HEARTLESS BOOK BIRTHDAY WEEK: My Review, Cover Showcase & Giveaway!!

This is it, my final post for HEARTLESS BOOK BIRTHDAY WEEK! :D I hope you've enjoyed the posts so far!  Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book, showcasing the amazing different covers of Heartless and giving away a copy to someone, anywhere in the world! :D So let's get to it!

Heartless 

by Marissa Meyer

♦publisher: Feiwel & Friends

♦release date: November 8th, 2016

♦hardcover, 464 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

♦stand-alone

♦source: trade show

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Review:  This book...will tear your ever-loving heart out. But you knew that. You know who the Queen of Hearts is. She's cruel. She's mad. She's...well, she's heartless. This is the story of how she got that way, so you know going in that it's not going to be pretty. But OH was it magical, whimsical, kooky, twisted, very creepy at times---much like Alice in Wonderland. In fact, I adored the wonderful nods to the original stories and characters. It was like seeing new sides to characters I've known my whole life. I'm sure I've said a dozen or so times on this blog, but I was very literally raised on Alice in Wonderland. :) My mother collects all things Alice, read me the stories, and I grew up watching several different movie and tv show versions. So having one of my favorite authors take on this story and give me a whole new perspective on a character I've always known just to be unwaveringly villainous was absolutely amazing. And while I loved this so much and I guarantee that my personal connection to the original stories made this a whole different experience than, say, someone who doesn't love Alice in Wonderland, I still proclaim that the storytelling was fantastic, full of whimsy, romance, madness, hope, and heartbreak. 

I loved Cath's character. She was so determined and hopeful to see her dream come true and so willing to work hard for it, despite having to go against her parent's expectations, and everyone's really. She sees them slipping farther and farther away as the realization hits that the king truly has plans to court her and everyone pressures her to accept. The romance was just right---not a case of her throwing everything away for a guy, but more figuring out how he might fit into the dream she's already striving for.  It breaks my heart as the story goes along and the people she hopes most might believe her and back her up let her down. Especially her father---their last conversation before the end had me absolutely sobbing. 

Meyer successfully pulls in so many of the original characters from Wonderland and gives them a place in this Queen of Hearts origin story. I loved how it gave the whole story a feeling of familiarity and you see how each one might have scattered across Wonderland after she became queen to later become part of Alice's story. There are some genuinely creepy moments, especially with the Treacle sisters and their horrific prophecies. The story twists and turns and twists again and I thought the chaotic downward spiral and the iconic last line were absolutely perfect---as well as completely devastating.  Beautifully done. 

While I know this stands boldly on it's own, I would love to get another origin story about Jest and Hatta in the land of Chess. Just sayin' ;)

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Marissa Meyer is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles. She lives in Tacoma, Washington. She’s a fan of most things geeky (Sailor Moon, Firefly, any occasion that requires a costume), and has been in love with fairy tales since she was a child. She may or may not be a cyborg. 

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Purchase Winter:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

*International Cover Showcase*

GUYS, check out all the gorgeous covers for Heartless!!

US Hardcover                               Dutch Paperback

                  UK Paperback                            UK Paperback (Feb 2017)

Can you pick a favorite? I love them all, and while I adore our US hardcover, I think my favorite is the upcoming UK paperback! Not sure why they are reissuing it recovered in February 2017, but I love it and I  know I'll be preordering it!!

So here's YOUR chance to nab one!! Enter below to win a copy of Heartless. Winner can choose any cover they want*! :D
•Open internationally
•Ends 11/25/16

a Rafflecopter giveaway *chosen edition must be available through either BookDepository.com or Fishpond.com. Please note that the illustrated UK paperback does not release until 2/2017 so prize will be for a pre-order. Winner will be contacted if chosen edition is not available through either site within 3 months of winning.

HEARTLESS BOOK BIRTHDAY WEEK: Cath's Rose Macarons

In Marissa Meyer's Heartless, young Cath dreams of someday opening a bakery and becoming famous throughout the land, not for being the Marquess' daughter but for her delicious sweet creations. By her mother's order, she bakes a decadent batch of Rose Macarons to give to the King, but she ends up bringing them instead to the wild tea party where she first meets the hatter.
Today I want to share a small excerpt from that scene---it not only gives you a good idea of the recipe that follows below, but encompasses everything I love about baking. ♥

"The macaron was sweet and decadent and smooth, with just a tiny crunch from the meringue, and a subtle floral moment from the distilled rose water, all melting together into one perfect bite. 

She listened to the gasps, the moans, the crinkle of parchment paper as someone scooped up the buttercream that had gotten missed.

This was why she enjoyed baking. A good dessert could make her feel like she'd created joy at the tips of her fingers. Suddenly, the people around the table were no longer strangers. They were friends and confidantes, and she was sharing with them her magic."

---page 168 from the Heartless ARC edition 

After reading that,  I knew I had to make these. Plus it's been so long since I've made anything with rosewater :). I did add in my own little touch and filled them also with raspberry preserves--because rose and raspberry compliment each other so perfectly. :)  So here they are:

Cath's Rose Macarons

So this recipe is a little different from the one I featured a few weeks ago with Glitter. This is actually the Italian method for making macarons, as opposed to the French. I love this one so much better, to be honest. They are a little more complicated to make, but much more stable---plus the resulting texture is perfectly crisp on the outside, a little flatter but definitely much more gooey and rich.  YUM.   A kitchen scale comes in hand if you want to measure everything out in grams (I've include the cup measurements as well), but you will need a candy thermometer. 

For the Macaron shells:

original recipe from Bouchon 

1¾ cups + 2½ tablespoons (212 grams) almond flour
1¾ cups + 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons (212 grams) powdered sugar
3 (82 grams) egg whites
3 (90 grams) egg whites
1 cup + 3 tablespoons (236 grams) granulated sugar, plus a pinch for the egg whites
⅔ cup (158 grams) water

Preheat over to 350○

Into a large bowl, sift the almond flour and powdered sugar, making sure to leave out any larger chunks of almond. Make a small well in the dry ingredients and add the 3 egg whites. Mix these together until it forms a thick almond paste. Set aside. 

In a small saucepan with a candy thermometer clipped to the side, combine the granulated sugar and water. Bring slowly to boil over medium heat, slowly increasing if needed. Meanwhile, place your next three egg whites in a stand mixer. Beat until soft peaks form. Add in a pinch of sugar.  When the sugar/water syrup reaches 248 degrees, immediately remove from heat.  With the mixer running, pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl of egg whites. Beat on high until stiff peaks form.  

Gently fold egg whites into almond mixture. Mix this just until it reaches a lava-like consistency. Do not overmix!! To test, spoon out a small amount onto a plate. If the ridges disappear in about 30 seconds, its ready. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can mark the underside of the paper with circles to get the cookies as uniform as possible. Since they are shell cookies, they have to all be similar in size. Pipe circles of batter onto parchment, about an inch apart. These cookies will spread a little when cooking! Rap the pan firmly on your countertop to release as many air bubbles as possible. 

Into the oven they go (no need to let them sit out with this method! Yay!). Turn the heat down to 325○  and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let them cool on the pan for 5-10 mintues. Between each batch, let the oven reheat to 350○, turning it back down to 325○ as each batch goes in. 

When cooled, pair up the shells two by two on a parchment sheet to prepare them to be filled. 

Rose Buttercream:

•1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temp
•3-4 tablespoons milk
•1 tsp vanilla
•3 cups confectioners sugar
•1 tsp rosewater

In a medium bowl, mix butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth.  Add in confectioners sugar a cup at a time until creamy. Mix in rosewater 1/2 tsp at a time, testing for your taste preference after each. 

Spoon buttercream and raspberry preserves (I use Smuckers) into separate pastry bags fitted with round 1/2 tips. Pipe buttercream around the edge of each macaron half shell, then fill in with the raspberry preserves. Place the second half of each macaron on top and gently press down (very gently! You don't want to crack the pretty smooth shell!)

To decorate these with hearts, I just made a heart template cut out of a clean sheet of cardstock. I took a little sugar water and brushed inside each heart to give the sprinkles something to stick to, then shook the red sprinkles on. All done! 

I hope you enjoy these! 

Until next time...

HEARTLESS BOOK BIRTHDAY WEEK: Makeup for the Tea Party!!

GUYS! This week (yesterday, to be exact) a book was released into the world that I know many of us out there have been counting down the days to!! A big fat
Happy Book Birthday to

HEARTLESS!!

Today, I'm featuring something cool that my daughter did, inspired by her love of the book. A little backstory---as with many of the books that come to me for review, my dear daughter steals away with them and reads them first. :) And as a proud mama of an avid reader, I absolutely love and encourage this LOL. After she read Heartless and fell completely in love (and heartbreak!) with this book. I heard nothing all day long but:
 "Mom, have you read Heartless yet?"
"Mom, you need to stop what you'r reading and read Heartless."
"MOM...Heartless!!"
And once I did start it, I was constantly stalked by her watching my reactions, asking what part I was at, and dying to talk about parts that she loved. :D 

My daughter has her sights set on becoming a makeup artist so she's been playing with different fun makeup looks.  She was inspired to do an ode to Cath and Jest in her favorite art form:

Cards and hearts for the future Queen of Hearts on one side, a  motley hat and stripe on the other for the man who steels her heart.  What do you think?  ♥♥

Please stop back in all this week as we celebrate the Heartless Book Birthday! There'll be a recipe tomorrow (because if you've read the book, you know food played a big part in this story!), my review and a giveaway on Friday!!

Winter by Marissa Meyer {audiobook review}

Winter
by Marissa Meyer
♦audiobook read by: Rebecca Soler
♦publisher: Macmillan Audio
♦release date: November 10th, 2015
♦series: The Lunar Chronicles, book 4
 reviews of previous books: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress
♦source: Audible.com

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Review:  What can I even say about this incredible end to one of my favorite series of all time. Wonderful. Heart-stopping. An undeniably satisfying finale.  So many amazing things happen that myself and I'm sure the rest of the fandom has been longing for--none of which I can mention without spoiling some of the best plot points! (sorry! :D) But, oh, people, with this final installment, Meyer really brought the GOODS.  

I honestly can say that there was not one moment to catch your breath, in all of 824 page (or 19 audiodiscs, in my case). With the absolute expert juggling of so many great characters (her royal villainousness included!), there was no downtime. I loved meeting Jacin and Winter, their history and love story is just the sweetest thing ever. It was also amazing getting to delve deeper into the lives of all the other characters, especially Wolf.  It was moment after moment of danger and chases and death and romance and defeats and triumphs and just excitement, excitement, excitement. 

Listening to the audio of this book took the experience to a whole other level.  The narrator, Rebecca Soler, delivered an absolutely perfect performance, with spot-on emotion brought to every scene.  Every character is completely distinct, I was never confused about whose voice I was hearing (except a few times with Cress and Iko). Her grasp of accents is stunning---she easily transitioned between American, French, Irish, Australian, and several others. My only regret on reading this book versus listening was that I wish I'd been able to build a mental image of Winter before hearing her "voice" because with the way she was read, I couldn't stop picturing her as Luna Lovegood with dark ringlets! :D 

I'm so sad to be done with this series. But I will say, audiobook was the perfect way to experience it. I only listened in the car so it forced me to pace myself and really get to savor every minute! I loved it so much! 

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Marissa Meyer is the USA Today- and New York Times-bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, and Fairest: Levana's Story. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband.

WEBSITE   •   TWITTER  •   PINTEREST
Add WINTER to Goodreads

Purchase Winter:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

FINALLY!! :D

HURRAY! Two of my most anticipated covers of 2015 were revealed this past week! Fall cannot come fast enough for me, mostly because of these two books!!

They've done a fantastic job with all the covers of this series.  I can't wait to read more about Winter (who of course we met just briefly in Cress!)

 Absolutely love that they kept with the same style as Jackaby's cover, though I admit it's not quite as striking as the teal and red was. I still love it, though! :D

What do you think of these?  

And what are some of your most anticipated cover reveals for this year??

News that made my day...

OMG. Guys. I just saw a most fabulous announcement on Twitter and USA Today regarding one of my favorite series, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.  Ok, so not the BEST news EVER. Because this also came with the news that Winter has been pushed back to November 2015.

BUT...
Have you heard about this?? Because my mind is reeling...

 Not a novella, not a teaser for Winter, a full-fledged 256 page companion novel about the wicked Lunar Queen, Levana.  According to USA Today, an event happens in Fairest that will impact a major turning point in Winter. That's so exciting!!

Check out the whole story and interview with Melissa Meyer on USA Today!

Becky's View: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer
♦publisher: Feiwel & Friends
♦release date: February 4th, 2014
♦hardcover, 550 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: The Lunar Chronicles, book 3
  book 1: Cinder (review)
  book 2: Scarlet (review)
  book 4: Winter (coming Feb 2015)
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Review:  For me, there is nothing out there that quite compares to this phenomenal series.  With this third installment, Cress, The Lunar Chronicles only strengthens its spot at the top of my list of favorites. I might even go so far as to say that with Cress, this series has outdone itself. While all three books have received 5 well-earned cupcakes from me, and while each one had me laughing and worried, excited, and hopeful, Cress is the first one to make me break down in actual tears.  Though I come close often, I don’t actually cry very easily at books…and for that I love this one all the more. 

It also speaks volumes for how much I love these characters.  The collective crew from the end of Scarlet is back and just as amusing as ever.  They discover that Cress, a girl who has helped Cinder from behind the scenes from the beginning, is actually a prisoner in a satellite and they go to rescue her.  The rescue goes awry and this leads to the entire cast being split up and thrown into their own adventures both on earth and on the moon.  Cress adds something sweet to the melting pot of characters; having been isolated her whole life, she has a certain innocence and awkwardness, but also having been a hacker, she definitely makes herself useful to Cinder’s cause.  She gets thrown together with Thorne, whom she’s been crushing on for years, following his escapades from afar and always thinking of him as a misunderstood bad boy. With Thorne’s cockiness and her bit of feistiness and naiveté, the two of their personalities play off of each other with a perfect blend of sweetness and hilarity. 

Cinder’s plight to stop Kai from marrying Levana has become about way more than her own feeling for him. The fate of the earth will rest in the hands of Cinder and her crew and they take it on valiantly as the plot intensifies and catapults us into the final chapter of the Lunar Chronicles. What’s most amazing about this book is that even at a hefty 550 pages, there is not one moment where the pacing lets up, not one page that feels like mid-series filler. That is definitely a rare thing. 

I can’t even begin to imagine how long the wait for Winter is going to feel! Torture!

Find Marissa Meyer online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Cress: Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

I'm currently giving away two SIGNED ARCS of Cress!

Click here to go to my Marissa Meyer event recap post and enter!

 

Marissa Meyer Event Recap & Signed Cress ARC Giveaway x 2!

A few weeks ago, we drove an hour through pouring-down rain into the bay area to see Marissa Meyer, the author of my favorite series, The Lunar Chronicles.  As much as I hate driving in the rain and traffic, hearing this incredible author talk about her books and writing was 100% worth it.

We walked into the children’s section of  Book Passage, a sweet little book shop in Corte Madera, and found plenty of shelves stacked high with the gorgeous new copies of Cress, as well as Scarlet and Cinder for those who needed to catch up.  In the signing room, there was a table of fun bookmarks, buttons and purple hair combs with the Cress title on them, so clever to go with the Rapunzel theme of the book! 

Marissa Meyer was introduced and first and foremost, she apologized for bringing the rain with her from Seattle, where she had just flown in from.  She delighted the crowd with many fun stories about growing up in a family of nerds (driving the point home by mentioning she had an uncle who remodeled his attic to look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise—I wish she’d had pictures of that!) and shared a really awesome picture of herself as a child dressed up as a cling-on at the opening night of one of the Star Trek movies.  Some of her early writing was fan-fiction based on her love of Sailor Moon, and was ecstatic that so many in the audience were familiar with the show!  So the world of Sci-fi and fantasy definitely runs in this author’s blood. 

She share that early versions of the Lunar Chronicle stories were written during NaNoWriMo, an event that she is a huge fan of and definitely encourages every aspiring writer to try.  A really early version of Cinder was written as an entry to a Seattle-based contest where the person who wrote the most words in a single month would win a walk-on role on a Star Trek episode. Sadly she missed the prize by 1000 words, but found out later that they never filmed the episode anyhow!  AND she ended up with a book that would later get her her first publisher deal---a perfect consolation!

Lastly, before open up the floor for questions, she treated the audience to a little storytelling! We got to pick which story out of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, or Snow White (which the final book, Winter, will be based on) and she told us the original fairy tale version, in all its grim and dark detail.  We chose Rapunzel, to Marissa’s relief---she mentioned that Red Riding Hood is the most gruesome and there were some small children in the audience that night! 

She then graciously answered tons of questions, and even more graciously signed tons and tons of books, all the while chatting away with her excited fans.  It was a great night!

Oh, and most exciting for me, she confirmed for me that there is definitely some Han Solo inspiration in Captain Thorne.  I suspected as much! ♥♥♥

*GIVEAWAY!*

I had 2 ARC copies of Cress, but of course I bought a gorgeous finished copy at the signing for my own collection, so I'll pass those two ARCs on to two lucky winners! 

Enter below!

•Must be 13 or older, or have parent permission

•US mailing addresses only please

•Ends March 5th, 2014 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Becky's View: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
♦publisher: Feiwel & Friends
♦release date: February 5th, 2013
♦hardcover, 454 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: The Lunar Chronicles,  book 2
  my review of book 1, Cinder
♦source: from publisher at ALA

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Review: And so, my serious love affair with this series continues.  When you love a first in a series as much as I loved Cinder, there is always that fear and trepidation going into book 2---will it fall flat? Will it have the dreaded second-book slump? Will it just not live up to the wonder of the first?  Thankfully, the answer to all three of those questions is a very adamant NO.  Scarlet was an incredible and exciting follow up to Cinder.  And what made it even more fun was that I was SO busy during the week I was reading Scarlet that I was forced to move through the story slowly, savoring each twist and turn so much more than I might have if I'd taken a day or two and just zipped through it.  The anticipation of getting back to a book every time you have to set it down is a sure sign of it's greatness. 

In Scarlet, we get some fantastic new characters. There is, of course, Scarlet.  With an attitude as fiery as her red curls, she's one who knows her way around hovercrafts and rifles alike.  Her grandmother is missing and she is not going to let anyone or any fear stand in her way of rescuing her.  She reluctantly teams up with Wolf, who claims he can lead Scarlet to the kidnappers.  Even as they grow closer and build up trust, you never can be quite sure of him---he is, after all, the "big bad Wolf" in this retelling!  Still, the chemistry between them is undeniable and well, you'll just have to read to find out how that turns out, but I loved it and it certainly kept me at the edge of my seat!

The story is told from a few different POVs, but mainly it alternates between Scarlet and Cinder.  Cinder is as smart and strong-willed as ever, but still a bit wounded from her experiences with Kai and how that ended up.  She is in a major struggle with her own destiny, knowing what everyone expects of her in her newly discovered identity, but not so sure she is ready to take it on.  Another new character is Thorne, Cinder's accidental new partner in crime, who very much reminded me of Han Solo from Star Wars. :D  Had to love him---a bit shifty and an integrity that is definitely questionable, but still a character that is fun and entertaining to read. 

The world that Meyer creates has expanded it's reach from Japan into France and it also grows in all it's detailed, imaginative, futuristic glory, and definitely in it's darkness and danger.  A new vicious threat is introduced, Queen Levana's evil grip gets more powerful, and time continues to run thin as Kai makes a desperate decision and this story hurtles forward. OH, it is going to be an awfully long wait for Cress, book three in this series!  And have you heard?  It features Rapunzel and takes place in the Sahara Desert! I'm definitely intrigued!

Find Marissa Meyer online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Scarlet:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: Review & ARC Giveaway!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

publisher: Feiwel & Friends

release date: January 3, 2012

hardcover, 387 pages

intended audience: Young adult

series: Lunar Chronicles, book 1

rating:



source: from publisher for honest review

description: 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.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

Review: I've just discovered that there are four total books planned for this series---and I have one thing to say about that: Yippee!! :D What a fantastic way to start the new year. This is the first book I read of the amazing lineup of 2012 releases, and I could not have loved it more. If you're a regular reader here, you probably know how much I love a good fairy tale retelling, and Cinder was absolutely no exception. The basic bones of the classic Cinderella story are there, but Marissa Meyer refashioned it into a completely unique, highly imaginative tale of it's own.

The world of Cinder was incredible: a futuristic, overhauled China with little cultural touches of China's "past", like the peasant's marketplace and the towering tiered pavilions of the palace. An uncontrollable plague has everyone living in constant fear. Cyborgs are being used as guinea pigs to test cures, and very rarely making it out alive. An absolutely malicious queen who rules the colonized moon threatens war if she doesn't get what she wants from the earth's leaders...and in the middle of it all is Cinder. I loved this character. She's living under the harsh thumb of her stepmother who uses her as a slave and blames her for the death of her late husband. She is a cyborg, with more of her body than even she knows made of metal and machinery. She's been dealt a pretty hard hand, but through it all she stays determined to find her way out and into a new life with her best friend, a droid named Iko (one of my favorite characters!) and her kind stepsister Peony. Of course, it's never that easy or there would be no story!

The story immediately pulled me in, the characters were at once intriguing and compelled me to either love or despise them, but to also want to know as much as I could about them. Prince Kai was absolutely swoon-worthy and unpretentious. I loved that he and Cinder seemed to easily fall into a friendship, someone they each felt comfortable confiding in. The pacing, I thought, flowed beautifully in all aspects of the plot---the romance, the politics, the race to find a cure for the plague, all held my attention with a death grip to the very end. It was hopeful and heartbreaking, romantic and terrifying all at once. One of the major twists was something I suspected all along, but completely relished watching as the secret unfolded. And that ending!! While it was a breath-taking cliffhanger, it ended this installment at the perfect spot and left me craving book two.

Definitely not a debut to be missed, people!!

Check out Marissa Meyer's site here, she's just posted an updated list of her tour stops---she'll be in San Francisco soon and I will be there to say hello and get my copy signed! So excited!

Purchase Cinder at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound

SO I wanted to spread my love of this book! I'm giving away my ARC copy, because this is definitely one that I want to have in beautiful hardcover sitting on my "favorites" shelf!

Do you want my ARC? Fill out THIS FORM and I'll pick a winner at random!
•US only, sorry International friends!
•13 and over
•Ends January 14th, 2012