Book Signing: Veronica Roth

This past week was the release of the highly anticipated 2nd book in the Divergent trilogy (Click here to read my review of Insurgent) I was very fortunate to discover on Tuesday that Veronica Roth would be visiting one of my favorite indie bookstore Anderson's Bookshop!

So after I left the library Monday afternoon I stopped by the store and picked up two copies of Insurgent (one for me which I devoured in two days, and one for a friend) and two tickets to the event on Friday.


It's probably been almost a year since I attended a book signing.  I used to work events at Borders before liquidation was announced and all our upcoming events were canceled, and they were always lots of fun.  Getting to help run the event and spend the evening with an author was always lots of fun!

 The event was pretty big. I remember hearing the event staff say they gave out 500 tickets! The photo on the left was taken during the reading portion of the event. It doesn't look like there are that many people here, but there was a crowd of people sitting on the floor right in front of the podium, and lots of people standing off to the side in aisles and plenty of people behind my friend and me. 

After the Q&A it was time to line up to get our books signed.  Because the store was a bit on the intimate size for a crowed of 500 people and our tickets were around the 175 mark we browsed the store a bit and then decided to walk around the downtown area and got some gelato. (Yum!)  By the time we were done it was time to hop in line!

watching my books get signed

I had a quick chat with her. (there were 300+ people behind me and it was already 9pm)  I asked her if she had a rough idea of where the Amity sector was located since it's exact location is never stated.  To which she said (and I'm paraphrasing) it's most likely someplace in the north west, and that they would have likely cleared the area to make way for the trees so Amity looks nothing like it does today.  I took a couple of the faction stickers that were set out on the table (Dauntless and Amity) and said a quick thank you and good bye!  Over all it was a great experience!

My signed copies complete with faction stickers!

Review: Insurgent

Insurgent
(Divergent #2)
By Veronica Roth

Published: May 1, 2012 by HarperTeen
Read from:  May 1-3, 2012
Number of pages: 525
Source:  Anderson's Bookshop
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Summary: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

Cover Reveal: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass
(Throne of Glass #1)
By Sarah J. Mass

Expected Publication: August 7, 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Children's 
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Summary: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

My Thoughts

Throne of Glass was one of those book that made it to the top of my to read list the moment I found out about it.   The author's inspiration for the story is pretty awesome!
The following is from sarahjmaas.com

Basically, Throne of Glass (formerly known as Queen of Glass) started because I asked myself: “What if Cinderella was an assassin, and went to the ball not to dance with the prince, but to kill him?”

From there, I wanted to know WHO this Cinderella-is-an-assassin girl was. How had she become an assassin? Who sent her to kill the prince? WHY did they want her to kill the prince? WOULD SHE actually kill the prince? And then I found that the backstory was so huge–why she was sent to the ball in the first place and who hired her–that it needed its own book before Cinderella could even GET to that ill-fated ball! Thus, Celaena Sardothien, the heroine of Throne of Glass, was born.

How cool is that! Now on to the cover, which I must say is fantastic! Celaena looks very much what I would expect a Cinderella inspired assassin to look like, just the right combination of beautiful and deadly.  I'm very much looking forward to reading this one, is it August yet?

Review: Why We Broke Up

Why We Broke Up
By Daniel Handler & Maira Kalman(illustrator)

Published: December 27th 2011 by Little, Brown Books
Read from: March 9-16, 2012
Number of pages: 354
Source:  HS Library
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Summary: I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

Cover Reveal: Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

Ashen Winter
(Ashfall #2)
By Mike Mullin

Expected Publication: October 8, 2012 by Tanglewood Press
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Summary: It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

My Thoughts

I'm not sure what I was expecting for the cover of Ashen Winter, but I was very surprised when this image first appeared up on my cover watch shelf.  I think I was expecting a more subdued cover.  With a title like Ashen Winter I wasn't expecting the bright pop of red/pink on the cover, especially when you compare it to the desolate cover of Ashfall which is was initially drew me to the book. 

I guess the cover leaves me with a lot of questions.  the first being what exactly is that redish/pink in the background? To me it looks like muscle tissue, and if that is indeed what it is, why is it featured on the book cover? my second question is who's hands are on the cover, is it Alex and Darla's maybe Alex and one of his parents?  With just over 6 months till the book is released this book is absolutely on my must read list.  

Read my review of Ashfall

 

Review: Eyes Like Stars

Eyes Like Stars
(Théâtre Illuminata #1)
By Lisa Mantchev

Published: July 7th 2009 by Feiwel & Friends
Read from:  January 29 - February 08, 2012
Number of pages: 352
Source:  Public Library
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Summary: All her world’s a stage. Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own. That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book — an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family — and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known. Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

Review: Ashfall

Ashfall
(Ashfall #2)
By Mike Mullin

Published: October 11th 2011 by Tanglewood Press
Read from:  January 11-14, 2012
Number of pages: 466
Source:  HS Library
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Summary:
Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents. He must travel over a hundred miles in a landscape transformed by a foot of ash and the destruction of every modern convenience that he has ever known, and through a new world in which disaster has brought out both the best and worst in people desperate for food, water, and warmth. With a combination of nonstop action, a little romance, and very real science, this is a story that is difficult to stop reading and even more difficult to forget.

Review: Past Perfct

Past Perfect
By Leila Sales

Published: October 4th 2011 by Simon Pulse
Read from:  January 09-11, 2012
Number of pages: 306
Source:  HS Library
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Summary: All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….

Review: Darker Still

Darker Still
(Magic Most Foul #1)
By Leanna Renee Hiber

Published: November 8th 2011 by Sourcebooks Fire
Read from:  January 3-6, 2012
Number of pages: 317
Source:  HS Library
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Summary: I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.

Review: Matched

Matched
(Matched #1)
By Ally Condie

Published: November 30th 2010 by Dutton Juvenile
Read from:  November 7-10, 2011
Number of pages: 369
Source:  HS Library
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Summary: Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.