Freefall by Anne Levine

Who: Anne Levine
What: Freefall
When: September 1st, 2008
Why: Tour
How: From Author

What would your life be like if military service was
compulsory, not voluntary?

Aggie is eighteen and getting ready to do her
service for the Israeli Army. She could get a cushy assignment—maybe pushing
paper somewhere—or she could just take her chances. Only, Aggie isn't like that.
Despite her small size and the fact that she needs to gain weight to even make
the grade, and despite the total disbelief of her entire family (except her
grandmother, who is an old freedom fighter and don't you forget it), Aggie is
trying out for an elite combat unit.

Ben—Aggie's crush of the
moment—isn't at all convinced that she's making the right choice. Shira, Aggie's
best friend forever, is bewildered (and perhaps a bit too interested in Ben).
Then there's Noah. And the serendipitous snow. And a good-bye kiss that turns
into, well, a real kiss.

Luckily for Aggie, her backbreaking,
sand-in-mouth, completely-lost-in-the-desert training produces an unlikely
dividend: friends. The kind she never imagined she could have. The kind you'd go
to war with—and for.

Freefall by Anne Levine was one of those books I thought I wasn't gonna like...and I ended up really liking it! With lovable characters, a cute romance, and a deep look at the decisions of a girl enlisting in the army, Freefall was an enjoyable read.

Addie, the main character, is a typical teenage girl. She's quirky and has crazy hair and feels young and childish. But she's also lives in Jerusalem where according to the novel (unsure if this is true or not), you must enlist in the army. She doesn't want to be in an intelligence agency, or pushing papers behind some desk. So she tried out for elite combat training. I could relate to Addie, since absolutely no one except Noah really believed she could do it. Despite many different obstacles that sometimes overwhelmed her, and everyone treating her like a child, she blossomed.

The whole elite combat training was rigorous and pretty cool to read about (though never would I want to go through it.) I mean, running with sandbags on your back for hours in a hot desert? Um, no thanks? But that's what she--and the best of the lovable trainees-- did. Lily was funny, spunky, and refreshingly funny compared to Addie's more analytical brain. Noah was aaa-dorable, though he didn't get to see a lot of him. What you do see, you'll love!

Something that really irked me had to be the ending and the length. Not the ending in itself, which I thought was an awesome ending, but the fact that it was so open. I'm pretty sure there won't be a sequel so I still had so many unanswered questions. Also, I felt that the shortness of the novel made it seem rushed. It didn't give me enough time to fully get to know and enjoy the characters!

But my rating? AHH-GREAT!

Happy Reading!
-Harmony

In My Mailbox (16)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from the Story Siren!

For review:

Misguided Angel by Melissa De La Cruz (Thanks, Hyperion!)

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell (Thanks, Harcourt!)

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Thanks, HarperTeen!)

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Thanks, S&S!)

Traded/Bought/Contest Wins:

Starcrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Thanks, Kelsey!)

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Library:

Sovay by Celia Rees
Fire by Kristin Cashore

Happy Reading!
-Harmony B.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Who: Andrea Cremer
What: Nightshade
When: October 17th, 2010
Why: Beautiful Cover (GORGEOUS)
How: Contest Win

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating
from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and
fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for
the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human
boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the
very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose
everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate
sacrifice?

Okay, so you guys have probably seen me rave about this on Twitter and notice that in all of my "Something Weeks", Andrea Cremer has been a part of all of them. Why? Because Nightshade was great and Andrea is awesome.

My favorite part of Nightshade had to be the world-building. I can understand why people call it a Paranormal Romance/Fantasy because it definitely has fantasy elements in it (don't tell me those two are the same thing or i'll claw your eyes out.) She created this whole new world of systems and packs for the werewolves in Nightshade and it was just fascinating for me to read.

Of course, in every book, there's something you don't like. For me, it was Calla. I mean, in the beginning, I loved her. She was fierce and badass and wasn't gonna let Ren overpower her with his smexy Alpha self (more on my Ren love later). Then she met Shay and she become....a blubbering fool. And that always bothers me in a part of Paranormal Romance, when the main character is all-powerful and badass then just belong bleh when the other love interest comes. As for the rest of the Nightshades, I LOVED them. They were all funny and badass in their own ways.

Shay was also a moot point for me. He was sweet and nice but he had absolutely no respect for her werewolves custom. He didn't take her responsibility to her pack seriously, and just dismissed all of her culture saying that didn't make any sense and that's that. Seriously? He could've at least tried to understand a bit and not ignore the fact that she had a deep relationship and responsibility to her pack and it's well-being.

Okay, now we can talk about Ren. People can argue all you want about him being a man-whore and too Alpha-male and whatever, but you could really tell he cared about her. And he's too Alpha-male because...well...he IS the Alpha male. But he never tries to overpower Calla's decisions and lets her decide for her own pack. I can see how Calla had to struggle to avoid temptation, since Alpha-females have to be completely "pure" until the bonding ceremony. He was sweet and considerate and just plain sexy!

My rating: AMAZINGNESS.

Happy Reading!
-Harmony

Author Halloween Love - Tricia Rayburn

Tricia Rayburn, author of awesome YA novel Siren talks about Halloween and how fun it is!

"The days leading up to Halloween are some of my
favorite of the year. I love picking pumpkins. I love seeing jack-o-lanterns on
doorsteps and cotton cobwebs in windows around the neighborhood. I love when the
air grows crisp and fills with that warm, smoky smell as fireplaces are used for
the first time in months. I love watching scary movies and specials on
TV—especially It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! And on the actual day, I
LOVE handing out candy to trick-or-treaters!"

Seventeen-year-old Vanessa Sands is afraid of everything—the dark, heights, the ocean—but her fearless older sister, Justine, has always been there to coach her through every challenge. That is, until Justine goes cliff-diving one night near the family’s vacation house in Maine, and her lifeless body washes up on shore the next day.

Though her parents hope that they’ll be able to find closure back in Boston, Vanessa can’t help feeling that her sister’s death wasn’t an accident. After discovering that Justine was keeping a lot of secrets, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor, hoping that Justine’s boyfriend might know more. But Caleb has been missing since Justine’s death.

Soon, it’s not just Vanessa who’s afraid. All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes host to a string of fatal, water-related accidents in which all the victims are found, horrifically, grinning from ear to ear.

Vanessa turns to Caleb’s brother, Simon, for help, and begins to find herself drawn to him. As the pair tries to understand the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a secret that threatens her new romance—and will change her life forever.

Happy Reading!
-Harmony

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Who: Jenna Black
What: Glimmerglass
When: 2010
Why: Hype
How: Bought

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big
trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana
decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and
heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth
where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. But
from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns
out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare
individual who can travel between both worlds, and who can bring magic into the
human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, she finds herself tangled
up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and
everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family.
Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do
anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her
enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .

Glimmerglass is one of those books where you see the cover and you wanna know more about it but you're kinda hesitant until you get a recommendation from someone you know well. So I finally picked it and first half? AWESOME. Second half? Kinda awesome.

Glimmerglass is the story of a girl who runs away from home with an alcoholic mother to give with her fey father in Avalon, the border between Faerie world and humans. I always think it's cool when humans know faeries exist, and they're all "Hey, we're gonna try to take control of you now" and they fail (mostly because it reminds me of the Crusades...sorry, history nut). So she comes into this world, and apparently her dad's a big wig faery, and she gets thrown into a cut-throat, dangerous game of faery politics. And then I say dangerous, I mean dangerous.

Dana was a character I would want to be my friend. I liked her because she was realistic in the way that we all want to get away sometimes, but she actually had the courage to do it, even if it gets her into major trouble. Also, sometimes she cried, but sometimes it's okay to cry. Especially when evil faeries are trying to kill you. I'd cry, so that's cool. But she also didn't just cry and sit there while the "grown-ups" played the game, she did a little bit of her "secret" undercover stuff as well (though that mostly ended in trouble as well.)

Ethan is pretty much the dude you see for most of the novel as her "love interest". He was nice, though kinda...suspicious. Something is just iffy about that boy, however charming he may be. But the tension between them was amazingly crafted and he was adorable. Then you get introduced to Keane later on as a combat teacher (she also tries and succeeds in learning basic fighting skills, which is a lot more than other heroines have bothered to do.) It does hint at a potencial love triangle, and i'm kinda leaning towards him, because he was just plain cool :)


Happy Reading!
-Harmony