2 Mini Reviews & 2 Fabulous Giveaways! Beautiful Darkness & Crescendo!

I decided to do mini-reviews of both these sequels, because there is just too much of a chance that I might give something away if I ramble on too long about them! And that would be a shame! I also skipped the publisher descriptions on these, but the title links to Goodreads where you can read the full info! Also, at the end of this post, you'll find a fabulous duo giveaway for a finished copy of each of these! Open internationally, and you can enter once for each one!! So here we go!!


Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

publisher: Little, Brown & Company

release date: October 12, 2010

hardcover, 512 pages

intended audience: Young adult

sequel to Beautiful Creatures (links to my review)

rating:


My review: Could I love this series any more than I do? I don't think so. The writing here is so beautiful. I said this about the first book as well, but these books makes you feel like you are in the south. You can feel the stickiness of the humidity on your skin, smell the lemon trees, and the timing is somehow both exciting and slow and lush like a hot day in Gatlin. The story continues just weeks after where BC left off, and Lena is in such a state of despair over what happened on her 16th birthday, that she's drawing away from everyone, including Ethan. She has started hanging around with the infamous Ridley and the mysterious Jon Breed, and Ethan must find a way to reach her before it's too late. So we are thrown even further into the Caster world this time: Ethan, Link, and Marian the Librarian's new keeper-in-training, Liv must brave the dark tunnels beneath Gatlin. Many surprises along the way, some involving Ethan's mother, the aunts, Macon, and even Ethan himself. I will say that almost no one is what they seem, not even the aunt's cat, Lucille Ball!! Definitely do not pass this one up, its every bit as wonderful as the first---in fact, I think I liked the second even more!

Get your copy at Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository


Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

release date: October 19, 2010

hardcover, 427 pages

intended audience: Young adult

Sequel to Hush, Hush (no review, this was before my blogging days, but I loved it!)

rating:

My Review: You know you're emotionally invested in a fictional couple when reading their story makes you as angry as I was while reading most of Crescendo!! :D There was a lot going on in this installment, it was incredibly fast paced and I loved every second of it, BUT my emotional reaction to almost everything Patch and Nora did was 'NOOO,....STOP!!! WHY??" Much like in the first book, the intrigue begins in the very first pages, where we get a glimpse of some mysterious past events and a little clue that maybe Nora's father might not have just run off from his family. Patch and Nora's blissful love quickly unravels when, in the heat of the moment, Nora tells him she loves him and he doesn't say it back, then goes further off the deep end when Patch starts showing up around town with Nora's arch-enemy Marcie Millar. The whole story twisted and turned, fueled by Nora's determination to piss off Patch and find out what really happened to her father. She is without a doubt, a much stronger character this time around (she even shuns her own guardian angel to stand on her own two feet, not the best idea with her danger-magnet track record, but it made her point that she was not having the Marcie situation.), but her jealously and anger land her in one hot spot after the next. It was irresistable to keep reading to solve all the mysteries: will they work it out?? What the heck does Patch see in Marcie?? And who the heck is this creepy Scott character, really?? Yet another fabulous case of "Nothing is as it seems!!"

Get your copy at Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

GIVEAWAY!!!

So, there are my thoughts on both these fabulous books! Now it's your turn to get your hands on a copy!! I am sending out one copy of Beautiful Darkness and one copy of Crescendo to some lucky winners!! You can enter once for each book! The copies will be sent new from Book Depository, so this contest is International! Extra entries for my lovely followers and for promoting! Thanks everyone, and good luck!!

Enter HERE to win BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS!

Enter HERE to win CRESCENDO!

Both contests run until midnight, November 10, 2010