I'm on Facebook!

I have FINALLY set up a facebook page for my blog. With the upcoming scrapping of GFC (I will post about this soon).

So please head over and Like my facebook page to see new posts and discussions.

Which District Are You?

So recently I visited The Capitol and registered to become a citizen of Panem. Lucky me, I was assigned to District 1 which means my life will not be quite so difficult. As you can see from my registration card below, I also have a job as a Jeweller... Sweet (I wonder if I can keep any of my jewellery?)!!

So has anyone else registered yet? Are we neighbours? Let me know below!

In My Mailbox (15)

Welcome to this weeks in my mailbox where we discuss all the new books we acquired through the week. This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at the Story Siren.

This week I got some exciting books, so without further hesitation -

Bought

Elixir (Elixir #1) - Hilary Duff
Only The Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls #4) - Ally Carter
Divergent (Divergent #1) - Veronica Roth (Kindle Edition)
Wither (Chemical Garden #1) - Lauren DeStefano (Kindle Edition)

For Review

Dancergirl (WiHi #1) - Carol M. Tanzman (Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley)
Saving June - Hannah Harrington (Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley)


So what did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

Title: Dancergirl

Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Published: 15th November 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Series: (WiHi #1)
Source: eARC, thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley

A friend posted a video of me dancing online and now I'm now longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl—and suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he's acting weird. And some stranger isn't content to just watch anymore.

Ali, dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose more than just my love of dancing.

I could lose my life. - From Goodreads

I started reading this book with absolutely no expectations whatsoever. All I knew was the basics, it was a thriller where the main character is a dancer who starts to get stalked after some of her dances appears online. To me this felt like a new topic and was one I did not pick up very frequently, but I was looking forward to getting stuck in.

Alicia is a teenage girl whose life revolves around dancing. It feel from the beginning of the book that Alicia has a fear of being spied on or watched. One of Alicia's friends, Charlie, offers to boost both of their careers, her dancing and his film making, but filing her dancing in social setting and posting the videos online for all to see. Quite quickly the attention Alicia is getting turns negative when videos of her, not filmed by Charlie, turn up online too. That's when the real stalking began.

I thought that Alicia was an interesting character and it was clear that dancing ruled her life and was her passion. Not only does she dance at her local studio she also works there. Seeing as the most I know about dancing is how to shake my thing at a club (and I'm not even sure you can call that dancing) I struggled a little when Alicia spoke about dancing. It felt a little like I was being left out of a conversation.

I thought the real star of this book was Jacy, Alicia's best friend. For my money his story and personal issues were the most interesting of the whole book. I liked some of the other characters but some of them felt quickly dismissed and never mentioned again once their specific role in the story had finished.

I thought there were some very exciting sections to this story, but at times the action did not move as fast as I thought it would. I though the action towards the end moved well and I actually overshot my lunch hour by 10 minutes finishing it off. I am not sure how I can see this novel working into a series as to me it very much felt like a stand alone book. I will be interested to see what the story of WiHi #2 will be.

Follow Friday (3)

Welcome to my first Follow My Book Blog Friday. Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

This week's question is: It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

I want to start by saying happy holidays to all of the US bloggers out there in the blogoverse! I am thankful for everyone who reads and comments on my blog. Every time I see that I have a new follower or a new comment I am surprised that people actually want to hear what I have to say, so thank you everyone!

I have mentioned this before, but the book I give the most thanks for in terms of blogging is Cracked up to Be by Courtney Summers. This was the book that I needed to talk about as soon as I finished and I decided a blog was the best place for that.

Review: The Witches of the East by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: The Wiches of the East
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 21st June 2011
Series: The Beauchamp Family #1
Source: Copy Borrowed from AB

Freya, Ingrid and Joanna Beauchamp love their sleepy life in the East Hamptons. A new engagement, promotion at work, a happy home - its all going perfectly. And, to top it off, no one's come close to discovering the secret of what they can really do in hundreds of years. But throw a few accidental love potions in the mix the Beauchamp girls are going to need more than a broomstick to clean up this mess... - From Goodreads

When I saw that this was in a pile of books one of my friends was lending me I was excited because I had not read any books by Melissa de la Cruz and this would be my first. It took a little looking on Goodreads for me to find out that this is actually the UK title for Witches of the East End which had been on my TBR list for ages, then started my happy dance!

This book is slightly older than the YA books I have been reading recently, but I loved it anyway. In the small town of East Hampton Freya, Ingrid and Joanna Beauchamp (even their family name is great!!) try to live a normal magic free life. Over the course of the book however the sisters Freya and Ingrid start to use magic more and more. Before we know it the police are looking for a scapegoat to some crimes and the fingers are beginning to point to the sisters.

This book was atmospheric and took a while to describe the town and the people who lived there. We are pulled into this small town and the rich descriptions bathes us in a feeling that we are actually there. This also gave some depth to the characters and allowed us a proper glimpse into how they lived their lives without magic. I really liked Ingrid as a character, even though she is the more sensible of the two characters in life, she is the one who is more willing to break the rules.

What I liked the best about this book was the mythology behind the Beauchamp Family, what happens when one of the sisters dies or is killed, where they came from and why they can't use their magic. I thought this was all well thought through and left me wanting to know much more. I wish this book had looked at this for longer, but it did not really come in until the end of the book, presumably as a build up to the next in the series.

I really enjoyed this book. It took a little while to get into the meat of the story as there was a lot of setting the scene going on at the start. Once I was into it though I found it hugely entertaining and I did not want to put it down. I wanted to know more about the witches and their history, so I will definitely be picking up book 2 (also because the cliff hanger at the end has left me with many more questions!!).

Some Amazing Covers

I have been meaning to post these covers for a while. Here are some beautiful covers for you to enjoy. Let me know what you think below.

The US cover for Starcrossed #2 - Beautiful! I can't wait to see the UK cover

The cover for Hereafter #2 - Stunning

The Ghost and the Goth #3 - Yay , I love seeing them holding hands.

The UK cover for Hallowed, Unearthly #2 - Have I mentioned how excited I am about this?

I absolutely love the colours used in Dreamless and I love that the face is kind of obscured. I also think the cover for Arise is brilliant. I can't wait to get my hands on these!!

What do you think about these covers?