Title:40 Things I Want To Tell YouAuthor: Alice KuipersPublisher: Harper Trophy CanadaPages: 256Release Date: Available now (Feb 10th 2012)From The Back: Amy (a.k.a. Bird) seems to have the perfect life: loving parents, a hot boyfriend, the best friend ever. She even writes an online advice column, full of Top Tips, to help other teens take control of their lives. But after a new guy shows up at school, Bird can’t seem to follow her own wisdom. Pete is the consummate bad boy. He’s everything Bird is not: wild, unambitious and more than a little dangerous. Although she knows he’s trouble, Bird can’t stay away. And the more drawn she is to Pete, the more cracks are revealed in her relationship with Griffin, her doting boyfriend. Meanwhile, her parents’ marriage is also fracturing, possibly for good. Bird is way out of her comfort zone. All it takes is one mistake, one momentary loss of control, for her entire future to be blown away . . . (From Good Reads)
My Review: I was lucky enough to win this book during a chat with the author, she's fabulous by the way. And so is this book. I was pulled in immediately, and couldn't put the book down. There are parts in this book that I believe every girl is able to relate to, mainly the advice column that Bird writes, the little bites of questions and advice are things that even in the past I've found myself looking for help on. The book also touches on how one thing can make your world spin out of control, but also that you can no control everything even if you try to. I loved this book, right down to the very last page and it made me feel things as I read. Truly it is a good book, and I highly recommend it.
Reviewer: Ashe
Title: Dark of the Moon
Author: Tracy Barrett
Publisher:Harcourt
Pages:310
Release Date: Available now
From The Back:It isn't true what they say about my brother--that he ate those children. He never did; he didn't even mean to hurt them. He wept as he held out their broken bodies, his soft brown eyes pleading with me to fix them the way I always fixed his dolls and toys. I couldn't fix the children, of course. They were dead, their heads flopping on their necks, their arms and legs pale and limp. My mother ordered the slaves to take them away and give them a decent burial, and I held my brother as he sobbed over the loss of his playmates. When the replacement children died as well, my mother said: No more playmates. My brother wailed and roared in his loneliness, deep beneath the palace, until the Minos took pity and said: Just once more. But not children from Krete. The people would stand for it no more, he said. And so they came in their long ships.
My Review: I thought I would love this book, it's a new twist on a myth, and I LOVE me some retellings of myths. Although I loved the concept of the Minotaur just being a misshapen boy with a loving sister, I don't think he was in the book enough. A lot of the time I stumbled over the names in this book, unsure at how to pronounce them--there are some that are easy others that left me clueless. I felt Dark of the Moon was slow, and I couldn't really get into it until the last 75-pages or so.
Reviewer: Ashe
Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Publisher:Houghton Mifflin
Pages:509
Release Date: 4/2012
From The Back: Escaping from the brutality of an arranged marriage, seventeen-year-old Ismae finds sanctuary at the convent of St. Mortain. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must be willing to take the lives of others. Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany where she finds herself woefully underprepared--for how can she deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
My Review: I have been meaning to sit down and finish reading this book for a while. I got it as an ARC, so the cover I had was different than the one I have above. But I must say, it is a stunningly gorgeous cover. I sat down to restart this book, expecting to read for a few hours and that would be it, that didn't happen. The language in Grave Mercy is beautiful, lyrical prose. The characters are so fluid and believable that I literally want to hug them all, or curtsey. I loved the character's dearly in this book, Esmae, Duval...Duval mostly, cuz he's just plain sexy. The romance which in entwined within the words, very carefully, and very well, made me so happy I could burst. Extremely well written.
I will definitely be waiting on the second.
Reviewer: Ashe
