REVIEW: CLOCKWORK ANGEL AND GIVEAWAY!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Book one of The Infernal Devices trilogy
Hardcover 496 pages
Available now
Ages 14 and up

First of all I would like to send out a HUGE thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me an ARC of Clockwork Angel!  I feel very fortunate to have S and S in my life, and I am grateful for every book they send my way!

Clockwork Angel is the first in The Infernal Devices series and this thrills me to no end.  Cassandra Clare is the author of the extremely popular Mortal Instruments series, as well as a book I would love to read called "Geektastic, Stories from the Nerd Herd".  She is also a contributing author to two anthology type books "Vacations from Hell"  and "Zombies vs. Unicorns." 

The first sentence in this little gem had me at "hello"....."The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts."  Who doesn't love exploding showers of demon guts!  The story revolves around Tessa, Will and Jem.  Will is a super sexy mysterious bad boy (but not in the typical annoying sense) shadowhunter; Jem is the nice cute guy in the story; and Tessa Gray is a young woman who is being held against her will and discovering that she is not quite human.  Tessa's part of the story starts with her arriving in London searching for her brother but soon becomes  a prisoner of two extremely unattractive and uber creepy "women" called The Dark Sisters, and they are prepping her for her meeting with The Magister.  Meanwhile Tessa's beloved brother Nathanial is missing and Tessa is determined to find out what happened to him, even though the Dark Sisters insist he is very much alive... but won't continue to be if she does not do as they ask. 

Cassandra Clare's writing style is fantastic and she has created a very believable pseudo world of London in the 1800's, with very believable races of creatures and the laws by which they live.  I absolutely hands down LOVED... IT.  She even added a hint of the young love thing, but with a great amount of restraint that is very believable and easy to relate to.  Will is not so much the brooding bad boy as in many other YA novels, as he is a reckless, enthusiastic, loyal shadowhunter who is very misunderstood.  Jem, on the other hand, is very sweet and has Will's back no matter what.  I don't want to say too much more because I think that it might spoil the read for you all.  But trust me... it is AWESOME! 

Many in the blogosphere are asking the question TEAM WILL?  Or TEAM JEM?  I have to say Will all the way.  And what does that say about me??! 

HA!

If you would like a little more detail on the storyline you can click here for the blurb...

And here is the book trailer courtesy of Simon and Schuster Canada!




And now for the giveaway portion of the post!

Very simple... you click here and fill out the form, you must be a follower of my blog to enter, you can earn extra entries for tweets, posts on your blog and sidebar listings.  The contest is open worldwide as I am going to be ordering the book from Book Depository and paying for it myself and there will be no substitution.  If you win I will only order Clockwork Angel.  The contest ends October 15th.

GOOD LUCK!

MAILBOX MONDAY

MAILBOX MONDAY is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page.

The only thing I have aquired in the last week I happened to get later today.  I ordered it through my daughters Scholastic book school club thingy and it finally came in!

I know I am late to the party for this one, but I am sooo excited to FINALLY get to read it!!!  And hopefully I can get the other one read in time for the 3rd one to come out this August!

What was in your mailbox??

REVIEW: ERAGON BY CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

I read this a few years ago now, but while I am catching up on my review reading, I thought I would post about it as it remains as one of my favourite YA reads.

 
The first thing that struck me about this book when I picked it up from the shelves was that the author was only 15 years old when he started writing it,  and he was homeschooled.  What  kudos to the homeschoolers out there!  WOW!  To say it was well written is a gross understatement!  Right from the first pages I was taken in by the world he created, and just loved all of the characters.  One of my favourites was Brom.  What a cool dude. His relationship with Eragon was father-son like, and he taught him many of the skills he would need to survive his quest.  I loved the words Paolini used to name things, like "the spine" as the mountain region.  The battles with the evil Ra'zac are gripping, and it reminded me of the scenes with the orcs in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Like, on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of reading!

Here is the blurb from Paolini's website:
When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands. . . .


Paolini has created a very real world for his readers, and the characters have solid flesh and bone as well.  Saphira is a georgous beast, who is proned to woman-like miffs that actually made me laugh in parts.   I was given the sequel, Eldest, when it came out a few years ago, and I started it and liked it, but for whatever reason I put it down and have not picked it up again.  Now I think I may give it another go. 

Eragon is one of the YA novels that can be read by young people and parents alike.  And just released in time for Christmas is this BEAUTIFUL companion book to the series along the same lines as the "ology" books (as in Wizardology, Dragonology, Pirateology)  called "Eragon's A Guide to Alagaesia", with lots of cool flaps and facts that will have  fan of the trilogy flipping and reading with happiness!

RATING:  4.5 STARS

MAILBOX MONDAY

For the last two weeks I have been extremely busy with work and my daughter's 10th birthday shinanigans.  Now that things are back to normal, I can concentrate on book blogging... which I have MISSED! 

First I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Michelle at Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me these ARC's!!!!  You are awesome!

So, in my mailbox today from a week or so ago

The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

This is an ARC, and I was pretty pumped when I read the premise, it sounds very cool!  It comes out December 29th.

Here's the blurb from Amazon.ca:

A mesmerizing thriller -- told in reverse! The 13th Hour is the story of a man given the chance to go back in time in one-hour increments to prevent a vicious crime from destroying his life.

Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia. He knows she's dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range. The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car. Nick is confused, grief-stricken -- and completely innocent.

At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question: "If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?" He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours. With each hour that Nick travels back, he finds more clues to the identity of Julia's real killer, but he also discovers that his actions in the past may have unexpected repercussions in the future.

In his race against time to save the woman he loves most in the world, Nick will find that friends become enemies, old loyalties are tested, and Julia's murder is part of a larger scheme that has its roots in greed and vengeance. Nick has the ability to save Julia, the chance to put his own world in balance, but he is venturing down a precarious route. If he hasn't set things right by the thirteenth hour, his desperate attempts to save Julia's life may lead to a far greater catastrophe than he could have ever imagined.

A surprising and utterly original thriller, The 13th Hour is pure page-turning suspense -- full of double crosses, cliffhangers, and shocking revelations.
 

And an ARC of "Gone" by Lisa McMann, which will be released  Feb 9, 2010.  This is YA and looks pretty interesting.  It is the third book that follows the main character Janie, but it is not a trilogy.  I think it's more of a series.Here's the blurb from the authors website:

Janie thought she knew what her future held. And she thought she'd made her peace with it. But she can't handle dragging Cabel down with her.


She knows he will stay with her, despite what she sees in his dreams. He's amazing. And she's a train wreck. Janie sees only one way to give him the life he deserves--she has to disappear. And it's going to kill them both.

Then a stranger enters her life--and everything unravels. The future Janie once faced now has an ominous twist, and her choices are more dire than she'd ever thought possible. She alone must decide between the lesser of two evils. And time is running out...

And the third one is an ARC called "falling apart in one piece - one optimist's journey through the hell of divorce"  by Stacy Morrison.  (Release date:  March 2010) (no cover image available)  Here's the blurb on the back cover:

Just when Stacy Morrison thought she had it all, her husband of ten years announced that he wanted a divorce.  She was left alone with a new house that needed lots of work, a new baby who needed lots of attention, and a new job in the high pressured world of New York publishing.  Told with humor and heart, her honest and intimate account of the stress of being a working mother while trying to make sense of her unraveling marriange offers unexpected lessons of love, forgiveness, and dignity that will resonate with women everywhere.