]

I know these reviews were terrible [once again: I can't write short reviews. I ramble and rave and cannot summarize.] I'll definitely get back to my regular lengthy, essay-esque reviews that some of you seem to enjoy for some reason.

Anyway, have an awesome week guys!

*I only use the quotes because it's more of a getting-past-a-life-block story, than really coming of age. The MC is only twelve.
**Yeah, I know. Dose of Jack. Hardy har har. If that makes no sense to you...then ignore this.

"If I Only Had the Heart"-The Maine,

Holy Shizz, guys...

Hello lovely people, I'm here to ramble a bit for you and show some pretty pictures. If you're here for a review, I'll have at least one up this weekend, and many more next week! If you're here because you hope I'm giving something away, check back in a few weeks! If you're just bored and have nothing better to do, hello and welcome! I went to the best concert I've ever seen last night (which is the reason for my disconnect from the interwebs for the last couple days) and I wanted to tell you about these friggin' awesome individuals:

First opener; Austin Gibbs (AKA porno-stache Mcgee):

(He was surprisingly fantastic--check him out!)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Second opening act; This Century (AKA Joel, Alex, Sean, and Ryan):

(Le sigh--I love them. Check their music out as well! By the way, this song makes me melt. Every time.)

Headliner; The Maine (AKA John, Kennedy, Garrett, Jared, and Pat):

(They're amazing and put on one hell of a show. Check them out and fall in love. This video was from the concert I went to and I absolutely adore whoever took it.)

Also; Dirk Mai was there taking some pictures:

I had early entry which basically means you get to go into the venue a few minutes before everyone else. My friends and I were right up against the barricade and inevitably were smushed continuously, but it was completely worth it. If you ever get the chance to see any of these people live TAKE IT. The rest of the tour dates are here if anyone's interested. If not, well, that's cool too, lol. 

Sorry for this completely un-book-related post, but I listen to music constantly and these people are amazing to watch and listen to and deserve some more exposure. Hopefully they'll find a few new fans in you guys! Before I leave you to rest my aching back, one more video to convince you to check these musicians out:

(In the video Joel is imitating Jerry from the show Seinfeld for anyone who didn't know what was going on. I find it oddly hilarious.)


*Oh and my IMM post will be up tomorrow my friends. I just got back from another music festival and am thoroughly beat. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

"Money Honey"-This Century,

What I want in my mailbox... (8)

What I want in my mailbox is my version of Waiting on Wednesday hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine.

This week I want John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles in my mailbox.

Synopsis:

Set in a glamorous and seedy Los Angeles, Hollywood Ending is a story that will make your heart skip a beat. 

Pink-haired Hilda and endearing punk Benji, both seventeen, have an obsessive hobby—they haunt the places where Hollywood celebrities have died. 

In rundown Echo Park, once the hub of the movie business, they find the squalid apartment where a second-rate silent movie star stabbed himself to death with nail scissors. Its current tenant is Hank, an old man with a mysterious past. 

While Benji dives deeper into the cult of celebrity death, Hank and Hilda make an unlikely pair. Then Jake the screenwriter turns up. What’s his story? 

Kathy Charles has talent to burn and takes the reader into the heart of the movie world, and the shadows of our own personal histories. Hollywood Ending is a thriller, a comedy about the weirdness of growing up, and a wry love-letter to Los Angeles.

*Apparently when this book was first published last year it was titled Hollywood Ending. I personally dislike that title with a passion, so I'm ecstatic that it was changed. The new one just has that 'this book is epic' ring to it.

Besides having an awesome title, crazy cool cover*, and intriguing synopsis, this book has some of the fabbest reviews I've ever seen. I mean I  literally have never seen such outrageously good ratings on Goodreads. Not that I base what I read off Goodreads ratings, but the reviews behind the ratings were full of praise. Definitely excited to get my hands on this one.

This edition will be released on August 24th by Simon & Schuster.

*Yay for alliteration!

"Room 410"-Call the Cops,

Teaser Tuesday! (6)

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB over @ Should be Reading. Check out her blog to get the rules! There's no way I can just share two lines, so most of these will probably more like paragraphs.

This week's teaser is from Rules to Rock By by Josh Farrar!

Abuela had always been big on getting tears out of your system. She said you needed to cry to put out the fires in your life, and that when you stopped you could take a look at what had burned down, and what hadn't. So I just cried for a minute or two. Abuela was probably the only person in the world who I'd let see me like that. I knew it wouldn't change the way she looked at me, so it didn't matter. I just cried it out.

-pg. 72 ARC

I love this scene because it's truly the first time we see Annabelle open up. She's always mad or nostalgic about her past life as a rockstar. Her relationship with her grandmother is really the only connection that matters much to her anymore, the only thing she can't lose. Rules to Rock By is really just a fun leaning-towards-middle-grade novel so far, but this little peek at depth gives it an edge on the other novels with similar themes. I'm really liking it so far!

So, where's YOUR Teaser Tuesday? I want to see it! Leave a link in the comments and I will definitely stop by your blog.

"Rear View (Acoustic)"-Hello Hollywood,

Review (Sort of): Virgin Territory by James Lecesne

Let me just start off by saying I didn't finish this book. I made it to maybe page fifty before I could no longer take it. Here's the synopsis for those who're interested:

Virgin Territory explores the power of faith and our need to believe in miracles. Sixteen-year-old Dylan Flack is uprooted from his cozy life in New York City by the death of his mother of cancer the night before 9/ll. He finds himself transplanted to Jupiter, Florida, and in the chaos of the move discovers that his father has lost their treasured collection of family photos.  Dylan feels that he has begun to lose the memory of his mother's face,  and without access to those pictures of their past together, each day stretches darkly into a future without hope. Enter: the Virgin Club, a nomadic group of trailer kids whose mostly single parents drag them all over the country in search of sightings of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although not looking for membership in any club, Dylan falls in love with their leader, Angela, who believes that change occurs in direct proportion to desire and the willingness to take risks. In a series of misadventures and brushes with the law in what Dylan comes to think of as "virgin territory," she teaches Dylan to risk a future without his favorite parent.  Miraculously his newfound courage leads to a long overdue confession from his father that brings them closer together and catapults Dylan into a future that holds more promise.

I really don't know how to sum up this book, since I didn't experience much of it, but alas, I will attempt... It was boring. The MC, Dylan, was boring. The descriptions were boring. Just boring. I really think this has the potential of being a John Green-esque self discovery novel, but I couldn't connect with it enough to  find out.

Let's meet the MC:

Dylan: Rough home life, an asshat of a father, and a mother who's passed on. His thoughts in a sentence, 'My life sucks and so does everyone in it.' AKA, mopey to no end. I get that the dude has a rough home life, but he's portrayed as the kind of person who curses at the Sun for being bright. I really would've liked to stick around and see how he progressed, but I just couldn't stand the kid. Also, I really disliked the way the difference between the relationship Dylan had with his mother and the relationship he now has with his father was presented. When discussing his mother he uses, 'mom' which is normal, but always refers to his father as Doug. 'Doug said this, Doug did that, Doug sucks eggs.' It got to be a bit too much. But, hey, I'm not the author.

Summing it up:

I don't have anything else to say about this really, but that I do plan on returning to this someday. It just wasn't something I was into this week.

To make up for this downer of a review:

WARNING: Extreme awesome may blow mind.

"The Town"-Macklemore,

Oh Dear God, my handwriting...

The first time I did this, I decided to use a Sharpie pen (which was fine, I LOVE those pens) and write on both sides... Obviously my words were then transformed into a jumbled mess of 'no one is going to have any friggin' idea what that says'. So after my do-over this here is my final product (after the rules):

1. Name/Blog Name. 

2. Right handed, left handed or both? 

3. Favorite letters to write? 

4. Least favorite letters to write? 

5. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 

6. Write in caps: 

CRAB 

HUMOR 

KALEIDOSCOPE 

PAJAMAS 

GAZILLION 

7. Favorite song lyrics? 

8. Tag 7 people. 

9. Any special note or drawing? 

As you can see my artistic talents are plentiful. Right... This was fun! If you can't make out who was tagged you're all down here:

• Nomes @ Inkcrush
• Anne @Potter, Percy, and I
• Amna @ Girl in between
• Jessica @ A Fanatic's Book Blog
• Juju @ Tales of Whimsy
• Linna @ 21 Pages
• You, the robot child. Also, anyone who wants to do this.

Have fun!

"The Brightest Green"-Anarbor,

Review: Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen!

I didn't even realize I read two ghost stories in a row until I went to review them both. These are also the only fictional (dun dun DUN) ghost stories I've read. Go figure...

Overall Rating: 4.1 out of five

Characters: 3.5 out of five

Plot: 4.8 out of five

Cover Art: 4 out of five

Originality: 4.6 out of five

Concept: 5 out of five

To be released: September 1st

Favorite Line(s):

Nothing really stood out to me, but I do love when she kinda sort of tells off her parents. It made my teenage spirit proud.

Synopsis:

Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….

Past Midnight has convinced me that no house is ever entirely empty...

This also translates to, 'Holy crud, this book made me want to hire the Ghostbusters. From seeing white globs floating about, to words scratched on a nightstand, Charlotte's foray with the ghostly population is one I'd never want to experience outside the pages of a book.

Charlotte Silver is normal. Seriously she's just normal. Nothing really remarkable about her. Her parents are on the loony side, but all in all she's just a regular girl. That, my friends, is why this book scared the bejeesus out of me at times. 'She's NORMAL, why are GHOSTS following her?!' Came to mind while reading. Also: 'If it happened to HER it could happen to ME. GAH!' Purnhagen really knows how to spin a tale that puts you in the character's position. Charlotte has insecurities and dreams of a life out of her family's spotlight, something most of us can relate to. I felt for Charlotte and was rooting for her throughout the novel. It was great to really see her change and overcome some issues. That's where the character development stops: with Charlotte and maybe with Jared.

I really couldn't connect with anyone else or even become interested in what happened to them. 'Oh, Noah fell off a cliff. That's too bad.' I really wish the rest of the characters would've been at least a little memorable. The lack of personality with them really took from the story and the plot as well.

I really did love the storyline of Past Midnight. It was interesting and subtle at first but throughout the story the conflict grows and towards the end I couldn't stop reading. The suspense built up throughout the novel and was an enjoyable counterpart to the internal conflicts Charlotte's dealing with. The ending wasn't really my style, but it did give a good look into where Charlotte was and made me wonder about her future.

Summing it up:

I liked it! A good read for a rainy day or in between some more intense novels.

"The Mess I Made"-Parachute,