Book Two in the Arcana Chronicles.
This is Kresley Cole:
This is me:
GOD I AM SO EXCITED
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5 International Covers that are Better than US Covers
11 SepIt’s not a fact that I am proud of, but it is definitely a fact:
I honestly can’t help it. I mean, I have a shelf on my Goodreads account called “Cover Porn” because I am obsessed with shiny sparkly pretty bold colored things. So I get kind of snarky when a book I REALLY like comes out with a not-so-great cover *cough* through the ever night *cough*. And it makes me even more upset when the US covers are decent but the international covers are GORGEOUS and I can’t have them because they aren’t sold in the US. And it’s terribly hard to find non-US published books (even on the internet) while you are in the US.
And even more depressing is when that gorgeous cover is in a different language and even if you DID buy it you wouldn’t understand a thing! So frustrating. So below are my top five favorite international covers that I wish I could have on my US books.
5 International Covers that are Better than their US Covers
1.) Perfect Ruin (Internment Chronicles #1) by Lauren DeStefano
US Cover vs UK Cover
Umm… is this really even a competition?!?!?! I want to be besties with that redhead. That cover is basically just aching for the book to be read. I went so far as to Tweet Lauren DeStefano and the UK publishing company to ask them how I could get my greedy little hands on a UK version because it’s so damn gorgeous *drool*
2.) The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns #2) by Rae Carson
US Cover vs French Cover
Uh, once again. No challenge. As much as I adore The Crown of Embers book (Fire and Thorns is one of my favorite series EVER), the US cover is boring and blase and nothing to write home about. The French cover however, what a beaut! I mean its a rainbow of colors and a serious head nod to Elisa’s badassry in the book. While I do agree with a few other bloggers that she’s a bit too skinny to be a realistic Elisa, I still think her expression entices me to read this waaaay more than the US cover does.
3.) Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) by Kiersten White
US Cover vs Italian Cover
As much as I am anti-this book series because it’s a blast back to my middle-school teeny bopper language time, I don’t hate the US cover. It’s very pretty. Not interesting, but pretty. Bland pretty, like the color pale yellow. But the Italian cover? *sighs wistfully* Now that is an interesting and pretty cover. We’ve still got our pretty little blonde on it with the wind blown hair, but the colors, the body language, and the facial expression completely change the feel of the book. And the lighting on that girl’s face, hot damn.
4.) Fire (Graceling #2) by Kristin Cashore
US Cover vs UK Cover
Once again, I lurve this series and everything Kristin Cashore related. The US Cover is not ugly by any means but you don’t really grasp the concept of the book with it. It’s just a bow and arrow and for all you know could be about a damn forest fire. But the UK cover gives you much more insight into the story. She obvi has red hair (very important) and with the shading and gorgi girl it makes you think she’s a fierce badass (which she is). It’s just… a lot better. As are ALL the UK covers for the Graceling series. That are all bomb-diggidy and I want them to be blown up into posters, signed, and hung in my room.
5.) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
US Cover vs UK Cover
Yes, yes I know, these cover are very similar. But they are also very different and the differences between them are obvious once you read the book. You’ll understand why I am enamored with the UK Cover. First of all, I don’t really understand the hand in the US Cover. I mean it kind of makes sense if you stretch it, but it’s way too much symbolism for a cover. Second of all, the red is so much more RED in the UK and makes the cover much more tastey. And finally, it shows that there will be a romance in the book. In the UK cover, with the two figures and the stars on the I’s, everything is just much more complex. It’s much more dynamic and visually pleasing.
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How I feel about Book Giveaways
1 AugI think book giveaways are the greatest thing that has ever been invented. Like ever. And ARC and signed copy giveaways are even more fantabolous than regular book giveaways. I mean, free+awesome+one of a kind with a signature = i’mdyingeventhinkingaboutit.
I am a BIG fan of Twitter (@StarsBeRattling if you don’t already follow me) and I love when I hear about raffles and contest and all that jazz through Tweets. I literally enter every single one I ever see, multiple times, and retweet it so all my Twitter lovies can join the fun too. I’ve entered well over 100 raffles through Twitter, Goodreads, blogs, author sites, publishing sites, yadda yadda yadda.
I have never. ever. EVER won.
Not once. Zip, Zero. Nadda. And it’s a heart wrenching experience. I get so excited and than all my little dreams of reading that particular book are thrown brutally to the ground and stomped on.
The Roller Coaster of Giveaway Emotions:
When I first see the giveaway:
After I calm down and actually read all the rules and find out what I have to do
After I am done entering and have to wait but constantly check back to see if they’ve announced the winner yet
When they say they have a winner and I haven’t gotten any email communication but I still check just in case
When I see I haven’t won
But find out it’s someone I know did win
But really
So to defuse my bitterness, I am ranting to you all.
Someday guys… someday it will happen to me. *sigh*
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Favorite Books of 2013 – Mid Year Edition
16 JulWell, my blogging friends, we are halfway through 2013 and I’ve gotten through almost 55 books. (wootie woot woot!) With me being a wee bit over 50% of my goal of 100 book-a-roos in 2013, I think I shall have a fav books mid-year edition. Mainly because I’ve read some awesome books and haven’t been able to write reviews yet. Not sure if because I am lazy or busy with work… hmmm…
Regardless, below are my favorite Thus-Far read books that were published in 2013. This is also me book pimping these onto to you lovely readers because they are crazy good.
Favorite Book Thus Far of 2013
Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers – this is gorgeous and rich. I love LaFever’s writing and her characters in the entire His Fair Assassin’s series are breathtaking. From shy and sweet to spicy and fierce these female pro-tags became my bffl faces while I was reading.
Favorite High Fantasy Book Thus Far of 2013
The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell – This was a fun book and surprised me. For having a badass female pro-tag, she’s very feminine at the same time and relatable. I feel like usually you don’t have that balance and it was nice to see. The switching narrators also allowed me to stay more engaged with the story and the fact that the romance is subtle, second to the main story, is refreshing.
Favorite Dystopian Book Thus Far of 2013
Reboot by Amy Tintera – this one is hard for me because I actually rated Prodigy by Marie Lu higher. But I think when it comes down to which book is actually better all around, Reboot wins. It’s definitely a more mature book, with more engaging characters and more thought provoking themes. Buuuut, Marie Lu’s writing, while def geared towards a younger age range, engulfs you and tears you through a fast paced storyline that has you reading it in 12 hours (guilty!). So just… read both, yeah?
Favorite Fluff Book Thus Far of 2013
The Elite by Kiera Kass – we all know this is a no-brianer and that I have a slight sickeningly obsession with The Selection series. It’s just… just… so fatabolous. I fangirl all over these books.
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What is a “Come to Jesus Moment”?
26 Apr
In Young Adult literature, there seems to be a formula in which modern authors like to stick with when writing a female protagonists. Low self-esteem, self depreciating, some sort of family trouble, a sultry bad boy vying for her attention that treats her like shit, a clean cut “better” choice male specimen she chooses to ignore but still lead on, yadda yadda yadda.
The books that use this equation only really resonate with me if the protag has a Come to Jesus Moment. What is a Come to Jesus Moment you ask? A CTJM is when the protag finally “sees the light” or they have an epiphany. They finally realize how dumb their choices have been in the past, finally gain some self confidence, finally stop being weak and selfish. These are the moments we ache and yearn for (especially when the main character is a dumb twat). We WANT our protags to become powerful, independent, fierce characters and these are the moments when they finally reach their potential. An important thing to note, is that usually these moments are spawned by other characters in the book. Rarely, if ever, do CTJM just happen within themselves, somebody has to spark it.
Top Three Come to Jesus Moments
Katniss Everdeen – The Hunger Games
Katniss is a badass from the beginning. She’s fiercely protective of her family and friends and she had a backbone stronger than steel. Unfortunately, Katniss becomes quite the whiney bitch as the series progresses. And when Peeta returns after his brainwashing by The Capitol, she is probably is the most annoying character in the book. Enter Haymitch. Haymitch bitch slaps Katniss into realizing how much of a pathetic asshole she is being. He points out that while she hides out in a closet avoiding Peeta, Peeta would have been trying his best to help Katniss remember and get healthy. While she can never really make up for being so lame for basically the whole third book, she does at least vagina up and come around.
America Singer – The Selection
This is one of my favorite series. The Elite, book two in The Selection, just came out and it was AMAZING. But, America started really grinding on my nerves during book two. Here you have the exquisite Prince Maxon fawning all over you and you just keep asking for time, be patient, wait for me forever! It is incredibly irritating. And then she gets mad and hurt when he actually finds someone who wants to be with him, who loves him and doesn’t need all the high maintenance BS? Uh hello! And then, the best part, she calls out the country, HIS country, for their outdated and cruel social structure in front of THE ENTIRE WORLD and expects Maxon to be cool with it? BAHAHA. Can we say deluded? So when Maxon sends her packing it was awesome. And then, we/she realizes how effing awesome he is and he basically says “you don’t deserve me” but gives her another a chance, I about gave him a standing ovation. America does commit herself to not being a self bia anymore but we won’t see if this CTJM worked until the third book.
Elisa – The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Elisa is an overweight, dowdy, second child. Of a king. And poor pity her, she has been chosen by the Gods to bear the Godstone that gives her supernatural powers and destines her to some great task. Unfortunately, Elisa has about zero confidence and is constantly comparing herself to her gorgeous older sis. But instead of trying to live up to her full potential, Elisa eats her feelings and then is shipped off to marry, the poor poor thing, a gorgeous young King. Needless to say, the only way Elisa was ever going to save the plot, and this series, was to have an epic CTJM. And she does. This one is slow to develop though and I like it. I think her true CTJM was when she realized that, uh, she can kick some major ass by using the stone in her belly button and then whips the shit outa the intruders. Bravo, friend. Book Two is going to be a lot more interesting now that you have some kahunas.
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October 2013 – The Month of Dreams
11 AprLet’s all just take a moment and say a thank you prayer to the Book Gods for October 2013.
Releases coming this October:
October 1, 2013 – Endless Knight by Kresley Cole (The Arcana Chronicles 2)
October 10, 2013 – World’s End by Susan Ee (Penryn and The End of Days 2)
October 15, 2013 – UnSouled by Neal Schusterman (Unwind Trilogy 3)
October 15, 2013 – Emergent by Rachel Cohn (Annex 2)
October 22, 2013 – Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano (The Internment Chronicles 1)
October 22, 2013 – Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Divergent 3)
October 29, 2013 – Horde by Ann Aguirre (Razorland 3)
October 29, 2013 – Altered by Gennifer Albin (Crewel World 2)
Good thing I have two 16 hour flights to Australia and New Zealand and back to read all this wonderfulness.
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Wine and Women Wednesdays
10 AprOne of the best things about books these days is the amount of badass female protagonists there are. Long gone are the days the damsels in distress ruled society’s vision of the perfect woman and romance (not that we still don’t like handsome princes, mind you). But we are now living in an era where feminism has promoted independent, self sufficient, ass kicking girls into literary and cinematic limelight.
Case in point – Disney‘s Brave.
We have all grown up with the idea that the fairy tale prince coming to rescue us is the way us weaker sex is supposed find true love. Let’s just all point our fingers at Disney for giving us that illogical idea. Thanks Snow White, Belle, Ariel for creating unrealistic romances for me to swoon over! You ruined my life! But not you Mulan, you…you’re effing awesome. Nowadays though our little princesses are being taught that “Damnit, you can save yourself! If you even need saving in the first place.” Which is pretty awesome. We can really start seeing this big transition of women taking the leading roll as heroes in the original Charlie’s Angels series. And from there… a great wide world of wonderful women emerged.
But what type of morals are these strong women really teaching us? Especially in YA books, heroines have a lot of different takes on love, life and values.
Thus is brings me to wanting to create “Wine and Women Wednesdays” where we can focus on all different kinds of awesomeness of females in literature.
There’s going to be some good discussions so grab a glass of wine, settle in with a good book and get excited now because I’ve got some legit shiznat coming up.
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So many books, so little time.
25 Mar
Hello hello hellooooooooooo everyone!!
It’s been days, WEEKS really, since I have had a chance to sit down and think straight about something other then work. But now that my week long work conference is done and my brain has finally recuperated from the mush it became after the convention, I am finally FINALLY able to focus long enough to A.) finish a book and B.) write some reviews! Because that is the point of this blog afterall, yes? Yes.
So, in the next week or two I will finally get back into my flow of posting at least one or two reviews a week. So stay tuned and forgive me for neglecting you all. Damn work gets in the way of everything fun sometimes!
Upcoming Reviews:
See?! I have been reading… just been slacking on reviewing 🙂
“The unfed mind devours itself” – Gore Vidal
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Hear’s to books that get us through heartbreak!
25 Feb
So after the heartbreak of last week, I spent a lot of time moping around, eating Taco Bell, drinking lots of tequila and vodka, and watching the entire series The Tudors on Netflix. I didn’t read a single page of a book for an entire week which is insane for me considering I read 15 books in one month… (hmm and I wonder why I am now single….)
Anywho. So after my week long cry/eat/drunk fest, I remembered that self pity is extremely unattractive. I mean how many times did I hate on pro-tags for doing exactly what I was doing?? I think we all need time to heal, but there are better ways of going about doing it then sobbing and shoveling food in your mouth. So I got my Harry Potter tattoo I always wanted on my ribs (hurt like a bitch!), planned a trip to New Zealand in November (chea!), and sat down Sunday morning with Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi and read it cover to cover in about 6 hours.
It. Was. Magical.
I mean the book was alright (three stars, review to come!) but the feeling of being immersed into books again, being captivated and transported to a world that isn’t your own, feeling and loving and living with characters that become real in your mind? *sigh* I missed it. I missed reading. I missed everything that is books. I actually got the chance to fall in love with reading all over again. Amazing!
We read about breakups and heart breaks in books all the time. In many cases it’s much more tragic then what we experience ourselves. But rejection is NEVER easy. Whether its from a boyfriend, a publishing company or an employer, it just effing sucks major balls every time. But you want to know something? We have people around us that are always there for us, no matter what. And if you don’t want to talk to the people around you (me, sometimes I just want to ignore everything), we have the most incredible set of friends between covers of books. I have Sorcha from Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, I have Eragon from the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, I have Katna and Po from Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I have hundreds of friends that are stable and consistent.
“Books are my friends, my companions. They make me laugh and cry and find meaning in life.”
― Christopher Paolini, Eragon
And how true is that? How many lessons have we learned by reading? We have soo many experiences as readers that others don’t. We have connections with characters and with each other in the bookworld that people outside it don’t understand. We experience love and passion, betrayal and victory, hate and pure euphoria, over and over again in different ways. We appreciate our human/real life experiences more because of this. We love harder, trust more fiercely, feel more.
I want to box up my memories and emotions of the last two years and shove them in my ex’s face (which is ok for me to say here because I doubt he’s even read my blog, boo!). Part of me wishes that he never happened (most of me) and part of me is thankful it happened (like 0.o1% right now). But…
“This book taught me, once and for all, how easily you can escape this world with the help of words! You can find friends between the pages of a book, wonderful friends.”
― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell
So cheers to authors, cheers to publishing companies, cheers to editors and publicists and printing companies! Cheers to all the wonderful people who create incredible stories that we can lose ourselves in.
And a special thanks so all those witty romantical authors who gives us delicious fictional men to drool over! Jane Austen, Kresley Cole, Nora Roberts! (If you mention 50 shades I will seriously punch you in your throat). Thank you for giving me men to fall in love with while I wait for my real Prince Charming.
Because…
OH WAIT… MR DARCY IS!
“You must know… surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I’d scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Rattle The Stars 