Goodreads description: It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.
Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.
Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.
Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?
Okay, can I say AWESOME premise? I've never read a book like this. I can't imagine Parker's pain - I need to sleep at least a little every night, even if it's just an hour or two, before I can keep going again. I think the longest I've gone without sleep is maybe 30 hours? And for him it's been four YEARS?! Let's not even get into the issue of how screwed up dreams can be... I got an ARC of this book last week and I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to read it immediately. It sounds like a psychological thrill-ride :) Have you heard of Insomnia? What do you think about the concept of it?
Hey guys :) After last year's Soul Screamers Reading Challenge, Rachel from Fiktshun is hosting another, smaller challenge for With All My Soul, the final book in the series, coming out exactly a month from now!
The challenge goal is to read and review the book by the end of April, and there is a giveaway for 5 pre-orders (ends 10 days before release date) for those who sign up :)
Last year's event was really fun and got me into the series and into reviewing in the first place, so there was no question for me that I'd participate again! You can find all the details and the linky-sign up over here.
I hope some of you guys will sign up too! Waaah I can't wait for this book to come out, even though it means I'll have to say goodbye to some favorite characters...
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can
add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Alright, today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is just too hard to choose >.< I don't like picking and limiting my options. Top Ten favorite characters in X genre? Can't do it...
So I'm teasing you instead ;)
After taking it easy on my Sequels Challenge so far, this is the third one I'm reading in the past week. Here's my teaser, scroll down for the book description:
"Schuyler felt her vision focus and her senses heighten. She knew she was moving fast - so quickly that it felt as though everyone else around her were standing still. Yet the woman was moving just as fast, if not faster, soaring across the narrow channels that wormed through the city, dodging speedboats and flying towards the other side of the river. But Schulyer was right at her heels, the two of them a blur of motion across the cityscape. Schuyler found herself unexpectedly exhilarated by the pursuit, as if she were stretching muscles she didn't know she had." -Masquerade, page 13
Goodreads description: Schuyler Van Alen wants
an explanation for the mysterious deaths of young vampires. With her
best friend, Oliver, Schuyler travels to Italy in the hope of finding
the one man who can help - her grandfather. Meanwhile, back in New York,
preparations are feverishly underway for the Four Hundred Ball, an
exclusive gala hosted by the city's wealthy, powerful, and unhuman - a true Blue Blood affair.
But
it's at the after-party, a masquerade ball thrown by the cunning Mimi
Force, that the real danger lurks. Hidden behind the masks is a
revelation that will forever change the course of a young vampire's
destiny.
Rich with glamour, attitude, and vampire lore, this
second installment in the Blue Bloods saga will leave readers thirsting
for more.
What do you think of my teaser? Have you read the Blue Bloods novels? And what book did you choose this week? Link me up in the comments :)
Hey guys... I'm really sorry I was MIA for a week, but I had to finally get off my lazy bum and write a paper for one of my university courses. I think the time-out was actually good for me because I feel more motivated for blogging and writing reviews again, and I realized that while I can live without blogging for a week, I also really miss interacting with you guys and commenting on each others' posts :)
Goodreads description: Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .
Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . .
Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed .
The following review is based on an eARC provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Review:
I’m going to be honest: I first became aware of this book when the beautiful cover was revealed (and it’s perfect for the story), but I was also immediately drawn to the description. It made me think of two movies: Suspiria (horror film from the 70s) and Black Swan. And I guess there kind of are parallels to both, but also tremendous differences… anyway, I was hoping for creepy, and creepy I got, albeit not in a way I thought. This song from the Suspriria soundtrack fits really well though...
At first, I immediately bonded with Vanessa because of her love for her older sister, Margaret. Vanessa only really started dancing because of her, and only began to aim for excellence after Margaret disappeared, because she realized it was helping her mother feel better. Everyone thinks Margaret ran away because she couldn’t take the pressure at the NY ballet school, but Vanessa doesn’t really buy it. She hopes her sister is still out there somewhere and she wants to find out why she ran away. I love sister relationships, and I don’t even want to imagine what I’d feel like in Vanessa’s situation. If my younger sister disappeared, I’d do absolutely anything in the hope to find her!
At her new school, Vanessa makes friends pretty much immediately, and I liked that the group was fairly diverse. I’ve read that other reviewers found those secondary characters flat, but I’d have to disagree. They are clearly distinguishable, but their personalities are often revealed indirectly between the lines. The conversations among them reveal the hardships of being a dancer at this level: the pain, the fear to gain weight, to not be good enough, the jealousy of others’ success, how hard it was for some of them to get into the school… it's a struggle for body and soul.
The character I loved most is Blaine! At first you think he’s this typical effeminate gay boy, but there’s so much more to him! I felt that his understanding and experience of dance was closest to Vanessa and that as it became clear that she’s an outstandingly talented dancer, he was the only one to really stick to her without jealousy and try to profit from her example.
There is something Vanessa rarely admits to anyone: sometimes when she’s really losing herself in the dance, the steps just fall into place, and she feels like she’s disappearing and the room is starting to spin around her… this scares her. But those moments are when she’s best. So good, in fact, that she gets cast as the lead in the production of the Firebird as the second freshman ever.
Turns out the first one was her sister. Also turns out that quite a few other principal ballerinas in that role disappeared over the years, so Vanessa and her friends start trying to figure out what is going on, and what it might be about this particular ballet that makes it so difficult. Is it that special, arrhythmic ‘Danse du Feu’ that their harsh instructor, Joseph, makes the core cast practice every afternoon, the dance that gives Vanessa so much trouble? And why are the walls of that practice room charred black anyway? And what is that strange-smelling rosin Joseph keeps in his room? As Vanessa tries to uncover and connect the pieces of this puzzle, she is drawn ever-deeper into a web of deception, ambition, and dark powers… for the right dance and the right dancer can open doors.
I admit that while I liked Vanessa, I also often felt frustrated with her. Why didn’t she do more to look for her sister? Why did she cave so easily to the ones around her? The again she was very obstinate at other times, but never the right ones. Also, there’s a love triangle… sort of. Vanessa’s dance partner, Zep, is seriously gorgeous… the prince of the school. At first I thought he’d be this shallow, perfect character, but when he takes Vanessa out for a date we learn that there’s more to him and he’s apparently a good guy. The two of them are really cute together and Yelena Black captures a great New York atmosphere in those scenes! But then Zep gets really distant and weird and starts avoiding Vanessa. And Justin, who was nothing but a jerk to her before but whom she nevertheless had a reaction to, comes to the forefront again. I was really exasperated with Vanessa at times about how she behaved around the both of them! Then again, she’s only 15… I just wished she would have put her foot down once in a while and demanded answers – from both guys!! Because Justin makes all these obscure remarks about strange things that happen at the school, and he knew her sister. It soon becomes clear that Vanessa can only trust one boy… but who is it?
What made this book great for me despite my sometimes-problems with Vanessa is Yelena Black’s wonderful writing. I don’t know all that much about ballet, but the way she described the dance allowed me to picture it all perfectly – the grace, the pain, the exhilaration… all the emotions the dancers participate in, the way they strain their bodies for the perfect expression. The writing was fluid and beautiful, capturing the atmosphere and passion of the dance along with the movements.
Her style was also responsible for giving me goose-bumps a few times as Vanessa grows more paranoid and, after a middle part that sometimes felt a big sluggish, things unravel and twist very quickly towards the end! There were some issues I’d seen coming for a while, but there were also developments that left me going ‘what the hell just happened?!?’ The paranormal element is revealed much later than I expected, but now that the cards are on the table I’m really intrigued by the world building around it, and very curious about the next book in the series!
All in all, I can recommend Yelena Black's debut to anyone who loves lyrical writing, mystery, and has an interest in dancing. Despite a flawed heroine, there was always enough going on to make me want to keep reading and I really couldn’t figure out which guy was the right match for Vanessa. I also liked the structural concept of the novel, regardless of what I said about the pacing. It’s a slow build up, but ultimately very much worth it!
Have you read Dance of Shadows? What did you think of it? If not, are you intrigued? Did my review even make sense? Have you read other ballet-themed novels you can recommend?
Hey guys :) Having been part of the cover reveal for Losing It way back when, I couldn't resist signing up for the reveal of Cora Carmack's new novel, Faking It. And what a pretty cover it is! I like how it picks up on the first one :)
FAKING IT by Cora Carmack
Release date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Mackenzie "Max" Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they're expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade. Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he's kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they're forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.
I'm definitely intrigued now! I love that characters with tattoos and piercings are becoming more visible in novels at the moment, or at least that's how it seems to me. Can't wait to see how that's handled here! Mace sounds yummy too - wonder how he'll react to the Cade issue. And how exactly Max approaches him in that coffee shop, haha XD
What do you guys think of the cover and description? I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
Know Me Better is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy from I Am A Reader Not A Writer to learn new things about your fellow-bloggers. Each week, she chooses 5 questions from her author interview list that the participants then answer.
This week's questions are:
I can't live without...
Do you make your bed each morning?
City or Country?
Most embarrassing moment?
What do you think of book trailers?
I can't live without...
Diet coke or preferably coke zero. I drink at least 1.5 liters of the stuff every day. Also, coffee. Oh, and most of all reading and writing and any kind of art or creative outlet. It's humanity's redeeming quality, in my opinion. I suppose I should say something about love here, but to be honest I've never experienced that earth-shattering, I-would-risk/sacrifice-anything type of love. I'm not convinced it really exists (am I bitter/cynical? Maybe...). I love my friends and family, but that's not the same kind of love.
Another supposedly trivial thing: the internet. Wouldn't want to go without that - it connects me to pretty much everything I care about. I wouldn't mind never having another phone call though. I hate phones. I rarely ever use my smartphone for actual phone calls. If I want to talk to someone, I either message them or just meet up in person.
Do you make your bed each morning?
I used to when I lived at home. Now I can't remember when I last made it. Seems kinda pointless when I just crawl back in every night between 1 and 3 a.m...
Most embarrassing moment?
Haha, I try to forget those asap or just laugh them off ^^' Can't think of anything recent that was bad, though there were quite a few in my teens. Many of them were because of slips of the tongue, so there's no point listing them here because the 'joke' would be lost in translation. But one involved my crush back then and yeah... I kinda wanted to die at that moment >_<'' Glad those hormonal years are over...
What do you think of book trailers?
Honestly? I'm only slowly warming up to them. Most of them are just so badly made, or they just repeat the description I've already read without providing more info. There are a few I find awesome though, like those for Gina Damico's books. I also liked the one I posted for The Watcher on Monday, one I saw for Under The Never Sky (didn't previously feel like reading the book), or the one for Something Strange and Deadly. That's what comes to mind for the moment, there were probably a few more that I liked. I like the idea of giving a more cinematic aspect to books, but usually there just isn't enough funding to do it properly. And in that case I'd rather people didn't do it at all, unless they're really creative and can work within the monetary restraints and still make it look awesome.
Agree / disagree with anything? Surprises? If you didn't make your own post, feel free to share your answers in the comments :)
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to display all the books we got in the previous week. You can include print or ebooks, bought, borrowed, for review, gifts, wins... just show us your new pretties :)
I didn't get all that many books this week, which is a good thing because I have way too many anyway. I'm sorry I haven't been very active and haven't posted a review in ages!!! I'm just so busy writing a paper (deadline on the 15th and I'm waaaay behind) and I've also had to work extra shifts. Bad combo. And writing a review always takes me minimum 1 hour - time that I just don't have right now, or I'm tired or otherwise unmotivated. In addition to all that, I've been working on a short story for my application to the Clarion West workshop this coming summer. Sigh I hope I can get things back on track soon, but I might be forced to go on a sort-of-hiatus for the next week :/
It's been a while since I signed up for a tour (months, even though I have 2 tour stops in the coming weeks but I signed up for those ages ago) but I liked the concept for this one. Sound a bit different from your usual postapocalyptic book!
Kindle freebies when I got them: Rocked Under, by Cora Hawkes Glamour, by Penelope Fletcher Identity, by Ted Dekker
Glamour was cover love, but I do enjoy fairie books :) I read a review of Identity a while back and was intrigued. And Rocked Under... well. Bad boy in a band ^^'
Okay, my haul isn't that mini after all... these waited for me in my mailbox when I got home Friday night:
To be honest, I had forgotten that I'd ordered TBoBaS ^^'' I think it was only 4 euros or something... and since it plays in Prague and I'd been meaning to read the author for a while, I couldn't resist that offer.
I'm curious about Spell Bound and the conclusion of Hawkins' trilogy! And last Tuesday it was finally out on paperback.
What do you guys think of my haul? Anything I need to put on my priority list? And what did you get this week? Leave me a link so I can check it out :)
Giveaway Details 1 winner will receive their choice of a Kindle Fire HD (US Only), $199 Amazon Gift Card or $199 in Paypal Cash (Internaitonal). Ends 2/28/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
