Winners of Freaks and Revelations!

The winners of Freaks and Revelations are:

Nicole
xxsquigglesxx
Justine

Congratulations! I have emailed you guys so please respond with your full name and mailing address no later than Tuesday the 5th, that would be great!

The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz

Amazon.com:

Summer is here, and 16-year-old Allie, a self-professed music geek, is exactly where she wants to be: working full-time at Berkeley’s ultra-cool Bob and Bob Records. There, Allie can spend her days bantering with the street people, talking the talk with the staff, shepherding the uncool bridge-and-tunnel shoppers, all the while blissfully surrounded by music, music, music. It’s the perfect setup for her to develop her secret identity as The Vinyl Princess, author of both a brand-new zine and blog. From the safety of her favorite place on earth, Allie is poised to have it all: love, music and blogging.

Her mother, though, is actually the one getting the dates, and business at Allie’s beloved record store is becoming dangerously slow—not to mention that there have been a string of robberies in the neighborhood. At least her blog seems to be gaining interest, one vinyl junkie at a time….


The Vinyl Princess is perfect. Main character Allie lives her life loving music, her job selling vinyl and her friends and family, basically she's awesome and I want to be her friend. The book was realistic but in the way that everyone in the book was cooler than me and I only wish I was that awesome. From Allie's extensive knowledge of music to her best friend Kit's fashion know-how I bow down to these people and am extremely jealous of them.

While the characters were great the overall atmosphere of the book was rocking as well, it gave off a bit of an Empire Records vibe for me, independent record store with a bunch of musicheads and freaks running around humor etc. There was also a bit of a mystery (that I solved just before Allie) involving a string of robberies in town and a bit of romance. Basically The Vinyl Princess is a very well rounded story with music holding the whole thing together.

Another awesome thing about the book I really appreciated was that the Vinyl Princess zine is real, I actually have a copy and I believe the blog is real as well! I love when an author takes the time to make the book come to life and doesn't just use something for the book but takes the time to make it real for the readers. That gets a major thumbs up from me.

Overall a great young adult book for teens and music lovers alike!

The Vinyl Princess was released on December 22nd!
Genre: Young Adult
5/5 Stars
ARC provided by publisher

"Waiting On" Wednesday 63

The Star Shack by Lila Castle

Sourcebooks Fire:

Pete and Annabelle live for their summers together on Gingerbread Beach. They've always believed they were a perfect pair… until junior year, when Annabelle becomes obsessed with astrology. Now they can hardly stand each other. Pete thinks that Annabelle (a Leo) has become a total flake; Annabelle thinks Pete (a Scorpio) has become an uptight jerk.

When Annabelle dares Pete to open a summer business on the Boardwalk generating personalized horoscopes, their fast-paced, hilarious bickering soon rises to a fever pitch. The he-said/she-said advice of the Star Shack is wildly popular and seems able to fix any relationship problem… except their own.

But when one of Annabelle's star charts helps catch a thief, Pete might have to admit that the stars could really hold the key to the future… and to his own heart.

Released June 2010

This sounds like a lot of fun and I love the idea of a boyfriend and girlfriend trying to show each other up, sounds like it will make for some great chemistry!

What can't you wait for to be released?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

Hardcover vs Paperback 61

Watch Me (formerly Reality Chick) by Lauren Barnholdt

Reality Chick paperback

Watch Me paperback

Amazon.com (Reality Chick):

All-hour study fests . . . all-night parties . . .

Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to watch. On uncensored cable.

Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if school isn't panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old crushes, and learning to live on your own. Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares? Ally's got bigger issues -- like how her long-distance bf can watch her loopy late-night "episode" with a certain housemate. . . .

Freshman year on film.

It's outrageous.

It's juicy.

And like all good reality TV,

it's impossible to turn off.

This was an interesting change, from Reality Chick to Watch Me. I feel like the new title takes it in a more serious and less fun and flirty direction almost into peeping tom territory. I can see wanting to get away from the word "reality" and the idea of a camera though, I'm sure I'm not the only one that's sick of a lot of the reality tv out there and things with that label can be a turn off. I think the new cover will fit in well with the current covers currently being seen in young adult literature so I think it will help find the book a new audience.

Have you spotted a Hardcover vs. Paperback you would like to contribute? Send me an email!

Of All The Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz

Amazon.com:

When a rumor starts circulating that Tara's boyfriend Brent has been sleeping with one of the guy cheerleaders, the innuendo doesn't just hurt Tara. It marks the beginning of the end for an inseparable trio of friends. Tara's training for a marathon, but also running from her fear of abandonment after being deserted by her father. Whitney Blaire seems to have everything, but an empty mansion and absentee parents leave this beauty to look for meaning in all the wrong places. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mom she's never stopped missing. This friendship that promised to last forever is starting to break under the pressure of the girls' differences.

And then new-girl Riley arrives in school with her long black hair, athletic body, and her blasé attitude, and suddenly Tara starts to feel things she's never felt before for a girl--and to reassess her feelings about Brent and what he may/may not have done. Is Tara gay--or does she just love Riley? And can her deepest friendships survive when all of the rules have changed?

Some of my favorite books involve alternating perspectives and a group of best friends so Off All The Stupid Things at first glance would be right up my alley. And while I did enjoy reading it, it wasn't focused enough for me to love it.

I enjoyed all the characters and their basic story lines and how different they were from each other. They were almost so different it was hard to understand why they were friends, but that does get somewhat explained in the book. I love how quickly they came to each others defense and particularly Whitney Blaire who was not afraid to whisper or shout some choice words or even pull some hair when she thought her friends were being threatened.

Initially I thought the focus was to be on Tara with Whitney Blaire & Pinkie sort of acting as secondary stories but they all sort of took turns taking the spotlight. In a book this short that left a lot of unfinished story lines that were over much to quickly. I think it would have made more sense to decrease these very fast moving plot points to make more room for more resolution. The book to me ended much to quickly and on a sort of strange note, I hope there is a sequel planned of some sort because I hope for more resolution that I got.

Overall a story of friendship that could have done with a few less story lines and more focus.

Of All the Stupid Things was released on December 22nd
Genre: Young Adult
3/5 Stars
ARC provided by publisher

I Am Neurotic (and so are you) by Lianna Kong

Amazon.com:

Did you wash your hands?

Set the alarm clock?

Lock the front door?

Better yet: Do you like even numbers? Do you fold all of your trash neatly into squares? Do you count steps? Do you carry a bottle of hand sanitizer with you at all times? Everyone has his or her own neuroses. On a routine trip to the office bathroom, Lianna Kong discovered one of hers: "How could I possibly pee with my coworker sitting right next to me doing her business?" And, in that quiet moment of panic, iamneurotic.com was born.

i am neurotic (and so are you) is a smorgasbord of anonymous confessions that reveal people's deepest, strangest, and funniest compulsions—quirks that are triggered in the boardroom, the bedroom, and everywhere in between.

I had seen I Am Neurotic on a display shelf a few weeks back and thought it looked like something I would enjoy. Then later found out it was first a blog (I love the blog to book stories) and finally sought it out at the store recently. It was definitely what I had expected. I identified several of my own "quirks" in the pages of this book and other ones I had never considered!

It was a little funny and a little comforting to read this book. Finding out a lot of people have little things that they have to do, or notice to make their day go by smoothly. It's not usually something that comes up in conversation for me so it was nice to get a dose of some story swapping.

The format of the book is very small and it is perfect bound so it's a little hard to really open up and see all the photography without cracking the spine. A larger format or different binding would have made the book a lot easier to read. I loved the photos that were taken to go with the contributions. They were these sort of muted shots that aren't overly finished and I think they compliment the contributions nicely. My favorites are where you can see a person's face instead of a close up of a hand or something like that.

Overall this is the kind of book you will know in an instant if it is for you or not and i had a great time with it!

I Am Neurotic was released on October 13th

Genre: Collection, Based on a Blog
4/5 Stars
Purchased at Borders

i am neurotic blog
i am neurotic tumblr (has tons of sample pages)

Winners of the "I Will Make You A Feltie 2 Contest"!

My three winners are:

Adrienne who wanted the white sheep.

Laina who wanted the frog.

Holly who wanted the cat.

I emailed you guys, if you could get back to me by next Sunday the 3rd with your addresses and to verify you still want the feltie you have picked that would be wonderful!

And here are the stats for this time around!

This Week In Books Or Happy Holidays!

Monday:

Wish by Alexandra Bullen
Wet Friend! (Adventure of Meno Book Two)

For review from Amazon Vine.

Tuesday:

The Celebutantes: To The Penthouse by Antonio Pagliarulo
Spells and Sleeping Bags by Sarah Mlynowski
Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning
Indie Girl by Kavita Daswani
The Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu
Disenchanted Princess by Julie Linker
Spanish Holiday by Kate Cann
The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12 by Robin Gold
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Had a chance to stop at the library bookstore.... oops!

Freaks and Revelations by David Wills Hurwin
Hearts At Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
Captivate by Carrie Jones

For review. Last two I may have gotten accidentally, but I'll give them a try.

Wednesday:

Plush-o-rama Kit by Linda Kopp

My boss got me this as a Christmas gift! Can you tell I'm telling everyone about my felties obsession!

Thursday:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

For review.

Friday: nothing (family knows I already have wayyy to many books!)

Saturday:
Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty by Helen Dardik
The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson

Thought I'd get the embroidery book to expand my felties hobby, it's for kids so it should be easy and I love the illustration style. I didn't even know about The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox until I was checking out from Amazon and it popped up, had to have it!

Lookalikes 81

Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley

The Turning: What Curiosity Kills by Helen Ellis

Ok, not exactly the same but they both share faces with eye contact and light spots (which I happen to adore). I think I like The Turning a bit more because it's a bit more focused and less going on. Whereas Lipstick Apology has the face, the city and some random blurry space between them. I also think the colors in The Turning are a bit richer.

Have you spotted a Lookalike you would like to contribute? Send me an email!

"Waiting On" Wednesday 62

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

Sourcebook Fires:

After getting dumped by her boyfriend, sixteen-year-old Mia Gordon is looking forward to spending a relaxing summer in the Hamptons with her glamorous cousins. But when she arrives, her cousins are distant, moody, and caught up with a fast crowd. Mia finds herself lonelier than ever.

That's when she meets her next-door-neighbor, Simon Ross. Simon isn't like the snobby party boys her cousins seem obsessed with; he's funny, artistic, and utterly adventurous. And from the very first time he encourages Mia to go skinny-dipping, she's caught up in a current impossible to resist.

Timeless in feel, The Summer of Skinny-Dipping is a poignant, literary read sure to dazzle tweens and teens alike.

Released June 2010

I was giddy when I found out that Sourcebooks was launcing a young adult imprint, Sourcebooks Fire! And this is one that caught my attention! Sounds like a feel good book!

What can't you wait for to be released?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

Hardcover vs Paperback 60

Sophomore Switch by Abby McDonald

Hardcover

Paperback

UK Edition

Amazon.com:

Take an administrative snafu, a bad breakup, and what shall heretofore be known as "The Hot-Tub Incident," and you’ve got two unprepared sophomores on a semester abroad. For American party girl Tasha, an escape to Oxford may be a chance to ditch her fame as a tabloid temptress, but wading Uggs-deep in feminist theory is not her idea of a break. Meanwhile, the British half of the exchange, studious Emily, nurses an aching heart amid the bikinis and beer pong of U.C. Santa Barbara. Soon desperation has the girls texting each other tips — on fitting in, finding love, and figuring out who they really are. With an anthropologist’s eye for detail and a true ear for teen-speak, exciting new novelist Abby McDonald has crafted a funny, fast-paced, poignant look at survival, sisterhood, and the surprising ways we discover our true selves.

First of all, the name. I prefer Sophomore Switch to Life Swap. It's more specific, Life Swap could refer to any age group. And I definitely prefer the US covers more because they show people which really get the idea of opposites across. And the paperback specifically is my favorite, the cover is more alive for me and I love the colors. The hardcover looks like the same model only with different clothes on.

Have you spotted a Hardcover vs. Paperback you would like to contribute? Send me an email!

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Amazon.com:

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her—and what didn't.

Her conclusions are sometimes surprising—she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference—and they range from the practical to the profound.

Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable. Gretchen Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.

I have no idea how to properly convey how I feel about this book. I felt so much for it and because of it and it's kind of crazy. I saw so much of myself in the author and some of the examples she explained, half the time I was sitting there dumbstruck. She breaks down her resolutions in such a way it's very easy to follow along and she is so specific in how they work out you really can't ask for much more.

Rubin writes in a way that it was very easy for me to relate to and understand. It's a real achievement how much research she did and how many information she is easily able to get across to the reader. Just her Happiness Project in general was a large undertaking but it seemed like so much fun as well. I actually feel happier just having read it and also trying out and noticing little things here and there about myself. This is a book that I think will stay with me forever and one that's definitely worth a yearly read, I can not stop talking about it. I would consider it a must read for just about anyone. I found myself only reading a bit a day so I could draw it out longer, I didn't want it to end.

It's funny that I've reacted to The Happiness Project so strongly too because originally it just sounded like a cute and fun memoir which is something I love to read, but it was so so much more than that. You might think with it being a bit of a self help book that it could get preachy or be filled with boring clinical talk or charts and graphs but it's nothing at all like that. It's someone sharing their wonderful experience with great insight that is very easy to transfer to your own life.

The Happiness Project is an achievement by the author and I would strongly suggest this book to everyone.

The Happiness Project will be released on December 29th!
Genre: Memoir/Self-Help
5/5 Stars
ARC provided by Amazon Vine
The Happiness Project blog

This Week In Books Or Is it Break Time Yet?

Monday:

Split by Stefan Petrucha

For review.

Tuesday: nothing

Wednesday:

The Life of Glass by Jillian Cantor
Rich Again by Anna Maxted

Life of Glass for a blog tour and Rich Again from GoodReads Giveaways.

Thursday: nothing

Friday:

Get Lucky by Katherine Center

For a blog tour.

I Am Neurotic by Lianna Kong
Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield
The Happy Book by Rachel Kempster and Meg Leder

Had $5 Borders Bucks and a 30% off coupon. So I thought I'd go take a peek. Went for a magazine that actually ceased publication a year ago (I so didn't know that!) and to look at The Happy Book which I had on my wishlist and thought it would fit well with The Happiness Project (more on that later). I then remembered seeing I Am Neurotic on a gift table the time before and then online, wasn't there anymore but I thought neurotic was in the title and I was right so I found it! Also picked up Caffeine for the Creative Mind because I've been wanting it for years so figured what the heck!

Saturday: nothing

Lookalikes 80

The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Rewind by Laura Dower

And here is one that I found:

Crimson Rose by R. Malone

Definitely The Splendor Falls, the typeface on Rewind is just, no. I do like the image used on Rewind though. Crimson Rose looks like the text was just kind of slapped on the cover.

Which do you prefer?

Thanks to Claire/Bookworm for pointing out this lookalike!

Have you spotted a Lookalike you would like to contribute? Send me an email!

Weekly Dose of Felties!

Back again with the felties I've made since last time!

I sent off my 3 giveaway winner's felties over the weekend and actually started a new feltie giveaway with patterns from The Cute Book. And the new felties...

Rain cloud of my own design. Raining tears or crying rain? You decide.

Supposed to be a Christmas light, meh, not sure...

"Panda" from The Cute Book"

Christmas tree, based on one of my sketches.

"Monkey" from The Cute Book

And finally one of the feltie winner's Irish was kind enough to take a picture of herself with the frog she won! *spreads feltie joy*

UPDATE! Dani took a picture of the puppy she won! Here it is! Thanks Dani!

The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman

Amazon.com:

Mark your calendar. It's the Christmas Cookie Club! Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather in the evening with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish, a bottle of wine, and their stories. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie's oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story might end? Jeannie's father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal, and how can that be forgiven or forgotten, even among old friends such as these? Rosie's husband doesn't want children, and she has to decide, very soon, whether or not that's a deal breaker for the marriage. Taylor's life is in financial freefall. Each woman, each friend has a story to tell, and they are all interwoven, just as their lives are.

On this evening, at least, they can feel as a group the impulses of sisterly love and conflict, the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the agony of losing a child, and above all, the love they have for one another. As Marnie says, the Christmas Cookie Club, if it's anything, is a reminder of delight.

The Christmas Cookie Club is about the paths Marnie and her friends have traveled, the absolute joy they take in life and love despite the decisions they've regretted, the hard choices and amends they've had to make, and the sacrifices along the way. Ultimately, The Christmas Cookie Club is every woman's story. As you read about Marnie and her friends, their struggles and triumphs, what makes them laugh and what has made them cry, you'll see yourself and some of the ingredients of your own story. Celebrating courage and joy in spite of hard times and honoring the importance of women's friendships as well as the embracing bonds of community, Ann Pearlman has written a novel that speaks to us all.

The Christmas Cookie Club explored a large group of friends, each with their own story to tell. All their stories are told by the host of the Christmas Cookie Club, Marnie. I loved how flawed and complex these women's lives were, it made the story realistic in my opinion. I also loved the strong friendships that were illustrated and how Marnie was able to bring together all these women from different parts of her life for one night of the year.

The idea of the actual Christmas Cookie Club was a fabulous one. From what I've read, it sounds like it was based on an actual club the author belongs to. I have to tell you, it sounds like a lot of fun and I wish I could be in one. Each section starts off with one of the cookie recipes and ends with a history of an essential ingredient for baking. While I'm not much of a baker these recipes sound delicious, but what I really enjoyed were the mini history's of the ingredients. All sorts of things I never knew!

While I liked how many women were profiled in this story it almost became too much. I sometimes had to turn back to recall someone's story when they popped up in a later chapter. Maybe a few less women would have made the story a little easier to recall. Some women were definitely more front and center than others and that did help.

Overall a great and touching story that's perfect for the holiday season!

The Christmas Cookie Club was released on October 20th
Genre: Women's Fiction
4/5 stars
Review copy provided by Amazon Vine

GIVEAWAY: Freaks and Revelations

Personally I haven't had a chance to read this book, which sounds amazing but am looking forward to doing so. Anyhow, here's your chance to be one of 3 winners of this book!

Hachette Book Group:

This raw, moving novel follows two teenagers-one, a Mohawk-wearing 17-year-old violent misfit; the other, a gay 13-year-old cast out by his family, hustling on the streets and trying to survive. Acclaimed author Davida Wills Hurwin creates a riveting narrative told in alternating perspectives of their lives before and after the violent hate crime that changed both their futures. This tragic but ultimately inspirational journey of two polarized teens, their violent first meeting, and their peaceful reunion years later is an unforgettable story of survival and forgiveness.

This story is inspired by the real lives of Matthew Boger and Timothy Zaal, who have shared their story on The Oprah Winfrey Show and NPR.


Here's how to enter to win one of three finished copies of Freaks and Revelations!

Fill out the giveaway entry form here.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S. and Canada only (and no PO Boxes).

The giveaway will end December 30th at 6:59 pm Central Time.

**Copies provided by the publisher**

"Waiting On" Wednesday 61

The Year I Turned Sixteen by Diane Schwemm

Amazon.com:

The Year I Turned Sixteen by Diane Schwemm is the story of four sisters, four birthdays, and four unforgettable years.

Released January 26th 2010

I know that blurb doesn't give us a lot so I did a little google searching and this looks like a re-issuing. It also appears that originally there were four books (Rose, Daisy, Laurel, Lily-one for each sister) and were all combined for this edition, similar to what has been done for the L.J. Smith books! Sounds great to me and its a paperback!

What can't you wait for to be released?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

Hardcover vs Paperback 59

Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

A major voice in fiction debuts with the story of a teenage runaway on the streets of 1980s New York.

Teenage Joon is a Korean immigrant living in the Bronx of the 1980s. Her parents have crumbled under the weight of her father's infidelity; he has left the family, and mental illness has rendered her mother nearly catatonic. So Joon, at the age of thirteen, decides she would be better off on her own, a choice that commences a harrowing and often tragic journey that exposes the painful difficulties of a life lived on the margins. Joon's adolescent years take her from a homeless shelter to an escort club, through struggles with addiction, to jobs selling newspapers and cosmetics, committing petty crimes, and finally toward something resembling hope.

Yes, the covers are basically the same, but I wanted to illustrate how cluttering up a paperback with quotes, awards etc can really almost ruin a great cover. They added 4 different lines of copy to it! I say that stuff should stay on the back, especially on a cover as simple as this, it distracts much too much.

Do quotes, and awards added to a paperback bother you?

Have you spotted a Hardcover vs. Paperback you would like to contribute? Send me an email!

All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

Amazon.com:

Carly: She was sweet. Smart. Self-destructive. She knew the secrets of Brighton Day School’s most privileged students. Secrets that got her killed.

Neily: Dumped by Carly for a notorious bad boy, Neily didn’t answer the phone call she made before she died. If he had, maybe he could have helped her. Now he can’t get the image of her lifeless body out of his mind.

Audrey: She’s the reason Carly got tangled up with Brighton’s fast crowd in the first place, and now she regrets it—especially since she’s convinced the police have put the wrong person in jail. Audrey thinks the murderer is someone at Brighton, and she wants Neily to help her find out who it is.

As reluctant allies Neily and Audrey dig into their shared past with Carly, her involvement with Brighton’s dark goings-on comes to light. But figuring out how Carly and her killer fit into the twisted drama will force Audrey and Neily to face hard truths about themselves and the girl they couldn’t save.

All the Unquiet Things was a refreshing book for me, just what I was looking for. After discovering I was burnt out on supernatural stories this heartbreaking mystery set in the here and now, without any characters with powers was just what I was looking for.

Besides the mystery aspect the book spoke of lost love, friendship, and family troubles. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite television shows, Veronica Mars. I love the idea of teens solving a mystery (and not a childish mystery), their tactics are obviously going to be different than an adults, or the police. It's just more fun.

I loved that the book was told both from Neily and Audrey's perspectives. Though sometimes I had to remind myself who the narrator was because they were often in each others scenes. It was also refreshing to come across two main characters that weren't involved romantically but worked together as a team, as friends, they helped each other find closure over the death of their love (Neily) and best friend/cousin (Audrey).

There were only a few suspects in the story but when it came down to it, I totally didn't see it coming when the actual murderer was revealed. The entire book was a complex web of lies and truths and I just had a great time reading the book. I also think it would lend itself nicely to a movie format.

All Unquiet Things will be released on January 12th 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
4.5/5 Stars
ARC provided by Amazon Vine

GIVEAWAY: "I Will Make You A Feltie 2"

After the success of my last felties contest I thought I'd have another! This one is for felties from The Cute Book.

Here's how to enter to be one of three winners of the feltie of your choice!

Fill out the giveaway entry form here.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S and Canada.

The giveaway will end December 27th at 6:59 pm Central Time.

Look below to decide which pattern you would like me to make you if you are the winner. The form will ask you to choose one (or pick surprise me! if you really can't choose).

"Striped Cat" minus the stripes

"Frog"

"White Sheep"

"Panda"

"Monkey"

The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo

Amazon.com:

The world of craftsters is full of things Japanese Cute - kawaii, and the look created by Aranzi Aronzo is familiar to many but not until now has a single one of the hundreds of bootleg American copies they've sold been in English. Finally these priceless books of mascots, accessories, clothing and well, just about everything, come in ready-to-read English!

After making more than half of the felties in Nelly Pailloux's Felties I started poking around for other similar books. I located this one, took a look at it at and purchased it. By now I had the basics down so was just looking for some new patterns.

I noticed a few strange and not very cute patterns (to me) but bought it anyways for some of the cute ones. The ones I thought were strange were things such as "Kidnapper", "Bad Guy", and "Liar", I think they are just the sense of humor of the creators and I don't really share that same sense of humor, I'm all about the cute not so much the weird. But no matter, the book had things such as "Striped Cat", "Frog", "White Sheep" and others to catch my fancy.

So far I've only made 5 from the 19 patterns ("Panda", "Monkey", "White Sheep", "Striped Cat", and "Frog"). A lot of the patterns are very similar with the bodies being exactly the same (arms, legs, and a dress) and only the heads being different. Eventually I think I will get to some of the others but they are so similar I haven't really felt the need to make them yet.

Compared to Felties, The Cute Book's directions are a little briefer but unlike Felties it has a whole section in the back about what you could do with the felties (or felt mascots as they are referred to in the book). Ideas include keychains, hair accessory, applique etc. Aranzi Aronzo also has several other books that branch off from this one that look to involve using a sewing machine so I've passed on those.

Overall another fun feltie book after almost exhausting Felties. Would definitely suggest Felties over this title though.

The Cute Book was released on February 6th 2007
Genre: Crafts, Felties
3.5/5 Stars
Book purchased from Borders

Here's what I've made so far:

"Striped Cat" minus the stripes

"Frog"

"White Sheep"

"Panda"

"Monkey"

Stay tuned for another contest...

This Week In Books Or Almost A One Book Week, Almost!

Monday:

How to Date a Vampire by Sophie Collins

For review

Tuesday: nothing

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: nothing

Friday:

Dream Girl by Lauren Mechling
Dream Life by Lauren Mechling

For review. Excited to check these out!

Saturday:

I So Don't Do Spooky by Barrie Summy

For review, has anyone read the first book, I So Don't Do Mysteries?

Winner of Lips Touch!

The winner of the ARC of Lips Touch is Jessica Secret!

Please respond to my email with your mailing address by Tuesday December 15th! Thanks!

Lookalikes 79

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Off The Record by Jennifer O'Connell

Confessions of a Backup Dancer by Anonymous as told to Tucker Shaw

Oh boy this is a great one Claire/Bookworm found! While the last two seem to be actual copies, Audrey, Wait! fits in there pretty well as well, and that would definitely be my favorite. The colors on the other two seem dated to me, and I don't like the effects used on Confessions of a Backup Dancer or Off The Record for that matter.

Thanks to Claire/Bookworm for pointing out this lookalike!

Have you spotted a Lookalike you would like to contribute? Send me an email!