Future Favorites #143

Future Favorites is a weekly feature on Electrifying Reviews. Its purpose is to highlight six different books that look great, and will hopefully be favorites of mine when I get the chance to read them.

●Twinmaker by Sean Williams (HarperTeen: September 3, 2013)●

●The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney (HarperTeen: October 8, 2013)●

●Asylum by Madeline Roux (HarperCollins: August 27, 2013)●

●Don't Look Now (PERSEFoNE, #2) by Michelle Gagnon (August 27, 2013)●

●A Clockwork Heart (The Chronicle of Light and Shadow, #2) by Liesel Schwarz (Del Rey: August 20, 2013)●

●The Burning Sky (The Elemental Trilogy, #1) by Sherry Thomas (Balzer + Bray: September 17, 2013)●

Which of these looks the best to you? What are some books you're looking forward to? Comment below and let me know!

Strife by Cate Tiernan

Title: Strife (Sweep, #9)
Author: Cate Tiernan
Publisher: Puffin (Reprint: Speak)
Release: January 18, 2002

As Morgan's relationship with Hunter deepens, she should be happy, but instead she is in great danger. Members of the Amyranth coven are still trying to track her down to destroy her, while Hunter is receiving strange messages from someone - could it be his father? Erin Murphy, a blood-witch expert in magickal defences arrives from Scotland to teach Morgan self-defence, but now there is another threat. A new young member of Morgan's coven, fourteen-year-old Alisa, has some very strong powers and is affecting Morgan - but is she a friend or an enemy?

This is going to be a pretty short review. I read this book a while back, and when it comes to this series I really need to write my reviews immediately after reading each book because all of them start to blend together after a while. Anyway, Strife was another exciting addition to the Sweep series, and as always it was a pleasure to enter this world again.

Strife highlights the negative aspects of Morgan's magick, and reveals that even the people who are closest to her are at a point where they fear her power. Her magick is going haywire, and Morgan is forced to try to figure out why. Things in her personal and romantic life also start to fall apart a bit, and I'm both nervous and anxious to see where things lead from here. 

It's obvious that the focus of this series is shifting, and as much as I've enjoyed the path it's traveled so far, I will admit that it's getting a bit redundant. Each Sweep book is fun and short and is all too good at taking me away from the rest of my life and reeling me in until I finish. If you haven't had a chance to get started with this series yet, I'd surely recommend it. 

Future Favorites #142

Future Favorites is a weekly feature on Electrifying Reviews. Its purpose is to highlight six different books that look great, and will hopefully be favorites of mine when I get the chance to read them.

●Blackout by Robison Wells (HarperTeen: October 1, 2013)●

●Eternal (Haven, #3) by Kristi Cook (Simon Pulse: September 3, 2013) ●

●Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom, #3) by Tera Lynn Childs (Katherine Tegen: September 3, 2013)●

●Hover (The Taking, #2) by Melissa West (Entangled Teen: August 6, 2013)●

●Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis (Katherine Tegen: September 10, 2013)●

●Descendant (Starling, #2) by Lesley Livingston (HarperTeen: August 27, 2013)●

Which of these looks the best to you? What are some books you're looking forward to? Comment below and let me know!

In My Mailbox #139

In My Mailbox is a weekly book blog feature hosted by The Story Siren. It gives book bloggers the opportunity to share the books we get each week with other bloggers, and our followers. The past few weeks I got...

+eBooks

Kevin by Paul Kupperberg (hardcover)

Thanks to Grosset & Dunlap

Survivor (Alone, #2) by James Phelan (paperback)

Thanks to Kteen

Trial by Fire (Stranded, #2) by Jeff Probst & Chris Tebbetts (ARC)

Thanks to Puffin

Beautiful Decay by Sylvia Lewis (paperback)

Thanks to Running Press

Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark (ARC)

Thanks to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

The Keep (The Watchers, #4) by Veronica Wolff (paperback)

Thanks to NAL 

Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking by Erin Dionne (ARC)

Thanks to Dial

Al Capone Does My Homework (A Tale from Alcatraz, #3) by Gennifer Choldenko (ARC)

Thanks to Dial

After Iris by Natasha Farrant (ARC)

Thanks to Dial

Sink or Swim (The Creature from the Seventh Grade, #2) by Bob Balaban (ARC)

Thanks to Viking

Emma Emmets, Playground Matchmaker by Julia DeVillers (ARC)

Thanks to Razorbill

Impostor (Variants, #1) by Susanne Winnacker (hardcover)

Thanks to Razorbill & Authors on the Web

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy, #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan (eARC)

Thanks to Random House, via Edelweiss

The Lost Sun (The United States of Asgard, #1) by Tessa Gratton (eARC)

Thanks to Random House, via Edelweiss

Golden Girl (The American Fairy Trilogy, #2) by Sarah Zettel (eARC)

Thanks to Random House, via Edelweiss

Teardrop by Lauren Kate (eARC)

Thanks to Delacorte, via Edelweiss

Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn, #2) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian (eARC)

Thanks to Simon & Schuster, via Edelweiss

The Program by Suzanne Young (eARC)

Thanks to Simon Pulse, via Edelweiss

Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin (eARC)

Thanks to Knopf, via Edelweiss

Learning Not to Drown by Anna Shinoda (eARC)

Thanks to Atheneum, via Edelweiss

Phantom Eyes (Witch Eyes, #3) by Scott Tracey (eARC)

Thanks to Flux, via NetGalley

The Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Kleher (eARC)

Thanks to Flux, via NetGalley

Strikeforce (Skyship Academy, #3) by Nick James (eARC)

Thanks to Flux, via NetGalley

Blood and Snow by Rashelle Workman (ebook)

Thanks to All Night Reads, via NetGalley

Found (Penny Black, #1) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel (ebook)

Thanks to All Night Reads, via NetGalley

Grasping at Eternity (The Kindrily, #1) by Karen Amanda Hooper (ebook)

Thanks to All Night Reads, via NetGalley

Sworn to Raise (Courtlight, #1) by Terah Edun (ebook)

Thanks to All Night Reads, via NetGalley

Shattered by Kathi Baron (eARC)

Thanks to Westside, via NetGalley

Twigs by Alison Ashley Formento (eARC)

Thanks to Merit Press, via NetGalley

Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader (eARC)

Thanks to Merit Press, via NetGalley

Vigilante Nights by Erin Richards (eARC)

Thanks to Merit Press, via NetGalley

Body & Blood (The Survivors, #3) by Amanda Havard (eARC)

Thanks to Chafie, via NetGalley

The Journey (Ghost Huntress, #6) by Marley Gibson (eARC)

Thanks to TKA, via NetGalley

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin (eARC)

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, via NetGalley

Data Runner by Sam A. Patel (eARC)

Thanks to Diversion, via NetGalley

The Savage Blue (The Vicious Deep, #2) by Zoraida Cordova (eARC)

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, via NetGalley

Compliance (The Dust Chronicles, #2) by Maureen McGowan (eARC)

Thanks to Skyscape, via NetGalley

Samurai Summer by Ake Edwardson (eARC)

Thanks to Skyscape, via NetGalley

Intuition (Transcendence, #2) by C.J. Omololu (eARC)

Thanks to Walker, via NetGalley

Chameleon (Supernaturals, #1) by Kelly Oram (eARC)

Thanks to Kelly

And in case you missed it...

●Giveaway: The Other Side●

●Future Favorites #139●

●The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky●

●An Unnamed Post That I Hope Y'All Will Enjoy.●

●Future Favorites #140●

●Etcetera. (4.28.13)●

●Future Favorites #141●

●The Loop Blog Tour: Where Ideas Come From●

The Loop Blog Tour: Where Ideas Come From

Ben and Maggie have met, fallen in love, and died together countless times. Over the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.

As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?


Where Ideas Come From  by Shandy Lawson

It's tempting to say that I get asked this all the time, but the truth is that I'm not exactly a Household Name and therefore I don't get asked anything all the time. But I have been asked, more than once, where the ideas for my stories come from.

The answer is simple: Everywhere. I get ideas from bits of conversation I overhear on the train, from people-watching in the park, and from stories on the nightly news. There is a great radio show on NPR (as well as a podcast) called Radiolab, and there are more story ideas in an hour of that show than I could make use of in a lifetime.

I stalk flea markets and antique shops looking for old photographs, and stick them in a photo album on my bookshelf at home. I have dozens of snapshots of other peoples' lives from a half-century ago, just waiting to be written about. And if for some reason I can't find a story in one of those pictures, maybe there's a story in there about a creepy guy who collects other peoples' old photos.

Once, on the subway, I saw a woman with a black eye dressed as a cowboy, clutching a bowling trophy. You know there's a story in that.

(And that's far from the weirdest thing I've seen on the subway, that's for sure.)

The interesting thing is that the idea for The Loop didn't come from any of these places, it just popped out when I was trying to come up with a concept that hadn't already been done over and over-- and yes, I get the irony of not wanting to do something that's been done over and over and over and then writing a book like The Loop. You know, where things happen over and over.

Strange fact: all my best ideas come to me in the shower. I think this is because my subconscious is a jerk and it knows I don’t have anything to write with in there, and that I'll have forgotten the idea before I've even dried off. Happens all the time.

Where do you get your ideas? I'd love to hear about it, so comment below. Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. Cheers!

Future Favorites #141

Future Favorites is a weekly feature on Electrifying Reviews. Its purpose is to highlight six different books that look great, and will hopefully be favorites of mine when I get the chance to read them.

●Deception (Defiance, #2) by C.J. Redwine (Balzer + Bray: August 27, 2013)●

●3:59 by Gretchen McNeil (Balzer + Bray: September 17, 2013)●

●Snakeroot (Nightshade, #4) by Andrea Cremer (Philomel: December 10, 2013)●

●Infinityglass (Hourglass, #3) by Myra McEntire (Egmont: August 6, 2013)●

●The Bitter Kingdom (The Girl of Fire and Thorns, #3) by Rae Carson (Greenwillow: August 27, 2013)●

●Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund (Balzer + Bray: October 15, 2013)●

Which of these looks the best to you? What are some books you're looking forward to? Comment below and let me know!

Etcetera. (4.28.13)

Believe it or not, I do a lot more than read books in my spare time. I decided to create "Etcetera" to share some of the other things I've enjoyed (or not) over the past week. 

Young and Beautiful

Like I mentioned last week, Lana Del Rey's new single "Young and Beautiful" leaked on Sunday and was officially released the next day. The song is from the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby, which comes out May 10. I am a huge, huge fan of Lana and I firmly believe this is one of her very best songs. I have 127 songs by her on my phone, and I keep going back to listen to Young and Beautiful. The lyrics are, well, beautiful, and Lana sounds heavenly as always. Can't wait for The Great Gatsby to come out! 

House of Cards

I probably shouldn't mention this, because she might get in trouble for this, but my AP Lang teacher recommended this Netflix Original Series to me, and she has never led me in the wrong direction with one of her recommendations yet, so I decided I'd give it a try. While I was pretty bored with the first couple episodes, I discovered that this show gets better with each new episode and now I'm hooked. The great thing about this show is that since it is a Netflix Original, they don't have to hold anything back, so rest assured there's lots of drugs, sex, and scandal.

Milk

I know I'm a little tardy to the party with this one, but I decided that I'd check this movie out from the library since I knew it had won many awards and I hadn't heard anything negative about it. I was blown away by Harvey Milk's story. I had actually never heard anything about him before watching this biographical film, and I'm quite astounded at that fact. The things he did as a politician for the gay rights movement, and the all-around bettering of his community are so respectable. I'm so glad I got to experience this movie, and I wish I would have seen it earlier!

Iggy Azalea

This may come as a surprise, but I recently have acquired quite the taste for rap music. I mostly just enjoy female rappers (Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Shystie, Nicki Minaj, and now Iggy Azalea), but I do enjoy a few songs by male rappers too. Anyway, back to Iggy... I saw the video for "Work" and was immediately excited to find another artist to enjoy. Her songs are upbeat and energetic and her personality really comes through with her music. I also think it's really interesting that she's from Australia, but chooses to rap with a southern American accent. If you like this kind of music, check Iggy out. 

Girl Model

I watch a lot of documentaries, but few have shocked me the way Girl Model did. I'm very interested in the modeling and fashion industries, so I watch a lot of documentaries about them, and Girl Model is definitely my favorite that I have seen. The film is about a thirteen year old Russian girl who is sent to Tokyo to model, and is basically taken advantage of. The film also has the perspective of the woman who sends the girl into the terrible situation--a former model who was once in the same position. It's creepy at times, and often sad, but it's a very complex film that's about more than just modeling--it also explores the bizarre aspects of human nature.

So that's all for this week! Let me know what you think. If you know of something you think I might enjoy, shout it out and I'll give it a try. Who knows, maybe it'll be featured next week!