Let's Celebrate Canada -- With Books!

Hi, everyone! :)

I'm sorry if I've been AWOL this weekend! Most of you probably know it was Canada Day yesterday (July 1st), and I think I was indoors for all of sixteen hours in total — mostly just to sleep. x) There were fireworks, and barbeques, and campfires, and marshmallows galore!

That means I have a lot of commenting and such to catch up on because of my very outdoorsy weekend. But I'm still in a very patriotic mood so I thought I'd post about some books by Canadian authors that I love! :)

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Books By Canadian Authors I Love

Hemlock (Hemlock #1)
By Kathleen Peacock
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Goodreads

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

MY THOUGHTS: This was one of my top books of the year because it has two things I love in one: An original werewolf world and an awesome murder mystery! And then it has two more amazing things (in the form of two very amazing guys), but you have to read to find out about them! ;)

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This is Not a Test
By Courtney Summers
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Goodreads

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.

To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.

But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

MY THOUGHTS: I was BLOWN AWAY by this book. The way Courtney Summers wrote her zombie apocalypse was harsh and true and realistic and SO heartbreakingly brilliant. She made me fall for every single character, and the only reason it was a 4.5 and not a 5 in my review is because of that abrupt ending! Otherwise: A definite must-read! :)

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Dark Kiss (Nightwatchers #1)

By Michelle Rowen

Release Date: May 29, 2012

Goodreads

I don't do dangerous.  Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha — that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back.

Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me....

MY THOUGHTS: I adored this book the first time around (as you can tell from my review), but I loved it even more after I had the chance to meet both of the boys in this very epic, very swoon-worthy character interview (in which Kraven may or may not hit on me)! If that's not enough to sell you, I don't know what else I can say! Maybe that it's an awesome original take on angel lore? :)

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Darkest Powers Trilogy (Darkest Powers #1-3)
By Kelley Armstrong
Release Date: November 2, 2012
Goodreads

>The Summoning
The Darkest Powers Series, Book I

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…


The Awakening
The Darkest Powers Trilogy, Book II
Book II in the Darkest Powers trilogy takes us deeper into a world where the supernatural intrudes on the everyday with riveting effect.

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl – someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment – not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a group of people who call themselves The Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I’m a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends – a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch – and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before The Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.


The Reckoning
The Darkest Powers Trilogy, Book III

Only two weeks ago, life was all too predictable. But that was before I saw my first ghost. Now along with my supernatural friends Tori, Derek, and Simon, I'm on the run from the Edison Group, which genetically altered us as part of their sinister experiment. We're hiding in a safe house that might not be as safe as it seems. We'll be gone soon anyway, back to rescue those we'd left behind and take out the Edison Group . . . or so we hope.

MY THOUGHTS: I read this last year and had noooooo idea that Kelley Armstrong was a Canadian author until recently! But she is and I love her books so I couldn't be more proud :) I like The Darkest Powers series more than her Darkness Rising series, but I know that she also writes a lot of really good adult books too, if you recognize her more for that.

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That's kind of all I can remember right now, but I'm sure there are SO many more amazing books written Canadian authors. Are there any more that I'm missing? And how was YOUR weekend? Did you spend the entire time outside like my family or read to make a dent in your TBR piles like I'm going to now? ;)

I hope your Canada Day weekend was a blast whether you're Canadian or not! :) ♥

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE CANADIAN BOOK? 

-Mimi