Mundie Moms

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Audiobook Review and Giveaway - Clockwork Angel

Written by: Cassandra Clare
Narrated by: Jennifer Ehle
Source: Purchased. Giveaway Provided by Simon and Schuster.
Release Date: August 31, 2010
5 stars - I highly recommend this audiobook and will listen to it again and again.

I will freely admit that I love audiobooks when they are done well. And anyone who has met me will tell you that I always have at least two to three audiobooks loaded on my iPhone at all times. Let's face it, any mom who spends as much time as I do shuttling my kids from ballet to swimming to scouts, not to mention the hours spent idling in the school's Pull Through Lane, needs a distraction. Audiobooks provide that distraction for me. They open up the story in a way that a paper book can't. I hear the characters. I can feel their emotion and interactions with others. The entire plot line moves at a different pace because I'm not controlling it. And I love every minute of a well narrated story.

So, let's talk about Jennifer Ehle, the actress who narrates Clockwork Angel. Did you know she played Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice"? Well, she brings us Tessa's American accent in such a lovely, subtle way. And she is amazing as Will and Jem. Those of you who adore audiobooks will get this comparison -- she gives a Jim Dale- like (he narrates the U.S. Harry Potter series) detail to each and every character in Clockwork Angel. Jennifer transforms into the character when she's reading their dialogue and that makes the entire audio experience understated and credible.

Imagine Will's line - "God in Heaven, what was that?" (page 291) ringing in your ears as surely as it rang in Tessa's. I know you are with me now, Mundie Moms, because we all remember that line, don't we?

If you are waiting to download the audiobook from iTunes or purchase it from your favorite bookstore, I encourage you to stop waiting and buy it now. Jennifer brings Cassie's characters to life and suddenly you are there with Jessamine as she wields that lethal parasol and you are walking the streets of London alongside Jem. Oh, I won't mention Will again. But, you may find yourself breathing irregularly when Will's whispering in your ear. It's a possible side effect. And I'm sure I'm not the only Mundie Mom who has experienced it.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster we have THREE Clockwork Angel audiobooks to give away. Fill out the form below to enter the contest. If you would like to hear a sample first, go to Simon and Schuster's site and just under the Description portion, there's a link for you to listen to an audio clip.

Exciting Book News!

CONGRATULATIONS to Andrea Cremer as Nightshade is on the New York Times Best Seller List!!!! We will be chatting with her TOMORROW night here on the blog!!


Second, Sarah Rees Brennan has posted her cover for Demon's Surrender, which will be out next year. We can't wait! While I'm Team NICK, this is a great cover of Alan!


Book Review- Birth Marked


By Caragh M. O'Brien
Published by Roaring Books Press
Released on March 30th, 2010
Source- author & publisher
4.5 stars- Definitely Recommend

After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.


Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.
Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code (quoted from Goodreads).

From the moment I opened Birth Marked, Caragh had my undivided attention, as she drew me right into Gaia's world. Following in her mother's footsteps, Gaia is a midwife. Delivering her first baby should be something to be proud of, but when you have to take the baby away from a grieving mother and turn it over to the Enclave, how could you celebrate? Everything up to this point in Gaia's life has been about serving the Enclave, honorably and without questions.

After delivering the heathy baby to the Enclave, 16 year old Gaia returns home to find her parents have been taken to the Enclave and the handsome solider standing in front of her wants answers Gaia's can't give him. What I liked about this story, is that there's no need for a drawn out explanation into the story's history, and as Gaia is trying to figure out what's really going on behind the walls of the Enclave that separate her people and the "wealthy" ones, and why her parents were taken, I found out the answers when she did. That's what made Birth Marked such a remarkable page turner. I didn't have time to think, I just kept reading as I wanted to know what would happen next.

Scared from a burn that covers her half her face since she was an infant, Gaia is no stranger to trails and tribulations. Where I would want to throw my hands up in the air and yell "what next", Gaia's inner strength gives her the courage to continue on. I absolutely wish I was more like her. She's a very strong heroine and was very relatable as she tries to do the right thing, holds on to her faith that her parents are still alive and will do what ever it takes to try and save her family, even when all hope is lost.

Birth Marked is one of those stories that I easily found myself drawn in to. It's one that I can understand (not agree with) how a society would (and they do) separate people by class and while those who live on two different sides of the wall have two completely different live styles and may romanticize about life on the other side, they have no idea about the horrors that are there. While this dystopian is set in the year 2300's, it's one that made a lot of sense to me, as there's bits of the story that ring true to life now.

Birth Marked has a lot of great elements that make it an addicting read, as there's mystery, adventure, a search for truth, and of course the right dose of romance. From the moment Gaia meets Captain Grey, there's just something about him that drew me to his character. Caragh did a great job with their chemistry. It was well written, and very realistic. Plus I easily fall for two characters who live in a society they can't change, but they find their voices and way to inspire change around them.

Birth Marked is a very unique book and I think it stands out among dystopian books. As the story progressed, it evoked different emotions from me, and the ending left me feeling hope, when all hope looked to be lost. I definitely recommend picking this book up and I'm really looking forward to Birth Marked's sequel.

Waiting on Wednesday- Sweetly

By Jackson Pearce
Published by Little Brown
To Be Released June 2011

SWEETLY is a companion book to SISTERS RED, and a retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful (quoted from Jackson's site here http://tinyurl.com/2ayqzcw).

I really enjoyed Jackson's Sisters Red. I am really anal when it comes to story retellings, but I think Jackson does an amazing job with not only retelling the story, but adding this unique spin to the classic story. I'm really looking forward to reading Sweetly! The cover- how awesome is the cover!?!?! Do you see the face? With this being a picture of the ARCs, I know they can change the cover, but I'm hoping they leave this cover. It's brilliant.

Illusions Cover Reveal

We are thrilled to be apart of Aprilynne Pike's cover reveal for her upcoming release of Illusions. Our friends over at LateBloomerOnline have put together a fun scavenger hunt to find all the puzzle pieces that make up Illusions cover.

This week there are 5 different puzzle pieces hidden on 5 different blogs, including Aprilynne's. Be sure to go here
to find out which blogs are taken part in this fun event, so you can find the pieces, place them together and enter to WIN some awesome prizes! Each day this week a new piece will revealed some where on either our site, Late Bloomers, Aprilynne's, Eve's Fan Garden or Page Turners.

Remember at the end of the week, after you've gathered all your pieces to go back to LateBloomerOnline to enter to win some fun prizes. GOOD LUCK and we can't wait to see the cover reveal!!!

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