A group of three books cover images that I like the most from the titles to be released in the current month. Usually I already pre-ordered the titles or own them. I named the section like I did because I like thinking about these covers like they are something that its meant to look.

*Eye Candy: visual images that are pleasant to see.

Book Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon&Shuster
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 27, 2011

Author Web Page:

 

Mara Dyer doesn’t think 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 mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.

With a cover that will trigger the WOW factor on the reader, The Unbecoming of Mara Dayer will make the reader get lost between its pages until reading the very last sentence.The story begins with Mara waking up in the hospital after a terrible accident that took her boyfriend and best friend’s life. Without having a clue on how the events ocurred that fatal night, Mara tries to move on with her life, but she’s not aware on how she will be tormented and that only she has the key opening the doors to knowing what really happened that night. The Unbecoming of Mara Dayer has a complex but iviting and intriguing plot line. While the idea centers on the events ocurred, their repercussions will let us know who she really is and IT is what makes her different. The biggest credit I can give Hodkins is that without a doubt, she has a gift to tell a story and transport you towards it. Another aspect that called for my attention was the romance because it’s sexy, dark and it’s not until the end that the reader will get the idea on how it develops. The end will leave you with the expectation for more, wanting to solve the mystery of who is Mara Dyer. With a distinguished plot, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is the book you cannot miss this fall.

Book Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon&Shuster
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication Date: September 6, 2011

Author Web Page:

Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny. Theirs is a bond that transcends even death. But as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very hard choices to make. Caspian may be the love of her life, but is that love worth dying for?

A dark beautiful love story is the way to describe this last book in the Hallow Series.  Since The Hollow I was captivated by Verday’s dark beautiful world. The way words floated on the pages when Abby described how her perfumes were made or the Sleepy Hollow legend had an important role in the story and the romance between Caspian found me immersed in the story and where the characters were heading to. The Hidden is everything a reader could want for a serie’s culmination; Verday delivered the right end for her series. The Hidden begins where The Hunted ended, Abbey sees herself knowing her destiny and upon the mystery where Caspian is in the middle of changes as a shade that concerns both. I LOVED this book and it’s my favorite between the three. I love knowing more about The Revenants and their role in the story. Abbie and Caspian’s romance was simply perfect. I think the story’s most beautiful element was destiny and how it always manages to be accomplished.  The biggest compliment I can give Verday is the line she took her main characters, where decisions between correct and incorrect held their destiny. At the end Abby made me feel proud of her as a character and I confirm she was that girl in The Hollow who assured she love her best friend like a sister. The Hidden a beautiful love story in many ways with a touching bittersweet ending.

I will giveaway a copy of The Hidden between the people who comment on the review.

A group of three books cover images that I like the most from the titles to be released in the current month. Usually I already pre-ordered the titles or own them. I named the section like I did because I like thinking about these covers like they are something that its meant to look.

*Eye Candy: visual images that are pleasant to see.

In the beginning we were a group of twelve.

They are from all over the Planet Earth.

From Mexico, Panama to USA.

We love books and giveaways.

We are Los 12 Blogs de Navidad.

I am Number Twelve.

I know that I am next.

Los 12 Blogs de Navidad is an initiative looking to organize 12 contests, one each day, in the spirit of Holidays. Windowpane Memoirs is stop number 12.   I will be giving away a Hardcover de: City of Glass / By: Cassandra Cassadra Clare plus random Swag Material.   You only need to leave a comment on this entry and follow Windowpane Memoirs. The contest will be open until: December 31, 2010.  Wish you all Good Luck!

A few impressions on a previously read book. I named the section like I did because as a passionate reader I like to use representation titles or words that I see in my favorite books.

*Glimpse: brief review on X title.

Favorite Quote

“I chose you freely, love.”

Page: 423

What I Liked

I really like the edgy vibe the story transpires, Abbey’s process of making perfumes is exquisite.   The loose endings that were tied up and the new characters were a  nice touch.

What I Didn’t Like

The rules that defined Caspian as a shade are lit bit unfair and different from the other shades on the story.   Because of this there’s something missing in his relationship with Abbey.

A group of three books cover images that I like the most from the titles to be released in the current month. Usually I already pre-ordered the titles or own them. I named the section like I did because I like thinking about these covers like they are something that its meant to look.

*Eye Candy: visual images that are pleasant to see.

Book Type: Softcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication Date: July 20, 2010

Author Web Page:

Why can’t you chosse what you forget … and what you remember?

There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty four  year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra popular football player Brandon.  But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug of all people  suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all important details of her life a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.

If I could rate Forget You, it would most definitely be R rated.  Forget you narrates the story of Zoey after a series of events had put her in a “dark” season where she feels she’s losing control of her life.  Her mother’s attempt to commit suicide, her father’s getaway with a young woman and also an accident that opens the door to a secret apparently unknown but that at the same time brings her together with her “frenemy” Doug.  It’s really admirable the way Echois narrates all situations in which the characters face certain events, where censorship is not an option for this author in this presentation.   The story reaches several topics which every youngster or human being has to face sometime in their lives: sexuality, depression, abandonment, love and pain. Something that didn’t allowed me to enjoy the story a bit more was the narrator. Zoey is described as a smart and capable girl, but along the whole story such intelligence appears to be absent when I kept asking: Where’s her common sense?”. During most part of the story, Zoey tries to grade a “one night stand” in a relationship when the person involved never shows any signals of this happening. The quote “Brandon is my boyfriend” fed me up at some point. On the other hand, Doug appears to be a charming boy who despite his story, reaches a point where his consistent begging for Zoey’s attention is enough. At the end, all characters reached a likable point. Forget You is a story without taboos where life’s circumstances unite with a young girl’s sexual discovery.

Having a cover that figuratively represents a whole story by itself, Hush, Hush became one of those titles with a lot to expect from; sadly after an appealing introduction thanks to the biblical quote and an interesting prologue, the story went decadent for my taste. Hush, Hush begins with a prologue which time frame goes back 445 years from present history. It’s this particular event that will establish the conflict on the first delivery of the series. After these events, the reader will get to know Nora and Patch on their “first” encounter at biology class, where the teacher has decided to switch lab partners by mid April. Nora and Patch’s interactions will be centered in this place with some other external school situations during more than half the story. Nora will discover that someone has been “following” her along with her friend Vee and will try to find the answer to “Who?” while she struggles with her emotional “conflict” for Patch: attraction VS repulsion. There’s supposed to be a battle between the immortal and those that have fallen between everything, but if it did happened, I must have missed it or it must have been summarized with random notes with some secondary character. My problem with this story relies on world developing. In Hush, Hush, the author uses a biblical idea and forges it with a couple of ideas to create a concept, but some details seemed kind of sloppily worked, and I explain:

*Disclaimer: There could be some spoilers.

World Building: What differs angels from simple mortals in this story? It establishes that Patch had an angel girlfriend as well. What factor determines which the good angels are and who can judge them? There’s a moment when Patch rips the wings from an angel and I asked myself: “with what authority?” He was the fallen angel and was not in position of doing that job, but the problem is, where is this group’s hierarchy? Where are the laws that rule them and the base of it? Patch’s past story and why he lost his wings remained summarized to seeing a woman on earth and falling in love. We really don’t know if this relationship flourished to another level, if they interacted, the only detail we had on this girl was that she was made of mold. It is sad that the fallen angel story got to be so trivial in this first delivery. At the end of the book, Patch recovers his wings, but he’s on the same position from where he lost them: being in love with a mortal. Please explain how he will not lose his wings immediately again?

Morality: Aside from all of this, I still don’t find anything sexy to this end of destructive relationships, the guy plays mind games with the girl to a point of whipping out knives and confusing her (just to mention one situation), but the girl’s reaction is kissing him and get carried away instead of calling 911. I grew up in a home with a physical and mental aggressor (my father), and my mom could say there’s nothing sexy on a man whipping out knives. For me, it is not sexy, sensual or a proof of a great love. “I wanted to kill you, but I didn’t, see how much I love you?”

If the world building were to be developed according to the story’s synopsis and the character’s relationships were driven in a less manipulative and unhealthy way, it could have been a hit for me, sadly it was not. Finally could someone tell me why it is called Hush Hush, since I couldn’t find any reference in the story.

 

To my understanding as an educator, Biology class was a mess, simply because dynamics are unreal and the concept it was driven by is not justifiable. Looks more like Health class than Biology.