Shift Review

Shift (Shade #2) - Jeri Smith-Ready

*May 3rd, 2011 Simon Pulse

Aura’s life is anything but easy. Her boyfriend, Logan, died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can’t deny her connection with the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she’s not sure that she wants to.

Logan and Zachary will fight to be the one by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past—the mystery of the Shift.

As Aura’s search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets…and her heart.

Shift is a worthy follow-up to Shade (review here). The sequel hits just the right tone of continuing the story without too much rehashing of events. A lot of the positive comments I made regarding Shade still apply here - the originality, the charisma, the likeable characters.

Smith-Ready's characters aren't always prim and proper - Aura, Zachary, Logan and the crew get mad. They show emotion. They say harsh things, lash out and act less than perfect at times. And that's what makes them so much more real.

The mystery surrounding the Shift is explored further in this installment, and explored well! Shift has great pacing, an intriguing plot, action, romance... Like Shade, it has a little bit of something for everyone. A great progression for a great YA trilogy.

Goodreads | IndieBound | Jeri Smith-Ready 

Waiting on Wednesday (40)

Breathe - Sarah Crossan

*October 2nd, 2012 Greenwillow

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe . . .

The world is dead. 

The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air. 

ALINA 

has been stealing for a long time. She’s a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she’s never been caught before. If she’s careful, it’ll be easy. If she’s careful.

QUINN 

should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it’s also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn’t every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her. 

BEA 

wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they’d planned a trip together, the two of them, and she’d hoped he’d discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days’ worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

Really digging the synopsis for this! The structure of the teaser is very enticing - the opening sentence has a beautiful rhythm, and the context of the built world sounds fascinating and the three characters are introduced nicely. 

A fan of dystopian fiction, that's already +1 right there. Also really like the name 'Quinn.' This one has certainly piqued my interest!

What about you, what're you waiting on this Wednesday?

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

The Vampire Diaries Season 4 Promo

A little over two years ago, I first blogged about The Vampire Diaries shortly after the first season finale. (I totally called that Tyler/werewolf thing, by the way :P)Well, two seasons later, I'm still watching the show. (It's actually really good, okay?) 

So anyway - the fourth season is set to premiere on Thursday, October 11th. A promo was recently released at Comic Con (see video above). By the looks of it, it's definitely going to be an action-packed season. Who else is excited for it?! Any predictions on what's going to happen?

Waiting on Wednesday (39)

Nerve - Jeanne Ryan

*September 13th, 2012 Dial

A high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly  

When Vee is picked to be a player in NERVE, an anonymous game of dares broadcast live online, she discovers that the game "knows" her. They tempt her with prizes taken from her ThisIsMe page and team her up with the perfect boy, sizzling-hot Ian. At first it's exhilarating--Vee and Ian's fans cheer them on to riskier dares with higher stakes. But the game takes a twisted turn when they're directed to a secret location with five other players for the Grand Prize round. Suddenly they're playing all or nothing, with their lives on the line. Just how far will Vee go before she loses NERVE?  

Debut author Jeanne Ryan delivers an un-putdownable suspense thriller.

This sounds like all sorts of eerie and awesome. Eerie because the whole thing about the game "knowing" her? That's pretty applicable to optimized search engines and social media and the whole internet shabang these days. Awesome because the premise sounds really cool - an anonymous game of dares? Suspense and thrills? Intrigued to check this one out!

What're you waiting on this Wednesday?!

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Go-To Books

There are a few books/authors whose work I tend to find myself drawn back to, time and again. Books that I'll re-read (although rarely from cover to cover again, mind you), flipping open to any page or to a particularly memorable scene. Sometimes just for fun, sometimes when I'm bored, sometimes when I need a bit of comfort. Does anyone else do that, re-read segments of books?

Off the top of my head, some that are among the more frequently revisited: the Harry Potter series, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Crimson Hero, Little Women, The Hunger Games series... 

The photo above was taken earlier this summer at a hostel in London, England. There was a book exchange bookshelf in the lobby, and it was kind of cool to see all the well-traveled books there, left behind by unknown travelers. Browsed through Catching Fire as I charged my phone for a bit - it was a bit surreal, to be engrossed in a familiar book with a very different packaging. 

How about you, what're your go-to reads whose worlds you visit again and again?

Waiting on Wednesday (38)

Ten - Gretchen McNeil

*September 18th, 2012 Balzer + Bray

And their doom comes swiftly. 

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

A murder mystery! This seems like an enticing read because the synopsis sounds unique and different from a lot of the other current offerings in the YA genre. And it's slightly reminiscent of Agatha Christie. 

What're you waiting on this Wednesday?!

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Wanted: Book Recommendations

Hello there, Blogosphere! It's been a while, hasn't it? The past couple of months have been insane, from finishing up the semester to exploring a foreign continent. It's been a grand adventure for sure.

Looking back at my Top 10 of 2011 and Top 10 of 2010 posts recently, I realized that, as sad as it sounds, as of right now I haven't read enough books for pleasure this year to do such a post. So - since I'm heading home for a bit of a break soon, I'm hoping to get in some quality reading time.

But looking at all the offerings available, I'm at a bit of a loss - where should I start? What books (recent or classics) should I devour this upcoming month? Which novels have been absolutely standout and really resonated with you? What stories have kept you up into the wee hours of night, unable to leave the fictional world the words created?

Cheers!

In My Mailbox [54]

Wow, haven't done one of these posts in over half a year - crazy! So anyway - today was the launch party for The Way We Fall, Megan Crewe's latest release. Unfortunately I was only able to drop by for a little bit, so I missed the reading/speech at the beginning. I did manage to pick up a copy of the book and get it signed though! Megan was very nice, and it was great to meet her in person.

The book cover is very striking, and the texture of it is pretty cool. Megan also brought some really cool swag to the signing, like pens, hand sanitizer and magnets.

A couple years ago, back in 2009 when Megan's debut Give up the Ghost was released, I posted a review & an interview here on Lucid Conspiracy, in case anyone wants to check those out.

What was in your mailbox this week?

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