Amazing Giveaway!

Sorry. You're sick of me blogging about giveaways but they're pretty awesome. This one, atleast, is HUGE. And amazing!

http://madeleinerex.com/2010/09/02/a-megalodon-of-a-giveaway-wordbirds-one/

It's BIG!

So go enter! :) Oh, and follow her blog cus she's as awesome as the giveaway!

I'm not dead! (mostly)

Wow. I'm SOSOSOSO sorry for neglecting for a while! School just started, I'm a yearbook photographer, and I'm doing the school musical. Time consuming, I'm telling you (: But, that doesn't mean I've read any less!

Expect a really long exciting review of Clockwork Angel with so many praises that I almost feel my brain exploding out of my head. I loved it that much. I did!

Oh, as well as Paranormalcy. What sucks is that I read Paranormalcy the second, the LITERAL SECOND I got done with CA, so I was still freaking out over how amazing CA was... and found it hard to get into. By the end, though, I loved it! Well waited for! So I'll probably review that, as well...

Meanwhile, I have about 6 overdue library books (oops) that I haven't read yet (double oops) but all in all, I'm in a very good mood! So... I'm going to do a Saturday Spotlight Splog then probably go to bed.

Looooove, Chelsea!

Review: A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn

A Kiss In Time, by Alex Flinn, is a story about a girl named Talia and a boy named Jack. Jack is pretty normal by teenage boy standards, but Talia...

She's a princess from the 1700s.

Cursed by the evil witch Maldovia to prick her finger on a spindle before her 16th birthday and sleep until true love's kiss awakes her, Talia wakes up in the 21st century with Jack hovering over her.

"I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen."

I picked up A Kiss In Time at the library because the title caught my eye. Of course, my best friend (and kindred spirit) happened to be reading it at the same time. I think my subconcious saw it at her house and made me grab it at the library. Either way, A Kiss In Time was nothing short of AMAZING!

The concept is not only interesting, but very funny. Sheltered Princess Talia waking up in the 21st century. She actually takes more of a shock to the culture rather then the technology. Sure, busses are faster then the fastest carriage, but when Jack's ex-girlfriend yells at her over the phone, Talia thinks: "And strangely enough, she calls me a female dog." She is absolutely horrified about the way girls dress, and Jack is smart enough to take her to a modern 'party'. Talk about culture shock.

I loved it because Talia was far from perfect. She never shyed about how beautiful she is (maybe it's a princess thing?) and she acted... well, like a princess. Jack was also pretty awesome. Of course, he was a teenage boy, so he did do some stupid things. But he made up for them. They were both lovable as characters and I liked how it alternated points of view so that I could really get inside each of their heads. Plus, I loved how they fell in love.

I mean, spoilery aside, I really enjoyed the romance. It didn't make me want to gag myself with a spoon (and trust me, some books do). They fell in love at a pace teenagers would. Not like, a dark whirlwind of passion and darkness. I loved how when Talia got excited over something, Jack thought, "She's so cute. I wonder what it would be like to kiss her again." It seems more realistic.

Another reason, I think, why I was able to enjoy the romance of the book more was because it wasn't just about Talia and Jack's love. Jack had issues with his dad... and for some reason, watching him grow and having Talia help just made me so happy! It's the classic dad-wants-son-to-take-over-business situation, and Jack doesn't want to. In fact, he REALLY doesn't want to. And it's both funny and fascinating how diplomatic Talia is about everything. She's truly a princess.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but I LOVELOVELOVED the ending. It was nothing short of perfect (: So, I give this book 5/5 men swimming in bacon. Go read it!
EDIT: Blogger is being funky about letting me put in my little bacon swimmers. Apologies (:

Cover Spotlight: Wish

I was at the library yesterday, and this book cover caught my eye:

Isn't it just GORGEOUS? The book is about a magic dress, hence the sparkles... but I honestly ADORE the cover. I thought I might share. I didn't actually pick up the book (I had six in my arms already, and figured that was enough) but have you read it? It's lovely.

Books of Bayern: The Goose Girl

The newest cover (:

I'm spotlighting the Books of Bayern this month! The first book, the book that started it all, the Big Daddy (okay, maybe notsomuch the Big Daddy...) THE GOOSE GIRL! *insert children cheering here*

The Goose Girl is, as I said in my original post about the Books of Bayern, the story of Ani (who changes her name to Isi) who was the princess of Kilindree but was sent to marry a prince, then betrayed by her close friend and lady-in-waiting. She then had to disguise herself as a goose girl--tending to the palace geese--to save her own life.

Goose Girl is actually based off the Grimm fairy tale of the same name. If you're planning on reading it (WHICH YOU VERY WELL SHOULD) then you shouldn't look it up... it kinda spoils the ending (: Shannon Hale has taken a fantastic tale and woven it into the land of Bayern... a place so believable and cultured that I'd love to live there. Actually, I'd like to live in Tira... but that's in River Secrets and I'll get to that later.

This books is one of my favorite books for a couple of reasons. Isi (although in this book she goes by Ani, but she's Isi to me) is amazing. And she's blonde. I just have this thing about strong female heroines never being blonde. Is that just me? It probably is. But I adore Isi! And the way Shannon Hale writes... the language is GORGEOUS. It's positively WHIMSICAL. I could go on forever about how fantastic the way she writes is. It's a certain style that totally fits the fairy tale feel. The book is most definitely a fairy tale.

The original cover (my copy)

I also love how Shannon Hale mixes magic into the story. The interesting thing about how she did it is that it's not flat-out magic--it's more subtle magic. Basically, it's learning the language of things. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the first book focuses on how Isi learns to communicate with the wind. It helps her out many, many times but in the later books it becomes a problem... but more on that later.

This book also has one of my favorite love stories. I can't give away too much, I don't want to spoil it, but I seriously loved watching the love interests develop. I had my own guess the entire time as to who he was and such, and I actually squealed out loud at the end when there was a revelation about a certain character... it makes me giggle even thinking about it (: (: (: 

Although it's a relatively calm story, there is action and drama. Lots and lots of drama. Ooh, Selia, OOOH. She's one of those people who you just want to punch in the face. You have NO IDEA. OOOOOOH. That's all I'm going to say. I mean, she's such a horrid, nasty... well, I think I'm done. But honestly? I can't put into words how fantastic this book is! SO GO READ IT!

Paranormalcy Giveaway!

If you follow me on Twitter (WHICH YOU SHOULD!) (Kidding.) (Sorta.) you know that I'm really excited for Paranormalcy by Kiersten White to come out! And this snazzy site (which you should also subscribe to) is giving away Paranormalcy!

http://madeleinerex.com/2010/08/12/paranormalcy-pre-order-giveaway/

So... go get 'em, tiger!

LIBRARY HAUL! AKA - I'm going to FAIL summer reading.

So my mom took me to the library today to get the summer reading books. Of course, I'm a dundle-head and I took AP English so I have to read two books assigned by the school. But when my mom dropped me off (GAWSH I wish I had a car) I soon found out---my local library had EVERY SINGLE option for summer reading checked out! So I had to buy them cheap on amazon. *le sigh* Oh well. But on the plus side, after I found all of them gone, I picked up five books to read!

Stardust by Neil Gaiman - I'm sure everyone has seen the movie, and the book is probably better. I love the movie, so... I'm excited to read this.
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard - I wanted to read this after seeing a review about it from someone else's blog... It took me 4.5 years to find, but I did :)
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn - The title caught my eye, and just now I realized it's by Alex Flinn... OHMYGOSH I loved Beastly! How did I not realize it was her? Silly, silly me. Now I'm even more excited to read it.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - I loved the movies, and Anne is my favorite person EVER. So... I have to read the book.
The Season by Sarah MacLean - My best friend LOVES this book and has been BEGGING me to read it, and I was so lucky to get it :)

That's it! :) Now I'm going to pass out on my bed because I'm so tired...