Apocalypse Please - Muse

Deadline
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 581
Review Copy Provided by: Orbit

Description from Goodreads:
Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

First Sentence: "Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-seven years: with an idiot—in this case, Rebecca Atherton, head of the After the End Times Irwins, winner of the Golden Steve-o Award for valor in the face of the undead—deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens."

Review:
Do you ever read a book and think: "I just want to be best friends with the author. Can we just hang out and I can soak up her/his brillance? Pretty please?" Other people think this way, right? This is how I feel about Mira Grant. I declare myself a fan girl with pride.

Feed was one of my very favorite books that I read in 2011. I loved it, and it caught me largely by surprise, because anything with a designation of horror makes me skeptical, since I'm the biggest wimp ever. However, I was immediately charmed by Georgia's intelligence, sarcasm, and hatred of people. Whenever I love the first book in a series that much, I worry that the next one will be a disappointment. I mean, how can it be as good? Well, just let me say that literally from the quotes before the first chapter, my worries vanished.  I knew from the beauty of the writing that I would love this one just as much...and I did.

These books are pretty massive, roughly 600 pages each, so they take some reading, even for a speed demon like myself. The world building in this series is freaking mind-blowing. I cannot even put into words how good it is. Grant has so many details, all intricately woven so it never feels like you're sitting back for fifty years of exposition. Well, at least, that's how I feel. I know some readers have been turned off by all of the focus on politics and science, but I loved that, even though science and politics are pretty much at the top of the list of things I hate.

Despite the length, I really never felt like the plot of Deadline dragged. I was constantly eager to keep moving and find out what was going to happen next. This book made me cry, made me laugh, made me seriously concerned for the state of humanity, and made me go WTF just happened (Ending, you were cray...why do I not have Blackout now?). You should definitely watch out for Grant's humor, which can be found throughout. She has this great, dark sense of humor that just kills me. For example, she describes grocery shopping in the post-Rising world as "not an activity for the faint of heart" (345). Yes, you do learn about grocery shopping in a zombie-afflicted world. The characters are all vibrant and feel so real. In a lot of ways, her style reminds me of Joss Whedon. Just saying.

At this point, I'm going tell all you peeps who haven't read Feed to bounce. Either go read my review for that book or, even better, GO BUY FEED AND READ IT RIGHT NOW. The rest of this review will have crazy insane SPOILERS for Feed, so I really don't want anyone without any knowledge of book one continuing on. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now, folks who read Feed, that ending was insane, right? Talk about a book that stayed with me. I usually forget endings but I did not forget that for sure. WAAAAHHHHH! I love that Grant wasn't afraid to kill off the MC. I mean, that's just badass, but it's also difficult to recover from, which is why you don't often see it. This, too, explains my initial fear of this book; a narrator switch was compulsory and I adored George. Well, thankfully, Shaun totally works as a narrator. You even get some George, because, check it, all those happenings have officially pushed Shaun over the edge of sanity into crazy town. He's now hearing George in his mind, and not just through memories.

Usually, this is not a plot line I would be able to handle, but Grant has done it so well. See, the thing is that George and Shaun had only each other for so many years. They are more closely bound to one another than Heathcliff and Catherine, on top of being a million times less obnoxious. Because of this, it makes sense that he can't let her go completely. In fact, the only thing keeping him going is his need for revenge on whoever orchestrated her death, because Shaun's not buying Tate as a mastermind. Where Feed delved into corruption in politics, Deadline focuses on the medical profession, and the truths of Kellis-Amberlee. I don't want to go into any more detail than that, because that might detract from your joy on the journey. Just know that it's amazing.

Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy is, without a doubt, my favorite zombie fiction. With complete honesty, I can think of NOTHING that I would like to change about them. I could open the book up at random to any page, any of them, and find a quote I love. For me, the writing, tone, pacing, humor, world and characters are all absolutely perfect.

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quote: "The one thing I have absolute faith in is mankind's capacity to make things worse. No matter how bad it gets, we're all happy to screw each other over. It's enough to make me wonder if we should have let the zombies win."

"Declare this an emergency
Come on and spread a sense of urgency
And pull us through
And pull us through
And this is the end
This is the end of the world"

All I Want - The Offspring

Blackout
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 3

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 632
Review Copy Acquired from: Orbit

Description from Goodreads:
The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.Blackout is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated Feed and the sequel, Deadline.

First Sentence: "My story ended where so many stories have ended since the Rising: with a man—in this case, my adoptive brother and best friend, Shaun—holding a gun to the base of my skull as the virus in my blood betrayed me, transforming me from a thinking human being into something better suited to a horror movie."

Review:
*cries buckets of tears because it's over*

Okay, now that that's over, allow me to try, probably somewhat ineffectually to explain how I feel about this book specifically, and the series as a whole. I'm going to start with the series, because I can do that without spoilers. Then I'll warn you part way through that you should stop reading if you don't want spoilers for the other books.

The Newsflesh Trilogy is nothing short of epic. The idea of zombies, some Cracked articles aside, is pretty much absurd, at least so far as I understand it. Despite their vast appeal, zombies do not make sense, so you're taking a serious leap of faith every time you crack one open, or, at least, that's how I feel. I know that some people don't read zombie books for this very reason. If you're going to choose one to read, I would recommend this series. Grant does the best job of making zombies sound possible and scientific than any other author that I've read, and, through some magic all her own, she manages to do this without going too far over my head with science or boring me. She deserves applause for this.

Her whole cast of characters is amazing. They're sarcastic, brilliant, and human, even the ones who might not be. Ahem. The humor, the characterization, the epicness, and the darkness reminds me so much of Joss Whedon's work. If you're a Whedon fan, you really should be reading these. I mean, heck, one of the characters is even named after Buffy.

So yeah, if you have not read these yet, go buy all of them right now or get them all from your library (and buy them later, which you'll probably want to do). They are amazing. You can check out my rave reviews of Feed and Deadline as well. Another option is to go enter my 300 followers giveaway, since you could possibly win the whole series.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR FEED AND DEADLINE AHEAD. ALSO ZOMBIES.

Mira Grant seriously rocks cliffhangers like nobody's business. At the end of Feed and Deadline, she totally left me positively reeling. Each time, I'm like "Wait, what?" and "Waaaaahhhhh!" and "How do you come back from this?" and then she totally makes the story even more epic. It's so intense. At the end of Deadline, we find out that Georgia's still alive. Holy bejeezus, what the what, right?

The CDC is perhaps the most epically terrifying enemy. They have weaponized viruses, crazy smarts, endless resources, and people trust them automatically because they're doctors. Reading Blackout was almost painful, because it was even more obvious how weak After the End Times is compared to the CDC. The Masons' crew has been in deep shit before, but they were always able to keep blogging. Seeing every chapter opening's quotes say 'Unpublished' was endlessly sad. Their word's not getting out, guys!

Speaking of those quotes at the beginning of the chapters, I love them with every fiber of my being. Usually, I think quotes that open chapters are lame. I often skip them. In these books, though, I looked forward to them. They may even have been my favorite parts. Each one is a freaking truth bomb. Plus, it's awesome to be able to get a sense of what their individual blogs are like (such as that Maggie's is crazy).

I think Blackout may have been my least favorite in the series, which is not to say that it's not amazing or anything. Partly, I can't help but be upset that everything was not wrapped up in a neat little bow for me. I want to know EXACTLY what happened to every single character because I love them so much, and I don't know which sucks. Stylistically, though, I totally know why she didn't do that.

The real issue that I had with Blackout was the weird formatting. For obvious reasons, Blackout switches between the perspectives of Shaun and Georgia. There was nothing to let you know whose perspective you were reading but the voice and the location. That was fine. The annoying thing was that beginning with Chapter 23, the chapters are labeled as to whose mind you're in. This drove me crazy! I feel like the audience is smart enough and knows the characters well enough to figure out who we're reading. OR put the headings on EVERY chapter. I know why the labeling changed there, but the inconsistency really bothers me.

The first few chapters also moved quite a bit slower than they did in the other books. I suspect this was due partly to George being stuck in a room and not able to do much. Another factor is the info dump at the beginning to remind readers what happened previously. Since I just read Deadline a few days ago, all of that was unnecessary repetition. Deadline likely had the same thing, but it wasn't unnecessary, as I read Feed a year before.

Blackout has the humor and intelligence of the prior books (plus a ZOMBIE GRIZZLY), making a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series. I say 'pretty' satisfying because I really want more. Like right now BUT IT'S OVER. Well, except for some novellas, Fed and Countdown.

Rating this was tricky. I've been waffling between a 4 and a 4.5. Rounded up, both because the series as a whole is epic and because I decided not to factor in the formatting to the rating of the novel, as it's such a minor thing. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "You know what? Fuck it. Just fuck it. The Rising didn't manage to wipe out the human race, it just made us turn into even bigger assholes than we were before. Hear that, mad science? You failed. You were supposed to kill us all, and instead you turned us into monsters."

"Day after day your home life's a wreck
The powers that be just
Breathe down your neck
You get no respect
You get no relief
You gotta speak up
And yell out your piece
So back off your rules
Back off your jive
Cause I'm sick of not living
To stay alive
Leave me alone
I'm not asking a lot
I just don't want to be controlled
That's all I want"

Review: False Sight

False Sight
False Memory, Book 2

Author: Dan Krokos
Pages: 336
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication Date: August 13, 2013
Read: August 4-6, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
All Miranda wants is a normal life. She's determined to move past the horrible truth of her origin as a clone so she can enjoy time with her boyfriend, Peter, and the rest of her friends at school. But Miranda quickly learns that there's no such thing as normal - not for a girl who was raised to be a weapon. When one of her teammates turns rogue, it begins a war that puts the world in jeopardy. Now Miranda must follow her instincts - not her heart - in order to save everything she's fought so hard to keep. with the image of a terrible future seared into her mind, what will she have to sacrifice to protect the people she loves?

Dan Krokos's sequel to the tour de force False Memory is a mind-blowing thriller with high-octane action that will leave readers begging for the final book in this bold and powerful trilogy.

Previous Book in Series:
1: False Memory

First Sentence: "Thomas David asks me about my eyes."

Review:

*sighs heavily*

Well, this is one of those times. Ever since I read False Memory, I have been SO READY for the sequel. When I read and enjoyed Krokos' second novel to be released, the middle grade The Planet Thieves, I was even more sure that I would love this book. Would that that were the case. Sadly, False Sight took the series in a wholly different direction, and these changes just did not work for me one bit. Though I would not call False Sight a bad book, I urge those of you who loved False Memory to expect something rather different from the sequel.

False Memory did action really well, but what really rang true for me were the emotions and the voice, made all the more impressive by the fact that Krokos is a male author writing a female heroine. To give props where they are due, I still got a female vibe from the narration. At no point was I thrown out of the story thinking that something was gendered incorrectly. He put a lot of work into the narrative voice and it definitely continues to pay off.

Unfortunately, for me, I'm all about emotions and really getting into the characters heads and motivations. In False Memory, I was especially captivated by the disconnect between Miranda's memories and Miranda's present. The way she struggled with being two different people with different desires all at once was captivating and emotionally resonant. The resulting love triangle, the emotions of the past warring with the current ones, made it onto my mental list of love triangles I actually approve of. Needless to say, I hoped for more of such dynamics, thought-provoking and philosophical. I did not get them.

False Sight is all about twists, action, and world building, in roughly that order, with characterization almost entirely left out to pasture. For the sort of reader that I am, this was a disastrous change, because I didn't have enough emotional investment after the gap of a year since I read the prior book to be able to care about the crazy twists and deaths. My main reaction to False Sight was one of intense boredom, despite the back to back fight scenes and huge surprises.

Aside from that style just not being my personal preference, I just generally found the sheer amount of information overwhelming. Krokos adds so much to the world building, and, as such, there are a bunch of infodumps. Also, with that many twists, things basically go batshit. I really don't know what to say about everything that happens other than just going "WHUH?" and staring at the book in befuddlement. Basically, when it comes to the large twist, I think you're either going to be really into it or you're going to be frustrated all the way through.

Now, I don't know for certain that this is true, but I gather that Dan Krokos is a Joss Whedon fan, and maybe also a Mira Grant fan. There were some definite shades of Serenity and some of the events from Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy in there. This means I should have been all over this, but I was just so disconnected and more bored than I've been in a long time.

Honestly, I'm not sure what else to say about what happened here. Maybe I was just not in the mood. Maybe the direction just was not what I was expecting or what works for me as reader. Either way, I'm bidding adieu to this series. I still really like the first book, but I'm leaving it at that and pretending it stands alone.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote: None.

7 O'Clock News/Silent Night - Simon and Garfunkel

Feed
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 571
Acquired from: Orbit via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Shaun and Georgia Mason are adopted siblings and well-respected bloggers. Georgia's a newsie, meaning that she tells the truth without bias, only the facts. Shaun's an Irwin (as in Steve), which means he likes to poke zombies with sticks. Oh right, did I not mention the zombies? There are zombies. And they do want to eat your brains or any other part of you they can get a hold of. Anyway, back to Shaun and Georgia. They, along with their fictional/techno-genius friend Buffy get selected to follow along on Senator Ryman's presidential campaign, which is super amazing, because the government has never taken bloggers seriously before. They're thrilled, until mysterious and awful things start happening around them.

Review:
My description of Feed kind of sucks, but I can't really think of how to improve it. Suffice it to say that there are zombies, mayhem, politics and sarcasm. What more does one need? It really is harder sometimes to summarize a really good book, because they tend to be a little deeper, making it hard to put all of the awesomeness into a summary. Thankfully, I can mention all of that in my review.

Zombies are ridiculous. We all know this, even those of us who rather like to read about them. There's not really any scientific reason to believe zombies possible; personally, I would more readily believe in pretty much any paranormal creature before I would believe in zombies. Unicorns? Sure, my young self is delighted and says they exist! Vampires? Why not? People can be cannabalistic, besides Catholics already drink their saviors blood. Back to pseudo-seriousness, though, Feed has the best explanation of zombie-fication that I have seen thus far. Grant also does a good job of giving a description and then doing the authorial equivalent of shrugging her shoulders and telling the audience to suspend disbelief, but in a good way.

I absolutely loved Feed from the first page. Why? Georgia/George. She is fantastically snarky and grumpy and sarcastic. She's like me, only with worse eyes (mine suck, but at least I can go out on a sunny day). Not every other character feels fully dimensional, but they are all built out in a believable way, to the degree that George understands/cares about them. George is standoffish and only bothers to learn about certain people, so everyone wouldn't be distinct in her world.

The writing is pretty fantastic. I always know an author has talent when he/she can write distinct voices and you can tell who's who without necessarily needing to be told. Grant achieved this. The little snippets from the various characters' blogs so obviously correspond to one or the other, even before you reach the part telling the author's name.

The format was pretty great, too. The bulk of the story was told from George's perspective, with only well-integrated background. The quotes from blogs enabled Grant to put in some more back story, which might not have fit in the flow of a characters every day thoughts without making the novel feel forced.

One thing that really amazed me about Feed was that it wasn't a dystopia the way you would expect. You would generally think that the zombies were the problem, right? Not really. I mean, they are a concern, but society has figured out how to live with the problem. The United States really is much the same as it has ever been, which is why the fact that it's a dystopia is even more of a creepy reflection on our current lifestyle.

In some ways, the society in Feed is the one I would least be willing to live in of all of the dystopias I've read. Okay, only in one way. But still. What's my problem with this rather-better-than-most vision of the near future (2040)? Needles. These people get blood tests approximately 85,000 times every day, to ensure that they are not in the process of becoming zombies. As a person who refuses to get the flu shot every year because I'd rather take my chances, this is not a future I want to be a part of. Needles are the worst.

Oh, and, less seriously, you may have noticed in my less-than-inspired description that there's a character called Buffy. She's actually named Georgette, but she figured, hey, I'm short and blond and cute...what else would my name be? Loving the reference so hard. And I'm fairly certain that Joss Whedon would appreciate it and the book as well. (I could be wrong, but this is my guess.)

To conclude a final iteration of how much I enjoyed this book (which I totally need to add to my personal collection and NEED the sequel to) and a quote in honor of my friends Heather and Nori, both awesome bloggers: "No levels, no van. No van, no coffee. No coffee, no joy." Seriously, go read this one!

Top Ten Secondary Characters Who Stole the Show

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Warning: This list will include fangirling, more than 10 characters, disorder, and spoil a couple of character deaths, but only ones you should know by now. The sneaky ones will remain in wait.

Humanoid Companions

This category consists of humans. Well, mostly. Humanoid because of that one pesky robot. Otherwise I would have had to make a FIFTH section, and that would just be silly.

Colonel Fitzwilliam from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Colonel Fitzwilliam is just the best, and I would totally ship him with Lizzie if she and Darcy were not MTB and everything. He's a great friend to Lizzie and Darcy both. P&P would not end happily were it not for his existence, I feel. And Lady Catherine's. Mwahaha. Oh, also, I approve of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries version where he's gay. That SO works. Anyway, just love him.
Finnick from Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: Here's the beginning of them breaking my heart. A lot of my favorites die. HOW DO THE AUTHORS KNOW? HOW? *coughs* Excuse me. Also, before you yell at me, you should have read the books and not waited for the movies. This is your own fault.
Miss Honey from Matilda by Roald Dahl: Do not even pretend that after you read this book you didn't sort of wish you had evil parents so that Miss Honey would adopt you.
Uncle Mort from the Croak trilogy by Gina Damico: I can has? Uncle Mort is hilarious, incredibly brilliant, sarcastic, hot and totally of an age where I am legitimately allowed to give him book boyfriend status. He has a sort of long distance girlfriend, but I'm sure I can take care of that.
Hamlet from Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde: Now, he MAY be a main character somewhere else, but who cares about that? Hamlet, the fictional character, is all meta and running around London. He's basically hilarious. He does things like going to critique all performances of Hamlet and having a meltdown trying to order a coffee because there are SO. MANY. CHOICES. As we all know, Hamlet and decisive do not go hand-in-hand.
Mahir from the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant: Okay, so I basically love Shaun and Georgia's whole team, but I have a special spot in my heart for Mahir. He's just so classy and intelligent. I basically picture him like THIS.
Michi from Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff: Badass lady who is awesome. Would have a lady crush on her, except that Kat Kennedy totally called it first, and I am NOT getting in Kat's way. She is Australian and would no doubt sic spiders and kangaroos on me.
Nehemia from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: A YA best friend who does not hate the heroine for being more beautiful? A friendship based on shared interests and mutual respect? WHUH. Basically, I friendship Celaena and Nehemia really hard.
Tom from Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry: Hot Asian. With abs. And not a teen. Also, he is awesome at zombie-killing, which comes in handy. Basically, Tom's a really good guy, and he takes great care of his brother even though Benny's sort of a snot for much of the beginning of the series.
Iko and Captain Thorne from Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: THESE TWO ARE THE BEST. I ship them a lot. Even though Iko's a robot and currently a spaceship, and Thorne is human. DETAILS.
Elend from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson: Okay, so, I'm cheating a little (Does this surprise you? If so, REALLY?), but Elend really isn't a major player in the first book. He's OBVIOUSLY going to be the love interest/a main character later, but in Mistborn he's secondary, but PRIMARY IN MY HEART.

Animal Companions

Furry creatures (or sometimes scaly) are some of my favorite characters in fiction. I mean, when a person dies in my book, I'm like OOOH. When an animal dies, I weep and yell at the book and it's a whole emotional mess of a thing.

Rex from the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich: Rex is Stephanie's hamster, and he is adorable. He's super chill and loves all food ever and lives in a tomato soup can. I think once he was in danger and I was SO CONCERNED.
Buruu and Daken from Stormdancer and Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff: BURUU MADE ALL CAPS AWESOME AGAIN. Daken is a cat and he is awesome.
Igor from The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand: Another cat. This one might talk like Cary Grant.
Wolf from Winter Omens by Trisha Leigh: Such a wonderful doggy companion. Warm and snuggly and sweet and catches food for youuuu.
Ramoth from Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey: How much did I want to live on Pern and have a dragon best friend? SO MUCH. (Also, you get to have strange but really hot our-dragons-are-into-each-other sex. This could get problematic fast, but whatevs ignore that.)
Manchee from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness: MANCHEEEEE! This puppy has such a rough life, but he is so sweet and determined and would never leave your side.
Hedwig from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: I loved a lot of the animals, but Hedwig has been with you for seven books. I cried BUCKETS of tears when she died. ROWLING, HOW COULD YOU? (Again, if you haven't seen the movies OR read the books, you deserve this spoiler. OWN IT.)
A-Through-L from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente: A dragon who is also half of an encyclopedia. He's part library. I mean, come on. Clearly, he is the best companion ever.
Ampersand from Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan: Generally, monkeys aren't my favorite animals, but Ampersand is fabulous.

Best of Both Worlds

Can't decide between a human companion and one of some other sort of animal variety? I have you covered. You may also choose one of the rare shifter models. With them at your side, you're ready for anything!

Rory from the Spiritwalker trilogy by Kate Elliott: Rory is the main character's brother and he's half cougar. Also, he's a HUGE flirt and acts like such a cat even as a human. He's hilarious and ridiculous and I love him.

Orma from Seraphina by Rachel Hartman: Orma is a grumpy old man/dragon, and it's fantastic. One of my favorite quotes was one where he was talking about how much he hates kids. Love it!

Hatsuharu and Kureno Sohma from Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya: Since I couldn't just be like EVERY CHARACTER FROM FRUITS BASKET, I limited myself to my two favorite non-MC Sohmas. Hatsuharu is, honestly, just kinda hot, but, on top of that, he's very loving and devoted. Kureno has a really compelling story ARC and he's this really nice, selfless guy, which I usually do not go for, but love here.

Sassy Grandmas

Finally, I noticed a trend in fiction that grandmothers are often the best. Thus, I want to highlight some books with wonderful, sassy grandmothers. Since these are mostly YA and the MC isn't going to call grandma by her first name, they're pretty much all Gram or Grandma, so I'm just putting the book. Sorry, Gram. I also won't break these out individually, but these are the grandmas who are bossy, say hilariously inappropriate things, and always have your back. I know I'm forgetting some but still, a respectable showing!

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell
Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
The Bookie's Son by Andrew Goldstein
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Delcroix Academy series by Inara Scott

That was closer to thirty than ten, but I have no regrets. Do you love any of these characters? If so, FLAIL WITH ME!

300 Followers Giveaway: Series Love!

Guys, I am so happy right now! 300 followers! *spins in twirly skirt* This is awesome. As ever, I'm celebrating by giving back. I always like to have a theme to my giveaways (the first was Apocalypsies and the second was YA contemporary). This time, I'm going to giveaway a series I love to one winner. A whole series! I want to give someone something complete, so these are all going to be finished by the time the giveaway ends, or close enough that you want have to wait very long for your preorder. : ) Here are seven series you can choose from (because I really want there to be something for everyone!):

Option 1: Seven Kingdoms Trilogy - Kristin Cashore

Option 2: Magic Under - Jaclyn Dolamore

Option 3: Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

Option 4: The Books of Bayern - Shannon Hale

Option 5: Daughter of the Lioness - Tamora Pierce

Option 6: Enchanted, Inc. - Shanna Swendson

NOTE: I will buy the cheapest format available, which might be paperback for all but the newest book. If you don't like mixed-format books, let me know and I'll not be the latest one. Covers shown might not be the cheapest ones; they just look prettiest together. Basically, let me know if matching is concern and I'll see what I can do for you!

Also let me know if you already own one of the books and just want to finish out your collection. If so, we can work something out, like another book of choice of equal or lesser value. :)

Giveaway Details:

Fill out the Rafflecopter. Following is mandatory, because this is for the awesome people who have given me their support. New followers are, of course, welcome.

The giveaway is international, because the books will come from The Book Depository. Just make sure they ship to you!

There will be a lot of options for entering. You don't have to do anything but follow and click the free entry, but commenting would be appreciated because I love hearing from people. It brings light to my lonely life.

LAST THING: If I hit 400 followers, I will add ANOTHER winner. I doubt that's going to happen, but, hey, just putting it out there, since it would improve your odds. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Top Ten Books I Would Want While Stranded on an Island

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

As much as I love rereading, if I'm trapped on an island for the forseeable future but somehow get to pack reading to take with me, I'm going for length. I may cheat just a little bit, but you can't stop me!

1. Harry Potter Box Set - J.K. Rowling

Pages: 4167

See? I told you I would cheat. This is 7 individual books, but they're all packaged up together so there. As Gimli would say, "That still counts as one!" What would my time on the island be without a chance to visit Hogwarts? Torture! Also, these come in luggage, so packing will be so easy!

2. The Complete Pelican Shakespeare - William Shakespeare

Pages: 1808

Alright, the edition doesn't really matter, but this happens to be the version of the complete works that I have. Like I could go without Shakespeare. You better believe that I would act out every single play in there by myself, complete with voices and dramatic posing. Also, I'd probably read the sonnets to the foliage. Good times. When I get bored, I can start envisioning weird revisionings. There is so much entertainment in here.

3. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

Pages: 1296

You know why Russian novels are so long? Because there wasn't much else to do in the winter. That means they're meaty and take time. I will have plenty of time on the island to sit down and read this, undistracted by new shinies. Also, after ten readthroughs, I'll probably have a pretty good idea of who everyone is, despite each character having fifty names.

4. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Pages: 796

Listen, being trapped with a limited library is the perfect time for me to read all of those classics that I know I'll love, but that I'm just too easily distracted to get through right now. One of my besties loves this book with the fire of every sun in all of the universes, so I definitely need to get it read at some point!

5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Pages: 1136

Another long book I've been meaning to read, but totally haven't. Of course, I'm a wimp, so I'll probably only be reading these during the daytime, but mysteries might make a nice change from the rest of my reading. Plus, there's a lot here for me to dig through, which is the most important thing.

6. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Pages: 1488

Oh look, a pretentious book I've actually read. I love The Count of Monte Cristo, and I'm sure I would benefit from numerous rereadings. There's a lot here, and I'm sure I've missed things. Plus, with my memory, even if I understood it perfectly the first time, I sure wouldn't know now. Plus, I can plot my vengeance on whoever trapped me on this island, though their punishment shall be slightly ameliorated by the fact that they let me pick out 10 books to bring along.

7. The Newsflesh Trilogy Box Set - Mira Grant

Pages: 1892

Hells yes, this comes in a box set! Mira Grant's dark humor will help me keep my sarcasm alive while trapped on the island. Seriously, I love these books. Also, when my morale falls, I can be glad that I'm not being chased by a zombie. Or am I? Is this a zombie island? If so, fuck.

8. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages: 1216

Yay! Epic fantasy is perfect for a trip to the island. Unfortunately, most of them have two many volumes to even be packaged in a box set, so I'm taking the classic work in the genre. I love LOTR, and I will know it really well by the time I get back!

9. Complete Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm

Pages: 630

Fairy tales! I need fairy tales in my life. I love the original fairy tales, because they are so vicious. YA really hasn't tapped the vein of the Grimm brothers yet. I want to see people like Laini Taylor or Daniel Marks tap these and make something dark and hilarious and gruesome out of them. Oh, wait, that's off topic, but, yeah, I'll have this with me!

10. The Complete Novels - Jane Austen

Pages: 1278

Thank goodness they packaged these up into a single volume. This isn't even cheating. Jane Austen is my favorite, so I'm not going anywhere without her. I would probably read P&P and Northanger Abbey twice a month. Also, it would be the perfect excuse to buy this gorgeous book. My Jane Austen copies are all ugly, because I can't see replacing the one with sentimental value with a pretty cover...even if I sort of want to.

So, there you have it. My shortest book is over 600 pages long, and, if I'm ever rescued, I will be speak like I'm from the 19th century, but throw in Harry Potter lingo. Yeah! I will have no problem whatsoever making new friends.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I Want to Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week, we were asked to share our top bookish people that we would like to meet, be they authors or bloggers. While there are a number of bloggers I would love to meet (you probably all know who you are), I decided to focus on authors because a mixed list would mess up my head. Also, I have excluded authors that I've already met, even if I would like to see them more, most notably Lenore Appelhans and E.C. Myers. I'm also excluding the dead authors rather than creating a time machine to visit them (Jane Austen, Roald Dahl, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Carol Shields would be my top choices for that).

Where possible, I've linked to reviews for the books I've read by these authors, but I read some of them pre-blogging (was there really such a time?).

10. Scott Westerfeld

Why? He's not one of my favorite authors. I've liked some of his books quite a bit and been sort of meh on others. BUT he's crazy, and I just feel like he would be really interesting to meet.

Books Read: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Leviathan, Behemoth, Goliath

9. Daniel Marks

Why? Because this man is made of sass, and I love it. He loves food and drinking and dark humor. He wrote a kickass heroine who I just loved, and his vlogs that I've seen have all been great. He's also sweet on Twitter. He would be so fun to go drinking and people-judging with, I have no doubt.

Books Read: Velveteen

8. Karsten Knight

Why? Partial reason: I really liked Wildefire, and it's always interesting when a guy writes from a female perspective. Real reason: he's hot. Ngl, he's a good looking man, and I will take humorous bookish talk with an attractive guy any time.

Books Read: Wildefire

7. Barbara Kingsolver

Why? Her books are all marvelous. Well, all of the ones that I've read thus far anyway. She does something new and different in each book, and she makes me take interest in subjects I normally loathe, such as missionaries and babies. She's a brilliant woman and I would love to garner whatever wisdom she will offer me.

Books Read: The Bean Trees, The Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summer

6. Joss Whedon

Why? Is Firefly enough of a reason for you? This man is a nerd icon. So, yeah, he kind of has to be on this list.

Books Read: Buffy: Season 8, Volumes 1-6 (he wrote a couple volumes), also a couple other comics but I am too lazy to list

5. Margaret Atwood

Why? BECAUSE SHE'S MARGARET ATWOOD. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Books Read: The Handmaid's Tale, The Penelopiad, Oryx and Crake

4. Elsie Chapman

Why? Elsie's an author I've talked with a lot on Twitter. She is sweet and kind and funny. Also, I liked her book and she said I totally got the main character, so yay for me. We could totally have a lovely conversation about YA dystopias. :)

Books Read: Dualed

3. Jay Kristoff

Why? Have you read his book? Followed him on Twitter? Read any of his interviews, like the one I did last month? Obviously not or you wouldn't ask why I want to meet this guy. He's so freaking cool.

Books Read: The Little Stormdancer, Stormdancer

2. Cara Lynn Shultz

Why? I've read both of her books and I really enjoyed both, even though it's the kind of plot line that I expected to drive me crazy. What really made them for me are Shultz's humor and pop culture references. If you haven't read them, I recommend them highly, especially to fans of Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series. Plus, I've talked to her on Twitter and we share a lot of nerdiness. I would love to meet her and discuss topics like 90s music, P&P adaptations and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

Books Read: Spellbound, Spellcaster

1. Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire

Why? The Newsflesh Trilogy is one of my favorite book series ever. I haven't read any of the books she's written under her actual name yet, but I'm sure I'll adore them too. I love her writing so incredibly much, every sarcastic, cynical bit of it. I love her daring and her obvious love of Joss Whedon. She captures perfectly exactly how I feel about humanity, and I feel like talking with her would be both enlightening and hilarious.

Books Read: Feed, Deadline, Blackout

So, who do you guys want to meet?

Top Ten Authors I'm Thankful For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

In honor of Thanksgiving, this week we're listing the top ten books or authors we're thankful for. I'm going for authors, because most of the topics are book-specific, and I want to do something a bit different. Before I start, though, I'm basically thankful for all authors, except for a few who have made a career out of being jerks. For the most part, though, even if I hated your book, I'm still thankful for you, thankful that you have a vision and got it onto paper and brought joy into people's hearts. A lot of the books I hate are much loved by many people, and, while I may judge them a little bit, I'm just happy they're reading. So, thank you, all of you, for writing books for me to read and review, to escape to on a vacation from daily life. Thank you for putting my life into perspective when I'm being melodramatic, for taking me on journeys to places I may never get to go, for melting my hard heart, for making me laugh, for keeping me entertained while waiting at the DMV, and for decorating my house.

Special apologies to all the debut authors I love dearly. I'm going more for impact on me, so no one with one book is going to make it onto this list. Basically, I'm going to go down my Most Read Authors list for the ones that I want to thank. Also, as much as I want to thank people like Roald Dahl and Jane Austen, I'm going to keep this to living authors.

1. Meg Cabot
Listen, y'all, Meg Cabot may not be the best author from a technical perspective or anything, but she almost never fails to entertain me. I mean, some of her books super did not work for me, like Abandon and The Princess Diaries, but a lot of the others will always be dear to my heart. She writes funny books with quirky characters and sexy menfolk. Anytime a new Meg Cabot book comes out, I am over the moon about it, and always will be. She pretty much had to head up this list because she's also my most read author, with a whopping 38 books, or so Goodreads tells me.

2. Janet Evanovich
My number two most read author with 37 books (watch out, Meg Cabot, she's coming for you) is Janet Evanovich. I will read anything this woman writes. Even the books that aren't that great are bound to make me laugh maniacally like a crazy person multiple times. She does a lot of things I find frustrating (like not letting Stephanie just choose Morelli already, goddammit), but I can always trust her to make me laugh, and that is a powerful thing. I dearly love to laugh.

3. J.K. Rowling
Believe it or not, but when I was younger I had a lot of trouble choosing books to read. I was insanely picky and my mom would take me to the library and I would regularly wander around for an hour, unable to locate anything that looked interesting to me. Of course, now I go to the library and walk out like a pack mule, laden with as many books as it is humanly possible to carry. Back when I was harder to please, Harry Potter waltzed into my life and bespelled me forever. I suspect my love of fantasy may stem at least in part back to HP. The amount that I loved Harry Potter, which I hadn't really heard of when I first picked it up, reminded me the importance of trying all the things, because you never know which ones will be glorious inside.

4. Maria V. Snyder
Guys, I am just so thankful for authors that I count on to be consistently amazing. If I pick up a Maria V. Snyder, I know I'm going to like it, and that is invaluable. I know there will be a powerful heroine, a swoonworthy guy who is incredibly attracted to women who speak their mind, and wonderful kissing scenes, all with a backdrop of fantastic world building.

5. Stephenie Meyer
Surprise! People probably know that I'm not a huge Twilight fan, but I have to be thankful for Meyer, because, without those books, I don't think I would be the reader I am today. I'd read a bit of YA, but it wasn't really a big thing for me when my friend Katelyn loaned me her copies of the first three books in the Twilight series and told me I had to read them. They enraptured me and opened up my mind to young adult literature. I will always be thankful for that, no matter what I think of her books themselves now.

6. Gina Damico
Alright, I wanted to be able to share my love for at least one debut author, and Damico managed to get two books I loved out in one year, so she earned the slot. Damico's books are dark and hilarious and full of kissing. Also, she has a very unique style, which is always awesome. What's not to like, am I right? If you haven't read her books, get on that. I think she deserves far more acclaim than I've been seeing. Also, if you like the show Dead Like Me and haven't read this, seriously, do it.

7. Mira Grant
Listen, Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy lies under the category of books I feel so strongly about that I'm going to need to not hear too much criticism about them, because they're so incredibly wonderful for me. It's just that when I read them, I feel like Seanan/Mira totally gets me...even though she's never met me. Like the sarcastic, cynical, acerbic tone that Georgia, and to a slightly lesser degree, Shaun, have is exactly what it's like in my head. So, I guess I'm thankful both for how good they are and for knowing that I'm not alone in my crazy.

8. Laurie Halse Anderson
A couple of days ago, Laurie would not have been on this list, because I'd only read Speak and that was a couple of years ago and my memory of fail didn't remember it too well. However, I just read Catalyst, and it was so good! Her writing is completely amazing, and she loves to gut punch her readers right in the feels. I pretty much need to be reading my way through the rest of her books ASAP. Also, I'm thankful that I have two more of them sitting on my shelves right now.

9. A.S. King
Speaking of glorious writing, I also love A.S. King's. For whatever reason, her writing just talks directly to my heart. When I was reading Ask the Passengers in Florida, I kept nudging my friend so I could read her quotes or just to go "DUDE, WHAT JUST HAPPENED. I CAN'T EVEN." Then I made her read it. I've only read two King novels, but she's already firmly on my list of most beloved authors.

10. John Green
In this case, I'm not just thankful for the books, though I do love some of them with a fiery passion. He has one of my very favorite writing styles and if I highlighted the quotes that spoke to me in his books, there would be more highlighted text than unhighlighted. However, I'm also just glad that he exists in the world. He's nerdy and cute and totally in love with his wife and hilarious and advocates for guys to appreciate the bookish girls of the world. Yes, please. Yes to all of this. Thank you, John Green, for being marvelous all around.

Alright, I know I've left out so many wonderful authors and I'm sorry for that, but I just don't have the space!

Top Ten Dystopias That Terrify Me Conceptually, Because Holy Shiz That Could Totes Happen

With dystopian and post-apocalytpic fiction, horror is often the point. I mean, you're presenting a terrible society, either one that controls its people and does nasty things or one that has fallen apart due to cataclysmic events. Very few dystopias would I want to make a summer home in. Still, some scare me more than others: the ones that feel like reflections of our current society with just the tiniest push in the wrong direction. I find it completely horrifying when a book makes me reflect on the fact that we probably already live in a dystopia. So here you go: the dystopias that terrify me (from the ones I've read so far).

10. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (Goodreads)

Basic Plot: Young school boys trapped on an island kill one another. Also intimations of some sort of post-apocalyptic, war scenario off the island.

Why It Scared Me: Because this is what I think people are like underneath it all. Put us on an island and we'll strip down to our basest selves. BAM.

Similar Concept: Beauty Queens - Libba Bray (Goodreads|my review)

9. The Newsflesh Trilogy- Mira Grant (Feed/Deadline/Blackout) (Goodreads|my reviews)

Basic Plot: Zombies and corruption

Why It Scared Me: Okay, the zombies were scary for sure, but what really got me about this series were the things the government was doing. I hate thinking about all the ways our government is probably keeping us down. Also, again, this is pretty much what I think human nature is like. What all of the bloggers say about humanity and how it would probably have been better off destroyed...yeah.

8. The Eye of the Storm - Kate Messner (Goodreads|my review)

Basic Plot: TORNADOS.

Why It Scared Me: The book itself didn't scare me, but the idea that the weather could really be headed in this kind of direction is seriously frightening. Weather has definitely been doing crazy things in recent years and I have no desire to see it get worse.

7. The Postmortal - Drew Magary (Goodreads|my review)

Basic Plot: People can live forever without aging.

Why It Scared Me: People can live forever without aging. If this seems like a good idea, think again. So many things in society just can't function if people do not die at some point, if life is not finite. This really hadn't occurred to me until I read the book, but Magary taught me well (as did Unwind and some others).

Similar Concept: The Declaration - Gemma Malley (Goodreads|my review)

6. 1984 - George Orwell (Goodreads)

Basic Plot: Hitler/Stalin present the future.

Why It Scared Me: When I read this in high school for class, I was like meh who cares. After several more years of history classes, I reread this and was horrified, because, yeah, if a leader like Hitler or Stalin won the war for domination, like might look like this. *shudder* Also, I sometimes suspect Big Brother is watching, especially with the advent of the internet.

5. The Way We Fall - Megan Crewe (Goodreads|my review)

Basic Plot: Disease outbreak.

Why It Scared Me: I don't want to have a disease. Yuck. Also, the disease made people act crazy, sort of like zombies, but worse. Given the number of plagues in human history, having to survive a post-apocalyptic disease scenario is altogether too likely

Similar Concept: The Weepers - Susanne Winnacker (Goodreads|my review)

4. Ashfall - Mike Mullin (Goodreads|my review)

Basic Plot: The supervolcano under Yellowstone explodes.

Why It Scared Me: THAT VOLCANO IS REAL. Yeah, so that sucks. My geology teacher loved to talk about all the ways that humanity could be wiped out and that was one of his favorites.

3. Article 5 - Kristen Simmons (Goodreads|my review)

Basic Plot: Right wing fundamentalists take over the country.

Why It Scared Me: If certain leaders took over plus some sort of catastrophe, I can totally see America turning into this. Women are losing status, so many awesome things are prohibited, and people can be sentenced to death for 'crimes' that were not illegal when they were committed. Let's not do this, people.

2. Little Brother - Cory Doctorow (my review)

Basic Plot: Department of Homeland Security takes over.

Why It Scared Me: This was SO possible in the decade after 9-11. I want to believe that we're to the point where this couldn't happen, but, really, it would only take another crisis to push us overboard again. Basically, imagine that you are viewed with as much suspicion in your daily life as you are when you go to the airport. Not good.

1. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Goodreads)

Basic Plot: Women exist solely as chattel.

Why It Scared Me: Feminism happened, but the double standards remain. It does not take any sort of suspension of disbelief for me to imagine women once again being made into property, useful only for baby-making should something disastrous happen. As a woman, this scares me more than anything else.

Similar Concepts: Eve - Anna Carey (Goodreads|my review) / Wither - Lauren DeStefano (Goodreads|my review) / Bumped - Megan McCafferty (Goodreads|my review)