What is Flashback Friday you ask?
I know… I know… As if you don’t have a million and one memes to follow! BUT we’re hoping that you might want to participate in just one more!
If you’re like us, you read a lot… you add a ton to your ‘to be read’ lists and you sometimes forget about some amazing things because they get pushed down either your favorites list or that pile of books you need to read. That doesn’t mean those books are no less amazing!
This is a way for us to highlight books that are older that maybe don’t get as much recognition now because they have been out for a while. Books that we read and loved or books that have been on our To Be Read lists for ages, but we just haven’t gotten around to them yet.
On to the details – Pick a book… any book that meets the following criteria:
1. Must have been published at least 2 years ago or
2. Preferably is still in print or available to read
Grab our button or make your own then simply feature it on your blog… See the example below, and then come back here and link us up!! AND Spread the word!!
Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. After spending his junior and senior years of high school at the American School of Mexico City, Neal went on to UC Irvine, where he made his mark on the UCI swim team, and wrote a successful humor column. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal, and was hired to write a movie script.
Erin’s Pick
Jaime’s Pick
UNWIND
By: Neal Shusterman
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
You guys… this book was amazing and I was seriously fail when I read it and didn’t write a review, but if you’re looking for a unique, compelling and incredibly written dystopian series to read, then this is one you definitely need to add to your list. There is one scene that stands out for me and if you’ve read it, then you probably know which one it is.
Go get this one today, and come find me once you’ve finished!!
SUMMARY
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.
The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child “unwound,” whereby all of the child’s organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn’t technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.
ABOUT NEAL
Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. After spending his junior and senior years of high school at the American School of Mexico City, Neal went on to UC Irvine, where he made his mark on the UCI swim team, and wrote a successful humor column. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal, and was hired to write a movie script.
In the years since, Neal has made his mark as a successful novelist, screenwriter, and television writer. As a full-time writer, he claims to be his own hardest task-master, always at work creating new stories to tell. His books have received many awards from organizations such as the International Reading Association, and the American Library Association, as well as garnering a myriad of state and local awards across the country. Neal’s talents range from film directing (two short films he directed won him the coveted CINE Golden Eagle Awards) to writing music and stage plays – including book and lyrical contributions to “American Twistory,” which is currently playing in Boston. He has even tried his hand at creating Games, having developed three successful “How to Host a Mystery” game for teens, as well as seven “How to Host a Murder” games.
As a screen and TV writer, Neal has written for the “Goosebumps” and “Animorphs” TV series, and wrote the Disney Channel Original Movie “Pixel Perfect”. Currently Neal is adapting his novel Everlost as a feature film for Universal Studios.
Erin’s Pick
The Bronze Horseman
By: Paullina Simons
Publication Date: September, 2009
I honestly had no idea that this book/series was written so long ago and everyone I know that has read this book tells me that I NEED to read this book. I don’t disagree and I have pushed it up to the top of the list but I have been fail in actually getting to it. I love historical fiction and am going to make an effort to get to this before May (I think). Also, everyone knows how much I love covers and this one is so, so pretty.
Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, USSR, in 1963. At the age of ten her family immigrated to the United States. Growing up in Russia Paullina dreamt of someday becoming a writer. Her dream was put on hold as she learned English and overcame the shock of a new culture.
I honestly had no idea that this book/series was written so long ago and everyone I know that has read this book tells me that I NEED to read this book. I don’t disagree and I have pushed it up to the top of the list but I have been fail in actually getting to it. I love historical fiction and am going to make an effort to get to this before May (I think). Also, everyone knows how much I love covers and this one is so, so pretty.
SUMMARY
The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler’s armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander’s impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects a secret as devastating as the war itself as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.
About Paullina
Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, USSR, in 1963. At the age of ten her family immigrated to the United States. Growing up in Russia Paullina dreamt of someday becoming a writer. Her dream was put on hold as she learned English and overcame the shock of a new culture. After graduating from university and after various jobs including working as a financial journalist and as a translator Paullina wrote her first novel Tully. Through word of mouth that book was welcomed by readers all over the world.
She continued with more novels, including Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross (also known as Tatiana and Alexander), The Summer Garden and The Girl in Times Square (also known as Lily). Many of Paullina’s novels have reached international bestseller lists.
Apart from her novels, Paullina has also written a cookbook, Tatiana’s Table, which is a collection of recipes, short stories and recollections from her best selling trilogy of novels, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (also known as Tatiana and Alexander) and The Summer Garden.
Cosmo’s Pick
Dark Lover
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood
By: J. R. Ward
Publication Date: September 6th, 2005
Jessica Rowley Pell Bird was born on 1969 in Massachusetts, USA. She is the daughter of Maxine F. and W. Gillette Bird, Jr. She began writing as a child, penning her thoughts in diaries as well as inventing short stories. She read her first Harlequin Presents novel in a rose garden when she was in her teens. She was hooked immediately. By the time she went to college, she had boxes and boxes of Harlequins and Silhouettes. Every year, her mother would ask why all those books had to live in the house and Jess would reply that if even one of them disappeared she would know. (She’d catalogued them.)
Jess finished her first romance manuscript the summer before her freshman year of college. She attended Smith College and graduated with a double major in history and art history. She then received a law degree from Albany Law School. Shortly after that, she began working in the healthcare industry in Boston. She spent many years as one of the premier medical center’s Chief of Staff. While working as a lawyer in Boston, she completed two novels more and started a number of partials. In 2001, Bird married John Neville Blakemore III. Both her mother and her new husband kept telling her to send something in to an agent, a publisher, the Tooth Fairy, anyone. She thought they were nuts, but eventually got her nerve up and bought a lot of stamps. Since getting published, she has written contemporary romances as Jessica Bird and paranormal romances as J. R. Ward. She has been a Rita Award finalist, received two Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice nominations and has been a HOLT medallion finalist.
New England born and bred, Jess is surprised to find herself living south of the Mason Dixon line. (But that’s what happens when you marry a Southern gentleman.) She and her husband live with their golden retriever, who oversees her writing in a supervisory role.
Dark Lover
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood
By: J. R. Ward
Publication Date: September 6th, 2005
You might remember when I found the Black Dagger Brotherhood books a few years ago. Mostly because all I did for weeks was work and read every single one that had been published. The first book, Dark Lover, tells the story of Wrath and Beth. Wrath is a reluctant king who’s yet to take his throne – a warrior, fighting against the forces that work to destroy their vampire race. And Beth is the daughter of his friend and fallen comrade.
What do I love about this book? Well, it pretty much has everything I ever look for. Kick-ass vampires, mystery, and well…really hot sex. You know, with the kick-ass vampires who always do it right. With the release of The King coming out later this year, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit Caldwell, NY, and the series that established JR Ward as the reigning queen of paranormal romance.
Summary
In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.
The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.
ABOUT J.R. WARD
Jessica Rowley Pell Bird was born on 1969 in Massachusetts, USA. She is the daughter of Maxine F. and W. Gillette Bird, Jr. She began writing as a child, penning her thoughts in diaries as well as inventing short stories. She read her first Harlequin Presents novel in a rose garden when she was in her teens. She was hooked immediately. By the time she went to college, she had boxes and boxes of Harlequins and Silhouettes. Every year, her mother would ask why all those books had to live in the house and Jess would reply that if even one of them disappeared she would know. (She’d catalogued them.)Jess finished her first romance manuscript the summer before her freshman year of college. She attended Smith College and graduated with a double major in history and art history. She then received a law degree from Albany Law School. Shortly after that, she began working in the healthcare industry in Boston. She spent many years as one of the premier medical center’s Chief of Staff. While working as a lawyer in Boston, she completed two novels more and started a number of partials. In 2001, Bird married John Neville Blakemore III. Both her mother and her new husband kept telling her to send something in to an agent, a publisher, the Tooth Fairy, anyone. She thought they were nuts, but eventually got her nerve up and bought a lot of stamps. Since getting published, she has written contemporary romances as Jessica Bird and paranormal romances as J. R. Ward. She has been a Rita Award finalist, received two Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice nominations and has been a HOLT medallion finalist.
New England born and bred, Jess is surprised to find herself living south of the Mason Dixon line. (But that’s what happens when you marry a Southern gentleman.) She and her husband live with their golden retriever, who oversees her writing in a supervisory role.
What did you pick today? Link us up!!
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