Cover Love: Good Things Come in Threes

Hey Blogger Buds,

Often, I showcase covers that I'm swooning over one at a time, when they come out. But there have been so many amazing ones cropping up lately, and I can't keep up with them. So I've got a nice, pretty post for you. Three covers, one of which got a ton of buzz, one of which didn't, and one of which no one even heard of.
Good things come in threes, right?
Let's get on with it!
(Linkage to Goodreads)

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

You guys definitely heard of this one. It's kind of been everywhere. I'm not such a contemp lover, but I might as well give it a shot, and that cover is really captivating.  It's got the shiny sunny friendly beach thing going on...until you see the model's expression. In the words of Marlin: Good feelings gone.
This one's out on June 5th. So it's an...erm...light summer beach read?

Renegade by J. A. Souders

This one's a dystopian/fantasy. Princess/Messiah type of girl lives in an underwater kingdom. Meets a "surface-dweller" and discovers her life is lie. Etc, etc.
Anyways, gorgeous cover. Water, garden, pretty dress, random rose, long, lovely hair that I was kill for.
Swimming to a shelf near you sometime in 2012. I know, I'm helpful.

The Land of Stories

Notice how I left out the author up there? It's cuz I'm a total Gleek, and Chris Colfer is pretty much one of the most amazing people ever. He acts. He sings. He's proud to be gay. (Notice that I didn't put "he's gay" down, because gay/straight doesn't make up who a person is! But that's a rant for another time...)
And he writes.
Yes, Chris is writing this himself. He's not Hilary Duff, with a ghost writer. And he's not Tyra Banks, writing about "Tookie" (or something).
And I know that, like everything else that Chris Colfer does, this book will be amazing.
I'm ridiculously excited for The Land of Stories. I think it's an upper MG, but I don't really care. And isn't that cover amazing? The illustrator is Brandon Dorman, but I'm not sure if he did the cover. Comparing it to some of his other works (like Fablehaven), I think he did.
The cover has a wolf. And a palace. And a toad. That's wearing a suit. And princesses on the sides!
You can show your Chris Colfer love on July 17th. And really. Who wouldn't want to show their Chris Colfer love?


In other news: Totally check out Books Over Boys today. Momo, the supremely awesome blogger over there, is hosting a huge event dedicated to Angelfire! Today's post is all about CADAN. You probably know how much I love me some Cadan. I helped contribute. :) Go take a look!


Peace and Dressed-up Toads,
Riv

Current Music: Things I'll Never Say by Avril Lavigne (actually have my iPod on shuffle, and it reminds me just how remarkable my taste in music is...not to brag or anything ;P)

What do you think of these covers?

A Post of Randomness

Hey Blogger Buds,
Okay, I have a few random things to share today! Long post, so the key words are bolded. ;)

1) The epicness that is Courtney Allison Moulton is hosting a giveaway. You guys may remember Fear The Reaper from last year. And it's back! And it's awesome. Like, seriously. And CAM is totally giving away epic things. And this week she's offering us a Cadan song. If anyone stalks CAM's comments (No? Just me?) you'll know how I love me some Cadan. (Puck, don't worry, you're still my first pick, but come on! When you can come up with a ship name as epic as Rivdan then I'll turn all of my attention to you.)

2) Merlin. Why did it take me so long to discover this gift from heaven? Best. Show. Ever. It beats Glee. And Legend of the Seeker. And if you're a fan of LotS, you totally need to check out Merlin. And if you're obsessed with Merlin, watch LotS STAT. (And LotS is based on a book. And Merlin on a legend... See! I can tie this into books sort of!) The two shows are really similar, though Legend of the Seeker is much darker than Merlin.
Anyway. I'm in total heart with this show. Two seasons (26 episodes) in 5 days. And I think I replayed every Merlin-Arthur scene at least twice. Trying to slow down now. WHY must I wait for September for Season 5?
(And, FYI, I'm not really one for slash, and I love Arthur-Guinevere, but a weird little part of me is a total Merthur shipper.)
Sorry. I'll stop the Merlin fangirlling now.

3) On Sunday I've got some cover showcasing planned! Some awesome covers were released recently, and I'm going to unleash the epicness on you in one great big blow.

4) I have a new guilty pleasure: manga/anime. Not a big deal. I went through Fruits Basket a while ago, and I wasn't sure if I could love any manga/anime (read and watch at the same time) as much. But DNAngel is fantastic. (WHY is Vic Mignogna so epic?) (And WHY is Dark so epic?) I'm in total love.

5) I just finished an awesome book that was gifted to me by Pirate Penguin Reads. It's called Rock On. I flew through it. Review to come.

Sorry for the rambles. But it's my blog. So you're stuck with me.

Rock on,
Riv

(How many times did I write "epic" in this post?)

Ditched Review

Hey Blogger Buds,
Long time, no speaky! I feel terrible, having not posted a review in over a month, and having so many books I really want to review! Today, I've got Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom. I won my copy from Laura Pauling, and, of course, all opinions expressed here are my own.
*This is a review of an ARC. The book is already out, so make sure to pick up a finished copy!*
Linkies are all down below, but, in case you forget, make sure to add Ditched on Goodreads!

Blurby (Goodreads):
High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.
Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together — stain by stain on her thrift-store dress — exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag's moving car...
But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love.

Review:
Most of you probably know that I'm not a big contemporary lover. Occasionally, I'll pick up a hysterical one, or an "issues" book. But I'm not so big on your everyday, fluffy, "Oh Em Gee my life is over!" type of book. I've got more important things to worry about than if the jock is in like with you or not.
So it's a good thing that Ditched isn't one of those books.
Sure, it's about being in love. And it's about your personal 12/21/12 coming a few months early, but it's also about finding unexpected friends, and trusting people, and just stopping to care about consequences-for once!-and just doing it.
Ditched isn't a particularly deep book. It's brilliantly funny, and if you like fluffy, rainbows-and-kittens brain-candy, this is fantastic. If you care for the deeper stuff, you won't come away satisfied. If you, like me, rarely give contemps a second glance, it may not even be worth it to bother.

But I'm being too general. You may be asking "but what about the characters, Riv‽" (and yes, I just used an interrobang.)
In a word (or not): They're nearly real.
Sure, Justina is kind of.. melodramatic, and falls in love in a little too quickly, but she's made mistakes, and she tries to fix them...and, fortunately for us, her antics are incredibly entertaining, if sometimes futile.
Ian was kind of awesome, though we didn't see much of him, but a bit annoying in the perfect-boy way. (Why are all main boy characters so perfect? Argh.)

This book is written really differently than what I'm used to. It opens up with Justina waking up on the side of the road. And then, every other chapter, it returns to the night before as she recounts her disastrous evening. But the book wasn't full of telling, in each flashback, we're actually transported to the event. And the book has the added bonus of pictures in the beginning of each "flashback" chapter as Justina recounts her night by the gross stains all over her dress, from the chicken marsala to the curry to the mysterious one at the hem of her dress...and there's also the dyed shoes she put it on, actually [read: accidentally] listening to her mother's advice.


Overall:
Ditched is fantastic for those moments when you want to kill a few hours, and just laugh at a good book. (If you've got things to do, don't even start. I killed an entire afternoon, sitting and reading this straight.)

Rating: 4* Good book, pretty good writing, well worth it.

Amazon LibraryThing B&N

This Is Not a Blog Post

You're not reading this. Or, at least, you won't be, if SOPA is passed.

Hiatus

Hey Blogger Buds,
This definitely isn't the first time I'm doing this. As school work gets more insane, and teachers pile up the tests, I need to take a break. I'm still reading blogs, and I'm still checking comments and emails, but there won't be another blog post until Thursday, the 19th, or Sunday the 22nd.

Sorry. I'll miss you, Blogger Buds. Wish me luck in surviving the next 2 weeks. ;)

Peace,
Riv

12 Books Of 2012

Hey Blogger Buds,
How's the new year going? Getting into any of those resolutions yet? Finished a book? Ate healthier? Lost those stupid 2 pounds that are clinging on for dear life, and REFUSE to be burned away yet, darn them and all of their--*ahem* Sorry.
Some of you may have noticed that I didn't post a "Top 10 or 2011" or a top 11. Instead I did a group of "faves." I don't know why I'm not going to share my favorite books. Maybe because I'm disappointed that some of the books I wanted to love I really didn't? There was at least one book like that, that had everything I could ever want in a book, but was a total #epiclyepicfail.

Instead, I'm going to take a look at the 11 books I was looking forward to this time last year, and another 12. Some overlap, some have some interesting connections...

What I was most looking forward to in 2011:

I got my info from this post at the end of 2010.

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

It nearly lived up to my expectations

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

It's still not out. The release date was wrong :(

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

This one was amazing, but also slightly disappointing

Iron Queen+Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

I read The Iron Queen. It was the best book of the series, I think. I have The Iron Knight sitting next to my bed, but I'm pushing it off as much as possible, even though I want to dive into it.

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

I started reading it, but I got bored. I'm going to pick it up again, but the first time around I couldn't get into it.

Steel by Carrie Vaughn

The summary kind of made it more interesting than it was, but it was still pretty good

Shur'tugal Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

It was...surprisingly amazing. Didn't like the ending, though.

Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel

Like Bitterblue, the release date was wrong and it's not out yet.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I have it sitting on my shelf (bought from Borders!) but I haven't read it yet.

Vanish by Sophie Jordan

I wasn't interested enough to read it, actually.

Illusions by Aprilynne Pike

Fabulous, killer cliff-hanger ending. I NEED Destined!

Top 12 of 2012

While going through Goodreads, I realized that this was a really, really hard list to make. I have 47 (I know, that's very little) books currently on my Unreleased shelf, for 2012. Most of those I'm really excited for. Cutting out the last two books was the hardest, but here I am, with 12 books. Most will end up being sequels, as the drive to read sequels is usually greater than the drive to start a new series. For me, at least.

Note: Some books don't have titles yet. They're listed by their series name, if that's available.

There's no specific order to this.

Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Release Date: January 10 (almost there!)

I've read Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side twice, and it was fabulous. I was so excited to learn of the sequel!

Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

Release Date: January 31

I've read some really evil teasers of this one...

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Release Date: February 28

Considering the ending of Delirium, the end of February couldn't come fast enough!

Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel

Release Date: April 6

I mentioned this in the first half of my blog post. I really want this!

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Release Date: April 24

Another Julie book! And it's post-apocalyptic! I just hope she doesn't ruin in with the vampires...

Quaranteen by Lex Thomas

Release Date: April 24

This book isn't a Big Deal, but it's a plot that I've always wanted to read. A bomb or something (a "mysterious explosion") is dropped on their school and, in not so many words, turns all teenagers into zombies that are dangerous to all adults and kids. Soon, all the teachers are dead, and the school is quarantined by the government. All the cliques become gangs, and MC and his brother are hated by the Varsity, the most evilest gang. >:[. It sounds awesomesauce.

Bitterblue!!!!! by Kristin Cashore

Release Date: May 1

I've been looking forward to this for so long. It's my numero uno of 2012.

Destined by Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: May 1

Like I mentioned in part one, Illusions had a killer ending, and I need dis book!

Timepiece by Myra McEntire

Release Date: June 12

I only recently read Hourglass, and it was absolutely amazing. I was completely wowed, way more than I expected.

Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh

This is up there with Bitterblue and Julie's books. Kelly is amazing.

Iron Fey Spinoff by Julie Kagawa

Release Date: 2012 (no date on Goodreads, I think it's in the second half of the year)

If you haven't heard the news yet, it's a pleasure to break it to you: Julie is bringing us back to the Nevernever!

Princess Academy #2 by Shannon Hale

Release Date: 2012 (no date on Goodreads. I think I read somewhere September, though...?)

Yup! There's a sequel! I can't wait!

And, for my last trick, I want to see if there are any comparisons between 2011's and '12's books.

In 2011: Angelfire

In 2012: Wings of the Wicked

In 2011: Bitterblue

In 2012: Bitterblue (still)

In 2011: The Iron Queen

In 2012: The Iron Fey Spinoff (and Immortal Rules)

In 2011: Stolen Nights

In 2012: Stolen Nights

In 2011: Illusions

In 2012: Destined

5 out of my 11 books/series secured special places in my heart to make me continue them. <3

Peace and New Year's Resolutions,

Riv

Am I Forgetting Something?

Hey Blogger Buds,
I'm going to try to give you guys a post about books I'm looking forward to this year on Tuesday, but today I feel like I'm forgetting something...

*gazes off into the distance, looking thoughtful*

Anyway, while I try to remember, I just wanted to let you know that Maggie Freakin' Stiefvater is hosting a contest. And I wanted to share with you guys one of my favorite posts of hers!
As some of you know, a few months back, I posted about the death of Diana Wynne Jones. It was a small tribute. Nothing special. The same day, Maggie wrote a truly touching post about DWJ. It wasn't filled to the brim with Maggie's hysterics, but it was one of her best posts ever.

Anyways, back to your regular scheduled programming. What was it again that I needed to tell you?

*snaps* Right! I remember now!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Peace and new beginnings,
Riv