UK vs THE WORLD (68)

UK vs. The world is a weekly meme I made up lol.

It's simlair to UK vs. US except the UK covers are battling it out with their foreign counterparts from all over the world, because who doesn't love judging books by their covers!

UK                            vs               Germany

The testing by Joelle Charbonneau

The testing book one.

('Die auslese' translates to 'The readout.' - According to Google translate.)

Mist: While the girl on the German cover does look badass, I like the grainy, textured look to the UK cover and the symbol is cool, there are lots of covers with girls on and this one doesn't particularly stand out amognst many so I think I'd choose UK as my fourite, it has more of a unique feel to it and I'm curious about the background.

Ninfa: I'm really torn between these two. There are a lot of covers similar to the UK one (Divergent and The Hunger Games spring to mind), but although it isn't the most original, it is a very cool cover. I like the symbol, and the cityscape as a background, and I also like the tag line. The whole feel is very Dystopian and I also like the colour scheme where the red of the symbol and title really stand out.
The German cover is also very interesting, I like the armband with the symbol on the model and her ragged t-shirt gives you the feeling that she's been through a lot. Unfortunately it looks more like an Action/Urban Fantasy cover and doesn't quite capture the blurb as the UK cover does. I do like that it is different from other Dystopian covers out there, but perhaps I still find the UK cover more apt.
UK wins.

Which do you prefer?

Oh no! - Review

Oh no!

What's it about?

Oh No! is a delightful book about things that can go wrong, sometimes practical and sometimes just funny but guaranteed to make the children giggle!  

13 different spreads, 13 clear transparent pages. Can you guess what happens next? Flip the acetate page over to find out.

Mine and Oliver's review

Oh no! is a really fun book with some great illustrations, there aren't any words so it encouraged us to discuss what was happening in the picture and what has gone wrong when we flipped over the acetate sheet. We've previously had a couple of books in this series and he really enjoyed them and liked Oh no! just as much as did his sisters and friend! There are some funny pictures in this one, like a girl being flown in the air by balloons and a cat eating a bird, which made the children laugh and we flipped back to the start numerous times after reaching the end before they let me put it away, though it didn't last long as Oliver insisted on taking it to bed with him to look at by himself. Safe to say that Oh no! is a winner in our household.

Favourite illustration

I think our opinions might differ here but my youngest, Isabelle (2) seemed most taken with the dinosaur on the last page, which flips from when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth to being in a museum!

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Showcase Sunday (45)

'Showcase Sunday' is hosted by Vicky at Books, biscuits and tea.

13 - 19th May '13

Sorry for the lack of video again, I admit, I was just being lazy this week but I did get some books that I'm excited about and here's a nice photo.

First off, my lovely friend Donna (Book passion for life) gave me Acid by Emma Pass which I've heard is great and Dearly beloved by Lia Habel, I haven't read the first but I've had it since it came out so I really should!

The rest of the books, I received for review. Jeff Norton contacted me about the third book in his MetaWars series Battle of the immortal to see if I would like a copy as he knew I enjoyed the first two books when he sent me book two last year, I actually started it the day it arrived and am enjoying it so far and its signed! He also sent me Drummer girl by Bridget Tyler which I'm also really please with as I'd requested it from Templar the day before but they were out of proofs.

I did receive one of the books I asked for from Templar though, The testing by Joelle Charbonneau, another one I've heard is great things about. From HarperCollins I got Interworld and The silver dream by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reeves which sound really interesting. And lastly I also received a children's book for review this week but I forgot to include it in the photo because my son has claimed it, it's Oh no! from PatrickGeorge.

What did you get this week?

Fall of night - Review

Fall of night by Rachel Caine

Morganville vampires book fourteen

Available now

alisonandbusby.com 

What's it about?

Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane. 

Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires. 

But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make...

Other titles in the series
Glass houses - Book one
The dead girls' dance - Book two
Midnight alley - Book three
Feast of fools - Book four
Lord of misrule - Book five
Carpe corpus - Book six
Fade out - Book seven
Kiss of death - Book eight
Ghost town - Book nine
Bite club - Book ten
Last breath - Book eleven
Black dawn - Book twelve
Bitter blood -  Book thirteen
My review

(Spoiler alert - well it is book 14 so they're kind of unavoidable, but I've tried to be vague.)

Having read and loved every book in this series, I'm always excited by the latest release and read it as soon as it arrives and Fall of night was another great addition to the series. The story still hasn't gotten dull or tired and I'm actually really sad that the next book will be the last in this brilliant series. As you know, at the end of book thirteen Claire was planning to head out on her own, well that's where we pick up from, just as she's leaving. I must admit, I was kind of sad that this book wasn't actually set in Morganville itself and it made it hard to start because I wanted all the crazyness that Morganville is but we do see our leading characters return throughout the book and in the end they kind of bring Morganville to the city instead. It was still exciting and unique and there's some hint of what's going to happen next, though I can't possibly predict the outcome of the final book, I'm itching to read it and find out though.
With this book being set in Boston we also meet some new characters, the one who stood out for me most is Jesse because she's such a bad ass and who doesn't love one of those! She's full of mystery and I just want her to be my friend lol.
The story itself in Fall of night was also really intriguing and threw in some new curves in the lives of Claire and all her friends and not quite friends so if you enjoyed all the rest you'll certainly enjoy this one and rest easy that the series is still being kept fresh.


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Book trailer - Red moon

Hello everyone, today I just wanted to share with you the exciting book trailer for Red moon by Benjamin Percy. I recently got a copy myself which I'm excited to read!

They live amongst us. They are your neighbour, your mother, your lover. You think they are safe. They change.

Every teenage girl thinks she's different. When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realises just how different she is.

Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and, hours later, stepped off it, the only passenger left alive. A hero.

President Chase Williams has sworn to eradicate the menace. Unknown to the electorate, however, he is becoming the very thing he has vowed to destroy.

Each of them is caught up in a war that so far has been controlled with laws and

UK vs THE WORLD (67)

UK vs. The world is a weekly meme I made up lol.

It's simlair to UK vs. US except the UK covers are battling it out with their foreign counterparts from all over the world, because who doesn't love judging books by their covers!

UK                          vs                            US

Life after theft by Aprilynne Pike

Mist: I find it interesting that both covers are the same except one is at night and one in the day and of course the reflection in the glasses is different. I haven't read the book so I don't know how each reflects the story but think I'm personally more drawn to the US cover, it just has a warmer feel to it what with it being daytime and sunny and even the font has a warm feel, it all makes me think of summer. I like the UK cover too, particularly the tag line and the mystery man but I think US is the winner for me.

Ninfa: The US cover seems like a fun Summer read whilst the UK cover has a darker twist with the muted colours. Just by the cover and not having read the book or taken a look at the blurb, my decision is purely based on the cover this time, and it's a UK win. I really find the tagline intriguing, and the lonely figure on the beach with the crescent moon above rather enchanting.
The US cover is fun and bright but even though it is pretty much the same cover, it feels like any other Fiction read cover out there.
So UK wins.

Which do you prefer?

The elite - Review

The elite by Kiera Cass

The selection book two

Available now

harpercollins.co.uk 

What's it about?

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Iléa.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

Other titles in the series

The selection - Book one

The Prince - Book 0.5
My review

I enjoyed The elite every bit as much as The selection, its full of will they, won't they moments, lots of drama and topped with rebel attacks to keep the reader on there toes, or should I say the edge of their seat.
If you've read book one, you know that the main focus is really America trying to decide between Prince Maxon and Aspen, and though she's still in this dilemma, it doesn't get boring or tedious, different events keep happening to sway her decision and I was with her emotionally every step of the way, I understood her motives and feelings and knew why it was such a hard decision for her to make and to be honest I can't decide who I like best either, they both have good and bad qualities. So, as you can imagine, I'm really geared up for book three as I can't wait to see who she choses and find out the mystery behind the rebels and what will happen with them. Both books in this series have been exciting page turners, lets hope the same for the conclusion!

My thoughts on the cover
I really like this cover, it ties in well with the first since its the same theme and the dress is great and makes her look a mile tall.

Favourite quotes

'Darling? The word so tender and personal, enveloped me. In that moment, any desire I had to fight my feelings for Maxon disappeared. I wanted to be his dear, his darling. I wanted to be Maxon's alone.'

'For a while we sat in silence, and I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of Aspen's breathing. Not so long ago, I'd done the same thing with Maxon. But this was different. If I had to, I thought I could pick Aspen's breathing out out of a crowd. I knew him so well. And clearly, he knew me. This tiny bit of peace was everything I'd been aching for, and Aspen made it real.'

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Showcase Sunday (44)

'Showcase Sunday' is hosted by Vicky at Books, biscuits and tea.

29th April - 12th May

Hell everyone! This weeks showcase is actually a two week one, I was busy with my daughters birthday last week and she was poorly so it just slipped my mind but here are the books I've gotten in the last fortnight.

Won

The program by Suzanne Young - About a month ago or so I won a 'choose your own' giveaway so I choose to have this preordered for me and it arrived right around the release date, I've been wanting this baby since I heard about it about six months ago so I'm really pleased to have it and can't wait to give it a read.

Bought

Etiquette and espionage by Gail Carriger - I found this in The works (A cheap UK book store) for £2 so I grabbed it!

Gift

The world of Downton abbey by Jessica and Julian Fellowes - My boyfriend surprised me with this book and I'm looking forward to checking it out, I love the TV show!

For review

Loki's wolves by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr - Might be a bit young for me but I've enjoyed books from both authors and I love mythology so we'll see.

Goddess by Josephine Angelini - I still haven't read the first two! oops.

Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto - I actually already have a copy of this book when the publishers sent me the large pb version last year and now they've also sent me a smaller one lol So I'll pass this extra one onto someone else.

Rules of summer by Joanna Philbin - I haven't actually heard of this one but it sounds good :)

What did you get this week?

Zenn Scarlett - Review

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Zenn Scarlett book one.

Available now.

strangechemistrybooks.com 

What's it about?

Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she's feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can't deny what she's feeling.

Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year....

My review

Personally this one was a slow starter for me, while it was interesting there just wasn't enough action and excitement for me. I found a lot of the start to have too much information in parts and it kind of made the book drag for me because I wanted to get to the plot and mystery of it. I guess you could call it an origin book, where the setting is laid out and we meet the characters, then all the action comes in book two when the introductions are over, at least I hope that's how it is as I am planning to read book two, there was some good stuff in the second half of this book that I enjoyed with a brilliant ending.

So really, this book was up and down for me, I didn't love it to start but I enjoyed it by the end and plan to read more, so that's definitely positive and I certainly wouldn't turn other people from it.

Zenn wasn't my favourite character, to be honest she kind of annoyed me at times with her 'rule' not to get close to people when I didn't feel like there was enough in her past to cause a foundation for this rule, she hasn't been left and hurt numerous times to be so jaded at such a young age, at least that's my personal opinion, she hasn't had it easy either but I think people go through a lot more before swearing off making any kind of friendship ever.

Liam was a good character, I guessed some stuff about him pretty early on but he was a good guy and I liked him and I really enjoyed Hamish, its always fun to 'see' an alien learning about human objects, sayings and mannerisms, things we don't think twice about can seem so strange to an outsider and that's always fun to think of.

So, I am looking forward to book two, especially after that cliffhanger and only half a mystery solved!

My thoughts on the cover

I love this cover, I'm such a Space geek so I love that the majority of the image is of Space with Zenn loking out to the sky, and the colours are awesome.

No favourite quotes as I read an ARC that cannot be quoted from.

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Blog tour: Zenn Scarlett - Guest post

How I became a Bookaholic

By Christian Schoon

Like many authors, I started seeing books as friends, of a sort, from early childhood. The living room of our house was lined with bookshelves, my mother was an English teacher, my sister and brothers all loved to read (OK, maybe one brother would rather be out in the garage tuning up his Firebird). So, even in grade school, I almost never went to bed without a book to prop up on my knees. I got so used to that pattern that I’d still never consider ending the day without something to read in bed.

Among the earliest books were genre classics like Rusty’s Space Ship, The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek, Burrogh’s Barsoom series, other SF Golden Age classics, augmented by a never-ending stream of “true life” animal adventures from authors like Seton (Wild Animals I Have Known) and others who wrote about the nitty-gritty, many-times violent but always realistic lives of animals in their natural habitats, as opposed to the often (but not always) anthropomorphized Disney animated and live-action critter flicks.

I think my true addiction to books really took hold in junior high. By then I was a full-fledged genre-holic, consuming SF and fantasy by the stack. My favorite reading spot was a few miles outside of my small Minnesota home town. I’d pack a book and a lunch and ride my bike out there. It was an old, abandoned quarry. The rock was Sioux Quartzite. The main area was a huge amphitheater with pink rock walls in a horseshoe shape, the cliffs being about 200 feet high. The stone was so hard it eventually became too expensive to continue to cut it, and the place was abandoned. Which suited me fine. The sun would warm the glacier-polished rock up on top of the amphitheater and I’d read all afternoon with jackrabbits, killdeer and the wind through the prairie grass for company. I had the usual circle of friends through high school, but because of the way that I grew up, surrounded by books and encouraged to love them and the places they could take me, I was always more than happy to spend afternoons like this.

And, not surprisingly, when I moved away from LA and my scriptwriting contacts there, I turned to novel writing as a logical career move. Zenn Scarlett is, perhaps, my own debut, novice effort at creating a character and a world and a story that someone else might befriend, the way I’d befriended so many books growing up.

Zenn Scarlett

When you're studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school... is a different kind of animal. 

Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she's feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can't deny what she's feeling.

Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year....

About the author
Born in the American Midwest, Christian started his writing career in earnest as an in-house writer at the Walt Disney Company in Burbank, California. He then became a freelance writer working for various film, home video and animation studios in Los Angeles. After moving from LA to a farmstead in Iowa several years ago, he continues to freelance and also now helps re-hab wildlife and foster abused/neglected horses.  He acquired his amateur-vet knowledge, and much of his inspiration for the Zenn Scarlett series of novels, as he learned about - and received an education from - these remarkable animals.

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