You know those ubiquitous YA novels where the teen heroine is inevitably pure at heart and just doesn’t see how great she really is?  Yeah, this isn’t one of those books.  But, that’s why I really liked it.  The story centers around Nastasya (Nasty, for short) a 450-year-old immortal, who is careless, selfish, and emotionally disconnected from the world around her.  In fact, some of the things she has done are downright detestable.  That’s what makes her human to me, even though she is immortal.  She has tons of flaws, …

Kallie’s Video Review

Kelly’s Review
Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick, is a 450 page haunting tale filled with delicious horror and frightening details. Bick has woven a story in which you fall in love with her characters and have no problem following them through a harrowing journey. The heroine, Alex, a girl who has honestly faced most everything you can imagine, begins the book on one very specific journey-a hard and emotional one. But after the Zap occurs, Alex’s journey becomes more than she bargained for as the world seems to be …

March’s Book of the Month is Kerstin Gier’s Ruby Red, a novel I think you all will love (or at least, I hope you do)!  This one happens to be a timeslip novel, and takes place in the best city in the world, London (okay, I may be a bit biased there).  Ruby Red is the first book in a trilogy, originally published in German, though it’s the only book in the series currently available in the US.  Once you finish this book, you are so going to wish you …

The book we are giving away TODAY (March 4, 2012) is an ARC of…
Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Each contest will be posted at midnight (EST), and you will have 24 hours to enter!   The winner will be randomly chosen each day from the comments section of each post on BookshelfBanter.com, retweets onTwitter, and/or comments on our Facebook page.  (The more you ‘resharement’, the more likely you are to win.)  The winner will be announced after he/she is contacted, and confirms their email/mailing address.

Book Description
It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.
Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. …

Bitterblue is the companion novel to Kristin Cashore’s Graceling and Fire. Before I write more, you should know that it is paramount (in my opinion) that you read Graceling before Bitterblue.  The structure of characters’ relationships and setting are based on a foundation built in Graceling.  In Bitterblue, we read an intricately woven story that stands on Graceling‘s foundation and it’s strength holds these characters together when you think everything in their world should be crumbling!
I am extremely impressed with the maze of story lines that Cashore guides you through …

Hey, ladies!  This week I thought of a rather interesting challenge for all of us, brought on by a late night showing of Jurassic Park.  Wonder where I’m going with this?  Check out my challenge for you in the video below!

Now, it may take a while to complete the second part of the challenge, since we all have a lot going on.  However, here’s what I would like from you in the first part of the video challenge:
1.  Which of your all-time favorite movies (ones at least 10 years old) …

In The Exceptionals by Erin Cashman, fifteen-year-old Claire is the lone member of her family without a special power to make her exceptional… at least that is what everyone thinks.  She is secretly hiding an ability to hear the thoughts of animals because she is embarrassed by a seemingly useless power.  When she is forced to attend the Cambial Academy where her siblings attend and her parents work, she fears that she will never fit in.  While all of the other students attend classes to enhance their special powers, she …

If you’re looking for something a bit different in the world of YA, you have to check out Jodi Meadows’ new book, Incarnate.  It’s unlike anything I’ve read in quite a while, mainly because it draws on many different story and genre elements.  The best way I can describe it is paranormal fantasy romance with bits of dystopian throughout.  The idea behind it is quite unique.  It is a tale of a young girl whose soul is new to this planet, when every single person around her has been reincarnated …

Yes! You read that right! The Bookshelf Banter Girls are starting a new Tiger Series podcast that revolves around Colleen Houck’s fantasteriffic novels! We hope that you will take a listen; but if you’re already a fan we know you’ll love it!  And, be on the lookout… We have a Tiger Series fansite debuting on Wednesday, February 1st!

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?
Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. She’s stuck at JFK, late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s in seat 18C. Hadley’s in 18A.
Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful …