City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

I know, we're all dying for it to be March 2011 so that we can get our hands on the 4th book in the Mortal Instruments Series. Here's a little something to help hold us over. Cassie posted this today in her google group *if you're not apart of it, you're missing out*

City of Angels takes place after the events of City of Glass. It splits its focus between Jace and Clary and Clary’s best friend, Simon, and how he adjusts to life as a vampire, but it’s still an ensemble-cast story, and all the characters from the Mortal Instruments series appear in it: Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, Maia, and many more. (It even helps to have read The Clockwork Angel before you read CoFA, because some of the characters from the ID series do show up in it. However, it isn’t required.) In City of Fallen Angels, someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and leaving their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Internecine warfare among vampires is ripping the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Meanwhile Jace and Clary investigate a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

City of Fallen Angels is set to be released in March, 2011.

**this is not the cover, this is something we did for our forum on MM'*

Join our forum here to talk more about it:

http://mundiemoms.freeforums.org/city-of-fallen-angels-f91.html

Book Review- Beastly

by Alex Flinn

HaperTeen October 2007

Source: Bought

4 stars

Summary:

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

This book has been out for a couple years and I can't believe I've just read it. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the spin Alex put on Beauty and the Beast. Beastly is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in modern day New York City, and told from the point of view of the beast.

The beast is Kyle Kingsbury, the son of a popular NY city newscaster *who's never around* and is the most popular boy at Tuttle, an elite school in NYC. He became cursed/put under a spell by a witch named Kendra after he treated her horribly, because he couldn’t see past her appearance or beyond anyone's outer appearances for that matter. He was cursed into the beast, as he became as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside.

Beastly takes us on Kyle's journey as he slowly begins to learn that there's a lot more to life than looks and money. As Kyle starts to change, he also changes his name to Adrian. He wants nothing to do with the old person he once was. Kyle/Adrian has another problem. He's got two years to break the spell, which is done by the kiss of true love.

His true love comes in the form of Lindy. Lindy comes from the poorer side of town. He's seen her at his prep school, before he was cursed and forced into isolation. When Lindy's druggie father breaks into Adrian's house, he offers Adrian his daughter in exchange for being let go and not being turned into the police. Adrian, knowing what kind of horrible life Liddy has had, agrees. Adrian has it all, a beautiful home all to himself, a tutor who's blind *so he can't see that he's a beast* and a house keeper. He offers everything he can to Lindy, who takes a long time before she wants anything to do with Adrian.

We all know how this fairy tale ends, but it's the story that Alex wrote that kept me turning pages and it didn't take long to finish this story.

You can find out more here:

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060874162/Beastly/index.aspx

AND they're making a movie for it. Check it out here-

http://www.beastlythemovie.com/

This will be in theaters July 2010 and stars:

Alex Pettyfer as Kyle Kingsbury

Vanessa Hudgens as Lindy

Mary Kate Olsen as Kendra the witch

Neil Patrick Harris as Will, the beasts tutor

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3356657920/tt1152398

In My Mailbox

I am behind on posting this and I apologize. This is a sample of some of the awesome goodies we've received from Simon & Schuster last week.

The signed Hush, Hush book and the limited edition poster are in our Hush, Hush Prize Pack from our last week's Freebie Friday *we only need 25 more followers* before we draw a name.

You can join the contest here: http://mundiemoms.blogspot.com/2009/10/freebie-friday-hushhush-prize-pack.html

We'll keep doing more give aways until we're out of Hush, Hush prizes. We've already given away another poster on Twitter. Keep watching our blog.

The GONE ARC *is not part of the price pack* but I was so excited to get it. I read it the day I received it. I loved being able to talk to Lisa about the next day when we met her at the Austin Teen Book Festival, (we'll be posting more about that shortly), and NO SPOILERS, but it's soooooo good!!

Thank you Simon and Schuster!!

Waiting On Wednesday

Katie's W.O.W. I am so excited for the release of B.C. It's a beautiful story and one I know many of us will be talking about for a long time to come.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Published by Little Brown

Released Dec. 1st, 2009

We are so excited for this release!! LovesSam and I were fortunate enough to get ARCS and we LOVE this book. We're dying to talk about this book!! Seriously, this needs to be added to everyone's "must own" book list. Cassandra Clare recommended BC when we chatted with her a couple months ago. It's so full of rich detail, interwoven into a beautiful love story that will have you holding on until the last page.

Here's a summary:

There were no surprises in Gatlin County

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Take a Sneak Peak at the first chapter:

http://www.beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

Little Brown's BC site:

http://www.beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

Kami and Margaret's site:

http://www.beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

The book trailer:

We'll be chatting with Kami on Dec 7th!!

http://mundiemoms.freeforums.org/december-book-of-the-month-beautiful-creatures-by-kami-garcia-margaret-stohl-f109.html

Stay tuned for our reviews, as we've asked not to post them yet, but when it gets closer to the release date we may be able to post them.

Check back in three weeks on the blog for a great BC give away!!! Thank you to Kami, Margaret and Little Brown!!