June 2013 Releases

Done with May 2013 Releases? Here are June 2013 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

3 New Covers (Frankel, Hudson, Lunetta)

5th June 2012 Releases

Happy Release Day to…

June 2012 Releases

Done with May 2012 Releases? Here are June 2012 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

[REVIEW] Arise – Tara Hudson

Tara Hudson
Arise (Hereafter, Book 2)
HarperCollins (CA: 23rd May 2012; US: 5th June 2012; UK: 5th July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Joshua Mayhew is alive, and a Seer. Amelia Ashley is a ghost. They totally want to do each other, but Amelia can’t control her vanishing, though she still accompanies the Mayhews to their family Christmas holiday in New Orleans. Can voodoo help Amelia stay solid? And at what cost?

For characters motivated by the possibility of sex, this story is actually quite chaste, which is nice. But Arise‘s best aspect is the female friendship between Amelia and Gaby.

New Orleans is a setting overdone to death, particularly the French Quarter, and Arise doesn’t add anything new. This short little novel is fine to read, but doesn’t really leave a mark.

Common First Names of YA Authors

Rachel Vincent mentioned on her blog how numerous some first names of YA authors are. Sometimes they’re spelled differently, but I’ve made a little list. Most popular: Amanda, Amy, Jennifer, Jessica, Kate, Megan, Rachel, and Sara.

AMANDA – Amanda Grace, Amanda Marrone, Amanda Sun
AMY – Amy Garvey, Amy Christine Parker, Amy Kathleen Ryan
CARRIE – Carrie Jones, Carrie Ryan
HEATHER – Heather Brewer, Heather Davis
JENNIFER – Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Jennifer Bosworth, Jennifer Rush
JESSICA – Jessica Brody, Jessica Spotswood, Jessica Verday
JUSTINE – Justine Larbalestier, Justine Musk
KAREN – Karen Kincy, Karen Mahoney
KAT – Kat Falls, Kat Zhang
KATE – Kate Ellison, Kate Gordon, Kate Karyus Quinn
KELLY – Kelley Armstrong, Kelly Keaton
LAURA – Laura Bickle, Laura Riken
MEGAN – Megan Crewe, Megan McCafferty, Megan Shepherd
MELISSA – Melissa Landers, Melissa Marr
RACHEL – Rachel Caine, Rachel Cohn, Rachel Vincent
SARA – Sarah Crossan, Sara Wilson Etienne, Sara Grant
SOPHIE – Sophie Littlefield, Sophie McKenzie
TARA – Tara Hudson, Tara Moss
VERONICA – Veronica Rossi, Veronica Roth

9 New Covers (Barnes, Blaine, Clark, Hudson, McCafferty, Peterfreund, Richardson, Williams, Winnacker)

January Through June 2011 Reads – Star Ratings

Books I read in January through June this year. Separated into star ratings, then listed by order in which I read them. All up at GoodReads. Some reviews here on my WordPress. Does not include books that I didn’t finish, because I’ve deleted them from my catalogue, and likely my memory.

Let me know if you decide to read or not to read them, based on my ratings. Because yes, I am that egocentric

5 STARS: Rage (Jackie Morse Kessler), American Vampire (Jennifer Armintrout), Project 17 (Laurie Faria Stolarz), The Gathering (Kelley Armstrong), The Repossession Mambo/Repo Men (Eric Garcia), Moongazer (Marianne Mancusi), Wither (Lauren DeStefano), Girl Hero (Carrie Jones)

4 STARS: Outside In (Maria V. Snyder), Stocking Full of Coal (Amanda Feral), The Walled Garden (Michele Lang), The Shadow Runners (Liz Maverick), The Vespertine (Saundra Mitchell), Linger (Maggie Stiefvater), Dark Life (Kat Falls), Demonized (Naomi Clark), The Reckoning (Kelley Armstrong), Midnight Alley (Rachel Caine), Feast of Fools (Rachel Caine), Lord of Misrule (Rachel Caine), Carpe Corpus (Rachel Caine), Fade Out (Rachel Caine), Coming Home (P. D. Martin), Kiss of Death (Rachel Caine), XVI (Julia Karr), Ghost Town (Rachel Caine), The Girl in the Steel Corset (Kady Cross), Matched (Ally Condie), Uninvited (Amanda Marrone), The Bradbury Report (Steven Polansky), Uninvited (Justine Musk), Exile (Rebecca Lim), Helper12 (Jack Blaine), Darkness Becomes Her (Kelly Keaton)

3 STARS: Jealousy (Lili St. Crow), Among the Betrayed (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Among the Barons (Margaret Peterson Haddix), Becoming (Kelley Armstrong), Shadow Days (Andrea Cremer), Day of Fire (Kathleen Nance), Dreaming Anastasia (Joy Preble), Things Bogans Like, Beyond Heaving Bosoms (Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan), Fugitives (Alexander Gordon Smith), The Power of Two (Patti O’Shea), Coming Undone (Lauren Dane), In the Arms of Stone Angels (Jordan Dane), The Iron Witch (Karen Mahoney), Damaged (Yolanda Sfetsos), Falling Freestyle (Vivian Arend), Jeweled (Anya Bast), Thyla (Kate Gordon), It Takes a Village Idiot and I Married One (Alex Borstein & Cherry Chevapravatdumrong), Burn Bright (Marianne de Pierres), A Touch Mortal (Leah Clifford), Night and Chaos (Naomi Clark), Savage Transformation (Lexxie Couper), The Official Illustrated Guide (Stephenie Meyer), Exit Strategy (Kelley Armstrong), Made to Be Broken (Kelley Armstrong), You Are So Undead to Me (Stacey Jay), Hereafter (Tara Hudson), Relentless (Lauren Dane), The Scarlet Empress (Susan Grant), Close Encounters (Katherine Allred), Perfect Cover (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), Killer Spirit (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), West End (Laura Van Wormer), Moon Sworn (Keri Arthur)

2 STARS: Defiance (Lili St. Crow)

June 2011 Releases

Done with May 2011 Releases? Here are June 2011 Releases. To see further dates, check Reading Wishlist.

[REVIEW] Hereafter – Tara Hudson

Tara Hudson
Hereafter (Hereafter, Book 1)
HarperCollins (CA: 27th May 2011; US: 7th June 2011; AU: 1st July 2011; UK: 7th July 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Amelia knows her name, and that she died at eighteen years, drowned in the river under the infamous High Bridge Road. As a ghost, she can’t feel things…until she finds Joshua Mayhew drowning in her river.

Amelia’s had twelve years of nothing, and though we understand why she can feel Joshua, their connection still has a whiff of “special snowflake” about it. Indeed, Joshua takes the news of Amelia being a ghost rather well.

Eli Rowland is a slave to his ego, but only because he’s lonely? He makes Amelia almost beg for information about their predicament, and claims he “owns” her. Of course, Amelia’s having none of that, but still the hereafter is confusing. And in a wasted opportunity, the coven provides only very mild tension.

Amelia doesn’t seem to practise using her newfound powers much, yet they work magnificently just when she needs them to. She even glows fiery colours. The story’s danger and conflicts aren’t as heavy as they could be, and they’re overcome far too easily.

The setting is gorgeous. Hereafter quietly sprawls with a Gothic menace, a pleasant read for a lazy afternoon. It may not push boundaries, but should find a nice audience with fans of Jessica Verday’s The Hollow.