2012 Debut Author Challenge: Completion Post!

2 challenges down, 1 more to go!

The 2012 Debut Author Challenge was hosted by The Story Siren. The aim is to read 12 young adult novels (ideally one for each month) from debut authors. Since I got a fair bit distracted from reading this year, I decided to stick with 6 novels. 

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer 

2. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi 

3. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

4. Tempest by Julie Cross

5. Slide by Jill Hathaway

6. Fracture by Megan Miranda

I really enjoyed participating in this challenge this. I probably won't be back next year, even though this challenged introduced me to a top-notch books, I just have too many books on my TBR pile at the moment. Sometime in the future, I will definitely revisit this challenge. 

Book Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda

Fracture by Megan Miranda
Release Date: 12th February 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 
Format: eBook 
Pages: 272
Rating: 3.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine
-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?"

Review:
I have to say that this book underwhelmed me. The premise is really, really interesting, and I did enjoy this part of the plot - it's a fascinating idea, the idea that severe trauma can cause changes in our body and our mind, that science and medicine can't explain. However, I don't really think that this book pulled this concept off that well. It's not that it was bad, but I do think it could be better. It's kinda like how I felt about Slide by Jill Hathaway in this respect. The premise of the story is interesting in itself, but I don't really think that Megan Miranda pulled it off. There was no OMG moment for me in the novel; there was potential for an OMG moment at one point, but it played out way too quickly for my liking.

Moving onto another point, I wasn't the biggest fan of the romances in this novel. The romance between Troy and Delaney felt, to me, forced and a bit convenient. I get that they share some sort of bond because they are both afflicted with the same kind of problem, but you don't become romantically interested in someone just because of that, which really is the only reason that these two come together. Troy was acting a bit stalkerish at the beginning of the novel, and any sane girl would have run in the opposite direction (this was especially the case when Delaney found out something about a certain old man with a cane), but Delaney didn't, and I just didn't understand that. Secondly, there's Decker, and the relationship between these two and the way it progressed was completely predictable. I didn't mind the romance between these two, but I knew what was going to happen between these two from probably the first page.

Overall, this wasn't what I would call an amazing read. Which is interesting because I'm seeing this book pop up on some people's best books of the year lists. So, really, you can't just trust my word on this, it's probably that this book just wasn't for me. 

Book Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide by Jill Hathaway 

Release Date: 1st March 2012 

Publisher: HarperCollins 
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 250
Rating: 3.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again."

Review: 
I was excited to read this book. The premise of the story, I thought, was very original and interesting; Vee Bell, a mostly average high school girl, has the ability to 'slide' into other people, and see exactly what they see - it's a really interesting idea. Unfortunately, however, I don't really think Jill Hathaway was able to pull it off. Looking back on the book now, all I can really say about it was that it was only an average book. For me, the characters were unremarkable and the plot was predictable. It was a shame really, because the sliding aspect of the story was really interesting to read about, and was really well written. It was just the rest of the book for me - characters that I didn't like and a plot that I could easily predict just brought the whole novel down. Overall, just an average read.

Book Review: Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross

Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross 

Release Date: 5th January 2012 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan 
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 352
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world."

Review: 
I really, really enjoyed this book - much more than I expected to. and its kinda hard for me to explain exactly why. With the clarity of hindsight (that is, I've been too busy to get around to this review for a month or so), I can say that the novel isn't necessarily anything special. What I mean is, there isn't really anything I can pinpoint that sets this novel apart from the rest (I mean, romance with a bit of time-travel thrown in there, it's been done before). But there is just something about this book that made me enjoy it immensely. The plot was interesting and well thought out, and the characters were likeable and relatable. Just go and read the book....NOW! :D 

The Quarterly Challenge Update Post

For my first year of blogging, I decided to participate in 3 blogging challenges.
Some of the books I'm reading apply to more than one challenge. So far, I've managed the following:

4/5 books read for the Around the Stack in How Many Ways? Challenge
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin

11/15 books read for the Off the Shelf! Challenge
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
The Magician by Michael Scott
The Sorceress by Michael Scott
The Necromancer by Michael Scott
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi


5/6 books read for the Debut Author Challenge
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Tempest by Julie Cross (review coming soon!)
Slide by Jill Hathaway (review coming soon!)


What about you? Are you participating in any reading challenges this year, and if so, how are you going?

Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin
Release Date: 1st February 2012

Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 464
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can 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"

Review: 
It's been a while since I finished this book, so this review will be very, very short. But let me say this - this was the best book I have read so far this year - and I've read some really good books this year. What I enjoyed the most about this book is that it really surprised me. I didn't know that much about the book before I started reading it, only that a romance was involved. But the supernatural elements are definitely the best part of this book - Michelle Hodkin was very clever with what she did with her characters. I'm super excited for the next instalment in the series!

The Quarterly Challenge Update Post

For my first year of blogging, I decided to participate in 3
blogging challenges.
Some of the books I'm reading apply to more than one challenge. So far, I've managed the following:

4/5 books read for the Around the Stack in How Many Ways? Challenge
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin

9/15 books read for the Off the Shelf! Challenge
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
The Magician by Michael Scott
The Sorceress by Michael Scott
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin

2/6 books read for the Debut Author Challenge
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

So far I think I'm doing pretty well! Technically I should be aiming to read 12 books for the Debut Author Challenge, but I have so many books sitting on my TBR pile that I'd rather read those than go out and buy new books. So, I've decided that I'll be finishing off the Debut Author Challenge with these books:

Tempest by Julie Cross
Fracture by Megan Miranda
Slide by Jill Hathaway 
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (which should be arriving in the mail any day now...)

And since I have so many books on my TBR pile, depending on how quickly I read, I may move up a level or two for the ATS and OTS Challenges. 


What about you? Are you participating in any reading challenges this year, and if so, how are you going?

Book Review: Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi

Release Date: 7th February 2012  
Publisher:  Pier 9
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 374
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty."

Review:
This, again, was one of those books that I’d heard a lot about through other bloggers reviews, and was keen to get my hands on it as soon as possible. And I have to say, I was really happy with this book. I liked the characters, the plot, the romance, the underlying messages, but I have to say, my favourite part was the premise of the book itself. I can’t say that I’ve read something like this before, and this part of the book really intrigued me. I enjoyed reading about the world Aria inhabited – living in Reverie, roaming through the Realms. And, I also equally enjoyed reading about the world Perry inhabited – a violent planet where you have to fight and struggle to survive every day.

But, at times, I also didn’t enjoy reading about Perry and his world – it seemed quite barbaric, and a bit confusing for me. In this future world in which Perry lives, people don’t really have emotions anymore – you don’t love somebody, you are rendered to them. Brothers don’t love each other, they fight to be Bloodlord, the leader of their tribes. And father’s don’t love their sons, don’t protect them – they place the wellbeing of the tribe above their own flesh and blood. These parts of the book I hated; you would think that living in a violent world would force people together, but no, apparently not.

I enjoyed reading the novel, but the entire time, I was waiting for that one thing to happen, that one plot point that would take the book from good to amazing. But that just didn’t happen. I just felt that, whilst this book was really good, it just missed something, a bit of pizazz. Maybe this was because their were parts of the books I hated, maybe not – I’m not really sure.

Overall, this is a book I would recommend, because I know there are people out there who love this type of book. It’s most likely that I will read the following books, but I won’t be rushing out to buy them as soon as they hit the shelves.

Book Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: 3rd January 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 387
Rating: 5/5

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:

"Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future."

Review:

I had been dying to get my hands on this book ever since reviews first started appearing last year. I was a bit wary at first because I wasn't sure how well an appropriation of the classic fairytale Cinderella would fare, considering Cinderella was being updated to a cyborg mechanic. But I have to say that I absolutely loved everything about this book, and the appropriation of Cinderella was done really well. If you didn't know that this was a retelling of Cinderella, you may not have even been able to pick up on it.

Even though you knew basically where the plot was heading, this was still an enjoyable and unpredictable read. And this is mostly the case because this story is set in the new, dystopian world of New Beijing, with Cinderella as a cyborg. These two main plot twists add a whole new dimension to the story, and allow Cinder to stand out as a great story all on its own, and not merely a retelling of a classic fairytale.

My only issue was with the relationship between Cinder and Princess Selene. As soon as the princess was mentioned, I knew what the connection there was, it was so obvious. But nonetheless, this was an amazing debut novel, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Teaser Tuesday (10)

Teaser Tuesday is a Meme hosted by Mizb @ Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in, as long as they do the following:

• Grab your current read. 
• Open your book to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. 
• Warning:  Avoid spoilers in your teaser as not everyone has had the pleasure to read your current read
• Share the Title & Author so anyone can add your current read to their list if they wish to do so. 
• Note: links go to Amazon
  

Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Release Date: 3rd January 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 387

"Her brow drew together, questioning, but he didn't elaborate. His fingers, light as breath, brushed her elbow. He craned his head. Cinder couldn't move, barely managing to wet her lips as her eyes slipped shut.
Pain exploded in her head. Raced down her spine" pg 230

WWW Wednesdays (9)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly Meme hosted by Mizb @ Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

*Note: all links go to Amazon, except for when you click on the pictures :)

My Answers:

1. I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wifeby Audrey Niffenegger - it is so amazingly good!
   
   
2. Last Wednesday I finished reading Vixen (The Flappers) by Jillian Larkin {review here}
   
   
3. Definitely Cinderby Marissa Meyer - it's my first read for the Debut Author Challenge!
   

2012 Debut Author Challenge

(In case you haven't notice that little button I added to my sidebar) This (coming) year I'll be participating in the 2012 DAC hosted by The Story Siren. All participants must have a book blog/Goodreads account to post their reviews on, with the aim being to read and review 12 young adult debut novels between the 1st of January 2012 to the 31st of January 2013. After reading through the (limited) list of books for Australia/NZ, I've already come up with this list (no I'm not just going to just read two, I just haven't sifted through the entire list yet) 

• Tempest by Julie Cross
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin