First-Impression Friday: Ruby Red

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

Title: I don’t care for this title. Ruby Red does nothing at all for me. It doesn’t give me an idea of what the story is about and it almost sounds cliché, like Dorothy’s red slippers.

Cover: I can’t say I care for this cover either. It looks really old fashioned, with the picture of the girl at the top. I do like the designs, especially the watch at the bottom, but it all feels rather overwhelming.

Pitch: I have mixed feelings about this pitch. When I first heard there was time travel involved, I got excited. I love time travel. There are a couple elements that I don’t really care for here, though. First of all, Gwen seems happy that she can’t time travel. Seriously, who would prefer a normal life over time travel? And then the pitch decides to end by talking about an obnoxious (but really hot) guy. This book seems to be straying into really cliché territory.

First Sentence: As she fell to her knees and burst into tears, he looked all around the park.

I don’t like the structure of this sentence at all. It just feels really awkward to me. On the other hand, it has some interesting elements that I want answered. Why is she crying in a public place? Why does the guy not seem to care? This is hardly an attention-grabbing tagline, but it still does make me want to read on.

First Chapter (prologue): This chapter was simply the two people talking. It was intriguing, mentioning an elusive ‘she’ who I guess will be the MC in the story. I like how the prologue makes us sure that something will actually happen in the story. However, some of the dialogue sounded a little fake.

Overall: I’m not a huge fan of the packaging of this book. Since I love time travel I certainly intend to read it, but I’m a little worried about the hot guy. This book seems to have a lot of potential, but it could also be a disappointment.

IMM: Week of books that actually arrived IMM

Most of the time when I post an IMM I'm actually talking about books that I just picked up from the library. However, I've won a couple blog contests recently and (thanks to the strike) all the books arrived within two days. So, here's what I got:

This is my very first ARC! I won it through a contest making up the slogan for the official Dashner Army (The Maze Runner, the Scorch Trials, The Death Cure) slogan to go on the merchandise. All in all, it was a pretty cool contest, and while this isn't the sort of book I would normally read, having an ARC is cool.

As you may know, I've already read this book. While I said in my book review that I wouldn't buy it, when I saw a blog contest for it I randomly entered, and I ended up winning. I'm not sure if I'll read it again anytime soon, but I certainly would re-read it, just for Oliver's awesome writing. 

A murder mystery, a girl's boarding school, a kick-ass heroine... While the title was a bit of a turn-off at first (sounded too much like Pretty Little Liars) as soon as I saw the cover and read the synopsis I was hooked. 

Honestly, I don't even remember entering the blog contest that I won this through. When I got this in the mail the other day I went on to Goodreads and found that it was about time travel. Since I love Time Travel, I'm certainly looking forward to this book.

Yes, I've already read this book. And I already have a copy. However, I was lucky enough to win another copy of it through a blog contest, which means that a certain friend of mine will be lucky enough to be getting this for a birthday present.... :)

This was pretty good week for me. I love getting books in the mail, opening the packages and just flipping through the pages or feeling their shiny covers. Maybe that sounds a little weird, but I just love books, the actual, physical books. Yes, I could imagine getting a Kindle, but nothing will ever replace the feeling of new books arriving in the mail. :)