Contest! OMG! (I Heart You, You Haunt Me)

My first contest… woohoo!

Anyway, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving wonderful comments (they certainly make me happy). 

So I’m hosting my first contest… I’m thinking of keeping it going for every month but am making no promises. Here goes:

What: A marked-up copy (with comments I wrote in it) of I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder. Click here to read my review of it.

Who: U.S residents only, sorry. 😦

Why: Because who doesn’t love a free book?

When: From August 28, 2008 to September 30, 2008. Winner will be announced October 1, 2008 in the afternoon or evening. Bookmark this website (like I do when I join contests) and check back on Oct 1 for the name of the winner. If you win you will receive an e-mail telling you what to do next. If you don’t reply my e-mail by Oct 5, 2008 I will choose another winner.

Where: Here at whatvanessareads.wordpress.com.

How: Follow these rules and you’re good:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Include:

• name
• your blog URL if applicable so I could visit you 🙂
• e-mail address (very necessary, I will not go crazy looking for you in the blogosphere.)
• your answer to this question: What is your favorite genre in books and why?

2. For extra entries (tell me in the comment if you did any of these and which, leave links if necessary): 

• 1 extra entry: put me on your sidebar or make a blog post including my contest.
• 1 extra entry: tell a friend about this contest, and have them say they were referred by you on their comment.
• 3 extra entries: make some small banners like the ones on my right sidebar (Like OMG Teens Read, Teen Tuesday, etc) but for What Vanessa Reads (if you need more ideas for this contact me).

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Title: I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Author: Lisa Schroeder

Rating:  ★★★

Number of Pages:

Edition: Paperback

Contains: Fantasy/Paranormal, Romance (very little…), Relationships, and Drama.

Analysis of Book (1-10 on each aspect):

Characters: 7.

Plot: 7.

Writing: 8.

Wow Factor: 5.

 

Summary (courtesy Amazon.com):

Girl meets boy.

Girl loses boy.

Girl gets boy back…

…sort of.

Ava can’t see him or touch him, unless she’s dreaming. She can’t hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she’s crazy, but she knows he’s here. Jackson. The boy Ava thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. He’s back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

My Review (no spoilers): Very quick book. Seriously, its like something you read in an hour. It wasn’t something that was horrible (because it was quite good) but it just wasn’t super amazing. I think the reason for Jackson’s death is rather odd. I would never do what Jackson did to die… c’mon now, common sense. Jackson is what any girl wishes a guy to be. Sweet, funny, witty, laid-back, go-with-the-flow and it was very sad to put yourself in Ava’s position. I understand why she kept trying to connect with Jackson, even though he was dead and a ghost. Ava is going through many emotions in this book: love, hate, regret, guilt, etc. The free verse was perfect for this kind of book. I felt as though I was in one of those cafes where they snap their fingers while someone reads their poetry. I thought the reason Jackson was around was kind of corny. I still loved the poetic-way of how the book told Ava’s tale and it kept me reading it. I liked how it finished and how Ava was different as a character by the last line. The poetry is beautiful, the metaphors are equally beautiful.

My Thoughts (contains spoilers): Spoiler time! First off, what was Jackson thinking? Jumping off a cliff like a crazy person. No siree, that’s not for me. Second, the Lyric bit was predictable (at least for me). I feel kind of bad for Ava’s friend (I think her name is Jessa?) but in the end Lyric doesn’t sweep Ava off her feet. He was cute as a character although I never wanted Ava to become romantically involved with him because I still wanted Jackson to come back. I wish Jackson could come back. Nick was weird, acting all nice when he had cheated on Ava. Ava’s friends were like down-to-earth real friends which was cool. I hope Ava can move on from this tragic event and stop blaming herself. Overall it was good, but the thing is is that it was just that: good… nothing higher.

 

By the way… head on over to my contest here to enter for a chance to win a copy of this book! 🙂

Booking Through Thursday (8.27.08): Stories

 

Booking Through Thursday #3

Website: btt2.wordpress.com

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next?

Or, um, is it just me?

Nope, its definitely not only you. I think that a book’s actual story/plot is like 70% of the actual book. If you don’t have a good story you have nothing. Having a good story will keep reader’s on the edge asking themselves what will happen next and gasping when incredulous things occur. One time I was reading Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and I am not even kidding when I say it was 4 in the morning and I was sitting on the floor reading… because I could not stop! Whenever I would tell myself to stop reading (hello, Vanessa, the book isn’t going anywhere) I would start predicting things that would happen next. I wanted to know what came next and wouldn’t stop until there was no more…