Monthly Archives:: August 2013

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 25th – 31st)

Posted by 17 Comments

FreshBatchBanner637Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

The Dark Between
Sonia Gensler
Publication date: August 27th 2013
by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Purchase

A supernatural romance about the powers that lie in the shadows of the mind, perfect for fans of Sarah Rees Brennan, Alyxandra Harvey, and Libba Bray.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Spiritualism and séances are all the rage—even in the scholarly town of Cambridge, England. While mediums dupe the grief-stricken, a group of local fringe scientists seeks to bridge the gap to the spirit world by investigating the dark corners of the human mind.

Each running from a shadowed past, Kate, Asher, and Elsie take refuge within the walls of Summerfield College. But their peace is soon shattered by the discovery of a dead body nearby. Is this the work of a flesh-and-blood villain, or is something otherworldly at play? This unlikely trio must illuminate what the scientists have not, and open a window to secrets taken to the grave—or risk joining the spirit world themselves.

Sonia Gensler’s Website / Facebook / Twitter

I am a former high school teacher turned full-time writer living in Oklahoma with my husband and my cat.

My debut novel, THE REVENANT (Knopf 2011), is a ghostly mystery set at a Cherokee girls’ school. My latest book, THE DARK BETWEEN (Knopf, August 2013) is a Gothic murder mystery set in Cambridge, England.


Other releases this week:
* In no particular order *




Relinquishing Liberty (Second Chances #1) by Maureen Mayer
The Fall of Five (Lorien Legacies #4) by Pittacus Lore [Purchase]
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas [Purchase]
Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1) by Jus Accardo [Purchase]


The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns #3) by Rae Carson [Purchase]
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider [Purchase]
Deception (Defiance #2) by C.J. Redwine [Purchase]
The Returned (The Returned #1) by Jason Mott [Purchase]


Consume (The Clann #3) by Melissa Darnell [Purchase]
Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young [Purchase]
The Liberator (Dante Walker #2) by Victoria Scott [Purchase]
Heart of Venom (Elemental Assassin #9) by Jennifer Estep [Purchase]


A Graceful Mess by Nacole Stayton
Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi [Purchase]
Bones of the Lost (Temperance Brennan #16) by Kathy Reichs [Purchase]
The Hero (Thunder Point #3) by Robyn Carr [Purchase]


Black Spring by Alison Croggon [Purchase]
Unafraid (Beachwood Bay #2) by Melody Grace [Purchase]
Perdition (Dred Chronicles #1) by Ann Aguirre [Purchase]
The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand [Purchase]


Overpowered by Mark H. Kruger [Purchase]
The Twins by Saskia Sarginson [Purchase]
Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block [Purchase]
Immortally Ever After (Monster M*A*S*H #3) by Angie Fox [Purchase]


Don’t Look Now (PERSEF0NE #2) by Michelle Gagnon [Purchase]
Girl on Tour (Kylie Ryans #2) by Caisey Quinn [Purchase]
The First Affair by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus [Purchase]
Descendant (Starling #2) by Lesley Livingston [Purchase]


Relic by Renee Collins [Purchase]
Origin (Lux #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout [Purchase]
Taste Test by Kelly Fiore [Purchase]
The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud [Purchase]


Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan [Purchase]
Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan [Purchase]
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent [Purchase]
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan [Purchase]


Confessions of a Hater by Caprice Crane [Purchase]
Rein It In (The A Circuit #4) by Georgina Bloomberg and Catherine Hapka [Purchase]
The Morning Star (Katerina #3) by Robin Bridges [Purchase]
To Be Perfectly Honest: A Novel Based on an Untrue Story by Sonya Sones [Purchase]


Battle Lines (Department 19 #3) by Will Hill [Purchase]
Unfed (Undead #2) by Kirsty McKay [Purchase]
The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle [Purchase]
Everlast (The Chronicles of Nerissette #1) by Andria Buchanan [Purchase]


What are you excited for this week?

 

You can support my blog by using this link (also found on sidebar) to shop at TBD

Find previous Fresh Batch posts here!

Review: The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace

Review: The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace

Posted by on 08/23/2013 • 28 Comments

This was an alright read. I liked it better than I expected based on the early reviews – though maybe my lowered expectations helped. It’s your typical student-slash-professor storyline where you know their relationship is doomed from the start, but like a car accident, you can’t look away.

This book is written in second person letter form, it reads as if you were the recipient – the actual recipient being the love interest and professor, to which the protagonist explains her point of view of why she did what she did. I actually found this compelling, definitely unique, however it reminded me too much of Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick which has a similar plot as well with an execution that is worlds better, and as such making this…

Book Girls Don’t Cry: Least Favorite Part of Blogging

Book Girls Don’t Cry: Least Favorite Part of Blogging

Posted by on 08/22/2013 • 67 Comments

Book Girls Don’t Cry is a weekly feature where we each discuss/vent/advise on the chosen weekly bookish topic. Don’t miss Jenni on Mondays, and Amy on Saturdays:

 Topic suggestion by the lovely Christina over at A Reader of Fictions

All the Things I Do Not Love!

I actually cringed at titling this post as such – Least Favorite Part of Blogging – because we should all love everything about our hobby, right? Well if you’ve been around for a little bit, you’ll start noticing that it’s not always unicorns and rainbows up in this hood. Let’s see what I don’t particularly love about blogging. I was initially going to list in bullet points my least favorite aspects, but then they sort of all blended together…

Waiting on Wednesday (90)

Waiting on Wednesday (90)

Posted by on 08/21/2013 • 42 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week:

Whoa how creepy is this cover? Let’s hope it lives up to it! The blurb sounds promising, anyways! 😀

What are you waiting on?

Review: The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman

Review: The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman

Posted by on 08/20/2013 • 27 Comments

Whoa, this was psychotic! Definitely the most violent YA book I’ve yet to read! This is both a warning and a promise. 😉

Another of Robin’s book, The Book of Blood and Shadow was one of my favorites of last year. It was raw and intense, kind of insanely so, so I knew – and hoped – to expect the same kind of brilliance in this one and am happy to not have been let down. The Waking Dark does not lose any time to show you what you’re getting into. Within the first couple of chapters the sheer madness of what is happening grabs you with its two fists and shoves you inside this story in full force. What I first noticed in this book is how there is…

Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Posted by on 08/19/2013 • 35 Comments

“What are they? Are they diseased or demonic? Are they citizens who have become ill, deserving hospitals and care, as some have argued? Or are they the bodies of our loved ones animated by some dark force that we ought to seek to destroy?”

And here I thought originality was gone from vampire stories! It takes none other than Holly Black to prove me wrong. Coldest Girl in Coldtown is not only unique, it’s a fun, exciting story full of horror and blood with a little flair of post apocalyptic.

Ever since a sudden outbreak of vampirism spread throughout the world, vampires are out and feared; even though they’re kept quarantined in gated cities, you’re never quite safe from the stray ones. Tana learns how true this is when…

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 18th – 24th)

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 18th – 24th)

Posted by on 08/17/2013 • 15 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Shooting Scars Karina Halle Series: The Artists Trilogy #2 Publication date: August 20th 2013 by Grand Cen­tral Publishing

Goodreads Purchase

Sometimes the right choice can be the deadliest.

When Ellie Watt made the ultimate sacrifice for Camden McQueen, she never thought it would be easy. But walking away with her ex-lover, Javier Bernal, in order to ensure Camden’s safety has brought a whole new set of dangers. With Javier’s plans for Ellie growing more secretive by the moment, Ellie must find a way to stay ahead of the game before her past swallows her whole.

Meanwhile, Camden’s new life is short-lived. Fueled by…

Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Posted by on 08/16/2013 • 30 Comments

There’s been a slew of time travel books lately and All Our Yesterdays is another one that I can add on the short list of those that impressed me. The time travel concept introduced, while hard to grasp like any and all time travel science, explains how paradoxes fixes itself in a manner that’s utterly fascinating, while giving us a plot that is both thought-provoking and exciting.

All Our Yesterdays has a past/present setting that involves a unique double characterization; even though our main character is a singular person, both her younger and older self form the dual POV of this novel which I found especially interesting. Marina can be hard on herself; even though she admits to turning heads, she doesn’t think she’s pretty or anything special. I didn’t…