Cover Story : Favorite Recent Cover Releases

You've probably seen these floating around elsewhere on the web, but I just wanted to showcase a few of my recent favorite cover releases. There are some truly gorgeous books coming out in 2012!!



The Selection by Kiera Cass
Ooo, aqua blue. Love it. Gorgeous dress, an intense, icy feel to the whole thing, and the creepiness of the fun-house mirror, with the added eerie effect of being something other than her exact reflection. I love this cover...wonderful.

The Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
This is so cool. Love the rich warm colors, the intense look on her face, the perfect flow of the fabric. Really beautiful.

Fated by Alyson Noel
Wow, love this one. Purple is another favorite color, especially this plummy soft kind of purple. Love the birds, and the pretty feather earrings. Really cool. Now I'm not a huge Noel fan, but this cover is just beautiful!

Touched by Cyn Balog
Love all the cool details on this one. The swirling smoke (is that smoke? Or just a wierd energy thing?) , the spooky carnival in the background, the blues and grays and greens. Outstanding.

Body & Soul by Stacey Kade
I included this one, not because it is especially gorgeous, but because I love these two character so much, it's just good to see them again! :D Go, Will & Alona!





So what are your favorite recent releases??

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Body & Soul (Ghost & The Goth #3)
by Stacey Kade

hitting shelves May 29th 2012 from Hyperion

description: STOP if you haven't read this series!! Spoiler for books 1 & 2 ahead!!
The Ghost
I’ve been trapped in the body of Lily “Ally” Turner for a month now. Talk about a fashion crisis on an epic scale. What worries me more, though, is sometimes I catch Will looking at me like he thinks I’m Lily...or that he wishes I were. Without the good looks of my former self, I don’t know who I am, or if who that is is good enough. I need out of this mess. Now.

Will and I have been looking for a solution, one that would separate me from Lily without killing her. But it’s not going well. Then, when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse, we run into Misty, my former best friend and boyfriend-stealer extraordinaire, who claims she’s being haunted...by me. Seriously?

I’m determined to get to the bottom of who’s pretending to be the spirit of Alona Dare (while I’m pretending to be someone else) and then get the heck out of this body. Or die trying...

The Goth
I’ll admit it. It’s really weird to look at Alona but see Lily. I do know the difference, though, contrary to what Alona might be saying. And Alona is more than a pretty face to me, not that she would believe that.

Our one lead for some help in this messed up situation might be a page torn from the yellow pages-—the “Psychics” section-—I found in my dad’s stuff. One of the “fakes” seems a bit more real-—and odd-—than the others. Before I can investigate further, though, Alona is off and chasing a ghost that’s probably nothing more than a figment of Misty’s guilty imagination. Now Lily’s family is freaking out because she didn’t come home, my mom is ordering me to stay out of it, and something is definitely wrong with the person formerly known as Lily “Ally” Turner...

My thoughts: Love, love, LOVE this series so far!! Book one was awesome, book two only got better, and I doubt this one will let me down! So far, it's been fun and hilarious and heartfelt (I even cried a few times with book 2). The characters are great, and I hope this won't be the last we get of Alona & Will! Click here and here to check out my reviews of the previous books!

Review: Queen of the Dead

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

publisher: Hyperion Books CH

release date: May 31, 2011

hardcover, 288 pages

intended audience: Young adult

sequel to: Ghost and the Goth (my review)

rating:



source: from publisher for honest review

Warning: description and review may contain slight spoilers for those who haven't read book one!

description: After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this - ugh - “helping of others” is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she’d like. Before Alona can make a final ruling on Will’s “friend” or “more” status, though, she discovers trouble at home. Her mom is tossing out Alona’s most valuable possessions, and her dad is expecting a new daughter with his wicked wife. Is it possible her family is already moving on? Hello! She’s only been dead for two months! Thankfully, Alona knows just the guy who can put a stop to this mess. Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She’s the first ghost-talker Will’s ever met—aside from his father—and she may hold answers to Will’s troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately puts a check mark in the “clearly not” column. But Will is - ahem - willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.

Review: I love this series. Truly, I am hoping for way more than three books to it because I absolutely love these characters and Stacey Kade's writing. So very rarely do I find a book that is so fun and humorous and energetic, but still has the surprising emotional depth to make me cry. No kidding, there was part in this that I literally cried! Another thing you will hardly every hear me say is this: I loved the second book even more than the first. And yet, that is absolutely true here!
Will and Alona are just so entertaining together and their relationship is sweet with this wicked little bite to it. They are such opposites and are almost constantly bickering, but not in a hateful way. Will is this kind-hearted guy with a streak of dark intensity built up from seeing ghosts his whole life; Alona is just the same as she was in life---spoiled and always ready with the painful truth for anyone who is less than perfectly fashionable. In this book, we get to see them change a lot (especially Alona!!) as they are faced with some really personal dilemmas---Will with his father's past, Alona with her family and dealing with them moving on. Will's friend, Lily, (who those who read book one will remember is in a persistent coma from a car crash) plays a major part in this one---and it's the events that happen between Alona and Lily that have me absolutely dying to get my hands on book three!! I'm also dying to see what the cover to book three will look like---read this one and you'll know why!! There is bound to be some very significant changes. :) I can't wait! I will miss Will and Alona until then---I love the way Queen of the Dead ended. Just perfect. It claims to be a "killer cliffhanger" but I didn't find it that way...even though you know there is more, it was still came a satisfying close. There's just a lot of really good themes in this one---letting go, not letting go, self-sacrifice for someone you care about, hoping, family, love and it's unpredictablity...it's all there. Don't miss this one!

Visit Stacey Kade's website here.

Purchase Queen of the Dead: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound

Author interview with Stacey Kade!

Have you read Ghost and the Goth yet?? If not, you really should. It's a fun book. If you haven't had a chance to read my review, you can find it here. I was lucky enough to be able to interview debut author Stacey Kade and get the scoop on this great book of hers!! Thanks, Stacey!


Describe Ghost and the Goth in your own words.
For me, it's always a story about a boy and a girl. In this case, it's a weird boy and a dead girl, but you get the idea. :)

Will we get to see any more of Will and Alona? If so, when will the sequel be out?
Yes, absolutely! Book two, title is still be determined, will be out next summer. And then the third book will be out in summer 2012.

Did you hang out with the Alona crowd or the Will crowd in high school?
The Will crowd. In some ways, he is an easier person for me to understand because his experience in high school was more like mine--minus the ghosts, of course!

Can you tell alittle about how you got interested in writing?
I've been writing for a long time. Even before I could write for myself, I would dictate to my mom who would write it down for me. I have always loved starting stories, but I didn't know how to finish them. It wasn't until I got to college and was REQUIRED to finish a short story for a class that I even knew I could do it.

Tell us about your ideal writing space.
Lots of natural light, a comfy chair, my laptop, and my giant Roswell poster (from the Season Three promotion) for inspiration. :)

How would you describe your writing style?
Oh, boy. I don't know. Let me say this: I aim to be funny and kind of sarcastic while commenting on some aspect of life. Whether I achieve that every time...well, that's more up to you guys to decide! :)


Who are your favorite authors? What are you reading right now?
I have too many favorite authors! Jane Austen is my favorite "classic" writer. My mentor, Linnea Sinclair, writes fabulous science fiction romance. But I have dozens of authors that I "autobuy" whenever they have new books coming out. Next up on my stack to read is an ARC of Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin. Love her books!

What kind of books did you love to read as a child/teenager?
Anything with a paranormal or science fiction twist to it. I liked the strange stories! And mysteries.

Which of the characters that you've written is your favorite?
Nope, I can't choose. Sorry! I love all of them, though some are easier for me to understand than others.

Fun questions:
Favorite snack while writing?
*Sigh* Raw cookie dough. I know, I know. It's terrible for me and really bad for my keyboard. So I just try not to buy it because if it's the house, I'll eat it!

Favorite movie?
Oh, it's hard for me to choose! I love movies almost as much as I love books. But I will say this, it's summer and my favorite summer movie is Disturbia.

Favorite flower?
Tulips! They're just happy flowers. :)

Favorite band and song?
This fluctuates for me, depending on what I'm writing.

Favorite teacher from your school years?
I have two, actually. Mrs. Koshinski, who taught me to keep a writer's journal, and Mrs. Buske, who was the first person outside my family to say that she thought I had a talent for writing.

Like cupcakes? More cake or more frosting? :)
I do like cupcakes. My favorites are yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and I like an equal balance of both cake and frosting! :)

Be sure to check out Stacey's website!

Review: The Ghost and the Goth

The Ghost and the Goth
by Stacey Kade

publisher: Hyperion books

release date:June 29th, 2010

intended audience:Young Adult

source:Traveling ARC Book Tours

rating:


description from website:
After a close encounter with the front end of a school bus, Alona Dare goes from Homecoming Queen to Queen of the Dead. Now she’s stuck as a spirit (DON’T call her a ghost) in the land of the living with no sign of the big, bright light to take her away. To make matters worse, the only person who might be able to help her is Will Killian, a total loser outcast who despises the social elite. He alone can see and hear (turns out he’s been “blessed” with the ability to communicate with the dead), but he wants nothing to do with the former mean girl of Groundsboro High.

Alona has never needed anyone for anything, and now she’s supposed to expose her deepest, darkest secrets to this pseudo-goth boy? Right. She’s not telling anyone what really happened the day she died, not even to save her eternal soul. And Will’s not filling out any volunteer forms to help her cross to the other side. He only has a few more weeks until his graduation, when he can strike out on his own and find a place with less spiritual interference. But he has to survive and stay out of the psych ward until then. Can they get over their mutual distrust—and the weird attraction between them—to work together before Alona vanishes for good and Will is locked up for seeing things that don’t exist?

Review: You know, sometimes stories are just plain fun to read. I guess it's kind of odd to say that about a book where one of the main characters has just been plowed down by a bus, but it's true. The Ghost and the Goth was fun, and despite the grim premise and a few emotional dilemmas mixed it, it stayed light: a perfect summer read.

I absolutely loved the mix of the super popular girl and the antisocial goth boy. Seeing them trying to work out their differences was so amusing and their back-and-forth banter was very funny. I am quickly becoming a huge fan of the method of telling tales in alternating view points. Seeing this one from only one side of their story would have lost so much. I loved getting inside both their heads, especially Alona's, and not only seeing how death did not affect her attitude much at first, but also seeing how she reacted to getting a little taste of her own medicine after her death! I loved the progression of Alona and Will's relationship, it seemed perfectly paced to me, and it constantly keeps you guessing as to whether they will be able to get past all their differences and help each other.

This one was a buyer for me...because I definitely plan to read it again!