Wow, writing a book list is hard. Here's just a few that i'm looking forward to in 2016. I tend to discover books when I least expect it, so hopefully 2016 will bring some nice surprises as well as some great continuations to series I already enjoy. 

Book List (In no particular order) - 

Title: The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson #9)
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 326 Pages (January 12th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a Adult novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 18+

Synopsis: In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

Title: The Crown (The Selection #5)
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 352 Pages (May 3rd, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Kiera Cass’s #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has captured the hearts of readers from its very first page. Now the end of the journey is here. Prepare to be swept off your feet by The Crown—the eagerly awaited, wonderfully romantic fifth and final book in the Selection series.

In The Heir, a new era dawned in the world of The Selection. Twenty years have passed since America Singer and Prince Maxon fell in love, and their daughter is the first princess to hold a Selection of her own.

Eadlyn didn’t think she would find a real partner among the Selection’s thirty-five suitors, let alone true love. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and now Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more difficult—and more important—than she ever expected.

Title: Night Study (Soulfinder #2)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira INK, 400 Pages (February 25th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Ever since being kidnapped from the Illiais Jungle as a child, Yelena Zaltana's life has been fraught with peril. But the recent loss of her Soulfinding abilities has endangered her more than ever before. As she desperately searches for a way to reclaim her magic, her enemies are closing in, and neither Ixia nor Sitia are safe for her anymore.

Title: Tell the Wind and Fire
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Clarion Books, 368 Pages (April 5th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Tell the Wind & Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: the city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie’s own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can’t share with anyone.

The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic, who has to conceal the face identical to Ethan’s with a hood fastened by a collar nobody but a Light magician with magical rings can take off… and who introduces himself to both of them by, for reasons nobody can understand, saving Ethan’s life…

Title: Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby (July 21st, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: In Ink and Bone, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine introduced a world where knowledge is power, and power corrupts absolutely. Now, she continues the story of those who dare to defy the Great Library—and rewrite history…

With an iron fist, The Great Library controls the knowledge of the world, ruthlessly stamping out all rebellion, forbidding the personal ownership of books in the name of the greater good.

Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but serving in its army is nothing like he envisioned. His life and the lives of those he cares for have been altered forever. His best friend is lost, and Morgan, the girl he loves, is locked away in the Iron Tower and doomed to a life apart.

Embarking on a mission to save one of their own, Jess and his band of allies make one wrong move and suddenly find themselves hunted by the Library’s deadly automata and forced to flee Alexandria, all the way to London.

But Jess’s home isn’t safe anymore. The Welsh army is coming, London is burning, and soon, Jess must choose between his friends, his family, or the Library willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the search for ultimate control…

Title: The Sleeping Prince (The Sin Eater's Daughter #2)
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 336 Pages (February 4th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater's Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified . . . and desperate for more.

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin's life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won't reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom. 

Title: A Tyranny of Petticoats
Author: Jessica Spotswood, Elizabeth Wein, Beth Revis, Marie Lu, Andrea Cremer, Caroline Richmond, J. Anderson Coats, Marissa Meyer, Katherine Longshore, Saundra Mitchell, Robin Talley, Y.S. Lee, Kekla Magoon, Leslye Walton, Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Candlewick Press., 368 Pages (March 8th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.

Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They're making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

Title: Stay With Me
Author: Mila Gray
Publisher: Alula Press, 273 Pages (February 28th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a "Adult/New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 18+

Synopsis: Firebrand Emerson Lowe and popular ice-hockey player Jake McCallister have been best friends since third grade but just as their friendship starts to morph into something more a terrible event occurs that heralds the end of innocence for both of them.

Within a week Jake’s living on the other side of the country and Emerson is left alone to pick up the pieces of her life in a small town determined to paint her as a liar.

Seven years on and Emerson is still living on the beautiful Pacific West island of Bainbridge, helping her family run their outdoor adventure company. The last thing she needs is Jake turning up, bringing with him old memories and opening up old wounds. But Jake - even better looking than Emerson remembered and on the cusp of a bright sporting future - seems determined to revive their friendship no matter how much Emerson tries to push him away.

Forced to work alongside him for the summer Emerson soon starts falling for Jake despite her ex-boyfriend Rob throwing obstacles in their way, and soon they’re in the midst of a passionate summer romance that neither of them wants to end.

But if they’re to have any kind of future they’re first going to need to confront the past, a past that most people want to stay buried.

Title: The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 400 Pages (April 26th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

In a starred review for Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Kirkus Reviews declared: "Expect this truly one-of-a-kind series to come to a thundering close."

Title: Dirty (Dive Bar #1)
Author: Kylie Scott
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 288 Pages (April 19th, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

NOTE: This is a Adult novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 18+

Synopsis: The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a broken hearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that comes with her.

Lydia Green doesn't know whether to burn down the church or sit and cry in a corner. Discovering the love of your life is having an affair on your wedding day is bad enough. Finding out it's with his best man is another thing all together. She narrowly escapes tying the knot and meets Vaughan only hours later.

Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessman she thought she'd marry. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and unsettled. But she already tried Mr. Right and discovered he's all wrong-maybe it's time to give Mr. Right Now a chance.

After all, what's wrong with getting dirty?

Title: Broken Sky
Author: L.A. Weatherly
Publisher: Usborne, (March 1st, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Welcome to a ‘perfect’ world.

Where war is illegal, where harmony rules.

And where your date of birth marks your destiny.

But nothing is perfect.

And in a world this broken, who can Amity trust?

Set in a daring and distorted echo of 1940s America, the BROKEN trilogy is an exhilarating epic of deception, heartbreak and rebellion.

Book Wars a weekly feature hosted between two book review blogs – A Life Bound By Books & Much Loved Books!

It’s a fact that book lovers know all about the covers of the books they covet. Often when a title is released here in the US, it’s sometimes vastly different across the pond in the UK. So, Michelle from Much Loved Books and I have come together to create Book Wars to talk about the difference in covers when it comes to the US vs. UK versions.

We hope from time to time authors will chime in with their thoughts as well. We welcome everyone to comment and share their thoughts too! The more the merrier!

Before we get to this weeks Book Wars, we have a winner to announce.The Book Wars winner for Just One Day By: Gayle Forman is...!!!!!! Thank you to everyone who voted for both books, and for picking a winner.

Also, there's a poll at the bottom of the post that we'd love to hear your input for the two covers! Tell us which one YOU love the most.

Left: US - Right: UK

Title: Salt & Stone
Series: Fire & Flood #2
Author: Victoria Scott
 Publisher: US - Scholastic Press, 320 Pages, (February 24th, 2015), UK - Chicken House Ltd, 407 Pages, (April 2nd, 2015)
Add to Goodreads: USA Version | UK Version
Order online here: USA: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository UK: Amazon UK, Waterstones, W H Smith, The Book Depository, Foyles

Synopsis: What would you do to save someone you love? What about risking...everything?

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and a terrifying march across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't stop—and in Salt & Stone, Tella will have to face the unseen dangers of the ocean, the breathless cold of a mountain, and the twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you've relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the beginning of the race there were 122 Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the fourth and final part of the race, just forty-one are left...and only one can win.

Victoria Scott's stunning thriller will leave readers' hearts racing!

About the Author:

Victoria Scott is the author of TITANS (Scholastic, Spring 2016), the FIRE & FLOOD series (Scholastic), and the DANTE WALKER trilogy (Entangled Teen). Her latest novel, SALT & STONE, received a starred review by Kirkus Reviews, and the first book in the series, FIRE & FLOOD, has been nominated as a YALSA Teens' Top 10 book for 2015. Victoria's novels have been bought and translated in eleven foreign markets, and she is represented by Sara Crowe. The author lives in Dallas, and loves cotton candy something fierce.

Find Victoria Online: Website | Blog | Twitter| Facebook

Let the Wars Begin: Its now time to make our decision, let's see what we think about the covers and pick our favorite cover.

Lisa Hands down, this weeks vote for me, goes to the UK cover. I just LOVE everything about it. I love the cracks and the feather and the colors... the only thing I think they should have made different was Victoria's name. I think she should have had her name a tad bigger, otherwise I MORE than love the UK cover.

I think the main reason why the US cover is a bit off putting to me is the eye. I have a thing with eyes, they creep me out and the longer I look into this one the more it's starting to creep me out. Otherwise I do really like the font used and the affects on the title of the book with this one.

So the UK gets my cote this week, which one gets yours?

Michelle When I first chose to pick these covers for our Book Wars post, I thought it would be an easy choice, but seeing them side by side it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I love the cover for the US version, I am obsessed with blue eyes, and this cover just draws my attention for that fact alone. I also like the added detail of the mountain in the bottom right. But the UK one also has the mysterious feather that still had it's relevance to be revealed (which I still don't know as I have yet to read this book). The UK cover also gives off a winter effect, with what looks like ice off to the side. After much deliberation, my vote goes to the UK cover. Snow and ice win over the blue eyes for me this week, I could quite happily live in this cover if that was at all possible. Don't forget to vote for your favourite cover below.

VOTE for YOUR favorite cover of Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott NOW!

When you receive an email from Victoria Scott asking you... as a "Jockey" and favorite blogger to help post teasers from her up and coming title - TITANS - first you freak out a bit because it's Victoria Scott and you LOVE her! And, secondly you calm down enough to say HECK YES!!!

So, earlier this week, we asked on twitter for readers and fans to pick random page numbers and she'd select teasers from those page numbers and well, take a look at what she's picked to share with us below!!!

Then after you're done reading these EPIC teasers, how about a giveaway??? 

Title: Titans
Author: Victoria Scott
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 320 Pages (Feburary 23rd, 2016)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: From Victoria Scott, author of FIRE & FLOOD, comes a thrilling story of impossible odds. 

Ever since the Titans first appeared in her Detroit neighborhood, Astrid Sullivan’s world has revolved around the mechanical horses. She and her best friend have spent countless hours watching them and their jockeys practice on the track. It’s not just the thrill of the race. It’s the engineering of the horses and the way they’re programmed to seem so lifelike. The Titans are everything that fascinates Astrid, and nothing she’ll ever touch.

She hates them a little, too. Her dad lost everything betting on the Titans. And the races are a reminder of the gap between the rich jockeys who can afford the expensive machines to ride, and the working class friends and neighbors of Astrid’s who wager on them.

But when Astrid’s offered a chance to enter an early model Titan in this year’s derby, well, she decides to risk it all. Because for a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, it’s more than a chance at fame or money. Betting on herself is the only way she can see to hang on to everyone in the world she cares about.

TEASERS:

Page 19
“Steel grinds against steel as the horse turns sharply and barrels toward the gate, running full speed toward me. I jump backward, and almost don’t make it out of the way in time. The Titan slams into the space where my fingers were, and the jockey tears off his handkerchief and sunglasses. ‘Practices are closed to the public,’ he snaps.”


Page 31
“There’s a man standing in his open garage wearing a welding mask, a machine between his hands. He’s sliding something under the machine slowly but steadily, rotating the piece every few seconds. Orange sparks fly in all directions, and a high-pitched whirring reaches my ears.”


Page 46
“My grandfather’s gambling cost us our first family home, and my dad’s addiction will soon cost us our second.”


Page 53
“Cool metal rumbles beneath my fingers for only a fraction of a moment. And then its eyes flash open.”


Page 72
“The Titan slams against the starting gate, and I can’t help but agree. It’s like I’ve been back here an eternity, like I’ve spent my whole life in this exact spot, waiting to feel the breeze off a track slice through my hair.”


Page 213
“Releasing a scream, I push the hurdle button.”

About the Author:

Victoria Scott is the author of TITANS (Scholastic, Spring 2016), the FIRE & FLOOD series (Scholastic), and the DANTE WALKER trilogy (Entangled Teen). Her latest novel, SALT & STONE, received a starred review by Kirkus Reviews, and the first book in the series, FIRE & FLOOD, has been nominated as a YALSA Teens' Top 10 book for 2015. Victoria's novels have been bought and translated in eleven foreign markets, and she is represented by Sara Crowe.

The author lives in Dallas, and loves cotton candy something fierce.

Find Victoria Online:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

GIVEAWAY!!!

SIGNED Titans Poster!
US Mailing Addresses Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

Title: Alive
Author: Chandler Baker
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion, 368 Pages (June 9th, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Stella Cross's heart is poisoned.

After years on the transplant waiting list, she's running out of hope that she'll ever see her eighteenth birthday. Then, miraculously, Stella receives the transplant she needs to survive.

Determined to embrace everything she came so close to losing, Stella throws herself into her new life. But her recovery is marred by strange side effects: Nightmares. Hallucinations. A recurring pain that flares every day at the exact same moment. Then Stella meets Levi Zin, the new boy on everyone's radar at her Seattle prep school. Stella has never felt more drawn to anyone in her life, and soon she and Levi are inseparable.

Stella is convinced that Levi is her soul mate. Why else would she literally ache for him when they are apart?

After all, the heart never lies...does it?

Title: Ruthless
Author: Carolyn Lee Adams
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 256 Pages (July 14th, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: A spine-tingling debut about the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse in reverse as a teen struggles to retain hope—and her sanity—while on the run from a cunning and determined killer.

Ruth Carver has always competed like her life depends on it. Ambitious. Tough. Maybe even mean. It’s no wonder people call her Ruthless.

When she wakes up with a concussion in the bed of a moving pickup trick, she realizes she has been entered into a contest she can’t afford to lose.

At a remote, rotting cabin deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ruth’s blindfold comes off and she comes face-to-face with her captor. A man who believes his mission is to punish bad girls like Ruth. A man who has done this six times before.

The other girls were never heard from again, but Ruth won’t go down easy. She escapes into the wilderness, but her hunter is close at her heels. That’s when the real battle begins. That’s when Ruth must decides just how far she’ll go in order to survive.

Back home, they called her Ruthless. They had no idea just how right they were.

Title: Rook
Author: Sharon Cameron
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 464 Pages (April 28th, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: History has a way of repeating itself. In the Sunken City that was once Paris, all who oppose the new revolution are being put to the blade. Except for those who disappear from their prison cells, a red-tipped rook feather left in their place. Is the mysterious Red Rook a savior of the innocent or a criminal?

Meanwhile, across the sea in the Commonwealth, Sophia Bellamy’s arranged marriage to the wealthy René Hasard is the last chance to save her family from ruin. But when the search for the Red Rook comes straight to her doorstep, Sophia discovers that her fiancé is not all he seems. Which is only fair, because neither is she.

As the Red Rook grows bolder and the stakes grow higher, Sophia and René find themselves locked in a tantalizing game of cat and mouse.

*covers are always subject to change.

Book Wars a weekly feature hosted between two book review blogs – A Life Bound By Books & Much Loved Books!

It’s a fact that book lovers know all about the covers of the books they covet.  Often when a title is released here in the UK, it’s sometimes vastly different across the pond in the US.  So, Michelle from Much Loved Books and I have come together to create Book Wars to talk about the difference in covers when it comes to the US vs. UK versions.

We hope from time to time authors will chime in with their thoughts as well. We welcome everyone to comment and share their thoughts too! The more the merrier!

Before we get to this weeks Book Wars, we have a winner to announce. The Book Wars winner for White Glove by Holly Black is....... the UK COVER!  Thank you to everyone who voted for both books, and for picking a winner.

Also, there's a poll at the bottom of the post that we'd love to hear your input for the two covers! Tell us which one YOU love the most.

Left: US - Right: UK

Title: Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: US - Scholastic Press, 360 Pages (July 13th, 2010) UK - Scholastic, 416 Pages (July 20th, 2010)
Add to: Goodreads USA Version | Goodreads UK Version
Order online here: USA: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository UK: Amazon UK, Waterstones, W H Smith, The Book Depository

Synopsis: The astonishing #1 New York Times bestseller.

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

About the author:

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.

All of Maggie Stiefvater's life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you're a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she's tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She's made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki. 

Find  Online: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Let the Wars Begin: Its now time to make our decision, let's see what we think about the covers and pick our favorite cover.

Lisa I LOVE these books! LOVE these covers! And as mentioned in a previous Book Wars for Shiver, in the US version the text in the book matches the color of the cover. So this time around the text is green and I LOVE IT!

Choosing a favorite for this weeks Book Wars is easy - US gets my vote. While I do love the US covers they are a little dark for my liking and the US covers are a bit more artistic which just adds a lot of depth to the covers when you see them in person. How about you? Which cover do YOU like this week?

Michelle I have to say this is an easy one for me too my vote goes for the UK one.
I don't know what it is about the green cover for the US edition, but I just don't like it, although the fact that the font colour matches the book cover is a great idea and I wish more books did this.

I do like how the UK one feels mysterious and we have the wolf part represented with the paw print.
It's a UK win for me

VOTE for YOUR favorite cover of  NOW!

online surveys

Book Wars a weekly feature hosted between two book review blogs – A Life Bound By Books & Much Loved Books!

It’s a fact that book lovers know all about the covers of the books they covet.  Often when a title is released here in the UK, it’s sometimes vastly different across the pond in the US.  So, Michelle from Much Loved Books and I have come together to create Book Wars to talk about the difference in covers when it comes to the US vs. UK versions.

We hope from time to time authors will chime in with their thoughts as well. We welcome everyone to comment and share their thoughts too! The more the merrier!

Before we get to this weeks Book Wars, we have a winner to announce. The Book Wars winner for Crash By: Nicole Williams is....... The US COVER!  Thank you to everyone who voted for both books, and for picking a winner.

Also, there's a poll at the bottom of the post that we'd love to hear your input for the two covers! Tell us which one YOU love the most.

Left: US - Right: UK

Title: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: US - Scholastic Press, 390 Pages (August 1st 2009) UK - Scholastic, 437 Pages (October 5th 2009)
Add to: Goodreads USA Version | Goodreads UK Version
Order online here: USA: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository UK: Amazon UK, Waterstones, W H Smith, The Book Depository

Synopsis: For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

About the author:

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.

All of Maggie Stiefvater's life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you're a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she's tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She's made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki. 

Find  Online: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Let the Wars Begin: Its now time to make our decision, let's see what we think about the covers and pick our favorite cover.

Lisa I'm really excited about today's book. This is one of my FAVORITE OF ALL TIME titles. I LOVE everything about this one including the cover, which the US gets my vote for this week. One thing I'm not sure everyone knows is that for each of these titles in the Mercy Wolves Trilogy, the color of the cover is also the color of the print INSIDE of the book. Just a little added bonus.

So, for me this week, I LOVE the blue, I LOVE the art work on the outside and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book! US wins for me this week. Oh, also.... I'm really excited about the spin-off title Sinner that'll be released later this year. 

Michelle Before I get to my vote I never knew that fact about the colour of the print linked to the cover, but I do have the UK version's which don't differ in their print colour.

Anyway, now for my vote. I have to go for the UK one this week. While I do like the US version I like how the UK version is darker and fits with the mystery and darkness surrounding the wolves, the US one seems too girly for me.

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"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

Title: Double Digit (Digit #2)
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 7th 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Digit and John are back for a second book and in way over their heads.

Title: Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1)

Author: Victoria Scott
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 320 Pages (February 25th 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

This week I'm really looking forward to these two books. I LOVE both authors and their previous works. Both are must read authors!!! Can't wait!

*covers are always subject to change.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

Title: Flash Point
Author: Nancy Kress
Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 400 Pages (November 8th, 2012)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis: Reality TV meets a chillingly realistic version of America--and the fame game is on!

Amy had dreams of going to college, until the Collapse destroyed the economy and her future. Now she is desperate for any job that will help support her terminally ill grandmother and rebellious younger sister. When she finds herself in the running for a slot on a new reality TV show, she signs on the dotted line, despite her misgivings. And she's right to have them. TLN's Who Knows People, Baby--You? has an irresistible premise: correctly predict what the teenage cast will do in a crisis and win millions. But the network has pulled strings to make it work, using everything from 24/7 hidden cameras to life-threatening technology to flat-out rigging. Worse, every time the ratings slip, TLN ups the ante. Soon Amy is fighting for her life--on and off camera.

Title: Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters
Author: Suzanne Weyn
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 320 Pages (January 2013)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis: A new generation is creating a monster....

Doctor Victor Frankenstein's previously unacknowledged beautiful, intelligent twin daughters (from an early marriage when he was a student) have come to Frankenstein's Castle to claim it as their inheritance.

Shortly thereafter they learn that a serial killer is on the loose. They try to ignore this -- Gretchen takes up her father's work, while Ingrid throws lavish parties. Gretchen and Ingrid form a love triangle with a young naval officer with a debilitating disease. Though he loves Ingrid, he agrees to work with Gretchen on a series of body transplants that improve his condition. Before long he is even walking without his cane. He does not know that the science that is helping him is the science of death itself . . .

A twisted, macabre journey of romance and horror.

Two books I can't wait to read this week. Both couldn't be more different from one another. Oh and if anyone else is looking forward to Flash Point, I was just approved for it on Net Galley & can't wait to read! Who else is with me being excited for these two?

*covers are always subject to change.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

Title: The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle, #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 426 Pages (September 18th, 2012)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Title: Eve and Adam
Author: Katherine Applegate & Michael Grant
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, 304 Pages (October 2012)
Add to: Goodreads
Pre-order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker lives an affluent life in San Francisco with her mother, EmmaRose, a successful geneticist and owner of Spiker Biotech. Sure, Evening misses her father who died mysteriously, but she’s never really questioned it. Much like how she’s never stopped to think how off it is that she’s never been sick. That is, until she’s struck by a car and is exposed to extensive injuries. Injuries that seem to be healing faster than physically possible.

While recuperating in Spiker Biotech’s lush facilities, she meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything...until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Emma-Rose may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely.

Happy Wednesday all! I'm really excited about the two books I have in this weeks post. First we have the first book in Maggie Stiefvater's new series. It's Maggie Stiefvater. Need I say more? Nope, didn't think so. The second book... I've really enjoyed Michael Grant's Gone series, so reading anything else by him is pretty much a given. Not to mention how amazing this books sounds. Who's else is equally excited about these two as I am?

*covers are always subject to change.

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 400 Pages (May 24th 2011)
From: the Publisher/Amazon Vine Program, Thank You!

Synopsis: From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island.

Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

Review: 4.5 Stars - Beauty Queens by author Libba Bray was unexpected in its complete wackiness. It’s a punch line in 400 pages, with a huge heart. I laughed out loud with the turn of just about every page. Bray has a knack for writing over the top characters with some real issues, melding the two together to crate a book I’ll never forget.

When a group of teen beauty queen’s plane crash lands on an island on their way to a pageant, they are left to fend for themselves. It’s a group of girls who have pageant life in common and just about little else. They each bring some kind of knowledge to the table and somewhat work together as a group to survive. Each of the girls has their fair share of issues, and working through them while stranded on a desert island without any of the pressures of everyday life, proved to be some major growing moments for each of them.

Enter into a world that’s pretty much run by “The Corporation” and it’s products that’ll make you sometimes laugh and sometimes shake your head to - it’s unbelievable commercials and TV shows… to the Dictator and his obsession with Elvis, to the band of Pirates from a reality TV show that take their job to the extreme… to the female grooming product “Lady ‘Stash Off” and it’s use as a high explosive once one of the chemicals is changed… what can I say, it’s a wild, wild read.

Insane comes to mind when I think of the plot and each of the characters. From the first few pages to the last I often thought that this was a joke on me because of how witty and magical Bray’s writing is. Seriously, Bray’s writing is magic, characters over the top, all rolled into one making this, hands down one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. I don’t even feel I’m able to do this book justice with this review. It’s just something you need to experience for yourself. Being that this is my first book by Bray, I can’t wait to read her other titles and then to see what comes next for this imaginative and vastly creative author. What can I say, I’m a HUGE fan. Enjoy!

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.

Title: Life, After
Author: Sarah Darer Littman
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 288 Pages (July 1st 2010)
From: the Publisher - Thank You!

Synopsis: Everything changes for Dani and her family when a truck loaded with explosives detonates outside the AMIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing her beloved aunt and unborn cousin. Because of the ensuing political upheaval, economic hardship, and emotional toll, Dani's family moves to the U.S. It is a terrifying place--new school, new language, new hardships--and Dani's angry father is turning into a stranger, more so everyday. Just when Dani thinks she is about to lose it, she befriends Jessica, one of the girls who has been cruelly teasing her since she arrived.

It is the most unlikely of friendships. Jessica is wealthy, groomed, spoiled. But Jessica has a past that only Dani can understand. She lost her father in 9/11. It is a friendship that allows them both to heal in unexpected and surprising ways, and changes them and their families forever.

Review: 3 Stars - Life, After was a touching novel about a teenage girl named Dani and her family and the direct affects that terrorism, and “The Crisis” had on them and everyone living not only in Buenos Aires, but throughout Argentina.

Dani and her family are faced with more then hard times due to crisis after crisis including a terrorism bombing that more then hurt her family and so many others. With most of the country falling on hard times, many flee in search of a better life.

When things become apparent to her mother that the family is in more trouble than they can get out of and growing worse by the day, she goes against her husbands wishes and chooses to move to America in search of safety and a better life for Dani and her younger sister. Going against her fathers’ strong values, it takes some convincing, but he gives in and they move to the US.

The dramatic changes the whole family face when having to be uprooted from one country to another were stressful to say the least and Dani seemed to take on a lot when it came to her family. She had so many responsibilities and I felt she often missed out on much of what it means to be a teenager. At school she finds a few people who are nice to her and some that aren’t so nice. She ends up becoming friends with a boy who has Asperger’s Syndrome and how she is with him were some of my favorite parts in the story.

Slow in spots and emotional in others - Dani took so much in stride – but what she has to go through to get there is what made this book all that it was. Readers will appreciate the vast relationships new and old to country to country and culture to culture – Life, After shows us just how different we all are and how we can relate to each other if we all take the time to listen.

FTC Disclaimer: I did not pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this review.