Teaser Tuesday {6}

__________

She nods at me, still looking down. Her eyes flicker up to my face, and then return to their previous position, a small frown etched around her lips. “Are you newly Independent, Dom?”

“Yeah, I –”

“You better hurry,” she says, cutting me off. “You don’t want to be late.”

“Late?” I ask, not recalling anything instructions about activities tonight.

“For reporting to work,” she clarifies. She nods at my bag. “You should probably get that dropped off and get to it.”

“Um...” I’m honestly not sure what to say. This is my first real interaction in which our designation system has really come into play. I’m a little embarrassed that she thinks I’m lower tier, but I’m also a little ashamed for thinking that way. I play with the SmrtPad in my pocket a little, debating how to respond.

Lane’s eyes dart side to side, gauging whether there are any other people in our vicinity. Satisfied that the coast is clear, she leans in closer. The top of her head barely reaches my neck. Her breath is warm against the base of my throat. “You’ll want to make a good first impression,” she says nervously, like she’s telling me something she shouldn’t be. “It’ll matter.” Done with her good deed for the day, she leans back and shrugs. “Congratulations,” she adds, and then shuffles away.

Winner Announcement + Scholastic's Charity Auction

Just a couple of quick news announcements today. First off, the winner of the A Discovery of Witches book + buttons giveaway is LiLi from ChicaReader - congratulations! If you didn't win this time around, never fear - pop by here and enter for a chance to win Blood Trust and First Daughter. You have until May 20th, 11:59 P.M.

Secondly, Scholastic is hosting a charity auction.

"Twelve top children’s book illustrators created original artwork for Scholastic’s month-long online charity auction (which opened for bids on May 5th) to benefit Reading Is Fundamental and Reach Out and Read, two amazing literacy organizations that have lost all federal funding, making it even more difficult for them to help the kids who need it the most.

To view the spectacular original artwork by all 12 artists, simply go to www.scholastic.com/readeveryday. From there you can then pick a favorite, place a bid, and put books into the hands of the neediest kids - and they’ll have a piece of original art by a beloved children’s artist that illustrates the important role of books in all our lives."

It's for a great cause and there's a ton of really awesome artwork, so it's definitely worth checking out & spreading the word about!

Have a great week guys! Cheers :)

In My Mailbox [51]

In the past two weeks, I received:
For Review:
` Graveminder by Melissa Marr
` Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
` Die For Me by Amy Plum
(Thanks, Harper, for the above!)

` Enclave by Ann Aguirre (Thanks Zeitghost & Macmillan!)

and from a Twitter contest:
` When You Were Mine by Elizabeth Noble (Thanks Penguin!)

And that's my mailbox for the past two weeks. What've you gotten recently?

*In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren

**While you're here - don't forget to enter the giveaway for a copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and a set of buttons, as well as the giveaway for a copy of First Daughter and a copy of Blood Trust, both by Eric Van Lustbader!

Giveaway: Blood Trust & First Daughter

In celebration of the paperback release of Last Snow, there's a new Youtube book trailer!

From The Author of "The Bourne Sanction" and "The Bourne Legacy" comes Eric Van Lustbader's electrifying second novel in the Jack McClure/ Alli Carson Series, "Last Snow". Check out "Last Snow" on the Macmillan website for more information!

And in celebration of this, Lucid Conspiracy, in collaboration with Zeitghost Media, is pleased to announce a giveaway for copies of Blood Trust and First Daughter to one winner!

Contest is open to mailing addresses in the U.S. and Canada, and will run until 11:59 PM May 20th, 2011. First entry is a freebie, additional entries available for: blog followers, linking the contest, and linking the trailer.

ENTER HERE

Submit the contest entry form to enter. Good luck!

Waiting on Wednesday (32)

Deadly Cool - Gemma Halliday
*October 1st, 2011 HarperTeen

DEADLY COOL, in which a sixteen-year-old finds out that her boyfriend was cheating on her with the president of the chastity club; when she goes to confront the cheaters, she finds the girl dead instead and now must solve the murder.

I chose Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday this week for a number of reasons. First off, how haunting is the cover? There's something very striking, very gripping, about the eyes of the cover model. Secondly, although there's not a lot in the way of a synopsis to go off of, from what can be gathered, it's a YA murder mystery! Comparatively speaking, mystery isn't a genre that gets a lot of the YA market share, so it'll definitely be interesting to see how Deadly Cool does.

What're you waiting on this week?

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Where She Went Review

Where She Went - Gayle Forman

*April 5th, 2011 Dutton Juvenile

It's been three years since the devastating accident ... three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Where She Went is the perfect sequel to Gayle Forman's Bestselling If I Stay. The follow-up is just as poignant, just as bittersweet, and just as beautiful.

I'll admit - when I first heard about Where She Went, I was a little doubtful about how Forman would pull it off. If I Stay functioned so well as a standalone that it was hard to imagine a sequel that would be not only of the same caliber (or better) writing-wise, but also an additional piece that would add to the story. With Where She Went, Forman more than managed to pull it off brilliantly!

Although the follow-up is clearly a continuation of the same story, there are a number of fundamental differences. For one thing, the setting takes place three years later. For another, it takes place in the busy, bustling metropolis of New York. But most importantly, Where She Went is told from Adam's perspective. This, as it turns out, is one of the best things that could've happened to make the sequel as great as it is.

Sure, in If I Stay, we're managed to meet Adam. But everything we learned was filtered through Mia's perceptions, everything told through a biased lens. With Where She Went, we get Adam, raw and real. It's great to get further insight into the enigma that is Adam, the way that he dealt with the aftermath, the inner turmoil he experienced, the emotions that were released in unhealthy ways. The characters - not just the main ones, but all of them - seem almost closer now, having been experienced through an additional medium.

The interactions between Mia and Adam, the way that the events of the past three years are revealed, the fact that this next part of the story, too, occurs in a very short period of time... Forman executes it all with the same precision, skill and beautiful writing present in If I Stay. If I Stay and Where She Went hardly read like two separate novels - if anything, they're perfect complements for each other, two parts of one whole.

With a great sense of pacing, beautiful prose and intricate character relationships, Forman's deft writing skill has been proven yet again. This is definitely one YA author to keep an eye out for!

Wither Review

Wither (Chemical Garden #1) - Lauren DeStefano

*March 22nd, 2011 Simon & Schuster

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

With Wither, Lauren DeStefano has crafted an masterpiece that's achingly beautiful from cover to cover.

Wither is a YA dystopian novel that has received a large magnitude of positive hype. Well, I'm pleased to report that it more than lives up to the reputation that precedes it! I finished Wither in one night, staying up well into the wee hours of morning to complete it. It has definitely earned its rightful place on my shelf of favourites.

One of the most notable characteristics of Wither is how simply engaging it is. DeStefano's world building is spectacular - it's similar enough to our own to maintain credibility and relatability, yet distinctive enough to distinguish as a hypothetical future for humanity. The mood and atmosphere that DeStefano creates is equally remarkable - so realistic that it transcends the physical pages and printed words to seep into [the reader's] mind, to create genuine emotions, to alter the mood [of the audience]. Fictional worlds this immersive are a beautiful rarity.

And the characters - wow. DeStefano is a highly talented writer who has managed to almost breathe life into her characters. I'll let the story and characterization speak for themselves, but basically: be prepared to really connect with Wither.

Another one of the great aspects of Wither is its concept. Dystopian novels really resonate these days to begin with because they offer a safe exploration of potential futures, a medium for social satire, a vessel for outrageous speculation and prediction. Alas, not all such entities are created equal. I'm pleased to report that Wither is highly proficient such a vessel. Wither really explores deeply aspects of our humanity. What happens when science goes too far? What if you knew when you would die? What would you be willing to do to escape your "fate"?

With remarkable world-building, probing concepts and bewitching atmosphere, Lauren DeStefano's Wither is a transcendental work of art.

Giveaway: A Discovery of Witches

May is a wonderful month for a number of reasons: beautiful Spring weather, my birthday month, the beginning of "summer" break (for those in university/college)... the list goes on. So why not start the month off with a big bang?

Thanks to the awesome people over at Penguin, Lucid Conspiracy is pleased to present a giveaway for a copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (which I've seen popping up on a ton of IMMs this week!) and a bunch of pins.

Don't forget to pop by Deborah's site to vote for your dream movie casting!

So how would you go about winning these awesome prizes? Read on:

Contest runs until May 15th, 2011 (11:59 p.m. EST). Open to mailing addresses in the US & Canada. Additional entries available for:
` being a blog follower
` linking to the contest
` commenting on a review or interview
` totaling up your entries

First entry is a freebie (just for entering your name & e-mail :)

ENTER HERE

Submit the entry form, and good luck! Happy May :)