Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY

The first book in a captivating trilogy, Veronica Rossi’s enthralling debut sweeps you into an unforgettable adventure

Hardcover, 384 pages

Expected publication: February 7th 2012 by ATOM (first published January 3rd 2012)

ISBN 1907411054 (ISBN13: 9781907411052)

Under The Never Sky is told from alternating perspectives of Aria and Peregrine (Perry). Aria has lived a very sheltered life under the dome of the Pod called Reverie. Everything is controlled, monitored and protected. They have learned to fear and avoid the outside world known as “The Death Shop.” For it contains wild people, uncontrollable weather and sickness. All of these things are personally unknown to Atria who lives her life in a protected world. Those in the Pod are connected together with their Smarteye. A device that attaches itself onto the head and has visual and hearing capabilities to talk to other people in other pods as well as their own. As well as many other features, but mostly used as a communication device.
The alternative perspective is Perry’s. He was born outside the Pod in the” Death Shop “and survival is key on the outside. He must hunt, protect his people against other tribes and lives in a world that is opposite of Atria’s.

When Atria is banished from her Pod she has no choice but to move at all times. She has focused her efforts into locating her mother who was away on business at another Pod. During Atria’s travels she eventually meets up with Perry. The differences between the two are so distinct that it makes for most of the story. Their interactions with each other are very calculated and slow-building. Atria is very talkative, while Perry is more pensive and watchful. He has a very animalistic way about him and she is very naive and unaware. The interaction between the two as they discover together that they need each other to find the people that they have lost and Atria depends on Perry for survival.

The world that we are brought into is very creative and vivid. The idea of how the Aether sky works exactly, what has brought about this Never Sky of constant storms and electric build up. The author describes the Aether storms as the famous Starry Night painted by Van Gough. A very visual mental picture of swirling blues and electricity lighting up the sky and high winds that endanger all. This world is so different than our own, but it’s delivered to us in a way that we can understand and somewhat grasp what the characters are going through.

There is a constant flow of activity and pace to the story that it was hard to set down once you begin reading. There are several obstacles and danger that build to the mystery of the plot that keep the reader intrigued and interested with what is happening and how the story may end. Perry and Atria build their trust and relationship very slowly through arguing and learning and adjusting to each other in their new situation, but they always seem to get back to focusing on what the bigger picture is and where they are going. The author introduces several other side characters along the way that bring in both humor and danger to their quest. We are introduced to Atria as her being a very naive and sheltered person, but she grows into a determined fighter that the readers will grow to admire and root for as a leading heroine.

Overall I enjoyed the story, it was very fast paced and entertaining. The world that we are taken into is imaginative, unique and engrossing. I would have liked to see  more of the inside of Reverie and the daily lives that Aria and her people have come to know before she was actually forced out of the Pod into the Death Shop. I am also interested in understanding how this world came to be, what kind of apocalyptic incident happened to make the world this way. Although I have no doubt that we will learn more about that in future books and intrigued by what that background could bring to the story.
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http://cubicleblindness.com

I guess besides my Mum’s insane love of books being modelled for me for as long as I can remember; school was really the beginning of the seed being planted for my love of books.

My earliest memories are in primary school like in grade two, my teacher, Mrs Fuller, reading us Roald Dahl’s The BFG. Then onwards to Grade 3, with Roald Dahl again and James and the Giant Peach.  In 1991 grade 4 it was Fire in the Stone by Collin Thiele, and the first book to ever give me horrific nightmares, My Hiroshima by Junko Morimoto. Then the first and only book we ever read in school that Mum said no to, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr (understandable when by this stage the nightmares were so bad I was asking her for medication to help me sleep, at age 9). I still cannot stomach the thought of re-reading those two particular books.

Outside of school I was reading The Baby-Sitters Club series by Anne M Martin, and The Gymnasts series by Elizabeth Levy, and apart from my brush with the books about Hiroshima, my reading material was generally free of world shattering unpleasantness.

Things cooled off a little after that as I changed schools and every teacher having a different way of teaching, not to mention the curriculum being as it was in the 1990’s; it wasn’t until grade 8 that we did any book studies. Reading for the hell of it wasn’t really the focus anymore.

The Wave by Todd Strasser, Came Back to show you I could fly by Robin Klein and Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr were the studies we did in the first 3 years of high school.

It had been years since I had voluntarily picked up a book by the time I’d finished my junior years at high school. I think mainly because having to analyze every little speck of information, character development and plot progression made the act of reading like eating a bowl of high fiber cereal without the aid of sugar, fruit or milk to wash it down or give it flavour. Anette Kurtis Klause was the author to rekindle my passion for reading outside of school with her novel The Silver Kiss.

From then I picked up some heavy hitters like Anne Rice and in the final years of high school we were able to choose about 10 books from the approved list and break them down into basic reviews.  Of the ten only two made an impact; Jean P Sasson’s Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, and Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

Now my book case is full to the point of over flowing.  Most of them carry some sort of supernatural or romantic themes. Humor is also an almost necessity, life is too serious most of the time so when I am escaping into a book, I like to be able to have a giggle.

Reviewing for Burn Bright and Marianne’s other sites is nothing at all like doing the books studies in my teen years. Books for young adults today have surpassed the calibre of those in the 1990’s by a light year or two. The variety and quality is second to none, and I look forward to reading any review books that come my way.

It’s 2082, chocolate and coffee are prohibited. Paper is hard to find and water is severely rationed. The economy has all but collapsed and New York is rife with crime and poverty. 16 year old Anya Balanchine is the daughter of the city’s most notorious (and dead) crime boss and determined to protect what’s left of her family from the rest of the relatives. When her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by her family’s contraband chocolate, the police are convinced Anya is behind it and Anya finds everything she has worked so hard to hold onto, on the line. The assistant D.A offers her a choice – stay away from his son or watch as he destroys her family. Now Anya finds herself having to choose between the boy she loves and her birthright.

All These Things I’ve Done is a fresh new dystopian adventure complete with a Romeo and Juliet-esque love story, classic mobster undertones and life lessons from the past and present that will have you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page. In fact it’s hard to sum it up, more than to say this is like nothing you have never read before and most likely will surprise you as much as it did me.

Even though it is perhaps best described as YA dystopian crime, that alone does not do justice to the the magic within it – it almost needs a whole new genre of its own. The world building is superb and compellingly visual. This is New York as we have never imagined it and you will find yourself walking its strange streets right alongside Anya and co.  The narrative is told in first person from Anya’s point of view, but as a reflection, which gives you a greater clarity of the decisions made and family history but still firmly holds you in the moment and in the thick of the action.

The plot is completely unique and an amazing blend of seedy criminal dealings, mad government decisions, familial ties, first love and one girl’s struggle to find her place in the world. And it also offers the proof right on the page that more often than not we don’t learn from the mistakes of those who have come before us.  The storyline retains an overall classic feel that will keep it fresh in years to come. There is also a delightful sprinkling of “ancient” pop culture references throughout the book that will give you a good giggle and make you wonder just what will be thought of us and our tastes by generations to come. Even the chapter headings are fun, fresh and sure to bring a smile to your face.

Quite frankly, this totally blew me away and left me in awe of both the world and the cast of colourful characters who inhabit it. Zevin’s skill in capturing the reader’s attention is evident from the very first page. All These Things I’ve Done is the first in the Birthright trilogy and I can’t wait to see what Anya gets up to next.

All These Things I’ve Done- Gabrielle Zevin

Pan Macmillan

ISBN:978-0-330-53789-6

351 Pages

Released September 6^th 2011

Handmade Candles

Aunt Betty just rolled into the driveway unannounced… ARGH!!!!! She has a box of chocolates under her arm and an ‘I got you’ smile on her face. You’re trapped and you have no gift to give her… Or do you?

If you have the time to make and store a few sets of these really simple bees wax candles, you can thwart any uninvited, gift-bearing guest.

What you’ll need

~A few sheets of bees wax foundation (They come in all sorts of colours and sizes. You can cut them down to suit your needs)

~A few meters of candle wick

~A few lengths of ribbon

~A cutting board

~A ruler

~A sharp knife

~A pair of scissors

Method

1.      Cut the foundation sheet to the desired size

2.      Place the wick along the length of one side pressing it into the foundation gently

3.      Tightly roll the foundation over the wick at least 3 times

4.      Roll the foundation the rest of the way making sure you keep even pressure and the end that will become the bottom is quite straight

5.      Roll the candle over and over a few times to ensure it’s not going to unroll on you

6.      Trim the wick to about 3cm from the top of the candle

7.      Tie the candles firmly in lots of two or three with the ribbon, tying with a nice bow.

Take that Aunt Betty!

~The usual candle safety tips apply~

Kelley was born and raised in central California, where she still resides with her lovely wife, daughter, and an abundance of pets. (Although she does fantasize about moving across the globe to Ireland.) She has a fascination with bells, adores all things furry – be them squeaky, barky or meow-y – is a lover of video games, manga and anime, and likes to pretend she’s a decent photographer. Her life goal is to find a real unicorn. Or maybe a mermaid. Within young adult, she enjoys writing and reading a variety of genres from contemporary with a unique twist, psychological thrillers, paranormal/urban fantasy and horror. She loves stories where character development takes center stage.

1. You have your debut young adult thriller “Hushed” due to be released on December 6th 2011 (congrats!). From the blurb it certainly seems to be filled with malice, murder, love and revenge. Can you tell us a little about who Archer is and how he has reached this pivotal point in his life?

Archer is a very intense guy whose biggest flaws are his unwavering sense of loyalty and his fear of rejection. He grew up struggling to make the people around him happy, and that desire to protect and be noticed intensified as he got older. His insecurities mixed with how people (his parents, Vivian, even his peers) treated him have led him to develop a very skewed moral compass.

2. The subject manner of your novel is quite dark and twisted and shows human nature at some of its worst moments. How hard emotionally was it to bring the story to life?

I get very attached to my characters, so there were parts of HUSHED that broke my heart to write. There’s one particular defining moment in the book—the exact scene wherein everything changes for Archer—that took me awhile to get just right because I would get so emotional anytime I tried to work on it. I could hurt when Archer hurt, and I could love when he loved…and I could be frustrated when Evan was frustrated, haha.

3.  Being new to the publishing world, are there any tips you found worked particularly well for you that may help other aspiring authors?

Listen very carefully to the advice you’re given. Be it from critique partners, agents, forum members, or whoever. But learn what advice to take and what to leave. (I’m so specific, huh?) Also, patience. HUSHED didn’t find its home until I was ready to put it aside. Sometimes it takes awhile.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Archer. Definitely. I’m a sucker for my most emotionally fragile and broken characters, and he fits that perfectly. There isn’t a single character in HUSHED whose voice is as vivid and real to me as Archer’s.

Kelley’s website: http://www.kelley-york.com/blog

Hushed – Synopsis:

He’s saved her. He’s loved her. He’s killed for her.

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another – Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.

But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants…And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hushed-Kelley-York/dp/1937044742

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hushed-kelley-york/1033904538