Waiting on Wednesday Update (2)

The last Waiting on Wednesday update was really fun to write. If you missed that, you can check it out here. Since it was so interesting to write, I thought I'd do another one. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as well, dear readers! Again, not going to do these too often, because they take a While to write, lol.

Also, I cannot wait for Past!Laina to discover goodreads. I made life so much harder than it needed to be.

WoWed April 29th, 2009

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Release date: June 2nd, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Sixteen-year-old Nick and his brother, Alan, are always ready to run. Their father is dead, and their mother is crazy—she screams if Nick gets near her. She’s no help in protecting any of them from the deadly magicians who use demons to work their magic. The magicians want a charm that Nick’s mother stole—and they want it badly enough to kill.

Alan is Nick’s partner in demon slaying and the only person he trusts in the world. So things get very scary and very complicated when Nick begins to suspect that everything Alan has told him about their father, their mother, their past, and what they are doing is a complete lie...

Update: I'm not the biggest fan of this author, and this book just isn't my thing anymore. I am also seriously cringing at how hard I was trying to believe I was straight in these posts, lol. Past me, you don't need to do this.

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Groff

Release date: January 25th, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Annie Richards knows there are a million things to look out for -- bicycle accidents, food poisoning, chicken pox, smallpox, typhoid fever, runaway zoo animals, and poison oak.

That's why being careful is so important, even if it does mean giving up some of her favorite things, like bike races with her best friend, Rebecca, and hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Everyone keeps telling Annie not to worry so much, that she's just fine.

But they thought her brother, Jared, was just fine too, and Jared died.

Update: I never got around to reading this, but I totally would read it now. I love the cover too.

WoWed May 6th, 2009:

After by Amy Efaw

Release date: August 11th, 2009

Summary (from my old post, because I don't like the one on goodreads): Who would leave their own baby in the trash to die?

Certainly not someone like Devon--a straight-A student, soccer player with Olympic dreams, more mature than her own mother. But desparation and panic drover her to do what most people can't even imagine. Now Devon's in a juvenile detention center, charged with attempted murder. If she's tried as an adult, she faces life in prison.

Does Devon deserve that punishment? Your answer depends on whether you believe her story--that she didn't even know she was pregnant. Was she buried in a denial so deep that she was unable to register the seemingly obvious signs of pregnancy? Or were her actions the result of a more devious, premeditated plan?

Update: I did in fact read this! I believe I was sent an ARC of this. I reviewed it, too, but I'm not linking that to you because it's probably terribly written and dated now. I remember liking it, though.

Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Release date: October 6th, 2008

Summary (from goodreads): Nothing is beyond Kristi Carmichael’s disdain—her hippie high school, her friend Jacob, her workaholic mom.

Yet for all her attitude and her mind-reading abilities, Kristi has a vulnerable side. She can hear the thoughts of her fellow students, calling her fat and gross. She’s hot for Gusty Peterson, one of the most popular guys in school, but of course, she’s sure he thinks she is disgusting. And she’s still mad at her father, who walked out on them two years ago.

Soon, a school project brings her together with Gusty, her father comes home and drops a bombshell, and a friend comes out of the closet, and suddenly she is left doubting that she can read people at all.

Update: Never got around to this one, and honestly I don't think I would. It doesn't seem like my kind of thing anymore.

WoWed May 20th, 2009:

Sleepless by Thomas Fahy

Release date: July 28th, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): SOMEONE ELSE WILL DIE SOON she tells herself.
SOMEONE ELSE WILL DIE AND I WILL BE RESPONSIBLE.

A few days after the first time you
walk in your sleep, you kill someone.
That's how the end begins.

Emma Montgomery has been having gruesome nightmares. Even worse, when she wakes up, she isn't where she was when she fell asleep. And she's not the only one. One by one the students of Saint Opportuna High start having nightmares, and sleepwalking. And the next morning one of their classmates turns up dead. Something is making them kill in their sleep. Emma and her friends need to band together, to keep themselves awake until they can figure out what's behind the murders-before anyone else dies.

Update: I haven't read this one, but I may have some plans for it. You'll see. Eventually. Hopefully.

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Release date: October 13th, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

Update: I got an ARC of this through... Barnes and Noble First Look? I seriously can't remember, but it was definitely some kind of reviewing program. And then they changed the ending between ARC and publication so I bought a hardcover, too. I liked it a lot, but Present!Me looks at that with much skepticism. Sorry, Past!Me, you weren't critical enough.

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Release date: December 14th, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Love can be a dangerous thing...

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna’s tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she’s far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

Update: I actually have read this twice. One time just at the end of 2017! And I reviewed it here, and I'm not so embarassed by that post!

The Vampire Is Not That Into You by Vlad Mezrich

Release date: October 1st, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Are you in love with a vampire? Are you worried that you might not be his (blood) type? Do you wonder whether that cold stare means he isn’t interested . . . or if it’s because he’s been dead for three centuries (nothing personal)? Have you tried to coax him out of his crypt with a flash of your neck or a near-death situation that requires him to save you at the very last possible moment? Have you ever considered what it will be like to introduce him to your mother?

Even though your vampire’s skin is transfixingly translucent, he can still be very hard to read. Sometimes he’s simply holding back his true feelings, resisting the urge to bite you in the chance that one day you will truly love him. And other times . . . well, he’s just not that into you.

How can you tell? Undead dating specialist Vlad Mezrich has all the answers, utilizing quizzes, Top Ten lists, language analysis, real-life (and real-death) testimonials, and fancy charts to show you what you need to do in order to get your vampire and keep him forever. Once you go vamp, you never decamp – so let this eternally rewarding book show you the way to the vampire of your dreams.

Update: This seems like the kind of thing that I'd buy like at a Scholastic book fair as a kid, but probably wouldn't seek out as an adult. Also, check out that flip phone!

Fade Out by Rachel Caine (The Morganville Vampires, Book 7)

Release date: November 3rd, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedoms, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again…

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve’s castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realize that this film project, whose subject is the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger—and way more dangerous—than anyone suspected.

Update: I totally bought and read this. I don't remember when exactly, but this was like the last one of the series I read for reasons. I would re-read these, though, and I would love to own a full set.

WoWed June 17th, 2009:

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Release date: December 22nd, 2009

Summary (from goodreads): Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.

The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.

The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul.

Update: I read and reviewed the whole series here and here. I was not a very big fan.

So that's actually 5/10 books that I did read, plus a possible plan to read another. That's not bad!

Let me know what you all think of this kind of post!! I'd like to keep doing them now and then, when I don't have anything else to post on a Friday. Should I fumble at making some kind of graphic for them? Let me know in the comments.

Peace and cookies,
Laina