Bitterblue

Bitterblue
By: Kristin Cashore
Reported by: Julianna Helms
Source: ARC borrowed from the amazing Karen
Release Date: May 1st, 2012, from Dial/Penguin

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's||Barnes&Noble||Amazon||Book Depository

Designed to deceive and fabricated to steal, Bitterblue is a more-bitter-than-sweet story bursting with emotions and hidden truths destined to kill.

Waiting on Wednesday {28}

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that features your current anticipating read.

This week, I'm waiting on...

SHINE, shine, shine your light (The GIF edition)

Shine
By: Jeri Smith-Ready
Reported by: Julianna Helms
Source: Paperback from publisher and author
Release date: 5/1/2012
Disclosure: I am friends with the author, but that of course does not influence my opinion in any way.

In this dramatic conclusion to the Shade trilogy, Aura and Zachary’s relationship sizzles as the secrets of the Shift are revealed.

Life can change in an instant, and no one understands that better than Aura. It’s been almost a year since her boyfriend tragically died. She’s finally letting go of Logan’s violet-hued ghost, but not her search to uncover the truth about her past.

As the first in a generation that can see ghosts, Aura is convinced she has a connection to the Shift. She’s trusted Zachary, ever patient and ever by her side, with all that she knows. But when the government threatens his life in an attempt to learn Aura’s secrets, she will stop at nothing to protect herself and the one she loves...even if that means betraying her own heart.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's||Constellation Books||Amazon||Book Depository

There's a very distinct reason why the Shade trilogy is one that I fall in love with again and again: its intensity is unmatched, of both romance and need. 

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Weaker

Kill Me Softly
By: Sarah Cross
Reported by: Julianna Helms
Source: ARC from Netgalley
Release date: 4/10/2012 from Egmont USA

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

-Summary from Goodreads

It's always terribly depressing when you have to write a negative review for a book you have been so viciously anticipating, but candidly, in the case of Kill Me Softly, what started out as an intriguing and deliciously creepy dark tale quickly sunk below the level of no-return.

Waiting on Wednesday {27}

It's wednesday... and Waiting on Wednesday time! This week, I'm waiting on:

Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why
By: Jay Asher
Reported by: Julianna Helms

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Thirteen Reasons Why is the gripping, addictive international bestseller that has changed lives the world over. It's an unrelenting modern classic.

-Summary from Goodreads
Mrs. Nelson's||Barnes&Noble||Amazon||Book Depository

This book had me strangled like a mouse dangling by a thread. It was angry and frustrating and so real I did not even understand the actual authenticity of the novel until something similar happened to me, and I was shocked. Because at first I thought I just hated this book. At first I thought it was annoying and dramatic, but I think there are few ways I could've been more wrong.