*REVIEW* Blackwood

Synopsis:

On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island’s most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can’t dodge is each other.

Blackwood is a dark, witty coming of age story that combines America’s oldest mystery with a thoroughly contemporary romance.

I had high hopes for Blackwood because the premise is really interesting... ESPECIALLY since I live within driving distance of Roanoke Island, and who isn't intrigued by the mystery surrounding the lost colony?! Unfortunately, Blackwood fell short of my expectations. While the potential for a really good story was definitely present, the execution was lacking and I was left very disappointed.

Blackwood introduces us to Miranda Blackwood, a teenage girl literally trapped on Roanoke Island due to an old family curse, a curse that leads the people of Roanoke Island to treat Miranda and her family like second class citizens. Not helping this is the fact that Miranda's father is the town drunk. Unable to cope with Miranda's mother's death, Mr. Blackwood turns to the bottle for relief. Miranda soon learns, however, that her father was seeking relief from more than just his wife's death...

Another mass disappearance on the island, her father included, sends Miranda into a desperate search for the truth about the lost colonists, and her family's role in the past and present. Aiding Miranda is Phillips, a teenage boy who returns to the island to help Miranda when he learns of the recent events. Phillips had escaped the island and the voices of the dead that plagued him while he remained in it's borders, but he knows that he will have a part to play before it is all said and done. Together, the two delve deep into the mysteries of Roanoke Island, their families' roles, their destiny, and their newfound feelings for one another. Will they solve the mystery in time to save the missing? Or will they lose everything they hold dear, including each other?

This book just sounds GOOD which is so disappointing to me considering the way it was in reality. I STRUGGLED to get into the story and the first third of the book was painful at times. After that, the story did pick up some but I found that I was only minimally invested in the characters. I think that the story itself has a LOT of potential, but the follow through with the story TELLING was lacking and the transitions were simply awful at times. The POV switched often and the transitions between them were very poor. In fact, there were times that I had to re-read passages to figure out who the POV belonged to! That was beyond frustrating and really pulled me out of the story at times.

My other major complaint about this book is the lack of explanation. I truly felt lost sometimes and wasn't quite sure what was going on and what the significance of some things were, and I really think this could have been helped by more information. I'm hoping that there will be some editing done to the book (I read an ARC through NetGalley) and that maybe some of the above will be changed, at least the transitions. I really think that could take this from an OK book to a fairly decent book.

Anywho... those are my thoughts. Worth a read? That really depends on you. It wasn't an overly difficult read so if you can get past the beginning, you can fly through it. I just don't know if you'll care enough to devote the time. I seriously considered making this a DNF but my extreme Type A-ness made that impossible. So I'll let you be the judge on whether or not it's worth your time.

Expected publication: September 4, 2012 by Strange Chemistry

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!! :)

It's been a super busy weekend for me, I hope you all have enjoyed the weekend as well! I haven't gotten much reading done in the past few days so nothing new to report there. I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends and I hope my American friends take the time to reflect on how lucky we are to have the military that we do. God Bless the USA!

Now go have some hotdogs and hamburgers. This weekend doesn't feel complete without a cookout! Enjoy and take care! *XOXO*

*REVIEW* Waiting for You

Synopsis:

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she? In Waiting For You, this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

Waiting for You is my favorite Susane Colasanti book BY FAR. I've always been a little on the fence with her books, but this one was really, really good. Even though I am well removed from high school, I was completely able to relate to this book and what all of the characters were going through. And even though you could smell the ending coming a mile away, I still found the journey to the end entertaining, engaging, and well worth the ride.

Waiting for You introduces us to Marisa, a sophomore in high school, who is waiting for her first boyfriend. Her best friend, Sterling, and her have decided that this will be the year that their lives truly begin, and having a relationship is the ultimate goal. Marisa had suffered the previous year from a serious case of depression and anxiety and wants to make sure that she stays stable and happy. If only she could have predicted the things that would happen that would test that goal more than she ever thought possible...

See, Marisa's life is falling apart. Her perfect parents are separating, and while she finally got her dream boyfriend, she's finding that their relationship is far from ideal. She's also worried about Sterling who has decided that online dating is the way to go. The one bright spot in her existence is her renewed friendship with her neighbor, Nash. Nash seems to understand her better than anyone and the nights they spend hanging out together keep her sane more than anything else. There's also Dirk, an online DJ who seems to speak right to her soul on his nightly show. Who is Dirk and how does he know just what to say to make her feel better?

This book was SO good. For the first time ever, I truly connected with Colasanti's story and I felt myself rooting for Marisa and hoping to see her find the happiness she craves. I think anyone could relate to Marisa... the pain, the longing, the insecurities... most teenagers experience these emotions on an almost daily basis. Colasanti captures the difficulty of adolescence brilliantly. In addition to that, I simply loved these characters! Marisa, Nash, Sterling, Derek, Sandra, Marisa's parents, they ALL had something interesting about them, something that made me want to know more. I think it's a sign of a really good book when even the B-list characters are intriguing!

If you're like me and had previously read a Colasanti book that didn't really impress you, please don't let that keep you from picking up Waiting for You. It's really a fantastic book. In fact, I'm thinking about having a Colasanti-themed giveaway so someone else has the opportunity to read it! It's one of those books you really want to pay forward.

250 Follower Giveaway: WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who entered my 250 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY! I'm really excited to be back in the blogosphere and adore each and every one of you who follow and comment on the things here at Karen's Addictions. It means more than you know!

Anywho... let's get to it! The winner, who gets the book of his or her choice from The Book Depository is...

*drumroll*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner has been contacted and has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Thanks again to all who entered! *XOXO*

*REVIEW* Thumped

Synopsis:

THE CONCLUSION TO ONE OF THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT NOVELS OF LAST YEAR.

It’s been thirty-five weeks since twin sisters Harmony and Melody went their separate ways. And now their story has become irresistible: twins separated at birth, each due to deliver twins…on the same day!

Married to Ram and living in Goodside, Harmony spends her time trying to fit back into the community she once believed in. But she can’t forget about Jondoe, the guy she fell for under the strangest of circumstances.

To her adoring fans, Melody has achieved everything: a major contract and a coupling with the hottest bump prospect around. But this image is costing her the one guy she really wants.

The girls’ every move is analyzed by millions of fans eagerly counting down to “Double Double Due Date.” They’re two of the most powerful teen girls on the planet, and they could do only one thing to make them even more famous: Tell the truth.

Thumped is the conclusion to Megan McCafferty's Bumped and I have to say that it was a VERY satisfying conclusion to the story. While there were still some things that bothered me, much like in Bumped, I very much enjoyed this installment and was pleased and happy with where the characters ended up.

Thumped picks up many months after the ending of Bumped and we quickly learn that Melody and Harmony have become the hottest thing to ever hit the MiNet because both girls are pregnant with twins and should deliver around the same time. It's a story the world is following and both girls are the epitome of celebrity in their own worlds: Melody in Otherside, serving as role model for all teens hoping to hump and bump their way to fame and riches, and Harmony in Goodside, a role model on the power of redemption and coming back from a sinful past. If only everything was as it appeared to be...

Readers realize that Harmony and Melody are both living a lie, though of a very different nature. Will Harmony remain in Goodside, although deep inside, she knows that it's not the place for her or her twins to be? What will become of her and Jondoe if she never returns to Otherside? Will Melody tell the truth to the world, a truth that has the potential to ruin many lives but also may hold the key to radical change? Will she finally be honest with herself about her true feelings for Zen? Does a happily ever after await them all?

EEP! So many questions need to be answered and Thumped will answer them all. I think McCafferty does a good job pacing the story and letting the characters develop even more than they did in Bumped. I was able to discern a real difference between Melody and Harmony this time around, something that was lacking a bit in the first book. I like the direction the characters ended up going in and I'm happy to see growth in all of the characters, not just Melody and Harmony. I was most pleased with the growth in Ram and liked seeing more of him in this installment.

Unfortunately, it's not ALL positive... though I know it's a sign of the times in the book, some of the language of Otherside still plucked my nerves. I know that it's intended to be that way though so I don't truly fault the book for it. It just makes me feel a little neggy, if you know what I mean. My other complaint is something that should have been corrected and that was the number of errors in the text. I know that errors are common in books because authors and editors are human and it happens. But this book seemed to contain a LOT of them and my OCD-ness kept finding them as I scrolled through the pages (Kindle edition). Misspelled words, words being left out of sentences, ARGH. One or two or even three is one thing but I found NUMEROUS errors and that always bothers me.

The negatives of this book are definitely not reason enough to skip it though. Especially if you read Bumped and want to see all that happens. It's undoubtedly a strange world that McCafferty created but it's strange in an interesting way and it really makes you think what life could be like if something like "The Virus" were to become a reality. Enjoy! *XOXO*

FUN FRIDAY (12)

Happy Friday!! :) Welcome to FUN FRIDAY where I reveal something about me, some personal tidbit that will allow my followers to get to know me better. I follow several blogs and I sometimes wonder who the bloggers REALLY are behind the words, so I thought it would be a cool thing to open up a bit and to reveal more about who Karen really is.

Today I'd like to talk about my indecisiveness... cause it is HORRIBLE!!!! Even the most simple of decisions can leave me torn, confused and frustrated. Trying to choose a restaurant? Forget about it! What kind of chips do I want at the store?! Should I go to the gym or the park?! Simple choices can leave me debating for WAYYYY too long. And the big things? Talk about some anxiety! Big decisions are the WORST.

My case in point right now is bridesmaids. I'm getting married June 2013 and I CANNOT decide what to do. We're having a smaller wedding, we're hoping to keep the guests to under 90 so it doesn't make sense to have a wedding party of outrageous proportions. We've been saying three for the longest time but therein lies my dilemma because I can't choose between four of my friends. To further complicate matters, three of them already assume they will be in it because of previous conversations I've had with them. Which I know is MY fault but when I got engaged, there was so much excitement and, "Omigosh, of COURSE you'll be in my wedding" flew from my lips without me really thinking about it.

So now I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. The easy solution would be to have all four but my fiance really only has three people he wants up there and I am NOT one of those people who can roll with the unbalanced thing. That's a result of my slight OCD-like qualities. The other easy solution would be to choose the three people who already think they'll be in it. My problem with that is that the fourth friend is someone I really would like to have up there with me. We had grown a little distant but have been renewed our friendship as of late and she's one of the most amazing friends. UGH. Choices!

Anywho... hope you all have a FABULOUS weekend. I'll be posting the winner of my 250 Follower Contest later this weekend, or the beginning of the week, so be on the lookout for that. Cheers!

*REVIEW* Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Synopsis:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation...

I really didn't know what to expect from this one... I have not read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies so I didn't know what to expect from Seth Grahame-Smith. Couple that with my complete lack of history retention, and I assumed this one was not going to go so well for me. I'm happy to say I could not have been more wrong in my prediction. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fantastic book full of history, action, horror, loss, and hope. It's also full of some ridiculousness but you had to guess that from the title!

The book starts out by introducing us to a very young Abe Lincoln who is about to lose his mother who he is extremely attached and devoted to. Later he learns that his mother's death was actually the work of a vampire. Yep, a VAMPIRE. Abe decides then and there that he will devote his life to the eradication of vampires in America. Early in his "hunts", he stumbles upon Henry Sturges, a vampire who decides to take him under his wing and teach him all there is to know about hunting and killing vampires. Henry says that not all vampires are created equal and hopes to see the more evil ones banished from the land.

The book treats us to a wide history that shows us how Abraham Lincoln became the greatest President of the United States. We see his rise in the legal field, his first dips into politics, and much much more. We also see his first experience of love, his eventual marriage, and the birth of several children. Unfortunately, Abe also deals with a tremendous amount of loss that is truly heartbreaking. Throughout all of this, we get to witness Abe's battle against the vampires. His numerous hunts and kills and his eventual alignment with the Union, a group of vampires intent on winning the Civil War for the North and destroying the South's most capable combatants.

I really, really liked this one. So much of this history had been lost to me. When I learned about Lincoln and the Civil War, I was one of those students who believed in memorization, then reguritation, and then it would all be lost to me not long after. Reading this book was like hearing these stories for the first time all over again. Then add into the mix the fanciful tales of the vampires and it became an engaging and interesting read that I struggled to put down. And the reality of slavery in the book? Horrifying!! It's easy to not think about those dark days of our country's past but being reminded about the things that went on back then was sobering. Once again, I am in awe of Abraham Lincoln and all the men who fought with him to turn things around.

So would I recommend this to a friend? I sure as heck would! I quite enjoyed the author's writing style and think this book would appeal to many. I think I owe it to myself to check out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies now!