Waiting on Wednesday (26)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine that gives bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming releases. This week, I decided to choose Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols. The cover is....pretty but I really don't know what's going on with this girl's hair. If you look closely, it seems as if there is a giant pile of fake hair sitting on her head! But anyway, I'm excited to read this book because I'm desperate need of a nice, non-paranormal, romance. I'm also a sucker for a good love triangle!

(Goodreads) Summary: 

High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.

But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business--until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers--and the consequences could be deadly.
 
Such a Rush will be released July 10th, 2012! What are you waiting on this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

Review: Mercy

Title: Mercy

Author: Rebecca Lim

Publisher: Hyperion

Publication Date: May 17th, 2011

Source: Bought

My Rating: 3.5/5

(Goodreads) Summary:

An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, MERCY is the first book in a major new paranormal series.
There's something very wrong with me. I can't remember who I am or how old I am, or even how I got here. All I know is that when I wake up, I could be any one. It is always this way. There's nothing I can keep with me that will stay. It's made me adaptable. I must always re-establish ties. I must tread carefully or give myself away. I must survive.
Mercy doesn't realise it yet, but as she journeys into the darkest places of the human soul, she discovers that she is one of the celestial host exiled with fallen angel, Lucifer. Now she must atone for taking his side. To find her own way back to heaven, Mercy must help a series of humans in crisis and keep the unwary from getting caught up in the games that angels play. Ultimately she must choose between her immortal companion, Lucifer, and a human boy who risks everything for her love.
 
My Thoughts:
 
Let me start out by saying that the summary is very misleading in my opinion. After reading it, I assumed this was going to be another good "angel book", but that was not the case. The plot actually focuses more on an ordinary, totally human, missing person mystery.
 
Mercy is....well I'm still not completely sure what she is, but she uncontrollably inhabits random peoples' bodies and has to live their lifes for a while and she's not sure why. I find the concept interesting and I only wish there was more about Mercy's life and less about the one girl she is occuping throughout the book. The girl's name is Carmen and she's an ordinary human. With Mercy in control of her body, they help solve a local mystery about a mising girl which is suspenseful, but again, I wish there was more of the supernatural element.
 
The characters for the most part, were lacking. Aside from Mercy and Ryan (her human lover), the character's personalities were not fully developed. It's like the book was all about Mercy and Ryan and maybe two or three descriptive words about 20 other characters. That may have been intentional since Mercy didn't stay in Carmen's body long enough to get to know people, but I still felt like stronger personalities would have added to the book.
 
That being said, I did really enjoy both Mercy and Ryan as they were both strong characters. Their romance did not takeover the entire book and was not at all forced. Usually the heroine lays eyes on someone unnaturally attractive and thinks "We are meant to be together, I can feel it" and then they are in love within a few days. But I don't think Ryan or Mercy ever told one another they loved eachother (thank goodness because they did not know eachother for long) and their relationship seemed rational and realistic.
 
Basically, Lim's writing was very smooth and the mystery did keep me guessing until the end, I just wish the book revealed more about Mercy as an angel...or whatever she is. The ending was the one thing I really enjoyed. It was sort of expected but unexpected at the same time because most authors don't choose to give their books a "sad ending" like Lim, but I thought it was perfect and I can see myself picking up the second book, Exile, sometime soon.

Waiting on Wednesday (25)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine that gives bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming releases. This week, I decided to choose Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock. Yes, I did originally pick this book to spotlight because of it's gorgeous cover, but the summary sounds great too!

(Goodreads) Summary:

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.
 
Hemlock is set to be released on May 8th, 2012 so mark your calendars! What are you waiting on this week? Leave a comment!

Waiting on Wednesday (24)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine that gives bloggers a chance to spotlight upcoming releases. Whoa I haven't done one of these in a while! Sorry guys I've been really busy! Anyway, this week I am waiting on Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It has a gorgeous cover and interesting summary. What more could I ask for?!

(Goodreads) Summary:

Dying sucks--and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.

What are you waiting on? Leave a comment :)

Interview with Cesya Cuono

Today I am glad to welcome Cesya Cuono, other of Elemental Reality, to my blog! She was nice enough to answer a few questions for us...


What can you tell readers about your book "Elemental Reality"?


I’m not sure what else I can divulge without giving the whole story away . . . Um, there’s a sexy Aussie in it lol. Some great fight/training scenes. Awesome battle. Did I mention a sexy Aussie?

What inspired you to write about a girl who can connect with the elements?

When X-men first came out, I wanted to be one. I thought it would be wicked cool to have an awesome power like that. Pyro was my favorite and I thought it would be awesome if I had electricity power. That was the start. Fast forward to October 2010. Since my imagination doesn’t know how to sit still it played out a scene in my head of this girl with crazy powers battling some kind of nasty looking creature. That was the start of my story. I jotted that scene down and branched the rest of my novel from that.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of "Elemental Reality"? Was it a challenging process?

I finished the first draft in one month. Crazy? Yeah. Then deleted a good portion of it because I didn’t like it. The official draft wasn’t completed until this past July. I probably would have been able to finish sooner but with the death of my grandmother in May it put a hold on my writing. It was challenging because I didn’t have an outline to guide me through my chapters. I would basically just write from the top of my head.

What is your favorite genre to write? What is your favorite genre to read?

Young adult fantasy for writing and Young Adult for reading is my favorite but I’d read anything mostly.

What sort of activities do you enjoy when you are not reading or writing?

You mean besides my (insert sarcasm) awesome full time job that helps pay the bills until I become a rich and famous author? I’m a makeup artist. I enjoy sketching out potential makeup designs on face charts. It gives my brain a chance to have fun without thinking too much lol.

Where can readers find more information on you and your books?

Blog: www.cesyacuonobooks.blogspot.com


Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/cesya_marae


Facebook: www.facebook.com/cesyamaraecuono

*Quick Answers*

Favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookies n’ Cream.

eBook or hard copy? Hard copy.

Favorite season? Fall.

Cake or pie? Cake only because I’m better at making cake rather than pie.

Favorite book? This is actually a hard question. My favorite book as as of right now would have to be Paranormalcy. I so didn’t want to put it down when I started reading it.
 
Thanks for taking the time to do the interview Cesya! I will be posting my review for Elemental Reality soon :)