LA Book Festival

Last weekend our newspaper was dropped off at our house in the early hours of Sunday morning. The sun was sneaking out over the horizon, the birds were chirping, and the neighborhood was unbelievably quiet, making it the perfect time to try out my new slippers. I grabbed a light sweater and I walked out to the drive way in my PJs to grab it and pull out the comic books. As I bent over to pick up the wad of paper I glimpsed an add for the LA Book Festival this weekend and at moment my day was made.

John Green, author of
The Fault in Our Stars, 
signs a couple of my books.

I had an internship interview this morning, but as soon as it finished it wasn't long before we left for USC. We parked in the structure across from the dorms and walked towards the booths. It's at this point that I lacked words to describe how awesome it was. Books every, book lovers in every corner, and basically everything that's good in the world of reading was there. So, eventually, after we looked around for a bit and walked through the comic book booths for an unknown rather long period of time, we got in line to see John Green and get our books signed. Despite the long lines and the incessant heat, you can't help but have fun there. I did have to buy a book to get in line, but I figure that's a small price to pay to be within a 2 foot radius of his brain.

Books I got signed.

Not only that, but I had a chance to meet new people and Nerdfighters while we waited in line, buy a couple books (I'll blog about that later), and meet my favorite author in the whole world. I'm quite proud of myself that I didn't freak out and fan girl when he was signing my books. 

It's awesome and a great experience. The campus is extremely pretty and the best place to hold an event like this. So if you ever have the chance to go to the LA Book Festival, just GO!

Review: Crave by J.R. Ward

Crave (The Fallen Angels #2)

by J.R. Ward

Mass Market Paperback, 454 pages

Published October 5th 2010 by Signet

Glasses: 4.4

Seven deadly sins. Seven souls that must be saved. One more no-holds- barred battle between a fallen angel with a hardened heart and a demon with everything to lose.
Isaac Rothe is a black ops soldier with a dark past and a grim future. The target of an assassin, he finds himself behind bars, his fate in the hands of his gorgeous public defender Grier Childe. His hot attraction to her can only lead to trouble-and that's before Jim Heron tells him his soul is in danger. Caught up in a wicked game with the demon who shadows Jim, Isaac must decide whether the soldier in him can believe that true love is the ultimate weapon against evil.

My Thoughts.
Gah... there are many, many things I want to say about this book. About how Issac's vulnerability is just super cute, or that the twist towards the end of the book made me gasp out loud. Sigh. It's was pretty awesome. Although, not as awesome as the first book, which was sort of a bummer.

After the last success that Jim had in Covet, he returns in this novel ready to continue his fight for humanity. This time he has to save his ex-partner for his days in the secret XOps, Issac Rothe. After he gets arrested for an underground fight club, its up to Heron to keep him alive.

We get to learn a lot more about Jim's past, including Matthias, his old boss, and just what exactly happened to them before he left. It doesn't hurt that all of the characters were amazing. Issac's just one of those guys that you might know. Despite his tight situation, he's just one of those guys that you can't help but love. And Grier Childe, his love interest, is a perfect match. His attorney, she's tough and stands her own in this world full of men. Childe is smart and what I think we wish we could be sometimes. However, sometimes she did get a bit annoying, that's one of the main reasons why I think the first book was a bit better. I could relate more to Mary, where as Grier almost seemed to perfect.

Despite a few slow moments, the scenes that we got from all of the characters kept me going through. J.R. Ward's writing is great and the twists and turns in her plot wouldn't let me put it down. Seriously... the ending freaked me out and I definitely can't wait to read Envy. >.<

Sneak Peak Sunday (6)

The Last Echo (The Body Finder #3)

by Kimberly Derting 

Hardcover, 358 pages

Expected publication: April 17th 2012 by HarperCollins

In the end, all that's left is an echo...Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet's talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it's Violet's job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice. When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by "the girlfriend collector" she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new "relationship" and Violet may have caught his eye....

I can't wait for this book to come out! I still remember reading the first book and blogging about the second one coming out. Violet and Jay are such a cute couple and the summary sounds really exciting. The murder mysteries laced with romance and paranormalacy are what keeps me coming back. >.<

Accidentally Dead

by Dakota Cassidy

Paperback, 352 pages

Published July 1st 2008 by Berkley Trade

Glasses: 4.0

It's a lousy first day on the job for Nina Blackman when a patient, loopy from the anesthesia, bites her. At least he was cute. But for real drama she can't beat the next evening. Nina wakes up with a set of razor-sharp fangs, bionic vision, supersonic hearing, and a taste for blood. But there?s a good explanation: It?s her patient, Long Island vampire Greg Statleon. Actually they're perfect for each other if Nina's willing to commit to one man for eternity.

My Thoughts...

I have to admit that I didn't read the first one and basically,  one of the only reasons I got this book was because the cover looked cute. Yeah, that's right, I said it, cute. And honestly, that's what it was. Minus Nina's badass awesome/stubbornness, it's just plain cute. Plus. it's just one of those books that stands alone great despite some of the references to the first book there were.

The book's about Nina, a thirty sometimes dental hygiene that has, possibly the loudest mouth on the east coast. She's says what she wants and isn't afraid to let people know what she thinks. So when she gets bitten by one of her patients and wakes up the next day as a vampire she gets angry. 

It does have a bit of a rough start, and the big action doesn't come in until the middle, but I could deal with that. Completely against the idea of her new life style, she hates her vampire creator, the wonderfully hot Gregori Statleon. After he accidentally turned Nina into a vampire he tries his best to keep her alive, despite the fact that she thinks he's trying to create a vampire army to rule the world. They get off to a bad start, but the chemistry is very apparent the further you get into the book.

This is a book that doesn't take itself completely seriously, and I loved it. It was incredibly funny and the characters were clever and adorable. The beginning starts off slightly slow and it takes a while to get to the meat of the plot, but the ending had a clever little twist that was cute and wrapped up the novel well.

Although Nina's attitude got annoying sometimes, she has friends that balance her stubbornness that grow on you. Her badass-ery transcends awesome to a point that sometimes we all wish we could achieve. 

With sassy characters, a cute love story, vampires, and humor a galore, if you ever come across it make sure to give it a read.

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath (Everneath #1)

by Brodi Ashton 

Hardcover, 370 pages

Published January 24th 2012 by Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray

Glasses: 3.8

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's..

My Thoughts...

It was on the new-book shelf at my library when I got it and I blogged about it on a Library Monday post a week or two ago. I finished it today because it's due tomorrow and, I mean, it was pretty awesome.

It starts off quite oddly, and you soon realize that it's one of those books that you have to read more of to understand. It's split up in chapters, then separated into periods of time that can vary from "Now" to a year before then. The book starts off with Nikki escaping the Everneath, the equivalent to the underworld and trying to attune back to her normal life before she gets pulled back under. While she's in the read world she has to deal with the people that she left: her family, friends, and Jack, her boyfriend and the love of her life.

The two main guys that Nikki has to choose between are Cole, an emotion sucking immortal, and Jack, the high school quarter back. Throughout the book her relationship with both of them grows as her time on the surface comes to a close. 

Personally I wasn't a big fan of the weird love triangle thing that went on, but I did like how her relationship with Jack grew stronger despite its obstacles. I wasn't exactly sure which guy I should root for in the beginning, but by the middle of the book most of your doubts are settled. Cole being the odd antihero and Jack being the lovable male protagonist. It's not exactly the easiest choice to make with neither being overly better than the other.

It's a modern retelling of the Persephone myth and a great escape from reality. It was a quick read for me and if your a fan of anything mythological or paranormal romance-y, check it and you might be pleasantly surprised.