Hello everyone! You guys might have noticed that I haven't been active on the blog for quite some time. I always announce on twitter that i'm back and off hiatus, but I always end up neglecting the blog anyway.

I really don't have any other reason to explain my negligence and absence aside from life, in general. These last few months have been extremely stressful for me; I had to study for final exams, compile requirements, organize my extra curricular activities, prepare and practice for prom, practices for our recognition day, do project defenses, and every possible thing that comes with being a junior in high school. I had to wake up early and go home late, so I didn't have any time left for blogging or reading. Life was awesome and depressing at the same time.

It's finally summer break in the Philippines and I've done everything that I had to do to move on to senior year next school year, so I am officially FREE! That means I can finally make time for reading all the books I want to read and write all about them on my blog. It's the perfect time to resurrect The Selkie Reads Stories, yes? I miss blogging and ranting and writing reviews so much, but I miss you guys most of all. All the readers that have been commenting on my posts and all the blogger friends I've been fangirling chatting with on twitter have been sorely missed and I really really hope that you guys will forgive me for neglecting my blogger duties and take me back with open arms :(

And now that I've said my piece, I've prepared a little treat for all of my readers. To compensate for my lack of activity and for thanking you guys for everything, I've created a giveaway of a book set that includes three books that i'm going to review soon on the blog, and these books are:

Every Day
by David Levithan
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Text Publishing
Publication date: September 26th 2012
Pages: 304 (paperback)
Source: finished copy from publisher
Author's website | GoodReads

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 

Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. 

And then A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

I wake up thinking of yesterday. The joy is in remembering; the pain is in knowing it was yesterday.

Every Day isn't my favorite Levithan book, but it surely will be one of the ones I'll keep close to my heart. It's one of those books that may not be over all as brilliant as others, but it's own essence makes it shine with a unique brilliance.

David Levithan is one of my favorite contemporary YA writers and when I found out about Every Day, I was completely floored. I couldn't grasp the concept of Levithan writing a paranormal/fantasy novel. I'm not sure if this is his first, but i'm more familiar with him as a contemporary kind of guy. I wasn't sure what to expect but I looked forward to reading the book nonetheless. And I am so glad that I did because I loved the reading experience Every Day gave me.

I loved the dialogue, I loved A's inner narrative, I loved A's interaction with the people who are close to the people he becomes. Levithan weaves all the aspects of the narrative so well and the characters he introduces as the book progresses and the descriptions of the things that A goes through to every single day are so overwhelmingly surreal. That's what I loved the most about this book, I guess. Every morning when A wakes up in the body of a different person, Levithan introduced me to that person and that person's life and the people around him/her. The way he embodies the different characters astound me because they were all so uniquely interesting. I will forever be a fan of Levithan's fluidly easygoing writing and his strong voice that emanates honesty.

Rhiannon. The plot basically surrounds her because this book basically is a romance and she's the whole reason why A is doing all these things that he doesn't usually do, but I didn't care much for her. I mean, I was okay with her character, but I strongly feel that the book would be equally as interesting even if she didn't enter the story line. What I did like about Rhiannon was that she was like a real person; ethical and logical and used her brain in every situation, and she took into consideration how her actions would reflect other people.

Most people hated that the love A felt for Rhiannon was like instalove and that he was doing all these things for a girl he barely knew, but imagine yourself in his position for a moment. If you led a life like him and then a girl you can imagine spending every day with enters your life and then everything you lived for suddenly has meaning, wouldn't you jump at every opportunity to be with her? Love isn't always out there as an option for him and when life gave him a chance at it, he did what any person with a right mind would do and took it. And from Rhiannon's point of view, would you be willing to be with someone and love someone who became a different person every day? There's so much more to this book than others let on, because it makes you think and wonder and makes you thankful for every day.

I'm not a big fan of the decisions that A made and the things that he did either, but I understand why he did them. I'm proud that he made a good decision and did the right thing in the end; it's like he opened his eyes and finally faced the truth. And because of that, A and David Levithan and this book tore my heart apart with equal amounts of depression and happiness.

THE NUB AND GIST: 4.5 STARS

Nobody But Us
by Kristin Halbrook
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: January 29th 2013
Pages: 272 (paperback)
Source: ARC from publisher
Author's website | GoodReads

Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts. 

They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.
Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger.... 

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough. 

Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn't always mean that you get a happy ending. Described as “beautiful, heartbreaking, and exhilarating” by Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF, Nobody But Us will prove irresistible to fans of Nina Lacour, Jenny Han, and Sara Zarr.

“It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.” 

Nobody But Us takes us into the lives of Zoe and Will, too extremely troubled teenagers who each had heavy baggage of their own. Sick and tired of their lives, the pair decides to run away from it all and start a new life. I had such goddamned high hopes for this title, purely because it is compared to ‘If I Stay’, and for a short while this fact made me pencil the book wayyy on top of the 'to-read' list.

Zoe is a victim of child abuse. Her mother died when she was young and this cruel circumstance left her in the hands of her alcoholic and extremely violent father.  Zoe hid behind heavy makeup and kept her head hung low whenever she went to school and no one even noticed. That is- no one except Will, the newest 'bad boy' from the orphanage. Will pointed out her masked bruises and refused to turn away. The pair eventually found themselves caring for each other, wanting to change each others' lives.

Zoe and Will hightail it out across the States, escaping the weight of the real world. However, the taste of their freedom was bittersweet; Will's past criminal record and latest law violations keep the FBI on their trail, leaving a lot of tension, drama, hesitation, tears, unhealthy suspicions, forgiven apologies, tears, and unsaid thoughts. Whenever something good happened, a thousand misfortunes was always there to follow.

The book is narrated by Will and Zoe in alternating POVs. Because of this, I felt like I truly understood why the characters were doing what they were doing, even if they were so freakin annoying most of the time. I understood their hesitations, their heartbreak, their cautiousness, and their excitement. I understood them, but I didn't really feel them. I felt like they were, well, fictional. The author bombarded them with supposed characteristics and traits and spoonfed them with a million problems, but I never really felt like those problems were there if I wasn't told beforehand. It was as if Zoe and Will were virtual avatars, just the right features and backstories on the outside but nothing on the inside; almost like a hollow shell.

Upon finishing this book, I find that I actually really enjoyed it. This came as quite a surprise to me since I had a hard time getting into it. I previously complained how I couldn't feel the essence of Zoe and Will, but that didn't stop me from wanting them to get a happy ending. I mean, i'm not that heartless. But Kristin Halbrook is apparently a teeny bit heartless; she gave Nobody But Us one of the saddest and most tragic endings in the history of ever. If I was more attached to the characters, I would have been weeping and wailing. I accepted the ending though, because even if Zoe and Will's great escape came to a close, I know that they won't lose the things they got out of, and the things they got in the process.

My rating says it all -- it was OK. Not wonderful. Not terrible. Somewhat thrilling. It wasn't exciting, but it didn't have any tedious moments either. The plot was interesting, the writing was gorgeous, it engages you and wraps you up in the story, but the lack of character depth was really evident to me. It's a book that was aiming for the bullseye but didn't exactly make it. I guess I was just looking, and expecting, something a bit more.

THE NUB AND GIST: 3 STARS

The Peculiar (The Peculiar #1)
by Stefan Bachmann
Genre: Middle-grade Steampunk Fantasy
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication date: September 18th 2012
Source: finished copy from publisher
Author's website | GoodReads

Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.

In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings--Peculiars--and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley--Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed.

First he's noticed by the lady in plum herself, then by something darkly magical and mysterious, by Jack Box and the Raggedy Man, by the powerful Mr. Lickerish . . . and by Arthur Jelliby, a young man trying to slip through the world unnoticed, too, and who, against all odds, offers Bartholomew friendship and a way to belong.

Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure, The Peculiar is Stefan Bachmann's riveting, inventive, and unforgettable debut novel.

Tamora Pierce meets George R. R. Martin in this smart, political, medieval fantasy-thriller.
There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown's inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

Alex Lidell (www.alexlidell.com) was a finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Award competition and lives in New Jersey. This is her first novel.

                                                                                                                                                                                    Alex Lidell is a YA fantasy writer and author of ABNA Finalist THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013).  

Although English is Alex’s primary language, it wasn’t her first.  Coming from Russia, Alex learned english in elementary school and fell in love with reading when the school librarian put Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA into her hands.  Years later, in college, it was another book that re-united Alex with russian, which she had shunned in adolescence. The Three Musketeers.*  Alex thanks both books, and the writers who created them.

Beyond writing, Alex is also a photographer, a horseback rider, and a paramedic.  The latter two go hand in hand more often than one would like.  She is trying to self-teach herself and her horse to sword-fight.

Alex would love to see THE CADET OF TILDOR in the classroom and is working on developing teacher guides for the novel.  She enjoys “e-meeting” both students and educators.

The race of man is extinct…
A new breed has risen...
Anumalkind shall inherit the Earth...

After merging human and animal DNA together, the Anumal race turned against their creators…and wiped them out. 

Now, millennia later, an ancient pact between warring clans has been broken. Dark powers are surfacing, threatening the survival of this hybrid race…and the fate of the Anumal species lies in the paws of a single lion…Clinton Narfell.

Hailing from the desert village of Wooburn, Clinton’s meager life is catapulted out of control the day he steals food to feed his younger brother. As an extraordinary chain of events begins to unfold, Clinton is forced to use skill and cunning to keep himself alive…and is hurtled towards a destiny he did not realize he was born to fulfill…

Facing savage scavengers, vicious anumal clans, and worse, Clinton soon realizes that power does not come from books or spells, but from something far deeper within us all…

To coincide with this, five readers are getting a chance to win 5 ecopies of Anumal Empire: Lazarball. A Christmas gift from the Lazarball authors.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck :)

Mia's Heart



 About Courtney Cole

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Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.
She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.
Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com