Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 78
November 19, 2012
ARC Review: “Elemental” by Antony John
Elemental by Antony John
A lost colony is reborn in this heart-pounding fantasy adventure set in the near future . . .
Sixteen-year-old Thomas has always been an outsider. The first child born without the power of an Element—earth, water, wind or fire—he has little to offer his tiny, remote Outer Banks colony. Or so the Guardians would have him believe.
In the wake of an unforeseen storm, desperate pirates kidnap the Guardians, intent on claiming the island as their own. Caught between the plague-ridden mainland and the advancing pirates, Thomas and his friends fight for survival in the battered remains of a mysterious abandoned settlement. But the secrets they unearth will turn Thomas’ world upside-down, and bring to light not only a treacherous past but also a future more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.
4 stars
Thank you to Dial books and NetGalley for this eARC! Elemental will be released November 21, 2012.
Goodreads doesn’t have a series tag for this book. This is possibly the worst thing ever. I CAN’T BE LEFT WITH THAT ENDING!
Er. But let me back up.
Basically, the beginning of the book goes like this: Meet Thomas. He lives on a tiny island. No one on the island really likes him. Except for these two girls that fight over him. But actually he’s pretty useless. BUT NEVERMIND THAT, PIRATES!
Actually, it took me a little while to get into this world. The world of the Elementals seems self explanatory, but that is in fact not the case. Right in the first chapter, almost every person on Thomas’s little island is introduced, and after that’s basically up to you to remember who everyone is. I’m never a fan of large casts–especially because few of them actually play a large part in the novel.
John actually tries to get away with not explaining a lot of things, under the guise of “secrets” and things that have been hidden from the children of the island. In some cases this can’t be avoided, since the novel is told in the first person, but other times it just got really annoying. So that is my one mention of this dystopian’s world building.
This beginning didn’t last overly long, but it did not imbue me with confidence about the rest of the book. However, once John got the pesky adults out of the way, something happened.
The book TOOK OFF.
I can barely say anything about much of it because there are SO MANY SECRETS in this book, but most of them made me so happy. What I originally thought was a simple plot line extended deeper and deeper with every page. No, a lot of this wasn’t fully explained, but it was all there and it was pretty cool. The action also speeds up towards the end, which was really nice. I have so many other things to say, but alas they would be spoilers. So I guess I’ll just have to go with…
The ending! As you probably noted, it’s a cliffhanger of sorts. Or, at least I hope it is because I WANT MORE. But anyways. Actually, the ending is where things kind of collapsed for me again, though not nearly as drastically as the beginning. John left far too many things without explanation, leaving me feeling like several events were ridiculously implausible. Still, because the book was rolling, I forgave him for the most part. The ending opens up even more cans of worms then it makes sense of many things, so CLEARLY that means there’s another book coming, RIGHT?
There better be.
November 17, 2012
Stacking the Shelves #11
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews!
Alright, so this one is a little crazy. It’s all eARCs, and it’s way more then I should have requested. Oh well!
FROM NETGALLEY
Renegade by Amy Carol Reeves ~ Renegade by J.A. Souders
Moonset by Scott Tracey ~ Also Known As by Robin Benway
Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs ~ Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas
Elemental by Antony John ~ The Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher
FROM EDELWEISS
November 16, 2012
ARC Review: “Secrets” by Tim Mettey
Secrets (The Hero Chronicles Book #1) by Tim Mettey
The Midwest lies in complete ruins after a catastrophic disaster kills tens of thousands and leaves hundreds of thousands injured. Nicholas Keller emerges out of the devastation as a shining light of hope for all. But his newfound fame comes with a price that his aunt will not let him pay. They flee into the shadows in order to protect his secret. However, as Nicholas begins his sophomore year at his fifth school in five years, strange and unexpected things begin to happen. He soon tumbles into a web of doomed love, extraordinary talents and a secret past, which threatens the lives of everyone he cares about. It’s up to Nicholas to confront the truth, even if it means his own death.
2 stars
Thank you to the Kenwood Publishing Group for this ARC! This title is already in stores.
Nothing frustrates me more then a book that doesn’t live up to its potential. When I read the blurb for this book, I expected a novel full of excitement. I actually liked how vague it was, because then I didn’t really know what to expect.
The problem is this book is not like the blurb at all. Well, except for the vague part.
The entire premise of this book is that Nicholas has to move every year to avoid…something. The blurb attempts to explain it and there are hints thrown in throughout the book, but honestly I wasn’t sure what was so important that he and his aunt had to uproot their lives every year and live in fear all the time. It never made sense to me, because it was never explained. Well, okay, it is explained, literally in the last seven chapters of the book (there are 32 chapters). Because I never got this explained to me, I never believed the premise of the book once, which snapped my suspension of disbelief almost immediately.
There is also the issue of what actually happens for a bulk of the book. Granted, I was expecting high school drama, but…that’s literally all I got. There was football and a bully and an ardent love that was way overdescribed for fifteen year olds. This was 90% of the book, honestly. We are forever hinted at these “extraordinary talents” that Nicholas is supposed to have, but they are only hints. The description of why he has them–and probably the most awesome thing in the book–doesn’t come until several chapters AFTER it is explained to us why Nicholas is always moving. By that time, the talents weren’t extraordinary anymore as much as something that just happened if he couldn’t eat his Tic Tacs.
In all honesty, I’m not sure I would have finished this book if I hadn’t promised a review for today. From the beginning, the writing was clunky and the dialogue very stiff. You all know how annoyed I get about high school drama and cliches being the forefront of a book, and this was no different.
The problem–and why I stick my review to 2 stars–is that this book has so much potential. The ideas that are here, though I can’t give them away because they’re so close to the end, are really awesome. If Nicholas’s past had been explained a heck of a lot farther towards the beginning, this rating could be whole stars different. Unfortunetly, I felt for the most part like I was being strung along for explanation that was a long time in coming and then never fully explored.
To be honest, I think that the second book in this series will be a lot better than the first. Why? Because now Mettey has gotten all his exposition out of the way. I was told at a writing conference a while back that something I wrote ended where the real story began, and that’s what I feel like happened with this book. You could probably pick up book 2 and read it without being any worse for wear. But I guess we’ll have to see.
November 14, 2012
Blog Tour: “Black City” by Elizabeth Richards – Character Highlight + Giveaway!
Welcome to My Life is a Notebook’s stop on the Black City Blog Tour, hosted by Good Choice Reading Promotions. Make sure you check out all the other stops HERE. Allow me to fangirl a little and say ohmygod I can’t believe I’m a part of this. I’m SO EXCITED to be sharing this with you guys because there is so much good stuff already out with this tour, and there is so much good stuff yet to come! Just WAIT until you see the giveaway! But first, just in case you don’t already know what Black City is, let me tell you…
Black City (Black City #1) by Elizabeth Richards
A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.
In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.
When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.
Alright, now you know why I’m so excited? Well, now you also get a chance to meet a character NOT mentioned in the blurb, but you’re going to want to remember his name…
MEET PURIAN ROSE!
Name: Purian Hector Rose
Age: 48
Favorite color: Red
Favorite food: Apples
Likes:
Power
Order
Emissary Buchanan
‘Purity’
People fearing him
People worshipping him.
Dislikes:
Darklings (especially Ash and Sigur Marwick)
Humans for Unity
Race-traitors
Blasphemers
General Jonathan Buchanan.
Quote:
“No, Mr. Fisher, I intend to break you down, piece by piece, until you’re begging me to kill you.”
Who would play them in a movie: Henry Czerny
AND FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
GoodChoiceReading has decided to do a giveaway that will remain open until the end of the tour. Everyone can copy and paste the Rafflecopter to add to their post. We are offering TWO FINISHED copies of Black City and TWO pre-orders of PHOENIX. So there will be two winners. Those who keep up with the tour and comment as they go (once a day) can enter. Click HERE to enter now!
Waiting on Wednesday #33
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!
Title: Pulse
Author: Patrick Carman
ETA: February 26, 2013
Summary from Goodreads: From New York Times bestselling author Patrick Carman, a teen fantasy-adventure of epic proportions. In 2051, some teens have a “pulse,” the power to move objects with their minds. Compulsively readable, with thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.
The year is 2051, and the world is still recognizable. With the help of her mysterious classmate Dylan Gilmore, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a “pulse,” and Dylan has the talent, too.
In riveting action scenes, Faith demonstrates her ability to use her pulse against a group of telekinesis masters so powerful they will flatten their enemies by uprooting street lights, moving boulders, and changing the course of a hurtling hammer so that it becomes a deadly weapon. But even with great talent, the mind—and the heart—can be difficult to control. If Faith wants to join forces with Dylan and save the world, she’ll have to harness the power of both.
Patrick Carman’s Pulse trilogy is a stunning, action-filled triumph about the power of the mind—and the power of love.
What are you waiting on?
November 12, 2012
Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop!
ANOTHER GIVEAWAY HOP! This one is hosted just by the fabulous I’m a Reader, Not a Writer, and helps us souls clear off our bookshelves so you guys can get some goodies and we can have more room! It’s a WIN-WIN. There are over 120 blogs signed up for this one, and you can check them all out HERE!
NOW! For MY giveaway!
I’m calling this one my “blast from the past” edition of the Clear Your Shelf giveaway hop. I’m giving away EITHER 3 paperbacks of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy OR a 3-in-1 version of Jeanne DuPrau’s Book of Ember series! This means either
The Golden Compass ~ The Subtle Knife ~ The Amber Spyglass
~OR~
The City of Ember ~ The People of Sparks ~ The Prophet of Yonwood
Interested? Please note that this giveaway is US only and open til 11:59 PM on November 18th. Click HERE to enter!
November 9, 2012
Blog Tour: “Second Chance” by Katie Kacvinsky – Excerpt + Giveaway
Welcome to the Second Chance Blog Tour!
If you’ve never heard of Second Chance before, allow me to bring you up to speed. Second Chance is a second book in a series, which comes right after…
Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what’s next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract.
What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other.
But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they’re going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you’re sorry.
And the next book, Second Chance, looks a little like this…
Can two drastically different, imperfect people be perfect for each other?
It’s been four months since Gray and Dylan have seen each other. Dylan’s been traveling in Europe, while Gray has college, baseball, and a life rooted in one place. Gray’s determined to forget Dylan, the girl he fell in love with in First Comes Love. Besides, how do you make a relationship work with an independent loner?
Just when he decides he’s over her, Dylan makes an unexpected entrance back into his life, hoping their steamy romance can start right where it left off. Gray realizes you can tell your mind to do one thing, but you can’t always convince your heart to follow. Dylan realizes she finally has to make a choice between freedom and her relationship with Gray.
Hilarious, intense, inspiring, and emotional, Second Chance shows that love is a journey, and there are never clear road signs or maps to guide you along. You can only navigate with your heart.
So now you’re hooked, right? You know you are. So let me help you out by giving you an excerpt from Second Chance!
DYLAN
I stretch out on the leather train seat and sip the thick, rich coffee Europe’s famous for. I open my journal to a blank, white page. The paper looks like a canvas spread out, waiting for me to create a painting with words. Lately I’ve been thinking about love because it charges me and surrounds me and I crave it, follow it, live for it. Love is the only drug that’s healthy to overdose on.
Which brings me to my random thought for the day:
I think falling in love should come with a warning label: CAUTION—side effects may include sporadic singing in public (specifically Celine Dion covers), emotional intoxication, constant fool grinning, stomach flipping, eye twinkling, heart palpitations, sweaty hands, jittery feet, lack of sleep, giddiness, deep sighs of contentment, sexual fantasizing, uncontrollable bouts of happiness, and the need to help everyone else around you fall in love so they can experience this blissful state. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery under the influence of love, due to lightheadedness and daydreaming.
I close my journal and take a bite of a chocolate bar that’s cold from sitting next to the drafty train window. Chocolate has become my new best friend. It’s sweeter and creamier than chocolate in the U.S. Each bite is like dressing your mouth in sugary velvet. It’s almost as good as kiss. Maybe that’s why I crave it—it’s a dietary supplement for when I’m away from Gray.
I peer out the window into a dark landscape dusted with lights in the distance, the city of Prague hovering in front of my fingers. I press my hand against the cold glass and try to connect the dots of the city skyline. Traveling gives me this natural high, like all my senses are heightened down to the end of my fingertips. I crave it like food, as if it’s what propels me forward, what nourishes my body. Traveling is like leaving one world that’s black and white and walking into another one drenched in color because everything is so new it becomes enchanting.
The train starts to slow down as it approaches Prague’s station, and my feet tap anxiously on the ground. I can’t sit still. Maybe it’s the air—cold and dense and rich with mystery and texture. Maybe it’s the sense of this new city I’m about to meet, like a stranger I want to get to know. Maybe it’s the third cup of coffee I’ve had in the last hour.
It’s amazing to think where adventure can lead when you trust your crazy ideas, when you’re bold enough to look at only what lies ahead of you. I don’t want the normal life. I don’t want to go to college because it’s the next practical step, just to join the pack, just to follow a leader. I don’t want to sit inside a room under fluorescent lights and study and read and memorize other people’s ideas about the world. I want to form my own ideas. I want to experience the world with my own eyes.
I’m not going to follow my old friends to avoid the effort of making new ones. I don’t want to settle for any job just to get a paycheck, just to pay rent, just to need furniture and cable and more bills and be tied down with routine and monotony. I don’t want to own things because they’ll eventually start to own me.
Most importantly, I don’t want to be told who I am or who I should be. I want to find myself—the bits and pieces that are scattered in places and in people waiting to meet me. If I fall down, I’ll learn how to pick myself up again. You need to fall apart once in a while before you understand how you best fit together.
Few people understand what to make of me.
Except for one.
The more people I meet, the more I’m realizing how rare it is to find someone who lets you be yourself. Who never tries to hold you back, but watches you ride out the wave of intensity and see where it takes you. Gray never held me back. He was like a drug. He lit me up like a catalyst, and I can’t go a day without thinking about him. Half of my journal entries are addressed to him. I take most of my pictures just so I can show him the places I’ve been. I’ve never missed anyone before. I try not to dwell on past memories; instead I focus on making new ones. But now I realize that distance is like a test. If you miss someone, it means you love him. It’s that simple.
I can’t wait to see him again and tell him our story is just beginning.
Growing.
Destined for happily ever after.
I lean my forehead against the cool train window and watch the city lights blink
past me in the dark sky. My shoulders rock forward as the train grinds and brakes to a stop.
I stretch my sore legs and roll my luggage into a filthy train station, but I’m filthy too, so I can’t complain. I grin at the atmosphere around me, the clattering sounds of languages I can’t understand, the bustle of passengers, people moving along with me like we’re all just cells, pushing our way together through a giant artery. I love meeting a city for the first time at night and seeing it dressed up with lights. It gives me time to imagine the rest of it before it greets me in daylight.
I head towards the street entrance, hail a cab, and find myself on a cobblestone street in front of the Czech Inn Hostel. Even though we meet for the first time and I’m thousands of miles from anyone I know, I feel like I’m home.
Want more information on Katie and her books? I’ve got some links for you!
Katie on Goodreads | Katie’s Website | Katie on Twitter @KatieKacvinsky| Katie on Facebook
But the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
GIVEAWAY TIME!
This giveaway is for a SIGNED hardcover copy of FIRST COMES LOVE. Interested? Then just follow THIS LINK!
November 7, 2012
Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop
Are you thankful for books? Because I know I am. You’ll probably be more thankful for this giveaway hop, hosted by I’m a Reader, Not a Writer and Tristi Pinkston! There are almost 200 blogs signed up for this event, so you know it’s going to be a good one! If you want to check out all those other hops, click HERE.
So, I know Halloween is past, but there’s always room for more vampires, right? I certainly think so!
That’s why I’m giving away the first 8 books of the House of Night series by PC and Kristin Cast. Yeah, you heard right. Eight. That means you get…
Marked – Betrayed - Chosen - Untamed - Hunted - Tempted - Burned - Awakened
Sound like a good deal? Just remember that this giveaway is only open til 11:59 on November 13th and is US only. Now enter HERE!
Waiting on Wednesday #32
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine
T
itle: The Ward
Author: Jordana Frankel
ETA: April 30th, 2013
Summary from Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Ren is a daredevil mobile racer who will risk everything to survive in the Ward, what remains of a water-logged Manhattan. To save her sister, who is suffering from a deadly illness thought to be caused by years of pollution, Ren accepts a secret mission from the government: to search for a freshwater source in the Ward, with the hope of it leading to a cure.
However, she never expects that her search will lead to dangerous encounters with a passionate young scientist; a web of deceit and lies; and an earth-shattering mystery that’s lurking deep beneath the water’s rippling surface.
Jordana Frankel’s ambitious debut novel and the first in a two-book series, The Ward is arresting, cinematic, and thrilling—perfect for fans of Scott Westerfeld or Ann Aguirre.
What are you waiting on?
November 6, 2012
Top Ten Books on my Have-But-Need-To-Read List
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish!
You may or may not know that I have an ridiculously out of control list of books that I own but have yet to read. Currently, my list has 51 books on it. I know, it’s insane. The problem becomes that I’ve gotten so backed up in review that I haven’t been able to read for fun for a really long time. I’m so excited that, at the end of this month, I finally get to read these books I’ve been buying since like June. And so here are the 10 books that’ll probably be fighting for that top spot!
1. The Crown of Ember by Rae Carson
Okay, I’m waytoo excited for this one. My review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns was probably before most of you started following this blog, but I DIED with happiness, and I’ve mentioned it on an bunch of lists after that. Mostly in how YA books DON’T NEED love triangles.
2. Starling by Lesley Livingston
I have been dying to read this book since I first heard about it way before it came out. I think I used it for my WoW all the way back in June. That’s SIX MONTHS of waiting. I really hope it’s good!
3. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
This is actually on loan from a friend and I’ve had it FOREVER. I really need to get this back to her. But after reading The Immortal Rules, I fell in love with Julie and HAD to get my hands on this as fast as possible!
4. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
I’ve heard mixed things about this one, but after the blog eruption that happened when the last book came out, I knew I just HAD to check this one out just to know what people were talking about!
5. Gilt by Katherine Longshore
I died to get my hands on this one, because few things are better than YA Tudor his-fic for me. I don’t know how I feel about this being a Kitty story since I’m usually an Anne Boleyn girl, but I’m excited for a new take on something I haven’t read into the ground!
I bought this one a little while ago because it was on sale, and also because people whose opinions I really trust DIED over this book because they thought it was so amazing. Clearly, I had to give it a try.
7. Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout
The blogosphere freaking exploded over this book, so I knew there was no way I could survive as one of you without reading it at some point. I just haven’t gotten there yet…
8. Team Human by Sarah Rees Brennen and Justine Larbalestier
I have a copy SIGNED BY SARAH. I know this book is going to be fantastically awesome. Now I just need time to actually read it…
9. Carnival of Souls by Marissa Marr
This idea sounds SO COOL. The cover is FLIPPING FANTASTIC. I cannot wait to read this and hopefully it’ll meet all my hopes! It’s literally burning a hole in my bookshelf! 
MY COPY IS SIGNED BY HOLLY. How I haven’t read it yet is a mystery, if only because while I read I can flip back to the pretty signature.
