CSN Upcoming Review and Black Friday Sale!

Hello People!!! I have been given the wonderful opportunity to work with CSN again! I really enjoy helping to get the word out for this great company! And I hope the winner of the recent contest I had for CSN is enjoying whatever product they chose to use the gift certificate for.

I'm pretty sure by now you guys know all about all of the stores CSN has by now. But the CSN enterprise is expanding. You can get all kinds of things in their stores. If you want a fancy new stool, new play things to spice up a game room, or my personal favorite- a new pair of heels, CSN has it all.

I have been given the opportunity to do a review for one of their products and again, I am torn. I am in great need of a affordable desk for my room but then again, why go for necessity when you could have accessories. So you guys decide. This desk on the left. Or that cute bag.

On another note. The CSN stores are having a Black Friday Sale for select items. If I were you I would definitely take advantage of this great opportunity to get some great discounted products even more discounted!!! Happy Shopping Everyone!

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Waiting on Wednesday- Born at Midnight

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Born at Midnight

Release Date: March 29, 2011

Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin

Paranormal/Supernatural Romance

 Synopsis from Goodreads: Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn’t put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie’s acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist’s sofa. The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it’s a camp for troubled teens. They thought wrong. It’s a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too.  As Kylie attempts to cope with the realization that these creatures actually exist, and that she might even be one of them, the ever present stalker/ghost appears to have secrets that could unravel the mystery of Kylie’s identity and her destiny. 

As Kylie struggles to find answers, two hot guys, a werewolf and a half-fairy vie for her attention. However, Kylie’s determined that before she lets her heart discover a new love, she needs to solve her identity crisis and unearth the truth of her destiny. 

Sounds like it is going to be really good. The one thing I am a little skeptical about is the romance. Which is a complete change of pace because I am all about books with romance and all that good stuff. But lately, even though this is probably just the books I am reading, it seems like there can't be a love story in YA without their being a love triangle. And since the first day I made this blog, I have stood by my anti-love shape way of thinking. I refuse to let it go. Though this could be the one book to change that belief of mine forever...I doubt it. It still seems like it is going to be a great book. It sort of reminds me of Fallen with all the reform school stuff. Anyways, anyone want to tell me what the girl in the picture is doing with her dress???

What are you waiting for this Wednesday?

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Review: Sea Change by. Aimee Friedman

Title: Sea Change
Author: Aimee Friedman
Publication Date: June 2009
Pages: 290 
Genre: Romance
Rating: 6/10

Synopsis from Goodreads: 16-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science...and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate. There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship...and reality. Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

Review: I was really really looking forward to reading this book the first time it came out. The whole mermaids and mermen idea has been explored so little in YA that I was hungry to see what this book had to offer to the genre. I was expecting a very interesting mermaid love story with a little bit of mystery from this book. It delivered a little more on romance, not so much the mermaid aspect I was pining for.

You know you just read a good book when in the end you either had most of your questions solved from the book, or the author leaves you with one or two burning questions that you just have to decide for on your own. Either way, you are left satisfied at the end. Sea Change, for me, was not that book. I think what really did it for me was the end. It seemed like throughout the book the evidence of a mermaid and the mystery of 'are they or aren't they' kept on building up that in the end I expected an answer. What was unexplained in the beginning stayed unexplained till the end. I guess you could say that part was left to the reader to decide, but to me that sort of made the rest of the book built up to a dead plot. This book to me was just a large question mark.

The romance in this book was okay. Miranda was torn between two guys. Or actually being torn between the guy she was "supposed" to like and the one she actually wanted. Leo pretty much represented the hot beachy really smart says-all-the-right-things kind of guy with the one flaw the girl is set to unravel: the secret. There was spark and some good moments, and that was it.

Overall this book was okay. I expected a lot more. In my opinion is great if you are looking for a light quick read!


Overall: 6/10 

Characters: 7/10 
Plot: 7/10
Originality: 6/10 
Entertainment: 6/10 
Ending: 6/10 
Writing Style: 7/10 
Cover: 10/10- this cover is amazingly beautiful!

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Monday’s Question of The Day

If you could see any book/series in the world made into a movie what would it be and who would you cast for the lead roles?
        
  I would have answered Vampire Academy to this but since it is already being made into a movie, which I cannot wait to see, I will go ahead and choose the Awake series by Wendy Raven McNair. As you guys may know I really really love this series and I would love to see all of the characters and the plotline made into a movie.I would definitely cast Keke Palmer as Adisa and … I really don’t know who to cast for Micah. I’ll leave that decision up to the author on this one, but I am think somewhere along the lines of a teenage Trey Songz…

Don’t forget to leave a comment saying which book or series you would like to see made into a movie!!!

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In My Mailbox #16

In My Mailbox is a bookish meme hosted by Kristi The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Hey everyone!!! I am finally getting to doing an In My Mailbox post. You know since I have not been posting and reviewing for the couple of months since volleyball and school started wouldn't you assume that I would have a load of books I have accumulated and not shown you guys for the last 3 months. NOPE! I haven't been buying books in a serious long time. And usually this would be an awesome thing and my wallet would be extremely thankful. But since I haven't been buying, I haven't been reading either. Yeah, suffering through serious withdrawal here. Anyways, hear are the few I have been accumulating these couple of weeks.

Bought:

Fallen (Fallen #1) by. Lauren Kate

Go ahead, you can tell me, I can take it; Am I the only one in the planet who has yet to read this book. It's okay, I know I am. But I finally got it, and it is a very powerful feeling. But I got it in softcover, and I hear the hardcover ones had these fancy fuzzy feeling covers that I missed out on...

   Review:

  Awake by. Wendy Raven McNair 

  Yeah so obviously my hiatus wasn't too bad since I received (and already read and absolutely love) the second book in the Asleep trilogy by. Wendy Raven McNair. I have been waiting to read this book since I finished Asleep and this one was even better. If you have not read Asleep yet, I recommend you do immediately. My review of Asleep is here. And my review of Awake is here.

Swapped:

Unleash The Night by. Sherrilyn Kenyon 

One of my favorite authors. In my opinion Sherrilyn Kenyon is the best (non-YA) paranormal romance author ever. Oh yeah, she's great. All fans of J.R.Ward must read her books because the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is a close second in my heart to every book I have read by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

 Unwanted 

(jk jk...no book is ever unwanted...right?!?):  

My parents were kind enough to leave me the extremely subtle gift of a brand spanking new SAT Prep book. Excitement!

So yep, that is what I received for the past few months. There may be some I didn't find lying around somewhere, but one can only hope.

 Don’t forget to tell me what you guys got in your mailboxes!!! 

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Review: Awake by. Wendy Raven McNair

Title: Awake
Author: Wendy Raven McNair
Publication Date: September 20th 2010
Pages: 321
Genre: Supernatural/Romance
Rating: 9/10

 Synopsis from Goodreads: Adisa and Micah's saga continues as the young couple try to heal Micah on their own. Their repeated failures drive Adisa into a desperate but secret alliance with Micah's father and place a strain on the young couple's relationship that may drive them apart permanently. Adisa learns more about the super world, revealing just how alien they are, like their curious bathroom habits and disdain for earthbounds, which leads her to question if a life with Micah is possible. Victor, Micah's super twin, continues his pursuit of Adisa in hopes of fulfilling a prophecy predicting their union is the only way to save Micah's life.  As Adisa deals with the mounting challenges, threatening her relationship with Micah, she discovers her birth parents are alive and want to see her. Pearl, her earthbound mother, and Cyrus, the greatest super being in modern times, have been absent from Adisa's life since they abandoned her in a cotton field when she was only three years old. Does Adisa's reunion with her birth parents hold the key to Micah's cure or will it lead to his death?

Review:  Asleep, the first book in Wendy Raven McNair's YA  trilogy, was an incredible first book that set up the premise for an even better romance, and fantasy filled second book in Awake. It combines everything you would like in a great romance, coupled with fantasy elements that haven't been explored in any other book I have read before. 

The characters seem to come even more to life in this book, and their personalities start to blossom. Adisa in the first book was somewhat shyer when it came to her relationship with Micah, a common trait among female leads in YA books, a trait that Micah also had. But throughout this book you see them both begin to grow a backbone and find out what it means to love each other. The sacrifices, the promises, and what is at stake for their relationship and the people's lives who are involved. That was really how the romance was so stepped up in this book. It wasn't just the "I love yous" that showed the bond between Micah and Adisa, it was what was at stake for both of them and how they used it to make them grow closer together, and push the limits of what in the end they would be willing to do to save and be with the other.

The fantasy aspect was also amplified. It was taken to a whole new level. Slowly throughout the book facts and different theories about the whole Sp world is given out. And the way all that begins to turn together towards the end is awesome. Adisa is put into a situation that she has been dreaming about since we ended with her in Asleep, but now that she is there, she is being tested, experimented, and given a huge reality check on the decisions and choices she made to get there. Something else that I loved was how many of the minor characters in the last book or the beginning of this book took on a greater role. It made everything more suspenseful when it wasn't just Micah and Adisa at stake. The new friends, the old enemy's, everyone thrown into this world of not just good and evil, but trying to decipher the greater good over the worse evil.

This book was more than the unexpected, I have the dynamite romance between Adisa and Micah that I have been craving since I read the first book, but an even stronger plot line and character buildup that leave me in even more anticipation over the third book!


Recommendations: If you loved, or even liked the first book, you must read this one because it is that much better. And if you love supernatural romance, or anything fantasy, this book will most definitely satisfy your cravings. 
 
Overall: 9/10 

Characters: 10/10 
Plot: 10/10
Originality: 10/10 
Entertainment: 8/10 
Ending: 10/10 
Writing Style: 10/10 
Cover: 10/10

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1 Year Blogoversary Contest Winner!!!

Hello guys, very long time no see. I have counted tallied and entered all of the contest entrants into random.org to generate a winner for the CSN $60 gift certificate, and the winner of that is...

Brianna B.

Congrats Brianna B.  Your $6o dollar gift certificate should arrive via the email you entered with within the next couple of days!!!

Thank you to all who entered and made this contest such a success!!!  

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