Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mini Reviews + Giveaways: Deep Sky + The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Today I'm very excited to welcome my mother-in-law Cathy to the blog, she's a fellow book lover (and someone I've gotten addicted to many a book series) who's going to be helping me out every now and then with reviews when I get a little overwhelmed. She took over the reviews for Deep Sky and listened to the audiobook for The Adoration of Jenna Fox as I was unable to fit them into my schedule, so I just want to extend a sincere thank you to her for her help and look forward to her contributing more in the future!

DEEP SKY (Travis Chase #3)
Patrick Lee
Mystery/Thriller
400 pages
HarperCollins
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Barnes and Noble)
The anomaly called the Breach is the government’s most carefully guarded secret.

But there is another secret even less known . . . and far more terrifying.

As the U.S. President addresses the nation from the Oval Office, a missile screams toward the White House. In a lightning flash, the Chief Executive is dead, his mansion in ruins, and two cryptic words are the only clue to the assassins’ motives: “See Scalar.”

Now Travis Chase of the covert agency Tangent—caretakers of the Breach and all its grim wonders—along with partner and lover Paige Campbell and technology expert Bethany Stewart, have only twenty-four hours to unearth a decades-old mystery once spoken of in terrified whispers by the long since silenced. But their breakneck race cross-country—and back through time and malleable memory—is calling the total destructive might of a shadow government down upon them. For Travis Chase has a dark destiny he cannot be allowed to fulfill . . .

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Deep Sky is the last book in a trilogy. It begins with the assassination of the President and the only clue is a cryptic message–See Scalar. This leads to our hero, Travis Chase and his partner Paige Campbell. Both work at Tangent, a secret facility that oversees alien entities that come through the Breach. They know this message has something to do with them but have to look for clues and use some of the alien entities to figure out what is happening. One in particular is an entity that lets them travel into a memory and seek out more than just what is remembered in that memory. They do all this while being pursued by the new President and members of his regime. There are lots of twists, turns, and surprises which I won't mention because I don't want to spoil the story. The ultimate theme of the story is–If you could alter history, would you and at what cost?

Mr. Lee writes a twisting and intriguing mystery. He gives lots of clues and quickly eliminates the possibilities which makes you want to find out what will happen next. He does a great job of making us feel like we're methodically putting a puzzle together, and the book moves at a good pace. I have not read the first two books in the series and felt I might have missed some background history on characters and events that might have made the ending a little clearer (and there was additionally an underlying science fiction theme that was not overly prominent until the conclusion of the book), but on the whole the story held its own.

Rating: 4/5


THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX (audiobook)
Mary E. Pearson
Paranormal Young Adult
Audiobook
Macmillan Young Listeners
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.


CATHY'S THOUGHTS
This is my first audiobook and I found it a bit of a challenge. I love to read, feel the book, see the words on a page and go at my own pace. Because of this I found the audio version to be a little slow for me and found myself easily distracted. I will say that the narrator, a young woman, had an age-appropriate sounding voice. She mostly read from the main character’s point of view, which was Jenna, but also tried to vary her tone when reading other character parts. She read at an even and steady pace. Though audiobooks may not be for me, I can see a real purpose in them for those who have the time or need to use them.

The story is of 17 year-old Jenna Fox, struggling to find out who she is both figuratively and literally. It's set in the future with Jenna waking up from a coma and needing to rediscover who she is. As her memory returns, she finds out things about her past and her parents that she doesn’t understand or like. Because it's set in an age of biomedical engineering, Jenna is faced with some ethical questions and choices. It was a very interesting premise and does raise some questions about how far a parent would go to save a child.

I would give it a 3 as an audio book and a 3.5 as a book.


GIVEAWAY

Today I'm offering up both a paperback copy of Deep Sky and the audiobook version of The Adoration of Jenna Fox to one lucky winner. To enter, please just leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST on Friday, January 27th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

34 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to read The Adoration of Jenna Fox for a while now! Great review and thanks for the giveaway!

    kmritchie02@gmail.com

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  2. These both sound Terrific, than you for the mini-reviews and sweet giveaway ! :D
    GFC Mary DeBorde M.A.D.
    zenrei57 @ hotmail dot com

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  3. I like the idea of audiobooks but I don't like how long they take to read. I love listening to podcasts, but I particularly like that I can listen to them at double speed on my iPod. I wish I could listen to audiobooks at double speed.

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  4. Oh - sorry. Forgot my email address
    alisoncanread at gmail dot com

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  5. How cool that you managed to get your mother in law to review for you :) Nicely done too

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  6. I keep working on my family members to contribute LOL My sister finally did one review :) Great job Cathy---

    I really want to read the Deep Sky trilogy! I love a good twisting thriller!

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  7. I really loved The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I can't do audiobooks, I've tries but my attention span doesn't work with audio books. I tend to tune them out, and start thinking about something else. I blame my work, too many conference calls- I've learned to selectively hear.

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  8. I loved "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" mostly it's because of the consequences of how we use technology and how far we are willing to go to save a loved one's life. I also have a hard time concentrating with a very slow audiobook. I tend to listen to them only when I'm doing mind-numbing work like filing.

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  9. I completely agree about audiobooks,I much prefer having the book in hand. Visually, the story just reaches much farther for me than hearing a narrator. The few times I've attempted them, I find myself spacing out completely. Thanks for the review of The Adoration, it's been on my want list for quite awhile!

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  10. These both sounds wonderful. Fabulous covers too! Thank you for the informative review and giveaway.

    nicnac63 AT hotmail DOT com

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  11. Hi Cathy! It's so nice to meet you! I'm so excited to see you on the blog. Not that I don't love Jenny, but we LOVE her so much her family must be awesome, too!

    I'm sorry you weren't a fan of the audiobook. I have a hard time listening to them as well and can completely understand where you are coming from. I think I'm going to give that one a try in book form. Hopefully I have better results. :D

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  12. Yay! Go Cathy!!! Nice to meet you. :)

    I've had similar experiences with audiobooks. It's very easy to get distracted, especially during those slow going parts.

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  13. I hadn't heard about either of these books so this is a great giveaway for me. Thanks so much for the giveaway.

    miztik_rose@yahoo.com

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  14. Great reviews. The Travis Chase trilogy sounds pretty interesting. I will have to check out the other books in that series, too! :)

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  15. it sounds good. I have just started to get into audio books
    rlrlaney at yahoo dot com

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  16. I didn't love The Adoration of Jenna Fox and it seemed like I was the only one! I heard so many rave reviews. I'm glad I'm not the only one. It was a decent story, but not AMAZING. I think the audio would be a bit slow for me just the story is kind of quiet and mild.
    Anyway, great reviews!
    And I'm not entering :)

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  17. Both sound great! Have to check them out! rachelsboys@gmail.com

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  18. *squeals* Cathy!!!!!! How awesome that you guest post here! I just love that you two share this love for books. I hope this love is big enough to come again to BEA - I can't imagine being there without "The Mom's"!

    The Jenny Fox book was on my wishlist for some time but I wasn't really sure about this. And, you should listen to a really good audibook, then you will begin to love audios as well.. Sometimes a bad narrator can ruin a book for you.. :(
    I have some recommendation if you want some!

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  19. They both sound interesting. I love to read your reviews! mrkllwhetz1@aim.com.

    Thanks!

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  20. Very well written reviews as both books sound like really enjoyable reads! Especially Deep Sky as I love a good mystery.

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  21. Hi Cathy! Welcome welcome. Great reviews! The first one sounds great. (LOVE that the quote on the cover is from Steve Berry) and the second one sounds right up my alley (I adore audios). Please count me in on your contest suitejuju(at)gmail(dot)com

    PS Audios take time. Next time try a short one. Neil Gaiman's Coraline hooked me.

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  22. Thank you all for your support of my reviews. I appreciate Jenny giving me this format and hope I did her proud. She is such a fabulous reviewer, she's a tough act to follow.
    Danny---we are BEA bound!!!!!!!

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  23. Great job mother-inlaw. :) at first I really wanted to read The Adoration of Jenna Fox, but then I just forgot about it & I;m now 100% sure I'm not going to check it out. ;)Great mini reviews.

    Not entering!

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  24. They both sound great. I am very interested in both of them. Thanks for the chance.

    sariahwalters at gmail dot com

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  25. I've been wanting to read the Adortaion of Jenna Fox! Thanks for the giveaway!

    bwithbite at gmail dot com

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  26. *waves to Cathy*

    Oh someone else who reads out of order. :) Sometimes it does make you want to pick up the first books when the 3rd one is good. Oh and don't give up on all audio books. I have found that some will leave me distracted while others captivate. Great reviews!!

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  27. Lucky Jenny to have you for a reviewer! Excellent job! I have the same problem with audio books. I haven't read Jenna Fox (I have it) but I know I would prefer to read it as opposed to listening to it. I have a general idea what happens. Can you come help at my blog???

    Heather

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  28. Thank you for the awesome giveaway. I have been wanting to read both books. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

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  29. This is so awesome! Thanks so much

    chelle2006[@]aol.com

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  30. Aw, Cathy, it's too bad you didn't like The Adoration of Jenna Fox as much as I did. It's one of my favourite sci-fi books and really raises some interesting ethical issues.

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  31. Thanks for the giveaway! I've been wanting to read the Adoration of Jenna Fox for some time now.

    brookea_2006 at yahoodotcom

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  32. Both of these books sounds awesome!! Thanks so much for the giveaway!

    jwitt33 at live dot com

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  33. I loved this one as an audiobook!
    The narrator was slow and even, but I thought it made sense for the character, as she's slowly puzzling out the mystery around her.
    And she did sound very age-appropriate.

    I've heard a number of audiobooks that are so clearly a middle-aged person, and it's so distracting!

    I listened to this one on a long drive back when I used to have a long commute and it was perfect.

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  34. I enjoyed Cathy's reviews and look forward for more. The Snark Web Site is fun reading.
    dthomps5@columbus.rr.com

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