Last Day for Giveaway!!

Tomorrow is the last day for my 200 Follower/Stamped Mockingjay Giveaway!

To participate, fill out the FORM HERE.
Here is also the original blog entry about the contest if you want/need more information!

Good luck to you all! I will draw the name Thursday, Sept 2 (as it closes tomorrow night at midnight EST).

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
ISBN: 9781595143372
Publisher: Razorbill
Page #: 343
Source: ARC from BEA

Summary:
"Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is slowly dying in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice his bass or spend time with an oddly intriguing girl called Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs."
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First Lines:

"I don't remember any of the true, important parts, but there's this dream I have. Everything is cold and branches scrape the window screen. Giant trees, rattling, clattering with leaves. White rain gutter, the curtains flapping."
Page 3
(Refer to the official publication for exact text.)
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Review:

I have been drooling over this book since I first laid eyes on the cover. I mean, how much better does it get, right?!? It's got that perfect level of intrigue and creepiness. That alone got me really excite for this book. Who says we don't judge books by the covers?? I also got pumped for this one when one of my coworkers finished it and said it was fantastic.

All of that hype? Totally worth it. This book was wonderful! I think it was a little different from what I was expecting - I think I was thinking high fantasy with very little real life stuck in there. It's a story about a guy who has been raised as human, but in fact he is a creature of an underworld that replaces human babies with their castoffs. How creepy is that?!? And you meet this main character smack in the middle of high school. So, a little different from my expectation, but really good nonetheless.

One of the things I really loved about this story was that the town itself was almost a character in the book. There was so much going on with the location and where things were and how they looked, smelled, tasted, etc... it was just really well done. Of course, that could just be the wonderful skills of the author in description. Every single thing was given life or described so spot-on that it was very easy to get sucked into the story.

I cannot wait to give this to some of my teens at work! I just know they are going to love it. This is a story that's great for both guys and girls - and almost any age. I'd say starting in 9th grade or so, but it's really only because of the relationship stuff. Otherwise it's a great creepy story that I know a lot of people will love.

I'm very excited that this is the first book from this author - hopefully that means lots more books on the horizon! Well, at least a girl can hope. Check out her website and the link to her blog. I can't wait for this one to be published (less than a month now) so I can put it in the hands of teens who I know will love it. In other words, if you like creepy/urban fantasy - you have to read this one!
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Other Blog Reviews:

Reading Angel
YA Highway
Fat Girl Reading
Reading Teen
Squeaky Books (this one is a really negative review)
Wordbird
Bookyurt

Friday Fill-In (23)

Friday Fill-Ins is a fun meme that's hosted by Janet at the Friday Fill-In blog. Just fill in your answers!

1. You do your thing; I do mine and sometimes our paths will cross.

2. Unfortunately, weeding books is what's been on my mind on and off all day. (This is a natural state of a Librarian at times. It's sad.)

3. Remember when I was bored during the summers. Seriously, can you remember that?! It's like a million years ago - I shoulda done something productive.

4. Scrapbooking, football, and reading are three of my favorite obsessions :-)

5. During the last year I've had a few life-changing events. Most of which I'm happy for.

6. My fiance puts a smile on my face. (It's almost ridiculous how much I love him.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the Spiderwick Chronicles that I got from Netflix, tomorrow my plans include working and watching some football and Sunday, I want to relax and probably do a whole lotta nothin!

Following on Friday

Happy Friday, everyone! Welcome to another hop-tastic Friday.
The awesome Jennifer from Crazy-for-Books hosts this one. And she's got another question for us this week:

Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?

I don't use a rating system. I've honestly thought about giving it a try though. Perhaps I'll use ninja throwing stars or something to be my stars :). But I go back and forth on the use of a rating system. Sometimes I worry that if someone scans a review and all they see are the three stars I gave a book, then they may write it off all together. And this could easily happen with a book that they would have loved otherwise.

And, of course, there is the issue of boiling the whole book down into a teeny tiny category. I think I'd just be really bad at the whole rating system. Maybe I'll give it a go sometime soon and see how it goes. I used to rate things on Amazon or wherever, but that seemed so easy, ya know? What are your thoughts on the issue?

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To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://bookge3k.blogspot.com/
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If your new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
   
   I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!
   

The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Title: The Education of Bet
Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
ISBN: 9780547223087
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page #: 186
Source: From My Library

Summary:
"When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they appear content with the life fate has bestowed upon them.

But appearances can be deceiving. Bet can experience only what society allows for a girl. Will is afforded much more freedom, but still only as society dictates. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: She'll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses.

But when she arrives at school, the reality doesn't match what Bet imagined. Boys act very differently when they don't think there's a girl in their midst. In fact, they can be rather brutish. But brutish Bet can deal with. It's the stirrings of attraction for her roommate that get Bet into real trouble.

This is not the education Bet expected."
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First Lines:

"'William, I am so disappointed in you!'
Paul Gardener always addressed his great-nephew as William when he was displeased with something he had done."
Page 1
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Review:

There are times that I really love historical fiction. But usually it's not the easiest thing for me to read on the block, ya know? I mean, it's usually well written and wonderful, but it's never a quick thing for me. But this one? Easy peasy. I have to say that this one was sort of written for the "reluctant historical fiction reader."

I did make the mistake of reading a review of this book before I read it (not always a mistake, mind you), but it put an image in my head that I couldn't shake. I'm not even going to say it here just in case. But basically it compared this book to a movie I've seen and everything just fit straight in. Fun movie, but I'd prefer to see this book in a different light. There were different lessons to be learned from this one.

Speaking of the lessons, that was one of the things that I really enjoyed about this book. I mean, it's all about education for girls in a time when that was completely unheard of. I mean, I think it's a little unrealistic, but it brings to light that today's view of education is not the way it's always been. I - for one - am glad things have changed. But this book was a nice glimpse into the life of a girl who wanted education, but it was denied her.

Beyond the lessons, this book was a really cute romance. I mean, it's a pretty safe romance, but I had a lot of fun watching it play out. I was hoping for a little more from it - I'm not gonna give away what happens - but if it had a little something added on the end, I would have been much happier.

As I said before, I think this would be a great book for someone just dipping their toes into historical fiction. It has all the elements and the history weaved in, but you feel more of the romance, the characters, the lessons than you do anything else. I had a few "lol" moments through it as well, and those really helped the story along.

So, give this one a shot. It won't take you long to read - I can pretty much promise you that. I haven't read anything else by this author, but it looks like she's got several things going. Check out her website. I see she has another book coming out at the end of this month (August), so I hope to give that one a go as well.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Katie's Book Blog
YA Book Nerd
The Compulsive Reader
The Book Cellar
Mundie Moms