Paperback Treasures

My New Treasures #5

2012-05-27T14:30:00.000+02:00

My New Treasures is a weekly feature here at Paperback Treasures to showcase all the books I received over the previous week. I do not take credit for this idea.

I only got one physical book this week, so instead of doing a vlog, I thought I'd show you the ebooks I received over the last two weeks.These are all from NetGalley.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (Amazon | Goodreads) (Already read and liked it. Wasn't as amazing as I was expecting it to be, but it was pretty good.)

Circle of Silence by Carol M. Tanzman (Amazon | Goodreads) (Really liked it - and it has a quote from my review of dancergirl! Yay!)

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian (Amazon | Goodreads) (I'm kinda mad about two awesome contemporary authors teaming up and writing something not-contemporary, but I'll read anything these two write.)

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

2012-05-26T14:30:00.000+02:00

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release date: May 3rd 2011
Pages: 487
Genre: YA; dystopia
Source: Won from MaryAnn from Chapter by Chapter - thanks!
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wow. Why did I wait so long to read Divergent? Because of the huge hype around this series, I was expecting it to be good. But Divergent isn't just good - it's mindblowing. The whole idea is crazy, and so, so good. All the factions and what they stand for is so well thought-out - this book completely blew my mind. The plot is fast-paced and intriguing - there wasn't a single scene in this book that didn't leave me dying for more. (Which is probably why I read it in a day, even though it's so thick.)

It's great how, even though the fast-paced plot is what it's mainly about, this book also made me think. I don't think any dystopian book before has confronted me like this, made me think about what I would do in Tris's position, as much as Divergent did. The whole time while I was reading, I was trying to figure out which faction I would choose, what I would do in this world.

Tris is a fantastic heroine. I loved her - one of my favorite MCs in a long time. She's the definition of a kickass character. She's not the kind of character I normally relate to - Dauntless is probably the last faction I would have chosen, and I'm nowhere near as brave as her - but I could connect to her anyways. I just loved Tris so much - YA needs more characters like her!

And then there's Four. Wow. I don't know what it is about him, but there's this certain energy to every scene with Four - I can feel the tension and the chemistry between him and Tris. I felt electrified while reading about him - I know that sounds weird, but it's true.

This book is just... perfect. Perfectly plotted and well-written, and the characters are some of my new favorites. What more could you want? Now I'm dying to read Insurgent - but luckily, I won't have to wait long, since I read Divergent so late.

What do you think when you see a book has as many pages as this one? Does that discourage you or make you more excited about the book? What's your preferred length for the books you read?

Judging Books By Their Covers #3: Roads & Cars

2012-05-25T14:30:00.000+02:00

Judging Books by Their Covers is a feature I do every once in a while to showcase some book covers. Each post, I choose one category and some book covers that fit into that category, and talk about whether or not I like those covers. You can read some earlier posts in this feature here.

The links will take you to the Goodreads pages.

Today's category is: roads and cars!

You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

In Honor by Jessi Kirby

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes

Flirting In Italian by Lauren Henderson

Out of Reach by Carrie Jones

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

I'm not so sure of what I think of book covers with roads and cars. I usually like the actual book, since this cover trend goes hand in hand with the road trip trend, which I'm a huge fan of, but just the cover... I don't know. I don't really like the covers for Two-Way Street, Flirting in Italian, and The Princesses of Iowa - these covers are kind of boring, in my opinion. I love the covers for Out of Reach (stark and eye-catching) and You Are Here (simply beautiful), though, so this kind of cover can go either way with me.

What do you think of book covers featuring roads and cars? Which cover is your favorite?

Review: Shine by Lauren Myracle

2012-05-24T14:30:00.000+02:00

Title: Shine
Author: Lauren Myracle
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release date: April 27th 2011
Pages: 350
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I've read Lauren Myracle's Internet Girls series (ttyl, ttfn and l8r, g8r) and thought they were cute and fun, so I was really excited to read another one of her books. And while Shine is really different from the Internet Girls series - a lot darker and more serious - I really enjoyed it!

What I liked best about Shine is the setting and the atmospheric description of Cat's home town, Black Creek. The desriptions are so vivid the town almost seems like its own character. Life in a small Southern town is described so well I could easily imagine what it's like, and I like how many issues are addressed (poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, homophobia, etc.) without it ever sounding preachy - Cat's just telling us about her experiences, her day-to-day life, and seeing people destroy their life with meth or whatever is just a normal part of that. That makes it especially heartbreaking to read about - one story that stuck with me is the one of the guy who sells vegetables on the street; his story makes me want to bawl. The portrayal of Cat's life in Black Creek is raw and real.

Then there's Cat, our main character. I wasn't sure what to think of her at first, but she grew on me. In the beginning, she's a little hard to feel for because you don't know why she acts the way she does, but once you find out what happened, it works. I liked reading about her coming-of-age story and how she grows as a character. While I would have liked to know some more about her future - whether she does try to get into college and do something with her life and all of that - I kind of liked not knowing, and just being able to hope that she does get out.

The secondary characters are good. I loved reading about Cat's relationship with Christian, and how that develops over the course of the novel. Her aunt, though, I would have liked to know some more about - I never felt like I really got to know her. The rest of the "redneck crew" has distinct personalities, too, and I liked seeing how there's more than meets the eye to each of them. Jason, the love interest, is sweet, albeit a little bland. I didn't really mind, though - I like how there's a hint of romance without that being the main storyline, so it's okay that Jason isn't the most complex character.

I'm torn on what to make of the mystery storyline. It's not the traditional course of suspect after suspect, and I didn't find it too surprising who ended up being the bad guy. But somehow, I didn't really mind - I liked being there alongside Cat as she found out, even if I already knew, in the back of my head. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I found the character of the person who did it to be lacking some depth - I wanted to know more about what made him/her do it.

I'm not sure what to make of the ending. I can't even explain why, since I thought it was the right thing to do, but it just didn't sit right with me.

There were a few things I didn't like, but somehow, all-together, it just works. Shine isn't going on my favorites shelf, but I enjoyed reading it, especially the setting and characters. I recommed it if you're looking for something real, raw and gritty.

Can you think of any books where the setting is what captivated you most?

Interview with Jenny Torres Sanchez (The Downside of Being Charlie Blog Tour)

2012-05-23T14:30:00.000+02:00

Today we have Jenny Torres Sanchez here for an author interview! This post is part of The Teen Scene's blog tour for The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez. You can find out all about the tour here.

1. Checking out your website, I see you used to like thinking of other names for yourself, so you must like being allowed to invent names for fictional people! How do you go about choosing names for your characters?

I do like the naming my characters, but actually, I tend to keep them relatively simple. But I will “ feel out” a character’s name for a while, use the name for a scene or two and see if it feels right. If it does, I keep it.

Charlie has always been Charlie, but in my second YA nove I changed the names of some characters a couple of times before they felt right.

2. Without spoiling anything, could you tell is what was your favorite scene to write in The Downside of Being Charlie?

I think my favorite scene to write was the snow scene. In this scene, Charlotte and Charlie are lying down on her front lawn, looking up at the sky as it snows. That scene is very vivid in my mind. I can see the inky sky and the blur of falling snow. There’s this quiet beauty to the whole thing, but this scene is also where Charlie and Charlotte start to get somewhat real with one another and it’s crushing to Charlie. I don’t know, somehow this scene just seemed very important. And I just really liked figuring out the conversation between Charlotte and Charlie in this scene—how much they would tell each other and how much they would still keep from one another.

3. What is the best writing advice you've ever received?

Produce, produce, produce. This became my mantra as I set out to write The Downside of Being Charlie because sometimes (and I was definitely guilty of this for many years) there is a lot of talk about writing, or a lot of reading about writing, or a lot of going to writing conferences and workshops, but there’s not a whole lot of actual writing, which is after all the most important part of writing. I don't discourage anyone from doing any of these things, but it should be in addition to writing. Because no matter how much prep work you do, the best way to become a better writer is to produce work. Work that serves as practice, that you can learn from, that you can tweak and make better and use to better understand what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. If you don’t produce anything, you won’t learn no matter how much you discuss it with other writers, or read about it, or attend the best conferences. And you won’t get better. You have to produce. You have to write.

4. I read you're a high school English teacher. How does that help you with your own writing?

My experience as a teacher definitely helped my writing. Seeing the drama and angst that is high school (after thinking I was done with it and blocking out most of my own teenage years) was really interesting. Seeing the struggles my students had, the way they behaved, the things they would say or wouldn’t say, really made me think about and appreciate the teen experience in a new way and made want to me to write about it. It helped me remember what it was like to be a teen and it gave me the opportunity to observe teens. But most of all, I think it reminded every day to give teens lots of credit. Sometimes it’s easy to generalize teens, and perhaps think that they don’t appreciate literature. But they do, and they have strong opinions about different issues but they’re also incredibly openminded, and they’re passionate. Being a teacher helped me (I think and I hope) write characters that are real, that I hope teens can relate to and they see themselves in.

5. If you had to pair up your main character Charlie with any other character from any other book, who would it be and why?

I would pair Charlie up with Vera Dietz from Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Please Ignore Vera Dietz is one of my favorite books and I think both Charlie and Vera suffer quietly, I think both are very good about hiding things, but I think they would see this in the each other and somehow feel connected. I think they would understand each other and become really good friends.

Thanks fo the great interview answers, Jenny!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the tour, and keep your eye out for The Downside of Being Charlie, which has already been released.

The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Charlie is handed a crappy senior year. Despite losing thirty pounds over the summer, he still gets called “Chunks” Grisner. What’s worse, he has to share a locker with the biggest Lord of the Rings freak his school has ever seen. He also can’t figure out whether Charlotte VanderKleaton, the beautiful strawberry lip-glossed new girl, likes him the way he likes her. Oh, and then there’s his mom. She’s disappeared—again—and his dad won’t talk about it.
Somewhere between the madness, Charlie can at least find comfort in his one and only talent that just might get him out of this life-sucking place. But will he be able to hold his head above water in the meantime?

Review: Crazy by Amy Reed

2012-05-22T14:30:00.000+02:00

Title: Crazy
Author: Amy Reed
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: June 12th 2012
Pages: 384
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: GalleyGrab
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Connor knows that Izzy will never fall in love with him the way he’s fallen for her. But somehow he’s been let into her crazy, exhilarating world and become her closest confidante. But the closer they get, the more Connor realizes that Izzy’s highs are too high and her lows are too low. And the frenetic energy that makes her shine is starting to push her into a much darker place. As Izzy’s behavior gets increasingly erratic and self-destructive, Connor gets increasingly desperate to stop her from plummeting. He knows he can’t save her from her pain… but what if no one else can?

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Crazy is written almost entirely in emails and IM messages, which I didn't know before starting this book. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's an original idea, and it gives us a unique insight into Connor and Izzy's relationship. I was worried this format would mean we wouldn't get to know the characters enough in how they really think, since we don't know whether they're being honest or whether they're telling the other person everything. But that part works pretty well - Connor and Izzy are very honest with each other and let the other one what they're thinking. I do think we got to know the characters well, considering the format, which means the author must have done something right.

But... I'm still not sure whether I like the format. Parts of it felt a little contrived to me - the reasons for writing as much in their emails weren't always clear to me. A lot of the book feels too much like normal narrative - writing an email, I'd assume you wouldn't be as descriptive as you'd be writing a novel, and I found how much these emails sounded like normal narrative to be a little unrealistic. The fact that towards the end, there is normal narrative and a few other formats in between the emails also felt contrived to me.

Then there are the characters. Like I said, we do get to know them pretty well, despite the format. Each of them has a distinct and realistic voice. But I still didn't love them. Connor is a pretty average character - he's a nice guy, but not all that special. His wimpy-ness got on my nerves a few times, but I didn't mind him too much. Izzy is very different and unique. I didn't particularly like her, but I don't think you're supposed to. The mental illness aspect is done very well. Izzy's descent into madness is realistic, and at times, downright scary.

Maybe it's because of the format, but I still felt somewhat removed from the story, even though it was interesting to see how her disorder changed Izzy. Honestly, I had a hard time seeing the point of this story. I feel bad for saying that, since I'm definitely not someone who says every book needs to teach us something, or anything like that - a book is just supposed to tell a story. But for me, I didn't really see a point to the story; it didn't touch me in the way I'd hoped it would. I felt like an outsider - I wasn't living inside the story like you do when you're really feeling a book.

Technically, most of this book is very well done. It's a realistic portrayal of bipolar disorder with two interesting characters. But emotionally, personally, Crazy didn't do much for me, and I didn't end up loving this book like I'd hoped I would. Still, if you're looking for an interesting story with a unique style, you should give Crazy a try.

What do you think of unique styles like this one, books written entirely in emails or IM or anything like that? Do you appreciate the originality, or do you think these books don't allow you to get into a character's head the way traditional narrative does?

Book Blogger Confessions #8

2012-05-21T15:16:00.000+02:00

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here.

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Memes. Love em or hate em? How many do you participate in? Which kinds do you like best? Do you feel like there are too many?

I think when you start blogging, memes are great. I did lots when I first started - Waiting on Wednesday, Follow Friday, On My Wishlist, and In My Mailbox. They're a great way to get your blog out there when you're a new blogger, and they helped me a lot in the beginning.

Now, though, I'm not a huge fan anymore. I don't like being so dependent on other blogs, and I think it's important not to overdo it with the memes - make sure your blog has original content. Making your blog stand out is hard when most of your posts are memes. I've replaced most memes with original features. Instead of On My Wishlist and Waiting on Wednesday, I do my Bookish Wishlist and Bookish Anticipation features, and instead of In My Mailbox I do My New Treasures (although that change wasn't because I wanted to not do memes anymore but because of the recent drama). I like that this way, I can be more independent in how and when I post. Make sure to still credit the people who came up with it, though!

The only memes I still do now are Book Blogger Confessions and Top Ten Tuesday - I like these two because they let you post original content with each post, and because you can't do these by yourself, since they give you a topic each week.

So that's what I do on my blog. Now, for what I like on other blogs... it's the same thing, really. I like memes, as long as you don't overdo it. I'd say no more than two or three memes a week. I think some memes are better than others - basically, the more thought you have to put into your post, the better. I like memes like this one, since you can see people spent some time writing the post. I don't want to sound rude, but I'm not a fan of memes like It's Moday, What Are You Reading? and Teaser Tuesday - those are often just a picture and a few sentences. If it's just filler, then I prefer not posting at all.

So, that's what I think of memes. They're great when you're just starting out, but once you've established yourself a little, I think you should try to do your own thing. If you're putting some thoughts into it, memes can be great, but if it's just filler, I'd just prefer not posting - quality always beats quantity.

What do you think of memes?

Bout of Books Read-a-thon Wrap-Up

2012-05-21T10:22:00.000+02:00

The Bout of Books Read-a-thon is over!

Books read:

1. What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen
2. Circle of Silence by Carol M Tanzman
3. Liar by Justine Larbalestier
4. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
5. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
5.8. We'll Always Have Summer by Janny Han (I almost finished this one last night, but I have about 40 pages left. I didn't want to not count it at all, though, so I'm counting it as .8 books!)

I didn't reach my goal of 8 books, but considering I didn't really start reading until Thursday, I think I did a pretty good job. And even though I didn't reach my goal on the bookish side of things, I'd definitely say this read-a-thon was a success for me. I got to know so many new people on Twitter, in the Twitter chats and just tweeting about my progress - it was awesome! That was definitely the best part of Bout of Books, for me.

The next read-a-thon is supposed to be in August, and as long as it's early August (I'm starting college in the middle of August - eek!), I will definitely be taking part again!

If you took part in Bout of Books, did you reach your goal? What was your favorite part?

My New Treasures #4

2012-05-20T14:04:00.000+02:00

My New Treasures is a new weekly feature here at Paperback Treasures to showcase all the books I received over the previous week. I do not take credit for this idea.

Bought:

Nothing Special by Geoff Herbach (Amazon | Goodreads)

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Amazon | Goodreads)

Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday (Amazon | Goodreads)

Hooked by Catherine Greenman (Amazon | Goodreads)

Review: The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

2012-05-19T17:10:00.000+02:00

Title: The Fine Art of Truth and Dare
Author: Melissa Jensen
Publisher: Speak
Release date: February 16th 2012
Pages: 380
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that’s just fine by her. She’s got her friends— the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She’s got her art— and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it’s hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they’re dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I started out loving this book. I could immediately relate to the main character Ella. Her insecurites are easy to understand. As a child, she was burned badly, and she still has a huge scar on her shoulders, neck, and breast, and that makes her very self-conscious. I liked reading about her insecurities as she struggles with her self-esteem but doesn't spend hours whining about it.

I loved Ella's friends as well. Frankie is a hilarious character - I know it's cliched, but I just love the gay-best-friend type of character. Sadie is a good character, too, and I liked reading about her family issues. Ella, Frankie and Sadie have a great friendship - the way they support each other is sweet, and I found myself always looking forward to scenes with these two characters. I loved their ToD games, too!

The restaurant and Ella's family situation is a nice addition to the story. Her family is Italian and they own a restaurant where Ella spends a lot of time, since the whole family has to help out. I always loved the scenes in the restaurants - the food sounds so delicious! Seriously, don't read this book hungry - the descriptions of the food had my mouth watering! I would have liked to know some more about each of the family members, but all in all, I liked reading about the family dynamics.

I love the idea for Ella's obsession with the dead painter, Edward Willing - unique and interesting. I liked reading about Edward's life story, and how it relates to Ella's own life. I think we got to know a little too much about Edward, though - there are excerpts from biographies and articles about him and stuff like that, and I was kind of bored during those parts. Maybe that's just because I'm not all that interested in art, though.

All of that sounds pretty postive, and I did really like this book, in the beginning. The only storyline I didn't like is the romance, and sadly, the romance turned into the main focus later on in the book. Ella's obsession with Alex annoyed me - I'm just sick of the quiet-loner-girl-falls-for-the-most-popular-guy-at-school storyline. I never really got Alex as a character - there were times when I wanted to like him, when he really seemed like a good guy; and there were times when I couldn't stand him. I just never got a grasp on what kind of person he was supposed to be. The romance storyline is predictable, and it just didn't work for me.

About halfway through this book, I got bored. The pacing is really, really slow, and I was ready for the book to be over long before it actually was over. I would have liked the book to be a little shorter, the plot to move a little faster.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. I think it had a lot of promise, since I liked the whole set-up, with Ella's character, her friends, her family, and her obsession with Edward. But the slow pacing and predictable romance made it hard for me to enjoy The Fine Art of Truth or Dare. Nevertheless, I liked reading about most storylines other than the romance, and I do think it's a cute, fun book - just nothing special.

Review: All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

2012-05-18T14:30:00.000+02:00

Title: All These Lives
Author: Sarah Wylie
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release date: June 5th 2012
Pages: 256
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky. She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal. And Jena is wasting away.
To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives. Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one. Someone like Jena. But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization. Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all. Maybe she really only ever had one.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book really surprised me! I wasn't expecting much, and honestly, the cover is the main reason I read this book. (Underwater covers get me every time.) The idea sounded kind of strange to me, but I thought I'd give it a try anyways. And I'm glad I did - I really enjoyed All These Lives!

I still think the whole idea of the nine lives is kind of strange. I just don't get how you could think something like that, how that could seem like a reasonable way to help someone, and I can't imagine anyone really doing that. But even though that appears to be the main idea of the book - that's what the title refers to; it's the main focus of the description; and the novel is split into parts for each of Dani's 'life' - for me, it wasn't really about the nine lives. It was about Dani.

And Dani, I loved. Oh, Dani. I didn't like her, but I kind of loved her. I know, that doesn't make any sense, but it's true. I don't think I would like her if I knew her in real life - actually, I'm pretty sure she would completely piss me off - but I loved reading from her POV, and I really grew to love her. She's a rude, selfish bitch, but there's just something about her. She's a unique character, always speaks her mind, and says the most ridiculous things. Her sense of humor is random, weird, and quirky, in an awesome way, and she had me laughing out loud. She's not the typical MC I like reading about and relate to, but I loved her.

I also loved the romance. It's not the main storyline by a long shot - which I appreciate, since nothing's worse than forcing romance on a book that doesn't need any - but it's the one I spent the most time obsessing over. I'm pretty sure the romance was written with the sole intent of torturing me. I have two favorite types of love interests: Mysterious Loner Guy and Quiet Nerdy Guy. And this book has both. Which is awesome, but which also means that I had to choose between the two! Which is impossible. I did end up choosing Quiet Nerdy Guy, though - but that might just be because Mysterious Loner Guy mysteriously (ha!) disappears halfway through the book and just doesn't play an important role anymore. But, anyways, I loved the romance, and the chemistry is amazing. I'm not even sure why, since Jack (Quiet Nerdy Guy) is not the best, most complex character or anything like that, but I just loved him with Dani. They are so freaking adorable together! I just wanted to squeal of adorable-ness.

The writing flows nicely, and it's the perfect balance between fun and emotional. Despite the heavy subject matter, this book is pretty light - most of it is humorous and just fun to read. But in between, there are touching, emotional scenes and a few sentences that make you stop and think.

I would have liked some parts to be a little more fleshed out, and I would have liked to know more about some of the secondary characters (why does Mysterious Loner Guy have to suddenly disappear? I want to know more!). I still think the idea is kind of werid, but I also kind of loved this book. It's quirky, unique, and fun, but still touching and emotional when it needs to be. I don't know whether this book is for everyone, since I can definitely see people having a problem with Dani, but I loved her, and I loved this book.

Can you think of any MCs you probably wouldn't like in real life but LOVED reading about?

Guest Post by Alissa Grosso & Giveaway (Ferocity Summer Blog Tour)

2012-05-17T13:37:00.000+02:00

Today we have Alissa Grosso here for a guest post! This post is part of the road trip themed Ferocity Summer blog tour, which you can find out all about here.

Travel with Friends

This is the final stop on my Blog Tour Road Trip to promote my new book Ferocity Summer, which is now available. Don't forget to read to the end of this post to find out how you can enter a drawing for your very own summer survival pack, which includes a signed copy of Ferocity Summer.

I've been lucky enough to go on this virtual road trip with some friends around the blogosphere. Some are folks who are real life friends. Some I've been lucky enough to meet in person. Others are friends who I've never met except in the virtual sense of the word. Being able to make this journey with friends has definitely made the ride more fun.

In my day job, I do a lot of traveling. For the most part I make these trips on my own. It can get a bit monotonous and lonely. Sometimes, for the bigger trips or the overnight ones, I bring my dog with me. He's a pretty good travel companion. He doesn't complain about my taste in music, but he's also pretty useless when it comes to reading maps.

My other "job", the reason I'm here today is the business of writing and promoting my books. Although it's possible to do this solo, I've found that taking some friends along for the ride makes things a lot more fun. Last year, when my first novel, Popular, came out, I was lucky enough to be part of the wonderful Class of 2K11. Even though we have "graduated" our group has remained close, and I am so thankful to have such a wonderful group of friends with whom I can share my writing news both good and bad.

I've done some solo book signings, but I've done a lot more group book signings. Why? Because group book signings are more fun and less lonely. Another great group I'm lucky to be part of is the KidLit Authors Club made up of local children's and YA writers who love to get together for book signings and other events.

On a recent cold and gloomy Saturday, I drove down to Stone Harbor, NJ with Charlotte Bennardo where we met Nancy Viau and Elisa Ludwig for a book signing at Stone Harbor Books. It was chilly and a bit damp, which didn't help draw the crowds, but surrounded by such sunny personalities we all had a good time.

What's the moral of this story? If you're planning a road trip be it real or virtual, consider bringing along a friend or two. It's sure to make your journey more fun.

Nancy Viau, Alissa Grosso, Elisa Ludwig & Charlotte
Bennardo at Stone Harbor Books

Now, the giveaway! Enter with the Rafflecopter form below and win a summer survival pack, which includes a signed copy of Ferocity Summer! The giveaway ends on midnight, May 20th, and is open worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ferocity Summer is dark and weird, in the best way possible, so you should definitely check it out! You can read my review here. Visit Alissa's blog to see all the other stops of this road trip blog tour!

Ferocity Summer by Alissa Grosso
(Amazon | Goodreads)

It’s the hottest summer on record in New Jersey and soon Scilla Davis must stand trial for her involvement in a deadly speedboat accident. With the possibility of conviction looming, life seems empty, unreal, and utterly hopeless. Watching her best friend Willow destroy herself with drugs and booze is especially painful. Yet Scilla can’t manage to wrest Willow—or herself—from a path of self-destruction. With a new drug called Ferocity sweeping the nation, an FBI agent is eager to make a bust. He offers Scilla a way out of this nightmare. But is she willing to betray her own drugdealing boyfriend?

Review: Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

2012-05-16T14:30:00.000+02:00

Title: Unbreak My Heart
Author: Melissa Walker
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Release date: May 22nd 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: NetGalley
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart?

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was so excited for this book - I love the cover, and the premise sounded unique and interesting. I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to relate to Clem because of the whole cheating-thing - a girl putting a guy first and not thinking of her friend just makes me so mad - but I thought I'd love the story of how she moves on, and the romance, too. I did like this book, but it turned out to be the other way around - I liked reading about how Clem fell for Ethan, but had some problems with this summer's romance storyline.

Even though I thought that aspect would bother me, I really liked reading about what happened before this summer, how Clem tried to resist but found herself falling for her best friend's boyfriend. It feels wrong to say this, but I actually really liked Clem and Ethan together - they have great chemistry, and their nerdy conversations are hilarious and awesome. I especially liked their talking about music - introduced me to some great songs! I don't approve of what they did or anything like that - I felt bad for Amanda, and Ethan is an ass for cheating, but, I don't know, I just thought Clem and Ethan were really cute together, and I liked reading about how their relationship develops. I liked reading about Clem and Amanda's friendship, too - I really liked all the flashbacks, maybe even more than the actual story.

That's not to say I didn't like the actual story, the one that takes place this summer. I liked reading about the sailing - makes me wish it was summer and I could go sailing, too. How living on a boat affects the family dynamics is interesting to read about, too. Olive, Clem's little sister, is adorable. The family dynamics are really well-done, and Clem's issues with her family are easy to relate to, at least for me.

Surprisingly, the only storyline I didn't love was the romance. I can't put my finger on it; I don't really know why I didn't like it all that much. James is a good character, sweet and quirky with some issues of his own. But... I don't know, it just bothered me a little how much of Clem's character growth focuses on her relationship with James. Clem's character growth is great, and I loved reading about her coming to terms with what she did. Sure, James is a part in helping her deal with all of it, but so is the family life and just Clem as a person. I would have liked the focus to be more on Clem's inner strength and less on how important the romance was for her development. Something about the picture of Clem only being able to fix herself with the help of another guy just bothers me. Nevertheless, I did like Clem and James together - I just wish the story hadn't focused on their relationship as much.

Even though the romance and what role it plays in Clementine's character growth didn't sit right with me, I really liked Unbreak My Heart. With an easy to relate to main character, great family dynamics and a unique setting, Unbreak My Heart is the story of finding the strength to forgive yourself. It's a sweet book that I enjoyed reading.

Do you have any recommendations of books about traveling? Maybe even ones with unqiue settings like this one?

Word Associations with Karen Schreck (While He Was Away Blog Tour)

2012-05-15T17:43:00.003+02:00

Today we have Karen Schreck here for an author word associations post! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for While He Was Away by Karen Schreck. You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about While He Was Away!

These are author word associations, meaning I gave Karen some random words and phrases and she had to respond with the first thing that came to her mind.

Cooking and baking:

improvise

Sunday mornings:

coffee, NPR, communion

The gym:

elliptical and weights, while listening to a good audiobook

Board games:

SORRY and CLUE with my kids

Dictionary:

Oxford English, magnifying glass

Smileys:

bright yellow

Chocolate chip cookies:

warm, from the oven

Penguins:

stalwart and true

Summer:

ah...

Playground:

teeter totter

Traveling:

adventure

Vegetarian:

spicy tofu stir with cashews

Firefighter:

9/11

Thanks for the great answers, Karen!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep your eye out for While He Was Away, which has already been released.

While He Was Away by Karen Schreck
(Amazon | Goodreads)

When Penna Weaver’s boyfriend goes off to Iraq, she’s left facing life without him. As summer sets in, Penna tries to distract herself with work and her art, but the not knowing is slowly driving her crazy. Especially when David stops writing. She knows in her heart he will come home— but will he be the same boy she fell in love with?

Review: Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit

2012-05-15T14:00:00.000+02:00

Title: Fall from Grace

Author: Charles Benoit

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release date: May 8th 2012
Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Edelweiss
Add on Goodreads | Purchase on Amazon

Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun. Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.
When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft. Wait a minute—plans to what?

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Fall from Grace sounded like my kind of book. I'm a big fan of books about a main character figuring out what he wants to do, as opposed to what others expect him to do. Grace sounded like a very fun character, so I was definitely looking forward to reading about Sawyer and Grace together. And then there's the art-theft/compromising-your-values aspect, another storyline I usually enjoy - reminded me a little of Pretty Crooked, which I thought was very cute and fun. But sadly, Fall from Grace ended up disappointing me.

Sawyer was an okay character. I didn't really have a problem with him, but I didn't like him either, and I found it a little hard to feel for him. I liked reading about him in the family-storyline, liked discovering alongside him what he'd like to do. His relationship with his parents was pretty well-done, and I found the conflicts between them interesting to read about. But in a few other situations, like in the scenes between him and his girlfriend, I did not understand him at all. It was kind of hard for me to get into Sawyer's head - I wanted to understand his emotions and his decisions, but I couldn't.

I was expecting Grace to be a great character, powerful and fun to read about. But she didn't end up being as great as I'd hoped - she was just lacking something, in my opinion. Parts of her personality didn't make sense to me - she's an outsider at her school, and she seems mainly okay with that, but her goal is to become famous. Those two things don't really work together, in my opinion. I think the reader never gets to really know her - I kept thinking that some big secret would be revealed soon, that Grace has some issues we're about to find out about, but then... nothing. I wanted to know more about her family background, why she does what she does, but we never really got to understand her.

Maybe my main problem with Fall from Grace is the narrative. Fall from Grace has a third-person narrator, and we spend most of the time outside of Sawyer's head. It's a personal preference, but I generally like books better when we're closer to the main character. The way it is, I felt somewhat removed from the story - I never really connected with any of the characters, and I just felt kind of distant.

One aspect I did like is the art theft storyline. I enjoyed reading about the planning and how they wanted to pull off breaking into the museum. That part was fun and defitely unique.

But then... the ending. That ending frustrated me to no end. If it was all supposed to end up like this, what was the point of the story? And what was that stuff about Grace's motivations? I didn't get it all.

I didn't connect with the story or the characters, so Fall from Grace didn't really work for me. But Fall from Grace isn't a bad book, and whether or not you can connect with the characters is different for every reader, so I don't discourage you from reading Fall from Grace - it just wasn't my kind of book.

Word Associations with Charles Benoit (Fall from Grace Blog Tour)

2012-05-14T15:21:00.000+02:00

Today we have Charles Benoit here for an author word associations post! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit. You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about Fall from Grace!

These are author word associations, meaning I gave Charles some random words and phrases and he had to respond with the first thing that came to his mind.

Okay, Dr. Hannah, fire away!

The color blue:

My wife's eyes

Cooking and baking:

Restaurants

Sunday mornings:

Recovering

The gym:

No thank you, please

Board games:

Miss them

Dictionary:

Suggestions (I'm a writer, not a speller)

Smileys:

Unnecessary

Chocolate chip cookies:

Crack (at least to me)

Penguins:

Suspicious

Summer:

Envious (my wife is a teacher)

Ink:

Blood

Traveling:

The Meaning of Life

Firefighter:

My friend Bill, who I respect a lot more than he knows

Thanks for the great answers, Charles!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep your eye out for Fall from Grace, which has already been released. Come back tomorrow to read my review!

Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun. Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.
When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft. Wait a minute—plans to what?

Bout of Books Read-a-thon!

2012-05-14T10:14:00.001+02:00

I know I'm totally late to this, but I will be participating in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon!

I've never taken part in a read-a-thon before, but it looks fun, and I really need to push myself to read some more, so I thought I'd just go for it!

I probably won't be reading much at the beginning of this week, but I have my last final this Wednesday, so after that, I should be able to read a lot. I'm hoping to get 8 books read this week, but I don't know whether I'll make that, since I won't get much reading done until after Wednesday. I'd be happy if I get 6 or so read. Most of these are NetGalley books because I've let my NetGalley TBR get a little out of control lately...

Books I'm planning on reading:

~~What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen~~
~~Liar by Justine Larbalestier~~
~~Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper~~
~~Circle of Silence by Carol M Tanzman~~
~~Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry~~
Personal Effects by EM Kokie
The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee
Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

I will be updating this post with my progress, and I will also be updating on Twitter.

Are you participating in the read-a-thon? What are you planning on reading?

My New Treasures #3

2012-05-13T13:55:00.000+02:00

My New Treasures is a weekly feature here at Paperback Treasures to showcase all the books I received over the previous week. I do not take credit for this idea.

I only got two physical books this week, so instead of doing a vlog, I thought I'd show you all the ebooks I received over the last few weeks, since I never remember to include them in my vlogs. These are from NetGalley and Edelweiss.

Narc by Crissa-Jean Chappell (Amazon | Goodreads)
One Moment by Kristina McBride (Amazon | Goodreads)
The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee (Amazon | Goodreads)
Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman (Amazon | Goodreads)
Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit (Amazon | Goodreads)
Personal Effects by EM Kokie (Amazon | Goodreads) (sounds SO good!!!)
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (Amazon | Goodreads) (*squeeeeee* I am so incredibly excited for this one!!!)

Review: The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

2012-05-12T14:16:00.000+02:00

Title: The Night She Disappeared
Author: April Henry
Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Release date: April 10th 2012
Pages: 240
Genre: YA; mystery
Source: NetGalley

Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I don't usually read a lot of mysteries, but for some reason, I've been really into them lately. So I was really excited when I saw that The Night She Disappeared was on NetGalley. It's the classic kidnapping-mystery with a twist - it's narrated by a girl who knows she was supposed to be kidnapped, but instead her coworker was taken. Such an intriguing idea!

I loved the mystery in The Night She Disappeared. There's nothing quite like the thrill you get from reading a good mystery. The suspense in this book is really well done - kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved trying to figure out who the kidnapper was, and it was nearly impossible to stop reading when I had other stuff to do.

I like how we got lots of different POVs - there's Gabie, but we also read from Drew's perspective, as well as from Kayla's and from the kidnapper's. I really like the idea of having chapters from the bad guy's POV - finding out little things about him without his identity being revealed made it that much more suspenseful. I also like that there are little parts of the investigation in between the chapters - newspaper articles about the kidnapping, descriptions of evidence, transcripts of police interrogations, etc. That made the whole story seem even more real - and even more frightening.

The characters are good. Often, in mysteries, I find that the novel focuses too much on the mystery but doesn't properly develop the characters, but that's not the case in The Night She Disappeared. Gabie and Drew have very different backgrounds, but both of them are interesting as characters. The romance between the two is predictable, but I didn't really mind, since it's just a small part of the novel. The only thing I found somewhat strange about the characters is Gabbie's insistance that Kayla is alive - I thought it was kind of weird how she's portrayed as almost psychic, and I don't think that aspect was necessary - her being the girl the kidnapper actually wanted and Drew being the one who took the kidnapper's order would have been enough motivation for the two of them to, as the description says, become obsessed with finding Kayla.

The only thing I didn't like is the ending. I can't say too much about it without spoiling anything, but I was pretty disappointed. I couldn't help myself thinking that, after all that suspense and trying to figure out who the kidnapper is, that was it? I found the revelation of the bad guy to be too boring, not the surprising, heart-stopping plot twist I had hoped for. I also would have liked to know some more about the kidnapper's motivations.

Other than the ending, I really liked The Night She Disappeared. It's great, suspense-filled mystery. If you're looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, check this one out!

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Trends in Contemporary YA #3: Male POVs

2012-05-11T21:40:00.000+02:00

Trends in Contemporary YA is a feature I do on a semi-regular basis. In each post, I talk about one trend in contemporary YA, whether or not I like it, and give some examples of books for this trend. You can check out some earlier posts in this feature here.

The links will take you to the Goodreads pages.

This week's topic is: male POV!

This one is not so much a trend but more something I'd like to see more of. I love books with a male MC, when they're well-done and realistic. I love multiple-POV books, too, where you can read from the girl's and the guy's POV, but here I'm talking about male-POV-only books. Reading from a guy's POV is interesting - I like getting some insight into how guys think! Lately, I've seen a few more books with a male POV, but I still want more!

Here are some examples of books with a male POV I've read and loved:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Split by Swati Avasthi

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

And anything by John Green (other than The Fault in Our Stars)

And here are some books with a male POV that I haven't read but that look great:

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Before You Go by James Preller

Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard

Winter Town by Stephen Emond

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Cracked by K.M. Walton

Break by Hannah Moskowitz

Thou Shalt Not Road Trip by Antony John

What do you think of contemporary YA books with a male POV? Do you love them, like me, or do you usually stick to girl narrators? If you've read any of the books I mentioned, what did you think? And can you recommend some more books with male MCs?

Review: Notes to Self by Avery Sawyer

2012-05-10T15:30:00.000+02:00

Title: Notes to Self
Author: Avery Sawyer
Publisher: N/A
Release date: November 2011
Pages: N/A
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: author

Two climbed up. Two fell down.
One woke up.
In the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, Robin Saunders has to relearn who she is and find out what happened the night everything changed.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I was pleasantly surprised by Notes to Self! To say I had low expectations for this book would be an understatement, since I'd heard absolutely nothing about it and, even though I feel bad about, I'm always a little wary of self-published books. And even though it's far from perfect, I ended up really enjoying Notes to Self!

I loved the characters in Notes to Self - they're what make everything work. I loved Robin from the first page on. She's easy to relate to, and seeing how helpless she is after the accident is heartbreaking. Robin's best friend Emily is a good character, too - I didn't like her as a person, but I really liked reading about her. Robin and Emily's relationship is so interesting to read about - I love complex friendship stories like this one! Then there's the romance. The romance is cute, but I appreciate that the author didn't try to turn it into the main focus. I also loved the family dynamics - they're unique and interesting to read about as well.

The mystery aspect of trying to figure out what happened is also great. The brain-injury aspect is only okay, though, in my opinion. I found some of what Robin remembers and what she doesn't remember a little too convenient. The little details that are unnecessary for the story, like how to shower or how to open her locker, Robin doesn't remember, but she does remember every little thing about the characters - she can explain to us who's who, because otherwise the reader wouldn't understand the story. I get why the author made these choices, since she needs to show somehow that Robin lost parts of her memory but the readers still needs to get the story, but I just thought that was a little too convenient to be realistic.

***This paragraph is a little spoiler-y!***
I'm not a fan of the ending. At all. I'm sorry, but I don't like happy endings when they're forced. I want the story to develop in a natural way - a sad ending or a happy ending or an open ending all work, as long as it fits the story and is realistic. But the ending in Notes to Self does not develop naturally and does not feel realistic. I'm just not a fan of happy endings that seem forced, and that's the case in Notes to Self.

If you're worried about Notes to Self not being well-edited because it's self-published (like I was), don't be. The copy-editing is just as good as it is in any published book.

Notes to Self is a sweet coming-of-age story with some unique survivor's guilt and mystery aspects. It's a quick, enjoyable read that I ended up liking a lot more than I'd expected!

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Review: Choker by Elizabeth Woods

2012-05-09T15:10:00.001+02:00

Title: Choker
Author: Elizabeth Woods
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release date: January th 2011
Pages: 223
Genre: Contemporary YA; mystery
Source: Bought

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.
Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Whoa. I finished Choker last night, and I'm still completely shocked, I still don't really know what to think. This book turned out to be so, so different from what I'd expected - it's crazy, unlike anything I've read before. Choker is a hard book to review without spoiling anything, but I'm going to give it a try.

The suspense is what's best about Choker. The atmosphere is so, so creepy - I was so scared while reading it. I read the entire book in one sitting. I read right before going to bed (and stayed up way too long to finish it), but I still had to get back up before going to sleep to brush my teeth and stuff, but this book had me so creeped out I was terrified to get up - I almost went to bed without brushing my teeth because Choker scared me so much! The atmosphere and suspense, the whole mystery around Sydney's death and Alexis's disappearance are really, really well done and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time while reading.

Cara's an okay character. She's kind of bland and a little annoying at times, but with the revelation at the end, it works. Her friendship with Zoe is dynamic and complex, and I enjoyed reading about Cara's struggles with Zoe. And Zoe is such a good character - so creepy and crazy! Wow. Ethan is one character I don't think is fully-developed - he's kind of bland, and I didn't like him all that much. Going out with another girl when your girlfriend is missing? Not cool.

There's not much I can saying about the ending without spoiling it, but wow. I did not see that coming. I've heard a few people say they predicted the ending, but I had no idea what was going on. The ending completely blew me away.

***I can't keep this review completely spoiler-free, so this next paragraph will include spoilers. Don't read on if you haven't read the book!***
Even though I loved the relevation at the end, I was a kind of confused by the last paragraph - what is that supposed to mean? I wanted to know more on what happens to Cara, and what happens to everyone else in the book, how they deal with finding out. Also, finding out about Cara made me very, very mad at the parents - they know their daughter is mentally ill, but they work way too much and leave her home alone all day. Seriously? How is that ever going to end well?

This book isn't perfect, and it left a lot of questions unanswered, but it's definitely unlike anything I've read before. It's a great psychological thriller with a really good mystery storyline - why are there so few YA contemporaries that include mystery? Anyways, I definitely recommend Choker. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't grab your attention right away - the mindblowing twist at the end makes it worth it.

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Review: Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

2012-05-08T19:55:00.000+02:00

Title: Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe
Author: Shelley Coriell
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release date: May 1st 2012
Pages: 320
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend sheds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school's struggling radio station, where the other students don't find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams's mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe was hard to get into, for me. It starts out describing the fall-out between Chloe and her best friends Brie and Mercedes, and that whole storyline seemed very contrived to me. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but what her friends get upset about is... well, it's not really that big of a deal. What she did wasn't right, but it's not something to end a lifelong friendship over. I also didn't get why they decided to be mad now, when the thing that upset them happened a while ago. The mean things Brie does to ge back at Chloe are crazy, and totally out of proportion to what Chloe did to her. Brie's character just didn't make sense to me. I can't explain it better without spoilers, but it the storyline felt very contrived, as if the author just needed something that could get Chloe away from her usual social scene and couldn't think of anything better.

Once Chloe starts helping at the radio station, though, I really liked the plot. I liked reading about everything that happened at the radio station. The plot is fun and original, and perfectly paced. I also really liked reading about Chloe's family situation. Chloe's grandma has Parkinson's, and it was interesting to read about how that affects the family. It's not a topic you see every day in YA.

My favorite part of Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe are the characters at the radio station. They all have unique personalities and problems, and all of their stories are interesting to read about.

What I didn't like, though, is Chloe. The main character annoyed me to no end. I didn't get the motivations for her actions, and I couldn't connect to her. The reader is told repetitively how big a personality Chloe has and how fun to be around she is, but I didn't see it. I wanted Chloe to show us what she's like instead of telling us over and over again that she has a big heart. (Seriously, who says that about themself? "I have a big heart."?) Chloe is full of herself and whiny, and that kept me from really caring what happens to her.

The writing isn't all that great, either. It's choppy and very basic. The same words are used repetitively to describe the characters - it's like each one of them has an adjective that is used almost every time they appear in the story. I can only take Chloe talking about "broad-shouldered Duncan" so many times until I start rolling my eyes every time the word appears.

There are things I loved and things I hated about Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe - it has a fun plot and complex secondary characters, but the MC and the writing style didn't work for me. It's a quick, fun read, but nothing more.

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Top Ten Tuesday #12: Favorite Quotes from Books

2012-05-08T13:28:00.000+02:00

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic for a top-ten list each week. You can find out more about it here.

The links will take you to my reviews.

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Favorite Quotes from Books

There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.

- Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)

Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they'll always love you back.

- John Green (An Abundance of Katherines)

You can love someone so much. But you can never love them as much as you can miss them.

- John Green (Looking for Alaska)

Our story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and and end. And although that is the way all stories unfold, I still can't believe that ours didn't go on forever.

- Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.

- Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)

If you gave someone thier heart and they died, did they take it with them? Do you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that can't be filled?

- Jodi Picoult (Nineteen Minutes)

"You don't have to love someone to have sex with them."
"I know," I say, trying to act like I'm not embarrassed for thinking love and sex are the same thing. I know they're not but I want them to be close enough to at least brush each other as they pass.

- Cath Crowley (Graffiti Moon)

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together until all living humans read the book.

- John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)

True love is felonious. You take someone's breath away, you rob them of the ability to utter a single word. You steal a heart.

- Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper)

These are some of my favorite quotes from books, but I could go on forever! What are some of your favorites?

Book Blogger Confessions #7

2012-05-07T13:18:00.000+02:00

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here.

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Comments. The holy grail of blogging success! What type of posts do you leave comments on? How do you try to encourage more comments on your blog? Do you respond to people who leave comments on your posts? How do you handle negative/spam comments? Do you use captcha?

I love comments. Comments are one of the things I like best about blogging. I get excited every time I see I got a new comment. Especially those thoughtful comments telling me someone likes what I'm doing, or a comment saying someone will read a book because of my review - comments like that make my day. I am so thankful to anyone who has ever left a comment on my blog.

I don't really know how I encourage commenting on my blog, other than just consistently providing quality content. Other than memes (which don't really count, in my opinion, because writing 'great IMM!' and leaving a link to your own IMM post is not a thoughtful comment), the posts that get the most comments are discussion posts. Whenever I do something new, like start a new feature, I get a lot of comments, too. Really, anything unusual gets a lot of comments - not the reviews I write all the time, but something readers haven't seen before. Now, that's not a way to consistently get comments, since you can't start a new feature or write a discussion post every day - we need to write normal reviews and continue older features, too. But that's when I've noticed I get the most comments.

I've also noticed that I get more comments on positive reviews than on negative ones - I guess it's just easier to write 'I loved this one, glad you liked it too!' than to discuss a negative review. That's a little disappointing, honestly, because I think a discussion in the comments would be great - I want to know what other people thought, why someone liked that book when I didn't, anything like that. But that type of discussion doesn't happen often. And it's not something you can influence, either - you can't only write positive reviews because they get more comments. Really, I think it just comes down to consistently providing quality content, and people will comment when they have something to say. I think ending every post with a question is nice, too, and lets people know that comments are definitely welcome.

For the month of May, I've decided to do a Comment Contest - each comment you leave on my blog this month is an entry for a giveaway, in which you can win a May release of you choice. I've seen a huge increase in comments since then, so I'd say that idea works! I don't know how much it'll help in the long term, since I don't know whether I'll be able to afford doing a Comment Contest every month. But for now, I'm loving all the comments!

But even though I love getting comments on my blog, I'm not exactly good at leaving comments on other blogs. I have a few blogs I comment on regularly, but other than that, I don't comment all that much. I read a lot of blog posts, but I just don't comment often. I think I'm more likely to comment on smaller blogs - I feel bad when I see a post with 0 comments and want to leave one, while I think my comment wouldn't really make a difference to someone who already got 20 comments on their review. When there's something I want to say, when I feel like I actually have something to contribute, I do comment - but I feel weird writing something generic like 'Great review! I really want to read this book!' so I usually just don't. It was one of my New Year's resolutions to comment more, and the way it always is with those, right at the beginning of the year, I commented loads, but now I'm back to not commenting much. I really need to work on that.

And as to whether I reply to comments on my posts - of course! Well, I don't respond to every comment, but when someone asks a question or leaves a thoughtful comment I'd like to add something to, always. I think responding to comments, and thereby interacting with the people who read you're blog, is very important, since building a blog community is basically the ultimate goal.

Now, about whether I use Captcha... NO! I hate Captcha. I'm sorry, but if your blog has Captcha, I probably won't bother commenting. The new Blogger Captcha is so hard to read! And honestly, I don't really see the point. I've never used Captcha, and I've gotten, like, two spam comments in my one and a half years of blogging, which I've just deleted. If you're worried about spam - which I'm not, considering I get basically none - turn on comment moderation, but stay away from Captcha!

And about negative comments - I think you have to distinguish between comments that respectfully disagree and hateful comments. Comments that respectfully disagree are great - not everyone is going to agree with my opinion, and that's fine. I love when a discussion starts in the comments, as long as everyone keeps it respectful. Hateful comments are different, though. I've gotten only one, as far as I can remember, but that one was pretty hurtful. It was on a negative review of mine and insulted me for not getting what the book was really about it, using language I don't want to repeat here. I felt hurt for about a day and doubted myself a little, but then I just deleted the comment - if you want to discuss a book with me, that's fine, but don't insult me for my opinion. I won't have negativity or language like that on my blog, so I feel I deleting the comment was the right thing to do. I'm grateful I haven't gotten much negative response - I hear that April from Good Books and Good Wine gets hate mail, like, every day, which is crazy. But I guess there are always going to be hateful people out there. I just try to focus on the positve!

So that's what I think of comments - I love every single comment I get, but I myself need to work on commenting more. What are your thoughts on blog comments?