Mundie Moms

Monday, February 9, 2015

Beautiful Creatures The Untold Stories, Cast Your Vote For The First eBook Cover!

Check it out Caster fans! Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl need your help in deciding which cover will grace their upcoming ebook release, The Mortal Heart. This is the first ebook in a new series, in the Beautiful Creatures world. Check out the two choices below, and cast your vote at the end of post.



About the new series:

The Mortal Heart is the first story in their digital ebook series titled, Beautiful Creatures: The Untold Stories. The four ebooks series will be released one book at a time over the next year from Little Brown's new digital imprint, NOVL

Cast your vote! My vote is for cover #1. I feel that cover fits with the Beautiful Creatures series covers, which are already out. (Image source)


I'm thrilled to have Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl stop by Mundie Moms to answer a few questions about their upcoming ebook series. 


What made the two of you want to revisit our favorite Casters, and write an ebook series about them? 

Kami: Ever since this series ended, we've received tons of emails and questions from our fans about the history of some of their favorite characters, and what we call side stories. The Untold Stories is our answer to some of those questions. 

Margie: We also missed the world of Beautiful Creatures just as much as our readers did. There were still plenty of surprises left in the Caster world. 

Which of our favorite characters will be making appearances in this new series?

Kami: We don't want to give too much away by telling you who the stories are about, but all of the major characters from Beautiful Creatures will be making appearances. 

Margie: Especially Ethan and Lena. 

Do Beautiful Creatures fans need to read these ebooks in the order they are being released? 

Kami: No. We specifically wrote the series so they can be read in any order, and each story is complete for people who haven't read the series. 

Can you tell us the release date schedule for the stories?

Margie: The first story releases in March of 2015. The other e-stories will release every few months after the first one. 


* * * * * * * * * * 

Beautiful Creature fans can keep up with the details about the new e-book series by following Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's websites. Follow both authors via Twitter, Kami GarciaMargaret Stohl

February 2015 YA Releases


(Image via Shelf Awareness)

Looking for some great books to get your favorite Valentine? Check out this list of February YA releases. There are some fabulous books hitting shelves this month that will indulge your love of reading. 

Week of February 3rd



Week of February 10th


  1. The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead, Razorbill, 2/10/15
  2. The Red Queen by Victoria Averyard, Harper Teen, 2/10/15
  3. The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand, Harper Teen, 2/10/15
  4. The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, Putnum, 2/10/15
  5. My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga, Blazer & Bray, 2/10/15
  6. The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons, Tor Teen, 2/10/15
  7. All That Burns by Ryan Graudin, Harper Teen, 2/10/15
  8. When Season Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez, Bloomsbury, 2/10/15
  9. One Of the Guys by Lisa Aldin, Spencer Hill Press, 2/10/15
  10. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton, Delacorte Books, 2/10/15
  11. Rebellion by Stephanie Diaz, St. Martin's Griffin, 2/10/15
  12. When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez, Bloomsbury, 2/10/15
  13. Collide by Melissa West, Entangled Teen, 2/9/15
  14. Greta and the Glass Kingdom by Chloe Jacobs, Entangled Teen, 2/9/15

Week of February 17th

  1. Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan, Simon & Schuster, 2/17/15
  2. Better Than Perfect by Melissa Kantor, Harper Teen, 2/17/15
  3. The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes, Harper Teen, 2/17/15
  4. Gathering Frost by Kaitlyn Davis, 2/17/15

Week of February 24th


  1. Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder, Mira, 2/24/15
  2. A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas, Harper Teen, 2/24/15
  3. The Sin Eaters' s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, Scholastic, 2/24/15
  4. Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott, Scholastic, 2/24/15
  5. Unchanged by Jessica Brody, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2/24/15
  6. Kalahari by Jessica Khoury, Razorbill, 2/24/15
  7. No Parking At The End Times by Bryan Blizz, Greenwillow Books, 2/24/15
  8. Unleashed by Sophie Jordan, Harper Teen, 2/24/15
  9. Quake by Patrick Carman, Katherine Tegen Books, 2/24/15
  10. Homecoming (The Hundred #3) by Kass Morgan, Little Brown, 2/24/15
  11. A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab, Tor Books, 2/24/15
  12. Wanders: A Wasteland Novel by Susan Kim & Laurence Klaven, Harper Teen
  13. The Ghost of You by Amanda Burckhard, Swoon Romance, 2/24/15
  14. Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen, *MG
*MG = middle grade

HAPPY READING!

Don't see a new YA book that's being released this month? Please leave me a comment with the title of the book, the author, and the publishing house, and I'll add it. *This list is complied from arcs/books I've received from publishers to review, Goodreads and EpicReads lists.

The Prey by Tom Isbell, Book Review



By: Tom Isbell
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: 1/20/15
Series: The Hatchery Series #1
Source: arc/book from publisher to review in exchange for my honest review
Rating: 3 stars
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads

A hot debut trilogy and a riveting story of survival, courage, and romance in a future where creating a master civilization is the only thing prized, no matter the method. After the Omega (the end of the end), 16 year old guys known as LTs discover their overseers are raising them not to be soldiers (lieutenants) as promised, but to be sold as bait because of their Less Than status and hunted for sport. They escape and join forces with a girls’ camp, the Sisters, who have been imprisoned and experimented on for the "good of the Republic," by a government eager to use twins in their dark research. In their plight for freedom, these heroes must find the best in themselves to fight against the worst in their enemies.

Some times the best way to write a review for a book you're torn over, is to write that book a letter. So, I did just that. 

Dear The Prey,

First things first. I really dig your cover. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to pick you up and read you. Followed by the fact your synopsis sounded interesting. Normally I'm not a big fan of dystopian books. It takes a lot to get me to love a dystopian book, and I was hoping you'd have that certain something. While you hooked me with your beginning, your ending made me glad I contained to give you a chance, but your middle lacked something that almost made me give up on you. A few times. 

Let's talk about your beginning. That was a great introduction into your dangerous, and deadly world. I was hooked the moment a certain character was found,. I wanted to know more about him, and his story, which resulted in me wanting to know more about what the heck was going on in this crazy world. I got what you did there by making the less than perfect people of your society "the prey". I didn't like the discrimination, but I understood it in this world. I wanted nothing more than these characters to prove the others wrong. I liked everything was explained later on in the book, and how it was explained. That gave your story some good history.

Character wise, I won't give anything away, but I loved that you made those who society looked down upon as nothings, incredibly tough characters who persevered through a lot in order to survive. You seriously put some of your characters through hell, literally. Here's where I had a problem. While the beginning hooked me, the middle part of the book lost a lot of that excitement I first felt. Something happened along the way, and I felt that what started out strong in the story, fell flat. I felt like there was a shift in the writing that went from making me feel the urgency of what was going down, to feeling like I went from reading a YA book to a MG book one. That there's anything wrong with a MG book. You went from showing me, to telling me what I needed to feel. That took away my connection to your story. Once I lost that emotional connect to you, I stopped caring for the characters.

So why did I stick it out? Well to be honest, I stopped reading you a few times. Once I lost that connection, I didn't really care anymore. But, I had that hope that things would change. This after all is the first book in a series, and I know sometimes there's a lot that goes on into making sure the first book in a series right. After all you have to set everything up for the rest of the series. Maybe that took away from keeping your focus. Thankfully I was right about you. The last third of your story was awesome. It tied things together, got crazy action packed, and had me feeling like I was reading Lord of the Flies, meets The Maze Runnier, meets, I don't even know what. 

You definitely didn't hold back. You weren't afraid to run your characters through the ringer. Just as I think things couldn't get worse for your characters, they do. You don't hold back on killing off characters, and you certainly don't hold back on unleashing the brutality of their world, on them. That trek your characters go on definitely proved that survival of the fittest, and the smartest in this world, will survive. This part had me rooting for the characters. You made it so I couldn't put the book down then, because I wanted to know what would happen next. In fact, that last third totally redeemed the story. I'm glad I stuck it out, because I would have missed out on all that happened. Oh, and those crazy plot twists, yeah, I didn't see those coming. Talking about some shocking secrets and betrayals. 

Over all, I like what you did with the characters, and how they grew and evolved over the course of the story. Way to be action packed, and not hold back on all you through your characters's way. Especially during that ending. You definitely went all out. Romance wise, I had a hard time with it, and didn't find it believable at all. But, that's okay, since this isn't a story about romance. It's a story about survival and beating the odds stacked against you. It just happens to have a romantic element in it. Hopefully that element will be better in the next book. I definitely feels there's a lot of room for growth for it, as the series goes on.

Though I didn't love you like I wanted to, over all I thought you were a good read. Your ending has me looking forward to reading the next book in your series. 

Love,
Your latest reader

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