Waiting on Wednesday - 2/8

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week my Waiting on Wednesday book is Balthazar by Claudia Grey.  Click on the image to go to Amazon and read more about this book.

Balthazar by Claudia Grey

Release Date: March 6, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Length: 384 pages
ISBN: 978-0061961182

Synopsis from Goodreads.com:

"Haunted by memories from his first days as a vampire, Balthazar has spent hundreds of years alone—without allies, without love. When he emerges from his isolation to help Skye Tierney, a human girl who once attended Evernight Academy, Balthazar has no idea how dangerous it will be. Skye’s psychic powers have caught the attention of Redgrave, the cruel master vampire responsible for murdering Balthazar and his family four centuries ago. Having learned of Skye’s powers and the remarkable effect her blood has on vampires, he plans to use her for his own evil purposes. As they stand together to fight the evil vampire, Balthazar realizes his lonely world could finally be changed by Skye...just as Redgrave realizes that he can destroy Balthazar once and for all by taking her for his own.

In a story filled with forbidden love and dark suspense, one of the most beloved characters in Claudia Gray’s New York Times bestselling Evernight series will captivate readers with his battle to overcome his past and follow his heart."

Early Review - The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 192 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: February 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0312644383
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an advanced copy of this book to review through Amazon Vine. I loved Potter's first book, The Kneebone Boy, and was very excited to see what this second book would be like. It was an fun read. It is based off of The Secret Garden which I haven't read (hangs head in shame). It has a lot of quirky characters, very subtle magic, and a wonderful mystery.

Hiding is Roo's special talent, which is a good thing. When Roo's parents are murdered in their trailer she is hiding beneath it. This saves her life, but leaves her homeless. Then she finds out that she has a rich eccentric uncle who lives out on Cough Rock Island in a strange house that was once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children. Roo hears a strange humming from certain parts of the house and wants to unravel the mysteries of both the house and the island itself.

Like The Kneebone Boy, this book is full of quirky characters, beautiful imagery, and many mysteries. You are really drawn into the story by the mystery of the Humming room and by the fact that Roo might get sent away from her Uncle if she can't learn to fit in better. I loved all of the characters; they all have their special little quirks. Roo is wonderful at hiding and the two boys she meet on the island have their own peculiarities. In the end the story is about friendship and finding out where you belong in life.

It is a very short read, but is very well written and fun to read. There isn't a ton of fantasy in the story so I hesitate to list it as fantasy...it's more magical realism. The magic throughout is subtle; there are small things that happen here and there that just can't be explained without something magical going on.

Overall I enjoyed it. It is a great read for middle grade readers who love mystery and are interested in reading about a girl who is trying to find her place in a life where she just can't seem to fit in. I would recommend to fantasy readers as well just because there is a hint of mysterious magic unexplained throughout the book. If you liked The Kneebone Boy I think you will enjoy this book as well. If you love mystery and quirky, interesting characters definitely go and pick this book up.

This book goes towards the following reading challenge:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Kingdom (The Graveyard Queen, Book 2) by Amanda Stevens (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: March 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-0778312772
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Graveyard Queen series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the second book in the Graveyard Queen series. The third book in the series, The Prophet, release in April 2012. I got an advanced reading copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. I absolutely loved the first book in this series, The Restorer, and was very excited to read this book. I loved the haunting setting, the beautiful writing, and the tragic characters. We learn a lot about Amelia's past in this book and it was a wonderful read.

Amelia is leaving Charleston behind to travel to the isolated mountain village of Asher Falls to restore a cemetery there. Upon arrival she meets the dashing Thane Asher who tells her about the first cemetary underneath what is now Bell Lake. Why did they flood this cemetary? Who hired Amelia to restore the newer, Asher cemetary? Why is Amelia so drawn to this town and to the secret grave she finds at the bottom of the cliffs? There is an evil the haunts this town and Amelia needs to solve the riddle behind it before the evil takes her too.

I love Stevens writing style; it is haunting, mysterious, and beautiful...just an absolute joy to read. The plot is creepy, compelling, and made the book impossible to put down. This book has a very southern gothic feel to it.

Amelia is a great character. She has a backbone and is brave, yet still comes across as vulnerable at times. There were a few times in this book where Amelia did some really stupid and dangerous things, these were those moments in a horror movie where you yell "No! Don't go into the dark forest by yourself!" So a couple times I was exasperated with her, but I still just love her character so much and love how her curiousity drives her.

Devlin isn't in this book at all. We see a couple letters to Amelia from him and Amelia pines for him, but he is never present. Instead the playboyish Asher Thane is the male lead. I enjoyed Asher; he was a complex character, that had mysterious motives. His character worked wonderfully with Amelia and he gives Devlin a run for his money.

The plot is wonderfully woven; elements from the first book are woven into the story seemlessly and you can really tell that Stevens meticulously planned this whole story out. I loved the mystery, the creepiness, and the way everything was woven so neatly together. Some of the things revealed in the second half of the book will absolutely blow you away; I was surprised and stunned. The book does end with a pretty big cliffhanger...so I am excited that I got the third book The Prophet for review last week....I will be reading it soon.

Overall I just loved this book. The writing is so beautiful and easy to read; it just flows so nicely. The characters are realistic, complicated, and absolutely endearing. The plot is complex, mysterious, and very well woven together. The book was incredibly engaging and I just had a ton of trouble putting it down. This book is very much a gothic paranormal mystery of sorts. It is different from all the other urban fantasy out there, but should really appeal to fans of that genre. I highly, highly recommend this series to fans of gothic literature or fans of urban fantasy/paranormal stories. This is seriously one of my favorite series right now. I cannot wait to read The Prophet!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Follower Love Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Follower Love Giveaway Hop! This hop is being hosted by I Am a Reader Not a Writer and Rachel Renee Anderson.

Please fill out the form below to be entered to win a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate! Don't forget to check out all of the other sites participating in the hop in the linky list below.

Most of all thanks for being such wonderful followers!!  Without you guys this blog wouldn't exist :-)

Review - Letters to a Young Chemist editor Abhik Ghosh (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Chemistry/Non-fiction
Size: 320 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
Release Date: April 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0470390436
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Amazon Vine
Rating: 3/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. I work as a chemist and thought this sounded like a fun read. While it was a somewhat interesting read for someone who works in the field I don't think it was a good read for someone who is considering chemistry as a career.

The book is broken into four sections: From Fundamentals to Applications, Chemistry and the Life Sciences, Functional Materials, and Chemistry and Energy. Each case study starts as a letter to a fictional undergrad student named Amanda who is considering getting a degree in chemistry. The author of each case study gives a brief history of their background and then delves into a specific example of how they have used chemistry to solve a problem/problems.

The concept it fun but its execution is lacking in many cases. Like any collection of "stories" there are a lot of hits and a lot of misses in this book. My main problem with this book that a lot of the misses are in the beginning of the book in the From Fundamentals to Applications section. If I had started reading this book as a student I would have run the other way from chemistry; these initial case studies are difficult to understand, highly technical, and don't apply to problems that are easy to relate to. I've worked in the field for over 10 years and even my eyes were glazing over halfway through the first case study.

So just keep in mind this reads like a technical journal, you need a lot of chemical knowledge to follow these case studies. Some of the case studies are so specific and narrow that you need a lot of very specific knowledge to understand what is going on.

That being said there are some parts of the book that are very well done and would be exciting to read it you were considering a career in chemistry. Most of the cases in the section on Chemitry and the Life Sciences were pretty interesting. I enjoyed the case study called "Better than Sliced Bread" which goes into how they are working on solving Celiac's and other such diseases. I also enjoyed the Choreographing DNA section which discussed DNA and related it to a dance recital that the author participated in. Other highlights were "Biomaterials at the Beach: How Marine Biology Uses Chemistry to Make Materials" and "Happy Campers: Chemists' Solutions to Energy problems". These selections tackled issues that are broadly understood and did a good job of explaining in a way that was easy to understand without already have a PhD in Chemistry.

Overall I do think that this book provides an interesting array of case studies from various fields in chemistry; it is an interesting read for someone who is working in the field of chemistry. Unfortunately I do not think it does a good job targeting the audience it was intended for...that of young undergrads thinking about a career in chemistry. Many of the case studies tackle obscure issues, are highly technical in explanation, and just plain tedious to read about. I wouldn't recommend this for students considering a degree in chemistry; I do cautiously recommend this for chemists interested in reading overviews of a broad variety of new chemistry areas.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

In My Mailbox and Mailbox Monday - 2/6/12

IMM is a meme started at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.

Anyone can participate in IMM and you are not limited to only sharing books that arrive via your mailbox. You can also share books that you've bought or books that you've gotten at the library.

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week I got nine books.  The vast majority of them are for review. You can watch the video below for a summary of them all.  Or click on the pictures below to go to amazon for a summary.

Hope you all got some great reads and look forward to a great week of reading!

For Review:

 

The Prophet (Graveyard Queen, Book 3) by Amanda Stevens

Partials by Dan Wells
The Moon Moth By Jack Vance
Worlds Burn Through (The Chronicles of Nowhere, Book 1) by Vicki Keire
Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Bought

 

Threads of Death (Elemental Assassins, Book 5.5) by Jennifer Estep

Embers: Prequel to Firelight by Kristen Callihan

From Library:

Bloodrose (Nightshade, Book 3) by Andrea Cremer

News - Book Releases for Week 5 (Feb 5th - Feb 11th)