New Blog!!!!!

As a fan of true crime and adult mysteries I have created a new blog, Criminal Pages,  separate from the X-treme Readers blog to review these non-YA titles.  If you are a fan of either true crime or mystery please take a look.  I could use some followers :-)

Jen

New Review at Daisy Chain

Due to the end of the school year craziness I have not been able to keep up with my blog.  Sorry!!  I have read some awesome books and will post reviews ASAP.

I have a new review of Ann Aguirre's fantastic book Enclave posted at Daisy Chain Book Reviews, so check it out if you get a chance!!

I am also excited to let you all know that there are 26 kids signed up to take my Extreme Reading class with another 20 on a wait list!!  Holy Moly - that's A LOT and I can't wait to get them blogging and reviewing!!

Finally, stay posted for my summer read list - it's going to be huge, but I am determined to tackle all the books I put on it!!

Happy Reading,

Jen

Winners!!!!

The winners of my "Evernight" giveaway are:

Deidre
Anita O
Alba

Congrats ladies!!!!!

Guest Review at Daisy Chain Book Reviews

Check out my first guest review of Ivy Devlin's Low Red Moon at Daisy Chain Book Reviews!!

Exciting News, Blogoversary, and 1st GIVEAWAY ever!!!!

Wow!!  It has been quite an exciting first month for the X-treme Readers Book Blog!!  I have met some really awesome people with the same interests in YA books as me.  It's nice to know I'm not alone :-)  I have also gotten some really great feedback from some of my favorite authors!!  Here are some of the exciting things going on at X-treme Readers:

- I have been chosen to be a guest reviewer for Daisy Chain Book Reviews!!  Expect to see my first review sometime within the next month or so.  If you are not already a follower of Daisy Chain Book Reviews I strongly recommend you do so.  A link to the Daisy Chain site is located on my blog list on the right side of the X-treme Readers homepage.

- Author Jennifer L. Armentrout has chosen X-treme Readers to be part of her Half-Blood Chain Gang!!  I get to read and review Jennifer's new novel and pass it along to the next blog.  I am honored to have been chosen to be part of this elite group!!  For more information on Half-Blood click the widget on the right side of the X-treme Readers home page!!

-  Local author Gale Borger has graciously supplied X-treme Readers with review copies of her YA mystery series: Olive Branch Mysteries.  The first book in the series is entitled Death of a Garden Hoe.  How hysterical is that?  We will also be reviewing the first installment of Gale's adult mystery series Totally Buzzed: A Miller Sisters Mystery.  I am so excited to have found a series to fill the void left between Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books!!  There is no better combination then humor and mystery!!  To learn more about Gale's books you can visit her at www.galeborgerbooks.com

Now that I have been doing this for one whole month I thought it would be time for my very first giveaway!!  So here are the details:

I have three copies of Claudia Gray's Evernight to send to three lucky winners.  All you have to do is:

1).  Follow this blog (click the "follow" button on the left side of the homepage).
2).  "Like" us on Facebook by clicking the button on the left side of our homepage.
3).  If you are on Twitter send out a tweet about our contest with a link to the blog (extra entry for the tweet!!).
4).  Leave a comment below about how wonderful the X-treme readers blog is (and any advice on how to make it better), with your email, so I can contact you if you win.

Winners will be chosen on Monday, May 9th by Random.org

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED TO MAKE X-TREME READERS FIRST MONTH ROCK!!!!!!

Review: The Chaos (Numbers #2) by Rachel Ward

Adam has more than inherited his mother's curse: When he looks in someone's eyes, he not only sees the date of their death...he feels the searing, shocking pain of it, Adam lives by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But when rising tides flood the coast, they return to London. The city is an alien, exciting, frightening place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can't help but clock how many people's numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year's Day. What chaos awaits the world? Can he stop a catastrophe? Or is he, too, counted among the "twenty-sevens"? (Amazon)

If you are looking for a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat than I highly recommend reading The Chaos by Rachel Ward.  I loved the first book in the series Numbers, but I definitely think the author out did herself on the sequel.  The entire time I was reading this book I was fighting the urge not to flip to the end to find out what happens. The tension that builds throughout the book is what makes it an awesome read, but I felt like I needed to know NOW how it was going to end!!  I consider reading the end of a book first to be cheating, so luckily I was able to fight the urge and actually wait until the end to find out what happens. You do not necessarily need to read Numbers in order to understand what is happening in The Chaos, but reading The Chaos first will ruin the end of Numbers.  Therefore if you have not read Numbers and you plan on doing so, STOP reading this review right now and go read Numbers!!!!!!!!!

            You’re still reading my review?  Ok, well I warned you, so don’t blame me for ruining Numbers for you!!  The Chaos takes place 16 years after the end of Numbers. Adam, Jem and Spider’s son, is now 15 and living in Weston (the town by the sea that Jem and Spider were trying to escape to) with his Nan, Val.  Things on earth are changing and the sea is staring to reclaim her land. As the book opens Adam and Val are being evacuated due to massive flooding. Wait! What happened to Jem?  I could tell you . . . but I won’t!!!  Adam is not happy about leaving and blames Val for everything wrong in his life.  He panics when he thinks he forgot his book, which luckily is in his pants pocket.  What’s in the book!?!  Ok, I’ll tell you!!  Adam has inherited his mother’s gift for seeing numbers.  Every time he looks someone in the eye he sees the date of his or her death flash in his mind.  He knows from experience that the numbers are never wrong.  He knows from his mother never to tell anyone about the numbers.  That is why he feels the need to document every number he sees in his book.  As if seeing the numbers isn’t bad enough, Adam can actually feel how each person is going to die.  Two things torment Adam:  1) He has no idea what his own number is, and 2) The majority of people he sees will die on 01012027.  He knows that something horrible is going to happen on New Years day and he has no idea how to stop it. 

           

            One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is that Adam is not the only narrator. Sarah, a 15- year old girl with secrets of her own, narrates every other chapter. What are her secrets!?!  If I told you, it would ruin the story!  One thing I will tell you is that when Sarah enrolls in a new school and sees Adam for the first time she recognizes him as the boy from her nightmares.  She has been dreaming about him for months, and none of the dreams have been good. When Adam sees her number and feels her death he needs to know exactly why she is so utterly terrified of him.  Throughout the book Adam has two goals:  figure out how to save the people who are going to die on New Year’s Day and find out why Sarah is so terrified to be around him.

The story also has a minor character named Mia and I only mention this because the next book I read, Gayle Forman’s Where She Went, has two characters named Adam and Mia.  Kinda funny how things like that happen.  If you enjoy dystopian fiction and you love a great roller coaster ride then you absolutely need to read Rachel Ward’s The Chaos.  You will not be disappointed!!!!

Blog Redesign!!!!

I just spent 3.5 hours redesigning this blog.  Thank you to Shabbyblogs.com for providing me with awesome templates!!  I am definitely not even close to technologically advanced, so I'll take all the help I can get.  I would love to know what everyone thinks and get any advice on how to make it better.  Due to my ADD the header is driving me nuts - I hate that blank space on the right!!  Does it bother anyone else? I'm too tired to change it now.  Also, how do I get the cute buttons to connect to my Facebook and Twitter? Ugh!!  I really need to hire someone to do this for me.  Who knew blogs could be such a pain?