Book Review: Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia

CHALLENGE BOOK: 2010 Debut Authors

Title: Angel Star
Author: Jennifer Murgia
Publication Date: May 2010
Genre: Young Adult
Tags: angels, romance, good and evil
Age: 13+
Pages: 256
Series: 1st in a series
Book Acquisition: ARC from Other Shelf Tours

My Rating: 5/5/ stars

(from Goodreads)

Seventeen-year-old Teagan McNeel falls for captivating Garreth Adams and soon discovers that her crush has an eight-point star etched into the palm of his right hand-the mark of an angel.

But where there is light, dark follows, and she and Garreth suddenly find themselves vulnerable to a dark angel's malicious plan that could threaten not only her life, but the lives of everyone she knows, and now, she is torn between one angel's sacrifice and another angel's vicious ambition.

Divinely woven together, Angel Star takes readers on a reflective journey when one angel's sacrifice collides with another angel's vicious ambition in a way that is sure to have readers searching for their own willpower. 

My Review:
Pretty much loved every word on every page. Yeah, that's all that needs to be said :)

I've had a thing for angels ever since reading Sharon Shinn's adult Sameria Series. I love the idea of fallen angels, good and bad angels, angels who fall in love with humans...they make me swoon. So, let me tell you, I did a whole lot of swooning while reading Angel Star.

One of the things I liked most was the characters. They were so likable. Even the bad one...ok....maybe especially the bad one ;)

I was worried that the romance would turn me off - romance in YA book have been doing that lately. I had no reason to worry. The romance in Angel Star was so sweet, so genuine.

I'm not going to give anything away but there was one thing that happened that did not make me smile at all. It was actually pretty upsetting. I have to say, I was a little mad for a while. But, after reading the entire book, I understood why it happened. It needed to. The gravity of the situation had to be brought home. The fact that all angels aren't good needed to be shown. I don't think Teagan would have been able to get through everything that happened if this one thing didn't happen first. Heartbreaking, yes but necessary. Just one more way Jennifer played with my heart - and I'm glad she did!

I highly recommend this book to fans of angels and paranormal teen fiction. I really can not wait to see what happens in Lemniscate!

Books in the Series:
Angel Star (May 2010)
Lemniscate (Spring 2011)

Linkage Love:
Lands Atlantic Publishing
Author's Website

On My Wishlist - Debut Authors Edition

There are so many wonderful books coming out in 2010 and for some reason I seem to want them all! For those reasons, On My Wishlist posts for the rest of the year will be dedicated to upcoming 2010 Debut Authors!

On My Wishilst is hosted by Book Chick City :)

Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
Release Date: In Stores Now!
(from Goodreads)

I’d love a cup of coffee. I wish she knew how pretty she was. I wish I could drop this kid in the dryer sometimes. I just want her to be happy. I hope she didn’t find out what Ben said about her. I wish I knew how many calories were in a bite of muffin…

Joy is used to hearing Whispers. She’s used to walking down the street and instantly knowing people’s deepest, darkest desires. She uses this talent for good, to make people happy and give them what they want. But for her older sister, Jessica, the family gift is a curse, and she uses it to make people’s lives—especially Joy’s—miserable. Still, when Joy Hears a frightening whisper from Jessica's own mind, she knows she has to save her sister, even if it means deserting her friends, stealing a car and running away with a boy she barely knows—a boy who may have a dark secret of his own.

A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler
Release Date: In Stores Now!
(from Goodreads)

Terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future, sixteen-year-old Aura struggles with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.

As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.

Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process.

Sea by Heidi R.Kling
Release Date: June 10, 2010
(from Goodreads)

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers.

And Sea’s real adventure begins.

Can you tell me? ANSWERS

Hey guys!
I asked my last question before BEA and then totally lost track of time - oops :)

My question was:

Can you tell me...in Blogger, is there an easy way to rename your labels once you make them? I currently don't have my labels visible but I have been thinking about it. I would love to clean up my labels and am hoping I don't have to go into each post to make changes.

I had 3 wonderful answers by 3 wonderful bloggers and they all said basically the same thing. It's not supper supper easy but I can be done with not too much effort.

Basically it involves marking posts with new labels and then deleting old labels if necessary.

In Blogger, go to "Posting" and then "Edit Post". Top left hand corner of your screen looks like this:

See that "Label Actions" drop down menu? To apply an already existing label to a post that doesn't have it, click the box next to "Edit" in front of the posts you want to add the label too, click the drop down button on the "Label Actions" box and choose the existing label you wish to apply.

To add a label you haven't yet used, after choosing your posts to add it to and clicking on "Label Actions" - scroll all the way down to the end of your existing labels. At the bottom is "New Label". Click this and a little window pops up - add your new label and it will be applied to the posts you chose.

To 'change' a label name you can click on the label that already exists from the links under "Labels" (mine are all blanked out in the pic above so you can't see my silliness). All the posts with that label will appear, click the "All" link to check off all the posts listed.  Click the drop down menu, scroll down and choose the label under "Remove label" you wish to remove.

So, yeah, not supper supper easy but pretty simple to do.

Please let me know if my instructions don't make sense of if you have any questions. I'll try to help more if I can :)

I'm off to change my labels around and get them actually posted on the blog!

A big thanks to Kate from The Neverendning Shelf, Ju Ju from Tales of Whimsy and Jill of The O.W.L for giving me the answers.

Have a bloggy, techie or social networking type question you would like me to ask in an upcoming "Can you tell me" post? Let me know!

Book Review: Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

CHALLENGE BOOK: 2010 Debut Authors

Title: Shadow Hills
Author: Anastasia Hopcus
Publication Date: July 13, 2010
Genre: Young Adult
Tags: paranormal teens, romance, fantasy, ancient power, mystery
Age: 12+
Pages: approx 387
Series: ?
Book Acquisition: ARC from Other Shelf Tours

My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

(from Publisher's website)

After her sister Athena's tragic death, it's obvious that grief-stricken Persephone "Phe" Archer no longer belongs in Los Angeles. Hoping to make sense of her sister's sudden demise and the cryptic dreams following it, Phe abandons her bubbly LA life to attend an uptight East Coast preparatory school in Shadow Hills, MA -- a school which her sister mysteriously mentioned in her last diary entry before she died. 

Once there, Phe quickly realizes that something is deeply amiss in her new town. Not only does Shadow Hills' history boast an unexplained epidemic that decimated hundreds of its citizens in the 1700s, but its modern townies also seem eerily psychic, with the bizarre ability to bend metal. Even Zach -- the gorgeous stranger Phe meets and immediately begins to lust after -- seems as if he is hiding something serious. Phe is determined to get to the bottom of it. The longer she stays there, the more she suspects that her sister's untimely death and her own destiny are intricately linked to those who reside in Shadow Hills.

My Review:
So, I get the book in the mail from Other Shelf Tours, unwrap it and put it on the table. Before leaving the room I pick it up and flip to the first page - intending to read a sentence or two. About 15 minutes later I realize I'm still standing in the middle of my kitchen reading! From literally the first sentence I was hooked!

About half way through I became a little disappointed. A little too much sticky sweet romance for my taste. Zach and Phe have only known each other for about a week maybe and the thoughts running thought Phe's head run along the lines of - what if I can't stay in Shadow Hills and I never see Zach again rather then - what if I can't stay in Shadow Hills and I never figure out why my dead sister wanted to be here so badly.Their romance and relationship felt fake to me. It happened way to quickly and even though Phe is such a strong young woman, there was too much damsel in distress, knight in shinning armor thing going on.With that said, both Phe and Zach really are very sweet people so it was hard to dislike them.

I really liked the mystery aspect to the story - although I would have liked to see more of it (and less romance). The idea of paranormal abilities arising from a genetic source was very intriguing.

The supporting characters were cute, spunky, and fun. I really enjoyed reading about the times Phe spend with them. I just don't know what it is about Zach that I don't quite love. I think part of it was the fact that I felt he was acting way more mature and sensitive then any young teenage boys I ever knew. Maybe I just didn't know the right kinds of guys :)

All in all, I very much enjoyed Shadow Hills. Not sure if there will be a sequel but I would welcome one. I would recommend this book to fans of paranormal teen fiction who also enjoy love stories.

Linkage Love:
Egmont USA
Author's Website

Monthly Reads - May 2010

Hello my lovelies! It's June! Woo hoo! I really love this month. Almost Spring, almost Summer. Everything is growing. Ah!

May was a blast, happened so fast, wish it could last...

Ok, enough rhyming torture!

I know I read close to nothing this month! I could blame BEA if I want to but in truth, I think I was just a little lazy. June though - June will be different.

So, let's see!

1. Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev
2. General Winston's Daughter by Sharon Shinn
3. Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
4. The Krybosian Stairpath by S.R.R. Colvin
5. Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia
6. Beautiful Creatures (audio book) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
7. Green Witch by Alice Hoffman
8. iDrakula by Bekka Black

urg...not many at all...
You know what's worse? My review posts. I'm such a bad blogger! Bring it on June, I'm ready for you! Reviews and books up the wazzoo!

So, how was your May?