{Trailer Sunda} Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment.

But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong. 

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.

{Cover Wars} The Scarlet Dagger by Krystle Jones part II

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Cover Wars the place where covers aren’t afraid of you telling them who you like best, where they crave for the action and they want the attention. Last week we had Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and let me tell you guys it was a rough battle that I thought it would end in a tie, but at the last minute someone came and changed the game, but enough rambling you want to know who the winner is….

The Most Known Cover

Now that we’ve taken a good hard look at the winner let’s take a look at these week’s contestants, for some of you this might seem like a déjà vu but you see this old cover wars contestant has a new cover and soo it is time again for you to call up your favorite. The book is The Scarlet Dagger by Krystle Jones and if you haven’t heard about it here is your chance.

The strength of Sloane’s heart is about to be put to the ultimate test.

After the Eclipse – the night vampires began openly slaughtering human victims – everything changed. Out of fear, the government salvaged what remained of the human population and enclosed them in massive, security-laden cities called White Sectors, while marking the vampire infested territory as Red Sectors.

When seventeen-year-old Sloane McAllister’s twin brother disappears, she seems to be the only one who thinks he isn’t dead, and vows to stop at nothing to find him. Gathering her courage, she braves the Red Sector to search for clues to his whereabouts. By chance, she encounters Aden, a handsome, charismatic vampire with a hidden agenda. He turns Sloane against her will, and whisks her away to his underground city. Enemies quickly become friends as Sloane struggles against her attraction to Aden, and resists her growing loyalties to the creatures that ruined her life. But the vampires themselves are the least of her problems. The city is harboring a devastating secret, one that could change the tide of the war and threaten to destroy everything Sloane has come to believe in.

Ok, now keep your eyes and mind open while you take a look at all the covers guys!

First up  we have the one I like to call the “bad ass cover”, the one where Sloan looks so though, ready for anything that she could come out of the cover at any moment and just smack us all up into redemption.

Next up we have the “reflections cover” where we get to see Sloane’s interpretation of herself, the breakage between past and present, the ‘would be’s’ and the reality, who she was and who she is.

Last but not least we have the newest cover, where we have a more stylish version of Sloane with the big bad darkness of the night behind her.

So guys here are your contestants now it is up to you to decide who the more swoon worthy or the one that is itching you to be in your bookshelf cover is. Please remember to vote and comment below, I hope you enjoy this edition of Cover Wars and I will see you next week.

{Blog Tour Review} The Outside by Laura Bickle

Series: The Hallow Ones #2

Publication date: September 3, 2013

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13: 9780544000131

Synopsis

The world has ended, yet we survived.

Now we are forced to leave the holy land that helped us stay alive when most of the English men couldn’t, now I am banned from my community for helping a man in need, now I have no choice but to move forward.

No choice but to try and stay alive.

Review

Where do you start with a book that ended up being nothing like you expected? I guess I should start by not freaking you out and saying that this book may not have been what I expected but that is not a bad thing.

The Hallow Ones seems to be a two part series that marches at its out beat. From the first book we see that this is a different take on the end of the world. One that plays with notions deeper than the “will I live to see tomorrow?”

For those of you that like their books clerical-free, this may not be the book for you. Big emphasis in the may, you see it doesn’t feel like this book is trying to sell you a particular religion. No, this book is exploring the end of the world from the eyes of an Amish girl, or we could just call her a girl that as the end of the world comes she starts to question what she has been told about goodness and the right thing to do, while the leaders of her community tell her to do otherwise.

Laura Bickle plays yo-yo with your emotions making you doubt grow weary of the happy moments and bringing up equal amounts of hope and fear that it all will come crashing down.

 I am happy and grateful for having had the opportunity to read this duology, because it I thought it was the book I was looking for yet it turned out to be something different yet intriguing enough that I just couldn’t stay away. I can’t wait for this story to ran a little cold in my memory so that we it can surprise me again.

Rating:

{Review} Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston

Series: Heart of Dread #1

Publication date: September 17, 2013

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

ISBN-13: 9780061953415

Synopsis       

The world has given us the cold shoulder, nothing grows in the wild anymore unless garbage suddenly found a way to multiply itself, yes you can find it in the ocean, in the waste fields but it doesn’t stop there, it got so bad it is said there is a continent made of garbage.

If the world going subzero wasn’t enough our government hunts those who are different, those that can do things others can. You see, if your eyes aren’t gray or brown not even running for the hills will save you.

Me? I am one of the lucky ones, I escaped the government once but my chances to elude them are growing thinner by the day and the voice that helped me escape is getting restless, I have to move, I have to find the Blue the only place that is rumored fruit still grows and nature runs wild and alive. They only problem is, can I find the right people to trust? Or will I end up being sold as a slave, abandoned half way or worst handed back to the government.

Review

There were two points that made my experience with Frozen hard to read and why it ended up being a DNF. First of all I would like to say that I liked the characters and if it wasn’t for those two things that didn’t let me experience the story as I wanted, I might have liked it.

First point that made this story hard to read, the characters age, you want me to believe that a person that wasn’t even eighteen served the army, was discharges, and fought a war? It makes it kind of hard, it felt like they were forcing this book to be Young Adult when it could have been a New Adult or Adult book and it would have still been an interesting read. If you are going to pull off something like that I think it needs a good justification, yet this book didn’t provide me with a satisfactory one.

Point number two was the one that really really killed it for me, you see books in one way or another depict human nature and if we know one thing about humans is that we will keep trying to survive but we will try to find new ways we will not get rooted, especially in times when our lives are at risk.

This book said humanity stopped trying and started keeping the technology it had barely alive by just fixing it, I am sorry but if you can fix it you have a starting point to know how things work and the possibility of making it better.

The main characters where likeable and I wanted to know their secrets, the story by itself was interesting, most of the world Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston present us is the right type of messed up that makes you want to know how the characters will survive, but almost ever chapter I was reminded of the age and the lack of motivation in humanity that it won and made me put this book down.

I hope that if you read this book your experience is better than mine.

Rating:

DNF

{Trailer Sunday} Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars abandoned the battlefields. Then they turned their weapons on us.

Only a few escaped the robot revolution of 2071. Kevin, Nick, and Cass are lucky —they live with their parents in a secret human community in the woods. Then their village is detected and wiped out. Hopeful that other survivors have been captured by bots, the teens risk everything to save the only people they have left in the world—by infiltrating a city controlled by their greatest enemies.

Revolution 19 is a cinematic thriller unlike anything else. With a dynamic cast of characters, this surefire blockbuster has everything teen readers want—action, drama, mystery, and romance. 

{Trailer Sunday} Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait for the operation that turns everyone from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to party. But new friend Shay would rather hoverboard to "the Smoke" and be free. Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The "Special Circumstances" authority Dr Cable offers Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

{Cover Wars} The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Hello guys and welcome to Cover Wars where covers battle it out and ask you which one is the best face for the story they hold inside. Last week we had Fosaken by Lisa M. Stasse a dystopian world where everyone with a tendency for extreme violence is sent to an island of criminals where escape is just a dream one can’t even aspire too. You guys voted and you picked your favorite and it is….

The U.K. Cover

It seems you guys have something for a girl with a bow or maybe you like your covers a little on the fierce side. Now that the winner of last week’s cover wars has had it’s 3 lines of glory (my lame attempt to translate 5 minutes of glory into something that you read :P) let’s move on to the next battle but before the contestants can come forward let’s take a look at Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth book blurb.

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her.

She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Now that you know a little about the world of the Forest of Hands and Teeth let’s take a look at our contestants, shall we?

The first cover not only seems to be the first cover for Forest of Hands and Teeth but it’s been used in international editions, the lone girl standing in the midst of the terrible forest she now has no cover from.

The second cover has also been used in an international editions, if you must know it’s been used in the German edition; this is the cover I knew first and the one that intrigues me the most. The cover that makes you hesitate between the idea of the girl that is hiding from the forest or the girl that is trying to catch a glimpse before jumping in.

The third cover may be the a tad simpler looking that the other two but it is also a cover that has been used in other editions such as the French edition of this book, I am sure the design is important in some way to the story but sadly I can’t tell you what I don’t know but if you are a fan of this series and know a spoiler free explication please let us know.

This book has more faces but this are the ones that have been used in American and international versions, if you guys would like a cover wars edition with the still unseen versions (unseen here obviously) please let me know.

And don’t forget to let all of us know what your favorite contestant is, be it by a comment, a vote on the poll, via twitter (@ForgetAboutTV) or even tumblr, I’ll be waiting to see what you have to say.

{Cover Wars} Fosaken by Lisa M. Stasse

Come one come all, welcome to Cover Wars, where covers battle it out in a fierce catwalk so we can decide on who wore it best. Before we take a look a this week's contestant lets reveal the winner of last week's battle showing Julie Cross's first baby in the self-publishing world yes ladies and gentlemen we are talking about Letters to Nowhere and last week you voted and you decided that your favorite Letters to Nowhere cover is....

The Kissing Cover
Now that the kissing cover has had a chance to bask on it's glory and go all "na na nana na!!" on the loosing cover lets take a look at this weeks contestants! This week we have Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse, lets take look at what this book is all about so we can judge a little better the covers that come in to play.

As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up. 
The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. 
Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

Now that we know more about Forsaken, Alenna and her fight for survival how about we take a look at the covers that are trying to give a face to this book?
First we have the first face this book has ever had, we are talking about the U.S. edition that came out in July 2012.

A couple of months latter the U.K. released it's own cover for this book, if you wish to be more exact it was in August, where they changed the concept from a more complex looking cover into a more conservative and to the point kind of cover.

After watching this beautiful covers and having an idea about what Forsaken is about which of the two contestants inspires you the most to pick it up and read it, the one that will catch your attention in the bookshelf, the one that will whisper to you "read me, you know you want to". Vote, comment or post your smoke signals letting us know which cover you liked best and why.

{Trailer Sunday} The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. 
She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her.
 And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

{Audio Book Review} World War Z by Max Brooks

Publication date: August 30, 2006

Publisher: Random House Audio

ISBN-13: 9781415933510

Synopsis

The world is settling back again, I’ve been hired to get the stories of what happened to let the world know and hopefully never forget what we’ve been through.

Now I am trying to keep the voices of the survivors from getting lost forever, after all the data and stories I’ve collected throughout the United States and the world has been crushed down into facts and statistics, that left my boss happy and me feeling like the “human factor” should never be lost, especially after all we’ve been through, especially when that is what separates us from the Z’s.

Review

I really enjoyed the audio book version of this book, it only had one mayor flaw this version is abridged, for those of you that don’t know what that means it is fairly simple when you see an audiobook saying it is abridged it means it is shortened so you don’t get the full story.

This is really a pity because if this audiobook had been unabridged with this type of production it would have been perfect!!

When I saw the number of voice actors that where working on this book and got into the first our I thought “this is what I’ve always wanted in an audiobook” I’m not saying that other narrators haven’t done a good job with their own books, all I am saying is that when I first started listening to audiobooks this is what I was expecting, more than one voice sucking the listener in and making him/her feel what the characters are experimenting.

I loved every minute of it, each survival story was unique Max Brooks did a great job writing this story and I believe that it’s in part because he is involved in the audiobook that this story has such an impact to it. I love the goosebumps it gave me and how I ended up wishing the person telling his/her story would survive when it was obvious they did because hey they are telling their story (yes it might just have been my having an airhead moment, but still…).

I would really recommend this book, but remember this is not an unabridged version, so you won’t get the full scoop like all the cool kids that decided to read the book.

Rating:

            Production:

            Because it’s an abridged version:

{Trailer Sunday} Sever by Lauren DeStephano

Series: The Chemical Garden #3

Publication date: February 12th 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

ISBN-13: 9781442409095

With the clock ticking until the virus takes its toll, Rhine is desperate for answers. After enduring Vaughn’s worst, Rhine finds an unlikely ally in his brother, an eccentric inventor named Reed. She takes refuge in his dilapidated house, though the people she left behind refuse to stay in the past. While Gabriel haunts Rhine’s memories, Cecily is determined to be at Rhine’s side, even if Linden’s feelings are still caught between them.

Meanwhile, Rowan’s growing involvement in an underground resistance compels Rhine to reach him before he does something that cannot be undone. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future—and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered.

{Audio Book Review} Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Publication Date: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN-13:  9780062072030

Synopsis

Aria’s world was simple, easy, the biggest of her worries was the regret of how she behaved the day her mother left the pod to continue her investigation out of Reverie. Now after a horrible incident is rumored to have happened on the pod her mother was doing her research in Aria will do everything in her power to get to her, and to do so she must first survive the outside world filled with savages, cannibals, world and worst of all Aether storms that have the power to burn and destroy everything in their path.

Review

It has been a while since I finished a book and felt the unstoppable desire to write a review, and I guess I’ll be waiting a little longer as this is an audio book.

Because of the good combinations between Veronica Rossi’s story and Bernadette Dunne Flanger’s narration I find myself craving to read the physical book, to see how the taste of the story changes from Miss Bernadette’s words bringing this world to live to my imagination standing alone in Aria’s and Perry’s world.

Bernadetter Dunne Flanger made this audio book totally enjoyable, it was amazing to me how she made the story feel like it was just alive and how you could hear her voice transformed into a subtle laughter, sadness or whatever feeling needed to conveyed as she embodied Aria, Perry and Roar.

I really don't remember feeling like she cut the flow of the story or that she messed up at expressing what the story or its characters needed to show us. All I can say is that as the story grew to its climax I was unable to leave, even if I had had something important to do I was trapped in this story that wouldn't let me go and I wouldn't have gotten away from it either.

I am sad to see that Bernadette is not the narrator for the second book, I hope Michael Goldstrom does a fair job keeping the story alive the way that she did. When I ask myself what could I change about this audio book, its is just a piece of the story, part of the edition where the audio engineer didn't clear the "th", essing and strong sounds at the end of Dunne's words.

If you were thinking about trying an audio book or where looking for one to listen to, let me tell you this is a great pick, the swoon moments, the tension, the stress, surprise, relief and romance is well worked and played by both Veronica Rossy and Bernadetter Dunne Flanger.

Rating: