Review: GRAVE MERCY by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy

Author: Robin LaFevers

Publication date: April 3rd, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Source: Shelver's bookshelf

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Review:

I'm going to start this off by showing you my reaction AFTER I finished the book. When I read the last page, shut the book, and set the book down beside my sister, Shelver, I felt like I only had one reaction:

That, readers, is the reaction of WHY DIDN'T I READ THIS SOONER? Oh, all of you must have experienced this one time or another. It doesn't matter if you're a blogger, author, librarian, or just a reader. At one point in your life, you have stumbled across a book that you wished you had read sooner. 

If you haven't read Grave Mercy yet, add that one to your list. 

Having been a failed abortion, left with hideous scars on her back, and marked as the daughter of Death, Ismae can't help but be strong. The townspeople have tormented her and her father has done even worse. Then after her dreadful father sells her off to a vile farmer, the local herbwitch and priest rescue her by whisking her off to the covenant of St. Mortain. 

This covenant? Trains assassins. A marque will appear on whoever Mortain says needs to die. Usually, it's one who goes against their duchess. We meet some people including the special Annith and Sybella before we leap three years to a trained Ismae. 

Ismae is then placed with an important assignment: protect Duchess Anne from the French army and any dreadful, pushy suitors from stealing her duchy. To do this, she is forced to pose as the duchess's half-brother's mistress. Of course, the covenant thinks he might be a traitor as well so Ismae is always on her guard with Gavriel Duval. 

Duval. How wonderful is he? I mean, it's not my real last name but I knew he'd be good once I saw we had the same last name minus an "l." Suspicious, kind, stubborn, protective, and loyal...not to mention good looking. And Beast.

Give me a moment while I smile. 

Beast, Duval's friend, is one of the most charming characters ever. Although a secondary character, I looked forward to reading about it him whenever I had the chance. Basically all the characters, whether secondary or the main ones, I felt attracted to. I had no problem in getting sucked into the story and was never bored with one character. From the strong Duchess Anne who made me incredibly proud to Crunard who made me suspicious to Madame Hivern who was complex enough that you didn't exactly know what to think of her to Sybella who, although you only got a morsel of her, made you intrigued and craving for more. 

The characters were complex. That's what it comes down to: the characters were complex. I could never trust anyone all the way and they weren't fillers either. They had personalities and felt real, not just someone to be stuck in a story to just be there. 

Nocturne, the horse? Yes, I was even attached to him too. He made me want to avenge him by storming off the treadmill by doing who knows what, but gosh, I will do it emotional. Let's just leave it at that. The horse made me a little emotional. 

Ismae was wonderful too, while at points she might have been too stubborn, I'll over look it. She cannot be affected by poison. That's right. She won't die. She might feel something mild, but it won't kill her. She can talk to the souls after they're newly dead and can tell when someone is about to die. She can kill a man any way she wants to and believe me, there are a lot of ways. She's tough. Loyal. Not too sure of who to trust. Smart...and an overall great main character. 

I also wanted to point out the cover. The main line seems oh, so threatening on the top of the cover with the girl on the front having a crossbow in hand. The old buildings in the background have a nice touch too. I love the feeling with the cover, it feels deadly to me and since this book is all about death, I'm glad it wasn't just a girl with a pretty dress on the front.

But I guess I have to point out one other thing: Death. The whole covenant and Ismae worship him and while I see the point there, it made me a bit uneasy with my personal beliefs. However, most people won't have a problem with the whole plot of Death/St. Mortain. Also, Ismae did something inappropriate in the end that was crucial to the story, but still...parents should know about. 

Verdict: An intriguing, wonderfully crafted book that makes me impatient to read the sequel. 

If you would like to buy this book, I recommend going to my sidebar and clicking The Book Depository button and shop there. FREE shipping!

Review: SHADOWLANDS by Kate Brian

Title: Shadowlands

Author: Kate Brian

Publication date: January 8th, 2013

Publisher: Hyperion

ISBN: 1423164830

Source: eBook copy from NetGalley and accepted by the publisher.

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye. 

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

Review: 

I will try my utmost best on writing this review. I truly will. Hopefully, I'll get this right.

The beginning of Shadowlands is captivating, throwing us in right when the horror starts. Rory Miller took a shortcut through the woods to get home (at night, of course), a perfect place for a serial killer to lay his hands on her. Miraculously, she gets away. With the help of her sister Darcy's ex-boyfriend and Rory's crush, Chris, she gets home to her insensitive father and her sister.

The FBI comes and after a couple surprises, the whole family is whisked off to witness protection program. However, before they do go, they're informed that the man who attacked Rory is a serial killer who never fails. To her, he's Steven Nell, her favorite teacher. He loves the Beatles, is an encouraging teacher, and even gets Darcy to like his class. To the FBI, he's Roger Krauss, the man who has killed fourteen girls and the only other one who was able to escape ended up dead with her whole family.

How nice, huh?

They go to Juniper Landing, a quaint beach town revolved around vacationers and having a "good time." But this is when my review gets tricky.

I don't read a lot of thrillers. I usually read at night so the thought of being scared in the dark doesn't really appeal to me that much. But this book was actually really good. There were a couple short chapters that switched to Steven Nell's perspective. That point of view made the whole story creepier by showing what he's thinking and solidifying the fact that yes, he will get what he wants because he's going to make sure it happens. I could not wait to get back to another perspective of him just so I can dread and be nervous about what happens next.

Added on to that, there's the creepy fog and strange appearances of things that are associated with Nell. His favorite song "Long and Winding Road" appears along with a strip of his jacket, his bag filled with lighthouses, and other little, creepy things. Oh, and did I mention how this beach town is isolated? So fun!

Then the local boys keep staring at her instead of Darcy (which isn't normal in the slightest), Rory keeps hearing snippets of conversations that give her chills, and then BAM, like what it says in the synopsis, her friend disappears.

Personally, with the coyotes outside and my paranoid brain, I was getting creeped out. I didn't know what was going to happen. I guessed throughout the book and not until the end did I go, "Ohhhh..." Even then, I know some people guessed it, but while I had an inkling of what everything turned out to be, I didn't really know until it was all laid out in front of me. And I'm more than fine with that. I love to be surprised.

But I was annoyed. Yes, it was great writing, great suspense, and a great book by Kate Brian. However, I wanted to shake Rory. I know, I know, she went through a horrendous ordeal, but think clearly, woman! She waited forever to tell Darcy about her premonitions and then even longer to tell her father. And they didn't believe her! I think if you were in the witness protection program, I know you couldn't have any contact with anybody from your old life, but I would think you could call the FBI who placed you there. So why not, I don't know, call?

Then near the end, she had so many questions. She was focused on one thing, her goal, but even though she was refused answers, she should have pushed! I wanted her to push for them because that's what I would have done. She knew they had the answers she wanted and needed, but she just went along with them. I have to give Rory credit for some things. She did push for answers in a few parts, was determined to prove herself, and her nightmares even scared me. Her first nightmare? I was close to grabbing the nearest hand and squeezing the life out of it. My little sister looked at me as if I just farted loudly or something. I was freaking out, give me a break.

Of course, the whole no-answers thing played well with the ending. Not a complete shocker for me, but still really surprising. Actually, I was confused for the latter part of Shadowlands so I would've liked more explanations and resolved endings. There will be a sequel though so I hope that will be where I get my much needed conclusions. It would have been nicer though if the first book wasn't so open-ended. I also have to add that I had a few conflicts with the characters (both main and minor characters), but overall, I did like this book.

Verdict: a very enthralling and wonderfully creepy book that (personally) has to be read in the daytime. With people.

*And I'd like to thank Emily from Forever Literary for showing me this book. I first saw it on her post Before I Read Shadowlands where I fell in love with the cover. I agree with her last line: "...it will be fantastic and deserves all the readers in the world." Because in my opinion, it was fantastic and it does deserve readers. 

Giveaway Roundup!

Who doesn't love giveaway roundups? It's just an overall win-win situation. Not only do YOU get to know where the giveaways are, but if the giveaway gives points of blogging about it, I benefit as well. I love it when people tell about giveaways on their blog. So here are some giveaways happening:

1. Miriam Forster's 30 Days of Bookery Contest(s)!

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

To celebrate the release of her amazing book City of a Thousand Dolls (pictured above), Ms. Forster is giving away a book EVERY DAY for thirty days. So you have thirty chances to win a great variety of books that aren't just hand-me-downs. No, these are great books, my friends. You know how I know? I saw the picture she posted and almost fainted. 

To go see more about it and enter to win, click here.

And we're not done. 

2. Gillian Berry's giveaways. 

Do you see the plural ending on giveaways? Because that's right, there's more than ONE giveaway.

On one post she's having two giveaways to celebrate the new year. 

On another post she's giving away a box full of mystery books (which will be terrific because she has excellent taste). But while you're at that page, you can also enter in Making the Grade's awesome Bookapalooza Blogaversary! 

3. Evie Bookish's 2013 Releases International Giveaway.

Go to the post here to see all the books you can choose from! Unravel Me, Dark Triumph, Scarlet, Dualed, The Archived...and so many more. Honestly, how can it get any better? Oh, I know. There will be three winners. 

Color me excited. 






4. Book Sake's Massive Giveaway to Celebrate the New Book Sale Site.

 Once again, it's another giveaway with multiple winners which I love. You can look at the post here to see what's in the four boxes of books. 

Why am I excited? Not only a great giveaway, but I see Scarlet! Hello, I just posted a Wishlist Wednesday about Scarlet, so you know what box I would want. 


5. The Hollow Cupboards' 1,000 Followers Giveaway!

If any of you read my Top Ten Tuesday post about bookish goals, you would know that one of mine is to reach 500 followers. So I applaud The Hollow Cupboards for reaching 1,000 and for giving us this great giveaway! 

To go see a sneak peek of the box and to enter, click here. 

6. Book Whales' Blogoversary Giveaway #2

Take it from me, Through the Ever Night? Amazing. I posted a review about it and I still dream about Roar. Scarlet? Just made a Wishlist Wednesday about it. The Elite and the others? I know many who will fight for the death for those. And what do we win? A paperback of one of those! So go check out the giveaway. Also, bonus: their giveaway #1 is here! 

7. The Midnight Garden's Scarlet Giveaway.

Along with a great review, you can win an ARC of Scarlet! *faints* You can enter here. 

8. Inkk Reviews' Birthday Giveaway.

You can win multiple items for Krisha's and Katie's birthdays! Did you see? MULTIPLE. Fantastic is what I think. Go enter here and see what all the prizes are!






So there you have it. I think this giveaway roundup was pretty spectacular. Now go enter! 

Wishlist Wednesday #8

Hosted by Pen to Paper

Title: Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publication date: February 5th, 2013

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

ISBN: 0312642962

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Doesn't anyone else jump up and down when they see this?

Not only is it the sequel of one of my favorite books of 2012, but I also have heard repeatedly that it's even better! The lucky bloggers who got an ARC of it (you can spread the love over here, if you want, guys. Contact info is at the top and I have a sister in this community too;) have said over Twitter that it's amazing and surprisingly, possibly better than Cinder. I was shocked at first that any sequel could be better than Cinder, but I won't question it. I just want it.

What are YOU wishing for this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2013

Property of The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers who enjoy lists (like myself) can participate every Tuesday in making a list that goes in accordance with the topic for that week. Go to their site for more info, to participate, or to look at who else is participating!

This week is Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013. In no particular order:

1. Go to an author signing/book conference. 
Actually, my sister and I are already planning to go to one in February! I also would LOVE to go to BEA, but alas, that is out of my control. Up to my sister and parents. 

2. Have more giveaways. 
Unlike most teenagers, I actually WANT a job. However, unlike most parents, my mom keeps telling me to cool it since I already have too much on my plate. So right now, I'm saving for trips (like BEA) and pinching every penny. I resolve to be more generous though. 

3. Give more books to people I know in person (including suggestions/borrowing). 
This goes hand-in-hand with #2 above. 

4. Participate in a reading challenge. 
Or, you know, just make sure I read a minimum of 100 books this year. 

5. Get on top of my reviews! 
I have this awful habit of waiting too long to review a book (like I'm doing right now with one) or simply don't write a review because of the procrastinating. Read more. Review more. 

6. Do an author interview. 
Although it might be stressful, you don't know how much I want to interview someone, especially an author! But it's not really up to me. I have to boost those follower numbers! 

7. Trim down my TBR pile. 
By no means is it as big as others' piles, but there are a few books on there that have had a place on the list for a while. They have also been published for a while. I need to get on it (which is basically with #4)

8. Reach 500 followers minimum. 
Most of you guys have probably skimmed over this or just gone down to the comments already to put in your link so you might not have even SEEN this. But really, although it's a major goal for me, I hate to put it on here. I hate to put anything about followers on here. Why? Well, if I don't reach any goal I have with followers, I don't want people to think, "Wow, she couldn't do THAT? She had a year." Oh well, I turn my cheek on those people. 

9. Finish The Thief series. 
If you know my sister, Shelver, at all, you would know that she's Megan Whale Turner's and The Thief's BIGGEST fan. Nonstop nagging to finish the series (I have book #1 as a bribe from her) and get on to reading The Queen of Attolia. I know, I know. 

10. Make my blog better. 
So broad and generic, right? Well, as I mentioned in my post about how pretty my blog looks yesterday, I mentioned how I want EVERYTHING on my blog to be way BETTER. Everything. I hope with some of these points on the list, it will make that happen. I also have to work on myself so that I can improve what I want to improve...if that makes sense. 

Can I add a bonus one? 

11. "Meet" new bloggers/readers/authors. 
I put meet in quotes because I don't think I'll ever actually meet every single one of you out there. I DO want to actually meet some of you (it'd be awesome if it's this year. Hint, hint, at BEA), but I also want to read about new authors, interact with more readers, and visit new blogs! 

What are some of your bookish goals this year? 

My blog feels pretty, oh so pretty...

It feels pretty and witty and bright! Although none of you can hear me, I'll stop singing now. I'm probably more excited than I should be. But come on, just look at my blog!

What brought this change on from someone who hates a lot of change? Well, I knew for a while that I wanted to make Blue Sky Bookshelf better. It needed to look better, be better, produce better posts, everything needed to be better. So after perusing blogs, I emailed Megan from The Book Babe about her blog design. I wasn't happy with my banner and definitely not with my gray navigation bar. So I thought, "I'll ask Megan and start small with the navigation bar."

Being the super helpful and nice blogger she is, Megan emailed me back, but then told me about her friend Lizzy from ReadAHolicZ who does great banners and such...for FREE.

As my mother would like to put it, doesn't that just rock your socks? If you ever want your blog redone, see her. Although, really, she has a great blog so see her anyways!

She worked her magic and voila! Here it is. Take it all in. She's also working on a blog button for me so that means if you ever want to put me on the sidebar of YOUR blog, you'll be able to do so. I was hoping to put a giveaway with this post, but being a teenager with no job, I have to check over my money again.

However, when I get my blog button, it's possible that there will be a GIVEAWAY...but you'll have to keep checking back to find out.

It'd be wonderfully nice if you checked back anyways. Maybe even spread the love to ReadAHolicZ and The Book Babe!

What do you think of the new design? 

Comment below!

2-in-1 mini reviews by Robin Benway!

One of the great things about being in this blogosphere is when you read someone else's blog, you will usually come up with tons of great book recommendations. When I was reading one of (the amazing) Alice's (at Alice in Readerland) posts, she mentioned Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. I think it was only about a week later when she mentioned the book again. So, of course, what do I do? Get it!

That, my friends, is when I fell in love with Robin Benway. 

California high school student Audrey Cuttler dumps self-involved Evan, the lead singer of a little band called The Do-Gooders. Evan writes, “Audrey, Wait!” a break-up song that’s so good it rockets up the billboard charts. And Audrey is suddenly famous!

Now rabid fans are invading her school. People is running articles about her arm-warmers. The lead singer of the Lolitas wants her as his muse. (And the Internet is documenting her every move!) Audrey can?t hang out with her best friend or get with her new crush without being mobbed by fans and paparazzi.

Take a wild ride with Audrey as she makes headlines, has outrageous amounts of fun, confronts her ex on MTV, and gets the chance to show the world who she really is.

Title: Audrey, Wait!

Author: Robin Benway

Published: April 10th, 2008

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN:159514191X 

Mini-Review:

"The day I broke up with my boyfriend was the day he wrote the song." 

While she doesn't explain everything right there, you aren't tip-toeing around the subject matter either. Like she puts it in the next sentence: "You know, the song." If you read the very intriguing synopsis, you know that Audrey is suddenly thrown into the spotlight thanks to her ex-boyfriend Evan writing a song about her that strangely gets millions of hits. Think of those Youtube videos and such that people never think would land them a guest spot on Ellen or a record label or on the front page of Yahoo! But that's what happens to Audrey and she didn't do anything except break up with a egotistical boyfriend who is the lead singer in a band...and didn't turn around when he called out for her.

Although you get the point that there are many reasons not to like Evan, and I even went, "Why did you stay with him so long again?",  Audrey is wonderful. Robin Benway has a fantastic writing style. She's humorous, delightful, and attention-grabbing. In turn, that makes Audrey amazing. 

I thought the whole plot was fun because wouldn't it be weird (but cool to imagine) suddenly getting thrown in the limelight, having reporters come at you, and your world turn upside down? To me, I loved that it didn't happen RIGHT AFTER he sang the song at the gig. It wouldn't be realistic. Everybody loved the song at the gig, but Audrey forgot about it after a couple months until wham! there's the shocker of it going big (to her, not us, of course). 

The two annoyances I had with this book is her best friend Victoria and the cursing. It was might have been realistic, I'm not sure, but Victoria was frustrating me with her pushy ways. Every way she could, she pushed Audrey. Push, push, push. I wanted to scream at her to grow a backbone. However, I did see Victoria's side of it. Audrey began to complain about all the attention and was starting to always talk negatively about it, which would definitely grow weary and just plain frustrating. She wasn't the same anymore, as it would be normal for her not to be. So really, I wanted to grab both of them by the shoulders and shake them. 

The cursing, though, was another problem. I don't like cursing. Period. I know it's "teen-realistic" for people to have cursing in their novels, but I have read great YA books where they avoided it quite nicely. They might have implied it or at least had a couple minor ones and that was it, and I didn't feel gipped in the slightest. So after a bit, my eyes just blocked it out because I wasn't able to put down the book. 

Verdict: Audrey, Wait! grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go until I was sleep deprived the next morning. 

I hugged my sisters and they fit against my sides like two jigsaw pieces that would never fit anywhere else. I couldn't imagine ever letting them go again, like releasing them would be to surrender the best parts of myself.

Three sisters share a magical, unshakeable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents' divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood--powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?

April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds--everyone's but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they'll always have each other.

Because there's one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

Title: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June

Author: Robin Benway

Published: August 1st, 2010 (first published June 1st 2010)

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 159154286X

Mini-Review:

After I read Audrey, Wait! I scoured the library for more Robin Benway novels. I saw this and didn't even read the synopsis before I checked it out. When I read the inside flap at home, excitement bubbled inside of me. Sisters with superpowers? I'm a sucker for superpowers or superheros. 

We start the book off with the eldest, April, narrating the first chapter. They rotate each chapter in the same order: April, May, then June. They tell their side of what happened and each day and what they're feeling. 

April sees the future. After she comes to terms with having this power, she explains how each time she wakes up and sees her mother, she quickly assesses her future for the day to make sure nothing tragic happens. April is like a second mother to her two younger sisters, even though they're all only a year apart. And like all generalized firstborns, she's the brainiac and overachiever. 

May disappears. I like to call it invisibility, but they just say she disappears. Her power goes hand in hand with how she feels about her life. My mother and sister would say that she has the "middle child syndrome" where middle children exaggerate about how hard it is being a middle child and how life isn't fair for them. However, while I do not feel as horrible as May does, I understand what she says about being a middle child probably because I'm a middle child myself. May is also the one who started the chain of events that led them to move to another state. Their parents got divorced, May got hammered, then they moved. My problem with this is that they never really explained how that led them to moving, but I'll go on.  

 June reads minds. She's a incoming freshman in high school who is a very perky, very self-conscious teenager. She wants to be popular and not a friendless outcast like May and neither is she interested in school like April. Of course, she uses her mind reading abilities to gain popularity and friends...and to see what her big sisters are thinking about. With her power, she gets out of hand with trying to be "cool" and is accused of being unethical. 

At first, I had trouble with the ever-changing narrating views. Some people might hate it throughout the story, but I grew to love it. April is clearly the main narrator, with her starting and ending the novel. For different reasons, May was my favorite. She's witty, humorous, and lovable. She might be moody and have problems, but that's a good thing. 

There were a couple scenes that I thought was unrealistic (I know, it's a book about superpowers, hush) where I stopped reading and squint at it in mild disgust because that would just never go over well and no one would ever do that. The plus with this book is that there was way less cursing so blare the trumpets for Robin!  

Verdict: I definitely liked Audrey, Wait! better than The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June, but clearly, Robin Benway is a winner. 

I would like to thank again Alice from Alice in Readerland for being the great blogger she is by recommending me a new author to enjoy. Sadly, Robin doesn't have any other books until her next book Also Known As comes out (February 26th, 2013) which I highlighted in my Wishlist Wednesday post.

Do you recommend another author for me to try? 

Comment below!