It's Monday! What are you reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Book Journey.

FINISHED:

*The Pledge by Kimberly Derting (My review)

*The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (review coming soon)

Eeep! I only finished 2! But I was at my friends house all weekend so...

TO READ THIS WEEK:

*Frozen by Robin Wasserman

*Hushed by Kelley York

*Pyxis by K.C. Neal

*Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

*Enchanted by Rachel Wells

That's a lot to finish this week, but I'm already partially through Pyxis, Enchanted, and Frozen, and I'm on Thanksgiving break from school!

Did anyone else notice that all the books I plan to read this week only have one word for a title? Hmm.

WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS WEEK?

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting (ARC REVIEW)

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting (The Pledge #1)

Genre: YA Dystopian
Publication date: Nov. 15, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Format: eARC
Pages: 321
Source: Galley Grab

In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime. (Goodreads.com)

Goodreads - Amazon - B&N - Indiebound - Book Depo

The Pledge was a very enjoyable read. It had flaws, but not enough to deter me from really getting into the book.

The writing was excellent. This was the first thing I have ever read by Kimberly Derting, and though I have heard fabulous things about her Body Finder series, I was still pleasantly surprised. The descriptions were so elegant and beautiful and I could picture every single thing in my head. However, where Derting exceeded in descriptions, she lacked in emotional value. I think that was what stopped me from falling in love with this book. Charlie was a pretty good character. I liked her. She had an unwavering loyalty to her little sister, she was determined to get some damn answers, she was stubborn as can be. But I just could not connect with her.

Usually, if I don't connect with a character then I can't stay interested in the book. But the plot was fast-paced and full of shocking, gasp-worthy twists that I would not have seen coming for the life of me. There were a lot of times when my jaw dropped and I was like, "WHAAAAAT!?" It was fun and exciting, which resulted in a quick read.

The world-building was a little iffy and unbelievable, but it was unique and intriguing. I'm looking forward to the next book when the whole world is flipped upside down. What I thought was really cool was that it was that the world was pretty close to our world today, aside from the whole oppressive society situation. A lot of the lingo was the same, the technology was the same...stuff like that.

I am really on the fence about the romance, though. At first I thought it was completely unconvincing. Charlie and Max had an undeniable connection...blah blah blah. Instaluv...blah blah blah. There was no foundation for their relationship...blah blah blah. But then it's not what I expected it to be like. The two characters weren't spewing cheesy romantic lines that made me want to vomit. In fact, the "L word" was not used between them once. I still see no reason why Max felt so strongly about Charlie. I feel like it was instaluv on his side of the relationship, whereas Charlie's feelings progressed quite naturally, beginning with mere attraction. I loved that she wasn't willing to jump at his every command and that most of the time she deliberately defied him. I would have like to have seen more reasons why Max was so "intrigued" by Charlie and why he was willing to throw away everything for her.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was gripping and exciting with beautifully crafted sentences. I cannot wait until the next book!

In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren!

Wow, this week was an AWESOME book week for me. I swear, if I was old enough and had a car I would have drove to a casino, because I was very lucky and won quite a few books this week! Honestly, all I have for books is a little plastic bin, and now I need something else because it is overflowing!

1) Savor by Megan Duncan - (Signed!) Megan is an indie author, whose first book, Released was the first indie book I'd ever read! Now, I got Savor for a blog tour and I'm really excited to read it! 

2) Redheart by Jackie Gamber - Thanks to Seven Star Press for giving me this book :D

3) The Pledge by Kimberly Derting - (eARC) Many thanks to Simon and Schuster Galley Grab for this one! I'm really siked to read it.

4) If I Tell by Janet Gurtler - Thanks to NetGalley for this. I'll probably be reading this one next.

5) Dark Seeker by Taryn Browning - Thanks, Taryn!

6) Scriber by Ben S. Dobson - Thanks, Ben!

7) Fury by Elizabeth Miles - (Signed!) A billion thanks goes to Novel Novice. I was sooo excited when I won this one.

8) The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson - (Signed!) Thanks to Heidi @ YA Bibliophobe for this one. I've heard awesome things about this book and I am so thrilled to have a signed copy. This also came with other little goodies, which I will show later. But I am just so excited to read this!

9) Abarat: Absolute Midnight by Clive Barker - (ARC) I won this from Harper, the publisher, over Twitter. However this is the third book in the series, and I haven't read the first two! :O

10) Over My Head by Marie Lamba - I won this over at LibraryThing. It looks super cute and I can't wait to read it.

This is the other stuff that came with The Name of the Star. Once again thanks to Heidi @ YA Bibliophobe!

That's a "YA Saves" button on my backpack. Yes, I actually wear it to school. People ask me what YA is, and I laugh and shake my head and tell them that if they don't know by now then they are obviously not cool enough to know. Obviously, that isn't true because nobody isn't cool enough for reading, but it's more fun this way!

And then of course, magnets on my fridge that say random things. I love them all!

11) Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick - Like many others, I was super excited to read this and made my dad get it for me the day it came out. You can read my review for it.

12) The Apothecary by Maile Meloy - (ARC) Thanks to Yara at Once Upon a Twilight for temporarily loaning me this book for the OUaT ARC tour.

13) Chasing Dragons: Vengeance by Barbara Farquharson Scott - Honestly, I have no idea where I got this from. I'm thinking maybe I won it from LibraryThing, but I'm not sure!