Waiting on Wednesday: In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we have the opportunity to let others know about books that we are eagerly waiting for.

Title: In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo
Published by: Scholastic
Release date: April 29th, 2014

From the remarkable imagination of acclaimed artist Jim Di Bartolo and the exquisite pen of bestselling author Kiersten White comes a spellbinding story of love, mystery, and dark conspiracy, told in an alternating narrative of words and pictures.
Cora and Minnie are sisters living in a small, stifling town where strange and mysterious things occur. Their mother runs the local boarding house. Their father is gone. The woman up the hill may or may not be a witch.
Thomas and Charles are brothers who've been exiled to the boarding house so Thomas can tame his ways and Charles can fight an illness that is killing him with increasing speed. Their family history is one of sorrow and guilt. They think they can escape from it . . . but they can't.
Arthur is also new to the boarding house. His fate is tied to that of Cora, Minnie, Thomas, and Charles. He knows what darkness circles them, but can't say why, and doesn't even know if they can be saved.
Sinister forces are working in the shadows, manipulating fates and crafting conspiracies. The closer Cora, Minnie, Arthur, Thomas, and Charles get to the truth, the closer they get to harm. But the threat is much bigger than they can see. It is strangling the world.
Until one of the boys decides he wants to save it.
Told in an astonishing mix of art and words, IN THE SHADOWS collides past against future, love against evil, and hope against fear. The result is both a mystery and a masterpiece.

Why I want to read it: The only book I've read by White is Paranolmancy, which I enjoyed, but I'm curious about this book.  I love graphic books too and this sounds like a combination of paranormal and graphic.  Interesting and different. 

What are you waiting for this week?

Stacking the Shelves #40

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which we feature all the book goodness that we received, borrowed or purchased during the previous week. All links are to Goodreads.

Hello gorgeous people! I haven't done a STS in a while because of the holidays and I had my mom, sister, and nice visiting from Puerto Rico for Spring Break.  We had a great time and now I back to reading and blogging again.  I am trying to control my book buying since I'm attending a few book festivals before BEA next month and need to save for those.  Without further ado, this is what I got in the last couple of weeks:

Purchased (Physical Books)

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - With this cute cover and a blurb from John Green, I'm destined to love this one!

Purchased (or Free) for Kindle

Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden - I already read this one and it was really good. Review to come soon :)

Die for Her by Amy Plum - I'm a big fan of the Revenats series, and this one is a short ebook (#2.5) before the conclusion to be published later this year.

Forever My Lady by Jeff Rivera - This one was free and it sounded interesting.

Library

Blameless by Gail Carriger  - The Parasol Protectorate is an amazing adult paranormal-steampunk series.  I got book #3 in audio book.

Unremembered by Jessica Brody - This one was my WOW a while ago and I can't wait to read it.

Mind Games by Kiersten White - I really like Ms. White's Paranolmancy series, I can't resist this beautiful cover.

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza - I've heard wonderful things about this book and the cover is to die for, right?

Sever by Lauren DeStefano - I'm not sure I like this crazy cover, but since I read the first two books, I want to finish the series.  Got this one in audio book as well. 

For Review

Wish by Beth Bracken and Kay Fraser - This book is illustrated with amazing pictures. Thank you to Capstone for the opportunity 

Dare You To by Katie McGarry - Pushing the Limits is one of the best books I read last year and this one should be equally awesome. Thank you Harlequin Teen.

The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison - I'm a sucker for pretty covers!  I read this one already and it was pretty good. Thanks to Egmont.

Breathless by Brigid Kemmerer - I adore the Elemental series!  This one is book 2.5 and it's about Nick (I love me some Merrick bothers!) Thanks Kessington.

Book Related (sort of...)

I found this cute stickies in Barnes & Noble. Aren't they adorable?

That's it for me!  What is stacking your shelves this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we have the opportunity to let others know about books that we are eagerly waiting for.

Title: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Published by: HarperTeen 

Release date: September 10th, 2013

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.
Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal.
Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

Why I want to read it: I really enjoyed Paranolmancy by the same author.  Also, it seems like this involves Egyptian mythology which is a bit unusual. Finally, this cover is so pretty!

What are you waiting for this week?

Top Ten Beautiful Covers for YA 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

Hello gorgeous people!  This week Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, so I have for you a treat for the senses.  These are my Top Ten most beautiful covers of books that will be published next year. Enjoy!

I do know how to count, I just couldn't stop at 10!  I can't wait to know what you guys selected for your Top Ten this week.

What are your favorite upcoming covers?

Please enter the Dystopian Giveaway Hop Here

In My Mailbox #30

IMM is a weekly meme inspired by Alea at the Pop Culture Junkie and hosted by the wonderful Kristi at The Story Siren.  All links are to Goodreads

Purchased Books

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand - The long awaited (at last for me!) sequel to Unearthly. Yeah Team Tucker!

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly - I love the cover for diis book and I also love books about angels (a you can tell from the book above :)

Switched by Amanda Hocking - I've heard wonderful things about this series and this now cover is amazing.

Purchased for Kindle

The Soulkeepers by G.P. Ching - Another beautiful and disturbing cover, but it sounds like a good series too.

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry - I featured this book as my WOW a few weeks ago, so naturally I was eager to get it.

The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood - I had Poison Diaries in my TBR list for a while and when Amazon offered it for .99 cents, I couldn't say no.

For Review

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter - Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for sharing the amazing sequel to The Goddess Test.  I can hardly wait to  visit with Kate and Henry!

Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz - I really enjoyed Spellbound and can't wait to read its sequel. Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the opportunity.

Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin - Thanks to Putman for sharing this book, it sounds like so much fun!

Library

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley - Another book that has been in my TBR wish list to a little while, I hope it's as good as it sounds.

Supernaturally by Kiersten White - Need I say more my dear Evie?

What is in your Mailbox this week? 

Enter my 300 Follower Giveaway  here!

Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (Paranormalcy #1)

Tittle: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Published: August 31, 2010 by Harper Teen
Source: Bought this book
Grade rate:  A

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

My Review

I loved this book!  It seemed to me to rise above the wave of paranormal books that seem to have invaded the YA scene lately. I found Evie to have a fresh voice and different outlook of life and of the paranormal.

Evie was a different kind of protagonist.  She was raised in an unusual way, and her life was full of adventure, danger, and secrecy; and lacking in normalcy and void of close relationships of any kind.  Don’t get me wrong, she was in no way mistreated, and she got away with a lot mischief and rule-bending, but she deservedly wished for a ‘normal’ life.  Since the story is told from Evie’s point of view, you get to know her fairly well.  She is very funny and uses irony as a shield.  She is a pink and rhinestone loving girly girl in search of love, family and a sense of belonging.

Other characters were Lend, Raquel and Reth.  I like Lend, especially since he believed in Evie, not matter what and that is always an admirable trait in a guy, right? (Not sure I could fall in love with someone that weird though.)  Raquel tried to be a mother figure for Evie, but didn’t quite hit the mark although she did care for her.  Reth I didn’t like one bit.  He is manipulative, sneaky, and just plain bad.  The characters as a whole were well developed.

The plot was easy to follow, well paced, and original.  I found ‘Paranormalcy’ very easy to read and fast paced.  One thing I’m not too crazy about is all the open questions that were left at the end.  Not exactly a cliffhanger, but so many open issues that make ‘Supernaturally’ a must read (lucky for me it just came out!)

If you like paranormal you should give ‘Paranormalcy’ a try, it’s definitely worth it.

About the cover:  I like the cover, the dark background makes it look much more mysterious than it really is, but it makes the model stand out more. ‘Evie’ is wearing pink (what else?) in a shiny fabric and seem to be in movement (like she always is.)