Book Nerds Across America

Book Summary
The ultimate resource for fans of DIE FOR ME, and the go-to guide for anyone who wishes to walk with revenants. With character profiles, in-depth revenant history, and previously unreleased deleted scenes, INSIDE THE WORLD OF DIE FOR ME will plunge you deeper into the realm of all things revenant. Explore the locations where your favorite stories happened, test your level of revenant knowledge in the trivia game, see exclusive images from the books, explore the minds of the kindred through their point of view pieces, and much more.

Flo's Review
This is basically the Revenant SuperFan guide. It's been a minute since I've read the Die for Me series and I didn't get the chance to read all the novellas that came after, so this was a nice way to get refreshed on what happened and then 100% caught up with everything that happened after. 

My favorite part was seeing pictures of actual places in Paris (and some other locales) where scenes in the story took place. I almost wish I had this as I was reading, so that I could have looked at the picture and then read the scene. I also really enjoyed hearing about how the idea for revenants came to be and how Amy ultimately got to the events of If I Should Die.

Our reviews of the series:

Die For Me
Until I Die
Die for Her (novella)
If I Should Die

I truly am lucky to be a blogger. I love that I get to read a lot of great books, which I love to do, and then share my thoughts with you all. I love that people actually read my thoughts! I love fangirling over books and authors. I love the friendships I have made in the blogger community. I love all the warm hearts and fun times.

Thank you for allowing me to do this.

We're going to make our giveaway super simple. To enter, all you have to do is follow up on Instagram: http://instagram.com/booknerdsacrossamerica/. Leave a comment with your Instagram name and email address and viola! (You can also email if you'd prefer: booknerds at booknerdsacrossamerica dot com.)


One winner will get a copy of a book that all the Book Nerds adored: Die For Me by Amy Plum. And, as a bonus, you'll get a bookmark signed by the author, too! In case you need convincing, here are the Book Nerds swoony reviews of this series:

Die For Me
Until I Die
Die for Her (novella)
If I Should Die

Again, thank you for your support of Book Nerds Across America. Now hop on to the others:

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there. At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life. When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie. Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past. (from Goodreads)


Flo's Review

The Book Nerds love Amy Plum! We devoured her Die For Me trilogy and had the opportunity to meet her at the RT Convention a few years ago. She even inspired Jacque's trip to France! So when we discovered that she was writing a new series, we rushed to get ahold of the ARCs of the first book After the End.

I dove into this book without reading the description, so I really had no idea what was happening or going to happen as I read. It is definitely a unique and interesting concept. It was fascinating to discover things with Juneau -- how what she was told made sense but how it wasn't really the truth. And what the truth is and how that also makes sense. Unfortunately, the book did not grab me as much as I think it could have, because I felt a lot of the plot was unrealistic and engineered simply because something had to happen as a reveal for the story. I'm not even talking about the Yara or any of the other magical elements. I feel that almost every action Miles took in this book was very unrealistic. However, he obviously had to find Juneau some way and then be on a road trip with her for several days, so I guess he should just randomly leave his house in L.A., drive to Seattle, and drive aimlessly around the streets looking for one person he's never seen before? Sure. And then let her convince him to drive her around after knowing her for about 5 seconds. Why not? Throughout their time together, Miles and Juneau are falling for each other, but I also had a hard time believing their love. "She's crazy -- like mental institute crazy! I love her." "He's lazy! But really good looking. So I love him." (I totally made those quotes up, but you get my point.) And, without being too spoilery -- but slightly so ignore this sentence if it'll make you nervous -- if someone you loved was shot, would you just carry on with your regular plans?! I wouldn't. I would immediately take that person to a hospital and/or try to get help.

I didn't dislike the story. I read through the entire book in one day and kept reading even when I was so tired that I wanted to sleep, so I was clearly invested in the characters and intrigued by the story. I am curious about what will happen to Miles and Juneau in the next book, and I do want more of an opportunity to hear from Whit. As I said before, the idea is very unique and intriguing. And, it can also be noted that I did not love Die For Me when I first read it. It was only with reading the second book in the series that I truly fell in love. Maybe the same will be said for this one.

Jacque's Review:

Juneau is a seventeen year old girl from a small community in Alaska.  For decades her village has lived without electricity, has traveled by dogsled, hunted for food...etc.  They have not had any contact with the outside world since a nuclear bomb destroyed civilization in 1984 during WWIII.  They are aware that there are other survivors out there because they occasionally hear aircraft fly overhead  They have been taught to treat these individuals as a threat and to seek shelter immediately.

One day while she is out hunting, all of the members of her village disappear.  She heard the aircraft and knows they were taken against their will.  She is left alone and scared, but she still has her powers.  She can connect with various elements to gain information about her clan.  The more she learns the more she realizes her elders have been feeding her lies her entire life...but why?  There are real cities out there and now someone has imprisoned her friends and family.  She makes it her mission to find them.

Miles is the spoiled son of a wealthy pharmaceutical executive.  He has been suspended from school and is trying to earn back his father's trust in the hopes of attending Yale this fall.  When he discovers his father is looking for a teenage girl who would be an extremely valuable asset to his corporation, Miles decides this could be his ticket back into his father's good graces.  All he has to do is find the girl and turn her over to his father.

The book started out telling the story of Juneau's clan.  I was a bit leery at that point because of all of the unusual names.  Once she is on her own and sets out on her mission, I absolutely loved the story.  The story is told with dual narrators, Miles and Juneau.  Miles thinks she is completely crazy, but they both realize they need each other.

As Miles comes to understand Juneau's upbringing and abilities, he realizes she has been telling the truth all along.  They start to develop a friendship and feelings between the two are inevitable.

Overall, this is a very entertaining story.  I enjoyed the characters and was hooked from the beginning.  The relationship was very believable and there was a lot of action to keep the pages turning.  While I can't say that I understand Juneau's powers, they definitely helped propel the story along.  Her abilities are a bit far fetched, but without them this story would have come to a halt a few chapter in.

The ending was a bit of a shock and Amy left us with a HUGE cliffhanger.  This is going to be a duology, but the name of the next book and a release date has yet to be announced.  Since After The End is not going to be released until May 6, 2014....I am pretty sure I have a LONG wait ahead of me.  If you were a fan of Amy's Revenants series, I would definitely check out After The End.

Here are the links to our reviews of Amy's Revenants series:

Die For Me
Until I Die
Die for Her (novella)
If I Should Die

Jacque's Review:

This Die for Me novella is 60 pages worth of content from both Die for Me and Until I Die told from Jules's perspective.  We discover that his feelings for Kate are more than just the flirtatious teasing they appear to be.  He has deep feelings for her, but he realizes Kate and Vincent are truly in love and that Kate does not feel that way about him.  Also, he would never do anything to hurt his best friend, so he keeps his feelings hidden. 

It has been almost a year since I finished reading Until I Die, so this was an excellent refresher before If I Should Die is released next month.  I also enjoyed seeing more of the interactions between Jules and Vincent when Kate was not around.  We get a lot more insight on what was happening behind the scenes in LaMaison and how everything that was going on impacted Vincent.  He is such an amazing and lovable character that I know for a fact there is NO WAY Amy could have done what we think she did at the end of Until I Die.  I am sure there is some sort of explanation and everything WILL eventually work out the way I hope.....A happily ever after for Vincent and Kate :)

We Book Nerds received an ARC of If I Should Die.  Flo and Mary have both read it already and it is currently on its way to me.  After finishing this book yesterday, I must have checked the mailbox three times before the mail finally came.  The book did not arrive, but I am dying to get my hands on it.  They both really enjoyed it and Mary said she LOVED the ending.  That can only mean one thing, right??? *fingers crossed*

Flo's Review

This is going to be an interesting review to write for me...so, you remember that I was the Book Nerd who was skeptic about Die For Me -- I liked it, but I thought it was trying to hard to be Twilight. After reading Until I Die, that skepticism was taken away, as a unique and fascinating story found its adult legs. While everyone has been swooning about Vincent -- and, yes, he's great and all -- I have always been about Jules. Who can resist a funny undead guy?!?! So I was super excited when I learned that we would be getting a novella from his point of view, and I pre-ordered it the second I found out it existed. I read it...and it was okay.

Have you ever seen The Lion King 1 1/2? That's what this novella reminded me of. To give you context, The Lion King is essentially my favorite movie. (Don't judge. Disney rocks!) The Lion King 1 1/2 tells the story from Timon and Pumba's POV. I believe it was a straight-to-video type of deal. That movie did what Die For Her did, and unfortunately I felt both were lacking. The main problem I had was that I felt like I was just watching the events of the first two books on fast forward. It was almost like how Revenge and Once Upon a Time will do one episode at the beginning of the season where they recap everything that happened in the last season. In that way, I can see how it was a great refresher for Jacque as she gets ready to read If I Should Die. So, the novella felt rushed and because of that Jules' feelings for Kate came off too rushed as well. He sees her twice and suddenly he's in love! It's like his feelings had to fast forward, too, and I don't think that was the point of the novella.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if Amy had slowed down and focused on those parts in Die For Me. I definitely would have preferred a more fleshed out few scenes from his point of view instead of this landscape assortment of points from the whole story up to this point. The story could realistically show how Jules came to love Kate in Die For Me, then the last page or so could go into, at max, one or two instances from Until I Die. But I felt like this novella was trying to show us Jules' thoughts at all times in 2 books, in about 60 pages.

I'll end with one thing I did like about the novella. Jules keeps repeating how with all the affections he shows Kate everyone thinks he's kidding, when actually it's real to him. Beautifully written, beautiful character exposure. Made my heart hurt every time in that good kind of way.

Tee's Review

Ugg...I am going to be the bubble buster here, and for that I apologize in advance. I have always enjoyed Amy Plum's Die for Me series, and I think the reason I have enjoyed them so much is the fact that Jules is in them. I am the Booknerd that is NOT a paranormal fan, so for me to read AND enjoy these books is saying something about them, and or the author's writing. So when Flo told me our monthly read along was Die For Her and it was Jules story I was excited.

Unfortunately  when she said it was Jule's story, I thought I would be getting HIS story, not a quick rehashing of the first two books. I wont even get into the emosih way that Jules pined for Kate throughout this story. It was so not the Jules of the books, who is witty and charming and well..loveable. It was like his personality was completely re-written for this short story.

As always, Amy Plumb's writing is both wonderful and descriptive, and some of the behind the scene scenes were very interesting and brought to light things. She just failed to give me what I was hoping for....which was Jules story. Every bit of his charm, his wit, his jokes and his ladies man ways. I am sorry girls, I was totally disappointed ....

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust. (from Goodreads)

Flo's Review
Okay, you may not remember this, but once upon a time the Book Nerds all read Die for Me by Amy Plum. While the other 3 raved about it, I had issues because I felt like it was trying to be Twilight. But I liked the story enough to read on, and the second book in the trilogy, If I Should Die, was distinct, unique, and amazing. I loved it. This is exactly how I feel about The Testing. Basically, this book was trying to be The Hunger Games. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. But that's because I liked The Hunger Games. I think if you liked The Hunger Games, you'll like this one. If you didn't like The Hunger Games, you won't like this one. Let me give you some examples...

Cia, the main character, reminds me a lot of Katniss in the way that her mind works when she's figuring out the people around her and trying to stay atop of her situation. Seriously. Going through Cia's thought processes during her challenges, I felt like I was in Katniss' head in the arena. The one difference between them, to me, is that while Katniss is not very trusting, Cia is too trusting.

Tomas is the boy from Cia's colony. (A colony, is case you're wondering, is basically is the same thing as a district in the Hunger Games. Both are dystopian North America, both basically organized by their livelihoods, and in the case of Cia's colony (Five Lakes) and Katniss district (12), both are outer dwellings that the Capitol (Hunger Games)/Tsou City (Testing) tend to not think that highly of.) But back to Tomas. He is a boy from Cia's colony who is nice to everyone and everyone generally likes. He also gets chosen for the Testing, and while he and Cia aren't together before they both leave Five Lakes, they end up being a couple. Needless to say, Tomas reminded me of Peeta and he and Cia reminded me of Peeta and Katniss. The difference here is that I felt like Tomas and Cia's love story was way too rushed. I know that extreme circumstances beget extreme emotions, but I'm pretty sure they have only been hanging out together for about a week or maybe two when they professed their undying love for each other.

Cia discovers pretty quickly that the Testing candidates are being watched at all times. This leads to Cia and Tomas "acting" and saying things to increase their own and their friends' likability. Not to mention, Cia has an unfortunate run in with genetic mutts during the story as well. I'll stop there with the Hunger Games comparisons because I don't want to get spoilery with this book, but the comparisons don't stop there. The Testing is brutal and heart-breaking because of the same reasons that The Hunger Games is.

This leads me to a larger question...do we have a new "formula"? Like, you know how some books basically follow a formula and are somewhat predictable because of it, but you read them and like them anyway because they are entertaining? I don't just mean genre -- I have been telling people for awhile now that my favorite type of books are "YA dystopian." I mean formula, like you have this setting, and then this happens, it leads to this, here's the final showdown, and end book. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

As for The Testing, it comes out June 4th. I grabbed my copy from Netgalley. If you liked the story of Hunger Games, you'll like The Testing. So check it out. As for me, I am looking forward to the next book The Testing: Independent Study, because I am hoping it will pull an Amy Plum and turn The Testing into a unique and interesting story of its own.

Good Reads Description:

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series.


Mary's Review:


O. M. G! I cannot believe this second book!  As you know, the Book Nerds are HUGE Amy Plum fans.  I even rate her in my top 5 authors and this book just proves my point why.  


Vincent (*sigh* I love him) is just as dashing and wonderful as in Die For Me.  Kate has really grown up in this second book.  She is standing up for herself and not being so depressed.  I was so happy to see the same characters come back, along with the new ones.


As always, Amy Plum is a wonderful author that captivates you in her story line.  The twists, turns, fighting, making-up, and "loving" that goes on is awesome!


HOWEVER, the ending was horrible! Yep, horrible! Now, I am not going to ruin it for you because I suggest that everyone read this book, but I will say this ........


WHEN DOES BOOK 3 COME OUT?

Jacque's Review:

Until I die picks up where Die for Me left off.  Charles and Charlotte move to the southern part of France for a while, which leaves room at La Maison for a couple of new characters.  Amy introduces us to Violette and Arthur, who are sort of like revenant royalty.  They have been around for a VERY long time and have amounted a considerable amount of expertise on the history of revenants and numa.  They agree to come live with Jean-Baptiste's Paris kindred to help track down the numa, who appear to have gone into hiding after the loss of their leader. 

Violette and Arthur add an interesting dynamic to the story, but we still have all of our favorite characters from Die for Me.  Kate learns a lot more about life as a revenent as well as their history.  As much as I was hoping for an instant cure to Vincent and Kate's struggles, I guess that wouldn't make for a very exciting last two books in this series.  We do get to experience some of Vincent's charm and exceptional date nights, which I absolutely LOVED, but that was not the focus of this book.  Vincent and Kate are under a considerable amount of stress throughout the majority of the book.  There is danger lurking everywhere and the "bad guy" is not as obvious as you would think.

As Mary mentioned, Amy left us with a cliffhanger like you can not even imagine.  I was in shock at first, but I am confident that If I Should Die will turn out as I hope.  Certainly Amy must have the same goals that we do???  I will hold onto this belief as I attempt to endure the year of waiting that we will all have to struggle through.  If I Should Die is scheduled to be released in May 2013.

Our August read was Die For Me by Amy Plum.  When we all, the BookNerds, finished the book we could not stop talking about how great it was.  Then we got into contact with Amy Plum herself and asked if we could ask a few questions.  She was nice enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions.

1.       One of the great things about Die For Me is the way history and the arts are so seamlessly blended into the narrative. Can you tell us briefly about how you blend fact and fiction?

Flo's Review
Die For Me is the story of Kate, a teenager who moves to Paris with her sister Georgia to live with their grandparents after their parents die. Kate finds herself drawn to a very attractive guy named Vincent, and the feeling is mutual. However, there is more to Vincent than meets the eye. Die For Me was a good book and a fast, easy read....however, it felt like I was reading Twilight revamped. Like how sometimes authors, after they have nothing else they can do with one group of characters and story lines, branches off with a companion series about the original casts' cousins or something. I mean, family of undead living together in big, awesome house? Check. Funny family member, displeased-with-being-dead family member, much older patriarch? Check. Most attractive undead family member falls for human girl and compromises family secret? Check. And on and on. There were even multiple times a variation of the line, "Thank goodness you're not dating a vampire!" was used, as if the book really needed to say, "I SWEAR I'm not Twilight! I swear!" But there were some differences, and the book comes alive (I love using puns and clever wording in reviews!) in these. First, author Amy Plum said that she set the story in Paris because it always felt magical to her and she wanted Kate and the reader to feel the same way. She succeeds. Second, I loved reading the relationship between Kate and her sister Georgia. They handled their grief differently and they had their disagreements, but they were always there for each other.  And finally, my favorite character Jules. I just can't resist a funny man charmer. Even an undead one.

Jacque:
I understand some of the similarities Flo mentioned above between Die for Me and Twilight, but this is also one of the few book since Twilight that I absolutely fell in love with.  Like Edward, Vincent is from another era and brings with him chivalry and respect.  While he thinks he is doing and saying everything all wrong, he is actually very well spoken and charming.  I enjoyed the fact that Kate was a strong character and did what she felt would enable her to persevere, which was a sharp contrast to Bella.  While I struggled with some of her decisions, I could understand why she made them based upon her recent past.  She didn't want to expose herself to any further loss or pain.

The characteristics that the revenants possessed were very original and the setting was nothing short of spectacular.  Vincent's kindred (family) each possessed such unique personalities and I enjoyed meeting each of them along with Kate.  There was just enough conflict and paranormal activity present to keep the pages turning while I longed to see how the relationship between Kate and Vincent would unfold. Now that she has earned his family's trust, I can't wait to see where things will lead in the second installment of this series.    

Mary's Review

Out of all 4 BookNerds I was the first to finish Die For Me.  I finished it in less than 2 days and this is what I have to say about it.....OH MY VINCENT!!!! I could not put this book down once I started it.  I could not stop wanting more of Kate and Vincent.  I began feeling so much pain for Kate for losing her parents and what a tragedy it was.  Then came Vincent and he was the perfect fit for Kate.  Now I did not feel the "Twilight" moment like other BookNerds; I felt that Vincent was nothing like Edward and Kate was MUCH STRONGER than Bella.  Also, with this book I felt more connected with Vincent and Kate.  There were three parts in the book where I actually cried my eyes out and there was one part that I actually had to put my Kindle down and walk out of the room to compose myself because I was so upset.  There have not been a lot of books like that for me.  The second I was done I tweeted Amy Plum and told her how much I loved the book and that I could not wait until the next one. Now I am counting down the days.

Tee's Review

Even without all of Mary's gushing about Die For Me, I knew I would enjoy this book. It has four things I love in a book....




1. An angel or in the case of Vincent, an angel like character
2. A dark bad boy
3.Gushy Romance
4.A funny sidekick character, in this case Jules

Amy Plum delivered all of them quite well in this book.  Surprisingly, I really liked the character of Kate. This is a change for me, I usually do not like the female heroine . They come off as weak and needy. I liked that Kate didn't take well to Vincent's life and what he was. Most of the YA girls in these types of books are all..." I don't care that you are a ( insert mythical being here)  or what could happen to me. I love you and I need you to protect me yada yada yada" Kate was like.." Umm no way dude, I can't handle that your this undead thing, I don't care that you are beautiful.." I liked that, but of course she gave in , but I give her kudos for trying. Now to Vincent, oh my, how can you not love him? First of all, we all know I have a thing for the bad boy, and tho Vincent isn't really a bad boy, so to speak, he has had an adventurous past. Second he has that almost angel type thing going on ( tho the whole sleeping dead thing for a few days was kinda creepy to me) and I love a Fallen boy, especially one that can hold his own with a sword. Third, he was soo romantic, I mean I swooned with the letter he wrote Kate, and her birthday surprise at the end of the book * faints*. He pulled out all the stops. So if you love the bad boy angel type that have a romantic side..this book is a definate read for you..

YouTube can be the greatest website ever (and sometimes not); however, this time it is a good thing! Often times I get on YouTube and search for book trailers (even the ones that are made by fans) and I came across an interview of Amy Plum on Harper Teen's YouTube page.

Amy Plum gave some insight into the storyline of Vincent and Kate.




-Mary