Whether we want to admit it or not, we're all cover tarts. Yes, even you. We see a pretty cover and it's all over. We must have it, regardless if the synopsis tells us it's about a daredevil midget in a bikini who murders grandmothers. Who cares, as long as the cover is pretty. But what happens when the cover isn't all that? So in fairness of the Pretty Covers of 2014, we need to take a look at the ones that... Umm... Aren't so pretty.
No covers were harmed in the making of this post. Only feelings.
No covers were harmed in the making of this post. Only feelings.
All The Bright Places
Written by Jennifer Niven
Contemporary
Expected Publication January 7th 2015
400 Pages
Thank you to Penguin Books Australia
The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this compelling, exhilarating, and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the 'natural wonders' of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries, it’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself, a weird, funny, live out loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
The Sea of Monsters
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book Two
Check out my review of The Lightning Thief
Written by Rick Riordan
Fantasy, Mythology
Published January 1st 2006
265 Pages
Add to Goodreads
After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh grade school year unnervingly quiet. But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers that the magical borders which protect Half Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters.
To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia. But rescuing Grover isn't the only only monumental task that Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson must tackle. If they don't retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer, Camp Half Blood will be destroyed.
What happens when that book you've been waiting to be released... Is never actually released? If you're anything like me, I go hunting for an explanation as to why. Tweeting an author, checking their website, even comments on the unreleased book page on Goodreads. Have you been waiting on a book that is seemingly never going to be released? Today I'm sharing mine...
This blog hop is for the participants of the Aussie YA Bloggers Secret Santa list to help you find out more about your fellow Santas and Santees and hopefully find out who your Santa is!
A Thousand Pieces of You Firebird Book One
Written by Claudia Gray
Science Fiction, Time Travel
Published October 7th 2014
360 Pages
Thank you to Keep it Fictional
Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer, her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul, escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt, and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.
The Firebird is a scientific marvel, a complex pendant allowing dimensional travel where Marguerite now finds herself hunting her father's killer. Paul Markov was undergraduate student, working under her father on the Firebird project, turning the dream of multidimensional travel into a reality. But only weeks after the project is proven a success, their laboratory is in ruin, data destroyed and her father killed by the person he entrusted into his home. But Marguerite isn't making the arduous journey alone. The charismatic and scientific genius Theo is determined to find Paul, his former friend that is the only suspect in the death of his beloved mentor.
With Theo by her side, the two transport themselves throughout the dimensions. Only able to follow Paul into alternative worlds that where they already exist, Marguerite, Paul and Theo materialise into the body of their other self. It isn't until Marguerite finds herself as a Princess and daughter of a Russian Tsar, that she is forced to confront Paul. With her Firebird in ruin and Theo unable to jump into her world, Paul is adamant of his innocence. But if he didn't kill her father, than who did? It seems the lives of the Princess and her Lieutenant are heavily entwined and it isn't long before Marguerite finds old feelings beginning to resurface. But Theo can't be convinced of Paul's innocence and Marguerite begins to suspect that Theo's motives may not be seeking justice for her father's death, but proving Paul's guilt.
It was beautifully written and a stunning blend of romance, science fiction and flourished with passion and suspense. The romance is sultry, intense and will have readers yearning for Lieutenant Markov. I'm curious to see what the second installment of the Firebird series will bring, as the conclusion of A Thousand Pieces of You felt befitting and complete. And that cover ain't half bad either.
My hate is stronger than the dimensions, stronger than memory, stronger than time. My hate is now the truest part of who I am.But it seems than Paul isn't escaping, but tracking a trail of deception throughout the dimensions, and Marguerite is one step behind. It isn't until the Firebrand breaks and Marguerite finds herself as the daughter of a Russian Tsar, that she begins to learn the truth. About the project, about Paul and the simmering passion she uncovers.
A Thousand Pieces of You is a a science fiction romance that will leave you utterly breathless. It was more than a science fiction thriller, but a sultry and intense romance. Reminiscent of Cristin Terrill's All Our Yesterdays, it follows the story of Marguerite, an artist amidst a family of scientific genius. Her parents both brilliant inventors, and has spent her seventeen years sharing her home with undergraduate students that her parents have taken in and nurtured. Including young protégés Paul and Theo. But when it seems her parents life work is destroyed, her father killed and Paul fleeing the scene with what he believes is the only Firebird prototype and has now become the only suspect... And Marguerite wants revenge.kelly's thoughts
With Theo by her side, the two transport themselves throughout the dimensions. Only able to follow Paul into alternative worlds that where they already exist, Marguerite, Paul and Theo materialise into the body of their other self. It isn't until Marguerite finds herself as a Princess and daughter of a Russian Tsar, that she is forced to confront Paul. With her Firebird in ruin and Theo unable to jump into her world, Paul is adamant of his innocence. But if he didn't kill her father, than who did? It seems the lives of the Princess and her Lieutenant are heavily entwined and it isn't long before Marguerite finds old feelings beginning to resurface. But Theo can't be convinced of Paul's innocence and Marguerite begins to suspect that Theo's motives may not be seeking justice for her father's death, but proving Paul's guilt.
the final verdict
I Was Here
Written By Gayle Forman
Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Expected Publication January 2015
352 Pages
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia
Cody and Meg were inseparable.Two peas in a pod.Until... They weren’t anymore.When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything, so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open, until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.
Slip
Slip: Book One
Slip: Book One
Written by David Estes
Dystopian, Science Fiction
Dystopian, Science Fiction
Published June 16th 2014
Thank you to David Estes and Lola's Blog Tours
Someone must die before another can be born...
As sea levels rise and livable landmasses shrink, the Reorganized United States of America has instituted population control measures to ensure there are sufficient resources and food to sustain the growing population. Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip.
But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone?
And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip?
In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.
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