Wednesday 14 March 2012

Wishlist Wednesday #3

Hosted by Pen to Paper




On My List this Week:

Before I Die


[Goodreads Synopsis]
Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.

I won't be saying much just that I really want to read this. :)

 

Wednesday 7 March 2012

The Vinyl Princess (Review)

THE VINYL PRINCESS by Yvonne Prinz 
(Book blurb)
With a summer job at Bob & Bob Records in Berkeley, California, teen music junkie Allie is ready for anything. She's poised to fall in love. catch a thief and make a mix that' ll break your heart. and when she blogs as The Vinyl Princess, Allie is the sort of mystery girl you can't resist tuning in to. Get ready for the vinyl revolution!
Sixteen year old Allie is an audiophile, obsessed with vinyl and her LP collection is well suited to sit at a museum for music. That's how awesome it is! She works a summer job at Bob & Bob records and feels right at home surrounded by all the vinyl. She hates, hates, HATES freeloaders who get their music off the web and into their convenient little mp3 players. According to Allie the world would be a much better place without them. To voice her passion for music, more so, her passion for collecting LPs, she starts a blog - The Vinyl Princess . Allie lives in Berkeley with her Mom and cat, Pierre who cheats on her with their ghost of a tenant, Suki.
 
Yvonne Prinz, through Allie, voices a music fanatic's concern for dying-out LPs that are no longer in vogue in a digitally equipped age. I kind of relate to Allie's resentment and need to conserve. As an avid reader and book lover I'm very discouraging of eBooks and eReaders. They just don't work for me. The feel of a print copy in my hands is like a slice of heaven. I'm sure all you book lovers agree with me.

Now, what's a YA novel without boy-girl drama? On one hand there's 'M' for the mysterious and drool-worthy, bad-boy he is and then there is Zach, a nerd with an OCD for arranging messes. Who does Allie root for? Read to find out.

 The other characters make a place of their own in the book. There's Kit, Allie's bff, an "outgoing boy magnet". Shorty and Jam make you giggle with their cross-dressing. An then there is Bob, owner of Bob and Bob Records who shares Allie's passion for vinyl.

I won't say I absolutely loved the book, but I did enjoy it. Enough for it to find a place on my shelf. It's a fresh read because it addresses teen issues from an angle that is extraordinary with a dash of romance that finds it's significance in the life of someone who is so taken and preoccupied with music. Yvonne Prinz's personal experience at Amoeba Records is reflected in the book. The Vinyl Princess is funny, sweet and filled with a kind of passion that is admirable in a teenager who believes she can make the world fall in love with vinyl again through her awesome blog. Go read the book now! :)

Well, that was my very first review. Let me know how I did!

Thursday 1 March 2012

'TASTE' - Cover Reveal

TASTE by



At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.
When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

When Kate Evangelista was told she had a knack for writing stories, she did the next best thing: entered medical school. After realizing she wasn't going to be the next Doogie Howser, M.D., Kate wandered into the Literature department of her university and never looked back. Today, she is in possession of a piece of paper that says to the world she owns a Literature degree. To make matters worse, she took Master's courses in creative writing. In the end, she realized to be a writer, none of what she had mattered. What really mattered? Writing. Plain and simple, honest to God, sitting in front of her computer, writing. Today, she has four completed Young Adult novels.

You'd be pretty daft if you didn't agree that the cover is hauntingly beautiful! The hues are just... Wow... *exhales* .. And the girl on the cover is obviously Phoenix McKay. That's a pretty dress she's wearing. Anywho, I'm definitely looking forward to reading this. You should go check it out for yourself. You'll want to read it too.
Thanks Kate for giving me my first cover reveal for my blog. Hope you like it. :)