March Madness!

So March Madness is OVER and the winner is..........

Here's how the numbers shook out: 

It was pretty close! Thanks to everyone who voted! 

March Madness FINALE!

You have voted and we have our final two books - Shiver vs. Hunger Games!

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Which will it be? Paranormal or Dystopia? Voting will go on until the end of the month. I'll announce the winners on April 1st (but it won't be an April Fool's joke). In order to keep up the secrecy, no results will be visible until April 1 when the winner is unveiled. 

March Madness Round Three: Match 3

Alright, we're down to the wire! This is the final paranormal match! The winner goes on to fight the dystopian champion. Vote well!

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click the covers to find out more about the titles.

In the dystopian corner we have the Next Top Novel finalists - Hunger Games vs. Maze Runner. Catching Fire came out ahead last year, can Suzanne Collins do it again?

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click the covers for details.

March Madness: Round Three, Match Two

Apologies for the lateness of this poll! Since I didn't have to go into the library I was sleeping in (and I hope you were too. Hurrah for snow days!).

So here we go! The winner of this bracket will be facing off against Shiver!

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I can't wait to see who wins! I have a feeling this is going to be really close.

The winner of this bracket faces off against Hunger Games!

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Again, I'm not sure who will win. Both are great books (you guys have good taste). 

Round Three: Match One

We're in the semi finals! You'll have two days to vote on these titles. The next match will go up on Wednesday!

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Two supernatural romances, both with third books coming out this year. Click on the covers for synopses and reviews, if you haven't read them yet.

In dystopia we have Hunger Games vs. Matched.

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Click on the titles for more information or to place a hold.

Round Two round-up

Okay let's talk about round two. Any surprises? Any disappointments? I have to admit that you broke my heart when you voted off Paranormalcy but I'm impressed it was that close.

Here are our final eight titles. Voting starts Monday so you have the weekend to convince whoever you need to convince to vote for your title!

March Madness: Round Two, Final Match

Okay, so it's the final match of this round! This will determine who is going to be facing off against The Summoning...

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The winner of the dystopian bracket will be facing off against Maze Runner... 

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I'll round up our winners tomorrow and then voting will start again on Monday!

March Madness: Round Two, March Three

Today in the paranormal ring it's faeries vs. angels!

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(click the pretty coves for details)

In the dystopian ring it's Witch & Wizard vs. Matched.

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(again, click the covers for details)

March Madness: Round Two, March Two

Another day, another match to the death! In pararnormal we have...

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(click covers for more information and to place holds)

In the dystopia ring we have...

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(again, click for more info)

March Madness: Round Two, Match One

There was some really close voting in round one but at last we have our round one champions!



(psst! If you click on the covers, it makes them bigger)

You will only have one day to vote for these so make sure to check back and make sure your favourite titles make the cut.

Without further ado, today's matches! Vampires vs. Werewolves!

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(click titles to go to the catalog for more info on these titles)

In dystopia, we have intense competition in Hunger Games vs. Incarceron.

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(again, click the titles to learn more)

March Madness: Round One, Match Eight

Huh. I really thought I had scheduled this to post yesterday and since I was out of the office yesterday I couldn't check on it. My apologies! I will be posting a round-up on Monday.

It's the last round of the first set of brackets! Next week we'll have the final four paranormal brackets and the final four dystopian brackets.

The winner of this bracket will be facing off against City of Bones.

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As always, here are some helpful descriptions to help you vote even if you haven't read the books (and to help you decide if you may want to read them). Both of these are on the funnier side of the genre and both are fantastic books. I'm glad I'm not the one voting!

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins > When Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, she is exiled to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White > When a dark prophecy begins to come true, sixteen-year-old Evie of the International Paranormal Containment Agency must not only try to stop it, she must also uncover its connection to herself and the alluring shapeshifter, Lend.




In dystopia-land, we're voting on two blockbuster dystopian books - Gone vs. Uglies!

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I haven't read Gone by  Michael Grant yet (it sounds super creepy - is it?) but here is a helpful description from the catalog - In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is pretty much must-read for any dystopian fan but if you haven't read it yet, here is what it's about: Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

March Madness: Round One, Match Seven

Sorry I'm so late putting these up! The polls will be up for a full 24 hours though, so you'll still have lots of time to vote. 

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Today's match up is The Summoning by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong and Beautiful Creatures by the duo Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Both books are super creepy!

If you're not familiar, below are descriptions of each:

The Summoning: 
After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home. At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

Beautiful Creatures:
In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.




Next up: our dystopian matches!

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Delirium by Lauren Oliver and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness don't have tons in common except for how they're both awesome books.

In Delirium: Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

In The Knife of Never Letting Go: Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from Old World.

March Madness: Round One, Match Six

You can still vote on werewolves, since we appear to have a tie!

Here is today's bracket:

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For most of the brackets I've had a prediction of who might win (even though I haven't always been right). This bracket is anyone's guess. Whoever wins this bracket goes on to compete against Wicked Lovely. 

Instead of giving you the summaries, I'm going to direct you to the book trailers: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick & Fallen by Lauren Kate. 

In Dystopia we have two books that keep being compared (and not always flatteringly...):

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This trailer for Matched by Ally Condie is pretty incredible. It's actually probably my favourite out there right now.

Another trailer, this time fanmade for The Giver by Lois Lowry. 

(& remember to vote for the books, not the trailers!)

March Madness: Round One, Match Five

Today's paranormal feature is werewolves. There are lots of fantastic werewolf books out there so narrowing it down to two was fairly difficult. So we have...

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Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is a love story between Grace, human, and Sam who, as a werewolf, lives in the woods behind her house. She's always been drawn to the wolves without knowing why. In the summer, Sam is able to be human but in the cold Sam turns into a wolf. As he grows older, his time as a human grows shorter and shorter. Sam has to fight to stay human or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. 

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer is another werewolf romance. Calla and Ren have been raised knowing it is their destiny to mate with one another and rule over their shape-shifting wolf pack, but when a human boy arrives and vies for Calla's heart, she is faced with a decision that could change her whole world.




In the dystopia corner we have two gritty dystopian novels (are there any other kinds?)

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The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer takes place in the devastatingly bleak futuristic world of Opium where, for generations, El Patron has ruled a drug empire with an iron fist. El Patron has survived by having clones made from a supply of frozen DNA, clones who can provide body parts and, ultimately, new life and clones who aren't even considered human in this society. Matt is the latest in the line of the clones who have been harvested for El Patron and El Patron has decided that he's going to give Matt a chance to have the best of everything before using the boy's heart. But things are about to fall apart in the perfectly dreadful world that El Patron has created and Matt holds the key to a brighter future if he can survive. (description from Amazon.ca)

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher is soon going to be a film with Taylor Lautner. Just saying. Interestingly, Amazon calls Incarceron, "A thrilling, high-concept fantasy for fans of Garth Nix and Nancy Farmer" so if you liked House of Scorpion, you might like this and vice versa.
Here's the description from the catalog: To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.