Category: Reviews-Penguin Group Canada

(Review & Tour) Breakaway

Posted on by Cindy

Title: Breakaway
Author: Michael Betcherman
Pub Date: September 2012
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Pages: 352

Source: I received an ARC from Razorbill for my participation in the book tour.

About the book: Sixteen-year-old Nick Macklin’s life has been divided in two. Before and After. Before his father went to jail, and After. Before, he was a talented hockey player, an A student, in love with his girlfriend, Sherry, and had the greatest dad in the world, a man who not only was there for him after his mom died of cancer, but who was also a star player for the Vancouver Canucks. Then the bottom fell out. His father was convicted of murder and given a life sentence for a crime Nick is convinced he didn’t commit. Now living with his dad’s agent, the only thing that keeps Nick going is a burning desire to seek justice for his father. Who framed him? And why? Drifting away from everything and everyone who matters, Nick spends his days roaming the city, looking for the bald man with a limp who is the key to answering these questions: the man his father swears planted the evidence that led to his conviction. Finding him is like looking for a needle in a haystack – until Nick stumbles on a very real clue, an eye-opening revelation that just might save his father… and himself.

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One of the best things about blogging is getting the chance to discover a book you might not have known about otherwise and this was the case. I have to admit I never heard about Breakaway until I was contacted by Razorbill asking if I would like to be a part of the book tour. I read the synopsis and instantly said yes. I have only seen this reviewed on a few Canadian blogs so far but I am hoping that will change after our reviews get out there because this is a great book for the male young adult reader who likes books about hockey and a little mystery.

The book opens up with Nick sitting in a courtroom hearing the verdict of is father, Steven’s, first degree murder trial. From that point on I had to read to find out what happened, who did his dad kill and why. 

One of the things I loved was the mention of the Vancouver Canucks, they are our second favorite time, we are Hab fans all the way.

Nick is sixteen years old and is facing almost a life without his dad as he knows it. Thankfully he is close enough that he can go and visit his dad in jail and they do keep in touch. Nick is sure his dad didn’t kill anyone and that he is being set up. There is one person out there in the city of Vancouver that knows exactly what happened that night and its a bald man with a limp and Nick is determined to find him and prove his father’s innocence.

Nick has been told to stop looking for the man by his dad and to accept what is the new reality of his dad being in jail. So Nick tries to get back to a normal life (or what can be as normal as expected) with getting better grades, getting back onto his hockey team and possibly getting Sherry back but he is still looking for the man responsible with only his friends knowing what he is really doing. But deep down inside Nick will never give up the search and some how he will try to prove his dad’s innocence but can he before his dad looses hope?

I really enjoyed the book and Michael has asked to read it when he saw the cover of the book but I have told him no not for awhile as its not appropriate for his age. I enjoyed it and I was curious to find out if Nick would be able to pull it off and find this man in a population of 2,000,000 + people. I was also curious to find out why his dad was being set up and for what reason. Do we find out? That you will have to pick up the book to find out.

I think this is great that there is actually a book written for male readers which is few and far between in young adult books in my opinion.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Shocked that I read this one

Posted on by Cindy

Title: Bared To You (book 1 in A Crossfire series)
Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 352
Pub Date: June 2012

Source: I received this book from Penguin Canada for review. This was sent unsolicated.

About the book:
Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…

He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds… and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn’t tear us apart..

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I have to say that I knew nothing about this book before receiving it and I have to say it was sent  unsolicated.

My first introduction to the book was probably a few weeks before receiving the book when I got a little envelope in the mail from Penguin and all that was inside the envelope was a little business card that said #50ShadesHotter and a pair of silver cuff links. At first I thought that was rather odd and grew curious about it so I went to the Penguin website and put in 50 Shades in the search and only four items came up. One of them was this book and I could see that the cuff links I got were similar to what was on the cover so I presumed it was this book.

I have to say that marketing for this book was fantastic and I love getting a little swag item that goes with the book. The cuff links were very nice.

Shortly after wards I got the book to review and I was interested in it. I do have to say that the writing is much better in this then the 50 Shades series. I could see some similarities in the book but for me the characters were more related able and believable then in 50 Shades.

This is being pushed as if you like 50 Shades you will love this and I have to say I was expecting a 50 Shades book was surprised. This was so much better then 50 Shades. I read it practically in one sitting and yes I did the same thing I did with 50 Shades, I put it in my leather hold cause god forbid someone see me read this. LOL

I enjoyed this book and so much more then the other books. Bared to You is about Eva and Gideon and its told in Eva’s point of view. Perhaps the second book will be told in Gideon’s point of view.

So Eva has moved to NYC (I loved the location references and it made me long for NYC again) from the West Coast with her BFF Carey (who is bi). He is an actor and will basically do anything it takes to become famous and when I say he will do anything its so true. We find out that Eva’s stepfather is rich and has taken it upon himself to take care of Eva and that includes paying for her apartment. You quickly can see that Eva has some kind of baggage but you don’t know what it is right away.

The story moved along really quickly and I found it to be a page turner and was constantly reading to find out what was going to happen.

When Gideon was introduced I have to say that I actually liked him so much more then the other guy. I thought he spoke his age and he was so much more believable. With that being said I have to say that their overall actions were. Both Eva and Gideon came off as stalkerish in my opinion. I mean he knows things about Eva that no one should really know about a person without them telling you. As for Eva she resorts to using google to get alerts about Gideon. I mean really who does that?

Slowly as the book progress we uncover more of the demons that trouble these two characters. I felt bad for Eva when I read what she went through. I would be interested to see what happens in the next book.

This was the first time I read any of Sylvia’s books and I had to admit that I am kind of curious about book two which is called Reflected In You and its scheduled to release in October 2012. I am hoping I will enjoy it but you never know.

I do have to say that I did recommend this to friends who had read 50 Shades and I was told that they loved this one more and they can’t wait for book two to come out.

Thanks Penguin Canada for sending me this to review.

Did anyone else read this? What did you think?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Across The Universe

Posted on by Cindy


Title: Across The Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Pub Date: January 2011
Pages: 416

Source: I received a finished copy from the lovely Vimala at Penguin Canada. Thanks so much Vimala.

About the book:
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

When I first heard about the book I was super excited and wanted to read it because it sounded really good and I have to admit that I love the cover of the book. Although I have to say that I was a little worried because its a fantasy/sci fi kind of book and that is a genre I could never get into but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised because not only was it fantasy/sci fi but there was also a bit of a mystery thrown in as well. I made it a point not to rush in reading the book although there was times I had a hard time to put it down.

This is Beth Revis debut novel and apparently it will be a three book series. I can’t wait to read the others now.

The book is narrated by Amy, who is the teenage girl who goes into a frozen sleep and is scheduled to wake up three hundred years later but is awaken fifty years too soon. The other narrator is Elder who is also an teenager but soon to be leader on the Godspeed ship. He is being trained by Eldest who will hand over the ship to him when the time is right.

The opening chapter is about Amy and her tough decision if she should follow her parents that are going to be frozen so that they can be a part of a new planet because they are essentials to this mission because of the skills they have that will allow them to form this new planet in three hundred years. Her mother goes first, Amy thinks she will go next but her father goes next but tells her that she can go with them or she can remain on planet Earth. Staying on Earth will allow her to be with the rest of her family, her boyfriend and life will be like it was. Amy is torn but in the end decides to go with her parents.

With just fifty years left into the trip Amy is unplugged and is unfrozen quickly and almost dies from it. The mystery around this is that they have no idea who could have done this. Who could have unplugged Amy before her time and why?

Amy begins to realize that everyone on the ship is alike (dark skin, dark hair and eyes) with her being the different one (red hair, pale skinned and opinionated). They are all non-ethic. Everyone on the ship is controlled because they all know there places, roles and its all peace, love and happiness there. (This was my impression of the ship)

Elder who was born on the ship doesn’t know about anything outside the ship like Amy does. He believes what he has been told and we soon realize that everything about the outside world has been alterated to the Eldests liking. So what Elder thinks he knows isn’t the truth.

Eldest makes sure to keep Amy away from everyone because he knows that she will be trouble and warns the ship that she is different and to stay away. Amy is forced to live in the hospital with everyone else that is labelled different such as the artists and musicians.

Before long more of the frozen bodies are being unplugged and no one can figure out why and who would be doing this. Amy and Elder take it upon themselves to figure out who the person is that is slowly unplugging people and allowing them to die. With the list of suspects slowly narrowing down could Amy and Elder’s life be in jeapordy?

One of my favorite things about the book is the cover because if you flip it over you get to see what the ship looks like and it comes in handy with when reading the book because you can see exactly where the locations are.

As I was getting ready to write my review I was on Beth Revis site and discovered that Across The Universe has a website site devoted to the book where there is an interactive map of the ship and so much more.

If you are looking for something to read then I have to suggest this book. You will not be disappointed. I know I wasn’t and I am so glad I was given the chance to review this.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) Sea

Posted on by Cindy


TITLE: Sea
AUTHOR: Heidi R Kling
PUB ADTE: June 2010
PUBLISHER: Putnam Juvenile
PAGES: 336
AGES: 12 and Up

Source: I obtained this galley from Vimala from Penguin Canada.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Still haunted by nightmares of her mother’s death, fifteen-year-old Sienna Jones reluctantly travels to Indonesia with her father’s relief team to help tsunami orphans with their post traumatic stress disorder—something Sienna knows a lot about. Since her mother’s plane went missing over the Indian Ocean three years before, Sienna doesn’t do anything if it involves the ocean or planes, so this trip is a big step forward.

But the last thing she expects is to fall for Deni, a brooding Indonesian boy who lives at the orphanage, and just so happens to be HOT. When Deni hears a rumor that his father may be alive, Sienna doesn’t think twice about running away with him to the epicenter of the disaster. Unfortunately, what they find there could break both their hearts.

MY THOUGHTS

As you can see I was reading my copy of Sea not near the sea but actually the St Lawerence River near the Canoe Club in my area. The day I was reading this Michael was in a boat paddling around so I took the opportunity to read.

I enjoyed the book and I was pleasantly surprised at how it ended.

The book opens up with the chapter title called four weeks later. From that page I was curious to see who this girl was, what happened to the boy she loved and why she was on the other side of the world.

On the next page it begins with everything that happened four weeks before that. We are introduced to Sienna who just turned fifteen years old. Her father gives her a birthday present that she never expected in her whole life. Its a plane ticket to Indonesian. Her father wants her to go with him for two weeks to help him at a orphanage because they were the worst hit from the tsunami.

Sienna is torn between her fear of flying and we find out why and we find out why and I think I would be two and certainly would think twice about. Its only after seeing a video of the kids from the orphanage that makes her rethink her decision about going.

Leaving behind her friends and a possible boyfriend, Spider, Sienna decides that she will go. Just like most typical fifteen year olds the boy at home gets quickly forgotten when she spots Deni who lives at the orphanage and is labelled as the bad but but we quickly realize that he isn’t. Deni is just trying to cope with loosing his whole life, home, and family.

Sienna and Deni are instantly drawn to each other and she will do anything to see that Deni is happy even if it means loosing him in the end and Deni will do anything to see Sienna happy even if it means breaking a few rules.

I absolutely enjoyed the book and I have to stay there was always an element that happened that kept me turning the pages to find out what was going on.

Thanks again to Vimala for sending me this great book.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Nice Recovery Review

Posted on by Cindy


TITLE: Nice Recovery
AUTHOR: Susan Juby
PUB DATE: March 2009
PAGES: 272
PUBLISHER: Penguin Group Canada

ABOUT THE BOOK:
“There are families, which, through a combination of genetics, culture, and inclination, produce a startling number of professional athletes, such as tennis players or hockey stars. Then there are families like the Baldwins, which produce a high percentage of actors. My family seems to specialize in people who enjoy drinking. And taking drugs. In such families, there is usually one person who stands out as particularly gifted in the field. When I was a teenager, that person was me. I was the star, the Alec Baldwin, if you will. I started drinking seriously when I was thirteen, smoking pot with a vengeance at fourteen, and getting into cocaine at sixteen. By the time I was twenty I was done. Nice Recovery is the story of how I slipped so far off course, how I got back on track, and, most importantly, what it’s like to come of age as a sober young person.”

MY THOUGHTS:

Thank you to Vimala from Penguin Canada for sending me Nice Recovery to read and review.

One of the benefits to blogging and receiving books is the chance to discover an author you might not have read about and so was the case with Susan Juby. I have heard about Susan Juby but never read her books. She is the author of several books such as Getting the Girl, Alice I think and a few others.

Nice Recovery is Susan’s personal memoir of her alcohol and drug addition when she was a teen until her 20s. What a teen life she lead. Reading Nice Recovery was like watching a train wreak happening and hoping and praying that Susan would see the light and want to come clean.

You can’t help but want to reach in and grab Susan by the shoulders and shake her to make her realize what she is doing and tell her to get help but you can’t do that with a person with addiction. They basically have to hit rock bottom first or they want to get help. Its something that can’t be forced on them.

One thing I noticed while reading the book was how honest she was and wondered how it was possible that she could remember so much of what happened and what she did during those days.

I have to say it took her alot of courage to write about her life and her addiction. It just goes to show that there is more to a person that we might not know about. I am sure its a daily struggle for Susan and I am sending positive thoughts and vibes her way that she can stay clean.

Personally in my life I never was influenced by alchol or drugs even though they were around. I think it was seeing what it does that made me realize it wasn’t for me. I can honestly say that I only got drunk once (that was in high school) and the closest I get to drugs are prescription drugs.

This is a great book for the Susan Juby fan or for someone who is struggling with an addiction problem.

Upcoming events:
Juby will appear at a hometown book launch on May 1 in Nanaimo, at the Saskatchewan Library Association conference on May 6, at Toronto Public Library school events on May 11, the Forest of Reading ceremony in Toronto on May 12, Belleville library events on May 13, and at a Vancouver Public Library event on June 7.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Sum Forty Tales From the Afterlife

Posted on by Cindy

PUB DATE: Febuary 10th 2009

Sum Forty Tales From the Afterlife is a collection of forty short stories that is solely fiction. The short stories represent an array of possibilities of what could happen in the afterlife.

Each of the stories are different in which we find that God takes many forms such as a married couple, aliens, a woman, and a “species of dumb witter obtuse creatures”.

In Circle of friends you find out that in the afterlife if contains only people you remember. Imagine living in that afterlife? It would be nice and scary at the same time.

Encore is about being in an afterlife that is recreated by all your tracked records ie birth, marriage, death, phone records of every call you ever made and to who, every credit card purchase is retrieved and looked at, school records, video is analyzed for your appearances and basically every single thing you have done in your life. What would your records say about you?

Decent of Species is about being in the afterlife and you are given a chance to come back as anything you really wanted to in the next life and that you should think about it first. The person in the story thought about coming back as a horse but then realized as nice as it would be a horse he realized that when the horse died the horse would have the capacity to ask it become human again.

This was a quick read that made me think about the afterlife and what it could possibly be like. I have to thank Penguin Canada/Twitter for sending me this book to read and review.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The First Person and other stories Review

Posted on by Cindy


TITLE: The First Person and other stories
AUTHOR: Ali Smith
PUB DATE: January 6 2009

This was a book I had won on Twitter. I have to thank Penguin Group Canada for sending me this book to read and review. I have never read Ali Smith before so it was a real treat. Not only was it a quick read but it also exposed me to a new author. Ali has several books out.

The First Person is a compilation of twelve short stories. The books is about how the imagination reacts to every day people, conversations and situations people may be a part of.

True Short Story is the first story of the book. Its about an over heard conversation about the differences between a novel and short story. While listening to this conversation the author thinks of her friend who is in the hospital dealing with her cancer treatments. She calls her to ask her opinion as she knows everything about short stories.

The Child is about a woman who has stopped at the grocery store to do a quick pick up. She walks away from her cart to go and look for something and then when she returns there is a child sitting there. She waits for a few minutes to see if an parent returns but no one does. She goes to customer service. She tries and fails to persuade the staff or other shoppers that the child isn’t hers. No one listens to her so she feels bad and decides to take the child home. On the way home she is shocked to hear the things coming from the child. Getting annoyed she decides to drop the child off in the middle of a forest. Several hours later she feels bad and decides to go back for the child. She then heads to another story to drop the child off in someone Else’s cart.

The stories are a quick and fun read. I am sure I will pick up other books by her to read.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.