Inhuman (Fetch #1)

Author: Kat Falls
Goodreads Rating: 4.07
Pages: 384
Format: ARC

In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

A World Without Princes (The School for Good and Evil #2)

Author: Soman Chainani
Goodreads rating: 4.14
Pages: 433
Format: Final Copy from BEA14

In the epic sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The School for Good and Evil, Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected.

When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.

Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.

Soman Chainani has created a spectacular world that Newbery Medal-winning author Ann M. Martin calls, “a fairy tale like no other, complete with romance, magic, and humor that will keep you turning pages until the end.”

Loch Ness (The Cryptid Files #1)

Author: Jean Flitcroft
Goodreads rating: 3.68
Pages: 182
Format: ARC

Vanessa’s dreams are haunted by cryptids and she longs to complete her mother’s search for Nessie, the most famous one of them all. Can she finally solve the mystery of Loch Ness? She gets her chance on a surprise trip to Scotland, but no one could have foreseen the consequences. Set against the eerie stillness of the loch, The Cryptid Files: Loch Ness is a magical story filled with suspense and adventure.

The Hypnotists (The Hypnotists #1)

Author: Gordon Korman
Goodreads Rating: 3.8
Page: 232
Format: ARC

Jackson Opus has always been persuasive, but he doesn't know that he's descended from the two most powerful hypnotist bloodlines on the planet. He's excited to be accepted into a special program at the Sentia Institute -- but when he realizes he's in over his head, Jackson will have to find a way to use his powers to save his friends, his parents, and his government.

Kiss of Broken Glass Blog Tour

Hello my dears! Welcome! Welcome to today's special on the blog, we're going to be hosting a stop for the Kiss of Broken Glass Blog Tour. What is this Kiss of Broken Glass that I speak of? Find out below!

In the next 72 hours, Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her freedom, and maybe even herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took to get her sent to the psych ward for 72 hours. There she will face her addiction to cutting, though the outcome is far from certain.
In the ward, Kenna meets other kids like her—her roommate, Donya, who's there for her fifth time; the birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her forget her problems . . . for a moment.

Madeleine Kuderick's gripping debut is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect for fans of Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.


I read this book while on the plane back from ALA Annual in Vegas, it was a super quick read told in verse that will make you go looking for every book you can because you don't want it to be over. Told like many Ellen Hopkins books, this book isn't afraid to touch on the big issues. Do I have your attention now? To learn more about the brains behind this book, you can read about Madeleine Kuderick below.

About the Author:

Madeleine Kuderick writes contemporary YA fiction and poetry. She is published in anthologies and
magazines and has spoken at International Reading Association conferences and similar venues. Madeleine has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and an MBA from Saint Leo University.

My question!

What social media site opened the author’s ears to all those voices “waiting to be heard”?

For your chance to win a box of ARCS from HarperTeen check out this Rafflecopter!

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To check out the rest of the Blog Tour you can visit them here:

Dec. 1 - The Irish Banana Review
Dec. 2 - Paperback Princess
Dec. 3 - Winterhaven Books
Dec. 4 - The Book Addict's Guide
Dec. 5 - Alice Marvels

Gameboard of Gods (Age of X #1)

Author: Richelle Mead
Goodreads rating: 3.86
Pages: 448
Format: Final Copy from BEA

 In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

Stitching Snow

Author: R.C. Lewis
Goodreads rating: 3.93
Pages: 338

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

A Thousand Pieces of You

Author: Claudia Gray
Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 357
Format: Finished Copy from the Publisher

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12)

Author: J.R. Ward
Goodreads rating: 4.34
Pages: 593

J.R. Ward's # 1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood continues as a royal bloodline is compromised by a grave threat to the throne.

Long live the King…

After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, finally assumed his father’s mantle--with the help of his beloved mate. But the crown sets heavily on his head. As the war with the Lessening Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything--and everyone--at risk.

Beth Randall thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure blooded vampire on the planet: An easy ride was not it. But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response--or the distance it creates between them.

The question is, will true love win out... or tortured legacy take over?

Melt by Selene Castrovilla

Author: Selene Castrovilla 
Goodreads Rating: 3.75
Pages: 270 
Format: ARC 

MELT is a brutal love story set against the metaphorical backdrop of The Wizard of Oz (not a retelling). When sixteen year old Dorothy moves to the small town of Highland Park, she meets, and falls for Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism? 

Told in dual first person, Joey’s words are scattered on the page – reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason – until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away?

Top Ten Tuesday (#3)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Well, it's been a while. I have no excuse except that perhaps I'm a bit of a lazy blogger. I'm also a very slow reader so you'll notice that there are a lot of series I should have started a long time ago but didn't. Hope to fix that soon! Let me know what you think I need to read first.

Top Series I Need To Read

1. Throne of Glass Series  by Sarah J Maas - So I started it. And I need to read it. Immediately.

2. His Fair Assassin Series by Robin LaFevers - I bought the first book a few weeks ago and it's sitting on the shelf waiting for me.

3.  The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater - Oh god, how I want to read this immediately. But there are a few other books I promised myself I would read first.

4. Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon - I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to read all of them. But I might want to try to read the first two.

5. Legend Series by Marie Lu - I don't have the first book yet but I have an arc of Prodigy. So I definitely intend to read it.

6. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - This is also one of those series that just passed me by. I really hope I get to it.

I'm probably missing some but this is all I could think of at the moment. Did I miss anything?

Follow Me Through Darkness Blog Tour

Today I have a special feature on the blog. Back during BEA, I attended a special Blogger Rooftop Party where I was paired up with an author to help break the ice while there. I was paired with the wonderful Danielle Ellison who I had met at my first BEA, who during that first BEA was telling me about the book she was writing and I told her that one day at BEA, I would be standing in line for her signing. 

Lo and behold, I did wait on line for her book this past year, and that book was Follow Me Through Darkness. Today on the blog, I am hosting the Blog Tour, so sit back and relax and find out what you are missing by not picking up this book and get to know the main character Neely Ambrose.

About the Book

The truth won't always set you free.

Less than a year ago, Neely Ambrose’s biggest worry was having the freedom to follow a path that wasn't chosen for her.

Less than a year ago, she believed she could trust the Elders who said they had everyone’s best interest at heart and who said they were keeping them safe from the outside.

Sixty days ago, she discovered what they had planned for everyone she loved—and that all of it centered around her.
Now she’s on the run through a dangerous wasteland full of killing machines, secret organizations, and people who want to sell her back to the Elders for their own safety. The whole world outside the Compound is living proof that everything in Neely’s life was a lie manufactured by the Elders, which may even include the boy she loves.

All Neely wants is the truth, but each new piece of it drives her further from what she thought she knew. With only forty days until everyone she loves falls under the Elders’ mind control, Neely must decipher who to trust, what questions to ask, and how to get one step ahead of the Elders, who will do anything to keep their secrets buried.

Character Interview with Neely

1. If you could spend one day with your mom, what would you spend it doing?

I would sit, stare at her, and listen. I’ve heard stories about her, but I’ve never heard her voice. She never even got to hold me. I have all these dreams of what she’d be like, but I don’t know what’s real. What she smells like, the sound of her laugh, what she used to dream, who she was. I would spend the whole day taking it in and commit every detail to memory.

2. If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what kind of animal would you be?

A bird. Something people fear yet are so much more than anyone can know.

3. What time period do you think you belong in?

I’ve always been curious about life before the Preservation, before the Compounds were created, and what that world was like before it was destroyed. It would be something incredible to experience for myself. To know for sure.

4. If you could have any special gift what gift would you want to have?

To be normal.

5. What is one food you wish you could try?

I feel like I’m always trying new things, which isn’t always delicious. I’d like something familiar. Something like my favorite dish that Sara used to make for me (it was my mom’s recipe) I’d love to have that one more time. It’s this noodles and cheese dish—always delicious.

6. White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate or Milk Chocolate?

I’ve never had chocolate.

7. If you could visit one planet, what planet would that be and who would you bring?

Planets…I heard that people before the Preservation could go to planets. I don’t know much about the other planets—that’s not something the Elders permitted us to know—but if I went I’d take Thorne.

8. What is your favorite memory of your father?

There are many, from before anyway. I think it’s the way he listened. Even when I was a little girl talking about silliness, he would never look away. His eyes would lock on me until I was finished, like he really cared what I had to say. That reminds actually of once when I wanted to fly. We were standing on the beach and I was maybe five. There was a flock of birds that flew past me. I ran after them down the beach, arms spread out and dad ran with me. I tripped and rolled down the beach and I cried. But dad he helped me up; he wanted to keep flying but I didn’t. He looked at me in that way he can and said, “Don’t cry. You are strong and brave and you can never give up on what you want. If you want to fly, then there’s nothing that should stop you.” So he picked me up, held me out with my arms spread while he ran, and it really felt like I was flying.

About the Author

Danielle Ellison spent of her childhood reading instead of learning math. It's probably the reason she

can't divide without a calculator and has spent her life seeking the next adventure. It's also probably the reason she's had so many different zip codes and jobs.

When she’s not writing, Danielle is usually drinking coffee, fighting her nomadic urges, watching too much TV, or dreaming of the day when she can be British. Danielle is also the author of SALT and STORM, a series about a snarky witch without magic. She has settled in Northern Virginia, for now, but you can always find her on twitter @DanielleEWrites.

LINKS:

Author Website / Twitter / Facebook / Amazon / B&N / Goodreads 

 But wait! There's more!

 

There is a nifty giveaway where you can win a gift card or a tote with some awesome signed books and a totebag for Follow Me Through Darkness. Enter below!

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The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey
Goodreads rating: 4.14
Pages: 480
Format: Final copy BEA13

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Made For You Blog Tour

 

 Author: Melissa Marr

Goodreads Rating: 3.89

Pages: 368

Format: Finished Copy Provided for Blog Tour

Bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely books Melissa Marr’s first contemporary YA novel is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder. A killer is obsessed with Eva Tilling. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling.

3:59

Author:Gretchen McNeil
Goodreads rating: 3.77
Pages: 368
Format: ARC BEA13

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.

By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.

Crown of Midnight (Thrown of Glass #2)

Author: Crown of Midnight
Goodreads rating: 4.51
Pages: 420
Format: Final Copy BEA14

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Love is the Drug

Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Goodreads rating: 3.40
Pages: 352
Format: Final Copy BEA14

From the author of THE SUMMER PRINCE, a novel that's John Grisham's THE PELICAN BRIEF meets Michael Crichton's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN set at an elite Washington D.C. prep school.

Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy-League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC's elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.

Meanwhile, the world has fallen apart: A deadly flu virus is sweeping the nation, forcing quarantines, curfews, even martial law. And Roosevelt is certain that Bird knows something. Something about the virus--something about her parents' top secret scientific work--something she shouldn't know.

The only one Bird can trust is Coffee, a quiet, outsider genius who deals drugs to their classmates and is a firm believer in conspiracy theories. And he believes in Bird. But as Bird and Coffee dig deeper into what really happened that night, Bird finds that she might know more than she remembers. And what she knows could unleash the biggest government scandal in US history.

Stuck in a Good Book Hop

Hey Friends! So it's no secret that I am in LOVE with books! If you were to see me on the train or during my lunch break at work, my face is always in a book that I am dying to explore. In an effort to spread that love, I've decided to host this giveaway hop. This lovely hop is hosted by I am a Reader Not a Writer and Stuck in Books!

For this months prize? You can with a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


You can visit the other Blogs hosting a giveaway below!

Talon (Talon #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads rating: 3.95
Pages: 400
Format: Final Copy BEA14

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Flood (Flood #1)

Author: Stephen Baxter
Goodreads rating: 3.56
Pages: 536
Format: Final copy

Next year. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than any climate change predictions; metres a year. Within two years London, only 15 metres above the sea, is drowned. New York follows, the Pope gives his last adress from the Vatican, Mecca disappears beneaths the waves. Where is all the water coming from? Scientists estimate that the earth was formed with seas 30 times in volume their current levels. Most of that water was burnt off by the sun but some was locked in the earth's mantle. For the tip of Everest to disappear beneath the waters would require the seas to triple their volume. That amount of water is still much less than 1% of the earth's volume. And somehow it is being released. The world is drowning. The biblical flood has returned. And the rate of increase is building all the time. Mankind is on the run, heading for high ground. Nuclear submarines prowl through clouds of corpses rising from drowned cities, populations are decimated and finally the dreadful truth is known. Before 50 years have passed there will be nowhere left to run. FLOOD tells the story of mankind's final years on earth. The stories of a small group of people caught up in the struggle to survive are woven into a tale of unimaginable global disaster. And the hope offered for a unlucky few by a second great ark.

Hook's Revenge Blog Tour Stop

 

 

I had the great pleasure of meeting Heidi at BEA this past spring and after I met her, I was so excited by her enthusiasm for the book and for the subject matter. She told us all about it and handed out tattoo's that said "Tick Tock" on them. I knew as I talked to her that my boyfriends little sister would love this book. She is absolutely obsessed with pirates and when we went on our cruise a few summer's ago, she sang the Pirate's of the Caribbean song hoping that Pirate's would descend on our ship.

Haven't heard of Hook's Revenge? Beside the fact that you should have heard of it already, you can find out more below! I had the pleasure of interviewing Heidi and you can read more about her inspiration and how she developed Jocelyn's Story.

Captain Hook's feisty daughter hits the high seas to avenge her father's death at the jaws of the Neverland crocodile in Heidi Schulz's spirited middle-grade debut.

Twelve-year-old Jocelyn dreams of becoming every bit as daring as her infamous father, Captain James Hook. Her grandfather, on the other hand, intends to see her starched and pressed into a fine society lady. When she's sent to Miss Eliza Crumb-Biddlecomb's Finishing School for Young Ladies, Jocelyn's hopes of following in her father's fearsome footsteps are lost in a heap of dance lessons, white gloves, and way too much pink.

So when Jocelyn receives a letter from her father challenging her to avenge his untimely demise at the jaws of the Neverland crocodile, she doesn't hesitate-here at last is the adventure she has been waiting for. But Jocelyn finds that being a pirate is a bit more difficult than she'd bargained for. As if attempting to defeat the Neverland's most fearsome beast isn't enough to deal with, she's tasked with captaining a crew of woefully untrained pirates, outwitting cannibals wild for English cuisine, and rescuing her best friend from a certain pack of lost children, not to mention that pesky Peter Pan who keeps barging in uninvited.

The crocodile's clock is always ticking in Heidi Schulz's debut novel, a story told by an irascible narrator who is both dazzlingly witty and sharp as a sword. Will Jocelyn find the courage to beat the incessant monster before time runs out?

What was the inspiration for Hook’s Revenge?

I have always loved Peter Pan. I remember watching the Disney movie as a kid and wishing that I could go to Neverland and that I could have a fairy of my own. It wasn't until I was a young adult, however, that I finally found my way to J.M. Barrie's original Peter and Wendy. It was completely charming.

A handful of years later, after my husband and I had a daughter, I chose it as the first longer-than-a-sitting book to read to her. If I was charmed, she was bewitched. She was not quite three years old, but that story took hold of her little imagination and held it tight. Peter Pan became both her imaginary friend and alter-ego for the next few years. We spent many hours in our own version of Neverland fighting "those nasty pirates” together.

One day, when she was about five, I came down with the flu. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn't leave her to her own devices. So I made myself a little nest on the couch, put out some Goldfish crackers and juice boxes, and loaded a couple DVDs in the player: Hook and the live action 2003 Peter Pan. 

While she watched, I drifted in and out of sleep, half-listening to the movies. When they ended I woke with a question in my head: What if Captain Hook had had a daughter?

I had a clear picture of Jocelyn—wild hair, mud on her hem, and wearing the too-large, iconic red jacket of Captain Hook. The girl pretty much demanded I tell her story.

What was your writing process like? Did you ever get writer’s block?

I meandered my way through most of a first draft, working in fits and starts, mainly for my own entertainment. I knew that Jocelyn would be attempting to avenge her father on the Neverland's crocodile, and I knew how I wanted the story to end, but that was about it. The rest, I made up as I went along.

Shortly before completing the draft, my family and I decided to move 3000 miles, back home to Oregon, in order to spend time with my ill father-in-law. Once we were settled I decided to begin homeschooling my daughter. Hook's Revenge began to gather dust. 

I took me another five years before I felt I was ready to finish Jocelyn's story, and work with a serious eye toward publication. 

I've certainly had difficult days writing, both with this book and on other projects, but I'm not sure I'd call that writer's block...maybe writer's crimp. If I keep at it, it will eventual straighten out.

Do you have any quirky habits or rituals you do when you write?

I live in Oregon, where it rains at least nine months out of the year. You would think I might tire of it, right? 

Nope. 

When I write, I almost always wear headphones so I can listen to rain sounds, complete with thunder and heavy winds—even when it is actually raining outside! I layer the sounds over any music I am listening to. It helps me block out any outside distractions and really focus.

Are there any characters you would have liked to write more about, but didn’t have the chance?

I was really intrigued with one of Jocelyn's pirate crew members, Dirty Bob. I felt like there was more to his story than I was able to tell in Hook's Revenge. 

Lucky for me there will be a sequel...

About the Author:

 Heidi Schulz is a writer, reader, and giraffe suspicioner. Her debut novel for middle grade readers, HOOK’S REVENGE, will be published by Disney•Hyperion on September 16, 2014. A sequel, HOOK'S REVENGE: THE PIRATE CODE, will follow in fall of 2015. Bloomsbury Kids will publish her picture book debut, GIRAFFES RUIN EVERYTHING, in 2016. She lives in Oregon with her husband, their teen daughter, a terrible little dog, and five irascible chickens.
Heidi is represented by Brooks Sherman of The Bent Agency.

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Author: Marissa Meyer
Goodreads Rating: 4.11
Pages: 390
Format: Final Copy

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Open Road Summer

Title: Open Road Summer
Author: Emery Lord
Goodreads Rating: 3.95 Stars
Format: Finished Copy from Bloomsbury

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

Apple and Rain

Author: Sarah CrossanGoodreads Rating: 4.15
Pages: 330 Pages
Format: ARC from Bloomsbury UK

When Apple's mother returns after eleven years away, Apple feels whole again. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bittersweet. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

                             A story about sad endings.
                             A story about happy beginnings.
                             A story to make you realise who is special.

Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Author: Veronica Roth
Goodreads Rating: 4.18
Pages: 525
Format: E-Book

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson #4)

Author: Darynda Jones
Goodreads Rating: 4.43
Pages: 320
Format: Final Copy

Welcome to the world of grim reaper extraordinaire Charley Davidson. Try as she might, there’s no avoiding her destiny.
Sometimes being the grim reaper really is, well, grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple of months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above...or at least get dressed. It becomes clear something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. But the more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved.
Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans in this hilarious fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

Waiting on Wednesday (#1)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine.

THE WINNER'S CRIME  (The Winner's Trilogy Book #2) by Marie Rutkoski

(Link to Marissa Meyer's glorious twitter pic of the cover since it hasn't been truly revealed yet and I feel bad about borrowing it.)

Summary: Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

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The first book in this series blew me away. I NEED to find out what happens next. I need to sink into Marie Rutkoski's beautiful prose. And this book will probably be my WOW until March 2014 when it comes out.

Top Ten Tuesday (#2)

Well, hello there! Long time no see. It's been a while and I have no one to blame but myself. Thank you, Nicole for being a co-blogger with the patience of a saint.

I love book recs (especially the anticipation of books I truly MUST read) and I love lists, so posting this particular TTT was a no-brainer. And of course, I'm really curious to see what other books made it to your Top Ten Tuesdays. Can't wait to discuss!

Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting!

Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling Me That I  MUST Read

I intern at Bloomsbury and I  am still fifty pages in. 

This was on my Summer TBR list.  I just bought it. Gaby made me. 

Bad writer. Bad reader. 

The whole world pretty much told me to read it. 

I kind of feel guilty for never having read this in school.

I get yelled at whenever I tell a fellow blogger I haven't read this. 

I'll get to it eventually....

Nicole, Hannah and Gaby recc'd this to me. 

I LOVED Scorpio Races so reading her other books is a given, right?

Kind of kicking myself in the butt for not having read this. 

Throwback Thursday Review: Where The Stars Still Shine

Author: Trish Doller
Goodreads Rating: 3.5
Pages: 352 Pages
Format: Finished Copy

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she'd like to forget completely. But when Callie's mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie's real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Divergent (Divergent #1)

Author: Veronica Roth
Goodreads Rating: 4.35
Pages: 487
Format: Kindle e-book

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

Author: Rick Riordan
Goodreads Rating: 4.20
Pages: 288
Format: Audio Book

The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan's amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a "half blood" whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan's series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment. In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book's drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.