Alluring Reads

Boy Nobody Tour Stop

2013-05-21T23:59:00.000-06:00

TITLE Boy Nobody (Boy Nobody #1)
AUTHOR Allen Zadoff
PUBLICATION June 11th 2013 by Little, Brown & CO
READ May 13, 2013
SOURCE From Orchard Books for review

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target.

When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.

I waited a bit to write my review and was really worried how that would affect it but I learned something in this process. The way to bring it all back is to describe the plot and happenings to my husband and feed off his reactions. As I described the twists & turns and characters in BOY NOBODY to him he got excited because it played out like an action movie that he would love to watch and through that I was brought back to the excited place I was in while reading it.

Ben is an assassin. He is a highly trained operative who was brought up to be nobody. He knows how to blend into situations and get out completely unnoticed. I loved his inner dialogue, the way that he read every situation as a series of options he could take to deal with it. The novel definitely had a Jason Bourne feel which is always welcome with me. For someone who was so detached from everything I came to really like him and connect with him. When he meets Sam he starts to have emotions that are completely foreign to him and memories start to resurface that he had no idea were in his psyche.

The romance in this one could definitely be looked at as pretty insta lovey but I think you just have to take it for what it is here. He has 5 days to complete a mission and get a girl to fall for him, which did not prove easy once he got to know the target. Sam was a feisty one and while she did seem to fall for him rather fast she never made it easy on him at all. These two were pretty evenly matched, they could read every thing the other did and they didn’t hesitate to call them on it. I loved how we would experience the thoughts in Ben’s head and in a snap Sam was calling him out on exactly the head game he was planning to play. I love a girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind.

The novel also comes along with it’s fair share of twists and I enjoyed watching the bad guy change from page to page. I never knew who to trust completely and I questioned everyone at least once. For a YA book it dealt with a lot of politics, which is usually a huge turn off for me, but there was just the right amount of angst and high school drama thrown in that it didn’t bug me at all. I actually came out really liking how it tied in the Israeli government and also some American politicians.

A strong start to a thriller series that is sure to be a hit, I don’t think this is one to be missed. Filled with action from beginning to end, this is one you will not be able to put down. If you are looking for a story with some endearing characters, great twists and pulse pounding action definitely give this one a go.

Interview with Allen Zadoff

Convince us to read BOY NOBODY twitter style (140 characters or less)

Brainwashed teen assassin wakes up and finds himself torn between his mission and a girl he loves. Will he survive?

What inspired you to write BOY NOBODY?

Boy Nobody himself inspired me. He appeared one day out of the blue when I was writing a comic novel. Suddenly I felt the presence of this boy without a name, a teen assassin with a secret past who moved from place to place, fitting in everywhere but belonging nowhere. I was immediately fascinated by him, and then he started to tell me about his life in short, intense sentences. I was hooked.

Which of the characters in the novel do you identify with most?

I’m a big fan of Howard, the geeky teen hacker who befriends Boy Nobody and may or may not help him in future missions. (I don’t want to give anything away.) Howard gets beaten up in school every day, but instead of plotting revenge, he funnels his hurt and anger towards his creativity. He uses his skills to become a “white hat”, a computer hacker dedicated to doing good and improving things on the web rather than breaking the law.

What has been your favourite part of publishing your novels?

There are two elements to writing that delight me. The first is the actual process of creation. It’s a combination of sweat and magic. If I’m willing to sweat (i.e. do the work), the magic sometimes happens. The second element is sharing my work with readers. As I write this, Boy Nobody is on the verge of publishing in the UK and US. This book that I’ve lived with mostly privately for two years is about to make its way out into the world. I’m nervous and excited, but also relieved that the time has finally arrived.

Being an author can definitely require some thick skin. What advice do you have for up & coming authors on how to deal with the ups & downs of being a published author?

You’re right. There are a lot of ups and downs. This is true of life in general, but it’s particularly true of a writer’s life. It helps me to remember that not everybody is going to like my work, and they’re not supposed to. Of course I care what people think and I hope they enjoy my work, but It’s a mistake to define myself by what others think of me. This is not just the writer’s journey, it’s all of our journeys. If you need everyone in school or work to love you, then you are going to be very disappointed, right?

This or That:
Coffee or tea? Morning coffee, afternoon tea.
Summer or winter? I live in L.A. I miss winter.
Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla.
Comedy or horror? Comedy.
Movies or reading? Reading, reading, reading.

Allen's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Allen Zadoff is the author of three YA novels. His debut novel, Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and was a YALSA selection for Most Popular Paperbacks of 2012. His second novel was My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies, the story of a techie hiding from life after a family tragedy. His most recent novel Since You Left Me is set in Los Angeles and tells the story of a religious school student who doesn't believe. He also wrote the memoir for adults, Hungry:Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin.

Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Look for Boy Nobody, a YA thriller series, coming summer 2013 from Little Brown.

Bruised Review

2013-05-21T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Bruised
AUTHOR Sarah Skilton
PUBLICATION March 5th 2013 by Amulet/Abrams
READ May 11 to 12, 2013
SOURCE Purchased

When Imogen, a sixteen-year-old black belt in Tae Kwon Do, freezes during a holdup at a local diner, the gunman is shot and killed by the police, and she blames herself for his death. Before the shooting, she believed that her black belt made her stronger than everyone else -- more responsible, more capable. But now her sense of self has been challenged and she must rebuild her life, a process that includes redefining her relationship with her family and navigating first love with the boy who was at the diner with her during the shootout. With action, romance, and a complex heroine, Bruised introduces a vibrant new voice to the young adult world -- full of dark humor and hard truths.

I always find stories that deal with a traumatic incident and how it affects the characters minds (and essentially their day to day life) utterly fascinating. BRUISED dealt with just that. After Imogen lives through being one of the few patrons in a diner when it is held up she has blocked much of the event out of her mind. As she struggles with clearing the clouds in her memory of that day and with how mad she is at herself for not doing anything an interesting story unfolds but it left me longing for more of a connection to the characters.

Imogen is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, her ranking and the fact that she didn’t do anything to take the gunman down during the heist is wreaking havoc inside her. Immediately after the event I really felt for her and I was sad that she was struggling so much with her self confidence. I could understand why she was beating herself up over it after having gotten so far and mastered her colors in TKD. But somewhere along the way her inner turmoil just lost me and I started to feel as if it was a bit grating. This is entirely personal and I know that there are tons of people who disagree with me but I started to kind of glaze over to her emotions. I longed for more to happen outside of her strife and inner dialogue that was essentially beating herself up.

She does make a great connection with Ricky (another survivor of the heist) he was a sweet guy but failed to become more than that. I think there were quite a few missed connections in the story and looking back there was so much potential. Imogen is in a fight with her very best friend and I wanted to get to see them work it out, she is having a hard time accepting her brother’s sleazy ways and I wanted to see them work it out, but there was so much turmoil which led up to some very short resolutions in the end. I think had I gone on more of the ups & downs in these relationships I would have connected to them more, but it was pretty much always down and I never got to experience the peaks. One relationship that I could connect to was between Imogen and her father. As someone who has a father who struggles with overeating greatly affecting his health I could feel the frustrations that she felt when looking at him. I latched onto those moments and was happy that we got to go through more with those two than with the relationships I mentioned previously.

An interesting look at PTSD and how it can affect a teenagers life, BRUISED was a read that kept me entertained for a day and a half but it’s not one that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. I think this is a solid read but I wish I had gotten more out of it. But hey, look at all the glowing reviews on Goodreads, maybe you will get something more out of it than me.

Book Girls - I Wish I Could Have Loved You

2013-05-20T00:00:00.000-06:00

You know those books that everyone around you love so hard and recommended to you saying you will love them too, but then you're left wondering what all the hubbub is about? This week is all about those books. Ruby from Feed Me Books Now!!! suggested that we talk about "books you wanted to love, but couldn't." It seems like this is something that happens quite a bit and it just shows what I love so much about book blogging. We've even gone so far as to use the term "black sheep" to describe these situations. Everyone perceives literature so differently and one person can take away something completely different from a novel than any other person. So I guess in a way this topic ties into the hype one we had done earlier but there is much more to this one.

Being the black sheep isn't the only time I have found myself in these situations. It seems so often lately there are books coming out with kick-ass covers and blurbs that have me salivating for more only to leave me wondering how they put something so disappointing in such a pretty package. I've gone through so many books this year that I have been waiting months to get my hands on that leave me less than impressed.

So here are a few books that I went into wanting to love them so bad, but in the end I felt completely let down. For those who are curious you can click the cover to see my full review (except for Mockingjay because that was read before I started the blog.)

The First Days: This is one that let me down on both fronts. Not only does this one have huge amounts of hype surrounding it amongst my Goodreads friends but it also has the cool cover and a blurb that had me wanting more. I loved the idea of these two kick-ass bitches battling it out and surviving on their own terms. Unfortunately, the characterizations and dialogue left much to be desired from me.

Renegade: Pretty cover? Check! Also I had read so much about the gore in this one that I was expecting a bloody good ride and instead I got an evil prude and an MC I didn't give a hot damn about. Too bad because it's gorgeous!

Onyx: When I read Obsidian I remember totally fangirling over it. I was in love with Daemon and Katy had so many great aspects to her personality that she had me connecting with her quickly. In the second instalment however, I found myself so annoyed by the way these two were constantly going back and forth on their feelings for one another. That whole "I love you but I can't be with you" thing drives me insane!

Dualed: Another one that had me so excited about meeting a kick ass girl that left me wanting more, a lot more. West's decisions and actions were so flip floppy and I never did get a grasp of exactly why she became an assassin and yet ran her ass off when the time came to meet her alt. What left me wanting a lot more though was the world building, where was it?

Siege: I've said it before and I will again: I have a weird obsession with school shooting books. So when I read the shocking blurb for this and the warning that comes along with it I was so excited. I was expecting a gritty contemporary type story but it turned into something completely different and lost me along the way. I was really sad after this one.

Mockingjay: I really don't even want to get started on this one. So I won't. *rages*

Daughter of Smoke & Bone: I can see why people would love this one but I think my reading ADD kicked in for it so I was bored through most of it. I do still plan to read the sequel though!..... One day..... Someday.

What books did you want to love but couldn't? We all have them so lets dish!

Cover Madness Giveaway Hop Sign Up

2013-05-19T10:31:00.000-06:00

Last year, Giselle of Xpresso Reads and I noticed that there were so many pretty covers being revealed and we wanted to find a way to celebrate them. Through that our Cover Madness giveaway was launched. The response was astounding and since everyone loved it so much we wanted to let everyone in on the madness! If you're not familiar with the giveaway you can have a look here. Basically what it is, is we find a bunch of fabulously covered upcoming books (we try to find recently revealed covers) and we throw a giveaway for a chance to win a pre-order of one of the pretties! We've done 3 very successful Cover Madnesses so far, and for the 4th we decided to invite you all along as well!

Here's how it will work:

Sign ups will stay open for 6 weeks, to close on July 1st at 8:00AM EST
The hop will run for 2 weeks from July 1st to July 14th, 2013
Your giveaway post must be live by July 1st at 8:00AM EST (you may post up to 24hrs early)
When your post is live, the linky will be updated with your direct post link.
Your post must include the linky (or a link to either mine or Giselle's giveaway post where the linky will be located)
You may handle your giveaway as you wish as far as how you collect entries and choose a winner (you may have more than 1 winner if you wish).

What you give away:

Through Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or any other means, you find your favorite newly covered book(s) to feature in this giveaway. You can pick just 1 book, or you can pick 30 and let the winner choose--that is up to you. The book cover must have been out for no longer than 6 weeks at the start of the giveaway. This means the winner will most likely be winning a pre-order of the book (we recommend using The Book Depository as it's free to ship anywhere, but you can use Amazon or any book seller, or you can wait until the book is released, buy it locally, and ship it to your winner).

Here is an example of how Giselle and I have done it in the past, feel free to follow the same format.

Want to participate in this awesome? Sign up below with your blog name and who your giveaway will be open to (Example: Alluring Reads (INTL) and an email will be sent a few days ahead as a reminder and with the linky code, etc.

If you have any questions, ask away in the comments!

If you want to post the button on your sidebar to help spread the word you can use the code below:

After you've signed up, Tweet/Facebook about it so more people can join!

Stacking the Shelves (55)

2013-05-18T00:00:00.000-06:00

I have a short but sweet haul this week, a few ebooks and only two physical books. I am starting to love weeks like this because I am beginning to feel like I am actually starting to catch up on my mounds of review books. Here's what I got:

For a tour with Jean Book Nerd I got Death, Dickingson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia (that's a mouthful, hey?) And back in February I was one of the winners of Great Imaginations' Blind Date With A Book giveaway. My blind date ended up being How My Summer Went Up In Flames which seems like the perfect read for me. What great matchmakers Kara & Lyn are! Thanks ladies!

eBook haul (Click cover for Goodreads):

A big thank you goes out to HarperTeen, Daria Snadowsky, Sourcebooks and St. Martin's Press this week!

What did you get this week? Don't forget to link me up!

Wonder Review

2013-05-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Wonder
AUTHOR R.J. Palacio
PUBLICATION February 14th 2012 by Knopf
READ March 17 to 18, 2013
SOURCE Purchased

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

I went into Wonder with really high expectations. I had heard so much raving about how touching the story was and finally decided it was time to dig in for myself. All of the praise for this one is entirely warranted. I loved this story from page one straight through to the final page. It's probably the most heartwarming and hopeful story I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

August Pullman is starting grade 5. This is a huge year for him because not only is it his first year of middle school, but it is his first year ever going to a regular school. See, Auggie was born with a severe facial deformity. He was in and out of surgeries all throughout his childhood and frankly dealing with the publics stares and comments just wan't something his parents were prepared to make him deal with. But once grade 5 came it was decided by Auggie and his parents that it was time to put himself out there. As I'm sure you can imagine many heartbreaking scenes come as a result of Auggie putting himself into such a public place. There were people he met in school that I wanted to punch because they were so cold, but what is so great about this story is that there were way more characters that I wanted to hug or give a hand shake.

Sure Auggie meets his fair share of bullying as the story goes on, but he is always such a happy guy. I admire him, I think he has a lot of traits that people in his situation would kill to have. Helping him through everything is a great group of core friends, starting with Summer. I loved how summer was some random girl who just sat with him and day one and continued to do so. She always made him feel welcome and like he had something to look forward throughout the day. Then there is Jack, sure Auggie and Jack had their ups and downs but as we got to know Jack more I became accepting of his faults and saw that he was someone who really was trying to do the right thing, he just had to figure it out the hard way. As if these friends aren't good enough, we have Auggie's family also by his side.

This novel had an amazing family unit. As his parents, his sister Olivia and Auggie all conversed with one another they became people that I loved. You could see in the witty banter between the parents that they really loved one another, I thought they were absolutely adorable. The character that I connected most with was Olivia. She really struggled with how she was often forgotten about because Auggie needed so much care. Her inner conflict with knowing that Auggie needed more attention but yet wanting to be in the limelight was portrayed so well in the story.

One thing that ended up taking me by surprise in Wonder was that we were treated to multiple POV's. I had no idea going into this that it was told in that way and every time I switched the page and saw the name of who was coming up it was like a present. The POV's flowed together so well that I felt like I was always hearing from exactly who I should be in that point of the story. I also really liked the short chapters. Some are merely a page and others span up to 4 but they are all titled and tell of an incident. It feels like we are reading journal entries from each of the characters.

I loved how this story was told, I loved the characters in the story and even more so I loved the relationships between all of the characters. This story dealt with some heavy bullying but it was so uplifting. I took away a message of hope for mankind, and how kindness really shines through in darkness. This is a must read for anyone and everyone. Pick this one up on your next trip to the bookstore, it will not disappoint.

Thousand Words Review

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Thousand Words
AUTHOR Jennifer Brown
PUBLICATION May 21st 2013 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers
READ April 20 to 21, 2013
SOURCE From Hachette Canada for review

Ashleigh's boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her while he's away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh's friends suggest she text him a picture of herself -- sans swimsuit -- to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits "send."

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone -- until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he's the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh's photo -- and didn't look.

Acclaimed author Jennifer Brown brings readers a gripping novel about honesty and betrayal, redemption and friendship, attraction and integrity, as Ashleigh finds that while a picture may be worth a thousand words . . . it doesn't always tell the whole story.

I was quick to bump THOUSAND WORDS to the top of my reading pile because of my love for author Jennifer Brown. She has fast become one of my favorite contemporary authors because I love the way she deals with gritty issues in such a head on manner & creates characters that I can really empathize with. Her latest novel delivered everything that I have come to expect from her and while I did long to be a bit more moved emotionally, I came out having met characters that I really connected with in a story that is very relevant in this modern world.

Ashleigh was a high school girl who was definitely not without her flaws. From the very beginning of the novel she comes across as someone who has selfish thoughts and is quite susceptible to peer pressure. In these ways I could put myself in her shoes quite easily. I remember being that age and how easy it was to be swayed by the people around you and I could also really connect with her attachment to her first love. I was that girl, I had my first serious boyfriend and he became my world and I quite literally thought that I would never survive without him. As we watch the rocky road that Kaleb and Ash have found themselves on there was a lot that I could latch onto and I think that is due to Brown’s wonderful writing. It’s not flowery or over the top, it is straight and to the point, I really felt as if I was in the head of a teenage girl.

At the core of this novel it is really about the decisions that we make and the repercussions those decisions can have on us and our loved ones. Not only does Ashleigh pay the consequences for the photo that she sends out but her parents also face some pretty heavy tribulations. I liked how we got a wide picture of the whole scenario, we didn’t just get a tunnel view of how what happened affected Ash. I did long to see more of the consequences that Kaleb faced, he did a pretty heinous thing in the heat of the moment and ended up in some pretty hot water. We do get to see what has come of him but I would have liked some more resolution to know where he was at the end of the story.

I think this is an incredibly relevant story at this point in time and I think it has a very important message. One thing that I truly appreciated was that it didn’t make everything pretty. Even at the end of the story Ash’s life isn’t back to perfect and when we leave her she is definitely still struggling with figuring everything out. I would have been sorely disappointed had everything ended up perfect because life doesn’t usually work like that. She does have a better outlook as she brings some new people into her life and works on relationships of her past. In her community service hours she works after school everyday in a program for teens who create information pamphlets on whatever crime they had committed. I haven’t looked into this too much yet but I hope programs for community service like that really exist because not only is it giving the kids their hours but it’s making them face what they did head on and become more fluent in the issues they are facing.

A novel that feels like it could have been ripped from the headlines, THOUSAND WORDS is sure to please fans of issue books and contemporary in general. Jennifer Brown is remaining on my favorites list and I can’t wait to see what topic she tackles next.

The 5th Wave Review

2013-05-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)
AUTHOR Rick Yancey
PUBLICATION May 7th 2013 by Putnam Juvenile
READ May 07 to 08, 2013
SOURCE Purchased

The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

What a refreshing read this was! I haven’t been having the best of luck with dystopian/post apocalyptic stories lately so I was a bit hesitant going into The 5th Wave but that hesitation proved to be useless and I enjoyed this one very much. It brought forth wonderful world building, strong characters and an intense plot that moved at a break neck pace.

What tops my list of things I liked in this novel is the world building. So often I go into a post apocalyptic novel and am left with so many questions as to how the world came to be in the situation that it was. That’s so not the case here. I had a clear picture of the strife brought down on the world and I truly felt the desperation of the people living through it. It’s pretty dark and creepy in that it seems as if it is something that could truly happen. It’s always frightened me to think that there are aliens out there and the thought of them one day coming to Earth is... just I can’t even. Yancey’s aliens (The Others) are super intelligent and have studied the human race for so many years that they are constantly able to be one step ahead. The Others tactics were gruesome and felt completely realistic to me (you know in a far-fetched way... I hope...)

As we got to experience these waves through different people we came to see all sides of the war that was waged with Earth and that was something that I definitely appreciated. My favorite POV had to be Cassie, though I admit that this was much stronger in the beginning than it was in the end. Quickly upon meeting her as she is out on her own trying to figure out what the hell to do I came to like her. She had adapted to this tough world really well and wasn’t afraid to do what she had to do. We see her deal with the worst of the worst and through flashbacks we come to know just how much her character has changed since The Arrival. I do wish that she had maintained some of this strength-on-her-own-against-the-odds personality once she met her love interest because we do start to see that strength waver.

I can’t say that I truly connected to the romance as much as I would have liked but I don’t necessarily think I was supposed to. Throughout the novel there is a level of distrust between Evan and Cassie which is brought upon by The Arrival and how The Others got into the humans heads and left them with no one to trust. So all along I never really felt that I knew Evan’s intentions and never fell for him as much as I could have. He was sweet and helped Cassie so much, but I always felt like there was an ulterior motive there. I also didn’t like how Cassie threw her instincts to the side when in the beginning of the novel she constantly stressed just how important following your instincts in the new world was. But I guess that’s what love does, it clouds your judgment, right?

The story moves at a quick pace and there were definitely no lulls that had me yawning. I needed to find out exactly what was going on and if Cassie would make it to where she was going so that kept me turning the pages. We do get another perspective of a soldier who is recruited to fight in the war in the form of Zombie. I liked him and his determination quite a bit and I wanted to see him survive. The two POV’s are brought together really well even though the strings tying them together are completely convenient but I was able to not let that bother me and just go along for the ride. This is a strong start to a series that I think will be a huge hit, but you already know that from the mass of 5 star reviews on Goodreads, right? I don’t think this is one to be missed and I can’t wait to see where the story heads in the next installment.

Book Girls Don't Cry - Top 5's of 2013

2013-05-13T00:00:00.000-06:00

Hello loveys!

This week's BGDC post is all about great (and great looking) books. We wanted to do a sort of top 5 list of our reading year so far and of what we are anxiously awaiting. So first I am going to start off with my top 5 books of the year so far. Here are the titles that made the cut:

Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell

This book was so good! I absolutely loved the slow burning romance and how it dealt with so much more than just their love for one another. There was some great family dynamics and both Eleanor & Park had inner struggles with getting used to their own skin. High school is a tough time to be yourself and I think this one showcased that really well. Rowell used split POV perfectly & everything felt expertly placed.

Click here to read my review of Eleanor & Park

Golden

by Jessi Kirby

This was one that I could not put down. There were great relationships and also a touch of mystery that had me devouring it until late in the night. Golden featured a best friend that became someone I would love to have in my real life and a love interst that I warmed up to incredibly fast. I had worried about this one because In Honor didn't blow me away but rest assured, the hype for this one is completely warranted.

Click here to read my review of Golden

17 & Gone
by Nova Ren Suma

Suma's writing is absolutely gorgeous. After reading Imaginary Girls last year I had high hopes for this one and it completely blew those expectations out of the water. 17 & Gone had a haunting yet beautiful tone to it that leaves the reader not truly knowing what is real and what isn't. All of the threads came together perfectly in the end (the conclusiveness was something I longed for with Imaginary Girls) which leaves the reader feeling completely satisfied.

Click here to read my review of 17 & Gone

If You Find Me

by Emily Murdoch

I couldn't even put my thoughts together coherently for this one. My heart completely broke for Carey and Nessa as their story wreaked havoc on my emotions. The bond that these two girls had was amazing and their ability to weather the storm and find beauty in the most unlikely places was so touching. This is one that I still find myself thinking about to this day and getting a little teary eyed.

Click here to read my review of If You Find Me

Just One Day (Just One Day #1)
by Gayle Forman

I don't feel like I should even need to write anything for this one other than GAYLE FREAKING FORMAN. But I will. I am not a traveller, I am a home body, but this book had me loving the foreign beauty of it and I wanted to walk the same streets as Alyson and experience all that she did. I loved getting to watch her climb back to herself over time and face harsh realities head on. I adore Forman's writing and this is one that definitely lives up to all of its hype as well!

Click here to read my review of Just One Day

So, there you have it folks, my top 5 reads of this year so far. Do you notice a running theme here? I do! Contemporaries! That theme will continue in my top 5 most anticipated reads of this year. So without further ado:

Reality Boy
by A.S. King
to be published October 22, 2013 by Little Brown

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

I have loved everything that I have read by A.S. King and I just know that this will be no exception. I love how this sounds like it doesn't have the most likeable characters ever, but it sounds like it has characters who go through immense growth.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

by Matthew Quick

to be published August 13, 2013 by Little Brown

In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I'm sorry I couldn't be more than I was—that I couldn't stick around—and that what's going to happen today isn't their fault.

Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol.

But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school's class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.

In this riveting book, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made—and the light in us all that never goes out.

I have this weird obsession with books about school shootings. I'm not sure why but they always draw me in and I usually end up really liking them (except in this case.) Also, this is by the author of The Sliver Lining's Playbook so how could it not be made of win?

Just One Year (Just One Day #2)
by Gayle Forman
to be published October 15, 2013 by Dutton Children's

Companion to JUST ONE DAY. It will be in Willem's POV.

"Can you fall in love in just one day? Can you become a new person? How about in just one year? In JUST ONE DAY and its companion novel JUST ONE YEAR, sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey and easygoing actor Willem De Ruiter are about to find out against a guidebook-worthy array of foreign backdrops. Equal parts romance, coming-of-age-tale, mystery and travel romp (with settings that span from England’s Stratford upon Avon to Paris to Amsterdam to India’s Bollywood) JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR show how in looking for someone else, you just might wind up finding yourself."

As you probably noticed above, Just One Day was one of my favorite reads this year so I absolutely NEED to get my grubby hands on this. I love how Forman does her stories in two parts and we get the second from the male perspective. It worked expertly with If I Stay/Where She Went and I know it will here as well.

Tumble & Fall

by Alexandra Coutts

to be published September 15, 2013 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux

A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.

Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world.

Ok, first of all look at that cover? Seriously, does it get any prettier than that? Next, we can read the blurb and find out what it's about (but let's be honest, that doesn't REALLY matter.) I absolutely love the Armageddon feel of it and I think that the desperation of the impending doom will really add to the story.

Racing Savannah (Hundred Oaks #4)
by Miranda Kenneally
to be published December 3, 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire

Author of Catching Jordan, Miranda Kenneally’s Racing Savannah, about an underprivileged girl training to be a jockey while working in the barn at a high-stakes horse farm whose on-again, off-again relationship with the owner’s son has an upstairs/downstairs effect on race day.

Note: Pitched as Downton Abbey in the South to Leah Hultenschmidt at Sourcebooks Fire, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2013, by Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary Agency (world).

If you read my blog at all, you know I am a HUGE Miranda Kenneally fangirl. I even went so far as to dub the feeling that her books give me The Kenneally Feeling. Her romances are sweet and she always deals with issues in a really great way. I also love how all the stories are companions and we get to see beloved characters from previous books in each one!

There you have it! Now it's your turn! Let me know down below what some of your favorite reads have been this year and which titles you can't wait to get your paws on!

Stacking the Shelves (54)

2013-05-11T00:00:00.000-06:00

What is up with the influx of ebooks lately? This week I have nothing but them so I'm not bothering with a vlog...because I would have nothing to talk about. But anywho, here's what I got!

eBook haul (click cover for Goodreads):

My Kindle doesn't know what hit it this week! Make sure you link me up down below so I can come and see what you got!

Golden Boy Tour Stop (Review/Interview)

2013-05-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Golden Boy
AUTHOR Abigail Tarttelin
PUBLICATION May 21st 2013 by Atria Books
READ May 03 to 04, 2013
SOURCE From Simon & Schuster Canada for review

From a rising literary star Abigail Tarttelin comes an unforgettable novel about a boy, a secret, and the single traumatizing event that sends his seemingly charmed life into tailspin.

Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, and a perfect crush for the girls in his school. He’s even really nice to his little brother, Daniel, a decidedly imperfect ten-year-old. Karen Walker is a beautiful, highly successful criminal lawyer, who works hard to maintain the facade of effortless excellence she has constructed over the years. Now that the boys are getting older, now that she won’t have as much control, she worries that the facade might soon begin to crumble. Steve Walker is also a successful prosecutor, so much so that he is running for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives.

But the Walkers have a secret. Max was born with forty-six XX chromosomes and forty-six XY chromosomes, which makes him intersex. He identifies as a boy and so has been raised lovingly that way. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of Max’s past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won’t his parents talk about it? Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Who is Max and who will he be in the years ahead?

While Max and his family face life-changing questions, revelations, and the ever-present threat that Hunter presents, Max falls in love. He might be flawed, but could he be the perfectly imperfect boyfriend for misfit Sylvie Clark, the oddball loner in his class?

Told in first person narratives alternating between Max, Daniel, Karen, Sylvie, Steve, and Archie, the physician who attempts to guide Max through this pivotal moment in his life, Golden Boy is at once a riveting novel of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity, and a coming-of-age story like no other.

GOLDEN BOY is by far the most thought-provoking, eye-opening novel I have read in a long time. I was hit straight off the bat with an unflinching realism and thrown into a family who was dealing with issues that I knew barely anything of. Back in 1999 I watched the movie Boy’s Don’t Cry and it was the first I had ever heard of intersex (back then it was hermaphrodites) individuals. This book took me back into a mind frame where I was curious, emotional and almost in awe at the same time. Not only do we meet Max, who is intersex, but along with him we meet his family who is trying to do their best to find him his place in the world.

The part of this story that stood out to me the most was the family dynamic of the Walker’s. None of them were perfect and they all had incredibly selfish thoughts here and there but in the end they were truly looking out for one another. In the beginning I questioned Steve’s (the dad) devotion to his family, he seemed to be putting his career before everything that was going on at home and he did for much of the novel. But once we start to see all the sides of the story (through the very well done multiple POV’s) we see that there is so much more to his actions and intentions. The mother, Karen, was a difficult person for me to come to understand but once again, once my eyes were opened to everything that was going on I’m not sure I can say I would have been much different if thrown into the same situations. Daniel and Max had a wonderful relationship and seeing the story through Daniel’s eyes was great. He was the innocent onlooker, I felt. He didn’t have all the details of what was going on with his brother or why he was feeling the way that he was, and he didn’t really care. He just wanted to know that he was OK and to get on with life.

All of these characters came to life for me because Tartellin mastered their voices. Each one felt so distinct that I always knew whose perspective I was reading without question. This was done to the point that I was annoyed with Daniel’s POV at first because of how juvenile and repetitive it was, but that’s because it was so perfectly a 9-year olds way of thinking and speaking about things. The character that I connected the most to was Max. His struggles in finding out who he was were heartbreaking and I felt so incredibly sad for him as he forged his way through everything that was thrown at him. Not only did he have to make it through some rough patches but all of it brought to light that he didn’t know who he was or where he fit in the world which no one should ever have to feel.

This novel was an eye opening experience for me as I saw first hand the struggles that an intersex individual can go through in their life. The feelings of displacement, of shame and of a disconnect to things such as sex and marriage really took their toll on Max and it was hard to read at times. As I said before I don’t know too much about the “condition” (for lack of a better word) but I found myself googling a lot throughout the story and finding real life stories that paralleled his in many ways. I also appreciated how we would get a doctors perspective at times which made it possible to teach the reader at the same time that they are reading.

A strong novel that will get your emotions going and leave you wanting to talk about it for hours, GOLDEN BOY does not disappoint. The voices of the characters are strong and the relationships are ones that jump off the page. If you are in the market for a rather unconventional novel with a New Adult feel, this is the one for you.

Interview with author Abigail Tarttelin

What was your inspiration for writing GOLDEN BOY?

Several experiences and works of art inspired me to write Golden Boy. ‘The Women’s Room’ by Marilyn French first had me thinking about gender and feminism. Secondly, having seen XXY in 2009, an Argentinian feature film featuring an intersex protagonist, made me think that I could explore gender through the eyes of someone who had no need to define themselves as either male or female, but was pressured to do so by their family and community. Finally, the summer before I wrote Golden Boy, I was thinking about the way men treat women and vice versa, particularly in regards to rape culture and catcalling across the street. I thought that life must be such a different experience in some ways for men and women, even though gender seems to be so arbitrary and nothing to do with our own choices. Through the eyes of Max, Golden Boy’s protagonist, I felt like I could explore how it felt to be a woman with the surprise of someone who had been brought up as a male.

Which of the characters in the novel do you identify with most?

There are aspects of my experience and my point of view in every character in Golden Boy, but I probably identify with Max and Sylvie most. I’m a little less bold than Sylvie, and a little more insistent than Max, but when I was in school I dealt with aspects of gender roles that Max and Sylvie deal with in the book, for instance the strange segregation of girls and boys in high school, or feeling that encroaching fear as you grow up as a girl and realise that the night is not your friend.

Golden Boy is a split POV novel, why did you decide that was the way you wanted to tell this story?

I enjoy writing in the first person and getting into the minds of my characters. I believe at the moment, for me, that is the best way to understand them and communicate their feelings. I also think Max’s situation has a lot to do with point of view, and I wanted the reader to understand why his parents might react the way he did, why the doctor doesn’t tell anyone, Sylvie’s background in dealing and thoughts on gender, and why Max makes the choices he does.

What has been your favorite part of publishing GOLDEN BOY?

I have thoroughly enjoying my warm-up reading gigs in London. This week I read form Golden Boy at an event called ‘Speakeasy’ and also wrote a story and performed for the ting Hill International Book Festival. I have so much fun meeting readers and I feel that performing really transforms writing into something even more personal to the person who wrote it. That is why I cannot WAIT to tour the US and Canada! I think it will be so exciting and I’m planning on making a video diary for each city on www.abigailtarttelin.com!

I saw that there is some interest in a GOLDEN BOY movie possibly happening, do you have any ideas as to who you would like to see portray the main characters?

I see a Golden Boy movie as a sort of The Kids Are All Right independent film. It’s about gender, where The Kids was about sexuality, but both stories are set in a loving family, in a very nice community and I think that makes the difficult themes much more accessible to audiences. On my facebook page at www.facebook.com/abigailtarttelin I’ve uploaded some ideas for cast, but I’m really interested to see what other people think! I can totally see Naomi Watts as a brilliant Karen though! And this wasn’t how I saw Steve to begin with, but I think Patrick Wilson would make a great Steve. Max would have to be a young River Phoenix type! I’d love Quvenzhané Wallis to be able to play Sylvie, but she’s a bit young right now.

What are some of your early influences that shaped your writing style? (music, books, movies, etc.)

I don’t know if they shaped my writing style, but I’ve read almost everything by Enid Blyton! I was very inspired too by Hunter S Thompson’s The Rum Diary and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Every time I pick up a book I tend to write a piece of prose in that style. But I have always been a huge film fan and offbeat, quirky French films or Spanish films like the works of Pedro Almodovar have influenced me greatly. When I was sixteen or seventeen, my English teacher gave me a copy of The Cement Garden, a novel by Ian McEwan, and I realised that I could write about anything, literally anything. Until then I had just read the classics, and although I love them, they didn’t show me that contemporary culture was an acceptable topic for a novel.

Do you have a writing room? If so, what does it look like?

I would absolutely LOVE to have a writing room. I’m 25 and I’ve never owned a property or rented anywhere bigger than one room in a shared apartment, so I really would love to find a home one day soon where I can have a little writing nook. A friend of mine has a shed he used for recording music in his garden. I’d like to build a tree house to write in in my (currently inexistent) garden!

What are you reading right now? What’s your most anticipated book at the moment?

I just read Sahar Delijani’s Children of the Jacaranda Tree, and it’s wonderful! Sahar is also really nice – I met her the other day because we share the same English language editors! So that’s two reasons to read her book. I am currently looking for the next book to catch my eye. I want one that I’ll really love and will savour. Recommendations welcome!

Abigail's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

In May 2013, from twenty-five-year-old literary rising star Abigail Tarttelin comes Golden Boy - an unforgettable novel about a boy, a secret, and the single traumatizing event that sends his seemingly charmed life into tailspin.

Abby writes for London Fashion Magazine Phoenix and hails from Grimsby, England. She grew up in a field in the middle of nowhere, and likes reading, films, astronomy, the wilds, The Big Bang Theory and Buffy The Vampire Slayer!

Truth or Dare Review

2013-05-09T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Truth or Dare (Truth or Dare #1)
AUTHOR Jacqueline Green
PUBLICATION May 14th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ April 28 to 30, 2013
SOURCE From Hachette Book Group Canada for review

When a simple round of truth or dare spins out of control, three girls find it’s no longer a party game. It’s do or die.

It all started on a whim: the game was a way for Tenley Reed to reclaim her popularity, a chance for perfect Caitlin “Angel” Thomas to prove she’s more than her Harvard application. Loner Sydney Morgan wasn’t even there; she was hiding behind her camera like usual. But when all three start receiving mysterious dares long after the party has ended, they’re forced to play along—or risk exposing their darkest secrets.

How far will Tenley, Caitlin and Sydney go to keep the truth from surfacing? And who’s behind this twisted game?

Set against the backdrop of Echo Bay, an isolated beach town haunted by misfortune, Truth or Dare is a highly charged debut that will keep readers in suspense from beginning to end.

Why is everything a series these days? When I first started TRUTH OR DARE I was really into it. It had a strong Pretty Little Liars vibe and I was thoroughly enjoying the mystery but as I got farther in it began to feel dragged out and far too long. Clocking in at 416 pages this is a pretty hefty book. Had the plot packed more of a punch I would have had no problem with that but around the 30% mark I started checking the page numbers way too often and finding myself wanting to stop reading after each chapter.

The story is told in the third person with the POV alternating each chapter. We get to be 3 different high school girls Tenley, Caitlin, & Sydney and I have to say that not one of them came to be someone that I really connected with. I had a strong feeling of being an outsider as all of this was going on so I never got as wrapped up in the story as I would have liked. Tenley was probably the worst of the bunch, she had just moved back to the small town of Echo Bay from Nevada and was doing anything she could to get her title as Queen Bee back. She was full of selfish, vain thoughts and beyond that she didn’t really have any substance. Caitlin was the smarty pants of the bunch, running for class president and getting her extracurriculars under her belt for Harvard. Syndney took the role of artsy photographer so we had 3 very different girls who were thrown together because each of them was getting these dares. I felt like more of the mystery in this one was finding out the girls’ pasts instead of finding out who the darer was. Much time is spent talking of Sydney’s time in an institution, how Caitlin was kidnapped when she was younger and Tenley’s “enhancements.” Those histories slowly came to light as the story wore on but it wasn’t enough to keep me sucked in.

I had high hopes when I went into this one that I was going to get a full story but sadly, because this is a series, we are left hanging. Had the story kept me much more attentive I don’t think I would have taken too much issue with that but I spent much of the novel bored and waiting for the dares to actually go somewhere and reveal something. There are a bunch of tiny threads that are wound up throughout the story and we do get some minor reveals as the story goes on but it just wasn’t enough for the amount of story here. As I said before I always felt like an outsider watching a movie here, I never got sucked in so I never became invested in any of the friendships or romantic relationships either. I wanted so badly to root for Guiness and Sydney but I just never got a real sense of either character, especially Guiness, so even that fell short for me.

If you’re looking for a very one dimensional mystery series to get started on then this one could be for you but if you are looking for great character development and relationships I would say lower you expectations. In the end I don’t think I care enough to continue on with the series and see how everything wraps up which is weird because I am super nosey and normally can’t stop until I know everything, I guess that can attest to how much I didn’t like the novel?

Golden Review

2013-05-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Golden
AUTHOR Jessi Kirby
PUBLICATION May 14th 2013 by Simon & Schuster
READ April 26 to 27, 2013
SOURCE Simon & Schuster Canada for review

Love, tragedy, and mystery converge in this compelling novel from “an author to watch” (Booklist).

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

At this point in the year I am so ready to just throw in the towel and declare myself a contemporary fangirl. I have been having no luck with dystopians, paranormals or even post apocalyptic stories but every single time I pick up a contemporary I am sucked in and emotional. Those are the best kinds of reads, aren’t they? GOLDEN is no exception, I absolutely adored this book. From the beautiful writing to the amazing characters and the magical inclusion of great poetry.

Parker Frost is an overachiever, she is at the top of her class and doing anything she can to get a full ride to Stanford to chase her dreams. We meet her as she is in the final weeks of her senior year and helping out as TA to english teacher Mr. Kinney. One of Kinney’s most successful assignments in his role of teacher is when he hands his outgoing seniors a journal and asks them to fill it with the answer to this question: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Pretty loaded question, right? I love the idea of this assignment so much and how it weaved a bit of mystery into the story. See, Parker finds among the stack the journal of Julianna Farnetti. Julianna went missing on the night of her graduation 10 years ago with her boyfriend Shane Cruz. They were the small towns golden couple and their bodies had never been found. As Parker takes Julianna’s journal and reads her innermost thoughts she begins to see that this romance wasn’t everything that it seemed and unravels some shocking truths.

What always makes a contemporary for me is the characters and this one had a cast of great ones. I really liked seeing Parker change as she did throughout the story. We met her when she was on a strict and disciplined path to get into Stanford and we watch her begin to stray in order to find out who she is. All the while her best friend Kat is there pushing her to do something wild & crazy in her final days of high school. Kat was so awesome! I loved her free spirit and her loudmouth ways. She always had Parker’s best interest in mind and was quick to support her in any way that she could. There were so many little things she did throughout the novel that made her into a best friend that I would love to have in my own life. Even Parker’s mother was incredibly supportive of her (even if she went a little overboard) so it was refreshing to see a present parent in the story as well. Not only do we get to see great friendships and parenting but we also get two sweet love stories.

There is so much romance in these pages! We get to see what Julianna had went through 10 years ago which is romantic, beautiful and sad all at the same time and we also get to watch Parker’s crush slowly grow. I liked her love interest, Trevor. He was really funny and because they had known each other for so many years they were able to poke at each other. It was cute because they were incredibly sarcastic with one another and were always forcing the other to read between the lines. Trevor really went out of his way to put himself into Parker’s life and he became someone that was incredibly supportive of her as well.

As you can see there are so many great relationships in GOLDEN and also a page turning, slow burning mystery. All of these elements came together perfectly and I was enraptured by the story until I reached the very last page. I had told myself at about halfway through that I was going to make myself read a chapter an hour to drag it out because I didn’t want it to end but that didn’t happen. I read this in a single day and wouldn’t change a thing about it. If you don’t have this one on your TBR you need to put it there because this is a beautiful story you don’t want to miss.

Stacking the Shelves (53)

2013-05-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

Hello!

So this week I only have two physical books and a slew of ebooks so I decided not to do a vlog for this weeks post. I went on an ebook buying spree on Amazon because I decided to rage against Chapters and take my business elsewhere. Too often I have tried to go to one of the 5+ Chapters/Indigo locations in my city on a books release date only to find that it is not available and still in transit. To me, that is ridiculous! I mean a book has a release day for a reason and those days are so exciting for book lovers. Way to rain on my parade Chapters! So here is what I got:

I was so excited to find a The 5th Wave at Costco and The Eternity Cure at Wal-Mart so both were under $12!

The Eternity Cure is so damn pretty under the jacket I just had to show you. I wasn't a huge fan of The Immortal Rules but I am hoping that this one has improved (or I may have just bought it because it was so pretty!)

eBook Haul (click cover for Goodreads):

Also, from my sister from another mister (Giselle of Xpresso Reads) I got this pretty!

She loved it so much and thought I would really enjoy it, so thank you G! You rock!

So what did you get this week? Link me up!

Hopeless Review

2013-05-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Hopeless (Hopeless #1)
AUTHOR Colleen Hoover
PUBLICATION May 7th 2013 by Atria Books
READ April 22 to 23, 2013
SOURCE Atria Books via Edelweiss for review

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies.In this #1 New York Times bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover, author of Slammed and Point of Retreat, Sky meets Dean Holder, a guy with a reputation that rivals her own. Holder has the ability to invoke feelings in Sky she's never had before. In just one encounter he leaves her terrified yet captivated and something about him brings up a rush of memories from the past that she’s worked so hard to bury away.

Sky knows Holder is nothing but trouble and tries to keep him at a distance, but he is adamant about learning everything he can about her. Sky finally caves to his unwavering pursuit, but she soon finds out that Holder isn't the person he's been claiming to be. When the secrets he's been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky's life changes forever.

HOPELESS has been read by pretty much everyone on my Goodreads and at this point in the game there isn’t too much new that I can point out that isn’t out there already. So what I am going to do with this review is just give you what I liked and what I didn’t like. I know that a lot of people will probably disagree with me but I have to say that this novel just didn’t have the WOW factor that I went into it expecting. Maybe it’s a case of my expectations getting the better of me? I guess we’ll never know, but here is my take on it all:

What I liked: I loved the characterization of Sky and her relationship with her best friend, Six. Sky was very head strong and she didn’t let all of the garbage that the girls at school put her through get her down. I loved how even though she was in a completely new setting she was able to walk away with her head held high and just brush everything off. Her and Six were perfect, they completely understood and supported one another. Sky also had a very good relationship with her adoptive mother, Karen. They were very open with each other and there was a level of trust that you don’t always see. I also adored how all of the little threads that were exposed throughout the story weaved together beautifully in the end. This story is definitely much more than a romance, it’s also a mystery and it turns out to be quite a psychological one. As it all wrapped up I found myself looking back on little details that were presented throughout and realizing just how significant even the littlest of details were.

What I didn’t like: Ok. So, there were only a few scenes where I was completely sold on Holder. The way that he came off in the beginning of the story was always in the back of my mind and you never knew when he would fly off the handle. I don’t think that would have bothered me too much if maybe Sky wasn’t so damn quick to forgive everything because she apparently needed him so badly. Sky was written as a character who wouldn’t put up with such bullshit but the minute that Holder came into her life she was a swooning puddle and it kind of annoyed me. What really annoyed me about this story is much of the dialogue, especially near the end. These people did not talk like real people, they talked like trained psychologists who have spent years getting their pHD’s in physiological trauma. This is what Holder says in the middle of a love scene: “The negative connotation you’ve been associating with physical touch your whole life doesn’t apply to me.” (quoted from uncorrected ARC copy) That’s just not something an 18 year old boy would say in the heat of the moment so it completely took me out of the scene and actually garnered a laugh from me. There are pages and pages where these two talk about their feelings and even do an exercise in embracing who they once were and it just came to be way too much. I think the story could have been much shorter if a lot of the annoying unnecessary meat was cut out and I would have appreciated that a lot more. The wrap up of the story came across to me like a cheesy after school special where everything comes together in it’s own twisted/perfect way and it was just far too over the top for my liking.

I know that if the majority of people on my Goodreads were taking a survey on how much they agree with my assessment of this novel they would check “strongly disagree” so there is definitely something here that people are loving, it just didn’t work for me. I can see how getting wrapped up in the romance can sweep you away and there were definitely a few scenes I found pretty swooney but this story just failed to blow me away. There was some gritty realism to it but the way that the characters responded to these terrible events was a bit too cheesy for me. If you are reading this amongst the sea of 5 star reviews just remember to go into this one with a bit of trepidation and maybe you will come out much more pleased than I did.

Reboot Review

2013-05-02T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Reboot (Reboot #1)
AUTHOR Amy Tintera
PUBLICATION May 7th 2013 by HarperTeen
READ April 15 to 19, 2013
SOURCE HarperTeen via Edelweiss for review

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

When I try to think about how to describe my reading experience with Reboot, the only thing I can think of it that it was like the most not fun rollercoaster ever. That sounds really negative and like the whole book sucks but that’s not the case. The beginning of the book was like that rollercoaster going up, up, & up. Exciting things were happening; I was introduced to a world that was intense, I met characters that I really liked and the seeds for a sweet romance were planted. However, once a rollercoaster reaches the top of that climb it has to go down and down this one went. The problem is that once it reached that plateau it just continuously went down and never made its way back up again.

We are introduced to Wren who is a Reboot. Reboots are people who have died and in this world where a disease has run rampant they come back to life after a certain amount of time, they are “rebooted.” Wren took the longest in history to reboot, coming back after 178 minutes. The length of time that you are dead weighs heavily on a reboot and it shows in her. She is very mechanical and empty when we meet her. She has been trained by a company called HARC (who owns all reboots upon them waking up) to be a machine. I loved how vicious this little blonde girl was, the detachment that she felt to the things going on around her lent to some hilarious dialogue and really sucked me into the book. When Callum enters her world at HARC he is one of the shortest reboots ever, clocking in at a mere 22 minutes. He had so much humanity left in him, so much life. He was someone that I really liked right away as he forced his way into Wren’s life. I rooted for Callum, he was a really great love interest and was so funny. The best part of their romance was how the growth of it was such a stark contrast to the environment in which it was growing. While they were training for combat we watched these two fall for one another which was pretty fun.

Once the relationship was solidified the book started going downhill for me though. In the second half of this novel it became more of a gooshy romance story and Wren changed far too much which caused me to lose a lot of respect for her. She lost her strength and was so clouded by this love she felt for Callum. I missed who she was in the beginning, I missed her kick ass first & take names later personality, I really wish she kept more of her earlier traits instead of losing who she was in the romance. The only thing that kept me interested despite all the cheesiness of the second half was the effects on the under 60 characters of the testing HARC was doing to them. That was a great element to have added to the story and I was anxious to find out exactly what was going on.

This novel started out as a solid 4 for me but lost a star in the second half because there were so many eyeroll moments. I can’t go too into detail about what happens because that would be spoiler territory but I just wish it was handled better and focussed a lot less on the romance. It is really saddening because two characters that I really liked came together and I thought I would definitely be a fan of the love story but the way the characters changed too much and lost who they were just didn’t work for me. I still found this to be a really fun read despite my issues and will most likely continue on with the series. If you’re looking for a more romance heavy tale with heavy doses of action this one could be for you, just be prepared for a pretty drastic shift at the 50% mark.

Transparent Review

2013-05-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Transparent
AUTHOR Natalie Whipple
PUBLICATION May 21st 2013 by HarperTeen
READ April 09 to 10, 2013
SOURCE HarperTeen via Edelweiss for review

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

Oy. Looking back I may remember reading TRANSPARENT as one of the most unpleasant reading experiences I have had. Ringing in at only 231 pages on my Kindle I was hesitant to DNF because it was such a short read but those 231 page took forevvvvver. This book lost me so early on because it failed to make me give a damn about anyone or anything that happened in the story. I mean it’s the story of an invisible girl on the run from her father. I repeat: It’s the story. Of an INVISIBLE girl. On the run from her father. Forgive me for not worrying about her safety.

In the dystopian world of TRANSPARENT people are born... different. There are some that are born with purple or green skin and some that are born with super powers. We see telekinetic’s, strong men, and people with x-ray vision. All of this came to be because of a pill that was widely distributed during the Cold War to protect people from the effects of radiation, well that didn’t go well and it forever changed the gene pool. Fiona is the only person who was ever born invisible, she is our MC and I hate her. This girl seriously had nothing going for her that made me empathize with her in the slightest. She was impulsive, thick headed and annoying. I think that these attributes were supposed to make her come across as strong and independent to the reader but they were so over the top that they just made me want to punch her. Essentially anything that happened to her in this novel was due to her stupidity and inability to listen to the people around her. It’s one thing to be smart and independent, it’s another to be dumb.

There were hints at a love triangle for much of the book but that ironed itself out pretty smoothly which was a relief but I didn’t care much for Brady or Seth. Much of their life is kept such a mystery that I didn’t get to connect with why they were the way they were until very late in the book. Even the details that we do get are sketchy at best when it comes to their father. Sketchiness seems to be a theme in this book because even the details surrounding the state of the world are not fully developed which left me longing for some solid world building. We know that there are syndicates running different parts of the US, and China is mentioned in passing near the end but I didn’t have a sense of how the world was at all and to be a strong dystopian these days there needs to be some good world building.

My final complaint about this book is that some of the actions were just so weird. Like when Fiona befriends Bea and they get onto the topic of whether or not her spit is invisible. Well to test this out Bea makes Fiona spit on her in the car, yes you read that right, she talks Fiona into spitting on her. She then touches the spit and comments on its goopiness and then book goes on, that’s so ridiculous! I don’t care if spit is invisible! Fiona is invisible and she is still a tangible human being therefore her spit is spit! Also, when Fiona is staying away from her house because she thinks there is a chance that her father has found out about where her and her mother are she deems it important enough to go home and grab a bathing suit so that she can go swimming. I mean come on, if you are going to put a character in a dire situation for some reason, at least make it a good one.

There was so much to this story that was worthy of eyerolls and not enough to make me give a damn so I don’t have anything good to say about it. It’s definitely a novel that fell flat for me and one that I won’t be remembering (for any good reasons) in the future. Skip this one folks.

Spring Fling Giveaway Hop 2013

2013-04-30T12:40:00.000-06:00

With all the dreary weather here in my city lately I am excited to take part in something that makes me feel like spring is at least out there somewhere! For my stop of the Spring Fling Giveaway Hop you can enter to win your choice of book from The Book Depository (valued up to $15.) Don't forget to click the link at the bottom of this post to see all of the great stops on this hop, there are over 180 chances to win!

Giveaway is open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to you

Prize is one book valued up to $15

Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter

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Don't forget to check out all the other stops on this hop!

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Criminal Review

2013-04-30T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Criminal
AUTHOR Terra Elan McVoy
PUBLICATION May 7th 2013 by Simon Pulse
READ April 01 to 02, 2013
SOURCE Simon Pulse via Edelweiss for review

A searing and gripping read that explores the depths of desperation true love can inspire, from the author of Being Friends with Boys.

Nikki’s life is far from perfect, but at least she has Dee. Her friends tell her that Dee is no good, but Nikki can’t imagine herself without him. He’s hot, he’s dangerous, he has her initials tattooed over his heart, and she loves him more than anything. There’s nothing Nikki wouldn’t do for Dee. Absolutely nothing.

So when Dee pulls Nikki into a crime—a crime that ends in murder—Nikki tells herself that it’s all for true love. Nothing can break them apart. Not the police. Not the arrest that lands Nikki in jail. Not even the investigators who want her to testify against him.

But what if Dee had motives that Nikki knew nothing about? Nikki’s love for Dee is supposed to be unconditional…but even true love has a limit. And Nikki just might have reached hers.

Being a heavy reader I feel it’s safe to say that I have read all kinds of romances. I have read some sweet ones, some boring ones and some pretty twisted ones. CRIMINAL definitely falls into the twisted category. As we meet Nikki and see how helplessly (and unconditionally) in love (or maybe a better word is obsessed) she is with Dee I found myself hating the romance in this book and pitying Nikki so badly, but that’s exactly how I was supposed to feel.

I could not empathize with Nikki personally, but she did feel like a girl you would see on that A&E show Beyond Scared Straight. She had fallen in love with a gangbanger and embraced the lifestyle in a very unhealthy way. It was incredibly sad as the reader to see the romance for what it was, to see Dee for who he really was and watch Nikki lose everything for him. He didn’t really care about her, he used her and what’s worse is that generally, he wasn’t even nice to her. After he gets called in and questioned by the cops he’s not in the mood to talk so when Nikki tries to get details out of him and work on their alibi this is what he says: “What if I put my fist straight through that mouth of yours, crush your pipes so you can't talk anymore, huh? What if that?” Straight after this (what Nikki views as a) romantic weekend Dee is gone and as she struggles to deal with the fallout from the crime he completely cuts her out of his life. There was a point where I felt really bad for Nikki because she was so naive but as she continuously thought of how much she needed to be in Dee’s arms, or just hear him call her baby I got so frustrated with her! He treated her like complete crap and yet the only thing that she yearned for was to please him in any way possible.

The one solid relationship in Nikki’s life is with her friend Bird whom she lives with because the living situation with her drug addict mother is not good. Seeing Nikki lie to Bird, even when she was pulled into the investigation for the murder frustrated me just as much as her need to please Dee. Bird was the one person in this novel that I had some shred of respect for, she had grown up and gotten her crap together. She was trying to live on the straight and narrow and didn’t stand for what Nikki brought into her life. I think the way that she reacted to everything was completely fair. I guess this is where Nikki’s character starts to grow in the novel, we see her confess to the cops so that the heat is taken off of Bird. As the story progresses we see Nikki (slowly) come to terms with what she had done once she is in jail. She gets blindsided when she gets arrested, she thinks that since she was just driving and didn’t actually kill anybody she should be in the clear which just further enforces her naivety.

I’m not really sure how to feel about CRIMINAL. The novel is full of unlikeable characters who make terrible decisions but I couldn’t put down the story. I haven’t come across a book remotely close to this before and while it was uncomfortable at times to read, I really enjoyed it. I felt bad for Nikki in the beginning, got to a point where I was angry with her and then finally just felt scared for her. I think any book that can pull that much emotion out of you is a good book. I couldn’t put myself in her shoes, her situation was very different from any life I have ever known but there are teens getting themselves mixed up in these criminal lifestyles everyday.

I really enjoyed McVoy’s writing here, it was straight and to the point, not flowery. It served the tone and setting of the story perfectly. She does an excellent job crafting characters that feel authentic and creating a love story that is really about how blind love can make you. What served this story best is how linear the plot was, it was constantly moving forward in the aftermath of the murder and didn't stray at all from the story at hand which makes it a story that you don't want to put down.

Book Girls Don't Cry - Genre Trends

2013-04-29T00:00:00.000-06:00

In our kick off post for this feature we received a lot of topic suggestions in the form of comments from people wanting us to to talk about bookish trends as far as genre's go. So this week we decided to tackle this broad topic and I will be talking about what I think is overdone and what genre I always turn to when I know that I need a good read that will really get to me.

First off I just want to throw out there that it can be pretty tiring reading only within the young adult umbrella. It seems as if years ago when Twilight came out it set a sort of standard when it came to paranormal love stories in YA. After that everything seemed to have a love triangle and it also started this theme where the guy tries to take himself out of the girls life to protect her. I have seen those two things in so many books since reading Twilight and it's really starting to grate on me. It has come to the point where if I am reading a book and a second character of the opposite sex of the MC is introduced I actually groan inwardly and assume that a triangle is about to rear its ugly head. I have seen a few instances where a love triangle was done successfully (Cynthia Hand's Unearthly series, Brodi Ashton's Everneath series and Jessica Shirvingtons Violet Eden Chapters to name a few) but more often than not it doesn't work and just feels completely unnecessary. I will often buy into a romance much more if the MC that I am following has set feelings and I can feel them grow instead of them always being torn and flip flopping back and forth.

Successful Love Triangles!

Another thing that is starting to wear on me in YA is the dystopian genre as a whole. I am dystopianed out you guys! There has been a huge influx of these since the success of The Hunger Games and they are all starting to blend together and not stand out in any way. I can name a few off hand that I have read in the beginning of this year alone that suffered from lack luster world building, annoying romances and characters that are some of the most unlikeable people I have read about (Natalie Whipple's Transparent, Erin Bowman's Taken, Elsie Chapman's Dualed, & Kiesten White's Mind Games.) None of these had the world building to back up the society that the author tried to create. With the rush of books with dystopian settings coming out the reader needs to be able to get a strong sense of the world. I need to know how this world came to be, what drives it and why the citizens live as they do. If I don't have enough information for the setting to be vivid in my mind it just doesn't work! I have to note that I have read one standout title that falls into this genre that I think everyone should give a try and that is The Program by Suzanne Young. I think this had solid world, character AND relationship building so it really stood out to me as a diamond in the rough.

2013 Dystopia's The Fell Short for Me:

Now onto what is the one fail safe for me, the genre that I always turn to when I need a good read in my life. Contemporary. Whether it is young adult or new adult, this is always the genre that I come back to time and time again for a good, solid read. I get so wrapped up in these stories because I can relate to them. I can't relate to being an invisible girl on the run, or having to kill my doppelganger or growing up in a society where men disappear at 18 but I can always find something to relate to in a contemp. These stories feature characters that I can see myself in, ones who are flawed, not perfect, and who are trying to find themselves. I'm still trying to find myself at 25! I am always looking for books that feel like a punch in the gut and that have me grabbing for my tissues. These stories often feel as if they are ripped out of the headlines and resonate with readers because there is something that they can grasp onto and relate to. I have read a few in the last 6 months that have stayed with me all this time and are ones that I can see so many people loving.

Standout Contemporaries That Have My Heart

So, you now know what I think has been overdone and what I can never get enough of and it's time for YOU to weigh in. What do you think has been done to the death in books? What is the genre you turn to when you need a good read? Let me know!

Stacking the Shelves (52)

2013-04-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

Books mentioned (click title for Goodreads):

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Eve of Chaos (Marked #3) by S.J. Day

Wool (Wool #1-5) by Hugh Howie

Period 8 by Chris Crutcher

Chasers (Alone #1) by James Phelan

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1) by Rick Yancey

eBook haul (click cover for Goodreads):

Thank you to Atheneum Books, Sourcebooks Fire, Macmillan, Megan Hand, HarperTeen and AToMR tours this week! Oh and my husband!

So, what did you get this week? Link me up!

Blog Tour: How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

2013-04-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE How I Lost You
AUTHOR Janet Gurtler
PUBLICATION April 23rd 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire
READ April 13, 2013
SOURCE Sourcebooks for review

There are a few things Grace Anderson knows for sure. One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who's always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected.

As a Canadian I am always quick to support Canadian authors, so last year when I found out that Janet Gurtler was not only from Canada but lived in Calgary, I was quick to pick up some of her books. Prior to HOW I LOST YOU I had only gotten to read one, WHO I KISSED and I have to say that HOW I LOST YOU blew that one out of the water. This was a novel full of characters that I connected to emotionally and at the heart of the story is one of the most wonderful family units I have had the pleasure of reading about.

The real charm here kicked off in the very first chapter when it came to light that Grace (our MC) and her best friend Kya are kickass paintball players. These girls don’t just play the game here and there but they excel at it. They take part in tournaments and most of the time they whip the guys butts. They have earned a level of respect in the paint balling environment as they compete and work at Grace’s dad’s indoor paintball arena, Splatterfest. The added element of the sport and camaraderie gave me a feeling reminiscent of what I have always felt when reading Miranda Kenneally’s Hundred Oaks series, which was definitely a welcome feeling. I loved what a headstrong character Grace was and watching her function in this primarily male environment.

This novel doesn’t only have the adrenaline that the sports scenes lend to it, it also throws some strong emotion at the reader as it deals with some pretty heavy issues. Grace, Kya, and their other friend James’ relationships are really put to the test as they harbor secrets and hidden feelings for one another. I couldn’t really peg James for much of the novel but as his story came to light and we find out what he has had to deal with with the girls and with his mother who is ailing from MS I really felt for him. He was a caring, present friend in their lives despite all that he was going through. Kya was someone that I felt really bad for but I also wanted to slap some sense into her. She was incredibly impulsive to the point of being self destructive. We also get to watch the characters grow and along with that comes relationships and hurt feelings. Grace’s romance with Levi was incredibly sweet and I loved watching it grow very slowly and naturally.

The relationship at the forefront of the novel is Grace and Kya’s. These girls have been best friends forever and we watch them grow apart. There is an elephant in
their closet that has been letting Kya get away with her unhealthy antics for too long and watching Grace come to that realization was pretty emotional. It was intense to see her come around and start putting herself first. Helping her get there is a great support system in the form of her family. Her parents were awesome! Her dad was an ex-cop and her mom an ex-lawyer with quite the personality. Their witty banter with one another was heartwarming and I loved her mom’s dry sarcasm so much.

HOW I LOST YOU is an exceptional novel with so many layers that it has a little something for everyone. Chalk full of great action sequences, layered relationships and well-developed characters, it’s a fun, empowering read that isn’t scared to draw out emotion. I think Gurtler has hit it out of the park with this one and I can’t wait to see what she throws at us next.

Excerpt from How I Lost You

“Climb over,” Kya called from her yard.
I sized up the fence. It wasn’t designed for climbing. I shook my head. “I’ll come around to the front on the street.”
“Come on. Climb over. You’re already out here. It’s not hard. We’ll catch you,” Kya shouted.
It was a test. One she didn’t necessarily want me to pass. I found out later how much Kya liked to test people.
“Come on, new girl. Try,” Kya called.
I could hear James protesting, trying to stick up for me.
But the challenge trickled over the fence. And right there, I fell for her hard. Actually, I fell right on top of her. I climbed the fence and when I swung my leg over the top of it, my pant leg caught on a branch of lavender. I hung there until Kya grabbed my leg and yanked. Hard to say which was louder, the rip of my jeans or my shriek, and then I landed on top of Kya. Fortunately, she laughed. The crazy snort laugh didn’t suit her stunning looks but it was contagious. I started to laugh too and then James joined in. Lavender flowers came down with me and tickled at my skin, and when I pulled them out of my pant leg, the smell filled my nose, mingling with our laughter. Lavender would forever remind me of that day.

Janet's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Janet lives near the Canadian Rockies with her husband and son and a little dog named Bruce. She does not live in an Igloo or play hockey, but she does love maple syrup and says “eh” a lot. Janet only gives 5 stars to the books she reviews because she is an author herself and knows that no book can appeal to everyone, but like a child, it is very special to the creator.

I'M NOT HER was published by Sourcebooks Teen Fire in May 2011 | IF I TELL released Oct 1, 2011 from Sourcebooks Teen Fire | WHO I KISSED Sourcebooks Fire 2012.

Janet's work will also appear in the THE FIRST TIME anthology, DEAR TEEN ME anthology and WHO DONE IT anthology.

This post is a part of the How I Lost You blog tour brought to you by Jean Book Nerd

Click the tour banner below to see all the stops on this tour

One + One = Blue Review

2013-04-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE One + One = Blue
AUTHOR M.J. Auch
PUBLICATION April 30th 2013 by Henry Holt and Co.
READ April 11, 2013
SOURCE Raincoast Books for review

Twelve year-old Basil knows he’s special—he’s been associating numbers with colors since he was a kid. His gift (or curse) has turned him into somewhat of a loner, but his world begins to change when he meets Tenzie, the new girl in school who has similar freakisms. She, too, has synesthesia (a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another). At first, Basil is somewhat annoyed with Tenzie’s pushiness, but after Basil’s estranged mother returns, his life is turned upside down . . . and Tenzie may be the only person to help him put it back together again.

Once again, MJ Auch has written a thoughtful coming-of-age novel that explores friendship, family, and fitting in.

I was so excited when I picked up ONE + ONE = BLUE and saw that the book deals with synesthesia. When I read about the condition in R.J. Anderson’s ULTRAVIOLET I quickly became fascinated with how people associate every day things with colors, or taste emotions. Could imagine being able to smell fear? M.J. Auch didn’t delve into the logistics as much as I was hoping she would, but with this novel we got a really cute story about relationships and family.

Basil is a 12 year old boy who has just entered the public school system for the first time after being homeschooled by his grandmother. Quickly we see that he is having a lot of trouble in math due to his condition. When he looks at a worksheet instead of seeing numbers and problems, he sees a rainbow. What’s worse is that some numbers in his pallet have the exact same color (1 & 0 both being white for example.) I felt really bad as he struggled with keeping up with the students around him. It was quite frustrating at the same time because he just wouldn’t ask for help and instead tried to BS his way through everything. Through this and other aspects of his life it became clear that Basil was pretty thick headed and stubborn. Oftentimes I found myself really frustrated with him because he had a tendency to be downright rude. But we do get to see a softer side of him as Tenzie begins to break down the barriers that he has had up for so long. Tenzie had such a big personality, she knew who she was and didn’t follow all of the social norms. I liked what she brought out in Basil (or Pesto as she would have us call him.) She was an incredibly sweet girl who showed Basil that he wasn’t alone as she pretty much forced herself into his life.

As these two get to know each other we learn a lot about their families and things aren’t always great in that department. Tenzie’s story broke my heart. She had ever present parents but ones who didn’t pay attention to her at all. They were so tied up in their work and they didn’t make time for her. They were also pretty selfish, always putting what they needed first and what Tenzie needed (like school supplies) second. Basil’s home life had issues too. Sure he lived with his sweet grandmother (who was awesome and artsy by the way) but he was left there by her mother as she shipped off to pursue her Hollywood dreams. As you can probably imagine, circumstance sets Basil and Tenzie off on an adventure that brings them and their families together in a great way.

A fun story about relationships and characters, ONE + ONE = BLUE is a sweet story for any middle grader. It is definitely one of the more simplistic and innocent stories I have read in the genre but it was a fun read nonetheless. I do wish we had gotten more about the synesthesia that Tenzie and Basil both had because I feel like for much of the story that was put on the back burner and only mentioned here and there. Touching lightly on junior high bullying and heavily on the importance of family this is a cute story that is sure to please any young reader.

Eleanor & Park Review

2013-04-24T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE Eleanor & Park
AUTHOR Rainbow Rowell
PUBLICATION February 26th 2013 by St. Martin's Press
READ April 07 to 08, 2013
SOURCE Purchased

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

This is a novel that I went into with incredibly high expectations. So many of my Goodreads friends and people that I talk to on Twitter have been raving about this book the last few weeks. I was honestly a little nervous that my expectations would get the better of me because I really didn’t think there was any way a book could live up to them. This book surpassed those expectations, it blew them away, it left them in the dust, it was perfect. I have no idea what I could bring to the ELEANOR & PARK fanclub that is new so I am going to keep this short and talk about my favorite things in the novel.

The real gem of this book is the portrayal of the main characters Eleanor & Park. They are incredibly flawed in their own ways and live completely different lives and yet through some shared interests they begin to slowly (very slowly) open up to one another. There was an innocence to their relationship and a sense of wonderment as they explored their emotions for one another. I loved that even after they fell for one another their worlds didn’t stop and focus solely on their love for each other. They were still incredibly self conscious and even pretty damn selfish at times. Eleanor had a lot to deal with, not only did she have to put up with bullshit at school but she had to put up with just as much (if not more) of it at home. I felt for this girl so much you guys. I hated her stepdad, I hated her mother for being so weak and I hated the bullies at her school. But through those things I came to really admire Eleanor, she was herself through and through. She didn’t parade around trying to be something that she wasn’t to make those crappy things in her life go away, she faced them. Park leads a much different life, he comes from a stable family with two parents who are madly in love with one another. I thought he was so adorable. He had this dark rebellious side to him that wasn’t really brought out until he had Eleanor and he realized that some things are worth fighting for.

Their relationship is exactly the polar opposite of insta-love (how refreshing, right?) This is definitely a slow burn romance, the slowest I have ever read and I loved every small step that these two took with one another. As I had mentioned there was an innocence to it as it was new to both of them and they didn’t know what they were doing at all. Most of the romantic scenes were actually pretty awkward which is perfect because at that age they are awkward! Where do you put your hands? How much is too much? You can never be sure. What made these scenes, and everything in the novel really shine was the dual POV. There were random switches between Eleanor and Park's POV some spanned a few pages and some mere sentences but they were perfectly placed to really give you both sides of the story.

I don’t think I would have picked this book up based on the cover, actually I know I wouldn’t have because at one point I did get a review request for this one that I turned down. What a fool I am! Now when I look at the cover there is absolutely nothing that I would change because it is so perfect for the novel. Filled with real life turmoil, a relationship that will warm your heart (seriously I thought at one point that my heart might actually burst) and a general honesty about life that is hard to find, ELEANOR & PARK is a story that you don’t want to miss.

The Program Review

2013-04-23T00:00:00.000-06:00

TITLE The Program (Program #1)
AUTHOR Suzanne Young
PUBLICATION April 30th 2013 by Simon Pulse
READ April 03 to 06, 2013
SOURCE Simon & Schuster Canada for review

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

This is the kind of review that I hate writing. I read THE PROGRAM and really really liked it. There are so many aspects of the story and happenings in the plot that I want to talk about but I just sat down to write this and saw that 90% of what I had wanted to talk about isn’t even mentioned in the blurb and would therefore be a spoiler. Going by the blurb I can only really talk in depth about the first 120 pages of the book, so here I go, watch me be vague.

In the story we have a very vivid dystopian setting painted for us. We meet Sloane who knows that even the smallest outburst of sad emotions could land her spending 6 weeks in The Program and lead to her having everyone she has ever known outside of her family being completely wiped away. She was a great MC, she was an incredibly smart girl who questioned everything around her. I also came to care about her core group of friends and her boyfriend James. James, oh James. He was everything that I look for in a book boyfriend. He was so supportive and fiercely protective of Sloane. These two knew each other inside & out and had been through hell and back together which really had me rooting for their relationship.

There is an immediate intensity to this story as we are thrown into this world and watch Sloane live day to day in hiding. The handlers are constantly around when she is at school and their lingering makes you realize that with a moments notice one of the characters could be taken away to have their memory wiped and be “cured” of their depression. While I won’t talk about this too deeply I have to point out that I really liked the explanation for what led to the suicide epidemic in this story, it is frightening in that it was something that could very well happen in our future, so kudos to Young for that. There are 3 parts to this story (which was cool, yet super weird because each part started back at page 1 & chapter 1, strange right?) All of the parts went together really well and felt as if they were stories that could have held their own apart from the novel.

What I took away from this story is a strong message about true love and how important all of the happenings (the good and the bad) in our lives are in shaping who we are. You can’t just forget all the bad crap in your life and move on because it is a part of you and you don’t really know who you are without it. A story that focusses heavily on relationships, THE PROGRAM is the kick off to a series that I am very excited for. I can’t wait to be in this world again with the characters that I came to really care about. The ending of the novel sets up for some definite excitement and the epilogue had me grinning because it was so well placed. Read this book people, this is going to be a series that you don’t want to miss.