Review - Unraveled by Gena Showalter

Unraveled by Gena Showalter
Released: November 1, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 192 Pages
Format: Hardback
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5
Authors Site: Gena Showalter

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.

I found Unraveled to drag a bit compared to the awesomeness of Intertwined. Eveybody is still trying to come to terms with Aden becoming the king of the vampires and they still have the witch curse looming over there heads as well as creatures still spilling from the woodworks trying to get at the new king, a title that Aden so totally has confessed he does not want and ponders over why Riley cant be the new king but yet there is a nagging moment every time he thinks of giving up the title.

I am also getting so sick of Mary Ann. Cant she just die or get hit with a fallen meteor or something? She is just so pathetic and goody goody two shoes I cant stand her anymore. She finds out she may be a threat to Riley and she decides she must break up with him to save him. I'm rolling my eyes by this time thinking ohh good grief not another one of those freaking story lines where the couple must break up to save each other and it keeps going back n forth back n forth.

On another note I am really happy to see Victoria blossoming out of her shell with new colored clothes, smiling more, and learning how to let her hair down. She has come a long way in such a short while and still have her fighting spirit intact.

Review - Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
Released: November 1, 2011
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 192 Pages
Format: Hardback
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5
Authors Site: Todd Burpo

Burpo, a Wesleyan pastor in rural Nebraska, recounts the story of his son's mystic vision of heaven while the youngster was suffering from a near-fatal illness in the spring of 2003.

My mother told me a co-worker recommended this book to her and I was so thrilled when Thomas Nelson sent it to me for review even though I was skeptical of it a bit at first thinking like everybody else that this was another one of "those" books but was soon on a journey with the Burpo family as Todd gives us a blow by blow outline of events that lead up to his bizarre conversations with his son. It is told thru Colton's words (a childs words) and is simple to understand and just a beautiful heartwarming story of what he saw in Heaven.

Did Colton really see Heaven or is this just another elaborate ploy to make a quick buck (a work of pure fiction)? We may never know but I do know that we must have Faith and that sometimes Faith is blind and we just have to simply believe things we cant see with our own eyes. When all is said and done it really doesn't matter if this book is fact or fiction the message is still the same which is Heaven is for Real!

November TBR List

I saw where a few blogs do this each month and thought I would give it a try to have some sort of structure and outline of books I would like to get read in a months time and hopefully by doing so will help me to tame my ever growing TBR pile a bit. Um Yeaa I can dream right? lol In no particular order here is the tentative list for November's TBR List.

Fallen by Traci L Slatton
Triple Shot by Sandra Balzo
The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson
Rocky Road Trip by Catherine Clark
The Good Ghouls Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Found by Margaret P Haddix
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
Unraveled by Gena Showalter
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
STOMP OUT the Bullying by Angel McGowan






Hopefully I can get these done plus more but review books will obviously take precedence. So whats on your TBR List this month?

New to my Wishlist (1)

These are just books old or new that I found scouring the web, usually Goodreads, that I have since added to my wishlist.

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg *February 21st 2012 by Penguin Young Readers Group

This one just sounds a little different than what I have been reading and it peaked my interest and oh what a pretty cover!

BRIE'S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock *2012 by Katherine Tegen Books - Harper Collins Children's

No way could I not be excited about this one! WEREWOLVES!

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Fated by Sarah Alderson *January 5th 2012 by Simon & Schuster Childrens Book

Demon Slayer! I'm there!

What happens when you discover you aren't who you thought you were? And that the person you love is the person who will betray you? If your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

When Evie Tremain discovers that she’s the last in a long line of Demon slayers and that she’s being hunted by an elite band of assassins –Shapeshifters, Vampires and Mixen demons amongst them – she knows she can’t run. They’ll find her wherever she goes. Instead she must learn to stand and fight.

But when the half-human, half-Shadow Warrior Lucas Gray - is sent to spy on Evie and then ordered to kill her before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy, their fates become inextricably linked. The war that has raged for one thousand years between humans and demons is about to reach a devastating and inevitable conclusion. Either one or both of them will die before this war ends.

If your life becomes bound to another’s, what will it take to sever it?

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale *February 2nd 2012 by Simon & Schuster Childrens Books

I love this cover and the story sounds full of emotion and buried secrets. Kinda reminds me of VC Andrews stories which I loved!

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all...

Review - The Belonging by Eric Del Carlo

The Belonging by Eric Del Carlo
Released: October 6, 2011
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 261 KB
Format: EBook
Source: Publisher
Rating: 2/5
Authors Site: Eric Del Carlo

When first contact is made with the alien race Khondra, Flynn is excited and interested in the newcomers. So when a group of Khondra youngsters enroll in his high school, he'll do anything to be considered part of their clique.

But the most ordinary thngs are considered contraband for the Khondra. Flynn's longing to be just like his new friends leads him down a dangerous path. Will he really ever belong to the Khondra clique? Or, will he just learn to despise his humanity in the end?

While short the message in this story was still quite clear. Flynn has tried for so long to find a place in his own society and failed that when a new race makes contact he feels he has another chance to fit in someplace to the point of going out of his way to dress and change his skin color. Sadly Flynn has another lesson to learn which is you need to be yourself and no matter how much you change on the outside you still are who you are!

I liked the message of the story but still had some unanswered questions like what exactly did brazzhaf mean and why Flynn was such a social outcast to begin with?