Book Blogger Spotlight: Brenna

This month, we're delighted to feature Brenna, political science student by day, YA book blogger by night and the brains behind Esther's Ever After  .

What made you want to blog/vlog about books?
I was actually reviewing books before I was blogging, but I was only posting them to Goodreads and Amazon. At first it was only a few books here and there, but then I discovered I actually ENJOYED reviewing books. Then I had quite a few friends asking me for book suggestions, and I started paying attention to the existing book blogging community and I just fell in love with it. I wanted to be a part of it, and discuss all these book-related topics with other book lovers, like me, because I don't have friends who care about books the way I do.


What’s your favourite reading spot?
This might sound dangerous, but I'm a bath reader. I know that one of these days I'm goign to drop a book (or my Kindle) into the water, but it's my favourite way to read. If not there, then I love curling up in bed with a good book.

Your favourite book in the last year?

There are always so many that I love, but in the past year I have to say Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I read it months ago and I STILL feel like I'm just coming to terms with it.

Who’s the most swoon-worthy;Patch (from Hush, Hush), Jace (from The Mortal Instruments), Cassel (from White Cat), Gabriel (from Wither)?

This is terrible, because I haven't read Hush, Hush or White Cat yet! I have copies of both of them, I just need to find the time to read them.

I love Gabriel, but Jace is the definition of swoon-worthy.

Favourite quote?
Recently, I fell in love with this one from Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me:

"I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

Do you have a favourite holiday/Christmas read?

You know, there isn't normally a book I read around the holiday season. I reread Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine every year, but I think if I had to pick one book that always reminds me of Christmas, even if I don't read it most years, is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Some of your favourite book blogs:

I find that Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte tends to have the same opinions about books as I do, so I like to follow her for reviews since we seem to share the similar taste in books.

I also really like Hooked on Books, because Christa always seems to know about all these other books I didn't know about. Plus I enjoy how she styles her reviews, as they're in depth and she includes recommendations for other similar books.

How has your blog/feature developed or changed since you first started?
When I first started, I didn't mean to end up with such a huge focus on YA. But after a while I noticed that YA was the way I was leaning to, and I should just stick with it since that's where my audience seems to be. Plus, it's mostly what I read and am interested in. My reviewing style, where I include a few "Reasons to Read" is something that just kind of happened after I had been blogging for a while too. I think I have a better idea of the direction I'm headed and how best to organize my reviews. 

Between the Lines: Jodi Picoult's first YA novel.

 Bestselling author Jodi Picoult and her teenage daughter, Samantha Van Leer present their first-ever novel for teens, filled with romance, adventure, and humour.

What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

Between the Lines hits stores June 2012.

Find out more about Jodi Picoult and her books.

The Alchemy of Forever - watch the trailer!

The trailer for The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams debuted this week.

Seraphina‘s childhood crush, Cyrus, unlocks the secret to eternal life using alchemy. He creates a potion that allows a person to “swap bodies” before death. After jumping into a new host, the wearer has ten years before his or her borrowed body wears out. At the close of ten years, they must switch bodies again . . . or die. An alchemy immortal’s original body leaves a corpse, but the replacements crumble to dust when vacated.

But what will happen when Seraphina’s betrayal lets the formula loose in the wider world? Will the secret to eternal life be forgotten, or will it be discovered and shared until the world is swarming with immortals like Cyrus and Sera?

Sample the first seven chapters of The Alchemy of Forever and tell us what you think.

Watch the trailer:

Cracked

We're thrilled to kick off 2012 with Cracked, a gripping debut novel about bullying, suicide and forgiveness by K.M. Walton. You won't be able to put it down.

In this gripping debut, a teen takes a bottle of pills and lands in the psych ward with the bully who drove him to attempt suicide.Victor hates his life. He’s relentlessly bullied at school and his parents constantly ridicule him at home.

Bull is angry. He’s sick of his grandfather’s drunken beatings. And he likes to take out his rage on Victor.

Determined to end it all, Victor takes a bottle of his mother’s sleeping pills—only to be disappointed when he wakes up in the psych ward. And his roommate? None other than Bull, whose loaded-gun effort at self-defense has been labeled as a suicide attempt. Things go from bad to worse—until the boys discover they might just have something in common: a reason to live.

Read chapter 1.

The Curseworkers Series: A new look

Holly Black's breathtaking Curseworker's series now has a totally new look.

Check out the new covers!

Are you new to The Curseworkers series? Here's a quick run-down:

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers—people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, all by the slightest touch of their hands. Since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. But not Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider—the straight kid in a crooked family—as long as you ignore one small detail: He killed his best friend, Lila. Now he is sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat. He also notices that his brothers are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of one huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to outcon the conmen.

Black Heart, the final book hits stores in April 2012.

What do you think of the new covers? Let us know!

Read chapter 1

Unraveling Isobel

Unraveling Isobel, a darkly comic novel that blends paranormal mystery and romance with humour from Canadian author Eileen Cook, author of The Education of Hailey Kendrickand Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood hits stores today!

 Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Read Chapter 1.

Hush, Hush Book #4 sneak peek!

If you're a major fan of Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush saga, you've probably already read Crescendo, the second book in the series. 

However, you don't want to miss the paperback that hits stores on January 3rd, 2012. Why? It will feature an exclusive first look at the next book in the Hush, Hush saga, on sale Fall 2012!

Let the countdown begin!