Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson due out in May 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com: WHAT IS OLDEST WILL BE NEW, WHAT IS LOST SHALL BE FOUND.

The ozone is ravaged, ocean levels have risen, and the sun is a daily enemy. But global climate change is not something new in the Earth’s history.

No one will know this better than less-than-ordinary Owen Parker, who is about to discover that he is the descendant of a highly advanced ancient race—a race that took their technology too far and almost destroyed the Earth in the process.

Now it is Owen’s turn to make right in his world what went wrong thousands of years ago. If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry…and that less-than-ordinary can evolve into extraordinary.

I still remember my first time walking into Kepler’s and being amazed by how homey it felt and when I walked into the children’s books area my jaw dropped.  It was the cutest area with an amazing array of children’s books on display and adorable little tables and chairs for kids to sit at and browse through books.  It just invited you to settle in and take your time deciding what book to buy.  When I heard Kepler’s was renovating and creating a new area for author visits (another awesome aspect of Kepler’s) I was first excited and then I heard it was going to be eating into the children’s book area.  I was nervous how the new layout would be and didn’t have enough time to make it back out to Kepler’s until the holidays.  Some of my friends and I had a holiday book swap for our kids instead of doing other gifts.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to head over to Kepler’s.  Both the Borders and Barnes and Nobles near my home had closed and while I could order from Amazon I really missed physically browsing through books.  So off I went and was so disappointed with the changes!  The children’s section seemed so much tinier, there was no real area that invited you to sit down and browse and instead of the quirky, different and not quite main stream books all the books I saw were more of the “bestseller” types of books.  Yes, they are books I was interested in reading to my daughter but they were also the books that I could have just as easily ordered from Amazon.  I went to Kepler’s because I was looking for some unique picks.  It took awhile but I finally found a couple books to buy but I left the store feeling dissatisfied.

After walking around Sonoma’s downtown and browsing in several children’s toy store boutiques, the Fair Trade store’s children’s area and one of their bookstores I came across so many amazing looking books that I had never heard of before.  This was exactly what I was hoping to find at Kepler’s.  The books were a little more off beat, published more than a few years back and ones that I never heard of before.  I found out one of the illustrators was even a local from Sonoma which is always nice.  This is where I really think the added value of an indie bookstore comes in.  I don’t go into an indie to buy the best seller.  I go into them to find those hidden jewels.  I really hope Kepler’s will return to their roots and embrace what distinguishes them from the big boy stores.

That being said I just have to mention these great sounding books I came across.  I wish I could have afforded to buy them all but at least I have them on my list to buy whenever I have a few dollars to spare.

This is the Way We Go to School by Edith Baer

Summary from Goodreads.com: Some children walk to school; others ride a bus. Children go by ferry in New York, vaporetto in Italy, trolley car in San Francisco, and helicopter in the Alaskan Tundra. With fun-filled rhymes and colorful illustrations, children will discover just how much fun getting to school can be.

Somewhere in the World Right Now by Stacey Schuett

Since my daughter has been on her space/solar system kick she has found it fascinating that while it’s night time here it is actually day time on the other side of the world and vice versa.  So when I browsed through this book I immediately wanted to get it to read to my daughter.  It talks about all the different things children around the world are doing at the same moment whether it be getting ready for bed or getting ready to go to school.

On the Same Day In March: A Tour of the World’s Weather by Marilyn Singer

This was another book I thought my daughter would enjoy as it will surprise her that on the same day it could be cold and snowy somewhere and warm and sunny somewhere else.

Let’s Do Nothing by Tony Fucile

Summary from Goodreads.com: Frankie and Sal have already played every sport and board game invented, baked and eaten batches of cookies, and painted a zillion pictures. What’s left to do? Nothing! Ten seconds of nothing! Can they do it? Can they act like stone statues in the park? Can they simply hold their breath and not blink an eye? With a wink to the reader and a command of visual humor, feature film animator Tony Fucile demonstrates the Zen-like art of doing nothing…oops! Couldn’t do it!

I flipped through this one and cracked up laughing.  I think my daughter would love it and it also is nice that Tony Fucile is a local resident.

Star Trek Book of Opposites by David Borgenicht

Summary from Goodreads.com: EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORDS!

WITH THE HELP OF Kirk, Spok, McCoy, and two dozen colorful pictures from across the galaxy, teach your children the meaning of big and little, hot and cold, apart and together, and much more!

I had never heard of this book before and it totally appealed to my geeky side and I knew the perfect friend to buy it for when she finally has kids.  The examples are perfect for the trekkie fans like “1 tribble” vs “many tribbles”.

So I really need to thank the wonderful store owners of Sonoma who introduced me to all these books I would likely have never come across otherwise!  I wish I had written down all of their store names but if you are ever walking around downtown Sonoma you can’t miss them.

What I Love About Kepler’s

I can’t end this post without saying that I still love Kepler’s Books and probably my favorite aspect is their author visits.  Thanks to Angela’s wonderful work in the YA department I’ve had to chance to meet some of my favorite authors like Melissa de la Cruz, Scott Westerfeld, Richelle Mead and many, many more.  If you have not been to Kepler’s before definitely stop in.  And if you are a YA fan check out the events at local book stores in the Bay Area here.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: January 17, 2012

Publisher: Walker and Company

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

I wasn’t really sure what to expect after reading the synopsis for this book.  Was is going to be a paranormal haunting sort of thing, super hero X-Manish or a secret conspiracy to develop a group of teens with special gifts?  So honestly I went in with no expectations of thinking I’d love this book or hate it.  Unfortunately that did not help move this book beyond just “meh” for me.  I feel lame saying that but really I did not dislike the book but nothing stood out for me.

I never truly came to relate and like Delaney.   I get she underwent a traumatic experience but she still came across as too whiny for my tastes.  I also felt like although she’s happy to constantly have Decker around to support her she never truly appreciates him.  We are also given little glimpses of what she was probably like before falling through the ice and she sounded pretty self-involved.  One example is when she is shocked that her closest competitor for valedictorian is willing to help tutor her to catch up after the accident.  She even admits that she is not sure she would do the same if the positions were reversed.

I did really like Decker’s character.  He was such a sweetheart and I felt so bad for him that Delaney was so clueless about how he felt towards her and that no matter how well he treated her she just took it as a given.

The story itself was just so-so.  It bothered me that we never really know why Delaney and Troy developed this ability that they do and that there were several characters thrown in solely for the purpose of creating drama.  They aren’t developed at all beyond the superficial level.  What I did love about the story was the moral debate going on between Delaney and Troy.  It goes back to all those debates about euthanasia.  If someone is truly suffering and has no hope of recovery is it wrong to help them end their life?  Another question arises though if that person can’t express their wishes does someone else really have the right to make the decision for them?

Like I said at the beginning this book didn’t really affect me strongly one way or another and it’s probably a bad sign that as I sat down to write this I even had to go back to the synopsis to remember Delaney’s name.  She was that unmemorable to me.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: October 1, 2006

Publisher: Mira

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster…

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better….

Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magic training—especially as she’s been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies…

After waiting soooo long to read Poison Study I loved it so much that I dived into Magic Study right away despite my toppling pile of other books I need to read and review.  While I enjoyed it I still think Poison Study was by far the better book.

I was dreading that we wouldn’t see Valek as much being as Yelena was going back to her homeland where Valek is pretty much viewed as a demon.  I was happily surprised to see Synder managed to work him in and have some interaction with Yelena.

The other aspect of this series that had me worried was the fact that I had already read the Glass series and everyone told me that meant I would know basically how the story ends and who are the characters are.  This actually added an interesting twist to the story for me.  I had this picture of how some of the characters were like Zitora and Leif and then seeing them “introduced” in this book was so different from what I came to expect from them.  Leif was the biggest shocker to me.   I almost didn’t recognize him because he was such a huge jerk towards Yelena and did not match up at all with how I remembered him.

Snyder certainly has a way with developing her characters including the ones who don’t play as major of a part.  I love Yelena’s parents and really wish I could see her mother climbing up that tree every time she began to worry about Yelena.  I’m certain it would be a interesting sight.  Ari and Janco make minor appearances as well and my only complaint would be not seeing as much of them as I would have liked.

The story line was somewhat interesting but I didn’t feel like much progressed in the bigger picture.  Maybe it will all come together in book three and I really promise not to wait another couple years to get to it!

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is Glitch by Heather Anastasiu due out in August 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com: In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: December, 1, 2008

Publisher: Mira

Series: Study series #1

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison…

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

First off I just have to say woohoo!  I finally can mark this one off my list as read.  It’s been on my shelf for ages and everyone raves about it but for some reason I just never picked it up.  It was a part of my

Ten Books Sitting on My Shelf that I Will Read in 2012 list (it was on my 2011 list as well).

Now, I have to say I’m beginning to think you just can’t go wrong with one of Maria V. Synder’s fantasy books.  Her Glass series was the first series I read from her and loved them.  Then I read the first book in her latest series, A Touch of Power, and that was AMAZING!  Poison Study definitely did not disappoint.  Some people told me I might be disappointed since I’ve seen how Yelena turns out in the Storm series but I actually found it fascinating to see how different she was in this book.  She lives in a world where everything is very black and white.  If you kill someone you will be executed.  It doesn’t matter if it was in self-defense, if it was an accident or if you really just meant to kill them.  The punishment is still the same.  That’s the situation Yelena finds herself in.  If you were in her place would you choose to become the next food tester and never really know when you might die a excruciating death from some poison?  I’m not sure what I would choose but Yelena amazed me with how smart she was and how tough she was.  Valek was a surprise to me.  In the beginning he starts off as this hard ass, apparently unfeeling guy who is concerned only with the safety of his Commander and will sacrifice anyone else who stands in the way (some of the stories about this are pretty horrifying). But it was sweet watching as Yelena works her way under his skin and into his heart.

I have to admit though my two favorite characters were Ari and Janco.  I loved them in the Glass series and really enjoyed meeting them again in this series and seeing how they got started.  They are the perfect pair who almost sound like an old married couple as they banter, argue and spar with each other.  They take Yelena under their wings and teach her how to defend herself physically and also stand up for her against those who pick on her simply because of who she is.

I cannot wait to read the next book in this series and really wish I had read it sooner.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: January 3, 2012

Publisher: Feiwal & Friends

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I have to admit the idea of cyborgs and androids appealed to the geeky side of me and then you throw in the Cinderella aspect and this book immediately made it’s way onto my must read list.  It certainly was a fun read but nothing that totally blew me away.  I enjoyed Cinder’s character although sometimes her denseness would really get on my nerves.  I mean what part of “do not let the Queen see you or she will kill you” was hard to understand?  And yet she still goes basically to swoon over Prince Kai (yes she had his android but she could have sent it back another way).  Speaking on Prince Kai’s android that was another piece of the story that bugged me.  You would think if the prince you are crushing on brings you his android begging to have it fixed as soon as possible you would put that on top of your priority list.  Instead, Cinder often seems to forget about it and instead goes working on her car or doing other things.

Her step-mother’s character was way over played.  Everyone knows she is the evil step-mother but it would have been nice to see something else added to her character or personality that made her rise above the fairy tale character she is supposed to portray.  At one point there is a hint that maybe she regrets what she does to Cinder which actually would have made a nice counterpoint to her personality but then it’s pushed aside again by her being outrageously “evil step-motherly”.  The one character I was surprised how much I enjoyed was Dr. Erland.  When we first meet him he seemed like he was going to be one of the bad guys as he’s crochetchy and dislikes one of his assistants because she’s too tall but then we get a hint that maybe he’s not so bad as he spares a cyborg who is a father of a young son with what seems like a flimsy excuse.  This threw me for a loop because it didn’t seem to fit with the fact that he did seem to target teenage girl cyborgs for his plague research.  His absent minded professor-like demeanor grew on me and though you could see the revelation of who he is coming a mile away I still loved watching and listening to him as he deals with Cinder.

I suppose I can’t get away without mentioning Prince Kai but really i just feel ho hum about him. Is he hot? Check. Is he rich? Check. Sweetest guy in the world? Check. So all the makings of a swoon-worthy hero but he was just missing that charisma that draws me in for most of the book.  I did start to enjoy him more in the later half as we see he and Cinder interacting more and joking around but not enough to really make me want to go all gaga over him.

In the end, was this a fun book to read?  Definitely!  Can you see all the plot turns coming a mile away?  Sure.  Would I recommend this book?  Yup.  It may not top my list of favorites but I did enjoy reading it and am  hoping for more in the next book.

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini.  It’s due out September 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com: Life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Source: Received for review

Publication date: January 24, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

Summary from Amazon.com:

The truth has eluded her for years…Now, is she ready to face it?

When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life—until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now, with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA Agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie’s father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie’s disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed…

It has been killing me waiting to find out who really killed Bonnie so as you can imagine I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on this book.  After reading Quinn I was also interested to see where Catherine and John’s relationship would go.  I’m of mixed feelings with this conclusion.  Maybe it was because the previous books Eve and Quinn were so good and there were so many twists and turns but when we find out who the killer is I felt let down.

There were several pieces thrown in that seemed so random and didn’t really serve much purpose like Father Barnabas’s being accused of hypnotizing his patients, the boy Joe and Father Barnabas meet at the wilderness camp, etc.  I felt that many parts could have been shortened or chopped out all together.  In fact, there was a section at the beginning of the book that was basically the same pages pulled from Quinn and dropped into this book.  For a second I had to flip through the rest of the book wondering if I had picked up the wrong book to bring on the train.  I ended up skimming most of it.  I think the main reason for dropping that in might have been in Quinn it mentions Catherine having bruised feet and in Bonnie it changes to her having bloody feet and worries about attracting crocodiles.

So while I’m happy to finally have the question of who killed Bonnie answered it seemed anti-climatic to me after such great books leading up to Bonnie.  Still fans of Eve Duncan are not going to want to miss this one.

Source: Downloaded from NetGalley

Publication date: January 31, 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

I give this book 3.5/4 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com:

NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

The cover of this book is what first pulled me in and I will admit the synopsis did not really grab me but yet sometimes I am a sucker for a cover so I had to read it.  Let me just say that Jodi Meadows is a master world builder!  The idea of a set number of people reincarnating over and over for 5000 years and just waiting for their bodies to grow up in order to carry on with a life full of the knowledge they possessed in a previous life was fascinating.  It’s mind boggling to imagine how Ana must have felt having to try and live in a world where everyone knows each other and has had thousands of years to accumulate knowledge.  It must be like constantly viewed as a child by adults who have a hard time remembering what being a child was like.

I also enjoyed seeing how this society has had to adapt to such a life where your “mother” could end up being younger than you in this lifetime or how the love of your life could be reborn as the opposite sex from how you first met them.  Talk about making your head spin.

The reason why I was torn about the rating on this book was despite being enthralled with the world Meadows created and wanting to know more details I never really felt enamored on either Sam or Ana.  While I wanted to empathize more with Ana and I felt like her confusion was realistic I don’t understand why she didn’t question more things like why she never questioned Sam about how apparently he lied about the year he was born.  On the other hand I also found it hard to imagine Sam falling for Ana.  Yes, I can imagine she is fascinating to watch because her reactions to everything are so different from everyone else since everything is new to her but I would think that would give someone a more paternal feeling rather than romantic feeling.  I get that many books are just expected to have that romantic aspect but I would have really rather this stayed more of a fantasy story with the two being good friends as they feel out this new phenomena of “nosouls” or “newsouls” being born and what it means to the world.

The other issue I had with the book was the ending.  It felt a little anti-climatic and unsatisfying.  With the constant mention of how uneasy Ana felt about the temple and the city walls I expected there to be more to do with the “god” that the people can’t decide if he really exists or not.  The ending barely touches that question and I still felt like I was left waiting for more.  So yes I will definitely be reading the next book because I have so many questions I want answered but I am hoping to feel more of a connection with Sam and Ana in the next book.