Goodbye Canada!

I don't often blog about my personal life. This time, I will definitely make an exception. Especially because it's something that interrupts my blogging...

I'M GOING TO KENYA!!

As part of my placements for my teaching program, we had the option to apply to go to Kenya or Ecuador to teach for 3 weeks. I applied and was one of 25 students chosen to go to Emori Joi Primary School in Kenya.

I leave on February 4, 2012. Wait, did I spell that right? I believe it's spelled S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y. I am so excited. It's kind of surreal right now, but I know it'll sink in when I'm on the plane.

For the 3 weeks we're going to be doing a lot of stuff. We fly from Toronto to Amsterdam to Nairobi and will stay there for the night before traveling out to the Me to We camp where we will be staying. We'll be teaching local Kenyan children in their school, and also be participating in various cultural experiences while we're there. The first weekend we'll be going on a Safari and the second will either be an excursion to the nearest market or a hike. We teach from February 8 to February 22. Our last day of teaching also happens to be my birthday! We'll head back to Nairobi the next day and go to the market there, before leaving for home. It's going to be a whirlwind of an experience! The worst part is going to be the 24 hours of travel time both there and back. But I'm okay with that!

Clearly, this means I'll be MIA from blogging for 3 weeks. I have a lot of packing and stuff to do before leaving on Saturday, so I won't have many posts planned. And even then, it might be a couple Waiting on Wednesdays. Just be prepared for a lack of activity over here.

I hope you all have a wonderful month! I'll definitely write up something special about my experience to post when I get back.

Must Read Monday (9)

Must Read Monday is a new meme hosted by Jenna at Fans of Fiction. The idea is to create an acrostic poem about a book in the chosen category of the week.

This week’s category: Favourite self-published book

Summer camp is definitely not Riley's
Idea of fun, especially since she's a
XV-year-old city girl. Her parents are

Making her attend camp
Only so they can divorce with her
Out of the way.
Now she's being bullied,

She's homesick, and
Unfortunately has been bitten by a
Monster - a werewolf. Riley
Must find a way to
Escape the monster within her before it
Ruins her chances at a normal life.

This week I chose S.M. Reine's debut novel, Six Moon Summer. This is a really great book and series. I actually liked the second book, All Hallows' Moon, more than the first, but I chose to use the first so I didn't have to worry about spoilers. Reine's writing is really great. The way she writes the transformations from human to wolf are incredibly descriptive, that it hurt me when reading sometimes. If you're a fan of werewolf stories, like I am, I definitely recommend this one!

Read my review here.
Find it on Goodreads here.
Visit S.M. Reine here.
Six Moon Summer is currently on sale for $0.99 USD on Amazon! I highly recommend picking it up!

Feel free to try out this meme! It's a new way to introduce blog followers to new books.

In My Mailbox (36)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme that gives bloggers a chance to share what books they've received in the last week. It's hosted by The Story Siren and you can find out more info about it here.



Stopped in a the bookstore again this week! Picked up a few 2012 YA debuts that I'm excited to read and count towards the 2012 Debut Author Challenge. My lovely dog was nice enough to help me showcase what I got:

Bought:
The Lover's Dictionary by David Leviathan {Goodreads | Book Depository}
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi {Goodreads | Book Depository}
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight {Goodreads | Book Depository}

Received from RAK:
Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout {Goodreads | Book Depository}

So excited for these books! I had to travel to a different Chapters to get them, because my local Chapters apparently has recently decided to have crappy selection... They just don't have a lot of the new books coming out, especially debuts. I also decided to pick up THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY since it just won an Alex Award.

I'm so happy to have HALF-BLOOD!! I've read it and it's amazing. I got it from RAK from the lovely Cassay at Vamps, Weres, and Cassay Oh My!. BIG THANKS CASSAY!! I'm super excited to reread it and can't wait for PURE!

What did you get this week?

Review: Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Chaos
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown
Publish Date: October 18, 2011
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 518
Series: The Caster Chronicles
1. Beautiful Creatures (review)
2. Beautiful Darkness (review)
3. Beautiful Chaos
4. Untitled (expected pub Oct 2012)

**WARNING: SPOILERS**

Synopsis:
Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.

Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

From Goodreads

This title is the most fitting title ever. Like, ever ever. There is so much chaos in this book it’s ridiculous. It’s 500+ pages of disaster, destruction, confusion, heartbreak, end of the world events and so on! It’s hard to put down because you want to find out what will be thrown at our beloved characters next, but you also want to figure out the answers to the burning questions in the novel.

BEAUTIFUL CHAOS is a fantastic third novel. I didn’t enjoy the second one as much as I would have hoped (check out my review to see why). Thankfully, this third book was so much better. I think this one was much more fast paced than book 2, and that made a big difference for me. There was always something happening, or I was waiting with bated breath for something to happen. The plot moved forward really well.

The characters were the same ones that we’ve come to love (or hate) over the last two books. Amma was very different in this book because she’s kind of going off her rockers. She’s not cooking as much or reading cards; there’s something bothering her, causing her to lose faith. Link is still awesome, but his ego is now amplified because he’s Linkubus. And Ridley is going bonkers after losing her powers. She can’t stand being a mortal. Poor Ethan is falling apart at the seams. He’s losing memories, doesn’t like his favourite foods anymore, and is haunted by something (someone) in his dreams. Plus, he’s too afraid to tell anyone. Besides, it’s not like anyone else is doing very well either.

In BEAUTIFUL CHAOS, the Mortal and Caster worlds collide. Event after event occurs and forces our team of characters to fear not only for themselves, but for the town they call home. And oh my, does it ever end on a cliffhanger! I can’t wait to find out the title of the 4th and final book in the Caster Chronicles, and see the cover. And then, of course, I can’t wait until October for it to come out!

Teaser Tuesday (40)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

I just started reading Jocelyn Davies' debut novel, A Beautiful Dark, on the weekend. I devoured the first half and can't wait to finish it. Here's my teaser this week:

I felt a sharp twist of pain as my ankle buckled and snapped beneath me, and I went down.
I'd gone from calculated control to being completely helpless in the blink of an eye.

To give you more context, Skye was skiing. I hope that gets you a bit more interested!

I'm loving this book! I started it on Sunday and read the whole way home from the cottage. It's a really quick read and the story is interesting. Definitely not the same as any other angel stories I've read. You can probably expect me to finish and review it soon!

Feel free to share your teasers. I'd love to see what you're reading!

Must Read Monday (8)

Must Read Monday is a new meme hosted by Jenna at Fans of Fiction. The idea is to create an acrostic poem about a book in the chosen category of the week.

This week’s category: An amazing controversial/banned book

When his parents
Are killed in a
Terrible car accident, Jacob
Escapes the pain of
Reality by hopping on a circus train.

Full of loss and sorrow, he
Opts to join the circus and
Receives the position of vet to the

Exotic animals. While
Labouring through the Depression, they acquire an
Elephant, believing it will save their
Poor show from collapsing. With a
Hateful ring-leader,
And untimely love, this
Novel will
Teach you the
Secrets of love and trust.

Water for Elephants is one adult novel that I absolutely love. I'm not sure why it's banned/challenged other than what it says in Books Challenged or Banned in 2010-2011 by Robert P. Doyle, which states that a parent at a high school complained about it's sexual content. It's not really a teen book, especially because of the violence towards animals, but the sexual content isn't that strong. I doubt my acrostic made that much of an impression, but it's an amazing book that I definitely recommend!

Find it on Goodreads here.
Visit Sara Gruen here.


Feel free to try out this meme! It's a new way to introduce blog followers to new books.

Judging a Book by Its Cover (4)

I do Judging a Book by Its Cover randomly, when I collect several book covers that I think are worthy of being judged as awesome! You can see all my Judging a Book by Its Cover posts here.

Links will direct you to the corresponding Goodreads pages.

Cicada by Belle Whittington | July 14, 2011
Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross | April 10, 2012

Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London | May 29, 2012
Glitch by Heather Anastasiu | August 7, 2012

Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout | November 6, 2012
Goddess Interrupted (Goddess Test #2) by Aimee Carter | March 27, 2012

Rivals and Retributions (13 to Life #5) by Shannon Delany | August 7, 2012
Intangible by J. Meyers | January 2012

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris | April 24, 2012
City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare | May 8, 2012

Chosen Ones by Tiffany Truitt | April 2012
Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen | May 22, 2012

What do you think of these covers? Which ones are you most anticipating? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday (48)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!





This week I'm waiting on two books, both of which are written by 2012 debut authors!

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Publication date: January 31, 2012

Synopsis:
NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

From Goodreads

Why I want it: Debut Author. Awesome Cover. I've heard that Ana is a kickass heroine. And that Sam is adorable because he's so wise, but still young-looking.

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
Publication date: February 1, 2012

Synopsis:
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world.

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation... and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all?

From Goodreads

Why I want it: Debut Author again. Dystopian. I need to read some zombie books. And I love the idea of being stuck somewhere and venturing out to find something new.

What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?