New York Times Bestsellers (December 30, 2012)

THIS WEEK		YOUNG ADULT	WEEKS ON LIST
1		THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER,by Stephen Chbosky. (Simon & Schuster.) What it’s like to grow up, from the perspective of a high school boy. (Ages 14 and up)	3
			Buy
2		THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) A 16-year-old heroine faces the medical realities of cancer. (Ages 14 and up)	3
			Buy
3		DIVERGENT, by Veronica Roth. (HarperCollins Publishers.) A girl must prove her mettle in a faction-ridden dystopia. (Ages 14 and up)	3
			Buy
4		GRACE, GOLD AND GLORY, by Gabrielle Douglas with Michelle Burford. (Zondervan.) An Olympic gold medalist, tells her story of faith, perseverance and determination.	2
			Buy
5		LOOKING FOR ALASKA, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) A boy seeking excitement finds that and more in a girl named Alaska. (Ages 14 to 17)	3
			Buy
6		INSURGENT, by Veronica Roth. (HarperCollins Publishers.) In this “Divergent” follow-up, a faction war looms. (Ages 14 and up)	3
			Buy
7		THE BOOK THIEF, by Markus Zusak. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.) A girl saves books from Nazi burning. (Ages 14 and up)	3
			Buy
8		LAUREN CONRAD BEAUTY, by Lauren Conrad. (HarperCollins Publishers.) Personal stories and makeup lessons.	2
			Buy
9		DODGER, by Terry Pratchett. (HarperCollins Publishers.) History and fantasy blend in the tale of a 17-year-old street urchin	2
			Buy
10		PAPER TOWNS, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) After a night of mischief, the girl Quentin loves disappears.	2
			Buy

Also Selling

11. CODE NAME VERITY, by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion Books for Children)
12. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, by Jay Asher (Penguin Group)
13. MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN, by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books)
14. EVERY DAY, by David Levithan (Knopf Doubleday Publishing)
15. SHIP BREAKER, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Standalones of January 2013

January 1st

The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington
Goodreads
Splintered by A.G. Howard
Goodreads
Falling For You by Lisa Schroeder
Goodreads
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
Goodreads

January 2nd
Catherine by April Lindner
Goodreads
Reaper by L.S Murphy

Goodreads

January 7th
Brianna on the Brink by Nicole McInnes
Goodreads 

January 8th
Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
Goodreads
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Goodreads
One Came Home by Amy Timberlake

Goodreads
Broken by A.E. Rought
Goodreads
The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan
Goodreads
What We Saw At Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Goodreads
The Wrap Up List by Steven Arntson
Goodreads
Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky
Goodreads

January 10th
The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell
Goodreads

January 15th
Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Goodreads
Return to Me by Justina Chen Headley
Goodreads

January 22nd
Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Goodreads

January 29th
Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook
Goodreads

Unknown Dates
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
Goodreads
The Last Burning of New London by Danielle Myers
Goodreads

New series and sequels of January 2013

January 1^st

The Essence (The Pledge #2) by Kimberly Derting

Goodreads 

Altered (Altered #1) by Jennifer Rush

Goodreads

 

January 2^nd

Prophecy (The Dragon King Chronicles #1) by Ellen Oh

Goodreads 

A Dance With Darkness (Angelfire #0.5) by Courtney Allison Moulton

Goodreads 

January 8^th

Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi

Goodreads 

Just One Day (Just One Day #1) by Gayle Forman

Goodreads 

Crash (Visions #1) by Lisa McMann

Goodreads 

Rise (Nightshade Prequel #2) by Andrea Cremer

Goodreads 

Timekeeper (Timeless #2) by Alexandra Monir

Goodreads

January 15^th

Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis

Goodreads 

Level 2 (The Memory Chronicles #1) by Lenore Appelhans

Goodreads 

Touch of Death (Touch of Death #1) by Kelly Hashway

Goodreads 

Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods #7) by Melissa De La Cruz

Goodreads 

Vortex (Tempest #2) by Julie Cross

Goodreads 

January 22^nd

Boundless (Unearthly #3) by Cynthia Hand

Goodreads 

The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

Goodreads 

Everbond (Everneath #2) by Brodi Ashton

Goodreads 

Cinders and Sapphires (At Somerton #1) by Leila Rasheed

Goodreads 

January 29^th

Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu

Goodreads 

Shadows in the Silence (Angelfire #3) by Courtney Allison Moulton

Goodreads 

Asunder (Newsoul #2) by Jodi Meadows

Goodreads 

The Madman’s Daughter (The Madman’s Daughter #1) by Megan Shepherd

Goodreads 

A Shimmer of Angels (Angel Sight #1) by Lisa M. Basso

Goodreads 

‘Til the World Ends (Blood of Eden #0.5) by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre and Karen Duvall

Goodreads 

Ravage (Deviants #3) by Jeff Sampson

Goodreads 

The Prey (The Hunt #2) by Andrew Fukuda

Goodreads 

Stolen Nights (Vampire Queen #2) by Rebecca Maizel

Goodreads

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!

First of all we'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas (or whatever you happen to celebrate). Secondly, we'd like to thank you all for reading our reviews, updates and various posts for all different blog tours this year. Finally, we look forward to getting back into a regular posting schedule and sharing some amazing new books after Christmas!

Love Chami and Ely xx

UPDATE: Haul video

Check out Chami's 'Before the End of the World' book haul on her new channel- AllTheWickedWander, and don't forget to subscribe!

P.S. Apologies for the lack of posts from both of us lately, we promise after Christmas that we'll be more active here!

GUEST POST: Kiri R. Newton

Title: Undertow

Author: Kiri R. Newton

Publisher: Bookpal Austrailia

Blub:

For far too long these sailor-drowning, ship-sinking sea sirens have been portrayed as happy, peaceful creatures who want nothing more than to fall in love with a prince and live happily ever after. Undertow is an unconventional twist on one of the oldest mythological creatures known to man.

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Bookpal

Media Links:

Website

About Kiri R. Newton

Its weird right but as an author I could tell you about my characters inside out and yet when people ask me to talk about myself I go all quiet. Anyways, here I go.

I am a child of ‘91 born in Jandowae, a tiny little town out past Dalby. When I was five my parents decided to pack everything up and move to Tonga in the South Pacific after Dad visited there and mum fell in love with the place after reading a book about it. So I grew up in a third world country, fluent in a second language by the time I was eight and lived amongst the locals who I was friends with.

When I was thirteen my father passed away and due to the fact that the government refused to pay my mum a pension over there like they did my father, we were forced to move back to Australia.

As for my writing career, I started writing progressively longer short stories in Grade 5 where one teacher noted on my report card that ‘I had unique ideas and an unusual talent’. By Grade 7 I had completed my first novel a post-apocalyptic fiction where cats are the highest life form and live basically as we do and follows the lives of a litter of cats, the characters based on a litter of cats belonging to my neighbour. I continued writing different things from horsey stories to Phantom of the Opera fan-fiction right through my teenage years, nothing serious, mostly just a lot of scribbling.

In Grade 12 I realized that if I was going to be serious about being a writer I needed to finish stories, not just have a lot of random scribbles to my name. So forgoing all my assignments I finished my second book called Dynamite which is an Australiana tale about a racehorse. Two years later I went on holidays to Fiji, came home and three months later Undertow was completed. In the middle there I wrote a Tolkien-esque fantasy epic called The Dark Assassin with my now ex-boyfriend. The year after that I completed Hazardous, which will be my next published title. 

Guest Post

Is your next door neighbour a mermaid?

Another thing with Undertow is that I mention a few times mer-folk that have been banished for a variety of reasons. And due the fact that mermaids can live quite happily out of the water provided they remain well hydrated the chances that your secretive next door neighbour is a mermaid is very likely. The trouble is land based mermaids look just like everyone else, which makes spotting them hard but there’s a few giveaways if you know what to look for.

For starters land based mer-folk are often secretive. I mean they have a tail and they are not supposed to exist so you’d be secretive too. Generally if they have a massive salt-water pool in their back yard and a twelve foot fence, that’s a bit of a giveaway as well. Mermaids also avoid chlorine pools as it messes with their skin. Mermaids don’t like getting caught in the rain for obvious reasons though they do love pina coladas. Mermaids can drink like a fish, so if your friend holds their alcohol abnormally well they are either a mermaid or an alcoholic. Try to get the facts before you accuse any of your friends of either.

Mermaids are fanatical about keeping hydrated, many carrying bottles of water on them or plenty of loose change to duck into the nearest shop. Long hair isn’t always a clue, some mermaids do keep their hair short, it just depends on the mermaid in question. Under a microscope the difference between human and mermaid eyes is apparent but the chances that your neighbour will let you examine their eyeballs under a microscope are unlikely. Their respiratory system is also different but the chance of you figuring this out without being done for murder is also unlikely. Height and weight is no giveaway either, mer-folk from colder climates are shorter though North Sea mermaids are often tall and burly. Selkies often have longer nails that the other mer-folk as they seem to grow faster but they look just like normal nails so this isn’t really helpful either.

Mermaids though do like to keep a bit of the ocean on them at all times. It can range from a key ring with a shell on it to owning a massive aquarium that takes up half their living room. The love of seafood is a giveaway as well. So if your friend wants to have sushi for breakfast, fish and chips for lunch and a seafood buffet with the lot for dinner they are likely a mermaid or just pregnant with weird cravings. Again do your homework.

Of course the biggest giveaway is their dorsal patterns that start at the base of their tail-bone and usually ends just below their shoulder blades. These patterns are a variety of colours and each pattern is unique to the individual though reflects the family they come from. Your best bet is somehow convincing your secretive neighbour to take their shirt off. That saying it could also be a tattoo, so tread carefully.

All in all it is entirely possible that your shy next door neighbour is a mermaid and it is possible to decipher. If they reveal their secret to you then feel worthy, you have just been endowed with a massive secret and for heavens sakes don’t ring up the Ellen Show and tell them about it.