●● Book Haul / 31st Oct 2013 ●●

●● Waiting on Wednesday / These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner ●●

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.


Expected Release Date: 10th December 2013
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

●● My Halloween Favourites ●●

Dusty Reads: The Love Verb by Jane Green

Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.

This week, my  Dusty Read is:

 From the New York Times bestselling author-a momentous new novel about a family suddenly thrown together

Callie Perry is a successful family photographer living in upstate New York. She adores her two daughters, has great friends, and actually doesn't mind that her workaholic husband gets home at 9 p.m. every night-that is, when he's not traveling six months out of the year.

Callie's younger sister, Steff, on the other hand, has never grown up. She's a free spirit, living in downtown Manhattan and bouncing between jobs and boyfriends. Lately, she's been working as a vegan chef, even though she can't cook.

Lila Grossman is Callie's best friend and has finally met the man of her dreams. Eddie has two wonderful children, but also a drama queen ex-wife who hates Lila. And then there are Callie and Steff's parents, Walter Cutler and Honor Pitman. Divorced for thirty years, they rarely speak to each other.

The lives of these colorful characters intersect when they each receive a shocking note that summons them together for one extraordinary summer in Maine and changes their lives forever. This novel is about the hard choices we have to face, about having to be your parents' child long after you've grown up, and about the enduring nature of love

     

   

     
   

 

 
 
    

♥♥ Book Review / Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas ♥♥

Below is the blurb for book 1 in this series, Throne of Glass.  For the blurb for the above, please click on the Goodreads link below (so as not to spoil the story).

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have 
imagined.

Published:     4th July 2013
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Book 1, Throne of Glass
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   10 out of 10

FOR OTHER VIDEO REVIEWS - http://www.youtube.com/user/DebrasBookCafe

●● Book Review / The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier ●●

In New York Times bestselling author Tracy Chevalier’s newest historical saga, she introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape.

Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.

However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier’s vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.

Publisher:  Harper Collins
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   10 out of 10

FOR OTHER VIDEO REVIEWS - http://www.youtube.com/user/DebrasBookCafe

●● Waiting on Wednesday / Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott ●●

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly memo that is hosted by Breaking the Spine Blog.


Expected Release Date: 25th February 2014
(Release date obtained from Goodreads)

Goodreads link is here.
 

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?



Best wishes

Debs :-)

●● Book Haul / 23rd Oct 2013 ●●

Dusty Reads: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.

This week, my  Dusty Read is:

 How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

     

   

     
   

 

 
 
    

●● Book Review / True Believer by Nicholas Sparks ●●

Jeremy Marsh is the ultimate New Yorker: handsome, almost always dressed in black, and part of the media elite. An expert on debunking the supernatural with a regular column in "Scientific American," he's just made his first appearance on national TV. 

When he receives a letter from the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights that appear in a legend-shrouded cemetery, he can't resist driving down to investigate. Here, in this tightly knit community, Lexie Darnell runs the town's library, just as her mother did before the accident that left Lexie an orphan. Disappointed by past relationships, including one that lured her away from home, she is sure of one thing: her future is in Boone Creek, close to her grandmother and all the other people she loves. Jeremy expects to spend a quick week in "the sticks" before speeding back to the city. 

But from the moment he sets eyes on Lexie, he is intrigued and attracted to this beautiful woman who speaks with a soft drawl and confounding honesty. And Lexie, while hesitating to trust this outsider, finds herself thinking of Jeremy more than she cares to admit. Now, if they are to be together, Jeremy Marsh must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows, or do something he's never done before--take a giant leap of faith. 

A story about taking chances and following your heart, True Believer will make you, too, believe in the miracle of love.

Published:     11th April 2006
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  N/A
Source:  Bought
Review:   10 out of 10

FOR OTHER VIDEO REVIEWS - http://www.youtube.com/user/DebrasBookCafe

Best wishes

Debs :-)

Dusty Reads: Spellbound by Jane Green

Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.

This week, my  Dusty Read is:

 Alice has always dreamed of a rose-covered cottage in the English countryside, filled with children and animals and home-cooked meals. Her favorite attire is old jeans; her best manicure features garden dirt under the nails. But when her teenage crush—a wealthy, dashing, man-about-town named Joe—wants to make her his bride, Alice is willing to play Cinderella to Joe's prince. Never mind that he wants her to change—a diet, ice-blond highlights, stilettos, snooty gallery openings—and that he's allergic to nature and kids. 

She tells herself she's happy to sacrifice for love, and besides, every woman in London wants to be in her shoes. But that's just the problem—and Joe soon reveals a penchant for being hopelessly unfaithful. When an indiscretion with a female colleague forces him to transfer to New York, Alice's life turns upside down. To her surprise, however, the move is a blessing in disguise. Revamping a country house in Connecticut, Alice shrugs off her stifling façade of glamour and rediscovers the simple joys in life with the help of friends, fresh air, and a bold return to her old self. As Joe continues to sneak around, and her best friend's beau offers a tempting glimpse of what real love could be like, Alice must decide how much Cinderella she can take before her deepest desires win out—if she can summon up the courage to break Joe's spell. 

     

   

     
   

 

 
 
    

Book Review / The Seeing by Diana Hendry

"What gave me a sudden shiver was the notion that there were two of me. The little sister me, who was good and mostly kind; the girl Alice and Dottie knew. And then there was this other me, the one lurking inside me, eager for danger and risk, for something that could be as wild as the sea in winter. For Natalie."

Nothing ever seems to happen in the quiet, respectable seaside town of Norton. The war is over, and everyone's thrilled to be living peacefully - everyone but thirteen-year-old Lizzie, who's so bored she feels like she could scream. Until wild, dangerous, break-all-the-rules Natalie arrives. Lizzie is drawn irresistibly to the exciting new girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and as the girls grow closer over the summer, Lizzie discovers a new side to the town - and to herself - that she had never imagined before.

Natalie and her young brother, Philip, let Lizzie in on a secret. Despite what everyone thinks, the danger of war is still hanging over them. Philip has a 'second sight', and all around him he sees evil: apparently innocent people, hiding in this quiet town until the time is right for revenge. Natalie and Philip call them 'Left-Over Nazis'. It's up to them to root these people out and force them out of Norton. Lizzie is swept up in what begins as an exciting game, but as the children begin to target their neighbours, the consequences of Philip's 'gift' spiral quickly out of control.


Published:      5th July 2012
Publisher:  Bodley Head
Goodreads :  Click here
Series:  Not part of a series
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher


FOR OTHER VIDEO REVIEWS - http://www.youtube.com/user/DebrasBookCafe

Dusty Reads: Birthright by Nora Roberts

Dusty Reads is a Tuesday meme that I found at Ya-aholic.com and was originally started at Xpressoreads.com. 

This is a meme where I intend to showcase a book that has been on my shelf for a while and haven’t got to yet.  If you have read this or have heard of this book, I would love to hear your comments on whether you  like it or not, or have heard great things about it.

This week, my  Dusty Read is:

 When five-thousand-year-old human bones are found at a construction site in the small town of Woodsboro, the news draws archaeologist Callie Dunbrook out of her sabbatical and into a whirlwind of adventure, danger, and romance.

While overseeing the dig, she must try to make sense of a cloud of death and misfortune that hangs over the project-fueling rumors that the site is cursed. And she must cope with the presence of her irritating-but irresistible-ex-husband, Jake. Furthermore, when a stranger claims to know a secret about her privileged Boston childhood, she is forced to question her own past as well.