Waiting on Wednesday (#2)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

This week's selection is Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini which releases on October 30, 2012 by Simon Pulse.

Goodreads Description: Life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed… and people she’s killed. 


As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

~

First of all, what a gorgeous and lovely cover! I've been crushing over it ever since I saw it.  The colors are so beautiful and every single thing on the cover complements other things so well. 

As for the story, I'm a total sucker for paranormal stories dealing with death and redemption. Touching the Surface is one of my most anticipated reads of 2012 and I'm pretty sure it'll stand upto my expectations.

So what book are you 'waiting on' this week?

Manga Crush (#1)

Manga Crush is brand new meme hosted by Nobonita @ Daydreaming Bookworm. It is a weekly meme hosted here,where you rant about the manga character on whom you have developed a crush.

This week I'm crushing on (like every other day) Usui Takumi from Kaichou wa Maid-sama!. As Ayuzawa Misaki calls him - "A mysterious perverted alien, from Planet Pheromones".

About the manga (Don't tell her but I stole the info from Nobonita's post. If you do, I'll know and then it'd be all katanas and bloodshed):

Title: Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
Year of release: 2005
Status: Ongoing
Author: Fujiwara Hiro
Artist: Fujiwara Hiro
Genre: Comedy, Drama,Romance,Shoujo
Blurb: Seika High School, once an all-boys school notorious for its wild students and for generally being a terrifying place for girls, has recently become a co-ed school. With the female population still a minority and living in fear of the over-the-top antics of the males, Misaki Ayuzawa takes it into her own hands to reform the school and allow the girls to feel safe in the rough environment. Training, studying, and even becoming the first female student council president of the school, Misaki has gained a reputation among the male students body as an uptight, boy-hating dictator and as a shining hope for the teachers and fellow female students. However, despite her tough-as-nails appearance, she secretly works part-time at a maid café in order to support her family. Unfortunately, her hard-earned reputation is threatened when the popular, attractive, and somewhat impassive Takumi Usui takes an interest in her after discovering her in a maid uniform after school.

~

*USUI TAKUMI* Sexiest Anime Man of 2010

Usui Takumi is an extremely popular and ladies' man at his school, Seika High. Usui has no interest in girls, until Misaki Ayuzawa catches his eyes. Strong, independent, bold, unmovable and a man-hater, Misaki turns down his advances at every turn possible. But Usui knows her secret and sometimes, maybe the helper needs saving herself.

Note: It's always like that - hot guy saving the feminist girl - but this manga people keep it original. I'll give you gist of the basic plot since I feel like it - Misaki strong, Misaki in trouble, Insert Takumi, Misaki mentally thankful, Takumi going into pervert mode, Takumi saves the day with Misaki, Takumi hurt, Misaki reconsidering Takumi, end of episode. Though, I  am not complaining. 

"Please don't be bothered by it, I'm just another stalker." 

-Usui Takumi 

Brutally honest and openly pervert-ish, Takumi won my heart with his very first run-in with Misaki. 

((Since Usui's blinding glory is stopping my brain - and heart - I'll let Usui's words and sexy pictures do most of the work. I'll throw in some tid-bits about him.))

"I was lonely since you didn't pay attention to me." 
-Usui Takumi


Takumi can be quite lonely since he doesn't have friends. Though Takumi has loads of followers in his fellow classmates, none of them treats him like a friend should. 

"That's exactly the way it should be. Doing only unexpected things, otherwise, i'll lose my reputation as a perverted outer-space human."
-Usui Takumi


Usui teases, irritates and provokes Misaki at every opportunity. And boy does he make me swoon when he tries to make Misaki blush.

"If you lay your hands on her again... I'll tear your throat out."

-Usui Takumi

Usui has a mysterious past, something about a missing mother and very rich father.





"Nurse me in your maid uniform."

-Usui Takumi

Usui is an expert at many things, but most of all at making hearts race and girls all around sigh and swoon.


"If you were to drown... I won't let anyone else give you mouth-to-mouth respiration." 

-Usui Takumi

     

     

     

Waiting on Wednesday (#1)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

At last I join the party!
This week's selection is Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6) by Rachel Vincent. It will be published on June 26th, 2012 by Harlequin Teen. 

Goodreads Description:  I died on a Thursday—killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul.

The good news? He didn’t get it.

The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school…

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much
harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent
“recovering,” she’s back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend.

But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim
stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won’t keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn’t just gambling with her own life….

~

Soul Screamer series is one of my favorite series. Dark, original, dramatic and highly intriguing with realistic and strong characters, it won my heart from its first prequel novella itself.

As if that wasn't enough, Tod, who is one of my top 5 crushes of all time, has at last won the lady he has been pining for quite some time and I am excited to see how it plays out now that no threat of death hangs over Kaylee.

Things I can't wait to read about:

1. How Tod and Kaylee's relationship evolves over this book.
2. How Kaylee settles into her newly immortal status.
3. Tod and Nash.
4. Kaylee and Nash.
5. Kaylee and Sabine.
6. Alec.
7. Avari.
8. Aiden and Harmony.

So what book are you 'waiting on' this week?

Still on my Mind (#2)

Still on my Mind is a weekly meme hosted by Haley at YA-Holic.

This week's feature is Keeper by Mal Peet.

Goodreads Description: When Paul Faustino of LA NACION flips on his tape recorder for an exclusive interview with El Gato — the phenomenal goalkeeper who single-handedly brought his team the World Cup — the seasoned reporter quickly learns that this will be no ordinary story. Instead, the legendary El Gato narrates a spellbinding tale that begins in the South American rainforest, where a ghostly but very real mentor, the Keeper, emerges to teach a poor, gawky boy the most thrilling secrets of the game. A seamless blend of magic realism and exhilarating soccer action, this evocative novel will haunt readers long after the story ends.
"This stirring adventure — a soccer story? a ghost story? — defies expectations. . . . Both lyrical and gripping." — KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

~*~

Keeper is a novel that stayed with me long after I finished it and made me think, a lot. It was beautifully weaved with words that carried me into a world both enchanting and haunting. Written so wonderfully, that for a moment, I lived in Gato's world and to me the story became real. I read it first when I was 13, and three years later it's still one of my favorite novels and I always read it once in a while. And cry :'( It was uniquely dark and captivating then and it's still so now. As much as, Keeper was a book about football, it was also a book about self-discovery, love, will-power, struggle, determination and compassion. It taught me that your dreams aren't bizarre, your belief that it's bizarre is actually bizarre.

Still on my Mind (#1)

 Still on my Mind is a meme hosted by Haley of YA-Holic. It brand new and shiny. You can check all about it HERE.

My first feature would be Nevermore by Kelly Creagh.

Nevermore

Goodreads Summary: Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares.

His life depends on it.

~*~

Nevermore was exceptionally the most unique novel I've ever read. The first-half of the book deals with the ground-reality of Isobel's harmlessly normal life and how it starts to fall apart as Varen slowly, unknowingly, invades her shields.

But the real deal is the rest-half in which the author with her poetic writing presents a dream world that was influenced by Poe's work as much as it is by Varen's writings. This world was hauntingly beautiful and creepily dark at the same time.

Varen was an exceptional character, as well. He was insanely hot, sarcastic, mysterious and utterly dark at the same time, all the while wearing kohl and silver chain-links. Though, the real show-stealer was the sardonically sadistic Pinfeathers, who intrigued me the moment he made his entry.

Nevermore is utterly fascinating and frustrating as it whisks you away to a world where dreams are a never-ending reality.


Quotes still on my mind:

“You're really a blond," she said, her tone just short of accusatory.
"And if you tell anyone, I will come to you in the night and smote your everlasting soul.”
'Promise?' Isobel turned back to the piano quickly, shocked that she'd almost uttered this aloud.
- Nevermore

I think Isobel and I are on the same page ;)


“My beautiful, my Isobel. My Love. You ask me to wait. And so I wait.
For all of this, I know, is but a dream.
And when, in sleep, at last we wake,
I will see you again.”

- Varen Nethers, Nevermore