Blood Magic(Blood Magic #1) - Waiting on Wednesday

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton. Release date: April 26th 2011. Published by Random House Books for Young Readers.

Why am I pining for Blood Magic?

A girl trying to unravel the mystery as to why her parents died and a angry boy teaming up with her and together they're diving into a world of dark magic trying to find some answers. Added bonus: A wicked witch! It sounds like the recipe for something that just might be an awesome new series.

Synopsis(borrowed from Goodreads):

For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything. 

Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths. 

Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood.

Want to know more about the author or the book?

Visit Tessa Gratton's homepage

Follow Tessa on Twitter

Read Tessa's blog

Add Blood Magic to your Goodreads shelf

What are you waiting for this week?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Please visit Jill's blog to find out what other book bloggers are waiting for.

Book review: Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Insatiable is one of Meg Cabot's adult novels.

Summary borrowed from Goodreads:

Sick of vampires? So is Meena Harper. 

But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them. 

Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her; no one ever does). 

But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side . . . a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for. 

The problem is, he already is dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own. 

And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare. 

Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . . 

If she even has one.

My thoughts:

Writing about vampires isn't for everyone and just because a lot of authors jumps on the bandwagon doesn't mean that everyone should. As you probably can tell from my first sentence I wasn't too impressed by Insatiable and I really haven't anything to write about the book at all. All the elements to create a good vampire story were present and that just might be the problem, it seemed like Cabot followed a receipt for a story. There wasn't anything special or original about Insatiable. Meena annoyed me, she used the term "as usual" way to many times and it felt strange that she used those words about a person she'd known for barely three minutes. I might be a tad bit too negative in this short review since this is the second book in a row that I couldn't get into(but hey at least I finished this one!). For me the most interesting part of the story was the authors note at the end of the book. I should perhaps have tried one of Cabot's YA novels instead? Now I need to read something good or else I'll lose my reading mojo :( 

The cover:
Seductive and it lured me into buying the novel. Sadly the content didn't reflect the sensual and mysterious cover.

My rating of this book:

2.5 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:

Today's Adventure

Supernaturalsnark

Books at Midnight

YA Vampire Books

Want to know more?
Add Insatiable to your Goodreads wish list.
Visit Meg Cabot's homepage 
Follow Meg on Twitter

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Published: June 2010
Pages(hardcover): 451
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 006173506X (ISBN13: 9780061735066)
Full disclosure: Purchased(audibook from Audible)

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.  

The Invisible Mountain - Teaser Tuesday

This weeks teaser is brought to you from The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis, page 22:

The spent long afternoons leaning on the rails. They stared at the ocean. The smoked, stared, lit up, and smoked again, until the tobacco ran out and they just stared and  gnawed on substitutes - fish scales, shred of cloth, errant twigs from the homeland. 

I just recently started this novel. I've heard such great things about this novel(it's not YA by the way). The author uses the language in such a beautiful and almost poetic way. 

MizB of Should Be Reading host this meme called Teaser Tuesday . Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Book review: Mystify(Mystyx #2) by Artist Arthur

You can read my review of the first book in the Mystyx series here.


My summary:

Mystify continues where Mystix(Mystix #1) ended, but now the reader will follow the story of Sasha Carrington. Sasha is quite the outsider, she is the member of one of the richest families in town but she doesn't like it, it has never done her any good. Her parents have never had time for her and she was more or less raised by the family’s maid. All of the sudden her parents takes an interest in what she does, or more correctly they're taking advantage of her to do some PR to the younger crowd in town for a new business Sasha's father is starting. 

Sasha and the other members of Mystyx continue to research their own background to figure out what they are and what their purpose is. At the same time they all experience a growth in their supernatural powers. On top of all that there is Antoine Watson, he's a hip hopper and Sasha just might be in love with him, something her parents never will approve of.

My thoughts:
I'm sorry to say that Mystify will be my very first review book, ever, to mark as "did not finish". I gave the story a fair chance and read about a 100 pages but I could just not get into it. I cannot force myself to finish a book, that always gives me trouble afterwards and for a short period of time puts me off reading entirely and we can't let that happen.


I couldn't connect with Sasha and I felt that a lot of the story where being repeated again and again. I read a passage and thought didn't she just say/think the same about two pages ago? And that happened quite often. 


The idea of the plot is a good one, strange weather having something to do with the kids supernatural powers and I can honestly say that I would have loved to read more about it. It just took too long to get to the interesting bits and they were to far apart.

My rating of this book:

DNF - did not finish.

Want to know more?
Add Mystify to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Artist Arthur's homepage

Follow Artist on Twitter

Mystify(Mystyx #2) by Artist Arthur

Published: Release date February 1st 2011.
Pages(paperback): 256
Publisher: Kimani Tru
ISBN 13: 978037353431
Full disclosure: Purchased 

This book can be pre-ordered from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.

Born at Midnight - Waiting on Wednesday

Born at Midnight(Shadow Falls #1) by C.C. Hunter. Release date: March 29th 2011. Published by St. Martin's Press(Macmillan).

Why am I pining for Born at Midnight?

A girl who needs to figure out who she is and a ghost might be the key to that information, that sounds like it could be interesting. How can she find herself while she has both a half-fairy and a werewolf struggeling to get her attention at a camp for supernaturals. I love the sound of this even if I'm not all that fond of love triangles(but sometimes they can be pretty good) and this novel has already received some excellent ratings on Goodreads. Enough said, I want Born at Midnight!

Book trailer:

Synopsis(borrowed from Goodreads):

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn’t put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie’s acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist’s sofa. 

The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it’s a camp for troubled teens. 

They thought wrong. 

It’s a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too. 

Just because she’s seeing ghosts, just because she was born at midnight, does that really mean she’s not human? And if so, what is she? Not even the other supernaturals can tell her. 

As Kylie attempts to cope with the realization that these creatures actually exist, and that she might even be one of them, the ever present stalker/ghost appears to have secrets that could unravel the mystery of Kylie’s identity and her destiny. 

But getting a ghost to open up is as hard as getting a guy to talk about his feelings. 

As Kylie struggles to find answers, two hot guys, a werewolf and a half-fairy vie for her attention. However, Kylie’s determined that before she lets her heart discover a new love, she needs to solve her indentify crisis and unearth the truth of her destiny.

Want to know more about the author or the book?

Visit C.C. Hunter's homepage

Follow C.C. on Twitter

Read C.C's blog

Check out C.C's fanpage on Facebook

Add Born At Midnight to your Goodreads shelf

What are you waiting for this week?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Please visit Jill's blog to find out what other book bloggers are waiting for.

Mystify - Teaser Tuesday

This weeks teaser is brought to you from Mystify(Mystyx #2) by Artist Arthur, Kindle location 2488:

I still think something weird is going on. But I want to check my laptop to see if I've gotten an email. Halfway across the room, my mother interrupts me by clearing her throat loudly.

I just recently read and reviewed the first book in this series and I thought it was ok, so when I saw the next book available on NetGalley I just had to find out what's happening next with the Mystyx.

MizB of Should Be Reading host this meme called Teaser Tuesday . Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Book review: Your Baby Is Speaking To You by Kevin Nugent

My summary:

Your Baby Is Speaking to You is a guide to help parents understand what their infant is trying to say to them by use of his/hers body language. 

My thoughts:

I usually don't read a lot of non-fiction but this book looked so cute I just couldn't resist. Plus the book is written by an international expert on infant-parent communication so I thought that it would be interesting to read his interpretations of a baby's body language. 

Your Baby Is Speaking to You was easy to read with short chapters and lots lovely pictures to illustrate the text. I think this would be a great book for those expecting their first born, a perfect gift for new parents. Not to say that those of us who have children already can't learn anything from this book because there is definitely something new in there for everyone.

To think of all those messages a tiny little baby sends out to his/hers parents is amazing, it is so important to pay attention the baby's signals and learn how to read them. The book and some of the pictures reminded me so of the time when our son was a little baby, it feels so long ago even though he's only 5, so it moved me a little extra(also probably because of all the pregnancy hormones flying around in my body - only 4 weeks until my due date now!).

Book trailer:

The cover:

The cover is just adorable.

My rating of this book:

4 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:

Becky's Book Reviews

Want to know more?
Add Your Baby Is Speaking to You to your Goodreads wish list.

Your Baby Is Speaking To You by Kevin Nugent

Published: January 6th 2011
Pages(paperback): 128
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547242956 (ISBN13: 9780547242958)
Full disclosure: ARC received from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.