Blog Tour: Trafficked by Kim Purcell + Giveaway!

Title: Trafficked
Author: Kim Purcell
Release date: February 16, 2012
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher

Hannah is an ordinary teenager growing up in Moldova until her parents are killed in a terrorist bombing. While she’s still mourning the loss, she gets an offer that sounds too good to be true: a job as a nanny for a Russian family in Los Angeles.

At first, it seems like her luck has finally turned around, but life with the Platonovs quickly spirals into a nightmare. Lillian, the mother, forces Hannah to work sixteen-hour days cleaning, and won’t let her leave the house. Sergey, the father, is full of secrets. And they refuse to pay Hannah.

Stranded in a foreign land with false documents, no money, and nobody who can help her, Hannah has become a modern-day slave. And the more Hannah unravels this family’s terrible secrets, the more her life—and her family back home—are in grave danger. Desperate and lonely, she reaches out to the boy next door. But in the end, the only one who can save Hannah is herself.

Trafficked is a unique book not just for the YA market but for the fiction market.  It's a haunting story of a girl looking for a future who instead gets trapped in a nightmare.  Hannah's story is a very real one that I think should be read by everyone.

Hannah goes to America to earn money to help her grandmother, learn English, and go to school to become a doctor.  She never thinks about herself, only the ones she loves and people she can help.  Even though her trip to America started terribly she doesn't let if affect her and she looks forward to the opportunities America presents her.  She is brave, kind, funny, and strong.  No matter what happens to her she continues to think of how she can help her grandmother and anyone else who might need her help, including the neighbor boy, Colin.  Hannah's relationship with Colin doesn't really develop until close to the end of the book so it's hard to feel like you know him.  Either way, he is a nice guy who just needs a friend, like Hanah.

The family that Hannah "works" for is not what you would expect.  They are a nice family of four with some dark secrets and quite a few insecurities.  They don't seem like the type of people who would force a teenage girl to slave for them and that is the scariest part.  On the outside they are just another normal family but on the inside, things are so much darker.

My one complaint is that the book does drag a little.  There are brief spurts of suspenseful chapters and then it goes back to Hannah's everyday chores.  It got a little dull at times and I sometimes had to force myself through some of the less interesting parts.  Luckily it wasn't often and the end of the book just killed me.  Those last chapters are impossible to stop reading.

Overall, Trafficked is a heavy story but one that has a great message.  This book is a raw account of one girl's harrowing ordeal but all throughout there is a little ray of hope that keeps Hannah going.  You must check this one out.

Rating:  B


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Sequels Giveaway!

Since there are so many series that I haven't read, I want to giveaway a few of my sequels to people who have actually read the first books.  I have eight sequels to giveaway today and there will be two winners!

The choices:

All books are ARCs and will be shipped from me to the winners.  Winner one will get their choice of two sequels from the list and winner two will get to choose one of the remaining sequels.

Details:
-Open to US/CA residents only.
-Giveaway ends on March 11.


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Blogger Interview: The Dancing Reader!

Today I have a new blogger for you guys to meet: The Dancing Reader!  She has only been blogging for a little while but I love chatting with her on Twitter and she has great taste in books!

What are you like outside of blogging?

Outside of blogging, I’m a generally quiet person, and I’m fun when I’m around people that I’m comfortable with. I love meeting new people though. I’m also a dancer, which is something that I love as much as reading.

What book changed your life?

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that has changed my life, I’m still waiting for it. No book has really changed my perspective on how I see the world, really.

What made you decide to start your blog?

One of my old friend’s moms blogged about her personal life, and I thought that was pretty cool. I decided to start my own personal blog, and somehow, it merged into a book blog. When I found out about the real book blogging community, I started over with a fresh new blog for book reviews.

What blogs/bloggers inspire you?

As mentioned in my About page on my blog, several blogs /bloggers inspire me. I have been following all of these blogs by email for quite some time now.

1. Obviously, Katie’s Book Blog. Her blog is just amazing, her reviews are completely honest and well written. I know I can rely on her reviews when I’m thinking about reading a book. Whenever I get a new update from her blog in my inbox, I’m always eager to check out what it is. Katie is a hard-working blogger and I can’t wait to continue following for many years to come.

2. Lauren @ Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf: Lauren is an awesome blogger. She recommends me books, and her reviews are very informative, which I love. If I have any questions, I can always depend on Lauren!

3. Grace @ Wordslikesilver: Before I ramble about her fantastic blog, can I just say, Grace’s reviews are so thoroughly written that it forces me to take more time to write each review. I don’t know how she has so much patience to write such a long, yet honest and worth-reading review. Aside from that, Grace is also a dancer, like me. And she reads. Super. Fast. Lastly, she’s my best blogger friend. J

4. Melina @ Reading Vacation and H.D. @ Reading Writing Breathing: These two. Do I even need to say? They are one of the youngest bloggers out there, and yet they are so mature and I look up to them. I really do. Their posts are fun to read and I am always intrigued. When I have questions, I always go to them for help. Awesome, awesome bloggers.

Those are just SOME of the bloggers whom inspire me :P

What are your goals for your blog in the future?

My goals for my blog in the future: well, being a new blogger, I would just like to get my blog out there. Right now, it’s still a tiny blog, and I just want people to know about it, and enjoy my posts.

Do you love or hate your mailman?

I actually have never met my mailman before. =P I’m not allowed to receive or ship anything out, so I’m afraid I will never have a decided opinion on my mailman!

Favorites:

-Book of all time:  I can’t decide on one! But I can narrow it down to 3 books. I recently read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. While I didn’t completely understand it, it’s still definitely one of my favorites, a genre I have never experienced before. Another favorite has got to be Divergent and Anna and the French Kiss. No words. Just go read them if you haven’t already.

-New release: I actually am quite behind on new releases, but they new-ish ones that I REALLY liked are The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick.

-Genre: My favorite genre would HAVE to be romance. If there is no romance, there is a HIGH possibility I won’t like the book. There has to be some type of romance in every book I read.

-Place to Read: I like reading on my comfy armchair (which I usually fall asleep on while reading) or my bed. =)

-TV show: Dance Academy. No doubt. Shoutout to Grace @ Wordslikesilver for recommending it to me. Us crazy dancers and our obsessions. And Pretty Little Liars. Gah, SO intense.

-Candy: Do Lindor truffles count?

-Drink: Mango Pineapple Smoothies from McDonald’s!

So there you have it, guys!  Check out her blog at The Dancing Reader and on Twitter!

In My Mailbox 143 (week of February 18)

In my mailbox is a meme created by Kristi at The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie. It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week, either for review, from the library, from the bookstore, or from trades.

For review:

-Shadow & Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

-The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

-My Favorite Mistake (The A Circuit #2) by Georgina Bloomberg & Catherine Hapka

-Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

-Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

-A Want So Wicked (A Need So Beautiful #2) by Suzanne Young

-Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

-Balthazar by Claudia Gray

-A Touch Morbid (A Touch Mortal #2) by Leah Clifford

-Arise (Hereafter #2) by Tara Hudson

-For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund

-The Gathering Storm (The Katerina Trilogy #1) by Robin Bridges

-The Nightmare Garden (The Iron Codex #2) by Caitlin Kittredge

-Gil Marsh by A.C.E. Bauer

-Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

-Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Born Wicked (Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) by Jessica Spotswood

Title: Born Wicked (Cahill Witch Chronicles #1)
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Release date: February 7, 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 326
Source: Publisher

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship - or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood - not even from each other

Born Wicked has everything a reader could possibly want: magic, forbidden romance, prophecies, lies, and betrayals.  It's hard to pick one favorite thing about this book.  Everything about it is just fabulous!

One of the best and most unique things about Born Wicked is the setting.  It is set in an alternate New England of the 1890s.  Jessica Spotswood took some bits of real New England and added her own magical touch.  The town itself is beautiful as is Cate's own home.  The setting only adds to the beauty and the wonder of the book.  It's a very unique ability to be able to blend history with fiction but Jessica Spotswood has done it with Born Wicked.

Cate is a strong character that is easy to like even though she has some flaws.  She is brave, smart, kind, and a great sister.  Her biggest flaw though is that she is unwilling to rely on others.  She trusts very few people (with good reason) and the few people she does trust she doesn't want to endanger.  Her sisters were sometimes harder to like.  They didn't listen to Cate very often even though she was just looking out for them.  I still managed to completely fall in love with Tess but I can't say the same about Maura.  She was very selfish and immature.  She needs to do a lot of growing in the next book.  Finn, on the other hand, was perfect the way he was.  For once the love interest wasn't someone typically handsome or popular with the ladies.  He was a real guy that you still can't help but fall for.

It does take a little time to get into the story but once you are in, you are hooked!  Secrets keep being revealed and each one is more shocking than the last.  By the end of the book you will be on the edge of your seat dying for the Cahill sisters to get a happy ending.  I know I was!

Overall, Born Wicked is one of the strongest debuts I have read.  Jessica Spotswood has a gift and I can't wait to see what she does with it next.  The sequel to Born Wicked just moved to the top of my wish-list!

Rating:  A++

Waiting, Wanting, Wishing: Houghton Mifflin Edition! (19)

Waiting, Wanting, Wishing is a meme based off of The Story Siren's Books To Pine For and other posts such as that one. There are so many books out there that I want to read and this is a good way to spotlight some of them. This weeks theme is books being published by Houghton Mifflin in 2012!

Click on the books title to be taken to the Goodreads page.

Title: Deadly Pink
Author: Vivian Vande Velde
Release date: July 10, 2012

Grace Pizzelli is the average sister. She’s nothing like her brilliant older sister, Emily, who works for Rasmussem, creators of the world’s best virtual reality games. They seem so real that you can taste the food and smell the flowers.

The games aren’t real, though—or at least they weren’t. Now that Emily has hidden herself inside one , it’s clear that the technology can only keep her safe for so long. Something must have gone terribly wrong for Emily to retreat into the pink and sparkly Land of the Golden Butterflies, but no one seems to know what.

Grace may consider herself average, but she’s the only one who can save Emily. So Grace enters the game, hoping to find her sister and talk her out of virtual suicide. There isn’t much time left before sustained exposure to the technology will have dire results. Unless Grace can find her sister soon, Emily will die—for real.

Title: Enchanted

Author: Alethea Kontis

Release date: May 8, 2012

It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

Title: First Comes Love
Author: Katie Kacvinsky
Release date: May 8, 2012

Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what's next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract.

What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other.

But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.

Title: Ladies In Waiting

Author: Laura L. Sullivan

Release date: May 8, 2012

Eliza dreams of being a playwright for the king’s theater, where she will be admired for her witty turns of phrase rather than her father’s wealth.

Beth is beautiful as the day but poor as a church mouse, so she must marry well, despite her love for her childhood sweetheart.

Zabby comes to England to further her scientific studies—and ends up saving the life of King Charles II. Soon her friendship with him becomes a dangerous, impossible obsession. Though she knows she should stay away from the young, handsome king, Charles has a new bride, Queen Catherine, and a queen needs ladies in waiting.

And so Zabby, Beth, and Eliza, three Elizabeths from very different walks of life, find themselves at the center of the most scandal-filled court that England has ever seen.

Title: The Wicked And The Just
Author: J. Anderson Coats
Release date: April 17, 2012

Cecily longs to return to her beloved Edgeley Hall, where her father was lord of the manor. But now he has completely ruined her life. He is moving them to Caernarvon, in occupied Wales, where he can get a place for almost nothing, since the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will get to be the lady of the house at last—if all goes well.

Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English came and destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now Gwenhwyfar must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl who has taken what should have been hers.

While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And meanwhile the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem. Outside the city walls of Caernarvon, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.

What are you waiting, wanting, wishing for this week?