Waiting on Wednesday (43)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine, and it is a way to show off the books you can't wait to be released!!

This week I chose:

"Eona"
by Alison Goodman
Viking Juvenile
Release Date: Apr 19, 2011

The following description is from goodreads.com:

Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon’s army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona’s power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the self-styled “Emperor” Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power—and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans....

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.

This looks like a girl power book to me!! I hadn't really heard anything about the first one in the series, but this one looks amazing! Has anyone read the first book??

What are you waiting for this week??

Teaser Tuesday (14)

Yay for "Teaser Tuesday" from MizB of Should be Reading!!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser Tuesday pick:

"He waited until she'd downed three gingersnaps and a piece of cake before deeming her mood restored enough for him to sit safely beside her."


p 11 "Promise Me Tonight" by Sarah Lindsey

Winners Announced!! Aphrodite the Beauty Swag Bag

Winners Announced!!

The winner of the "Aphrodite the Beauty" Swag Bag giveaway is:


Jinky!

Winners was chosen via random.org random number generator. Congrats to the winner!! I have emailed the winner for her mailing address. Winner has 3 days to respond :) A huge thank you goes out to Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams for sponsoring the contest and to everyone who entered!! Congrats!!

In My Mailbox (46)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and is a way for everyone to show their new books for the week, including those bought, swapped, won, or received for review.

contest wins:

"Hush Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick


"Crescendo" by Becca Fitzpatrick


Both won from lucidconspiracy.blogspot.com! I haven't read Hush Hush, and I'm so excited to read the finished version of Crescendo! Yay!

Bought:

"The Underneath" by Kathi Appelt


I've wanted to read this one for a long time!

"The Sweet Far Thing" by Libba Bray


Sadly, I haven't read any of the books in this series, but now I have all three :)

"Marked" by PC Cast and Kristin Cast


I tried to read this when it came out but couldn't get into it. I want to give it another try!

What did you receive in your mailbox this week???

"Athena the Brain" Review

To celebrate the "Aphrodite the Beauty" Swag Bag Contest, here is my review of the first book in the Goddess Girls series!! Don't forget to enter the contest!

"Athena the Brain" (Goddess Girls #1)
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: Apr 6, 2010

Source: sent by author

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

My review:
The first installment in the Goddess Girls books is a great introduction to the series. The reader is introduced to the school at Mt. Olympus at the same time that Athena first sees it. We are thrust into this brand new world of immortality and magic just like Athena is.

The book has a great message for girls about dealing with mean girls and also how to deal with boys. I loved Athena's attitude towards the cocky Poseidon as she realizes he's not so crush-worthy after all.

Book lovers will love Athena's brainy personality, and how she's always carrying around tons of scrolls (books). Her relationship with her dad, Zeus, is played out with love and comedy.

The only reason I marked this one 4.5 stars instead of 5 is because I really liked books 2 and 3 a lot better than this one. But sometimes that's what happens in the first book of a series, because the world has to be set up and introductions to the characters need to be made.

The covers of these books are fantastic. The bright colors and cartoony girls are so eye-catching, but the beauty is really in the details. Each cover has many small elements from the book that are woven into the picture. It's so fun to see Persephone's missing ball of yarn or Athena's pile of homework scrolls that she's never seen without. It's so nice to see a cover where the artist has clearly read the book instead of using a stock photo.


Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 5/5 (LOVE all the covers!!)
Writing: 5/5


Bottom Line: This is another great installment of the Goddess Girls series, fun, sweet stories for girls with a fantastic message!

Winners Announced!! "The Mischief of the Mistletoe"

Winners Announced!!

The 3 winners of the "The Mischief of the Mistletoe" book and ornament giveaway are:


samantha35
sharon

Winners were chosen via random.org random number generator. Congrats to the winners!! I have emailed the winners for their mailing addresses. Winners have 3 days to respond :) A huge thank you goes out to Dutton for sponsoring the contest and to everyone who entered!! Congrats!!

"Goddess Girls: Persephone the Phony" Review

To celebrate the "Aphrodite the Beauty" Swag Bag Contest, here is my review of the second book in the Goddess Girls series!! Don't forget to enter the contest!

"Persephone the Phony" (Goddess Girls #2)
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: Apr 6, 2010

Source: sent by author

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My review:I really loved this installment of the series. I think it deals with a really important tween issue for girls-standing up for yourself. This is an age where girls really start to feel pressure to be like everyone else and it's hard to remember to speak up.

Persephone is always agreeable, she wants to go along with everything just so she won't make anyone mad. She drags along to the mall when she would rather be home. She always agrees with her group of friends, even when she thinks differently. She even buys things she doesn't want in order to fit in and please others. For this reason, Persephone feels like a phony.

When she gets to know "bad boy" Hades, Persephone knows her friends and her mother don't approve. But for the first time, she wants to do what she wants, not what everyone else wants her to do. Persephone finds herself in danger by ignoring too many rules and she finally realizes there needs to be a balance between always agreeing and being too wild.

I think this age is when girls start submitting to peer pressure and start to lose themselves. This book could really be a helpful tool in teaching girls that they can still speak up for themselves and be an individual. Speaking up seems to be praised in boys but not girls, so I'm glad to see it addressed in a book targeted to girls. I can identify with Persephone even now and I hope I can learn to try to be less of a people-pleaser like she did.

Hades and Persephone's romance was just too adorable, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship continue to blossom in the third book.


Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 5/5 (so sweet!!)
Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 5/5 (LOVE all the covers!!)
Writing: 5/5


Bottom Line:Persephone's story was another great addition to the Goddess Girls series, with fantastic elements of young love, friendship, family, and most of all learning about yourself.