So I got this idea from Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner who got it from a blogger/life coach named Ashley.Sometimes we forget that there is a whole other side to book bloggers. A side that does not obsess about books and talk about them incessantly. So grab a cup of coffee (generally my coffee of choice is a Venti Mocha at Starbucks) and let’s chat.
Month: February 2014
Review: My Life Next Door (My Life Next Door #1) by Huntley Fitzpatrick
The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them. . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.
As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase’s family embraces Samantha – even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha’s world. She’s suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?
A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.
Stacking the Shelves #32
Jex Malone by C.L. Gaber & V.C. Stanley
Silver by Chris Wooding
-Edelweiss-
The Summer Of Letting Go by Gae Polisner
Dissonance (Dissonance #1) by Erica O’Rourke
-Received for ARC Tour from Lit Lushes–
The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel
Gifted
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Won
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Review: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette has done a ton of changing over these three books. When we met her she was scared and she felt weak. By the time Ignite Me comes around and throughout the book, she is not afraid anymore. She fights for what she wants and what she feels is right.She has friends now which is something she didn’t have at the beginning of the trilogy.
Oh Adam, you really pissed me off in this book. I understand his dislike of Warner (even though I don’t agree with it) but he needed to stop being a jackass. Even Kenji got annoyed with him which tells you something right there. I truly think Adam wanted Juliette to stay naive and quiet and non-confrontational. He liked being Juliette’s protector and savior.
Now Warner treated Juliette with respect and like she was his equal which I loved seeing. All her life Juliette had been shunned and here comes powerful Warner who saw her, not as a frail woman in need of protection, but as an equal.
Oh boy Tahereh knows how to write steamy scenes. Wowee, chapter 55 was hotter than chapter 62 of Unravel Me. I never even though that was possible but damn Tahereh, you surprised me. This author knows how to write dynamite steamy scenes. I only wish I had that talent. I try to write steamy scenes and they turn out horribly. Like I’m trying too hard to force it. But chapter 55 was hot and the chemistry leapt off of the pages.
The only complaint that I could conceivably have is with the ending. It felt just a little bit rushed. I was not bothered by that enough to change my rating of the book. The book was still amazing and it took me through a range of emotions that left me in tears by the end of it. All of the loose ends are tied up which really made me happy as I have read books that ended with some loose strings. So this conclusion to the trilogy will be getting 5 stars.If you haven’t read the series, then you need to fix that ASAP.
YA books Made Into Movies
So I came up with this discussion idea after the ladies of Epic Reads discussed it on their weekly show called Tea Time this past Wednesday. I love, LOVE books as evidenced by me having a book blog and talking incessantly about books. I am also a major movie buff. There has been an influx of YA books being turned into movies over the past 5-10 years. Some of them have been amazing and some of them have sucked the big one.
I cannot mention YA books & movies without mentioning the 8 Harry Potter movies. Some of them were better than others and one of them I actually enjoyed more than the book (No I didn’t love all seven books the same) There was another one where I adored the book but the movie adaptation of it was terrible. Which depressed the crap outta me.
Twilight, now I read the books once and now looking back, I am embarrassed that I read them. Totally cannot believe that I enjoyed them. However I went to go see Twilight when it came out in theaters and basically hated it. Kristen Stewart just cannot act to save her life. So I got New Moon on Netflix later on and could only make it through about 45 minutes before I had to turn it off. I have yet to see Eclipse or Part 1 & 2 of Breaking Dawn. The idea of a werewolf imprinting on a baby just… BARF!
Now The Hunger Games was a pretty decent movie adaptation. Yes there were changes that people had to accept. However it’s successor Catching Fire basically knocked it out of the park in terms of adapting the book to the movie. They had kept so many of the lines from the book and that thrilled me. The casting for Catching Fire was fantastic (RIP PSH) I even ended up loving Sam Claflin as Finnick though I was initially nervous about as he was my favorite male character in Catching Fire. Jena Malone was PERFECTION as Johanna Mason. They could not have cast that one better.
I have not read Vampire Academy but I saw the premiere for the film and I could not understand the hype. If the books are anything like the previews for the movie, I think I’ll pass. Yikes. It just looks totally cringe-worthy.
Now I am excited about Divergent even though I am still not 100% sold on Theo James as Four (Yes I know I’m crazy) I love that they were able to get some big names into the film (Kate Winslet & Ashley Judd) I really hope that the movie is as good as the previews made it look. I think I’ll be really upset if it ends up not being good.
Now onto the books that I would hate to see made into a movie. The Splintered series by A.G.Howard. I have absolutely adored the first two books but I would be terrified that the movies would be trash. They would have to get just the right director to do it (I would say Tim Burton but he’s already directed Alice in Wonderland and I don’t think he’d do this one.) The special effects would be dynamite, that much I am sure of. So movie people, if you are, by some miracle, reading this, please don’t make Splintered & Unhinged & Ensnared into movies.
My other YA movie don’t is The Program & The Treatment by Suzanne Young. Again, I absolutely LOVED this duology but please movie people bypass this duology. I am absolutely terrified to think what would happen to this series if a director got their hands on it. First off, the books are long so lots would be cut which I would not be happy about. Secondly, I’d be worried about the casting of the key players (James, Sloane & Realm) among others. Amazing books that need to just stay books.
So what books would you hate to see be turned into movies?
Review: Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard
That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.
As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.
If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she’ll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.
Stacking the Shelves #31
So this week was a quiet week bringing me only one review book. Probably a good thing as I have been having yet another reading slump. It seems to be relegated to review books as I have really enjoyed Unhinged by A.G. Howard this week. I know I need to be reading review books but none of them are really holding my interest right now. It’s frustrating and annoying as I am really type A and the idea of not following my review schedule is really upsetting me.
I received a belated birthday gift from Angie. Thank you SO much Angie. Love you! I had also won a Twitter Giveaway that Angie did. Both of those packages arrived on Monday, making it one of the best Monday’s I’ve had in awhile.
I got my Valentine’s Day present from my mom and it was a highly anticipated book. A series ender. A book that everyone has been going nuts over. So thank you Mom!
The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams
Don’t forget to link me to your Stacking The Shelves posts & vlogs.
Review: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.
Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most?
Julie Murphy’s SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.
Harvey laughed to himself in a sad way and rubbed his eyes. “You want me to help you with a list of things you won’t disclose to me.” He leaned forward and bit the skin around his thumb. “Classic.”
“You won’t regret it.”
“But—”
“Harvey,” I said, my voice low. “Trust me.”
I knew what this looked like. It looked like I was using Harvey. But here was the reality of the situation: the minute my life went from semi-permanent to most likely temporary, I decided to latch on to everything in my world that had always been permanent, and for me, Harvey was so permanent he was concrete.
I had heard a lot of amazing things about this one months ago. It was starting to show up on fellow readers’ Goodreads lists, and recently, ARC’s were becoming more available. So when Edelweiss put this one up, I snatched it in a hurry. I am a real sucker for the “tough subjects” books. You know, the cancer books, the terminal illness books as well as other tough subject books.
I was a little nervous when I started this one. Mostly because many of the people who have already read it, loved it. While I didn’t love it, I definitely liked it a lot. When you are told that your cancer is in remission, you feel a variety of different emotions. It’s especially strange after you’ve been told that there’s nothing more they can do and that you will die and probably soon.
That’s how Alice feels. She knows that she should be over the moon excited that her life is not nearing an end,at least not yet, and that she has time to be with her loved ones. Yet, that’s not how she feels. Now that she’s not dying there are things that she feels that need to be done. Admittedly, she uses the boy who has loved her, to her advantage.
Harvey knows that Alice knows that he’d do anything for her. He’d help humiliate the boy she dated before she got sick. He’d help humiliate the girl who her boyfriend was cheating on her with.He doesn’t grow a backbone until the book is nearly over. That really bothered me. While I know that Alice feels like she needs to do this, it’s hard to be understanding when she is so obviously using the boy who loves her.
I liked Alice pretty much the whole time even though I know there were parts where she was pretty mean. Until you’ve been in her position, you really cannot say how you’d react to the news that your seemingly incurable cancer is in remission.
I loved all the parental involvement in this book. I mean having Alice’s parents involved was practically a given since she had such a serious illness. Having Harvey’s mom, Natalie so present in the book was awesome. I really loved how all five of them were so close. It was like a big happy family at times. You don’t usually have that in YA books.
I didn’t love the dual POV combined with switching from the then and now time periods. At times it just got really confusing. I think it would have been better had Julie picked one. Either a dual POV or then & now time periods. At the beginning, I kept having to flip back a few pages on my Kindle because I would get confused about the timelines.
I cried a little bit in the beginning and a little bit in the end, so the feels were there, but not as much as I was expecting them to be. I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t love this one like I wanted to, however, I did like it a lot and that is why I am going to give it 4 stars. Yes I would absolutely recommend this book.
Book Blogger Love-A-Thon Interview with Liz
1. Why did you get into book blogging?
If you aren’t familiar with Liz’s blog, go on and check it out here.
Life Of A Blogger: Plans For The Future
So I’m currently staring at the topic for today and I was hoping that the answer would just pop magically into my head. But no it hasn’t.
Ten years ago I had plans, I was happy and in love and ready to start college and eventually make my way to law school and eventually marry my high school sweetheart. Well that didn’t happen. Ever since then, I’ve had problems committing to a career, going as far as changing my major more times than I care to admit. Ideally I’d love to be a writer & also open a cat sanctuary for abandoned & abused cats. Realistically, my plans are to move out of my mom’s house and into my own house.
But to even do that, I have to get a job. It’s hard to break into the workforce after a long time of attending school & not working. I have been turned down for 3 jobs since I started looking. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking and it makes me feel crappy about myself. I know that it shouldn’t, but it does. It makes me feel like I’m not good enough. I’ve had that feeling often enough in my personal life that I don’t ever want to feel that way again.
Of course, given that today is Valentine’s Day, I want to make more room in my heart for love.I have a very frustrating habit of self-destructing in relationships and running away so fast that it would make your head spin. My plan was always to be married by age 30. As it stands right now, someone would literally have to fall in my lap right now for that to happen.
Last year at this time, I had reconnected romantically with my high school sweetheart (we had remained friends for the last 10 years) I was happy and hopeful for our future together, but of course I panicked and left the relationship. There was nothing about him I didn’t like. He was perfect on paper, but I was terrified to screw up again.
So I guess you could say that my plans for now are to get a job, stop running away from love and move out of my mom’s house. Decent goals & plans but ones that I had hoped I would have managed years ago. But I guess, now is better than never right?
So what are your plans for the future?