Studio Reads

Friday, 20 September 2013

Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke

Publication Date: August 15th 2013

Publisher: Dial

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back.

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

All her life Violet White has heard stories about the Devil from her grandmother Freddie, they're rich, live on this big mansion on top of a mountain, but money goes only so far and they're not as rich as you think. Freddie's dead, Violet and her twin brother Luke, are living alone as their painter parents who care more about paint than their own flesh and blood are off in Paris after drying up most of the money that's left. Violet and Luke are running out on money and have no option but to rent the guesthouse, and in comes River, all cocky and arrogant and kind and strange and things start happening.

Troubles stirred and the Devil's just around the corner.

Well, that was...disturbing. Disturbing? Yes, I think I'll stick with that. I'll stick with that. Yes. Disturbing. Can I burn my eyes out now? Please? I had to bribe myself with white chocolate pretzels.

Cover Reveal: The Rising by Terra Harmony

So today, we have a cover reveal, and it's a pretty one! I'm always sucked in by a pretty cover.

Let's see what it's about...

"

Fifteen-year-old Serena is the youngest member of a dying race. The increasing acidity of the ocean is destroying her home, slowly eating away at the once thriving underwater landscape. But since the night of Serena’s birth, it is an outside force that most threatens their dwindling population. Werewolves, who once served as protectors for mermaids in the Kingdom of the Undine, now seek to eliminate all who dwell in the ocean — and Serena is about to find herself right in the middle of the deadly conflict.

Given the title of Werewolf Liaison, Serena is determined to make things right for her people. When she ventures to The Dry, she meets Liam, the werewolf with hazel eyes, and her whole world gets turned upside down. As Serena discovers the real history between werewolves and mermaids, she is left wondering who her true enemies are.

"

Waiting On Wednesday (#11)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink Expected publication: November 14th 2013 by Dial

Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.

The voodoo business.

Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.

She doesn’t believe.

Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans – and voodoo – when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.

But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo – and the families that make up the Guild – than meets the eye.

Including her own.

As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy – and the disbelief that may very well kill her.

Why?

Three words.

New. Orleans. Voodoo.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Teaser Tuesday (10)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Ugh, I think I've officially hit a reading slump, not feeling it today at all, which has nothing to do with the book because I really loved the last two. Could also be that it's rained non stop since last night.

Title: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls #3)

Author: Ally Carter

Release date: January 6th 2011 (first published June 9th 2009)

Publisher: Orchard

Page: 159

When Cammie "The Chameleon" Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she's in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she's there to watch Macey's father accept the nomination for vice president of the United States. But when you go to the world's best school (for spies), "exciting" and "deadly" are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves trapped in a kidnappers' plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.

As her junior year begins, Cammie can't shake the memory of what happened in Boston, and even the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn't feel like the safe haven it once did. Shocking secrets and old flames seem to lurk around every one of the mansion's corners as Cammie and her friends struggle to answer the questions, Who is after Macey? And how can the Gallagher Girls keep her safe?

Soon Cammie is joining Bex and Liz as Macey's private security team on the campaign trail. The girls must use their spy training at every turn as the stakes are raised, and Cammie gets closer and closer to the shocking truth....

Monday, 16 September 2013

Review: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls #2)
Author: Ally Carter

Publication Date: 2010 by Orchard Books (first published October 2nd 2007)

Source: Own

Cammie Morgan may have a genius IQ and attend the best school in the country, but as she starts the spring semester of her sophomore year there are a lot of things she doesn't know. Like will her ex-boyfriend even remember she exists? And how much trouble did she really get in last semester? And, most of all, exactly why is her mother acting so strangely?

All Cammie wants is a nice, normal semester, but she's about to learn her greatest lesson yet—that when you go to a school for spies, nothing is ever as it seems

Oh, you totally had me going there for a bit, and I do not like being punked. I do not like being duped, but dammit it was amazing.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy starts off a month after I'd Tell You I'd Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You left. New term, new drama, new trouble and...the start of truth and character development.

Is it possible to love a sequel than the original? After all, if there wasn't the foremost there wouldn't be a latter...but I did, love the second than the first, that is.

Know why?

Stacking the Shelves (#10) & Recap

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

I've had the best reading week, it's been a while, and received three good ones, too! Two for review and one I've bought.

For Review

Thanks to Random Houses' Young Arrow for these awesome two! I actually featured (Confessions #2) on this weeks Waiting on Wednesday, so I'm super psyched! (Please ignore my DVD player's wire.)

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro