Teaser Tuesday - February 8

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Beeko arched his eyebrows. "Do you want me to make something up for you, Reverend? I'm not daft enough to guess or dead certain either way.  Let me tell you how it is; I've seen it too many times: the naturalists, they'll take one side, the super-naturalists, they'll take the other.  Each group will slug it out, convinced that their position is the right one. Statistics and anecdotes will be cited; holy books, historic figures referenced.  There will be claims of enlightenment and charges of narrow-mindedness.  Along the way converts will be made and lost.  It happens every time. But me?" He locked his hands at his check and steepled his index fingers. "I'll stay in the middle. And I suggest you do the same."

From The Resurrection by Mike Duran

Book Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publish Date: February 8, 2011

Hardcover, 242 pages
Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal, Horror

My Review:
Why I read this: I loved Wake by Lisa McMann and received the e-galley from Simon and Schuster.

How is the novel driven: Plot.

My thoughts: What a thrill-ride.  I was sucked right into this book from the beginning and who wouldn't be.  It starts with a missing girl in a small town and a girl who is OCD trying to come to terms with that and herself as a new school year begins.

I liked Kendall, I'm not familiar with OCD personally, have seen instances of it on tv, but no one that I know of has it, so I found this to be interesting that the main character of the book has it.  It was interesting to see how she deals with that and life.  I liked the small town feel of the book.  Cryer's Cross is tiny, has all of it's high school grades in one class and everyone knows each other and helps each other out.  Jacien is new in town and seems aloof and hard to get to know at first, but when the second teenager goes missing, Jacien starts to play a bigger role.  I really liked him as well, he was hot of course, but there was something more to him in the book.  He was moody but a good soul and it made him likeable even when he really wasn't.

The storyline kept me intrigued.  It was like YA horror with teen angst, good parents and a small town built in.  I really enjoyed the book and was so into it I could read it in the room with my husband and two kids who were watching tv at the time.  It was that interesting to me.  I felt like I was in Cryer's Cross and looking at Jacien and Kendall and the other members of the community.

I also liked Kendall's parents, they were involved in her life for the most part.  They knew her comings and goings and who she was running around with and I liked that.  Kendall also had a respect for her parents that is lacking in a lot of books, so I feel those were positive things that added to the story for me as an adult.  I think the teenage crowd will relate as well.  It's not a perfect relationship, but it does seem to be a healthy one.

My only complaints were the book was a little choppy.  That may have been smoothed out in the final copy a and it may just be me.  Some of the events were a little jarring and I felt it jumped around some.  Did that detract from the overall story - no, not really.  I still loved every minute of the book.  It's an entertaining and quick read.  I really wish this type of book had been around when I was a teenager.

My Rating: 4.25/5.0


About the Book:

The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing—someone close to Kendall’s heart—the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school—messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there—Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross—and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

About the Author:

Lisa McMann is the New York Times bestselling author of the WAKE trilogy (Wake, Fade, Gone). She grew up in Michigan and now lives in the Phoenix area with her husband and two kids.

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FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher, Simon & Schuster review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.

What are You Reading Monday - February 7

Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and join in!  This week is also the 1-year anniversary of Sheila hosting this meme so stop by and say hey and see what she has going on.

Books Completed Last Week 

• The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern
• The Big Show Stopper by Hugh Dalton
• The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
• The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Reading Now:

• Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (audiobook, library)
• The Resurrection by Mike Duran (review)

Next:

• Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell
• These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf
• The Werewolf Upstairs by Ashlyn Chase
  

Summary -

The reading mojo is back, helped along by the fact that I only worked 1 day this week.  First I had a symprtom flare-up of my chronic disease and then my youngest came down with what I am pretty sure was the flu (the other kindergarten teacher was diagnosed with H1N1 that same week and lots of kids were out with the flu).  At one point he spiked a 104.3 fever and I freaked out, but with medicine and love it came down.  Then on Friday night I spiked a fever and have felt like crud since.  It's left lots of reading time when the pain meds are working.  Yesterday while my oldest was staying at his grandparents in an effort to avoid this mess, he spiked a fever so now 3/4 of my family is down with the flu.  Hoping tomorrow this will be all gone because on Sunday the youngest had no fever, just upper respiratory symptoms and a cough.  Oldest and myself still had the fever.

Best of the week:  The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern - it was really good.


How was your week?

Weekly Giveaway: Fatal Gamble and Deadly Codes by J.P. O'Donnell

 
In my first year of blogging an author by the name of J.P. O'Donnell emailed me about reviewing his books which were a series focused on the Private Investigator named Daniel Cormac Gallagher.  I agreed and read the Fatal Gamble and was blown away.  Then I read Deadly Codes and loved it as well.  Now I hound him to put out more Gallagher books.  It turns out he has been busy on another front though.  He spent some time in the last year working with a screen writer to develop the screen play for Deadly Codes.  The screen play is was shopped around and it has found a home and will be going into production sometime in the future so I get to see one of my favorite books from last year turned into a movie.

Yesterday I had the chance to read the screen play - and though it is different from the book in some ways (as is usually the case) I think it truly captures the essence of the book and especially the main character of Gallagher and I look forward to seeing Deadly Codes made into a movie.  I think the screen writer and J.P. O'Donnell did a great job with the screen play

In honor of this milestone, the author, J.P. O'Donnell is offering a set of his books, Fatal Gamble and Deadly Codes to one of my readers.  If you like mysteries with a focus on the characters then these are the books for you.  The mystery is important, but he interplay between the characters is what really makes these books.  Well-written and thought out I enjoyed both books from the start to the end and I enjoyed the screen play as well.

So simply fill out the form to enter (if you can't see the form go here).  US/Canada only.  Giveaway runs through next Saturday 2/12.

Good luck and check out my reviews here:


Fatal Gamble
Deadly Codes

Winner: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

 

My winner of the hardcover copy of this wonderful book, Little Princes by Conor Grennan is:

Lori T

Click on her name and make sure you check out her blog.

The winner has been notified and has 72-hours to respond or I will draw a new name.

Thank you to all who entered and if you get a chance to read this one I highly recommend you do.

Series Spotlight: Temperance Brennan Series by Kathy Reichs

Since my husband and I have been watching Bones on Netflix (just finished season 1) I thought I would tackle the Kathy Reichs Tempe Brennan series.  I started this series several yearls ago and just recently started trying to catch  back up on the series by getting the audio books from the library.  The audio books are very well done - the reader does an excellent job and I love the voices I hear if I read a book now.  I am currently on Devil Bones which I will listen to as soon as I finish Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich.  Coming later this year, the next in the series will be Flash and Bones which will be out August 23, 2011.

So here is the series in order:


           



The series Bones does not have much to do with the books beyond the character of Tempe, who really is not like Tempe in the book, yet it is a very enjoyable series.  I try not to compare it to the books at all and just enjoy it for the interplay betweent he characters and the science they use to solve the cases.  The show is great on it's own and we will continue to watch it and I will continue reading the books.

So what do you think of the books, have you read them, do you have a favorite, does the series lag at some point or is it great all the way through?  Do you enjoy the show as well?  Who is your favorite character?  I really enjoy bones and her team along with Booth.

Comment on this post and be entered to win a book up to a $10 value at the Book Depository.  I really enjoy hearing from my readers about series.  For an additional entry suggest a series for me to feature in the next few weeks.

Thanks for joining in - I'll draw the winner next Saturday so I'll close entries on Friday 2/11/2011.