Waiting On Wednesday: Through Her Eyes

This week's WoW book is Through Her Eyes by Jennifer Archer! It will be released on April 5, 2011.

SUMMARY: Sixteen-year-old Tansy Piper moves with her grandfather and her mother, a horror writer, to the setting of her mother's next book--a secluded house outside of a tiny, desolate West Texas town. Lonely and upset over the move, Tansy escapes into her photography and the dark, seductive poems she finds hidden in the cellar, both of which lure her into the mind and world of a mysterious, troubled young man who died sixty years earlier.

What an eerie, creepy cover and summary! I love books set in supposedly haunted houses. PUBLISHED ON APRIL 5, 2011!

Favorite by Karen McQuestion

Title: Favorite
Author: Karen McQuestion
Published: November 2009 (Kindle ebook) and April 2011 by Amazon Encore

My Rating: 3 stars
Tags: YA | Suspense | Mystery
Includes: Brief Violence

First Lines: My dad claims to be psychic. He says things like, "I had a good feeling you'd ace that exam, Angie. I could have told you so."

Angel Favorite. Definitely not the most common of names, but then again, Angel or "Angie" doesn't live a very common life either. On her eleventh birthday, Angie's mother disappeared. Now five years later, Angie is still praying every night for her mother's safe return home. She and her brother Jason live with their grandmother since their dad is usually on tours with his band. After Angie is attacked and nearly kidnapped by a mysterious stranger one day, she wakes up in the hospital. She's told that her attacker was Scott Bittner but he killed himself before going to jail for his crime. After being released from the hospital, Angie is asked by Ms. Bittner, Scott's mother, for her to forgive Scott. She also asks Angie and her brother to come visit her home, the Bittner Castle. Angie agrees, for the sole purpose of hoping to find out why Scott attacked her and if it has anything to do with her mother's disappearance.

I thought the premise of the book was really intriguing and jumped at the opportunity to read this novel. Right from the start, Angie's character was a little dull and unmemorable. I kept hoping that the character development would improve, but unfortunately it didn't. Even after finishing the book, I can only think of a couple of generic words to describe Angie. For the first few chapters into the novel, her personality really annoyed me. For a sixteen year old, I would assume maturer thinking and actions. I can understand that if you were just attacked by a stranger and wound up in the hospital, you'd be pretty angry. However, I think it was just rude and selfish how she acted towards Ms. Bittner's apologies and to the news of Scott's death. Because of her shallow thinking, I was a little unsure of what the target audience of this book was.

I read this short book in just two days. It definitely held my attention and I was interested to find out how it would play out. My one wish is that it was longer. I think that if the climax wasn't rushed and there was more build up and suspense, it would have been better. It's like as soon as the author started to become comfortable with what she was writing, she quickly put an end to it. It had a satisfactory ending, but I just think it felt too rushed, making the suspense a disappointment. I'm not sure where the whole "psychic dad and daughter" roles played in the story either. It was an enjoyable read and not entirely predictable. It had a creative and interesting plot, but not enough character development. The author stood in the shallow end of the pool, when really she should have taken a running leap off of the diving board. If she had done that, I might have given this book five stars.

Cover Thoughts: It's definitely eye-catching and eerie. I think the editing of the picture is really interesting and I like the yellow glow at the top of the stairs - it's mysterious, like the book.

Book Supplied by: Publisher for review.

The Plus Side of Being Home Sick

I've had an awful stomach bug all weekend, and have lived in my bed the past three days. So far, I'm onto my third book. (: And don't even get me started on how many movies I've watched on the laptop - I lost count. Here are the ones I remember:
-Despicable Me (loveeeeed)
-Red Riding Hood (pretty good!)
-Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (just finished watching, it was cute)
-Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (straaaange movie, but I'm interested in reading the book now)
-Gnomeo and Juliet (ahh so adorable!)
-Life As We Know It (that one was good)
-and just about to start My Sister's Keeper (wasn't a fan of the book but I'll give the movie a shot)

It was sleeting here this morning for a few hours but has finally stopped. I'd say even though I'm missing school, it was a good day to stay home. How's Monday treating everyone else?

On My Bookshelf (28)

(Originally by The Story Siren, as "In My Mailbox") On My Bookshelf is used to share what books I bought, won, traded, received for review, or got from the library this week. It's to let you know what to expect for me to read/review next.

BOUGHT FROM BOOKSTORES:

Deception by Lee Nichols: When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England. After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions...and make Emma fear for her life.

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers: When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?

RECEIVED FROM TRADING:

Winter Longing by Tricia Mills: When Winter’s boyfriend is killed in a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, she’s robbed of the future she’d only just allowed herself to believe might be hers. Winter and Spencer had been destined for one another. And after his death, Spencer’s presence continues to haunt her. But when her next-door neighbor becomes an unlikely friend, Winter begins to accept all that she can’t change. Can she open herself to a new future...and a possible new love?

RECEIVED FOR REVIEW:

Favorite by Karen McQuestion: Five years have passed since Angie Favorite’s mother, Laura, disappeared without a trace, and Angie still hasn’t recovered. Sure, things look normal on the surface—she goes to school, works her summer job, and argues with her older brother Jason—but she can’t shake the feeling that Laura didn’t leave by choice. Angie’s dad does the best he can, but his work as a musician keeps him on the road and away from home, where it’s up to Angie’s grandmother to keep an eye on the kids. She can’t be with them all the time, though, and she can’t help Angie when she is snatched from a mall parking lot by Scott Bittner. The girl narrowly escapes, and Bittner is arrested, but he takes his life in jail before he can offer an explanation for his crime. When his mother contacts Angie, begging forgiveness on her son’s behalf, the girl agrees to meet with her in hopes of finding answers to the seemingly random attack. But when she arrives at the massive Bittner estate, she is overcome by an unshakeable sense of foreboding…

Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell by Crickett Rumley: Expelled from thirteen boarding schools in the past five years, seventeen-year-old Jane Fontaine Ventouras is returning to her Southern roots, and the small town of Bienville, Alabama, where ladies always wear pearls, nothing says hospitality like sweet tea and pimento cheese sandwhiches, and competing in the annual Magnolia Maid Pageant is every girl's dream. But Jane is what you might call an anti-belle - more sarcasm and cynicism than sugar and spice. So when she finds herself up to her ears in ruffles and etiquette lessons, she's got one mission: Escape.

Hourglass by Myra McEntire: For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.