Further to my previous post, I’m gonna tell you a bit more about the first 5 books I picked, they are:
Mistwood by Leah Cypress
The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.
Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.
Mistwood has been on the list since I read it at the beginning of the year. It was the first book in ages where I did not see was was coming. It was surprising, intriguing and wonderful. The ending felt a bit rushed but that might have been because I didn’t want it to end. Plus it’s so pretty!
(Yes I know you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but come on look at it!)
For a great interview with the Leah, check out Marieke’s blog on ‘How to: Worldbuilding’
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Katniss Everdeen is a survivor. She has to be; she’s representing her District, number 12, in the 74th Hunger Games in the Capitol, the heart of Panem, a new land that rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America. To punish citizens for an early rebellion, the rulers require each district to provide one girl and one boy, 24 in all, to fight like gladiators in a futuristic arena. The event is broadcast like reality TV, and the winner returns with wealth for his or her district.
Confession, I haven’t read the other 2 yet. Part of me doesn’t want to destroy what I think is an amazing story and the other is fed up with the current craze for trilogies.
I barely managed to put this down, which was made even harder by having to work. 
The writing is amazing and even though I never really liked Katniss I was routing for her the whole way through. Believe the hype, it’s a great book.
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
You’ve always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I’ve fallen in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?
She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen, gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But . . . They are brother and sister.
I can’t say I loved this book, I don’t think it’s a book you can love. It’s heart-wrenching, unfair and soul destroying but it’s also really well written. You have to work at the story. It takes time but it’s worth it at the end.
I’m not going to spoiler it, my only complaint is that as much as this is supposed to be one of those “topic” books the author actually takes the easier road by making it very clear that Lochan and Maya have never really thought of each other as brother and sister and thus making it more understanable for the reader.
20 Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
For sixteen-year-olds Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, their twenty day-long, minimally supervised California vacation will be the ‘Absolute Best Summer Ever’ and according to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance that Anna will get her first real boyfriend. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie – she’s already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.
This is one of the books I read last week and I really loved it. I bought it when I was in Las Vegas. And this might be the wrong idea behind choosing a book, but I picked it up because of the controversy associated with it. I don’t like censorship of this kind so I wanted to buy it as a “up yours…” kinda thing. Yes it’s not the most grown up reaction but I’m so glad I did.
The cover tells you that the story will break your heart and put it back together again – it does. When Matt and Anna kiss only to have him die a few pages later I felt for her. I didn’t know how I would feel about Anna finding a new love but as the story continued I was cheering her on. 
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That’s when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive. This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I’ve stolen his lightning bolt – and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea.
Can Percy find the lightning bolt before a fully-fledged war of the Gods erupts?
Marieke recommended this to me. It was my antidote to the “heavies” I’d been reading and boy was it fun. It’s a good old MG adventure story full of fun characters, clever reinventing of myths and a great idea to boot.
So to the giveaway -
1st Prize
Pick your favourite book and I’ll include another random book of my bookshelf
(because surprises are awesome!)
2nd Prize
You get to pick your favourite out of the ones that are left and a cute kitten bookmark
3rd Prize
Your choice of one out of the remaining…
To Enter:
Leave a comment + 1 point
Tweet about this contest (pls incl. link in comment section) + 1 point
Blog about it + 2 points
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe +1 point each
Closing date is the 31 December 2010.
Good luck!
