Monday, October 31, 2011

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through the World of Books.
Finished
I loved this so much! Review coming soon!
AWEsome!! Review HERE!
Currently Reading
 
Incredibly interesting and sometimes so very gross, but I'm loving it! 
Next In Line
What Are You Reading?
Also, what are you doing for Halloween? Trick or treating perhaps? Let me know. :)


Whatever you do, Have fun and Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Review: If I Stay (If I Stay, #1) by Gayle Forman

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time. (Goodreads)
I should be beaten.
Really.

I... Don't know what to say. If I Stay was...... Incredible. I cried and laughed and enjoyed it more than I ever thought was possible. Again I let myself be the barrier between me and an awesome book. Now I feel stupid because I can't even remember why I didn't want to read it in the first place. I thank whoever did the My Book Boyfriend post on Adam because that was what pulled me into this story. I can't even describe how it affected me. I had to stop reading because I almost started crying in Algebra. I couldn't stop thinking about the story and Mia and Adam and Teddy until I finished it. It was indescribable and if you only take one thing from this lacking review, take this, Read. It.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

In My Mailbox: Birthday Edition/Current To-Read Shelf

 In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. 

These are all the books I have yet to read. A few I've had for a while such as:
The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
Linger by Magie Stiefvater
Paradise by Jill S. Alexander
Dark Reflections by
A Touch Mortal by
The Official Twilight Guide by Stephenie Meyer
The Midnight Gate by
Shimmer by Alyson Noel
The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate
Halo by
Crusade by
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Forever Summer by Alyson Noel

But I got most of them for my birthday. These:
The Predicteds by
Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler
Revolution by 
The Blind Faith Hotel by
Enthralled by
Dead Beautiful by
Choker by Elizabeth
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Eve by Anna Carey
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Gone by Lisa Mcmann
Spellbound by Cara Lynn Schultz
Basic Word List by
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by


I only got one for review and that is this one:
The Magi by Kevin M. Turner

I also won this from a Simon Pulse Sweepstakes:
Until the End by Christopher Pike

So this is what I've gotten these last few weeks. What's in your mailbox?

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Teaser Tuesday: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!
"Once the fans would descend , I'd skitter off to the sidelines. Adam would try to draw me back, to wrap an arm around my waist, but I'd disentangle myself and head back to the shadows. "Don't you like me anymore?" He was kidding, but I could hear the hurt behind the offhand question."
~Page 56, If I Stay (If I Stay, #1) by Gayle Forman

LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own “Teaser Tuesdays” post, or share your “teaser” in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Part psychological drama, part romance, and part mystery, this thought-provoking novel will inspire readers to consider the what-if's in their own lives and recognize the power they have to control their destinies.
(Goodreads)


    

FORGOTTEN was an epic love story. I loved every minute of it. The plot was fast-paced and mysterious! The boy was hot and sweet! I loved London Lane even more than I loved her name. I felt sorry for her. How awful it must be to not remember yesterday. She took it in stride, though, which I guess she was used to. I liked her use of description and her voice was really animated and cheery, if you can understand. I didn't like her friend Jamie very much. She seemed completely different from London. So different that it seemed natural for them to be enemies, instead of friends. It made me really angry how she treated London when she was just trying to help her.
     When Luke comes into London's life, it is in a totally unique, sweet way. Disappearing and leaving his jacket in his midst. Their relationship progresses kinda fast, which I usually don't like, but worked for this book. The only thing that I disliked was that the end seemed sorta...openy. Like open for a sequel.

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1) by Jenny Han

     Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along. (Goodreads)

   
     I had heard about THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY before my Sarah Dessen times and I had gotten turned on to realistic fiction. I am enraged that it took me so long to discover this literary masterpiece. This book had me laughing out loud at the boys' childish antics and crying at their horrible news. I liked Belly right off the bat. She struck me as funny, but I could tell that there was more to her personality. She was lovesick and admits that Conrad had never shown any interest in her, but she just can't help herself. I like how she goes back in time to show how thing were when she wasn't "pretty."
     Jeremiah and Conrad are her objects of affection and I can see why. Jeremiah is the funny, outgoing type that gets skittish if he sits around too long. Conrad is the one who has held her heart since she was ten and is the broody one who spends his time playing his guitar holed up in his room. They confused Belly often after she arrives back at the beach house. Conrad starts acting strange and different and Jeremiah, who has always been a good friend, starts to pay her more attention. To add to the mix, Cam, a boy who saw her before she was pretty, makes her decision even
harder.
     All of the characters in THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY were very active. Belly made the beach house an entity separate from real life. It was like you were there with them. Laurel, Belly's mom, is a calm, serene person who Belly often underestimates. Susannah, the boys' mom, is fun and outgoing and keeps a smile on her face even while hiding a saddening secret. I felt like I was apart of this family. I hurt and laughed and cried with them. It is a book that will stay with me long after I read the second and third book because it was honestly the best summer I've ever had.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Follow Friday (10/7/11)

Follow Friday

It's Follow Friday! This is my Follow Friday post, a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee!

This week's question: If you could pick one character in a book, movie or television show to swap places with, who would it be?

My Answer: The first character that comes to mind is June, played by Cameron Diaz on Day and Knight. I would love to be towed around and drugged by Tom Cruise. If all I had to do was act a little ditzy and wear a bright yellow dress, I would be in in a heartbeat and they wouldn't even have to pay me.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (10/2/11)

This week's WoW #1 is...

Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan.

It was released on October 3, 2011.

Summary: The girls at Modesta High School feel like they're stuck in some anti-feminist time warp-they're faced with sexism at every turn, and they've had enough. Sponsored by their new art teacher, Ms. Stark, they band together to form the Daughters of Eve. It's more that a school club-it's a secret society, a sisterhood. At first, it seems like they are actually changing the way guys at school treat them. But Ms. Stark urges them to take more vindictive action, and it starts to feel more like revenge-brutal revenge. Blinded by their oath of loyalty, the Daughters of Eve become instruments of vengeance. Can one of them break the spell before real tragedy strikes?



  
This week's WoW #2 is....


It will be released on January 2, 2012.

Summary: Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason, life never seems to get any better. She left her spoiled, rich girl life to find peace at River's Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There, she learned to embrace River's Edge, despite some drama involving the sexy Reyn, who she wants but won't allow herself to have. But just as she's getting comfortable, her family's ties to dark magick force her to leave.

She falls back into her old, hard partying ways, but will her decision lead her into the hands of a dark immortal? Or will it be her first step to embracing the darkness within her?


 This week's WoW #2 is...
 

It will be released on November 1, 2011. 

Summary: When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

What are you waiting for?


Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

From Jessi Kirby, a debut novel about confronting the past in order to move ahead.

I read once that water is a symbol for emotions. And for a while now, I've thought maybe my mother drowned in both.

Anna's life is upended when her father accepts a job transfer the summer before her junior year. It's bad enough that she has to leave her friends and her life behind, but her dad is moving them to the beach where her parents first met and fell in love- a place awash in memories that Anna would just as soon leave under the surface.

While life on the beach is pretty great, with ocean views and one adorable lifeguard in particular, there are also family secrets that were buried along the shore years ago. And the ebb and flow of the ocean's tide means that nothing- not the sea glass that she collects on the sand and not the truths behind Anna's mother's death- stays buried forever.

     Sea glass and mermaids take on a whole new meaning in this touching and heartbreaking story of the effects of suicide and what it leaves behind. Anna Ryan is a confident teenage girl who moving away from the place where her mother drowned and to a place with more stories than she knows. Moon glass was a wonderful mix of genres and emotions. It was not at all what I expected it to be and that made it all the more better. Anna keeps to herself and has a fascination with looking for sea glass, a hobby passed down from her mother. Anna is an example of smiling on the outside and crying on the inside. She is very sure of herself and makes friends easily, but her voice and inside thoughts are deep and hurt. She has flashbacks that help her to truly understand what her seven-year-old self couldn't.
     The best things and most helpful thing to Anna's growth is her friends and family. There was her Dad who hid things from her to try to protect her, but was hurting also. There was Tyler whom she liked and was there for her. Jillian, who she could relate to and Ashley, who was more than what meets the eye. All these people were awesome supporting characters who played their parts well. They built Anna up and listened, just listened when she needed to talk. All of them were there for her and will probably never understand how much they helped her.
     Moonglass which is a term made up by Anna to mean sea glass found during a full moon has come to mean many things, to me, and to Anna. The subject matter of this book is heart wrenching and tearful, but the outcome makes it greatly inspiring. A tough adversity to overcome, a determined protagonist, and the people who help her. A wonderful story.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Teaser Tuesday: Separate But Not Equal by James Haskins

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!


"As this book goes to press, separate but unequal schools have been unconstitutional for forty-three years. Yet, in may areas of the nation, schools remain separate and unequal. How the nation will deal with the larger issues that maintain separate by unequal schools, in fact if not by law, is a question for the future to decide."

~Page 167-168, Separate But Not Equal by Jim Haskins

LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own “Teaser Tuesdays” post, or share your “teaser” in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Monday, October 3, 2011

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through the World of Books.
Finished
Currently Reading
Next in Line
What are you reading?

Heist Society (Heist Society #1) by Ally Carter

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.


Katerina and her gang of friends certainly made this book interesting. I put off reading the start of this series for a long time, but am finally happy to have been exposed to this awesome book. I love the characters. Katerina had a beautiful name, a beautiful, cunning mind, and a beautiful heart that struggled over the meaning of good and bad. I liked that she could hang out with the boys and be a girl. My favorite scene had to be when she surprises them all by busting out her boobs for the occasion. Hale was the perfect love interest and was sweet and confusing, perfectly understandable to Kat. Gabrielle, Simon, and the Bagshaw all lend their different personalities and humor to make this cast funny and memorable.
I can honestly say that I have never read book about a teenage thief and that Kat would be the first. I loved her struggle of what was right and what was in her. She came to wonderful compromise and still didn't betray herself. This book was very family oriented and just...different. When and if I read another book about a teenage thief, Heist Society will be the one to beat.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

My Favorites of 2011

I am participating in a mini challenge at Princess Bookie's. I have to tell my favorites of 2011 and here they are...

Why? I had seen this series, like, tons of times and not picked it up. But one day, I walk into Wal-mart with no books on my to-read shelf and in desperate need of a new book. I was extremely apprehensive, but when I read this book I was so embarrassed to have not picked it up earlier. I also loved the other two, but that would take up two more spots on my list! :)
Why? It really stuck with me. It was really unique, a quality that I love and always take notice of. There was almost no punctuation and almost no correct grammar, at all. This book was like the epitome of me being daring. 
Why? No. Words. I think I read Divergent 5 times in one month. I don't think I hardly put up my It's Monday because this was all I read. I mean, I was breathing hard after reading it the first time. How else can you tell its a good book?
Why? It was awesome. And it made me feel better saying that Stephenie Meyer is one of my favorite authors. Now when people ask me why I can say more than Twilight.
Why? I used to think that I couldn't call myself a real reader unless I had read classics. I had only read one, Pride and Prejudice, and I think I hated it so much because I couldn't understand it. So my journey to be a well-rounded reader was over. But one night while looking at college prep stuff, I found a list of books for college bound readers. I became determined to finish this list before I made it to college, which is in four years. I went shopping and coincidentally, this was on sale. I bought it and the rest is history, it was unbelievable. Nuff said.

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