2010 Book Stats

Books Read

Alphas

Claire

Bratfest At Tiffanys

P.S. I Loathe You

Missing You

Boys R Us

The Clique: Charmed And Dangerous

Pretty Little Liars

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Breaking Dawn

Flawless

Ninth Key

Angus, Thongs, And Perfect Snogging

L.A. Candy

Sweet Little Lies

Jinx

The Devouring

Wuthering High

Anatomy of A Boyfriend

Fat Cat

Bundle of Trouble

Perfect

Because I'm Worth It

Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras

Reunion

After

Fallen

Rhymes With Witches

All Unquiet Things

You Are So Undead To Me

Undead Much?

Uninvited

Death By Denim

Unbelievable

Girl Stays In The Picture

Wicked

The Blonde of the Joke

Confessions of a Teen Nanny

Getting Revenge On Lauren Wood

Sleepless

Paisley Hanover Acts Out

These Boots Are Made For Stalking

The Princess Diaries

Alphas

Beautiful Creatures

Movies And Fakers

Killer

Heist Society

Princess In The Spotlight

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty

The House on the Gulf

Fragments

The Kingdom Keepers

Secrets of My Hollywood Life

Wake

Wintergirls

Secrets of My Hollywood Life: on Location

Sleepaway Girls

The Body Finder

Thriller

Jennifer's Body

Poseur

Kiss Me, Kill Me

The Upper Class

Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist

Airhead

Bad Girls Don't Die

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up

Liar

Fade

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove

Heartless

Scat

Wanted

Gone

The Good, The Fab, And The Ugly

All-American Girl

Family Affairs

I Don't Want To Be Crazy

Bad Kitty

Twisted

Big Fat Manifesto

Metro Girl

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

Avalon High

The Mediator

One For The Money

When Lightening Strikes

Sleepless

Hunger

Being Nikki

TMI

Lies

The Missing Girl

You Wish

Sleeping Freshman Never Lie

Burned

Ender's Game

Paparazzi Princess

Living Dead Girl

Witch And Wizard

Perfect Cover

Compound

Glimpse

In Ecstasy

Cracked Up To Be

Sticky Fingers

The Uninvited

Party

Run The Risk

Feathered

Reality Check

Sex, Murder, And A Double Latte

Two Way Street

Reality Chick

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Monster High

One Night That Changes Everything

Reality Check

13 Reasons Why

Prada and Prejudice

Elixir

Lost Summer

The Lying Game

Fixing Delilah

You

Delirium

Pretty Little Devils

Need

The Left Hand of God

Unearthly

Once In A Full Moon

The Devouring

The Dark Divine

Total Books Read: 134

Total Pages Read: 39,981

In My Mailbox (5) (again)

Sorry for it being so late! See you for IMM next Tuesday, and have a Happy New Year if I don't post later tonight! :D

Net Galley books:

Release Date: February 15, 2011

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul. 

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once. 

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember. 

Release Date: July 4, 2011

What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help? 

Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. 

A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. 

Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. 

But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?

Release Date: August 1, 2011

WHAT WOULD YOU DO if you had the chance to erase your past and reinvent yourself as the person you’ve always wanted to be? Would you grab it? Would you stick with it, no matter what the consequences? 

Cara Leonard always wished she could be one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and never at a loss for the perfect thing to say. They are the Populazzi, and they’ve always been many rungs on the Popularity Tower above Cara and her best friend Claudia. 

Yet when Cara moves to a new school just before junior year, Claudia urges Cara to seize the opportunity and change her life… by using the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and by molding herself into the perfect girlfriend to guys higher and higher on the Popularity Tower, Cara will be able to achieve the ultimate goal: becoming Supreme Populazzi, the most popular girl in school. 

What starts off as a lighthearted social experiment becomes increasingly twisted and difficult, and Cara soon finds even the most basic things about herself aren’t what she always believed. Though the Ladder may seem like a straight climb to the top, for Cara it’s a sometimes-dark, sometimes-absurd, always-winding journey to find out who she really is.

Release Date: April 4, 2011

At Penford High School, Britney Taylor is the queen bee. She dates whomever she likes, rules over her inner circle of friends like Genghis Khan, and can ruin anyone's life with a snap of perfectly manicured fingers. Just ask the unfortunate few who have crossed her.   For April Bowers, Britney is also the answer to her prayers. April is so unpopular, kids don't even know she exists. But one lunch spent at Britney's table, and April is basking in the glow of popularity.   But Britney's friendship comes with a high price tag. How much is April willing to pay?

Release Date: February 1, 2011

Heroine, Bridget Duke, rules her high school, but when she crashes her car and ends up in limbo, she must confront the people she has wronged, all of whom want her to go to hell. The outcome of these meetings will decide her final destination.

Omar Phillips is Bridgewater High's favorite local teen author. His Facebook fans can't wait for his next horror story. But lately Omar's imagination has turned against him. Horrifying visions of death and destruction come over him with wide-screen intensity. The only way to stop the visions is to write them down. Until they start coming true . . .

Enter Sophie Minax, the mysterious Goth girl who's been following Omar at school. "I'm one of you," Sophie says. She tells Omar how to end the visionsbut the only thing worse than Sophie's cure may be what happens if he ignores it.

I can't wait to dive into all of the great books I got!

Feel free to link your In My Mailbox posts below! :)

The Devouring by Simon Holt

When dark creeps in and eats the light,

Bury your fears on Sorry Night.

For in the winter's blackest hours,

Comes the feasting of the Vours, 

No one can see it, the life they stole,

Your body's here but not your soul . . .

THE VOURS: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.

To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?

The Devouring is an engrossing tale of terror that will have you wondering: what if your worst fears became your living nightmare?

Stars: 5/5

Cover: A+

Plot:

Reggie loves all things Horror. She came across an old journal, where she reads about these demonic being called "vours." On Sorry Night, Reggie reads a couple of entries to her younger (and very gullible) brother, thinking that the Vours aren't real. But after that night, Henry isn't acting like he usually does.

As Reggie tries to figure out what's wrong with her brother, she discovers that there's a Vour taking over him. Reggie and her friend Aaron, try to team up to get the sinister Vour out of Henry, and bring Henry back.

But it's not as easy as it seems . . . because the Vours can get inside their heads, and figure out what scares them the most. 

And use their worst fears against them.

This book was one of my favorite books of 2010 (I've read it twice this year). It was creepy, dark, and an even better read the second time around.

This book was perfect for when it was pouring rain outside --- I'd just curl up, turn on off all the lights (except for a flashlight for reading) and immerse myself in the scary world of the Vours.

The Devouring was creepy, suspenseful, and everything that I could ever want in a horror book. It was fast-paced and exciting the entire way through, literally starting on page one.

There were a lot of twists and turns that had be gasping in shock.

Not to mention, the whole concept behind the story was original and unique. 

Characters:

I really liked (loved) the characters in The Devouring. In some horror books, authors skip right over the description of the character and go straight into the action; and in others, the author completely takes you out of their story with their description of the characters. But in The Devouring, Simon Holt is able to incorporate what the characters look like quite smoothly into the story, which I really liked.

The characters were easy to relate to, even if I'm not going through what they went through. 

Writing:

Simon Holt writes wonderfully! He really knows how to capture an audience. His book could very well be a movie, because there is so much imagery (I felt like I was standing next to the characters, watching black smoke seep out of someone's eyes, or had furry spiders crawling over me and biting me), and also because The Devouring would make a great horror movie. I'd love to see what the Vours look like on screen and out of my imagination!

Ending:

The ending was great! The climax was in the last part of the book, so it stayed exciting up until the very end.

Not to mention, there was a little cliffhanger to make you want to read the next book, but not so much of a cliffhanger that you feel let down and you're yelling at the book. (Yes. I do that.)

Cover:

I LOVE THIS COVER!

It totally captures the essence book perfectly!

Reasons why I love the cover:

• The girl looks like how Reggie was described (I hate it when the model on the cover doesn't match the description of the character)
• There is purple smoke. PURPLE!!!!
• The "V" in Devouring
• The smeared makeup under her eyes
• On the back cover all it has is the Vour poem

This is kind of irrelevant, but I loved how the demonic things are called "Vours" and the title of this book is called "The Devouring."

I also love how all of the covers in the series tie in together with the smoke.

Lovely Line:

The vour grinned.

"We can always count of people to hate and to fear. To harm one another and to be harmed. To kill and be killed. It is what opens the gate."

(Page 132)

The Final Verdict:

Honestly, go read this book right now.

If it's in your TBR stack, move it to the top. If it's at your library, check it out. If your friend has it, borrow it.

If you have money, buy it. (In hardcover!)

Whatever you can do to get your hands on this book, do it!

You won't regret it.

FTC: I bought this book.

In My Mailbox (5)

I had my video all ready to go yesterday, but it didn't upload.

I tried again today, but it's still not working!

I have no clue what the problem is, but I plan to get it fixed fast and have this video up for you soon. :)

Until then, enjoy this cool picture. 

*By the way: Have you voted in the poll for which book I should read next? No? WELL, go do it! :D

Once In A Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber

Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever.

Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend's Run is famous for them. She's used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend's Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.

Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who's from the wrong side of town. But she can't deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste's hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend's Run.

Psychic predictions, generations-old secrets, a town divided, and the possibility of falling in love with a hot and heroic werewolf are the perfect formula for what happens . . . once in a full moon.

Stars: 3.5/5

Cover: A-

Plot:

Celeste is part of the popular, jock crowd. She's dating one of the most attractive, popular guys in school, Nash, and her two best friends are dating Nash's two best friends. Her life is perfect --- that is, until Brandon moves into the town of Legend's Run, and is the new kid in school.

Celeste and her friends go get their fortune told as a dare, and the fortune teller warns Celeste of a couple of things. Of course, Celeste thinks the teller is a fraud, and does things she was warned not to anyways (like a kiss with Brandon under a full moon). 

After the kiss, Brandon turns into a werewolf, and runs off into the woods. But Celeste is already so in love with Brandon, she doesn't care that he's not human 100% of the time.

I felt like I had read this book a million times before. Ellen's other series, Vampire Kisses, was basically the same as Once In A Full Moon, except for the fact that one was about vampires and the other was about werewolves. 

For example:

• A boy moves into the protagonists' town
• He is quiet, mysterious, and extremely alluring
• There's something off about the new boy, and the whole school is gossiping about him
• The protagonist and the boy have an immediate connection
• They fall in love after like, a week
• The boy does the whole "I'm dangerous; you can't be near me" act, and the protagonist says, "no! I love you too much to leave you" thing.

But, putting that aside, Once In A Full Moon did keep me entertained, even if the plot was a little predictable.

Characters:

I sort of found most of the characters to be two-demensional, shallow, and cliche. It was hard for me to tell the characters apart, and Celeste's world was a little too perfect to be believable.

Celeste's friends were stuck up little (insert swear word here) that wouldn't even talk to people that lived on the other, not as nice, side of town than them. They barely had anything nice to say at all, and Celeste couldn't even tell her friends about Brandon because they wouldn't understand. What kind of "friends" are those?

Even though I didn't really like the characters, they didn't stop the story from moving along.

Writing:

I must say, I am not the biggest fan of the way Ellen writes. The story doesn't always flow  nicely, and it sometimes feels like there are sentences randomly put in where it feels like they don't belong.

Also, when Ellen gives us background information, it isn't always relevant to the current situation in the plot, and it completely takes you out of the story when she does that.

Ending:

The ending was probably my least favorite thing about this book. 

THIS NEXT PART CONTAINS SPOILERS; HIGHLIGHT TO READ.

When Nash discovered that Brandon was a werewolf, Celeste and Brandon didn't even care. They spent practically the whole book trying to keep it a secret that Brandon was a werewolf, and then all of a sudden, all they care about is kissing.

END OF SPOILER.

The ending felt rushed to me, like it was written in a hurry so Ellen could be done with the book. I think that if she had taken a little more time on the last two pages, the ending would have been loads better.

Cover:

At first glance, I didn't like this cover too much. But as I looked at it longer, I fell in love with it!

The eyes are a beautiful blue, and I love the way the strands of hair fall around the model's face. 

Another thing that I like is the font, and the pretty pink cursive that is used to write "full moon."

A Lovely Line:

I gazed outside. I could see the moon hanging in the cloudless sky. It looked lonely, staring back at me. I wondered if it thought the same of me.

(Page 43)

The Final Verdict:

This book was a fast, easy read. I thought it was entertaining enough, but it wasn't like I couldn't go my whole life without reading it.

I would suggest this for fans of Ellen Schreiber.

FTC: I borrowed this book from Zoe.