Welcome! I'm Riv Re, teenager and aspiring author. I post Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Tuesdays are for book reviews; Thursdays are for a weekly meme called "Character Dolls," which showcases character depictions I made online; and on Sundays I just wing it.
This blog is for my writing misadventures, my reviews, ramblings, and rants. My favorite genre is fantasy, so expect a lot of the unusual.

Warning: I've got an awful sense of humor. Don't blame me if you keel up and die from reading the jokes I crack.
Notice: I hold no responsibility for any deaths caused by previously mentioned jokes.

Enjoy and happy reading!

Current Book Showcase-Starling by Lesley Livingston Trailer!
(What's Book Showcase? Click HERE!)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Moaning on Monday (On Tuesday) Over Future Releases!

Hey Blogger Buds,
Today I'm going to discuss a few books I've been "moaning about" as I anticipate their release. They're coming out...eventually. All of these books are YA except for Night Whispers.
(This post took a REALLY long time to write; I ended on Tuesday.)
Note: Sequel summaries contain spoilers of previous books.
All links go to Amazon.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games, bk 3)
Release Date: August 24th (I know this is already out, but I still haven't read it!)
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.
My Hunger Games review is 
here.



Unraveled by Gena Showalter (Intertwined, bk 2)


Release Date: August 31st (yeah, it's today. So? I still want it! I just finished the first book Sunday night.)
Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he's supposed to be crowned Vampire King—while still a human! Well, kind of.
With four—oops, three now—human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been "different" himself. These souls can time-travel, raise the dead, possess another's mind and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.
The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.
Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn't about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life….

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, bk 1)
Release Date: August 31st (again, out today but whatever)
Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.
But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.



Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Release Date: September 7
With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda's rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can't resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she's risking not only her life but the draki's most closely guarded secret.




Release Date: September 7th
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.


Torment by Lauren Kate (Fallen, bk 2)
Release Date: September 28th
Hell on earth.
That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous.
What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?


Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Caster Chronicles, bk 2)
Release Date: October 12th
Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.
Sometimes life-ending.
Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.
A short review of mine of Beautiful Creatures is here.

Trance by Linda Gerber

Release Date: October 14th
It begins with a subtle vibration, a tingling.
There is time to take only one breath.
The trance begins.
When it is through, Ashlyn is certain of two things:
Someone she knows is about to die.
And she is powerless to stop it.










Night Whispers (Warriors: Omen of the Stars #3)Night Whispers by Erin Hunter (Warriors: Omen of the Stars, bk 3)
Release Date: November 23rd
The deadly battle between ThunderClan and ShadowClan is finally over. Now the three cats who are prophesied to hold the power of the stars in their paws—Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovepaw—are more determined than ever to stop the flow of evil into ThunderClan. But they will soon discover that this evil comes from places even StarClan can’t reach.
Night Whispers is chock-full of the epic adventure and daring feats that have made Warriors a blockbuster series. With more than eight million Warriors books sold and each new title hitting the New York Times bestseller list, the series continues to soar with this fourth arc.

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher (Incarceron, bk 2)
Release Date: December 28th
Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don't even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique.

Razorland by Ann Aguirre
Release Date: January 4th
In Deuce's world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed 'brat' has trained into one of three groups-Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.
As a Huntress, her purpose is clear--to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She's worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing's going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce's troubles are just beginning.
Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn't like following orders. At first she thinks he's crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don't always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she's never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.
As Deuce's perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy... but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.


The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa (The Iron Fey, bk 3)
Release Date: February 1st
The official summary hasn't been released yet, but there's an excerpt here.
A review or MM of the Iron Daughter to come.












Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (Angelfire, bk 1)
Release Date: February 15
When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers–monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell–she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between Seraphim and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.
A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of fighting the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie’s powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her–an assassin who has already killed her once.
While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting extracurriculars, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to destroy Ellie’s soul forever, ending her rebirth cycle. Now, she must face an army of Bastian’s most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives–including truths that may be too frightening to remember.





Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel (Vampire Queen, bk 2)

Release Date: March 15th
No description yet. My review for Infinite Days is here.

These books haven't been given a cover yet! :(
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Seven Kingdoms, bk 3)
Release Date:April 1st
(Quote from KC's site) Book 3, tentatively titled Bitterblue and currently in progress, is a companion book to both Gracelingand Fire and takes place in the seven kingdoms six years after Graceling. As you may have gathered, the protagonist is Bitterblue. Yes, Katsa, Po, and others from Graceling whom I'm not yet willing to name do appear in the book. I don't know yet when it'll be coming out, and heartily invite you not to ask ^_^. That's all I can say about it at this point.
My Graceling review is here.
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (Wolves of Mercy Falls, bk 3)
Release Date: July
Final book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.
My Linger review is here.
Eragon Book 4 by Christopher Paolini (Inheritance Cycle, bk 4)
Release Date: Possibly in the next decade, but not definite.
No title, no cover, no description.


What are you waiting for?


Peace,
RR


Current Music: It's My Life/Confessions Gleed version
Current Mood: Sleepy....




Guess what? My contest is STILL open!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Re-Create A Cover Contest: The Emerald Talisman

Hey Blogger Buds,
So La Femme Readers is having a Re-Create a Cover Contest! The book is The Emerald Talisman. So I decided to give it a shot and enter. Now, the other entries are much better, but why not? I've been meaning to the read TET anyways.
And now, slightly more ado, and then, I'll get on with it*, this isn't my post for today. Soon, I'll have a post Moaning on Monday, about books to LIVE for (yes I know that phrase is overly used) that are coming out...not soon enough.
So here's my cover!
Summary: To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.


Click the link above to go enter!


Peace,
RR


*That was for Maggie Stiefvater.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

I'm Back!

Hey Blogger Buds,
I got back on Tuesday, as planned, but, as you noticed, there has not been a post here since the day before I left. Let me explain why;
On the day I left, I was busy presetting posts. I had no time.
Neither did I have time to preset the posts after I wrote them, so you had no posts for the time I was away.
As for the past two days, I was busy checking my 250+ e-mails, sleeping, and trying to catch up on blogs. (I still am only halfway through my blogs.)

So, on to the post.
While I was away, I got some writing done. I also got over most of my I"m-an-awful-writer stage. I even picked up Iron Daughter. (It rained one day when we had some stuff planned, so we went to a mall.) I smuggled the book and read it over the month. It was awesome and breathtaking. I wrote a Midway Mention, which I'll be posting as I'm too swamped to post a review.
While I was away, I got mail, too!(!!!!) I received three packages; a book I won on Goodreads, a bribe gift of 3 books, and Lost for Words, from HarperTeen. I have no idea why I got the book, because I don't remember winning it anywhere. If you remember how I got it, I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know.
I'm also thinking about doing NanoWriMo.
Through all this, my ancient computer crashed, but my lovely brother saved my entire folder, of ALL of my EVERYTHING.
And I still want to update the blog some more.

But more on that later. Today I'm just saying hi and giving you a little reminder.

In case you've been living under a rock and there's been an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane, and a tsunami where you live, remember that Mockingjay came out two days ago, on the 24th, the day I came back.


Peace,
Riv

Current Music: Northern Downpour by Panic at the Disco
Current Mood: Tired