The Ark by Laura Liddell Nolen... A Review

The Ark by Laura Liddell Nolen...There’s a meteor headed for Earth, and there is only one way to survive. It’s the final days of earth, and sixteen-year-old Char is right where she belongs: in prison. With her criminal record, she doesn’t qualify for a place on an Ark, one of the five massive bioships designed to protect earth’s survivors during the meteor strike that looks set to destroy the planet. Only a select few will be saved – like her mom, dad, and brother – all of whom have long since turned their backs on Char. If she ever wants to redeem herself, Char must use all the tricks of the trade to swindle her way into outer space, where she hopes to reunite with her family, regardless of whether they actually ever want to see her again, or not . . .


The Ark by Laura Liddell Nolen is Smart and fresh, with writing that will capture your imagination and a protagonist that will wrap herself around your heart. I was on a sci-fi binge for a while and The Ark fit right in. I also love dystopian novels and again The Ark fits that category too. The story centers on Charlotte or Char, and her escape from the planet that will be destroyed without question. It's also a story of redemption, family, and survival as Char aims to escape from her prison and reunite with her family, even though her family has virtually abandoned her since she became a petty thief and delinquent. Will her well earned "skills" help her survive and find peace? You'll have to read The Ark to find out! I enjoyed it and read it as part of The Ark Book Tour sponsored by Pump Up Your Book! If you enjoy Dystopian and YA Sci-fi/fantasy with a strong female protagonist, you should enjoy it too!

Want to read the first Chapter?! Here's a link!

About Laura Liddell Nolen... Laura grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she spent an excellent childhood playing make-believe with her two younger brothers. The Ark is the direct result of those stories and a lifelong devotion to space-themed television. It received a Work in Progress Grant from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Laura has a degree in French and a license to practice law, but both are frozen in carbonite at present. She lives in Texas with her family.

Read more about Laura Liddell Nolen at her website, www.lauraliddellnolen.com

A Thousand Perfect Things Blog Tour!

Historical Fiction… Epic Fantasy… Sci-Fi with a Twist

A Thousand Perfect Things… 

In this epic new work, the award-winning Kenyon, whose work has be compared to Larry Nivens and Stephen R. Donaldson, creates an alternate Earth in the 19th century. This Earth is ruled by two warring factions—scientific Anglica (England) and magical Bharata (India).

Tori Harding, a Victorian woman, whose heart aches to claim the legendary powers of the golden lotus, must leave her reasoned world behind and journey to Bharata. In pursuit of the golden lotus, Tori will be forced to brave its magics, intrigues, deadly secrets and haunted places, to claim her destiny and choose between two lovers in two irreconcilable realms.

As a great native insurrection sweeps the continent of Bharata—Tori will find the thing she most desires, beautifully flawed and more wonderfully strange than she could have ever dreamed.

What did I think? I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Though sci-fi and fantasy are not my "norm", it's nice to step out of the box once in a while. What tempted me in the first place was the alternate world which I love so dearly in the dystopian fiction I read. What Kay Kenyan creates is nothing less than wonderful! The world is so believable, the fantasy easily becomes reality, and her writing is so easy to breathe in. I would have to say that even though this is characterized as both sci-fi and fantasy, it felt more fantasy to me because the world created, though sprinkled with magic, didn't make me reach to believe it. I also liked the dichotomy of the two worlds, one of science and one of magic. It's a plot that I think works well and I've enjoyed in other books. Other pluses… a story with a strong female protagonist is always a treat! And the India setting, also gets high marks. Reading A Thousand Perfect Things makes me also want to try other stories written by Kay Kenyan, and there are plenty to choose from! P.S. LOVED this cover!

About the Author...

Kay Kenyon is the author of eleven science fiction and fantasy novels, including A Thousand Perfect Things. She is the author of the critically acclaimed science fiction quartet, The Entire and The Rose. Bright of the Sky was among PW’s top 150 books of 2007. The series has twice been shortlisted for the ALA Reading List awards and three times for the Endeavour Award. Four of her novels have been translated into French, Spanish and Czech. Along with her novels Tropic of Creation and Maximum Ice, two of the works in the quartet received starred reviews from PW.

You can learn more about Kay Kenyon at her Website, and can connect with her on Facebook & Twitter.

I want to thank Kathy from I Am a Reader, for inviting me to be a tour host for A Thousand Perfect Things! Loved the book!

The Sunday Salon... Let's Sail Away with some Great Sci-Fi!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! Pull up a chair, grab a cup of java and relax a little. It's that time of the week to chat books! Last Sunday was a bit of a departure as Bloggiesta was going on, that time of the year where bloggers concentrate on tweaking their blogs, learn a thing or two and just have a lot of fun. I virtually met so many great bloggers that weekend and found some great new blogs. If you're new here, Sundays are the day of the week I chat about what great books I spied over the week, or caught wind of , and all sorts of other bookish things. Today, I'm feeling like sailing away! With all this SNOW, and more to come, I just need to get away! So, let's sail away together with some great Sci-Fi with a splash of Dystopia... SciFi is not my usual cup of tea. Not that I don't enjoy reading good sci-fi, it's just not what I usually reach for first. But when I do veer in thatdirection, I always wonder why I don't read more sci-fi. I found out that I love Dystopian fiction when I read The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, followed by The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Is Sci-Fi a place where you go looking for a good book? If it isn't your norm, you may want to give one of today's featured books a try. They've gotten some great buzz, especially our first book...

Across the Universe by Beth Revis. Our first trip today is going to be on the ship Godspeed... Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed. She expects to wake up on a new planet, 300 years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, Amy's cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly killed. Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant teenage heir. Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

This YA novel has received so much praise already! Reviewers are loving it! It has murder, intrigue, love & friendship all rolled together with a splash of that Dystopian world I love to read about. And Beth Revis has created a believable, detailed world inside that spaceship, which should enrich the story. Another interesting thing to mention is the cover. My dust jacket was a little off kilter when I received it, and in straightening it back around the book, I noticed the inside of the dust jacket could also be used for the outside- AND that jacket is a detailed map of the ship. There is a little speculation that if this series, and it is going to be a trilogy, takes off (like the Hunger Games) that you'll see more "space based" YA novels.

Virga: Cities of the Air by Karl Schroeder... Next, let's take a trip in a fullerene Balloon! How can you resist a world existing in a floating balloon?! It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and “towns” that are in the shape of enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for centripetal gravity. The complex and fascinating world is the setting for the novels of Virga, Karl Schroeder’s interstellar far-future space habitat sealed off from contamination by the rest of the inhabited universe.

Virga: Cities of the Air is an omnibus of the first two books in Karl Schroeders Virga novels. Those novels are Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce. What Karl Schroeder is known for his ability to create a believable complex world operating in a balloon. I won a copy of book three in this series, Pirate Sun, from Shellie at Layers of Thought and TOR Books, and am thinking of starting from the beginning with Virga: Cities of the Air first. Although it does seem that each book can be read as a stand alone, it's always nice to get to know the characters from their humble beginnings. There is a great review of Virga: Cities of the Air at Layers of Thought if you'd like to learn a little more.

Phantom Universe by Laura Krietzer... Now, a more "traditional" mode of travel- a pirate ship! Sold into slavery to pirates at the young age of four, Summer learns to survive the rough seas of subterfuge and thieves through silence. When the boat she’s lived on most of her life is destroyed, Summer finds herself washed up on the shore of a new world, a phantom universe full of the bizarre and extraordinary. She meets Gage, the one boy who understands the girl with no speech. But when their lives are put on the line, will Summer finally call out? Or will all be lost in the fathomless depth of silence?

I heard some great buzz about Phantom Universe and after reading the prologue to the book, needed to read more! The prologue finds Summer and her mother running from the powers that are looking for Summer. It really pulled at my heart, and in that brief prologue Summer really got under my skin. And from the pre-pub reviews I've read, she is quite the heroine. Laura Krietzer will be a guest here at Chick with Books in late March. And in the meantime, if you want to sail away with Summer on this pirate ship, you can pre-order Phantom Universe , either ebook format or autographed paperback, from Laura's website LauraKrietzer.com.

So, are you going to sail away this weekend? Is Sci-Fi something you read regularly? If you haven't read either The Uglies or The Maze Runner, you can find links to my reviews of them in my Dystopian Reading Challenge post. You won't be sailing away with them, but you'll be entering worlds where government rule strives to put things in "perfect" order.

Hope you've found something to pique your interest today! Let me know if you've read any of these books, and if you have any suggestions for other sci-fi we should try!

Happy reading... Suzanne

The Host by Stephanie Meyer... A Giveaway!

The Wanderer invaded Her Soul...

But Melanie Refuses to Give Over Her Mind too...

Congrats to Bethie, Carina & Virginia! They each won a copy of The Host! And Thank you to EVERYONE who joined the fun! Tweeted and Blogged about the Giveaway!

How many of us adults have enjoyed the Twilight series?! Stephanie Meyer's brought us into the world of Vampires & young love and captured our attention. Now enjoy The Host by Stephanie Meyer, who creates a world we feel we can step right into... and a love story we can devour... all for adults!

Back of the Book... Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love...

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

THE HOST debuted at #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list and remained there for more than a year. Meyer’s first adult novel was not only a huge commercial success with more than 2 million copies sold, it also brought a whole new audience of readers to Stephenie Meyer. Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST, appeals to rabid Twilight Saga fans and readers of classic literary suspense alike. The Host has also been referred to as "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction". AND Movie rights to THE HOST have been optioned by Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, the team that produced the film of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Andrew Niccol of Gattaca and The Truman Show will write the script and direct.

Originally released May 2008, it is now available in a trade paperback edition WITH a New Bonus Chapter! Here's a link to a peak at the bonus chapter. Plus, there's a Reading Group Guide for book clubs (I've included that below). I've enjoyed the writing of Stephanie Meyer in her Twilight books, and I am enjoying reading The Host! She makes the setting she writes about and the characters so real. I'm not quite done with The Host yet, it's a nice thick book!, so my review is coming... In the meantime, here's the reading group guide, and following that are the details on how to enter to win your own copy of The Host!

The Host by Stephanie Meyer Reading Group Guide...

1. How does the poem “Question” by May Swenson, which appears as the epigraph at the beginning of the novel, relate to some of the important themes in The Host?

2. The souls are described as bright silver ribbonlike creatures with hundreds of tiny tentacles. To some they seem beautiful, while others liken them to “worms” and “centipedes.” Do you think the souls’ physical form suits their nature? If you were to imagine a different form to give the souls, what would it be?

3. There is an ongoing debate in The Host about the true nature of humans. Wanderer refl ects, “The humans were brutish and ungovernable. They had killed one another so frequently that murder had been an accepted part of life” (page 47). Do you think this brutality is innate to mankind? If so, does this make the peaceable souls’ decision to take over the earth more ethical?

4. While most of The Host is narrated by Wanderer, Melanie occasionally takes over the narration to relate important memories. Why might Stephenie Meyer have chosen to tell the story in this way? Did you connect more with one voice than the other?

5. The souls believe they are transforming the vicious human world into a utopia. Is the society the souls construct better than the natural society of humans? Melanie tells Wanderer that humans realized the souls were taking over bodies “when the evening news was nothing but inspiring human-interest stories…when everything morphed into Mayberry” (page 108). How does the society of the souls on earth compare to your image of “a perfect world”?

6. The souls are morally complicated creatures. On one hand, they are “all things good: compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love” (page 3). On the other, they survive by taking over the bodies and minds of unsuspecting hosts. Does the parasitic nature of the souls overshadow their virtuous qualities? Did you sympathize with the souls, or did you view them as the clear enemies of humans?

7. When Wanderer is lost in the desert searching for Jared and Jamie, Melanie tells her, “You’ve finally found the place and the body you’d die for. I think you’ve found your home, Wanderer” (page 113). What is the significance of “home” in The Host? Why has Wanderer chosen to move from world to world for so many millennia? Can earth ever really be home for a soul?

8. When Wanderer first arrives in the caves, she reflects, “This place was truly the highest and the lowest of all worlds --- the most beautiful senses, the most exquisite emotions…the most malevolent desires, the darkest deeds” (page 141). Are these extremes inevitable? Are our darker inclinations essential to the richness of human experience? Do you agree with the premise that more purely “good” beings like the souls can’t experience life as fully as humans can?

9. The humans in the caves are divided about how to view and treat Wanderer. Do you think it is more reasonable to extend kindness to Wanderer or to ostracize her as a potential threat to the group? If you lived in the caves, how would you greet her arrival?

10. Of everybody in the caves, Jared reacts to Wanderer in a manner that is perhaps the most complex. Does the way he treats her surprise you? What do you imagine is going through his head in the first days after Wanderer’s arrival? What instigates the change in his attitude toward her?

11. When Wanderer /Melanie first arrive at the caves, Melanie is eager for them to explain their situation, but Wanderer insists on staying mute, even if it means being subject to imprisonment and abuse. Why does Wanderer make this choice? Do you think it is a wise one? How might things have played out differently if they had done it Melanie’s way?

12. While Wanderer describes many of the worlds where she has lived in great detail, we learn very little about her birth world, The Origin. How do you imagine The Origin? What would a world populated only by souls be like?

13. Near the novel’s end, Wanda makes a deal with Doc. Do you think she makes the right decision about Melanie’s fate and her own? Were you satisfied with the humans’ response to her decision?

14. Jamie tells Wanderer he chose Pet because “I was looking for someone who looked like you. And I thought this looked like you” (page 605). Do you agree with Jamie? Do you think Pet’s body matches Wanderer’s nature?

15. Imagine a prequel to The Host. Of the different worlds Wanderer lived on before arriving on Earth, which would you be most interested in imagining more fully? Similarly, each of the humans living in the caves during The Host has a back story. Which of these would you be most interested in learning more about?

You can read more about the book at The Host Website. You can also learn more about Stephanie, her books and movies at her website, StephanieMeyers.com. AND Courtesy of Hachette Book Group I have 3 paperback copies of The Host to GIVE AWAY! Here's how to enter...

To Enter this giveaway...

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*Get an extra entry for following my blog! Just leave a comment letting me know you're a follower! ( Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button on the sidebar to the left! Just let me know you became a new follower!)

*Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publisher. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on May 19th. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! (please check your email.. winner must reply to me within 3 days! Thanks!) Good Luck!