Welcome to The Book Guru! This is my first week back to the book blogging world I am really excited to check out all the new book blogs that have popped up over the last year! Thank you Parajunkee and Alison Can Read for hosting Feature Follow.
The question this week is:
Q: Do you mind books with similar ideas to other books? Similar concepts, backgrounds, retellings or pulled-to-publish fanfic?
A: Yes and No. I think there are very few fresh ideas out there. For instance Dystopian literature's popularity skyrocketed after the release of, The Hunger Games however decades ago authors like Lois Lowery and Janet McNaughton were pioneering the genre. Additionally Charles de Lint (another Canadian author) wrote urban fantasy novels long before they became popular. Do I still love The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Matched? Yes I do!
With that said if you are blatently copying anothers idea weather it be a plot line, the cover of a book, a character description then no I have no respect for that.
The third book in the Bar Code series, in which one girl struggles to escape
the conformity of a dystopian world
Just as in the original Bar Code Tattoo, the year is 2025 and the
mysterious, ubiquitous, and seemingly omnipotent multinational corporation,
Global 1, is in power through their agent President Loudon Waters. But now this
ominous situation is experienced through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Grace
Morrow.
When Grace finds out that she's adopted, her biological father, who's the
head of the Global 1 nano-bot injection project, urges her against getting the
bar code tattoo when she turns seventeen. Stunned by the revelations, she goes
home to find her adoptive family vanished, and she's determined to find them,
turning to the anti-barcode group Decode. As they uncover more information about
tracking, Grace must hide deep underground and undercover, trying to discover
information that will allow Decode to figure out what Global 1 is up to, and
trying desperately to shut the organization down for good.
Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and Merit the vampire can't tell if
this is the darkness before the dawn, or the calm before the storm. With the
city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a
paranormal registration act, times have never been more precarious for the
vampires. If only they could lay low for a bit...
Then magic rears its ugly head when Lake Michigan turns black. The mayor
insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows a panic is coming. She'll
have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them
before it's too late for both the vampires and
humans.
After 450 years of living, Nastasya Crowe should have more of a handle on
this whole immortal thing.... After a deadly confrontation at
the end of Darkness Falls, the second Immortal Beloved novel, Nastasya
Crowe is, as she would put it, so over the drama. She fights back against
the dark immortals with her own brand of kick-butt magick...but can she fight
against true love? In the satisfying finale to the Immortal Beloved trilogy,
ex-party-girl immortal Nastasya ends a 450-year-old feud and learns what
"eternally yours" really means.
Laced with historical flashbacks and
laugh-out-loud dialogue, the Immortal Beloved trilogy is a fascinating and
unique take on what it would mean to live forever.
Elena has faced countless challenges—escaping the Dark Dimension, defeating
phantoms, discovering she's a Guardian. But nothing compares to choosing between
the two loves of her life: Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Elena has reunited with
Stefan, while Damon, hurt by the rejection, has become dark and unpredictable.
Now Elena's torn between saving Damon's soul and staying true to Stefan.
But before Elena can decide who her heart belongs to, Dalcrest College's
campus is overrun with vampires determined to resurrect Klaus, the wicked Old
One who will stop at nothing to destroy Elena—and everyone close to her.
As Elena learns more about her destiny as a Guardian, a protector against
evil on earth, she realizes that before she can defeat Klaus, she has to
sacrifice someone close to her. Elena must decide how much—and who—she's willing
to give up before it's too late. . . .
In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Karou must come to terms with who and what she is, and how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, mysteries and secrets, new characters and old favorites, Days of Blood and Starlight brings the richness, color and intensity of the first book to a brand new canvas.
The final thrilling part of the "New York Times" bestselling trilogy,
"Reached" is the sequel to "Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie. After leaving
the Society and desperately searching for each other - and the Rising - Cassia
and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each
other yet again. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts
and things shift once again...In the gripping conclusion to the bestselling
"Matched" trilogy Cassia, Ky, and Xander return to the Society to save the one
thing they have been denied for so long: the power to choose.
Witches are real—and each of us may be one—in this all-new paranormal
suspense novel from#1 New York Times bestselling author
Christopher Pike.
Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has
only one worry—how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her Ex,
Jimmy Kelter. The guy who broke her heart five months ago when he dumped her for
no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he
wants her back.
But what Jessie doesn’t realize is that Jimmy is the least of her problems.
In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to
gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret,
and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a
door to another reality.
A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war
In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong.
When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.
The second book in the Soul Seekers series about a girl who can navigate
between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Daire Santos just saved her grandmother's life—and her soul. But at a cost.
The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld,
and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them
before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their
small town in New Mexico, but the entire world.
As Daire and Dace's relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows
stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the
horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave
Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an
unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of
all.
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her
zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to
become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath.
Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school
that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor?
Rath.
Life at Nekyia has its pluses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one.
Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another…except, there's something a
little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath
disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is
certain—Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding
trouble….
Remy O'Malley heals people with touch - but every injury she cures becomes her
own. Living in a household with an abusive stepfather, she has healed untold
numbers of broken bones, burns, and bruises. And then one night her stepfather
goes too far. Being sent to live with her estranged father offers a clean start
and she is eager to take it. Enter Asher Blackwell. Once a Protector of Healers,
Asher sacrificed his senses to become immortal. Only by killing a Healer can a
Protector recover their human senses. Falling in love is against the rules
between these two enemies. Because Remy has the power to make Protectors human
again, and when they find out, they'll be coming for her - if Asher doesn't kill
her first.
In 1929, the Bright Young Things escape Manhattan's heat for the lush lawns
and sparkling bays of White Cove, looking for leisure, love, and luck.
New York City's latest It Girl, Cordelia Grey, is flying high with celebrity
pilot Max Darby. But Max is a private person with a reputation to uphold—and a
secret to hide. A public romance with a bootlegger's daughter could cost him
more than just his good name. . . .
Aspiring triple threat Letty Larkspur has finally gotten her big break, but
will her talent—and special bond with the married silver-screen star Valentine
O'Dell—make her a target in the cutthroat world of Hollywood? Perhaps the
ingenue knows how to play the leading lady after all.
Newly married to her longtime sweetheart, socialite Astrid Donal finds
herself spending more time with one of her husband's henchmen than with him.
With so many secrets between man and wife, is the honeymoon already coming to an
end?
As summer reaches its hottest peak, these sun-kissed girls will find out if
their luck can last . . . or if dark surprises are on the horizon.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes
the riveting conclusion to the one summer these Bright Young Things will never
forget.
It's easy to get caught up with bad-ass vampires, a killer love triangle, broken
engagements, assumed clones, and enough sexual tension to drive anyone crazy.
Moving past the sparkles and the vegetarian lifestyle, MORNINGSIDE shows
vampires in a new light. Humanity believes them to be one thing, without any
deviation-- the perfection of a human hunter. One woman is able to prove them
wrong. Trapped between both the mortal and immortal realms, she becomes the line
between humans and vampires, and both the differences and similarities they
share. When her life is put at stake, the worlds begin to collide. Night falls
across the town. When she is first turned, she assumes all is lost: her future,
her social life, even the opportunity to one-day experience the release of
death. But when she suddenly reverts to human form soon as her first immortal
night comes to a close, it becomes painfully clear that she is no ordinary
vampire. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself at the mercy of the other
vampires, and they do not hesitate to use her as an easy food source. Days
later, as her excitement and adrenaline spikes, her thirst for blood returns.
Neither she nor the other vampires know what to make of her condition. Is she a
hybrid? A mutant? Without any clues to a cure, she is caught between two worlds,
battling humanity and immortality. One day she is the hunter, the next day the
hunted. She can't imagine her situation could get any worse, but soon a new
threat emerges. A powerful vampire is after the secret held within her veins,
and he will stop at nothing to get it.
It is almost a year to the day since I last posted. Life got very busy very fast but things in my world have changed!
While I am a working mother now (see a lot has happened in the past two years) I have recently become employed as a Young Adult Readers Advisor at my local Public Library. I was hired to recommend books to teenagers! Woot woot! I still can't grasp the concept that someone is actually paying me to do this! In addition I am running some pretty awesome reading programs for youth in my community.
I have updated some of the links on my web site that somehow got broken in my absence. While I may not be reviewing as much content as I was previously I hope to be updating my "Big Lists" frequently with new content, keeping the New Releases Page up to date, posting about new and upcoming contests and of course reading and reviewing books!
I am really excited to be getting back to my second greatest passion in life (the first being my family of course), which is of course reading excellent books and talking people's ear off about them!
Posts
Welcome to The Book Guru! This is my first week back to the book blogging world I am really excited to check out all the new book blogs that have popped up over the last year! Thank you Parajunkee and Alison Can Read for hosting Feature Follow.
