Posts By: Giselle

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Dusty Reads (2)

Posted by Giselle • 10 Comments

Dusty Reads is a weekly post featuring a book that has been sitting unread on my home shelf for some time.
This book is exclusively chosen by Giselle.

This week I picked:

My Soul to Take

Rachel Vincent

She doesn’t see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next…

I’ve been seeing the 5th installment of this series, which just released last week, all over in the blog world. It’s making me very curious about it. I bought this book early in the summer and I haven’t touched it since. I almost read it last week but then I received some great ARCs that I just had to read. This week I have Mara Dyer and more ARCs. But I will make the time very shortly. I promise to read it before 2012!

Have you read this series? What did you think?

Review: Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

Posted by Giselle on 10/03/2011 • 11 Comments

Raw Blue Kirsty Eagar Published June 29th, 2009 by Penguin Books Australia

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.

And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

Well apparently I’m the only one in the world who didn’t absolutely love this book. It’s not bad by any…

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Posted by Giselle on 10/02/2011 • 20 Comments

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Laini Taylor Published September 27th, 2011 by Little, Brown & Company

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages–not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that…

In My Mailbox (3)

Posted by Giselle on 10/02/2011 • 96 Comments

“In My Mailbox” is a meme, created by Kristi at The Story Siren, that features books I’ve received/purchased/borrowed during the current week. (click on images for Goodreads synopsis) Hello my lovelies. Well will you look at that, October has showed her head. Summer is over 🙁 But that means Halloween is just around the bend – which sets the perfect mood for creepy books like Mara Dyer that I have finally received. I hope you’re all happy with your haul this week, I sure know that I am. Some of these I’ve waited a long time to get my hands on and I’m super excited to get into them. I have received for review:

I have won in giveaways:

I have bought:

I have…

Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Posted by Giselle on 10/01/2011 • 13 Comments

The Gathering (Darkness Rising, #1)Kelley ArmstrongFirst published April 12th, 2011by HarperCollins

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn’t know much about her background – the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip – but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town – from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend’s hidden talent for “feeling” out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that…

One Woman’s Trash Giveaway Winner

Posted by Giselle on 10/01/2011 • 0 Comments

Thank you to everyone who entered! I’ve selected a winner who has chosen Wake by Lisa McMann. Winner was picked by random number generator.

Congratulations to Sophia Chang of Sophia The Writer

Sophia’s choice:

WakeLisa McMann

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can’t tell anybody about what she does they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control. Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness…

Fresh Batch (Oct 2nd-8th)

Posted by Giselle on 10/01/2011 • 4 Comments

This week’s hot releases

Fresh Batch features some of the hottest releases this upcoming week. These are exclusively chosen by Giselle.

Flavour of the week:

Carrier of the Mark Leigh Fallon

Their love was meant to be.

When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she’s surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRís.

But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that…

Remembrance by Michelle Madow: Review, Interview & Giveaway

Posted by Giselle on 09/30/2011 • 55 Comments

I’m very happy to have author Michelle Madow stop by Xpresso Reads to talk about her debut novel, Remembrance – which you must definitely check out if you haven’t already. To add fun to the mix, Michelle has offered up an ecopy of her book to one of YOU! That’s right! *Throws confetti*

Interview with Michelle Madow

Q.What inspired you to become an author?

I’ve always loved writing, but decided to write for the goal of publication about two years ago when I turned the first chapter in for homework in my Intro to Creative Writing class. I was surprised when my classmates and teacher loved it and wanted to read more! Their enthusiasm made me believe I could succeed in finishing a novel if I put my mind…