Teaser Tuesday: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

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I’ve been seeing this book for a while, but I never really picked it up until I finally read the blurb last weekend. I didn’t think this is interesting since…well, I didn’t really know the author (yeah, I judge books unfairly sometimes), but this book had me at these two words:

KILLER UNICORNS.

I got the same feeling right whenever I read zombies.

Seriously, read this:

Rampant by Diana PeterfreundRampantby Diana Peterfreund

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns…

The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.

Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed ather eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods – thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom – Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters, all is not what is seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to – perhaps most dangerously of all – her growing attraction to a handsome art student… and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.

How awesome is that? Killer unicorns! :D Here’s a teaser:

Now I wished I’d paid attentioned to Lilith all those years. Of course, if I had, I’d simply think that unicorns didn’t exist anymore, rather than that Mom was nuts and they’d never existed at all.

I can’t wait to know more about these unicorns. Killer unicorns, wohoo! :)

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Have Soul, Will Scream

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My Soul to Take by Rachel VincentMy Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

She doesn’t see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next…

What would you do if you knew the exact date and time of your death? What would do as you approached your last few minutes of being alive?

A morbid question, right? A premonition of death is something that scares most people, myself included. They say one shouldn’t be afraid of death since everyone will eventually leave this earth, but that’s tough advice to take when you feel like you still have so much unfinished businesses in this life, and when you think of all the people you will be leaving behind. I once tried to imagine that it was my last day alive, and while theoretically that should help you “seize the day”,  I just ended up becoming depressed. What’s terrifying about death is that we are absolutely powerless against it: it comes, and when it does, we can’t stop it.

But what if you had advance warning–but for someone else? Let’s push it further: what if you could see and feel if a person was nearing his or her death, but you couldn’t warn them about it? What if all you could do was scream?

Kaylee Cavanaugh deals with this dilemma in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series. Click here to read the rest of the review.

Rating: [rating=4]

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 35 out of 100 for 2010
* Book # 18 out of 20 Fantasy books for 2010

→ Get My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent from Amazon.com
→ Rachel Vincent’s website

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Waiting on Wednesday: Grace by Elizabeth Scott

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Waiting on Wednesday

I’m not much of a fan of Elizabeth Scott, save for her Stealing Heaven. Sometimes I wonder if there’s something wrong with me, since everyone else seemed to like Bloom and Perfect You so much. Or maybe I just need to re-read them? I may have been expecting something too much from them since I am such a fan of Sarah Dessen.

Nevertheless, I am definitely curious about this upcoming release by Elizabeth Scott.

Grace by Elizabeth ScottGrace by Elizabeth Scott
Release date: September 16, 2010

A fable of a terrifying near future by critically acclaimed author Elizabeth Scott.

Grace was raised to be an Angel, a herald of death by suicide bomb. But she refuses to die for the cause, and now Grace is on the run, daring to dream of freedom. In search of a border she may never reach, she travels among malevolent soldiers on a decrepit train crawling through the desert. Accompanied by the mysterious Kerr, Grace struggles to be invisible, but the fear of discovery looms large as she recalls the history and events that delivered her uncertain fate.

Told in spare, powerful prose, this tale of a dystopian near future will haunt readers long after they’ve reached the final page. [source]

This kind of reminds me of Hunger Games, with the dystopian theme. I think this is her first foray into something that isn’t contemporary YA? It seems interesting, and Adele gave a glowing review on this book. Curioser and curioser, yes? I hope it goes out in Kindle. :D

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Teaser Tuesday: Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

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I finished my books too fast. That’s the thing with e-books, I finish them too fast. While I kind of miss actually flipping a book, I like the convenience of carrying a book in my iPod and reading it even in the dark. I’ll make a longer post on this next time.

I finished reading The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (review to come soon), so I was suddenly at a loss at what to read next. Strange, since I have a ton of books that’s waiting — I always, always get that feeling. The feeling of having no book to read when I really have so much. Argh, I need to get over that.

But I digress.

Here’s a teaser of what I’m reading this week — Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs. :)

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn ChildsWhen Phoebe’s mom returns from Greece with a new husband and plans to move to an island in the Aegean Sea, Phoebe’s well-plotted senior year becomes ancient history. Now, instead of enjoying a triumphant track season and planning for college with her best friends, Phoebe is trying to keep her head above water at the überexclusive Academy. If it isn’t hard enough being the new kid in school, Phoebe’s classmates are all descendants of the Greek gods! When you’re running against teammates with superpowers, dealing with a stepsister from Hades, and nursing a crush on a boy who is quite literally a god, the drama takes on mythic proportions!

My friend Grace told me this is good, and frankly, I’m kind of tired of reading about dark vampires and fallen angels and all that. I kind of need something light — and this seem like a good one. Here’s a teaser:

I reach up and tighten my ponytail. My hair only has two styles: ponytail and down. Ponytail for running. Down for school. (p. 158)

Interesting. The character runs. I’ve been running a lot lately, too.  I think I’ll like this book. :)

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Waiting on Wednesday: Plain Kate by Erin Bow

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Waiting on Wednesday

Sometimes, I really wonder how people can think of awesome premises to stories. Case in point: Plain Kate by Erin Bow.

Plain Kate by Erin BowPlain Kate by Erin Bow
Release date: September 20, 2010

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver’s daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden talismans are so fine that some even call her “witch-blade”: a dangerous nickname in a country where witches are hunted and burned in the square.

For Kate and her village have fallen on hard times. Kate’s father has died, leaving her alone in the world. And a mysterious fog now covers the countryside, ruining crops and spreading fear of hunger and sickness. The townspeople are looking for someone to blame, and their eyes have fallen on Kate.

Enter Linay, a stranger with a proposition: In exchange for her shadow, he’ll give Kate the means to escape the angry town, and what’s more, he’ll grant her heart’s wish. It’s a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes she can’t live shadowless forever — and that Linay’s designs are darker than she ever dreamed.

Seriously, how?

Anyway, I’ve been looking through Amazon lately and been seeing all these awesome books. Then I realized: I hardly look at fluff anymore. I seem to be more interested in YA fantasy. Hrm, think I’m changing?

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