Book Review: Eternal Starling by Angela Corbett

Book: Eternal Starling by Angela Corbett
Genre: YA Paranormal
Rating: '''''
For: Utah Book Month
From: Kindle download

I remember briefly meeting Angela at a blogger/author shindig probably about a year ago now. Her book looked intriguing to me at the time, but it took awhile for me to actually get my hands on it. (Getting the Kindle helped with that in a big way!)
And now to finally read it as part of my Utah books line up this month. Perfect!

I enjoyed this story for it's fun take on the whole supernatural love triangle thing. The boys in this book ARE supernatural, but are really quite different from what I've read before. And I'm not sure I can even figure out how to describe them to you! (You may have to click on over to Goodreads for a better description!)

Anyway, so there's Evie who's about ready to start college (yes.. these characters are college age and not high school) when she suddenly, out of the blue, meets the first boy. Instant attraction (something you may or may not get into) and there's stuff mentioned about being soul mates.... but when their relationship becomes more intense, Alex (the dude) FREAKS and runs away.

Which leaves the door open for the new boy, Emil, to step in and then things begin to get even more complicated. Now Emil says HE is her soul mate. Then, we learn that Alex never really went away, and so he jumps back in the picture with stories about how Emil is the bad guy and Evie needs to be protected from him.

Whew... so who IS the bad guy and who is the good? It turns out, these guys are each from rival groups that have to do with the upkeep (or not) of souls. What that all has to do with Evie... you'll just have to read to find out.

As I said, I really enjoyed this new look at supernatural, immortal characters. Very unique given all the other types of creatures we are always reading about. I enjoyed the romance bits too, pretty intense, even if the typical love triangle angle was present. It was fun!

Of course, there's more to come for Evie! I look forward to what she decides to do next!

Bottom line: I really enjoyed it!

Other Reviews:

Books With Bite
Rywn
The Fairytale Nerd

And the trailer, which isn't too bad actually!

Authors Pick Five: Kristen Landon

Once again, I've invited a Utah author to participate in Authors Pick Five here on the blog today as part of Utah Book Month celebrations. This time, I've asked Kristen Landon, author of The Limit (which I recently read and reviewed here) to answer this one question:

Here's what she had to say:

This has been a really hard assignment! Instead of saying these are the five most important or influential books to me, I'll have to say these are five of the most important or influential books--because, just as soon as I hit the send button, dozens of books will come to mind that I'll wish I had included on the list.

2. Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan I stumbled across this book during my high school years. I was always in honors English classes, and all my reading time was monopolized by those classic literary books from my English teachers' reading lists. Take a look at the cover of this book sometime. It fascinated me, and I had to read it--even though it wasn't 'aproved' by my English teachers. It's an exciting, creepy book, and tons of fun. It allowed me to remember that reading could be just for fun at a time when reading was often a homework assignment.

3. The Giver by Lois Lowry When I wrote THE LIMIT I didn't know it was a dystopian novel. I hadn't even heard of that genre. The world of THE GIVER fascinated me, and I longed to write a book set in a world close to our own--but with a few creepy twists. Looking back now, I can say that THE GIVER was the first dystopian novel I fell in love with.

4. Holes by Louis Sachar (Seems like most of the authors on this list have very similar first names!) The books I write tend to be more plot driven than character driven. This book inspires me because I believe it to be one of the most brilliantly plotted books of all time.

Utah Book Month Blogger Interview: Jessica from Books: A True Story

Today I'd like to introduce to you Utah book blogger, Jessica from Books: A True Story!

About herself she says: Besides reading, I love to play the piano, the guitar, and video games. I'm a tech nerd and I love to keep up on the latest in cool gadgets. I don't always buy the latest and greatest gadgets, but I do know everything about them. (See more here at her About page.)

And here are the questions I've asked her so we can get to know her even better:

1. It seems like we always like to start these things out by asking how you got started blogging about books. What's been your inspiration? And what's your most favorite thing about it so far?

 My sister actually got me into blogging.  She does a fitness blog and she loves blogging.  I kept telling her I had nothing to blog about'the only thing I like is books'oh, I could write a blog about books.  My favorite thing so far is the community.  I knew that I wasn't the only person to think of writing a book blog, but I didn't realize that there was such a close-knit community for a long time.  I have loved meeting fellow bloggers, new authors at book signings and just talking to tons of people about books!

2. What is your most favorite book by a Utah author?

 Everneath by Brodi Ashton.  I love how she did something new with Greek mythology.  Plus I have a soft spot for sad stories.

3. What's the best book you've read so far this year?

 I'm going to pick Life of Pi by Yann Martel because I just finished it and it's on my mind.  It was very thought provoking and had the best surprise ending ever.

4. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to meet and talk to?

  Oh that's so hard'but I'd love to take a train ride through Europe with J.K. Rowling and just talk about books.

5. Which story would you like to read yourself into? 

 Harry Potter.  I would love to live in the world of Harry Potter.  Go to school, learn everything I possible could, see Hogwarts.  When Voldy is not running around, it seems like a very charming and tame world.

6. What do you do in your "real life" when you are not blogging?  

7. I see you have a lot of fun blog projects and features going on, now's your chance to promote them! 

My favorite posts on my blog are my Google Diaries.  I have always loved searching things when I have questions from a book and it's ten times more fun to share it with everyone.  I just finished one for Life of Pi and I'm working on one for Shadow and Bone.

8. You've done lots of traveling.... what's the BEST place you've been? 

London. I could live there.  They have awesome museums, huge libraries, charming people, plays, culture, and the best subway (aka the Tube) system I have ever ridden on.  I refuse to live outside of Utah, but if the opportunity came to live in London I'd be gone in a second.

9. One of my favorite questions to ask... what would your perfect day be like?

10. Favorites

Book Review: The Limit by Kristen Landon

Book: The Limit by Kristen Landon
Genre: MG Dystopian
Rating:'''''
For: Utah Book Month
From: I bought this one at a book festival last year.... I think.

It was an interesting experience reading a middle grade dystopian story. I felt the distress of the characters situation, but without the trauma that one usually finds in these sorts of books. And the ending was nicely wrapped up and left me with a hopeful feeling. Not many dystopians do that. They are always very much depressing!

Anyway, so this one is about a society a little bit, but not very much, in the future. Basically, money has been eliminated and everyone has an account, which is accessed by scanning the person's eye. Yes. And if you go over your limit, then you are in SO much trouble! In fact, they take a kid from your family away to work until they've worked off the overage. At least, that's the idea.

So of course the kid in this story gets sent to the work house, (because he has crazy parents who don't seem to care about their limit... sound familiar and or possible?) which surprisingly turns out to be a not-so-bad place. But then he starts wondering... what's REALLY going on? His parents, boy oh boy, they don't have a clue! Talk about some awful parents. Sheesh. Well, maybe they are trying, but seriously, I can't even imagine behaving the way they do. So it's all up to this kid to help himself out of this situation.

However, the kid is pretty much a genius and he can do this! And it's fun to see how he figures out the mystery of this place he's been sent to. He's made some decent friends in there, and they help him along the way.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this one! A fun and interesting story.

Other Reviews:

Presenting Lenore
The BookBind
Gamila's Book Review
Stiletto Storytime

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Confessions

Fun prompt today over at The Broke and the Bookish! It's confession time! I'm not exactly sure what direction to take this, but let's see what happens!

Top Ten Bookish Confessions

1. I confess.... I have a hard time remembering character names! Argh, it makes me crazy! When I go to write a review, if I even decide to mention a name (sometimes I leave it right out!) I have to look it up... even if I just finished the book. What's up with that? Some names do stick in my head, and if a book is popular, or I've read it a gazillion times, then yeah, I'm good!

2. I confess... I am an unobservant reader. I miss things, I miss REALLY BIG things sometimes. Maybe I'm reading too fast, maybe I'm reading when I'm too tired, maybe I'm just plain OUT OF IT, but often I'll be like... "Ummm.... so where exactly did it say that?"

3. I confess...bad writing doesn't bother me... for the most part. I mean, sometimes I'll notice it but usually I can still enjoy the story and read along just fine. Lots of adverbs? Who cares? Repetition? Eh... whatever.

4. I confess... I write reviews that are often too nice. Okay.... always too nice perhaps? I find it very hard to be mean to a book, really, I do. And I like them all, pretty much. Thus, the nice reviews.

5. I confess... I am a book snob. There are certain people who think they are readers (and I can tell you right now if you are reading this you are NOT one of them) but they really aren't.... well, at least in my opinion, and that's where the snobbery comes in. I feel like you should have a certain... broadness... to your reading in order to be called a reader. Know what I mean?  A wide vision, a big picture. Yeah, okay, so this confession makes me nervous!! But there are some people where you can instantly tell that you won't be able to talk books with them, no matter how hard you try.

6. I confess.... I HATE it when someone says, "but seriously, I just don't have time to read!" People. People people people! Change the phrase at least! You can say this instead, "I don't FIND time to read!" :)

7. I confess... I like the bad boys. Why? I have no idea. Maybe someone can explain this to me? Probably because my life is so very tame and normal that living on the edge through a book is a fun to do? Yeah, probably.

8. I confess... I think brainless books are fun. You know the kind? The ones where you seriously don't have to use your brain at all to read them? Fun, I tell you.

9. I confess.... I will keep a book from the library, past its due date, with the hope and plan to still read it... even if someone else has it on hold. SORRY!!! (And I just barely did this and boy, I'm SO glad I did!)

10. I confess.... there was one time where I bought a book for a gift, but read it first, THEN wrapped it, then gave it! GASP. But I think it was "just" my mom, so I don't really feel all that too terrible about it.

Whew! That was an interesting exercise! Do you have any similar confessions to mine? I'm hoping I'm not the only one in some of these! Please, fess up!!

Utah Book Blogger Party... It's a Wrap!

Hey! So we had a party last Friday night and people came! I'm always amazed! We had lots of fun, playing a "guess the character" game, and a silly book swap, and eating all sorts of desserts, (some even healthy ones,) and just talking and meeting new and old people, bloggers and authors alike.

Here are a few pictures we managed to take and/or steal:

And finally, I thought I'd include this story I wrote for the book swap LEFT RIGHT game... you  know.. that's where you pass your book/present every time LEFT or RIGHT is mentioned? Yeah... that one. It got a little crazy and let me just say, we bloggers and authors had a little LEFT RIGHT issue going on!

But anyway, I thought some of you may get a kick out of this, so here's the story, which I call.....

 OUR BOOK BLOGGING STORY:

Once upon a time, a few people in Utah started blogging about books. At first, they thought they were the only ones! But then one day, a couple of them went to an author event. While there, they stood RIGHT by each other in line to see James Dashner! Even though he wasn't there because he LEFT to get stuff from his car! But he came RIGHT back and signed things and afterwards, they went RIGHT home to WRITE about the event RIGHT away on their blogs.

Then one said to the other, 'Gasp! You were RIGHT by me the whole time and we didn't know it? We LEFT without saying a thing to each other? We need to fix that! So how about we have a party RIGHT away?'

Several months later, they gathered all the other ten bloggers in Utah and had their first party. And guess who was there? You are RIGHT! James Dashner himself! He talked about a new book he had coming up soon, it was called The Maze Runner. He said, 'It's about this kid who knows RIGHT from the start that he LEFT his memory behind! And now he is stuck in a maze. And all he wants to do is get RIGHT out. So one day, he becomes the runner, and gets out there in that maze and he turns RIGHT, then LEFT, then RIGHT, then RIGHT again, then RIGHT again, and then LEFT, and LEFT and RIGHT. Whew. Finally, he.... well, I can't tell you because that would give it RIGHT away!'

A few months later, a few more people started blogging so we had another party. It was a crazy day! It was so hot and remember? The city had an event in the park... we knew the bloggers were RIGHT there but we couldn't get to them because the road was blocked! So we LEFT and went up and RIGHT around the whole park and back down and finally all found each other.

This time we had several more authors join us. We asked them RIGHT away, 'So, what's your book about?' One said, 'mine is about a boy who LEFT the family that took care of him and then comes back, quite changed. Grace knew him almost RIGHT away and RIGHT away she was loving him all over again. But wait, is this a good RIGHT thing? Or not?' What book is it? RIGHT!!! The Dark Divine! by Bree Despain

The other said her book was so very serious... about a boy who LEFT all his friends... yep, you are RIGHT, he died. And they all talk about him and have memories of him. Which one of them is RIGHT in their thoughts they have? You are RIGHT! They all are!  What book is it? RIGHT! The Way He Lived. by Emily Wing Smith.

Finally, the other author said her book was about aliens, and that's all I can tell you because that book never came out. Instead, a few years later, we got to read her book about a girl who LEFT her family, but then came back, (but not RIGHT back) and has six months to make everything RIGHT again before she LEFT again to go be in the Everneath with a very scary dude. Opps, I gave that title RIGHT away! Sorry Brodi Ashton!

Then we had a couple of parties at Golden Corral where we were nearly RIGHT on top of each other because now it's so crowded with all our bloggers and authors and WRITE-rs! At those parties, we brought books to swap and everyone LEFT their books on the table where RIGHT away there was a mad rush to get the popular ARCs. We also LEFT our fancy blogger cards, and we LEFT our email addresses and Twitter names with each other. Yes we LEFT the place with lots of new blogger friends, and went RIGHT home and got on Twitter RIGHT away to share pictures and stories with each other.

Now, there are so many bloggers, it has LEFT our spreadsheet in the dust and we can't keep it all RIGHT anymore! But at least, now when we go to the book festivals, and author signings and launch parties, we know each other RIGHT away, whether we are standing RIGHT by each other or way over LEFT across the way... now we can say hi and talk books to our hearts content and everything is RIGHT with the book blogging world!

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Ah, yes... we had fun! Thanks to all of you who came! To those that didn't, we'll see you next time!

Authors Pick Five: Sheila A. Neilson

As part of Utah Book Month and in conjunction with my reading and review of her book Forbidden Sea, I've asked Sheila Neilson to participate in my Authors Pick Five feature and answer this one question:

Here's what she had to say:

Trixie Belden Series

I used to be one of those kids who was obsessed with horses. There was a time when I refused to even look at any book if it didn't have a one starring somewhere in it. Trixie Belden had horses--but she also solved mysteries. Because of Trixie Belden, I discovered that I liked mystery books even more than I liked horse books. That was when I--*gasp*--branched out and started reading books without horses in them. Thank goodness for Trixie Belden. 

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

This was my favorite book growing up. I've probably read and re-read this book more than any other novel. I felt a real connection to Emily, who wanted to be a writer just like I did. Emily didn't let anything stop her from reaching her goal and I wanted to be just like her. Many years later, I read these books aloud to my aging grandmother. She was just as delighted with them as I had been as a child. Now that my grandmother is gone, I still carry in my heart, those tender memories of sharing with her my favorite childhood books.

Beauty by Robin McKinley

This was the book that introduced me to fantasy--now my favorite genre to write. Before Beauty, I had mostly read contemporary fiction and mysteries stories. It was Beauty that showed me all the possibilities of a fantasy book well written. My own novel, Forbidden Sea, owes a great deal of its fairytale flavor to a love of that style which Beauty awakened in me long ago.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

As an adult, I gave up reading middle grade and young adult books for years before rediscovering them a second time. These were the two books that helped me remember the joy of reading juvenile fiction all over again. Without them, I would never have become an author of teen fiction--or a children's librarian, for that matter. Oh what a world of opportunity I would have missed had I not picked both of these titles up and given children's literature a second chance!

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Sheila has been a children's librarian in here in Utah for 15 years, but she says she hopes to be a full time author some day. About her many hobbies she says: "Among my top five interests are doll collecting, art, reading, writing, and horseback riding. I also collect mermaids--but ONLY those wearing fantastic mermaid outfits. Which is near impossible to find, believe me. But that is what makes collecting them so much more fun than the regular kind. : )"

You can follow her at these places:

Blog
Twitter
Facebook

Thanks to Sheila for participating! I love your list!