Book Craze!

Winter must be an excellent time for good books. I keep reading about books that have been released since December or are about to be released soon! I'm going insane with reading all of the great reviews, and picking and choosing which ones I'm going to read. I already have a large selection of Nicholas Sparks books lent to me by my cousin and her dear friend that I must read. And on top of that, YA novels are springing out of the middle of no where (or at least that's what I feel). I feel like I've been living under a giant rock because there are too many books out there to tempt me. I wrote about one that's driving me nuts, now let me give you the trailer to another great book that's coming out soon.



Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

The Body Finder comes out on March 16, 2010. This one is surely going on my list! ^_^

You can find out more about the book and the author, Kimberly Derting, on her website.

(Note: I updated my Beautiful Creatures review to include the trailer for the book, since I just figured out how to do it! Haha!)

First Book Review!

Well for those of you that know me, I am not without my books. I always have a book that I am reading (or 3), and I practically devour books in days (or a day). I also always carry at least one book with me.

At the beginning of the year I've had the chance to join the Barnes & Noble First Look Book Club and we are going to read Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. After I finish the book I need to post a review and since I've never really written a review (except the few that I wrote in high school), I wanted to practice here on my new favorite book, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I also want to include a great chance to win a personalized signed copy of Beautiful Creatures by Reverie Book Reviews, an excellent blog dedicated at providing stunning YA reviews on the latest books, or books that are coming out soon. You can see the link for the book contest entry at the end of my review.

Now let me head off to Google: "How to Write a Book Review"... Ha! 544,000,000 results!!! Uh....! Never mind. Let me try doing this my self:

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

If you think that Twilight by Stephenie Meyer has an incandescent forbidden love story, then you have not read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

The darling duo has sent us to the South, where I personally never been nor had the chance to experience it the way the authors have set it. You vividly see the small town of Gatlin and become one it's residents. You are either an insider or an outsider and being an outsider has its horrible price, and this is where Lena Duchannes comes in. Lena comes along with a curse that can change her fate and that of the southern native, Ethan Wate.

The chapters are spaced out to cover the time that Lena is in Gatlin up to her 16th birthday. I feel like I read it too fast because I was just too inpatient to get to Lena's birthday. If you are me then you spend your time counting down and getting anxious as Lena's 16th birthday gets closer and closer.

Also like the Twilight series and the Cullen family, I feel in love with Lena's family, even her mysterious uncle, Macon Ravenwood. It's Lena's family and the town of Gatlin that brings the beautiful love story of Lena and Ethan to life.

Lastly, in the past I have had a difficult time getting through books where the first person perspective is that of a male (e.i. Hard Love, Stargirl). Yes, you can call me sexist, but I'm just use to reading books where the first person voice is that of a female. I did have a hard time starting it because in the first chapter/prologue, I assumed that it was in the perspective of a girl, and the next chapter just threw me out of sorts. I then had to start over once I realized that I was not in the head of a girl, but in a young man's head.

From then on out you spend your time following the love life of this fated couple, up until an important twist is reveled, a twist that can change their relationship for the worst...

The characters, the events, and the setting provides darkness, suspense and a just the right amount of humor when it is needed to supply us with a book that will leave you wanting more!

You can read more about the book at the official book website created by the authoresses them selves. There you can find out about their tour and where you might be able to see them. The book has also been optioned by Warner Brothers to be brought to us in the big screen. You can see the article confirming the film here. Also you can stop biting your nails because there is going to be four more glorious books to follow this series (this is also confirmed in the same article)!!!

Here's the book trailer just to tempt you even more!



Now, for the finishing touch! Like I mentioned before, Reverie Book Reviews is having a contest where one of the lucky entrants will have a chance of winning a personalized signed copy of Beautiful Creatures. You can enter their contest by clicking here. You have until this Thursday, January the 21th, to fill the form because they are going to meet the lovely authors this weekend. Good luck to you all!!! ^_^