In My Mailbox (Week of December 27th)

I forgot to Mention that I got a $125 giftcard to Barnes and Noble, which I spent on lots of The Tenner books.

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Rating:
Characters: 20/20
Plot: 19/20
Originality: 19/20
Writing: 20/20
Recommendation: 20/20
Overall: 98/100 or A
Violet can find dead people, well murdered people. She can sense their bodies by an echo left on their body. An imprint is also left on the killer, too. When she was little, she had to bury a graves for animals to find solace in it. As if her powers weren't enough to deal with, Violet has a sudden, inexplicable, and consuming crush on her best friend since childhood, Jay Heaton. Now a serial killer has begun terrorizing Violet's small town and she realizes that she is the only one that can stop him.
The characters are fantastic. Violet is compulsive, but lovable and relatable. Jay is mysterious, but caring and cute. The killer is well done, he seemed crazy and like someone I wouldn't want to mess with. I liked that there were chapters of inside the killers mind. The plot is amazing. This book is impossible to put down. It was filled with suspense, romance, and action.The setting is awesome. I have been in the area before and it is well described. The Body Finder is really original. I love how the book is presented. Derting makes and amazing debut. I love this book and totally recommend it.

Woot! A Contest!

I asked on Saturday, which book would you would want to see in a contest... Well, I decided to do a contest with both books, since the vote were pretty much even and it is almost Christmas. The books are Undead Much? by Stacey Jay and The Line by Teri Hall.

The Line by Teri Hall is about:

Rachel lives with her mother on The Property. The good thing about living there is that it’s far from the city where the oppressive government is most active. The bad thing, at least to most people, is that it’s close to the Line—an uncrossable section of the National Border Defense System, an invisible barrier that encloses the entire country.
She can see the Line from the greenhouse windows, but she is forbidden to go near it. Across the Line is Away, and though Rachel has heard many whispers about the dangers there, she’s never really believed the stories. Until the day she hears a recording that could only have come from across the Line.
It’s a voice asking for help.
Who sent the message? What is her mother hiding? And to what lengths will Rachel go in order to do what she thinks is right?

Undead Much? by Stacey Jay is about:

Q: How many guys does it take to make your boyfriend wild with jealousy?A: Only one, if he's UNDEAD.

Megan Berry had a perfectly average new-sundress-and-boy-obsessed life--until her power to settle the Undead returned. Oh, and then her best friend tried to kill her--and ruin homecoming--with a bunch of black magically raised zombies. At least she got a spot on the pom squad and a smokin' boyfriend (Ethan). But now Megan is in deep fertilizer all over again.

Why? Well, let's see... · Feral new super-strong zombies? Check. Cheerleader vs. pom squad turf war threatening half time as they know it? Check.
An Undead psychic hottie (Cliff) who's predicting a zombie apocalypse--and doing his best to tempt Megan away from Ethan? Yum. I mean, Check.
Earth-shattering secrets that could land Megan in Settler prison for life? Um, IT WASN'T ME!!!
Everyone thinks Megan's at fault for the new uber-zombie uprising. Looks like she'll need the help of both Cliff and Ethan if she's going to prove her innocence before it's too late...

To enter(if you want both books, answer both questions):

For Undead Much?: What would you do, if zombies are coming after you?

For The Line: How far would you go to help someone?

Extra entries:

1. New or Current follower. +5

2. Re-post it in any social network or blog. +3 each

3. +1 for each referral and +1 on being referred.

This Contest is open till December 26th at midnight. It is only open to USA and Canada addresses only.

2010 Debut Author Challenge

Next year, The Story Siren is hosting the 2010 Debut Author Challenge.
Here is a bit about the challenge: The objective is to read a set number of YA (Young Adult) or MG (Middle Grade) novels from debut authors published this year.* I'm going to challenge everyone to read at least 12 debut novels! I’m hoping to read at least 30! You don’t have to list your choices right away, but if you do feel free to change them throughout the year. I will also be focusing on mostly Young Adult novels.
Anyone can join, you don’t need a blog to participate. If you don’t have a blog you can always share your views by posting a review on Amazon.com/BarnesandNoble.com/GoodReads/Shelfari, or any other bookish site.
The challenge will run from January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010.
You can join at anytime!
So far, I have read The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard, The Naughty List by Suzanne Young, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, The Mark by Jen Nadol, Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount-White, The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy, The Dark Divine by Bree Despain, and I think that is all.

Some of the books that I want to read are (bolding the ones, I have):
1. The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
2. Dirty Little Secrets by CJ Omololu
3. Everlasting by Angie Frazier
4. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
5. Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
6. The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
7. Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
8. Sea by Heidi R. Kling
9. The Duff by Kody Keplinger
10. A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker
11. Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
12. Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham
13. Other by Karen Kincy
14. Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
15. Anna and the Boy Masterpiece by Stephanie Perkins
16. The Daykeeper's Grimoire by Christy Raedeke
17. Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
18. Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
19. Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
20. The Snowball Effect by Holly Hoxter
21. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
22. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
23. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
24. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
25. Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams
26. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
27. A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis
28. Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
29. Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
30. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
31. The Absolute Vaule of -1 by Steve Brezenoff
32. Vanished by Sheela Chari
33. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
34. Mistwood by Leah Cypess
35. Inconvenient by Margie Gelbwasser
36. The Line by Teri Hall
37. All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab
38. The Witch's Alphabet by Caitlin Kittredge
39. Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong
40. Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

Winner!

The winner of The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard is Arielle at B.A.M. Book Reviews. You have been sent an e-mail and need to respond to it in the next two days.
For everyone else, I have a spare copy of The Line by Teri Hall and Undead Much? by Stacey Jay. I going to have a contest for one of them soon. Which book would you want in a contest more?

Waiting on Wednesday (Week Sixteen)

Title: The Mark
Author: Jen Nadol
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: Early 2010
Sixteen year-old Cassie Renfield has seen the mark since forever: a glow around certain people as if a candle were held behind their back. The one time she pointed it out taught her not to do it again, so Cassie has kept quiet, considering its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until the day she watches a man die. Mining her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person's imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today. Cassie searches her past, her philosophy lessons, even her new boyfriend for answers, always careful to hide her secret. How does the mark work? Why her? Most importantly, if you know today is someone's last, should you tell?
I love the cover of this book, and I swear I have been seeing it around a lot. It sounds amazing. I love supernatural books. Plus Jen Nadol is a tenner, which makes her instantly awesome. I want to read this book so much.

Waiting on Wednesday (Week Fifteen)

Title: Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad
Author: Emily Horner
Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: 2010
When aspiring Broadway songwriter Julia dies in a sudden car accident, she leaves behind her magnum opus, a musical about ninjas titled "Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad." Her friends band together to produce it -- except for Julia's best friend Cassie. She's too confused about her feelings for Julia, and she doesn't fit in with the theater nerds. It just gets worse when Heather, Cassie's arch-enemy from middle school, gets cast as the ninja princess. Cassie can't deal; she packs her belongings, and Julia's ashes, onto her Bianchi touring bicycle and sets off across the country. The story cuts back and forth between her bicycle trip with her dead best friend and her reluctant participation in "Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad," where she discovers that Heather might not be who she always thought.
There are Ninjas! Musicals! Roadtrip! The title is so awesome, too. It is also a Tenner book! I am so excited for this.

Waiting on Wednesday (Week Fourteen)

Title: Sea
Author: Heidi R. Kling
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: June 10, 2010

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother's accidental disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year-old California girl Sienna "Sea" Jones reluctantly travels with her father's volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia. During her stay at an orphanage, she meets the scarred and soulful, Deni, who is more like Sienna then anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can't be together, so why can't she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home?And why is her psychiatrist father so secretive about her mother's plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to the truth. And Sea's real adventure begins.

I love this cover. It sounds amazing. Heidi is super sweet. She is also a Tenner. I can't wait for this book.

Waiting on Wednesday (week tweleve)

Title: The Witch's Alphabet (The Iron Codex, Volume One)
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: Spring 2010
In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft’s epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical-born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day. Aoife Grayson’s family is unique, in the worst way-every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their sixteenth birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different. Aoife is gifted in the mechanics that run her world, but no amount of study can erase the memory of the day Conrad lost his mind and attacked her before going on the run from the Proctors. Or from the knowledge that her own sixteenth birthday is fast approaching. Aoife’s s future seems bleak. Until one day she receives a letter that reads simply:
Find the witch’s alphabet
Save yourself
Aoife knows the letter is from Conrad, but is he a rambling madman or warning her to get out while she still can? In order to save herself, Aoife must find her brother. And in order to that, she must leave Lovecraft and venture into a world of Heretics and air pirates, hidden rooms and dark family secrets…before the clock winds down, and she too succumbs to the necrovirus.
I love alternative history books. It sounds really good. I loved how Caitlin explains it and she is also very awesome. Plus, I love Tenners... Question for everyone: Who thinks that the Tenners are secretly made of money?