Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:
Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.
Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
My Review:
Okay, so I'll admit it: I actually had zero interest in reading this book simply because it had vampires (so over them), werewolves (really?), shape-shifters (blah), faeries (...), and mermaids (I know they're all the rage; I just can't get into them). But thanks to a Friday Fives blog post on great first lines by my lovely writerly friend Alicia Gregoire, I was totally hooked. The opening line is ha-larious! I mean, come on:
"Wait--did you--you just yawned!" The vampire's arms, raised over his head in the classic Dracula pose, dropped to his sides.
That right there told me this book was going to be something different. Kiersten White put a very humorous spin on a variety of characters that have seen their time in the spotlight (at least until they become popular again, twenty years from now).
On more than one occasion, I went into silent laugh mode - especially when the main character Evie would censor herself by saying, "oh, bleep." or when I pictured the funny way she'd say goodbye to her friend Lish (she's the mermaid) by blowing up her cheeks on the glass of her tank. I loved the interaction between she and Lend (the shape-shifter), but wish there had been more between she and Reth (the Faerie); but I'm sure that's coming in the next book...at least I hope so!
Just an overall super fun read and wasn't at all what I was expecting - okay, maybe just a little bit. But still, I really, really enjoyed this one! And to make it all better? I won an autographed copy of the sequel, SUPERNATURALLY (thanks to the wonderful Jessica Kim!), which I just received - and so can't wait to read.
Fun read - definitely recommend.
View all my reviews
RTW #94: My Best August Read
Similar to Friday Fives, Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ hosted by the fabulous ladies over at YA Highway. Each Wednesday, they post a weekly writing - or reading - related question, and I get to answer it here!
And this week's topic:
What's the best book I've read in August?
I actually had two favorites this month: TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler and PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White.
Two very different reads: one filled with love, grief, friendship, and life - and another full of some of the funniest lines I've read in awhile! It was almost the most perfect balance to have read both, just days apart, because the humor from PARANORMALCY was just what I needed after the tears from TWENTY BOY SUMMER.
So what book made you laugh or cry in the month of August?
1. TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler
Goodreads Summary:
"Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?"
"Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?"
According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.
TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer. Read my review here.
2. PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White
Goodreads Summary:
Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.
Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
FYI: I just posted my review on 9/1/11.
Friday Fives: Five Best Back To School Books
Alas, another week has come and gone...and I can't believe it's the last Friday of August. I mean, summer literally JUST started here in Seattle. As in yesterday. Come on!
What's worse? I feel so bad for the kids that started back to school this week. Seriously. I think we've had a whopping 8 days above 75 degrees this entire year. And those unlucky kids get to go back to school, when the weather is finally beautiful? Totally sucks for them.
But, as the sky grows darker sooner, the school buses are back out and about, and the leaves begin to change, it's perfect timing for today's Paper Hangover's Friday Fives - because today's topic:
What are your five favorite back to school reads?
Right up there with the end of the school year, this is my absolute favorite time of year. Fall. September. Back to school. Homecoming. Football games. Love, love, LOVE. Not to mention cozying up on the couch with a good book to read, when the weather starts to turn. There are so many books that remind me of this time of year - but I'll leave you with my "five" favorite (and most recent) back to school reads:
1. WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green & David Levithan
2. ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins
3. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by Jay Asher
4. IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman
5. THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger
All of the above were books I THOROUGLY enjoyed. But of course, I'm always looking for more! What are your favorite back to school titles?
RTW #93: How Do You Beat Writer's Block?
Similar to Friday Fives, Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ hosted by the fabulous ladies over at YA Highway. Each Wednesday, they post a weekly writing - or reading - related question, and I get to answer it here! And this week's topic is something near and dear *insert glaring sideways and growling here* to my heart:
How do you beat writer's block?
Around this time last year, I'd been well under way on a new manuscript (which I'd started last July). However, around 6 weeks into writing it, I started to sputter out.
Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of ideas of where I wanted the story to go - and being as though I'm more of a pantser style writer, I knew I had options. It's just that I couldn't, for the life of me, bridge the gap from where I was, to where I wanted to take the story. So I put it aside and did other things. And every time I thought about it (which was more often than not, as I was really excited about this one), I'd try to write...but nothing happened. In fact, I used the backspace key more than any other key on my keyboard. It was horrible.
I went from writing 15,000 words a weekend (which when I'm on a roll, roughly equates to my average for 2 days of writing) to nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nadda. Nope. None. Boo.
So what did I do?
A Writer's Campaign: Won't You Join Me?
The fabulous YA writer Rachael Harrie over at Rach Writes, has decided to host her third Writer's Platform Building Campaign. And what exactly does that mean?
Well, for all aspiring authors and bloggers looking to increase their online platform - not to mention meet like minds in the process - this will be the forum to do so! What a fab idea it was, for her to throw us all together, huh?
During the Campaign, Rachael will be running Campaigner Challenges (I believe there will be prizes, too!) and she's also set up a Campaigner Yahoo Group here. Don't forget to check out any Twitter-talk at #writercampaign.
The details:
The campaign will run from August 22nd - October 31st. During this time, the 3 campaign challenges mentioned above, will run on the following dates, so mark your calendars:
1. First Campaigner Challenge - Monday, September 5
2. Second Campaigner Challenge - Thursday, September 22
3. Third Campaigner Challenge - Monday, October 17
So, pop on over to Rach Writes, check out all the details - and for cryin' out loud - won't you join me and sign up??
Friday Fives: Five Favorite Apps
It's Friday, Friday...
Awesome. Of course, I now have that absolutely a-mazing song, running through my head. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, please feel free to watch the below video - not only because I love to share, but well, I can't be the only one stuck with this in my head:
Anywho...
The awesome folks over at Paper Hangover have a new topic for today's Friday Fives: What are your five favorite apps - be them writing related or not! Considering what I do for my day job, this is actually something near and dear to my heart (and all of the below are FREE and available on Android - so it's not just the iPhone peeps that get to have all the fun!). Without further adieu, here are my top 5 favorite apps:
1. Color Note: Super cool app that allows you a quick and simple notepad editing experience when you write notes, email, message, shopping lists and to-do lists. AND, you can color coordinate the notes by subject - for instance, all of my writing ideas for one WIP is one color, and so on and so forth. Love. This. App.