100 Follower Giveaway @ Cup of Tea Reviews!

Sabrina: We reached 100 followers!

Ashi: *nudge* You didn't say hi.

Sabrina: It's okay. It doesn't matter.

Ashi: Yes, it does.

Sabrina: *sigh* Fine. Hi everyone!

Ashi: Better.

Lucky: We're hosting a giveaway.

Sabrina: Why?

Lucky: *face palm* Weren't you the one who suggested it?

Sabrina: No, I didn't.

Ashi: *glares*

Sabrina: I-I mean, yes, I did. Isn't this giveaway a little late since we reached 100 followers a week ago or something?

Ashi: It doesn't matter. We're hosting it now anyway.

Lucky: Could we please get back to what we were talking about?

Sabrina: What were we talking about?

Lucky: *double face palm* THE GIVEAWAY!

Sabrina: But what is there to get back to since we're talking about the giveaway too?

Lucky: Just forget it.

Sabrina: Um, what exactly are we giving away?

Lucky: Let me explain. We're giving away any book from the Book Depository that's under $15. It's international as long as you're on their free shipping list.

Ashi: The giveaway will end at 11:59pm on September 9th, GMT +8.

Sabrina: Really?! Can I join? I'm a sea away from you and Lucky!

Ashi: No! Followers only. Besides, you're paying for this giveaway.

Sabrina: WHAT!?!?

Lucky: Just click on this FORM to enter. Please read our giveaway policy first!

On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where we list all the books we desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

        
           My Picks this week are..

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love—with a human—in this astonishingly original debut novel.

R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Not just another zombie novel, Warm Bodies is funny, scary, and deeply moving.

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student ... an attraction that could jeopardize everything.


*I've been dying to read both of these! So..if you'd maybe like trade, or give as a gift to me, go aheard, I'd love you forever for it :D ♥

Waiting On Wednesday

Hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine

Title: Triangles
Author: Ellen Hopkins
RELEASE DATE:  October 18, 2011
Synopsis: In this emotionally powerful novel, three women face the age-old midlife question: If I’m halfway to death, is this all I’ve got to show for it? Holly, filled with regret for being a stay-at-home mom, sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea, a single mom and avowed celibate, watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband? Then there’s Marissa. She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts. As one woman’s marriage unravels, another one’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s is reconfigured into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all three of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness before it is through.

*I love Ellen Hopkins and whether it's Fiction or YA, I'll read everything by her. This sounds really good and bonus because a character has my name ;3 (Andrea)

What I'm Reading

No IMM today, but here's what I'm currently reading :)

Title: Fobidden

Author: Tabitha Suzuma

Genre: YA

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

*Ah! I have been waiting so long to read this and so far I am not disapointed. I couldn't put it down and it was really a breathe a fresh air from Tiger's Curse. I had to stop reading though, to finish up Tiger's Curse so I'm going to run back to Forbidden and cuddle up and kiss it, because I am loving it!

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck -Review

Title: Tiger's Curse (Tiger Saga #1)
Author: Colleen Houck
Page Number: 406
Genre: YA
Synopsis: Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing 17-year old Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

My Review:  *contains minor spoilers!
Seeing as how long it took me so long to finish reading this (about two weeks!) , it's obvious I didn't like it. So, this whole review will be jubbled up and full of ranting and whatnot, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, let's start from the beginning.

I think the prologue was very well written and I think if it started any other way I would have put it down from the very first page. Houck has a better ability at writing in 3rd person then first.

So, right away I can tell Kelsey is an unrealistic, naive and immature character. I personally don't know any 17, 18 year old who acts like her. (myself being 17 almost 18) She seems like a 10 year old who has been through a rough patch in life. I see her as a heroine and then not. She's very selfless, a little too selfless and from the very first joke she said, I knew I wasn't going to like her because it just seemed like Houck was trying too hard to find her inner teen. And the character of Kelsey just didn't working out for me. I didn't like her at all.

From the synopsis its self it's pretty easy to figure out what's going to happen from beginning, middle and end. It was all too predictable. I think it would have all worked out if the writing was better.

 When Kelsey was asked to go to Indian, and from a stranger, I think she agreed way too soon, personally my parents would need about 6 months to 1 year notice and then another year to think about it! All in all, the whole book, except for the Indian mythology, was very very unrealistic.

That being said, I loved the mythology. It was one of the reasons I kept reading. It was very interesting and I liked reading about it.

What I didn't like was the fact that Ren fell in love with Kelsey so soon, he barely knew her and she doesn't seem very likable. Same goes for Kishan. I guess they were stuck being Tigers for too long.
Though I did like both of them because I could just picture how gorgeous and beautiful they both are. (in human form, but I suppose animal form also!)

Ugh, I don't know. I just didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I was going to. I read all these great reviews about it but when it came down to it, I wasn't happy. I have to admit though that I was starting to think I was liking the book towards the end, but then I realized I only did because it was ending.

I don't know if I will read the 2nd or 3rd or 4th, or just finish the series. If I do, I'll be borrowing it from a friend or library because I feel like I wasted $17 with the first.

IS IT JUST ME OR DOES THE BOOK FEEL RATHER FREAKING HEAVY? I DIDN'T LIKE THAT, RECYCLE HOUCK!

Overall it was alright, not the best.

My Rating: 2/5 -It was O.K. Bit disappointing though.

What I'm Reading

Title: Tiger's Curse (Tiger Saga #1)
Author: Colleen Houck
Synopsis: Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing 17-year old Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.


*I've heard so many great things about this book, but I'm 100+ pages in and I do NOT like it at all. The writing isn't very good and the main character and dialoge seems very unrealistic and immature.  And honestly, it's painful for me to keep reading, but I'm going to finish it no matter what.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett -Review

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Page Number: 522
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis:  Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

My Review: Right away this was one of those books that I did not want to finish. I loved it so much.

I think Stockett did an amazing job with the characters. Especially from the point of view of two black maids in the '60s. The writing was very good as well as the character developement.
I just really enjoyed reading it and everything that happened with the characters.
I really want to watch the movie, even though just watching the trailer I can see some differences already.

Ugh, I'm just like speechless about this book because it was just so beautifully written and inspirational and I just loved it.
My Rating: 5/5 -Favorite! ♥

18th Birthday Giveaway -In Between Writing & Reading

In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox is a weekly Meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, where you post the books you've recieved for review, bought, borrowed, traded, or got from the library!

This week I bought:

Zombies Vs Unicorns (I only got this for $4 at Books-A-Million!)

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? 

The Pact by Jodi Picoult 

 For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born.

So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet-- a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Berlin 1942

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

*I can't wait to get started on these books, they each sound amazing! I've been dying to read Forbidden for such a long time and now I have it, so happy :3

I also have Eragon coming in the mail which I got from Random Buzzers, so should be here sometime next week,  I can't wait for that!

Win Lola & the Boy Next Door, Crossed, & Shatter Me (click picture!)

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine

Title: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Release date: I hear Jan. 2012, not sure but 2012 for sure.
Synopsis: 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.


*I think this book/series just sounds so great & entertaining & everything I look for in a book and I cannot wait to read it!

What I'm Reading

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Synopsis: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.


*The movie looks great and the whole atmosphere of both movie & book remind me of The Secret Life of Bees, which I absolutely love.
So far, I'm really liking The Help.

In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox is a weekly Meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, where you post the books you've recieved for review, bought, borrowed, traded, or got from the library!

This is my first IMM, how exciting!

Bought:



The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Won on Goodreads:

These I got a couple weeks back, but since it's my first IMM I thought I'd post them anyways :)

Healer by Carol Cassella

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Unsaid by Neil Abramson

I'm currently reading The Help, so far I'm loving it & I can't wait to read the rest of these lovely books!

What's in your Mailbox? :)

Don't Breathe A Word -Review

Title: Don't Breathe A Word
Author: Jennifer McHahon
Page Number: 447
Genre: General/Adult Fiction
Synopsis: One summer night in Vermont, 12-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother Sam about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam , a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly they are faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hard-headed, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed and could destroy them all.

My Review: One word: WOW.
Don't Breathe A World is like nothing I've read before.
From the very first pages you know this is going to be an eerie and ominous book.  It is the first book that I have read by Jennifer McMahon and I was definitely not disappointed.

The writing is very well. I could not put the book down, even when dark decended. I should have though, because this is most definitely NOT a bedtime story. If you want to have possible nightmares, be my guest and read it at night, but I just couldn't. The ominous feel and creepy happenings were just always in my head after I finished reading it and I couldn't help but think about them before I went to sleep, and I wanted my good night sleep.

I'm not saying it was a bad book, because it's the opposite. I really enjoyed it and the characters were very well written.

While reading I just kept picturing the outcome of everything, I had so much ways it would have ended and what would have happended, that when it came to the end I was just like "Wait, what?"
The ending was a possible outcome in my head but then something else happened that made me say "Woah"
I just feel like there could be a possible sequel? Series? I hope so, because the ending felt unresolved and I want to know what else happens afterward.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it!

My Rating:  5/5 - Asolutely loved it! Favorite ♥

My Bookshelf!

Two Great Giveaways!

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Synopsis: Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.
Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood.
Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?
A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

*I love everything & anything by Ellen Hopkins. She is one of my favorite Authors & Impulse is by far my favorite by her. So I am so excited for this one! I cannot wait :3

Between Giveaway!

Go to Addicted 2 Novels! who is hosting this great giveaway :)