Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This weeks Waiting on Wednesday is Shadow Wave by Robert Muchamore. I'm so excited about this latest instalment of the CHERUB series! If you haven't checked out the series yet then it's highly recommended. The series is being released in hardback with awesome looking new covers - check out the links at the bottom of this post. Also, don't forget the prequel series, Henderson's Boys. Can you tell that I LOVE these books? lol

A terrorist doesn’t let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place.

The terrorist doesn’t know that a kid has bugged every room in her house, cloned the hard drive on her PC, and copied all the numbers in her phone book. The kid works for CHERUB.

CHERUB is not James Bond. There are no master criminals or high-tech gadgets. CHERUB kids live in the real world. They slip under adult radar and get information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

For official purposes, these children do not exist.

Shadow Wave - Robert Muchamore

Release date: 2 September 2010

After a tsunami causes massive devastation to a tropical island, its governor sends in the bulldozers to knock down villages, replacing them with luxury hotels. Guarding the corrupt governor's family isn't James Adams' idea of the perfect mission, especially as it's going to be his last as a CHERUB agent. And then retired colleague Kyle Blueman comes up with an unofficial and highly dangerous plan of his own. James must choose between loyalty to CHERUB, and loyalty to his oldest friend.

Sample chapters can be found here.

The first two books of the series with awesome new covers:

Teaser Tuesday (11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.

* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory

All he is doing is getting away from certain death. Thoughts of how to return will come later. Now, tonight, the King is running for his life.

Ash - Malinda Lo

She looked out at the twilight garden and felt a thin but bright thread of excitement within her. Tomorrow, she knew, her life would change.

It's Monday (14) and Weekly Round Up

I'm a bad blogger :( It's been a few weeks since I did a weekly round up (there's some kind of irony there lol) Mostly it's because I've been a) too busy to blog and b) too busy to actually read much but I'm getting back on track now. Yay! Although admittedly last weeks round up didn't happen because I forgot to post it. Ooops.

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey. Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week. Please comment or leave a link to let me know what you're reading this week!

Completed recently 

Glass Houses - Rachel Caine                                                     

Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

GeneXt (Marvel) - Chris Claremont

Currently Reading

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory   

The Iron Daughter - Julie Kagawa

Titan's Curse (audio) - Rick Riordan

Up soon

The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory

Reviews (links to reviews)

Glass Houses - Rachel Caine

Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

Books Received

In My Mailbox

Posts of Interest

Waiting on Wednesday

In My Mailbox (14)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.

Bought

          

None! Still on a book buying ban haha. I know I'm going to break soon and end up buying like 20 books in one go though.                       

For Review

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory
Hacking Timbuktu - Stephen Davies

Library

Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson

Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones

Other (non-book) Stuff

Lego Harry Potter Game for Xbox 360!

Review: Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life. (Goodreads)

Hush Hush was an enjoyable read. I've not read many books with angels in so for me it was a nice change. I particularly liked the fallen angel aspect which gave the story some edge to it.

I found there were a few similarites to Twilight, particularly towards the start of the book. As a non-Twilight fan, this may have annoyed me more than it actually did were it not for the fact the writing in Hush Hush was considerably better and the plot was way more interesting. Also Nora wasn't as whiny and pathetic as Bella.

Brief character analysis (as characters make or break a book for me): While not my favourite lead character in a book, Nora was alright. I'm not sure I particularly loved her but I definitely didn't dislike her - even though, as ever in these kinds of books, she did make some stupid decisions. Nora's best friend, Vee, did annoy me sometimes. However, in her defence (and without giving away any spoilers) there was a reason she did the things that annoyed me and when this was revealed I decided she wasn't so bad after all. Patch, the bad boy transfer student, is one of those love him or hate him type characters (personally I always love a bad boy!) but either way, he's a great character in the book. You can never quite work out if he's the bad guy acting good or a good guy acting bad and that's what makes him interesting. He's unpredictable, arrogant and adorable all at the same time!

I really liked that it wasn't obvious where the plot was going and it kept me changing my mind about what I thought was going to happen, making me want to keep reading when I knew I really should have been going to sleep. All in all a recommended read for fans of the genre.

Other reviews of this book:

Book Sanctuary
Michelle and Leslie's Book Picks
An Addicted Book Reader
A Small Accomplishment

Review: Glass Houses - Rachel Caine

Title: Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires #1)
Author: Rachel Caine
Format: Paperback
Pages: 348
Genre: Urban Fantasy, YA
Published: 26 May 2008 (Allison & Busby)

It's a small college town filled with quirky characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad comes out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows - one that will spill out into the bright light of day.
Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. The popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks on the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero. And Claire really doesn't have the right connections - to the undead who run the town.
When Claire heads off campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Hew new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood...

I was a little bit dubious before starting this book as I've not been too impressed with vampire based books recently. However, thankfully Glass Houses has proved to me that vamps are still awesome in a scary, evil kind of way, rather than in a sparkly, tormented soul kind of way! Yay!

Glass Houses jumps off to a good start, throwing the reader into some action and getting straight on with the plot instead of waffling about some back history. (Okay, so back story is important in most books but it's never the most exciting way to get into a book). Like the other main characters in the book, we meet Claire at a pretty vulnerable time which allows the reader to understand and identify with her straight away.

Claire is a likeable enough character. She's smart (like, really smart), attending University at a younger than usual age and she's a bit of a social outcast. If her parents had allowed her to go to a prestigious school then she'd have fitted in but in Morganville, she's just seen as weird. Claire is a tough cookie though, determined not to let anything beat her and that's what gets her through a lot of the situations she finds herself in.

The other main characters of the book, who become Claire friends, are also good. I expected at least one of them to turn out to be annoying but as yet in the series, it's all good. They all have their different personalities rather than just being duplicates of each other. Michael's the big brother, the protector, the one who watches out for the others; Shane's the hero type, action first and think later; Eve's probably the rational one as well as being the most outwardly rebellious.

Unsurprisingly in a young adult book when there's two guys and two girls, some kind of romance is going to happen but thankfully in Glass Houses this isn't the main point. It really bugs me when a story is based largely around which boy the female protagonist falls in love with. I saw the romance in this book more as character development than plot development and that fitted just right.

I did expect it to take longer for Claire to find out about the vampires in Morganville, although that didn't seem to be the important part of the plot, it was more about how she dealt with it. It was also much more realistic as the vamps were apparently not a big secret in the town. I found the vampires in this book refreshing for a current young adult book as it seemed to stick to more traditional lore than, for example, the Twilight and House of Night series'. The only bit I wasn't sure about was that some of the vampires seem to be able to be out in day - although not in direct sunlight. However, as this hasn't actually been explained yet, I'm willing to be open minded. I just hope they don't go into sparkly or magic ring territory!

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. As I don't have a load of books this week, I'm going to give a little synopsis for each (from Goodreads).

Bought

None! Still resisting lol

For Review

Trickster's Girl - Hilari Bell   

In the year 2098 America isn't so different from the USA of today. But, in a post-9/11 security-obssessed world, "secured" doesn't just refer to borders between countries, it also refer to borders between states. Teenagers still think they know everything, but there is no cure for cancer, as Kelsa knows first-hand from watching her father die.
The night Kelsa buries her father, a boy appears. He claims magic is responsible for the health of Earth, but human damage disrupts its flow. The planet is dying. Kelsa has the power to reverse the damage, but first she must accept that magic exists and see beyond her own pain in order to heal the planet.

Won

Strange Angels - Lili St. Crow

Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)
Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—orwhoever— is hunting her?

Betrayal - Lili St. Crow 

She’s no angel . . .
Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she’s just learned that the blood flowing through her veins isn’t entirely human. (So what else is new?)
Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England School for other teens like her, and there’s a big problem— she’s the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn’t be so bad, but Dru’s killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide. . .
Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust—and maybe even her heart?

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
THE RED QUEEN – Philippa Gregory – Published August 19th in hardback  

'Saints' knees, Praise God, I have saints' knees. I am not yet ten years old, but I have saints' knees... Pray God I can meet their challenge and have a saint's end too' 

Daughter of one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France, heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her House is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her. Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI of England fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and even more when he sinks into madness; but worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales.

Married to a man twice her age, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy himself. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty she names him Henry, like the King, sends him into exile, and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth Woodville's daughter. She feigns loyalty to the usurper King Richard III, marries one of his faithful supporters and then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time- all the while knowing that her son is growing to manhood, coached by his uncle, Jasper Tudor, recruiting his army, his eyes on the greatest prize.

In a novel of conspiracy, passion and cold-hearted ambition, Number 1 bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.

Teaser Tuesday (10)

I missed Teaser Tuesday the last couple of weeks so I'm giving you two this week!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others.

* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Un Lun Dun - China Mieville

The startled raiders tried to aim at him. He kicked, then whirled his club at them, crackling with electricity.

Hush Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

On the drive home I allowed my thoughts a brief trip to Patch. Vee was right - something about him was incredibly alluring. And incredibly creepy.

Wind Warrior Trailer

Wind Back in April, Cynthia Roberts, guest posted on A Trillian Books as well as donating a signed copy of  Wind Warrior. The book is due out tomorrow (15 June) so I thought I'd share the trailer with you all.



www.romanceauthorcynthiaroberts.com