Hardcover vs Paperback 126

Faking 19 by Alyson Noel

Paperback

Paperback Reissue

Amazon.com:

On the surface, seventeen-year-old Alex has it made. She’s beautiful and smart, plus she’s best friends with M, the absolute most popular girl in school. Feeling bored with their fancy Orange County suburban town, Alex and M decide to check out L.A.’s glitzy nightlife scene.

Pretending to be nineteen, Alex and M meet Trevor and Connor, two rich older guys. At first Alex can’t believe her luck—she gets to hang out at hip Hollywood house parties and downtown L.A. clubs. These weekend trips into the city become the perfect distraction for Alex, who is secretly struggling with her failing senior-year grades, her absentee father, and her clueless mom.

But after the initial fun wears off for Alex, she is forced to re-evaluate her friendship with M, who is hiding some secrets beneath her perfect Burberry-clad exterior…

While I like the new paperback a lot more, because of the less posed photography and overall design, I don't think either really captures the essence of the summary. Why do the girls look like they are going on a road trip? I mean yeah they are going to LA but it seems like it is more about the city life and night life not driving around during the day?

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

This Week In Books

 

Tuesday:

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan (Just Shows Up Review Copy)

The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper (Just Shows Up Review Copy)

Seven Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes by Amber Kizer (Just Shows Up Review Copy)

Lookalikes 139

 Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Book of Getting Even by Benjamin Taylor

Going to keep it short today, I like the perfection of the shooting star in the first cover so that gets my vote.

Thanks to Lisette who suggested this lookalike!

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

Hardcover vs Paperback 125

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

Colt and Julia were secretly together for a year, and no one ever knew, not even Julia's boyfriend. Why would they-they were from two different crowds. Julia lived in her country club world and Colt . . . didn't. Then Julia dies in a car accident. Colt is devastated but can't mourn openly, and he's tormented that he may have played a part in her death. And when Julia's journal ends up in his hands, he is forced to relive their year together-just when he is trying to forget. The problem is, how do you get over someone who was never really yours to begin with? 

I've always thought the Hardcover of The Secret Year was really unique. I've read the book and think it is an interesting idea to have Julia be the made focus of the Paperback, that eye contact, since the story is told from Colt's perspective. It's almost another hint into Julia's life. I still say the Hardcover is more unique but the Paperback is rather nicely done as well!

Thanks to Liz who reminded me to post this H vs P!

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

This Week In Books or Oh Noes!

Purchased a few too many books this week compared to recently! Oops!

Just Shows Up Review Copies:
The Hunt of the Unicorn by C.C. Humphreys
Kindred by Tammar Stein
The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge
Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce
It Happened One Season by Various
Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates by Eva Gray
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Inside by Brenda Novak

Harlequin Ambassadors:
Smokin' Six-Shooter by B.J. Daniels

Dark Days of Winter Signed books:
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
Hourglass by Claudia Gray

I also got my copies of Angelfire and A Touch Mortal signed!

Borders Closing Sale:
Maine Squeeze/Banana Splitsville b Catherine Clark
XVI by Julia Karr
Forget You by Jennifer Echols (had to get a final copy since I'm quoted in it!
I Like Him. He Likes Her by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts
Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs
Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Denham
Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel

Amazon Order:
Scenes from an Impending Marriage by Adrian Tomine
The Tutor by Hope Tarr
My Milk Toof by Inhae Lee
A Knitter's Home Companion by Michelle Edwards

A leaves a spooky suprise on my doorstep

A from Pretty Little Liars just doesn't stop! I got home late-ish Thursday night and went up to the front door and saw this box on the steps, it was pretty dark because the porch light bulb is burnt out and I was like what on earth is this, it was a long rectangular box, when I went inside I saw it was from A!

 

 I thought it might be some kind of plant or flower based on the package and I was right!

 A cute little clover plant! I love the hand-written note from A, I don't think she's written me a note herself before!

On the little plant tab was the web address abcfamily.com/luckylittleliars you will have to click the link to see where it takes you, this time it isn't a video!

Anyhow I'm super excited about the season finale of Pretty Little Liars Monday! The show has definitely been moving up my list of must watch ASAP shows!

Lookalikes 138

 Boundaries with Teens by Dr. John Townsend

His Eyes by Renee Carter

Neither of these really do much for me but I do like the title treatment on the first book, love the tape! Something seems off with the photo in the second cover like the picture was stretched, but who knows!

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

Weekly Dose of Crafts

Two weeks in a row, can you believe it!? Anyhow, I was set on not posting this week since I didn't have anything and then Monday night I found this Stitch Sampler Shawl pattern and last night decided I just had to cast on and knit the first 5 rows! So it doesn't look like much now but I'm excited about it!

Yarn used: 

Bernat Mosaic Ambrosa

For more crafty goodness be sure to stop over at WIP Wednesday! And find me on Raverly as mint910.

Hardcover vs Paperback 124

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

 

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Wolfsbane Original Hardcover

Wolfsbane Final Hardcover

Amazon.com:

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended-Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer-one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack-and the man-she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive. 

While you can find me freaking out about the ever changing world of covers every Tuesday there is something about the change of the Nightshade paperback cover and Wolfsbane hardcover and has some people totally freaking out too. I'm not sure what exactly has people so upset but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents on the covers. I haven't read the books, I'm coming at this purely from my design background.

I will have to say that overall I agree that the first set of covers are better. If you look at the new set of covers you see that purple and green have been consistently used like in the first set but here they are being used almost exactly how you would see them on a color wheel, they are very bold and really exactly what you would think of when you think of purple and green. Those colors being using with a strong amount of black and some white give off a vibe of what I think of as Urban Adult Fantasy covers. It's really hard and honestly not something I enjoy in my color palettes and that Wolfsbane pose, just no.

In the first set of covers the colors are softer and are used with other colors to create a subtle more feminine look along with the more lifestyle type of photography which I think always wins out in my book. I will say though, in the paperback of Nightshade I appreciate how the idea of a wolf comes into play on the cover, I don't like exactly how it was done but it's better than nothing, that's always something that struck me odd about the Hardcover of Nightshade that it appeared to be about a pretty girl just by looking at it and that's all, I don't really pick up on the subtle hints of the eyes or the flowers, something was missing.

One final note, something that always bugs me when covers with models on them are changed, most of the time the main character looks completely different on the new cover, new hair color, length, face shape basically the total opposite of how they once looked so I'm glad in this case the models are so similar, i'd say it's even possible it's the same girl!

So to recap, I see these covers as going from very soft to very hard, and I pick soft. So those are my 2 cents, let's hear yours.

P.S. Can someone that has read the books tell me why her hair is purple on the Nightshade hardcover and blond in the rest? 

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

Giveaway: Jane Eyre prize pack!

Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”) and Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds”) star in the romantic drama based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel, from acclaimed director Cary Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”). In the story, Jane Eyre flees Thornfield House, where she works as a governess for wealthy Edward Rochester. As she reflects upon the people and emotions that have defined her, it is clear that the isolated and imposing residence – and Mr. Rochester’s coldness – have sorely tested the young woman’s resilience, forged years earlier when she was orphaned. She must now act decisively to secure her own future and come to terms with the past that haunts her – and the terrible secret that Mr. Rochester is hiding and that she has uncovered…

Here's how to enter to be one of two winners of the Jane Eyre prize pack.

The prize includes:

·         Soundtrack sampler
·         Bookmark
·         Journal
·         Pencil
·         Copy of the book [movie tie-in edition]

Fill out the giveaway entry form here.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S. only.

The giveaway will end March 28nd at 6:59 pm Central Time.

Entries left in the comments of this blog post will not be counted, please fill out the giveaway entry form.

**Giveaway is sponsored by Focus Features**

Jane Eyre started playing in theaters on March 11th, check out a sneak peek of the movie for reading groups below!




Reading Group Guide
Movie's Official Website
Jane Eyre GoodReads Challenge

This Week In Books

Tuesday:

Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
So Shelly by Ty Roth (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best by Maria Padian (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
Exposed by Kimberly Marcu (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau (Just Showed Up Review Copy)

Wednesday:

Alex Rider: Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz (Just Showed Up Review Copy)

Friday:

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan (Purchased at a closing Borders)

Weekly Dose of Crafts

I actually did a decent amount of knitting this weekend so I'm back!!! But let's start with something really fun... I made my first purchase during the yarn diet and the occasion was the release of the new KnitPicks Felici colors! I might have gone a little crazy. More pictures further down in the post!

This weekend I worked on two of my scarves. I'm now halfway done with my gray scarf because I've started my second hank finally! That also means that I've finally used up two skeins since the yarn diet started, that's actually a lot less than I was hoping to use up in this time but oh well.

I also did some work on my Chroma scarf. Not sure that I will get this done before its too warm to wear but you never know!

Now back to the fun part, my new yarn! Here is the KP Felici Fingering weight, I actually ordered two more skeins of Rainbow but they got left out of my box (I can't blame them, this is so much yarn it came inside what amounted to a garbage back inside of a box) so those 2 are coming now. When I called Customer Service the woman that helped me said she thought I would have enough projects to work on until the 2 skeins showed up, LOL!!!

Here is the KP Felici Sport weight, I went a little extra crazy and got the 2010 colorways that were still in stock and on sale!

I also got some Aloft which is the new Mohair/Silk Knit Picks yarn and also some KP Shimmer because I don't have a lot of lace weight yarn!

And finally, on Raverly in the Knitpicks Lovers forum a lot of people volunteer to run what they call Co-ops where we pay a little bit of money to get small samples of different lines are yarn. In this case I got samples of all the Palette colors! A few months ago I participated in one for Wool of the Andes worsted Co-op and have also signed up for one for Aloft and Swish in all weights. It seems like so so much work for the people that so nicely offer to organize these, so thank you to them!

For more crafty goodness be sure to stop over at WIP Wednesday! And find me on Raverly as mint910.

Giveaway: Lost & Found by Shaun Tan

A collection of three jaw-dropping stories: THE RED TREE, THE LOST THING, and THE RABBITS, by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Shaun Tan.

A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world. A boy leads a strange, lost creature home. And a group of peaceful creatures loses their home to cruel invaders. Three stories, written and illustrated by Shaun Tan, about how we lose and find what matters most to us.

Never widely available in the U.S., these tales are presented in their entirety with new artwork and author's notes.

Here's how to enter to be one of two winners of Lost and Found.

Fill out the giveaway entry form here.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S. only.

The giveaway will end March 22nd at 6:59 pm Central Time.

Entries left in the comments of this blog post will not be counted, please fill out the giveaway entry form.

**Prize provided by marketing firm**

Here is the trailer for the Academy Award nominated short film based on Shaun Tan's story the Lost Thing.

Shaun Tan's website

Hardcover vs Paperback 123

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

I think both covers were really nicely executed but the paperback speaks a little more to the description I believe and personally I find it more appealing as well. I love the layered screen print look especially!

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

This Week in Books

Tuesday:

A Lot Like Love by Julie James (Was happy to go to my Borders which is staying open and purchase this book!)
Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr (Just Showed Up Review Copy)

Thursday:

Brother/Sister by Sean Olin (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando (Just Showed Up Review Copy)
So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti (Just Showed Up Review Copy)

Lookalikes 137

 Sizzling by Susan Mallery

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

 Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

So as you can see Julie James' first two books share a similar cover composition (same goes for her 3rd and 4th matching) and one of Susan Mallery's fits right in too! I'd say the real lookalike face off is between the first two covers since they both involve tugging of clothing and between those two I like Practice Makes Perfect better, there is something about the woman's facial expression in that cover that I think works better.

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

Hardcover vs Paperback 122

How to Steal a Car by Pete Hautman

 

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

From National Book Award winner Pete Hautman, the story of a girl who acts out by stealing cars. 

Some girls act out by drinking or doing drugs. Some girls act out by sleeping with guys. Some girls act out by starving themselves or cutting themselves. Some girls act out by being a bitch to other girls. 
 
Not Kelleigh.


Kelleigh steals cars. 


In How to Steal a Car, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman takes teen readers on a thrilling, scary ride through one suburban girl's turbulent life - one car theft at a time. 

I've always found the hardcover rather wonderful. It's  funny but in such a simple way.  While the mix of illustration with photography on the paperback is nice it is not exactly working. The placement of the hand and the girl's face in the rear view mirror don't exactly match up in my opinion so there is a disconnect. So while it's cute I, I still vote Hardcover!

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

This Year in Movies: February

 This was a month of strictly movies, 7 to be exact, no tv on dvd shockingly! All the movies were sort of ok with none standing out as amazing. 

Dinner for Schmucks - Pretty much exactly how I thought it would be, super annoying but still kind of worth seeing if only for all the random hilarious people that showed up in the movie, including the guy from the IT Crowd!

I Hate Valentine's Day - I was hoping this would bring back some of the magic of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and unfortunately it really didn't. Nia smiled so much and in a seemingly unnatural way it really kind of ruined her character, it's like her face was frozen that way for most of the movie.

Step Up 3 - I kind of dig these Step Up movies... I hope they keep making them.

The Other Guys - Some of Will Ferrell's movies lately have been really really stupid and while this was still stupid I liked it more than some of his other ones, it was pretty funny at a few points. Loved the guest stars at the beginning.


Grown Ups - Sort of a cute family type movie with humor that isn't really appropriate for young family members if that makes any sense?

The Social Network - Interesting, I sort of wished it had covered more time it ended sort of all of a sudden for me

Center Stage 2: Turn It Up - Damn was this not good, yet I kept watching. While the first Center Stage movie was on the cheesy side this just took it to a really kind of crappy place.