The always awesome Penguin Australia have given us again three prize packs to giveaway!

If you haven’t read last week’s Pubsicle, go here.

What’s in the prize pack:

Beautiful Darkness (Casters, Book 2) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

The Dead by Charlie Higson

The Nitty Gritty:

• Simply fill out the form below with your name, email, and mailing address. We randomly draw the winners using random.org.
• Two winners from Australia and One international winner
• Ends on November 16, 2010.

You should never judge a book by it’s cover.

Sure….but they never said we couldn’t admire them. Cover of the Week pays homage to the beautiful and eye catching graphics that grace the covers of our young adult titles.

This week’s cover of the week goes to Clarity by Kim Harrington

Release Date: March 2011

“Vanessa Sands is afraid of the dark. And heights. And the ocean. Fortunately for Vanessa, her sister Justine has always been there to comfort her. That is until the final moment when Justine plummets to her death during an ill-timed leap near the family’s vacation home in Winter Harbor. Everyone assumes that Justine’s death was accidental. Everyone except Vanessa. She is determined to uncover the truth.

Then another body washes up on the beach. And another….All of them men, grinning from ear to ear.

The deaths bring to the surface the root of Vanessa’s fears, and the secret she has kept for years. As the body count rises, Vanessa begins to realize who she really is…”

We’re no stranger to mythical creatures in young adult fiction, but sirens have mostly been an untouched topic. A topic our protagonist Vanessa Sands didn’t think she’d have to touch on either until the mysterious death of her older sister Justine.

Fearless Justine has always been a bit of a thrill seeker, and diving off Chione Cliff was always a favorite thrill when they visited Winter Harbor every year in the summer. Ever since a near drowning years earlier, Vanessa hasn’t been able to find the courage to head back into the water. Justine’s adventure seeking takes a turn for the worse when her jump off the cliff goes wrong and she loses her life to the water below. At least that’s what we’re lead to believe.

Vanessa doesn’t believe it was just an accident and returns to Winter Harbor to find some answers. She uncovers more than she bargains for when she realizes not just her sister’s true feelings, but also who Vanessa really is, and nothing will ever be the same. Not only that but there’s the mysterious Marchand family and Vanessa’s growing attraction to a childhood friend.

You might think you’ve got this novel all figured out. It’s about a bunch of mermaids with homicidal tendencies, with a bit of a love story thrown in. Wrong. Siren is a compelling mystery that’ll keep you guessing the whole way.

Tricia Rayburn’s writing is engaging as she takes us through the motivation of and background of the sirens as well as the history of Winter Harbor. Siren also has a very coming-of-age feel to the story as Vanessa not only deals with the devastating death of her sister but also uncovers truths about herself, her family and how people see her. She really grows throughout the story and finds the strength and bravery needed to take on the challenges coming her way.

Like all great YA books, there is a romance. I loved the natural development of Vanessa’s relationship with her childhood friend, Simon Carmichael. It was believable and sweet and balanced out the doom of so many murders. Simon is a real weather geek but all that knowledge is put to good use as Winter Harbor’s erratic weather points to forces beyond nature.

Though at first, I was going to give it a lower rating because of so many unanswered questions at the end, I did find out that Siren is the first of either two or three novels, which is definitely exciting. It’s got love, drama, the supernatural, a whole lot of mystery and a cute weather geek – what more could you want?

Pages: 344
Publication Date: July 2010
Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “The man, whoever he was, was dead. Done. Gone. Washed up like a fish.

And when he turned over, his eyes were wide open and his mouth was stretched in a wide smile, like he was happy about it.”

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren, inspired by Alea and explores the contents of our mailbox on a weekly basis.

Helllooooo book blogging world, I am back! I had a brief school related hiatus as I tackled one of my very last assessments so there has been a lack of updates, sorry! But, now that that’s over with, I can get back to reading and reviewing *happy sigh*.
(click for larger image)

For Review:

Anastasia’s Secret by Susanne Dunlap
Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl
Priceless by Nicole Richie
Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish
Reckless by Cornelia Funke
Into the Gauntlet (Book 10, The 39 Clues) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Conspiracy 365: October by Gabriella Lord

So many great titles this week. On the heels of my blog post about ghostwriting, I’ll be reivewing Nicole Richie’s Priceless – I might not like the idea of celebrity writers but it doesnt mean it can’t potentially be a really good book. We’ll soon find out.

Also, I had a few people ask, here are a few shots of my clothes in the photoshoot I did a few weeks ago -

Is there a book you particularly want to see reviewed? Leave a comment to let me know!

Also, make sure you follow us on twitter, @yaReads to keep up to date with the latest news and blog updates.

Happy reading!

Do Book Trailers Really Sell Books?

Hey, you guys! I’m Brent, and I blog over at The Naughty Book Kitties. The girls here at yaReads actually trust me not to offend 50,000,000 people, and asked me to guest post, so here I am! Talking about whether a book trailer can really sell a book.

To get to the point, I don’t really think they can. I mean, in the book world, us readers are all about exciting synopsises (I totally spelled that word wrong, whatever) and fresh new voices. Book trailers can people excited for the book, but I don’t think they’re all that effective.

For 1) Book Trailers aren’t played anywhere else except the internet. Yeah, that sure reaches a broad range of people, doesn’t it? <—Sarcasm! He he!

For 2) We love reading. Which means we’d rather read a synopsis than watch a synopsis.

Don’t  get me wrong, I love book trailers! I think they’re awesome, and fun to make. Occasionally, even I’ll make one. But do I think they’re useful beyond that? No.

Now, I do think they’re more useful when played on like, a major website or something. Penguin just did one for ‘The Penguin Five’ and it’s being played all over MTV.com. This trailer is fabulous, and most definitely effective.

So, in my opinion, book trailers aren’t all that effective, except for the exception! Which is above.

What do you think?