The Bursting Bookshelf

 
Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

Review:
This is a book that I have been meaning to get to for quite some time. When it initially came out there were a lot of mixed reviews, you either loved it or hated it. I finally dug into when HarperTeen announced their 10 eBooks for 99 cents deal, I couldn't resist the opportunity to finally get to read it. I read it fairly quickly, but when I had finished I was very disappointed with it. To start off, there was so much slang used that it really took away from the story because not much of it was explained to the reader. Another point that was not good for the story was the lack of parents or people who were against the teenage pregnancies, only those obsessed with making money off of them were featured. The story was a little too fast, not ever really getting into the details of things or the society, not providing the reader with necessary information. The book was set in two points of view, that of Harmony and Melody, the twins the story follows. I found both to be rather indecisive and never quite sticking to their beliefs. Overall I give Bumped a 2/5 for being a book that did not hook my attention very well at all.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event held by Jill over at Breaking The Spine! It's all about those books you just can't wait for and are counting down the days till they come out. This week I chose Goddess Interupted by Aimee Carter:

Hey everyone, I just finished my new blog layout and I would like your opinions! I tried to incorporate all of your suggestions from the blog survey; follow by email, Twitter and Goodreads Buttons, brighten up the theme, dark text on light background and a new header! I really tried to improve everything and make it more enjoyable to visit and read my site. So what do you think?

Here is the great big long list of books I read in 2011. It was a very successful reading year for me, and I can only hope that I can read as many next year.

Review:
I went into this book with a tired mind towards dystopian books. I've read a lot of them lately and I was beginning to tire of them because of similarities within many of the books. Delirium, however, restored my faith in the originality of this genre. The story was fast paced, and unique with a lot of personality. The story was not only good, but it was realistic and believable to the reader. The writing was great, it had a distinct style to it that helped portray the innocence of Lena and her unknowing attitude towards all outside of what she was taught. Lena was a great character because she was able to adapt to her situation even when she was taught the wrong morals her entire life. Alex wasn't too pushy about being in love with Lena to make her more comfortable, putting her before himself all the time. Altogether this was a great read that I would recommend to anyone who wants a great dystopian read, or who enjoyed the Hunger Games. I give Delirium a 5/5 for originality, style and for being all around awesome with a terrible/ great cliffhanger to boot.

It's finally the big day, and I hope you guys have a great day and get a ton of great books!

Merry Christmas from Anna Tee at the Bursting Bookshelf!

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature done by The Story Siren.

For Review:

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith (Thanks to Hachette Book Group Canada)

Bought (all eBooks):


Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski
Hereafter by Tara Hudson
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
The Unidentified Rae Mariz
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
Vesper by Jeff Sampson
Lucky by Rachel Vail

All of these books were bought on Kobo from HarperTeen's Ten eBooks for 99 cents sale!


Gifts:


The Last Scrifice by Richelle Mead
Saving June by Hannah Harrington

What if you were mankind’s last chance at survival?


Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.


Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.


But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?

Review:
I won this book in a recent giveaway, I wanted to read it because I had heard many different things about it; it was very similar to the House of Night and some mixed reviews. I decided that I needed to make my mind up for myself. On the note of similarities to the House of Night, I enjoyed this book far more than any of the House of Night series. This book worked vampires into a school setting in a different way with different mechanics in the vampires that was interesting and realistic as well as good to the storyline. The writing was fairly good, nothing out of the ordinary, but it provided all the necessary information. The characters were one of my favourite aspects of this book, I found Bianca to be strong and favor-able, and of the two male leads, I found that enjoyed Balthazar more than Lucas, he seemed more trustworthy and like-able to me. Overall, I would choose this book over the House of Night because not only does it have vampires in an academy, it also has a strong heroine, I give this book a 4/5.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event held by Jill over at Breaking The Spine! It's all about those books you just can't wait for and are counting down the days till they come out. This week I chose Black Heart by Holly Black:

Review:
Recently I was lucky enough to get to attend one of the stops on the Smart Chicks Kick It 2.0 tour, getting to meet Beth Revis. I had been waiting to get my hands on her book for quite some time, so getting to meet her and get it signed was awesome. She was amazing, and her book was too. I have never really read anything Sci-Fi before, so this was an adventure out of my comfort zone. This book works dystopian and Sci-Fi together to make a combination that jives and works extremely well together. The writing was amazing, building the plot with details and personality. There was a style to the writing that was almost poetic, the text had shape at times, it was staggered to exaggerate the feelings of the narrator. The book had two narrators, alternating between that of Elder and Amy. I enjoyed both points of view equally, both were very different due to their opposite backgrounds. Amy was a strong heroine, trying to fit in, but not letting herself get pushed around. Elder was initially very obedient to orders, but as the story progressed he began to see that he had a mind of his own and he could use it to the fullest potential. The story itself progressed at a breakneck pace, there was always something happening to or around the characters, providing a net to catch the reader's attention with. The book ended on a note of suspense, leaving the reader questioning many of the things they had concluded from the story. I finished this book in two days, I found it to be hugely addictive and a great read all around, I give it a 5/5.

Well, we made it to round two! Now the challenge is to keep Meghan in the running to get her to round three. Please go vote for Meghan her at the YA Sisterhood TODAY! Let's get Meghan to the next round! If you would like to help even more, tweet using #heroinetourney and #teammeghan !

Thanks you guys, you rock!

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature done by The Story Siren.

Gift:


Dragon's Oath by PC Cast and Kristin Cast

Won:

Under My Skin by Judith Graves

Hello everyone, I have decided to compile a list of 2012 books that both look and sound great! Please leave the books you're excited for in the comments. Mine is pretty long, how about yours?

A Million Suns by Beth Revis


Dreamless by Josephine Angelini


Of Poseidon by Anna Banks


The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Savannah Colbert has never known why she's so hated by the kids of the Clann. Nor can she deny her instinct to get close to Clann golden boy Tristan Coleman. Especially when she recovers from a strange illness and the attraction becomes nearly irresistible. It's as if he's a magnet, pulling her gaze, her thoughts, even her dreams. Her family has warned her to have nothing to do with him, or any members of the Clann. But when Tristan is suddenly everywhere she goes, Savannah fears she's destined to fail.
Review:
Often, I pick books because the cover calls to me and the summary sounds good. This book has a nice cover, but the summary was very vague, not really telling the reader anything about the book. I decided to go for it, but looking back, I really with I hadn't. It simply fell far too short of my non existent expectations. My largest problem with this book was the cheesy-ness of the witches and vampires. I found them to be too stereotypical and too flat. On the character side of things, I didn't really like Savanah or Tristan, Savanah was too self centered and dramatic for my taste and Tristan was too hot and cold in his emotions. The writing was OK, but I felt it was fairly bland and not very memorable, but it did convey all the necessary information for the book. The story was too slow for me and not very exciting pretty much all the way through, not much action occurred. Overall, I give this book a 1.5/5 for being a pretty big disappointment, in my opinion.



For years, Tristan has been forbidden to even speak to Savannah Colbert. Then Savannah disappears from school for a week and comes back…different, and suddenly he can't stay away. Boys seem intoxicated just from looking at her. His own family becomes stricter than ever. And Tristan has to fight his own urge to protect her, to be near her no matter the consequences….

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event held by Jill over at Breaking The Spine! It's all about those books you just can't wait for and are counting down the days till they come out. This week I chose The Calling by Kelley Armstrong:

Review:
I won this book from a giveaway a long time ago and just the other day I decided it was time to get going on reading it. Wow, it only took me a short while to read this book because it really moved fast when you got into it. My only problem with this book was how short it was, it could have used a little more background detail before really getting going into the book. The characters in this book were full of surprises, creating a lot of suspense and surprise. They were able to scare you, make you feel and make you scared for them. The writing of the book was fairly good, very descriptive of the then and there, but not as much about the past and the dynamics of some of the character relationships. I enjoyed how the book title was brought into play several times, it gave the sense of full circle. In the end, I would have liked a bit more conclusive ending rather than leaving the reader hanging like it did. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes horror movies or stories or anyone who just wants to be creeped out. I give Choker a 4/5 for being a great, creepy read.

Hey everyone, since my blog has been open for over a year now, I decided that it was about time to see your opinions on it. Fill out the survey below, and after you will be given a link to an exclusive thank you giveaway of two SIGNED bookmarks.

Thank you all for your input, I hope I can better your reading experience here.

Review:
I have been on the fence about getting this book for quite some time now. I was hesitant because I worried about how respectfully written the book would be, but when I saw that it was in International Paperback edition at a bookstore, I decided to go for it. I have never read any of Claudia's other books though, so I had no idea what to expect. I found myself quite enjoying the book; I got wrapped up in the time and in the flow of the story, with one key exception: the end. I found the end to be too much wish fulfillment to be anywhere near believable or good for the story. I won't say anymore for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but I was not impressed with the ending at all. As for the characters, they were a little too dramatic at times, especially the family Tessa worked for. I found them often fussing over fairly insignificant things when much bigger and more important things were happening before them. The story kept moving at a fairly good pace, only at the very beginning did it ever feel too slow, but it soon got faster. Even though I knew one of the major events of the book, it did not really take away from the quality, so I give Fateful a 3.5/5 for being a mostly good read with some major flaws.

So Follow my Blog Friday is a meme held by Parajunkee and it's where you answer the weekly question and then link yourself and you go and check out other blogs of your interest.

Q: Keeping with the Spirit of Giving this season, what book do you think EVERYONE should read and if you could, you would buy it for all of your family and friends?

Easy- Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I have already given it to friends and convinced them to buy copies. If you haven't read it yet, you are missing out on a great book.

Review:
When I got offered a review copy of this book, I was a little skeptical about it, but I decided to give it a chance. When I actually read it, I was very pleasantly surprised about how interesting and well written the book was. In fact, I ended up reading the book in a single day because I couldn't put it down.

The cover of the book was not one of my favourite aspects of the book. My biggest complaint was that 50 Cent's name was larger than the title. I do however, like the way the colours were incorporated into the title and Butterball's sweater. The font of the title was rough, showing Butterball's past was not smooth sailing. I like how having Butterball leaning up against the words gave the reader a more accurate mental image while reading the book.

The characters of this story were surprisingly deep in characteristics. Butterball was both the the protagonist and the antagonist of this book. He went through huge amounts of growth during the period of this novel, but he started out as a bully; he was his own problem. Butterball's problems stemmed with the fact that he didn't have a good relationship with his father and he didn't have much of a creative outlet, and to add to all of it, he was forced to move from the action of the big city and his friends to a quieter area and a school with few friends. His father, who he looked up to and respected, was a very poor influence, adding to Butterball's issues. His mother was one of his only positive influences, she turned her life around and was finding happiness. Liz was Butterball's counselor and his other good influence, talking to him constantly to find out what made him tick.

Though this book was a celebrity book, which I generally stay away from, I found this one to be very insightful into the bully's mind and home life. I liked the honesty that went into the writing, how Curtis (50 Cent) was able to feed from his own past to give the story and writing life and build a stronger book. With the aid of his co-author Laura Moser, the writing was a great aspect of this novel. It carried the description needed to make the story memorable. The story was told through Butterball's point of view, but the interesting aspect was that a lot of the twists were revealed through his counseling sessions with Liz, giving another layer of depth to the importance of his growth throughout the course of the book.

Overall, I give Playground a 4/5 for being a good book with a lot of insight into it's topic matter. I would recommend this book to any fan of 50 Cent or anyone who wants a good redemption story.

 
 
From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.

Let the lying game begin.

Review:
After finishing the latest Pretty Little Liars book, I decided I had to begin Sara's other series, The Lying Game. I went into the book with fairly high expectations after reading the Pretty Little Liars books, but I simply found that this book did not live up to her legacy as much as I had hoped it would. The premise was fairly good, maybe over done, but good sounding nonetheless. When the premise was brought to life by the book however, it just did not deliver. The characters were alright, I did not find them to be standouts, but they were enjoyable enough to read. The best part of the book for me was the point of view it was told in; from the point of view of the dead twin, Sutton, who watches over Emma, the live one, but cannot interact with her. It was so different from anything else I have ever read, it really added to the quality of the story. The story was slow to begin with, but as I said, the point of view added to the enjoyment. The story did pick up around halfway through, getting better and better as it went, almost a snowball effect. I would recommend this book to fans of Sara Shepard's who want a light, quick read. I give this book a 3.5/5 for being a good start to a series, one that I will be continuing in hopes of more action later on.

In My Mailbox is a weekly feature done by The Story Siren.

For Review:


Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (THANKS TO HARPERCOLLINS CANADA)
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (THANKS TO HARPERCOLLINS CANADA)

Okay everyone, now is our time to shine! Meghan's round is up and it's up to you guys to get her to the second round of the Heroine Tourney. Click here to vote for Meghan. Voting ends tonight, so be sure do vote soon!

1) How did you get the idea for Hushed?

From Archer. He came first. I had the idea for his character and began fleshing him out in my head by asking myself questions. He kills people for the girl he's in love with. Why? Because they did something terrible to her. What makes him change? Evan. And so on.

2) What was your favourite scene to write?

Ohh, that's tricky. Let's see if I can do this without spoiling anything. I enjoyed Archer and Evan's "just bones" conversation. I loved the dialogue in that, and Archer's state of mind at that point in the story was so fragile. I also loved Archer's with his mom at the funeral, or the big hospital scene.

3) Did you have a character that was more difficult to write?

No, not really. Evan's got a lot more going on in his head than he always lets show, so I had to dig deeper with him to figure out what his motivations and driving forces were.

4) Did you find the end of Hushed changed from how you planned it?

The ending changed more than once! When I first started, the entire story was meant to take a different path (although I didn't have an outline written or anything). As I wrote, that changed, and thus so did the ending I had in mind. Then the ending that I stuck with was altered during edits with my publisher, which I think is great because I love the changes.

5) What are three things you can't live without?I'll assume people don't count. In which case, my computer, my music, and probably my warm, comfy throw blankets.

'Kelley York delivers in this impressive debut. I was at the edge of my
seat waiting to see what would happen next! Bottom line, this was
unputdownable!!!' --- YA Fantasy Guide ---

Author Bio:

Kelley was born and raised in central California, where she still resides
with her lovely wife, daughter, and an abundance of pets. (Although she
does fantasize about moving across the globe to Ireland.) She has a
fascination with bells, adores all things furry - be them squeaky, barky
or meow-y - is a lover of video games, manga and anime, and likes to
pretend she's a decent photographer. Her life goal is to find a real
unicorn. Or maybe a mermaid.

Within young adult, she enjoys writing and reading a variety of genres
from contemporary with a unique twist, psychological thrillers,
paranormal/urban fantasy and horror. She loves stories where character
development takes center stage.

Kelley's website: http://www.kelley-york.com/blog

Hushed - Synopsis:

He's saved her. He's loved her. He's killed for her.

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn't protect his best friend, Vivian, from
what happened when they were kids, so he's never stopped trying to protect
her from everything else. It doesn't matter that Vivian only uses him when
hopping from one toxic relationship to another - Archer is always there,
waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who's ever cared about Archer
without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more
Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders
Archer's committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn
him in if she doesn't get what she wants...And what she wants is Evan's
death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hushed-Kelley-York/dp/1937044742
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hushed-kelley-york/1033904538