Review ONCE A WITCH by Carolyn MacCullough

ONCE A WITCH
by Carolyn MacCullough
Published September 14th 2009 by Clarion Books
Hardcover, 292 pages

Placement in the Pile: Reaching New Heights

Summary:
Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant.

Review:
This book was really, really fun. I read it very quickly, and thought the writing was lyrical yet accessible. There really were some beautiful phrases, yet it remained true to the teenage character.

I really felt for Tamsin and the loneliness she felt amongst her own family. Gabriel is definitely drool worthy and the romance in the book is an added bonus to an already enjoyable read.

I almost gave it my highest ranking, but two things bothered me a little. Tamsin has a tendency to smoke cigarettes when she is stressed out and there was occasion when I was so caught up in the speed of reading the book that I had to go back and re-read stuff when the action was intense.

Magic, mystery, rivalries and romance. Once a Witch is a great book that leaves you satiated and longing for more at the same time. I for one hope there is a sequel coming!

*Materials Source: I got this book from the library.

A Chance to Do Something Good For the Holidays!

Hi guys! This time of year is hard for those who have little. It is also the time of year many of our hearts are opened to those in need. Here is a chance for you to do so!

The Story Siren posted THIS post on Monday. A story that is all too common that we may not even be aware of. A 200 home complex with many children has no local library for children to use, and many children in this area do not even have one book in their homes.

Well some really wonderful people decided to change that and began to fund a small library for the homes at an on site location with their own money.

Today, The Story Siren posted a wonderful contest! Not only does it allow you to do something good this holiday season, if that isn't incentive enough there are some really awesome prizes. You can read about that HERE.

Let's open our hearts this holiday season, whether it's for these children that need help, or something else more local that we know about.

And while we're on the subject PLEASE BUY BOOKS this holiday season! A slowed economy is hitting all of our author friends hard, and in turn the entire industry is hurting, making it harder to get good books published! I know books are my favorite gift to give and receive, you can help too!

My First Blog Award!

I was just informed that I received my first blog award from our reader and fellow blogger Lizzy of CornucopiaofReviews! Thanks so much!



Here are the rules: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Wow. 15 newer blogs! Here I go!

1. It may be cheating but, I have to give a shout out back to Lizzy! She has been reading my blog for a while and I have just discovered her blog! CornucopiaofReviews
2. Elie of EllzReads
3. The Book Resort
4. Extremereader at Extreme Reader Book Reviews
5. Lost in a Book
6. Becky from Becky's Book Reviews
7. Carol from Book Lover Carol
8. Senfaye from A Maze of Books
9. Laura from Laura's Review Bookshelf
10. All the bloggers at Teen Lit Review
11. Kristi from The Story Siren (not a new blog to me, but definitely one that you should be reading if you already aren't!)
12. Lisa of Why A?
13. Ravenous Reader from Tales of a Ravenous Reader
14. Sophie of So Many Books, So Little Time
AND
15. Maria of Fantasys Ink

In My Mailbox (2)

Once again thanks to thestorysiren for hosting this!

This week I got a bunch of great books! Me and Guinevere are really excited to read them all!

Borrowed:

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl December 1st 2009 (check your stores now! Many of them have it out already!)





Received from Publishers:

CAPTIVATE by Carrie Jones (SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!) January 5th 2010








ANASTASIA'S SECRET by Suzanne Dunlap March 2nd 2010








MAGIC UNDER GLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore February 1st 2010








HEARTS AT STAKE by Alyxandra Harvey










UNDONE by Brooke Taylor (coming out in paperback in January 19th 2010, first published 2008)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wanted to wish all of our readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful for you our readers! Without you caring what we have to say about books this blog wouldn't exist. I hope you all get to benefit from our reviews, interviews and giveaways! Here is to a year of growth and fun!

I hope you have a chance to be with friends and family and enjoy your long weekend! I for one hope to get some reading and writing done!


Gobble Gobble!

Winner!

The winner of our ARC giveaway of STUPID CUPID by Rhonda Stapleton



is...

TerryLynnJohnson!

Please e-mail me at aubreyavalon@gmail.com with your mailing address and I will get that in the mail as soon as possible!

Thank you to all who have been reading the blog and entered!

Review BREAKING DAWN by Stephenie Meyer

BREAKING DAWN
by Stephenie Meyer
Published August 2nd 2008 by Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 754 Pages

Placement in the Pile: Top Picks

Summary:
To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life—first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse—seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

Review:
By far the best of the series. I cried for joy, I cried for sadness, I cried just because! I laughed so hard I cried. I have never been happier with a book and they way it tied up all the loose ends. Unfortunately, it also was a bit anti-climactic in that the fight scene at the end. It could have shown Bella's power and been a bit more epic.

SM did a WONDERFUL job of ending Bella and Edward's story. From her interviews about this novel, I totally agreed that there just isn't much more to tell. However after watching the interview on Oprah (the questions online that weren't on the air, linked in my intro post last week) I now am itching to know what happens in the future with them, the Volturi and Nessie and Jacob (Okay I must add here that I HATE that kid's that name with a passion).

Alright, so you may have noticed my rating and praise for this book is very high. The thing I think is so interesting is this is a very polarizing book. Lots of people loved it, but criticize it's YA rating, lots of people didn't like how things just worked out perfectly. But I loved seeing Bella and Edward finally having the marriage and relationship they were destined for. As an adult that was my favorite part.

Now, I will say I am all for parents and schools limiting the age of children who have access to this book. It may be YA but it is certainly gor an older YA audience.

What do you think?

Oh and there is no definite info out there on if this one will be made into a movie, but Summit has bought the rights to it, and it seems likely that with the Twilight films being so popular it will be made.

I own this book and was not compensated for a review.

Review: ECLIPSE by Stephenie Meyer

ECLIPSE
by Stephenie Meyer
Published January 1st 2007 by Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 629 pages

Placement in the Pile: Top Picks

Summary:
Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour Eclipse, the much anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Review:
Just to finish up our reviews of the Twilight Saga in celebration of the movie NEW MOON (Which I have now seen twice -- the second time being just as if not better than the first -- and will see again tomorrow), today we're talking about book 3!

This book I think really takes on the more epic feel of the stories. The main conflict is much more external for most of the book in the form of Victoria, but it also has a lot of emotional turmoil.

Unfortunately, this book I loved and hated at the same time because of that. I actually loved all the fighting sequences the external conflict plot. But being book 3 the internal conflict of Bella trying not to hurt or lose Jacob but still being in love with Edward, as well as refusing to marry Edward for so long was just plain annoying to me. She was cruel to both of them, and in the end made the only decision for her that made sense...as from the beginning she had always said "I'll choose him. It was always him" (referring to Edward) therefore we know it always will be.

Another thing I loved here was finding out more about the mysterious Jasper. His past is fascinating. I would even dare say I'd like to read more about it later down the road.

All in all this is a great one, and will make an even better movie than NEW MOON in my opinion. A few things. The movie release date for ECLIPSE is June 30th 2010. And if you haven't heard, Rachelle LeFevre will not be playing the role of Victoria. She breached her contract and booked another movie that overlapped the filming for ECLIPSE so they hired Bryce Dallas Howard. I don't usually like it when they switch actors without extreme cause (like in the case of Dumbledore, they didn't have a choice...and I wouldn't have minded if they switched their choice for Rosalee) but I do like Bryce Dallas Howard, and think it will be fun to see her take on the part.

I own this book and was not compensated for a review.