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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Halloween Reading List & Giveaway

                                    **SKIP TO BOTTOM FOR GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES**
 As I've said before, I LOVE Halloween. Just... everything about it. So, in order to get ready, I've decided to create a reading list, consisting of five books that I want to have read by Halloween.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

 "Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life."

 The Name of The Star by Maureen Johnson

 "The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities."

 Dearly, Deaperted by Lia Habel

 "Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire."

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor
 
 "Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out....read more at Goodreads."

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

 "Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
 She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.
There is.
 She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong."

 What's on your reading list this Halloween?


--------------------------------------GIVEAWAY----------------------------------

GUIDELINES:
 -You can pick ONE of the five books listed above.
 -Leave a comment containing your email and which book you would prefer.
 -There will be one winner.
 -The contest will close at midnight on Halloween.
 -It IS International! Yay!
 -You can Get an +1 entry by TWEETING! So TWEET! Be sure to leave the link in the comment and to @ mention @PenandInkChick in the tweet!

Review: Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Book Rating: 5/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 344 pages

Publisher: Philomel (March 22, 2011)

 In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All is lost.
  Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
 It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?

 This book was wonderful, heartbreaking, and beautiful. It was raw and real. It moved me in a way that few other books have. The main character isn't perfect, like you so often see in other books. The romance doesn't consume the plot, as it so often does in other books. It focuses on the story of hope, determination, bravery, and love.
 This book tells a forgotten story. When I picked it up at the library, I was, at the least, very surprised to learn that there was another horror going on alongside Hitler's Holocaust. I love history, and I've always done excess research outside of history class. When I learned about this, I felt as if I had been whacked between the eyes. All the Lithuanians, Estonians, and Latvians lives who were lost is simply astounding, along with their story of pure bravery and perseverance.
 This novel tells that story in a beautiful, unforgettable way. Lina is a fifteen year old Lithuanian artist taken by the NKVD because her father works at the university and shows signs of being anti-Soviet. Lina, her mother, and her brother are separated from her father, who is sent to jail. Lina and her family endure many horrors.
 The characters are heartbreakingly real. One of my favorite characters is Lina's mother, Elena. She never lets the enemy see her broken. She went to all lengths to keep her children, friends, o even stragers safe. She loved her children and husband with every fiber of her body, and she saw the good in everyone, even a NKVD officer. She was a stunning yet very realistic character, as were all of the others.
 The plot and story of this book is captivating. You never once get bored, and the writing style is smooth, inspiring, and beautiful. I found myself crying and laughing with Lina, and becoming distressed and worried when she was. And when I looked at what all she had to endure, I don't know how any of them survived without going completely insane. The pure power of human love in this book will bring you to tears.
 I also found a video for the book that tells you the inspiring stories of some of the survivors. WATCH IT! http://betweenshadesofgray.com/
 If you haven't read this book, you should. Read the first page. I double-dog dare you.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

In Celebration of the Spooks Short Story Contest

 So, I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday in the whole wide world. I love the candy, the creepy feeling at night, the pure excitement. But most of all, I love the stories and legends about Halloween. For instance, in fifth grade, we had to give a speech. Mine was on the legend of the Jack o' Lantern. Yep. That's how fangirly I am.

 Anyways, I decided that it would be awesome to hold a short story contest based on the theme of ghosts or murders, or, basically, anything that goes bump in the night.

 I'll be taking entries from tonight to October 11th. The winner will receive a SIGNED ARC of  Frost, by Marianna Baer. It is international!

 GUIDELINES: 
   -The story must be at least 200 words.
   -The story MUST have something creepy in it.
   -This is international!
   -The stories may be submitted until midnight on October 31st. I'll take a week to read and judje them all, and then announce the winner on the 28th.
   -The stories MUST BE emailed to me at rileygrisham@yahoo.com.
   -PLEASE leave a comment telling me if you will be entering.
 So that's it! I hope to hear from a lot of you!

 UPDATE: I HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE due to not enough entries. It now runs till the THIRTY-FIRST of October, also known as HALLOWEEN. Tell your friends! What I have gotten so far looks fantastic, though- keep it coming guys!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Review: Frost

Review: Frost

Book Rating: 3 Stars
Cover Rating: 4 Stars
 

Reading level: Young Adult  
Hardcover: 400 pages                          
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (September 13, 2011) 

  Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school begins with a shock: Frost House, her cozy dorm of close friends, has been assigned an unexpected roommate: confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar. But while Leena’s anxiety about a threat to her sanctuary proves valid, it becomes less and less clear whether the threat lies with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind, or within the very nature of Frost House itself. Mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and Celeste’s brother, and the reawakening of childhood fears, all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. Frost is the story of a haunting. As to whether the demons are supernatural or psychological . . . well, which answer would let you sleep at night?

THOUGHTS: I had really, really been looking forward to this book, and I have to say, it did not impress me. I love creepy books, ones that keep you thinking and plotting, and that is what I expected this one to be like. Well, it was set up to be that way, but I had the book figured out the moment Leena describes the weird, alluring feeling she had towards the house. It was really predictable. I also got to places where it was completely and totally boring- absolutely nothing of interest was going on. The parts where you would want something to jump out and scream "BOO!" were left bare, and the places where that did happen were few and far between.
 

 SETTING: The setting, of course, is Frost House, a dorm that is said to be haunted. Leena feels an immediate attraction to the place, and pulls some string with connections so that she can live there. But while the book attempts to play the house up to be this spooky, sinister place, I never really got that from it. I would have liked to see more nightmares, doors slamming, messages on walls, ect. You know, the kind of stuff that makes you look around your room and turn on every light possible. This book just didn't pull it off.

 CHARACTERS: The characters in this book did seem real, even though I did find myself annoyed with Leena. She thinks everything she does is best, even though a lot of the time it's hurting other people. But, the way I see it, we shouldn't judge a book on how we liked the character, but rather how the character fit the story she or he was placed in and how real that character seems. And the writer definitely has done an excellent job of making her characters seem real.
  

PLOT: Here is my biggest problem. You get all this buildup for a heartbreaking, sucker punch to the gut, knock-down, drag-out climax. The whole book is setting you up for this one moment and.............. BOOM! NOTHING AT ALL HAPPENS. This is one of my pet peeves in books- anti-climatic endings. I want drama, despair, action.... anything. This book consists of sitting in a closet. You can't even really tell when the climax occurs. It left me beating my head against the wall. It also had one of those unresolved endings, which irks me to no end. On a good book, I find them intriguing. In this one... not so much. It never even really discusses the ghost haunting frost house. All you get is that it was a girl who lost her baby and likes Leena but not Celeste. Whoooo. Scary. Overall, not a book I would recommend.



Wednesday, September 21, 2011

WHOA. A POST? *world ends*

 This is how I feel without you, dearly departed laptop.
 All cold an upside down. And see how I'm missing the middle snowball? That's where my heart was. But you took it with you when you went away from me.
 *My Heart Will Go On now plays*
 Just know that I miss you. And you will always, always, be my first laptop.
 *closes eyes* * a single tear rolls down cheek*
 I love you.

 *rolls eyes* Okay, okay, so enough of me being dramatic. I do need to apologize for my lack of posting, I am SO sorry. My poor blog has been seriously ignored. I still don't have a new computer, and I might not for a while, but I will try and get beck to posting as normally as possible. I also feel really bad about completely neglecting book of the week, but it should be updated again tomorrow. If not, I give you all permission to gather the legions of rouge fire-unicorns and unleash them on my house. I give no promises that I will hold back my army of gremlins, however.

 And, now that I have proved my insanity, I must tell you the sorrowful tale of what became of my  computer.

  One day, a girl named Riley was doing her daily rituals: Wishing Harry Potter was real, eating brownies, and watching TV. She could otherwise be known as a Nerd. She, being a Nerd, decided to get on her laptop and creep around on twitter. (Yes. I creep. Hide your children.) But, to her displeasure, her STUPID FACE MEANIE HEAD laptop would not work correctly, it's blank screen only giving off flickers of life.
 Now, Riley is not your conventional Nerd. She is also an Insane Asylum escapee. So, naturally, she did not try to fix the laptop normally. No, she first made angry grunts. Then she pounded her fists against the table, and tied a sock around her head. She emitted a battle cry, one so fierce the six-pound chihuahua-beasts next door began to bark. Whacking the computer, she felt triumph course through her veins. Whacking, as we all know, is the correct way to fix anything that is broken. So you can imagine the horror, sadness, and utter shock when her laptop did nothing. At all. It's blank, lifeless screen just gazed at her blankly.
 It was too far gone.
 Anyways, I SHOULD be getting a new laptop soon! So cross your fingers that the Halloween Pumpkin and Thanksgiving Monkey (They're sort of like Santa and The Easter Bunny, but WAY cooler) leave me moneys. I have also been quite busy. By busy, I mean laying around my house on days I don't have other things to do and singing obnoxiously loud until my aunt comes and yells at me. So..... yeah. You'll just have to bear with me.

And to all you who are still following me, even though it's been like a month since I've posted: YOU ARE FLIPPING AMAZEBALLS.
 Anywhowhathway,
     Bye!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Review: Angel Burn

Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly

Book Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Candlewick (May 24, 2011)
Received: Bought

Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly


Book Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars



Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Candlewick (May 24, 2011) Received: Bought
__________________
Goodreads Summary: Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip - and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful. They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.
____________________
THOUGHTS: This books was definitely original. I've never read an angel book where the angels were quite like this, let alone as monstrous. These angels feed off of human energy, causing the victim to end up in a dazed dreamy state, always regarding the angel who ruined their life as the best thing that ever happened to them, a thing called Angel Burn.  Anyways, I really liked this book. The way the POV's alternate is one of the things that I loved, the way it switches from Willow in first person and then Alex in third person. I do like first person better, but having Alex's point of view thrown in was just a huge bonus.

SETTING: The book starts off in Pawtucket, New York. Willow leads a pretty normal life, despite the fact she's psychic, likes fixing cars, and her Mom is delusional. And then she meets Alex. She gets discovered by the Church of Angels, a legion of humans who have Angel Burn and worship the angels, for what she really is: a half angel, which shouldn't be possible and is a huge threat to the angels. After that, Willow goes on a cross-country trip with Alex. They also stay in my home state, Tennessee, for a while, which made me giggle a little bit. 

CHARACTERS: The characters in this book were very likable. Willow had a rough life, and that makes her strong. The same goes for Alex. I honestly adored Alex- after he lost everything, he became like a hard shell. You really get to know him after he falls for Willow- he becomes himself again. Sweet, super sexy and smart, strong, and protective. You can't help but love him.
 The other characters in this book are very well developed, each one has their own personality that is conveyed perfectly through the pages.

PLOT: The plot in this book really catches your attention. The action and suspense is well paced, and you find yourself feeling as hunted as Willow and Alex do. The only problem I had was that the climax could have been more dramatic. There wasn't anything that amazed you, or even really got you surprised. Overall, a good book. If you get the chance to read it, you should. 

FIRST SENTENCE: "'This is so embarrassing," muttered Nina."

LAST SENTENCE: "And somewhere inside of me, I knew that my angel was smiling."

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Review: A Need So Beautiful

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Book Rating: 3 Stars
Cover Rating: 3 Stars


  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 1 edition (June 21, 2011)

 We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be Forgotten...

Charlotte’s best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what’s really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth, who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become--her mark on this earth, her very existence--is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny--no matter how dark the consequences.


THOUGHTS: This book was really, really sad to me, but beautiful, too. Charlotte's predicament was one that would end badly either way: If she lived, she would become a monster. If she died, well, she died. And she didn't want that to happen. I found my heart breaking for Charlotte through the book- the people she loved most in the entire world, the people she couldn't live without, slowly forgot her until she was unrecognizable to them. The writing was beautiful, and while I did love the book, it got a bit boring at times- the was really nothing that grabbed your attention and held it. 


SETTING: This is a book that I would have liked to see a bit more background in- while I know it's important that you get a lot of the people around Charlotte, I would have liked to know what she thought of her home, if she hated it or loved it. 


CHARACTERS: I feel like there could have been a little more to the characters in this book. Something about them just seemed a bit hollow to me. It seems like a lot was put into Charlotte, and the other characters were taped up and stuck on the pages. You didn't really get to know any of Charlotte's family or life before where the book picks up. I would have liked to see a bit more so I could have a better Idea of Charlotte. 


PLOT: The plot was slow to me. I found myself setting the book down often because nothing exciting was going on. You have to understand, I'm an action junkie. And there was nothing that really got my pulse racing in this book. Overall, I give it 3 stars. 


FIRST SENTENCE: "I sit on the from steps of St. Vincent's Cathedral and pick at the moss nestled in the cracks of the concrete."


LAST SENTENCE: "Because I realize: I have no idea who I am."
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