Cover Combat: It's Not Summer Without You

In Cover Combat a Swedish cover is being compared to the US/UK cover of the same book. Today we're comparing the covers of It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han.


US cover:


Swedish cover:




I love that you really can tell that by the US cover that this book is in the same series as The Summer I Turned Pretty. The light, white background color, and I'm guessing also the cover models are the same.


The Swedish cover is very different from the cover of the first books in this series - which is good, because that cover was hideous! This cover really screams summer by the beach! But perhaps the girl on the cover looks to happy to match the feelings of the main character in this book?

Which cover is your favorite? I really like them both!

Last week I posted a Cover Combat of the first book in this series; The Summer I Turned Pretty. Click here to see those covers!

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Book Review: A Touch of Dead

Title: A Touch of Dead
Series: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries
Author: Charlaine Harris
Published: 2009

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris has re-imagined the supernatural world with her “spunky” Southern Vampire novels starring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Now, for the first time, here is every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written—together in one volume.

Stories include “Fairy Dust,” “One Word Answer,” “Dracula Night,” “Lucky,” and “Giftwrap.”

My Thoughts: A Touch of Dead is a collection of all Sookie Stackhouse short stories ever written.

Fairy Dust takes place after the events in Dead to the World (Book #4). Claudine and Claude asks for Sookie's help to figure out who killed their triplet. This short story didn't engage me much. I didn't care whether Sookie would find the murderer or not. If the story did anything for me, it was making me dislike the fairy siblings, especially Claude.

Dracula Night is set before the action of Dead as a Doornail (Book #5), and is the only short story that involves my favorite character: Eric Northman. Makes you think I would love this one, doesn't it? Well, I didn't. Mainly because Eric wasn't his normal self, instead he was giddy like a little girl meeting her big idol Justin Bieber. And Eric's idol in this case was Dracula, which he hopes will attend his big celebration of Dracula Night...
My favorite character in this short story was Pam, she has such a great sense of humor!

One Word Answer is set after the events in Dead as a Doornail (Book #5)
In this short story Mr. Cataliades shows up in Bon Temps late at night, to tell Sookie about her cousin's death. It was quite interesting to get to learn more about the events surrounding Hadley's death, and Sookie and Hadley's relationship. When I read Definitely Dead (Book #6) which deals with the aftermath of Hadley's death, I was very confused because the reader never hears about Hadley's death. Suddenly Sookie has a cousin who's dead, and is going to her home to pack up her stuff... So this short story definitely gave some more insights to Hadley's death, and how Sookie got the news. I like that this story added some more content to the Sookie's books.

Lucky takes place after All Together Dead (Book #7).
Sookie and Amelia team up to solve a breaking and entering at law firm. Probably the longest story of them all, and the least supernatural of them, even if it involved two witches. Got a bit of a Nancy Drew feeling to it, and felt like a "complete" short story.

Gift Wrap takes place before Dead and Gone (Book #9).
Sookie is dreading spending Christmas all alone, but when she takes a walk in the woods surrounding her house she stumbles upon an injured were. She takes him home, protects him from a rivaling pack who is out to kill him, and cleans his injuries. It seems like Sookie doesn't have to spend Christmas all alone after all!
There was a twist in the end of the story that I didn't see coming, very sneaky! But also, very creepy!

Overall: Charlaine Harris writes in the introduction to this book: "Sookie's life and history are so complex that I didn't know if I could create a coherent piece of short fiction that would do her justice. I'm still not sure I have, but I've enjoyed trying. Some efforts have been more successful than others." And Harris couldn't be more right! Some of these stories were definitely better than the others, but sadly most stories was just so-so. If you aren't a BIG Sookie fan, I see no reason for you to "have to" read this book. It doesn't add much more information to Sookie's life. But if you have some time to spare and are looking for a few quick reads, give it a try. You might end up appreciating it more than I did!

Rating: 2.5 of 5

Waiting on Wednesday (2/23)

Title: THE LIAR SOCIETY
Authors: Lisa and Laura Roecker
Relase Date: March 1st, 2011

Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...

Interesting plot, but what really makes me want to read this book is the cover. It's awesome!

Book Review: Angel Burn

Title: Angel Burn
Author: L. A. Weatherly
Release Date: May 2011 (USA) October 2010 (UK)

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow that Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.

My Thoughts: You now when you sometimes can tell that you are going to love a book within its first pages? Well, I didn't even have to finish the prologue until I knew that Angel Burn was going to be an amazing book! And it was.

I have only read a few angel books during the past years, and since those have featured guardian angels and fallen angels the angels in this book really stood out! The angels Weatherly has created is very original in my opinion, they are huntingly beautiful, but trust me, there are nothing angelic about their actions! Alex and Willow might be the only ones who can stop their evil plan... if only they learn how to trust each other.

I loved how Alex and Willow's relationship developed. They started out hating each other, but as time went they slowly opened up to each other, and hate turned to curiousity which turned to affection. It all felt really natural and realistic. The fact that we got to read from both Willow's and Alex's points of view (as well as occasionally from other people's points of view) only made this book more interesting and fun, and you couldn't wait until other characters found out what you already knew.

The ending of this book was a bit surprising, things don't go as you think they will and expect, but that only made it more realistic. And it also opened up for a coming sequel! (Angel Fire)

If you like angels, a hot bad boy with depth, a brave and caring heroin, love, action and roadtrips - this is the book for you!

Btw, how beautiful isn't that cover? So gorgeous!

Rating: 4.5 of 5

* Book source: Net Galley