Cover Crush (7): Infinite Sky

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

I'm in love with the cover for Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood!

Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists.  

When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth?  

When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself.  

Infinite Sky is a family story about betrayal and loyalty, and love.

I think that this is actually the British cover for the book and the U.S. cover hasn't been released yet, or that I know of.  Anyways, this sounds like a great story and has a great cover to go along with it.  I love the blue that the cover designer chose as well as the contrasting white and black that stands out against the background.  I'm also completely in love the two different typography that was chosen.  The cursive  title looks really nice from far away, until you get closer and realize that it's actually barbed-wire, which seems to tie into the story since the book is set on a farm.  I'm also a big fan of just plain sans serif fonts so  I really like the font for the author's name.  I also really like the the birds and the crops because it seems to explain the setting from the beginning.  I hope that the U.S. cover turns out somewhat similar!! 

What do you think of the cover?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

2012 End of the Year Book Survey

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR!  Whoa, 2012 just flew by in the blink of an eye.  It was a pretty bad year when considering the dedication to this blog.  I had like a 2 month hiatus?  3 months?  I also only read 60 books this year :(  I don't know if it'll get any easier, especially with graduation rolling around and then moving on to college.  All in one year.  2013 might just fly by even faster.  Anyhoo, let's get on with the annual survey started over at The Perpetual Page Turner!

1.  Best Book You Read In 2012?
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver.  It's practically a given.  That series in general is just an absolute favorite.  Runner ups include The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, and Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson.  Oh!  And Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, too.  January (when I read it) just seemed like a life time ago...

2.  Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Yep, sue me.  I was so excited because the movie looked great (I still haven't seen it) and the book sounded super intriguing, but I just didn't like it as much.  It just wasn't for me.  

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012? 

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer!  I haven't read a middle grade book in about a thousand years, so I was kind of like iffy about reading it since I got it just because I was able to get it signed by Chris Colfer himself.  BUT IT WAS REALLY COOL!  It was such a cool twist on all the fairy tales that we grow up reading about!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

I think it was The Fault in our Stars because I actually gave that one as a present to one of my friends... And then told the rest of my friends to read it.  

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?

Definitely The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo (the first book is Shadow & Bone).  It was a super interesting first book so I definitely can't wait to see what will happen next!  The Lunar Chronicles by Marisa Meyer (the first book is Cinder) was also a really cool series that I started and I can't wait to read what will happen next in that series as well :)

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

I think that this was the year when I read my first John Green book, so John Green is a new favorite author for sure.  I also really liked Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard, so she's a new author that I'm really looking forward to reading another book from.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I'm kind of like all of the place when it comes to genres so I can't really say that there was a book that was out of my comfort zone or was a new genre for me.  

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

CLOCKWORK PRINCE!!! That love triangle just had me going through the book.  It was also super intriguing as well... But seeing what's going to happen next with Will, Jem, and Tess??  I was on the edge of my seat/bed/sofa/desk the whole entire time.  GO WILL! 

9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:

Second Chance Summer is a definite yes.  Does Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door count since I re-read them this year?

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

There had to be two.  And it had to be these two.  Just look at them!!  I love the bright colors in the cover for The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour and the mood that the cover for Fever by Lauren DeStefano sets with all the props and the model is really cool.

11. Most memorable character in 2012? 

Craig from It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini was a pretty cool character.  He was pretty funny and I loved reading his story about his time at the hospital.  

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?

I always described this book more of a "young adult picture book" because it pretty much is all pictures.  You could go through it in like 10 minutes.  Anyways, it's Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and I just loved it a lot and I wished that I could steal it from the library and never give it back.  It was just a really interesting concept and the whole story came through the pictures and very few words.  So, in a way, it was beautiful.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012? 

Second Chance Summer was a GREAT book and it actually kind of made me cry in the end.  It was mostly the whole situation with the father that really had an impact on me because it's always hard losing someone, especially when it's someone who's so close to you.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read? 

I guess Lies by Michael Grant would have to be the book because I keep waiting for them to come out in paperback so all of my books in the series would look consistent.  IT WAS AMAZING!  In terms of action and that stuff.  I need to get the next one...

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012? 

I have a few that I seem to have added on Goodreads so here they are:

"You can build a future out of nothing.  A scrap, a flicker.  The desire to go forward, slowly, one foot at a time."
--Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

"Love is wild and when it is cut returns again, stronger whether you want it to or not."
--Jessica Anthony, Chopsticks

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012? 

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare was the longest book at 535 pages while The Perks of Being a Wallflower was the shortest at 213 pages.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

CLOCKWORK PRINCE!  I'm so glad that I had a friend who read it before I did so I could go to her during school and just rant about what happened.  SO MUCH HAPPENED!  And then I texted another one of my friends after I was done with the book to tell her to read it so that I can rant to her about it.  She did read it... Like several weeks after -_- But at least I got to talk to her about it :)

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

Of course Hazel and Gus from The Fault in Our Stars were pretty darn cute.  Evie and Lend from Endlessly by Kiersten White (IT WAS THE FINAL BOOK!) were adorable as well.  Lillia, Kat, and Mary from Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian were a pretty cool trio, even though they weren't really friends, but it's the bonding over revenge that counts ;)

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously:

Definitely Second Chance Summer if we're talking about standalone titles. 

20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

My friends don't really ever recommend books to me, but one friend sort of indirectly recommended The Fault in Our Stars to me because she constantly talked about it and was always reading it, so I guess I read that one based solely on a recommendation.

If you've completed the survey, leave a link below & I'll check it out!

Cleo :)

*Covers from goodreads.com

Merry Christmas!

I hope you and your families have a Merry Christmas!

&

That you receive many awesome bookish presents!
Or just regular presents if you prefer :)

Cleo

Review: Sound

Title: Sound
Author: Shelley Workinger
Date Released: November 1st, 2012
Pages: 218
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
Clio Kaid's had one crazy summer.

After learning she was one of a hundred teens who were genetically modified before birth, she and the others departed for "camp" at a classified military site.

Besides discovering her own special ability, uncovering a conspiracy, and capturing a killer, she's also forged new friendships, found love, and managed to lose them both.

With no answers and the end of summer closing in, Clio's terrified of going home more lost than when she arrived.

Will she finally find everything she's been looking for?

Find out in this exciting conclusion to the Solid trilogy.

Review:
Sound continues several weeks after the end of Settling, in which A LOT of stuff happened.  The protagonist, Clio, is still at the camp that she was put in for a couple weeks, but eventually became a whole summer camp, and now they have extended it to become a whole year thing in order to fully develop and analyze the powers that the special kids like Clio seem to have.

Even though everything seems fine since Clio and her gang of friends have been able to get rid of two threats, evil is still lurking in the background when a major coincidence unsettles Clio.  Not only does Clio have to deal with this new possible threat, but she also has to deal with the friendships she lost during the course of Settling.

The final novel in the trilogy was a fantastic ending because it still maintained the mystery and suspense that all the previous novels had and had a rather cute ending to tie it all up.  I will say that I felt that this one did not have as much action as the previous ones and was mostly based around conversations over the coincidence and possible theories or it was Clio trying to patch things up with her friends and reestablish the friendships/relationships with the people she cared about.  The climax of the novel felt rather short, too and I wish that the book could have been a little bit longer.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Sound and seeing how everything would play out in the end for Clio and her friends, as well as what will happen to the camp.  The ending was super adorable with all of them making plans to stay in touch, especially since they're practically all of the world with the addition of Angus who is from Australia.  If you're looking for a book that involves suspense and people with superpowers, which is surprisingly not all that common in the young adult genre, then definitely try the Solid trilogy!

Cover Review:
I like how the cover has a consistent color that pops out against the black background.  However, I'm not totally sure as to what the main picture is on the center of the cover.  It looks like people against some sort of light thing, but it's hard to tell and looks a bit abstract.

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy received from author for review.

It's Not the End of the World Giveaway

Obviously, the whole Mayan end-of-the-world prediction thing definitely did not happen if you're reading this.

So, in honor of the world not ending, I've decided that it would be great to celebrate it with a GIVEAWAY!!

If you're new here, then you'll know that there has only ever been ONE giveaway.  Just one.  And that was over a year ago.  I'm not the richest kid in the world, but I also happen to be the stingiest.  So, giveaways just don't happen that often.

However, I felt the need to have at least one before the end of the year.

So, this giveaway is going to be Dystopian/Apocalyptic themed in honor of the apocalyptic event that was not going to happen from the very beginning.

This is also the very belated blogoversary giveaway that never happened (Sorry!).

One winner can choose from one of the following books that are my absolute favorite dystopian/apocalyptic stories.  This one is international since I'm going to try out the Book Depository, so yay for international followers!  Also, it ends on January 4th, 2013!

• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• Legend by Marie Lu
• Delirium or Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
• Wither or Fever by Lauren DeStefano
• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Gone (or any other book in the series) by Michael Grant
• Divergent or Insurgent by Veronica Roth
• Across the Universe or A Million Suns by Beth Revis
• The Hunger Games (or any other book in the series) by Suzanne Collins
• Uglies (or any other book in the series) by Scott Westerfeld

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cleo :)

Review: Fever

Title: Fever
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Date Released: February 21st, 2012
Pages: 341
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

Review:
Rhine can never seem to escape from being caged in and oppressed.  In the second installment of the Chemical Garden trilogy, Rhine is immediately caught after escaping the house of her husband, Linden, and father-in-law, Vaughn, and kept in a carnival full of girls being forced into prostitution.  It's almost like being back with Vaughn and Linden, except without the luxuries of a comfortable bed and servants to cater to your every need.  From there, the story is filled tension and questions; will Vaughn find her and bring her back to the mansion?  Will she ever find her brother?  Will Rhine and Gabriel ever be able to find safety in such a dangerous world?  All these questions run through your mind until the very end.

Fever was a great follow-up to Wither and continued on with the intensity and intrigue I found in the first book.  The originality of the novel is always a plus and I feel like the science aspect was really able to come out more in this novel, especially towards the end.

I always liked Rhine because of her strength to keep going forward, despite the challenges that lie ahead.  It is a dangerous world in this series especially since it is full of people who take advantage of girls her age and even younger.  Even though Rhine knows of these dangers, she still tries her hardest to accomplish her goal.  In this case, it's finding her twin brother.  Gabriel is such a sweetie and is always looking out for Rhine and Maddie, a new character that comes along in the novel.  The one character that did confuse me in the novel, however, was Maddie.  She's a child that Rhine and Gabriel sort of adopt (but not really) and she's a malformed.  Yet, she's incredibly smart, being able to spot a place to stay or a place to hide, even though she doesn't talk.  It's amazing, but perplexing at the same time.

One thing that was lacking in Fever was the like huge revolution/action part.  There was intensity since Rhine, Gabriel, and Maddie were on one huge adventure, going from one place to another.  Another huge spoilery thing happens about half way through the book, but that uprise that happens in most dystopian novels just didn't happen.  It was kind of like in Crossed by Allie Condie, the second novel in a dystopian trilogy.  I guess it's just a dystopian thing where the big thing that happens is played out in the last novel.  I guess we'll see soon.  However, in Fever I feel like I learned a lot more about the world that Rhine lives in as more things come together.

Overall, Fever was a great sequel to Wither, although there could have been the big bang.  The characters were amazing, the plot was compelling, and, as before, the writing was absolutely wonderful.  I definitely can't wait until Sever comes out in 2013 to find out how this will all play out.  I'm hoping that the whole "ticking human time-bomb" thing is cured by the end of the series, but we'll never know until it comes out!

Cover Review:
I love the cover, just as how I love the one for Wither.  The glittery dress and the circus props strewn around the cover mean a lot once you read the novel.  They're definitely not just randomly placed there for no reason other than to look pretty.

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.

Cover Crush (6): This Is What Happy Looks Like

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Today, I have a major crush on the cover for This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith!

If fate sent you an email, would you answer? 

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.  

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

This is an adorable sounding book with an equally adorable cover!  It definitely seems like a romantic novel because of the couple holding hands on a boat.  There's no doubt about that.  I love the pop of yellow in the sun rays and "happy" that contrasts with the black and white of everything else.  I also think it's cute that they drew in some sun rays around the couple.  The cartoonish font for the title also adds to the adorable cover and really pops out.  This cover is almost as cute as the cover of Smith's previous novel The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight!  Look for this adorable cover on shelves on April 2nd of next year!

What do you think of the cover?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Review: The Lost Prince

Title: The Lost Prince
Author: Julie Kagawa
Date Released: October 23rd, 2012
Pages: 379
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

This novel is one of Julie’s books that will have you demanding for the second one as soon as you finish your read.

Review:
Ethan Chase is definitely not that little innocent boy who we first meant The Iron King.  He has several piercings, some incredible kali skills, and a major bad boy record.  However, deep down inside, he's still the sweet kid that he once was.  It's just been years of annoyance by the fey that caused him to become a bitter and angry teenager.

When Ethan moves to a new school, after being expelled from his previous one, he encounters a half-breed, Tod, who pulls him and a girl named Kenzie into the world of fey which he tried to avoid for so long.  From there, his world becomes completely changed when he meets his nephew, Kieran, and has to embark on a journey to save the people he comes to care about.

After reading The Iron Prophecy, the novella following The Iron Knight, I couldn't wait until The Lost Prince came out.  This was definitely written in the spirit of the other Iron Fey novels.  There's a lot of fast paced action and adventure and, in general, I just love reading about this particular world of fairies.  Seeing it from a negative point of view adds a perspective that is different from the Meghan and Ash's view which made it twice as interesting.

Ethan in general was just such an interesting character... He turned into a complete rebel from the little innocent boy that we used to know him as.  Both him and Kieran together kind of reminded me of the one and only dynamic duo, Puck and Ash, which I think Puck even stated himself at one point in the novel.  Ethan's (obvious) love interest, Kenzie, was a cool female character to add into the mix of teenage boys.  Sometimes, she acted just a little too clingy and strong (she pulled the "I want to stay with you because we've gotten this far" multiple times when Ethan told her she should go home).

I can't say that I completely fell in love with The Lost Prince though, as I had with the previous books in the series.  To me, I felt like something was lacking.  Maybe it was because I love the action and adventure, it seemed to jump around a little too much from place to place.

The Lost Prince was a fantastic start to the new spin-off series.  From the ending, I could definitely tell that there was something else going on that would definitely carry on into the next book, The Traitor Son, so I'll be on the lookout for that when it hits shelves.  If you haven't read The Iron Fey series, then I definitely suggest that you do because they are all out so you won't have to wait for anymore to come out!

Cover Review:
I wasn't too sure about the whole shirtless situation going on on the cover because it is a little awkward when your mom sees it and you have to explain why you're reading a book with a shirtless boy on the cover.  However, I like how they kept certain design elements such as the swirly designs and the design of the title.  I really like the forest background, too.

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.

Cover Crush (5): Golden

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

I'm have a major crush on the cover for Golden by Jessi Kirby!

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost may be a distant relative of Robert Frost, but she has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a mystery in her lap—one that might be the key to uncovering the truth behind a town tragedy, she decides to take a chance.

Golden's cover is definitely gorgeous.  All the yellows and gold colors really brings out the lightness of the cover and ties in with the title.  The yellow design going across the bottom is really cool and adds to what could have been just a face with some words on a cover as most contemporary novels are.  The burst of sunlight also really adds to the cover as well.  The sans serif font that they used for the cover gives the cover a contemporary feel as well, and is one of the things that attracted me to the cover because of the bold statement that it makes.  Overall, I have a HUGE crush on this cover and cannot wait until this comes out so I can have its prettiness in my hands!

What do you think of the cover?

Cleo :)

*Cover from goodreads.com