Friday, December 16, 2011

Lack of Updates

I am so sorry about the lack of updates. I just finished my semester and have finished two books that will be reviewed soon: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins and Stolen by Lucy Christopher!

Monday, November 14, 2011

The Hunger Games First Trailer

Tell me this doesn't look amazing? I was worried, but now my hope has been restored!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Title: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Author: Morgan Matson
Source: My Kindle
Summary: Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself. Buy it here!

Review: If the ending wasn't so abrupt, this would have been a 5 star book. The story follows Amy Curry and Roger, the son of a friend of Amy's mother, as they drive from California to Connecticut. They decide not to follow Amy's mother's schedule and take detours instead, falling in love along the way as Amy comes to terms with her father's car crash that killed him. This book moves so effortlessly and the writing is fluid. The text is broken up by pictures and excerpts of Amy's travel journal. I absolutely love both Amy and Roger. They're so real and their love comes so easily. You see throughout the novel how compatible they are, which makes their love more believable. It's a quick read and you won't want to put it down!

Stars: 4.5 stars!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Source: My Kindle
Pages: 384 Pages
Summary: Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt


Review: So I sat down and read Anna and the French Kiss during the blackout when the Northeast lost electricity. It had been sitting on my Kindle for so long and I finally decided to pick it up. This book is frickin amazing! Even though it was a mushy romance novel, there wasn't anything unrealistic about it. I read it in one sitting and it made the time fly by! I don't care much for contemporary YA romances but this book is an absolute must-read!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday!

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Expected Publication: January 10, 2012
Summary: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.


My thoughts: The title is taken from Shakespeare. You know it will be a good book with that fact, but honestly, after Looking for Alaska, I absolutely adore John Green and his works. It'll just be added to a pile of books to read with the rest of his work! 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Looking for Alaska

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Pages: 221 pages
Source: My kindle
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter's adolescence has been one long nonevent - no challenge, no girls, no mischief, and no real friends. Seeking what Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps," he leaves Florida for a boarding school in Birmingham, AL. His roommate, Chip, is a dirt-poor genius scholarship student with a Napoleon complex who lives to one-up the school's rich preppies. Chip's best friend is Alaska Young, with whom Miles and every other male in her orbit falls instantly in love. She is literate, articulate, and beautiful, and she exhibits a reckless combination of adventurous and self-destructive behavior. She and Chip teach Miles to drink, smoke, and plot elaborate pranks. Alaska's story unfolds in all-night bull sessions, and the depth of her unhappiness becomes obvious. Green's dialogue is crisp, especially between Miles and Chip. His descriptions and Miles's inner monologues can be philosophically dense, but are well within the comprehension of sensitive teen readers. The chapters of the novel are headed by a number of days "before" and "after" what readers surmise is Alaska's suicide. These placeholders sustain the mood of possibility and foreboding, and the story moves methodically to its ambiguous climax. The language and sexual situations are aptly and realistically drawn, but sophisticated in nature. Miles's narration is alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor, and his obvious struggle to tell the story truthfully adds to his believability. Buy it here!

Review: I wish I had read this book ages ago. There is no other word to describe this novel but amazing. The story, the writing, the characters were just perfect. The story follows Miles or "Pudge" through his adventures in his boarding school with his roommate "The Colonial" and Alaska Young, the wild and beautiful girl who lives down the hall. However, as much fun as Alaska is, she cannot hide her difficult life and sadness for long. Miles falls for her, and then it turns into real love for him, but tragedy rips Alaska away from everyone. I teared up quite a bit from this novel, but it ended hopefully for me. I wouldn't say that Looking for Alaska is the best book I've ever read, but it's up there and you're crazy for not reading it!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Bought Because of Their Covers

I am insanely guilty of this! Some have worked out, others haven't.



Twilight: Yep, I read this back in 2005 when it came out and the cover was what drew me in. I still think it's one of the better YA covers and has started a bit of a YA cover revolution.

Across the Universe: Haven't even touched it yet but the cover is beautiful.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher: I'm not sure why but I think this cover is just lovely. Its simplicity is what works.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: This book was on everyone's list for interesting covers. Obviously, I am included!

Hush, Hush: I started to read this but couldn't get into it. I plan on trying again but this cover is just amazing!

Delirium: I love everything about this book, including the amazing cover!

Wither: I just grabbed this book one day without even looking at the description. The cover alone sold me.

Anna Dressed in Blood: The title, the cover, just everything works.

The Dark Divine: So pretty!

Hereafter: I am completely in love with this cover but couldn't get into the book. Maybe I'll pick it up again?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

In my Mailbox (well, technically Kindle) #4

So many books this week!

Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz
Afterlife (Evernight #4) by Claudia Gray
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Suspense by Jason Letts (thank you for the copy!)
Eve by Anna Carey
Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

So sorry for the lack of updates. We read a book every two weeks in my lit class, plus other class workload has kept me from my enjoyable reading!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

City of Bones

Title: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) 

Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 512 pages
Source: My kindle
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: Paranormal

Summary: When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped. Jocelyn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of The Mortal Cup, a dangerous magical item that turns humans into Shadowhunters. Clary must find the cup and keep it from a renegade sector of Shadowhunters bent on eliminating all nonhumans, including benevolent werewolves and friendly vampires. Buy it Here!

Review: So I'm a bit late to the party, but at least I'm making my entrance! So how did I like City of Bones? Well, it took me two tries to finish it but I'm happy I did. I spent the first half of the novel pretty much bored but once I hit the 50% on my Kindle, the book took off! I don't really have much to say other than I'm not a fan of really anyone except Jace. Jace is all kinds of awesome and it saddens me that Jamie Campbell Bower is playing him, instead of Alex Pettyfer (dumb boy!) I absolutely love the setting of New York as well. Usually in books, New York is the setting but this time it was different. New York felt like a character in the book. The city has never felt so real to me. With that said, I'm off to continue reading City of Ashes!
Rating: 4 STARS

Sunday, September 25, 2011

In my Mailbox (well, technically Kindle) #3

Slow week this week. Bought:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Afterlife by Claudia Gray
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday!

What are the Top Ten Books that I feel like every other book blogger has read but I haven't?

1.) The Jessica Darling Series: It's on my to-read section but I haven't gotten around to it yet!

2.) Anything by Cassandra Clare. I'm not sure if I will read anything by her?

3.) The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I always lie and said I have read this!

4.) Water for Elephants. I saw the movie. Does that count?

5.) The Morganville Vampires. It's on my list!

6.) The Book Thief. Everyone read this in HS, but I somehow missed it?

7.) The Entire Iron Fey Series. Part One is Down!

8.) The "Classics". I've only read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, but nothing else.

9.) Anna and the French Kiss. I'm DYING to read this!

10.) Bloodlines. I love Vampire Academy, so I seriously need to pick this up!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

In my Mailbox (well, technically Kindle) #2

So I got my first ARCs ever as a book blogger so I'm super excited!

Title: Saving June
Author: Hannah Harrington
Source: Netgalley (Thank you Harlequin!)
Pages: 336 Pages
Genre: Romance/Friendship, YA
Summary: Harper Scott's older sister, June, commits suicide two weeks shy of her high school graduation. So Harper, at sixteen, defiantly finds herself an only child while mourning her sister's death and is not kind to her divorced and grief-stricken parents. To make matters worse, Harper is the one who finds her deceased sister. But a huge unanswered question for Harper is why? June does not even leave behind a goodbye note. Meanwhile, Tyler hangs around during the wake at Harper's house. Harper ponders his connection to her late sister and investigates clues regarding June's unfulfilled dreams. This takes her on a road trip to California with her best friend, Laney, and Tyler to scatter her sister's ashes into the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they encounter adventure among their far-flung friends and acquaintances. Just when you discover Tyler's connection to Harper's sister, the climax takes the reader on a gigantic twist. This is a work of realistic fiction. The author portrays the life of wayward teens who seek independence. Although the language may be a bit salty, it is realistic. The story also includes the theme of budding romance, with some sexual expression. SAVING JUNE should become a movie some day – it even includes a soundtrack.

Title: Blood
Author: K.J. Wignall
Source: Netgalley (Thank you Egemont!)
Pages: 272 pages
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires, Romance
Summary: Will is a vampire in danger. Heir to the Earl of Mercia, he was brutally attacked and buried in the thirteenth century before he was able to assume his title. Perpetually sixteen, Will’s life has been lonely. He leaves his tomb every so often, adapts to the present day, feeds his bloodlust, and never gets close to anyone.
Until now.

Waking from a twenty-year slumber, hungry for the blood that sustains his undeath, he meets Eloise—but can’t bear to make her his next victim. Drawn to a girl he can never have, but whose fate seems bound with his own, he feels the need to protect her. But Will has an enemy who will stop at nothing to find him . . . and he’s closing in. . . .


Friday, September 9, 2011

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron King
Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 368 pages
Source: My kindle
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Faeries/Paranormal

Summary: On her 16th birthday, Meghan Chase's four-year-old half brother is exchanged for a changeling and she discovers that her best friend, Robbie, is actually Robin Greenfellow, aka Puck, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is her guardian and will lead her into the faery world to rescue her brother. Once there, Meghan learns that she is a princess, daughter of Oberon, king of the Seelie Court. With a mortal mother and a faery king for a father, she is very powerful, and Oberon and Queen Mab, queen of the Unseelie Court, are both fighting to keep her. With help from Puck and a talking cat, Meghan sneaks into the Unseelie Court to rescue Ethan, only to discover that he is held captive by more powerful forces that could destroy the entire fey world. Meghan is a likable heroine and her quest is fraught with danger and adventure. The action never stops, and Meghan's romance with Ash, the handsome prince of the Unseelie Court, provides some romance that is sure to continue in the sequel. Buy it here!

Review: So, I've never read a book about faeries before. I never found them to be very appealing to be quite honest. Oh, Julie Kagawa, how you have changed me! I flippin loved this book. It was literally nohing short of amazing and one of the very few books that I think just about every YAlit lover would devour. The story follows a sixteen year old girl named Meghan, who with the help of her faery in disguise best friend Puck (yes, Shakespeare's Puck!) goes into a world called Nevernever to retrieve her brother after he has been kidnapped by The Iron King.

While searching, she meets a slew of characters, such as a cat named Grimalkin ("I am a cat.") and the gorgeous and ice cold Winter Prince Ash. Kagawa definitely channels Shakespeare through more than just Puck by having a bit of a Romeo&Juliet type of relationship (she is a Summer Princess!). Kagawa also makes some veiled comments about our environment today later in the novel, but honestly, this book is just fun. There is action, adventure, humor, and looooove! I cannot recommend this book more, though my next review will be a different book as my brain needs a bit of break from the awesomeness that I just read!

Rating: 5 STARS

Breaking Dawn Teaser Poster!


So how amazing does this poster look? That ring?! Edward’s finally wearing his ring! No Jacob/he gets a whole separate poster I can ignore?! Epic Win, Summit. I approve :) New trailer premiering on 9/13 at 7:30!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz

Title: Misguided Angel
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Pages: 272 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Source: My kindle
Genre: Vampires, Paranormal Romance
Summary: After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence--with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the seven gates that guard earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silverbloods.
 
As the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler closer to a terrifying crossroads--and a choice that will determine the destiny of all vampires. Buy it here!

Review: So I absolutely adore the Blue Bloods series, but sadly, this book was definitely my least favorite but I still enjoyed it. The book is split up into three seperate stories: Jack and Schuyler, then Mimi, and a new character named Deming Chan.

The first story follows Jack and Schuyler after Jack has refused to return to New York and broke his vow to Mimi. The two of them are in various places, trying to stop Hell's Gates from opening and learn some dark secrets.

Mimi, who is in New York, is now the lead Regent for the Blue Bloods while her blood still boils at Jack and she misses her love, Kingsley. She discovers that someone has videotaped a vampire and her familiar and threatened to spill their secret. Then the familiar and the vampire go missing. This is when Mimi brings in Deming Chan to investigate.

The book was okay; nothing spectacular but if you love this series, then you'll find something to love with this as well. Most fans I know love Jack and Schuyler, who were seriously lacking in this novel. While I also love Mimi, she is much less entertaining without Kingsley or the halls of the school to taunt and menace, though she had some humorous scenes when she teams up with Oliver. Deming Chan was a nice character to add and her story was the most fast paced and interesting. Still, I'm hoping when the next novel Lost in Time comes out at the end of the month. The number one complaint I've heard about this novel is that readers think this story did nothing to advance the overlying plot over the course of the other novels. I agree, but this was still a fun read.

3.5 STARS

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Books I Cannot Wait to Read!

This is my first edition of Books I Cannot Wait to Read! These are all books that have not come out yet that I wish would come out tomorrow :)

Title: Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Release Date: March 6, 2012

So I admit that Delirium didn't suck me in right away, but by the end, I was panting for more! With that cliffhanger of an ending, Pandemonium cannot come faster!




Title: Lost in Time (A Blue Bloods Novel)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Release Date: September 27, 2011

I frickin love The Blue Bloods series. I am an absolute die-hard fan of Jack and Schuyler, which makes me hope that the lack of them in Misguided Angel will signal that this book is mostly about them!



Title: Balthazar
Author: Claudia Gray
Release Date: March 6, 2012

Another series I love is the Evernight series, with my favorite being Stargazer. This might actually be the first time I love another love interest for the main character than the main love interest. Balthazar was such an amazing guy and the hot little love scene in Stargazer between him and Bianca made my blood sizzle! With his own novel, I hope Balthazar finds his own happy ending!


Title: Fever (The Chemical Gardens #2)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Release Date: February 21, 2012

So I initially was not super crazy about Wither, but my confirmed love for Linden has made me return. I feel awful wanting Rhine to learn to love her husband, but it's just how I feel! I'm very curious to see how the next novel pans out. I'm hoping Linden breaks away from his father. One can only hope!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Genre: Dystopian YA/Romance
Pages: 368 pages
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Kindle
Summary: When scientists engineered genetically perfect children, everyone thought it would ensure the future of the human race. Though the first generation is nearly immortal, a virus causes all successive generations to die early: age 20 for women, 25 for men. Now, girls are kidnapped for brothels or polygamous marriages to breed children. Rhine is taken from her hardscrabble life and sold with two other girls to Linden Ashby. Though they live in a palatial Florida home surrounded by gardens and treated like royalty, the girls are sequestered from the outside world, and Rhine longs to escape. Her growing affection for her sister wives, her pity for Linden, and her fear of Housemaster Vaughn, Linden's manipulative father, keep her uncomfortably docile, until she falls for servant Gabriel. This character-driven dystopia, more thoughtful than thrilling, sets up an arresting premise that succeeds because of Rhine's poignant, conflicted narrative and DeStefano's evocative prose. Many will appreciate the intense character drama; however, the world building is underdeveloped, with holes in internal logic. Buy it here!

Review: I'm not going to lie; the whole reason why I picked up Wither for the first time is because of the gorgeous cover. I'm a sucker for beautiful covers and the plot sounded promising. However, I feel extremely conflicted about this book, mostly because of the characters. The main character, a sixteen year old girl named Rhine, has been kidnapped and brought to a lavish mansion with two other girls to be married to a 21-year-old man named Linden in order to conceive children in hopes of ending an essential plague that kills all young adults (women at 20 and men at 25). Rhine is angry about this (who can blame her) and plots to escape with the help of a servant named Gabriel who shows her kindness and the two eventually and kind of fall in love. Sounds great, right? Well, it's much more complicated.

Linden was my favorite character. It sucks that his father was the number one villain in the story, but all in all, I thought Linden was a good guy. He cared for each of his wives, with Rhine being his favorite for reasons I cannot reveal. If the series of novels is supposed to have a love triangle between Rhine, Gabriel, and Linden, I'm Team Linden just because I feel like Gabriel was not very well developed as a character. I'm an eternal feminist, but the novel explains what happens to girls usually in this world and I think Rhine should consider herself very lucky instead of whining the whole time like she did.

With that said, I feel extremely conflicted about this novel. Yes, I found some things wrong with it, but I could not put it down and I will definitely pick up the sequel Fever in February. What are your thoughts?

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Dystopian YA
Pages: 480 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins
Source: My Kindle
Summary: Oliver’s follow-up to her smash debut, Before I Fall (2010), is another deft blend of realism and fantasy. The hook is irresistible: it’s the near future, a time when love has long since been identified as a disease called amor deliria nervosa, and 17-year-old Lena is 95 days away from the operation that everyone gets to cure themselves. Can you feel the swoon coming? Enter Alex, a rakish daredevil who, as it turns out, is one of the Invalids—a tribe of uncured who live on the lam in the surrounding wilderness. With the clock ticking down to her surgery, Lena is drawn into Alex’s world, one of passion and freedom, while her emotionally castrated family members hope to turn her into yet another complacent zombie. Oliver’s masterstroke is making a strong case for love as disease: the anxiety, depression, insomnia, and impulsive behavior of the smitten do smack of infirmity. The story bogs down as it revels in romance—Alex is standard-issue perfection—but the book never loses its A Clockwork Orange–style bite regarding safety versus choice. Link to Buy!
Stars: 4.5 STARS

Review: So I've learned that this reviewing blog thing is going to be an adjustment for me after this busy summer! I finished Delirium quite awhile ago, but there is something about it that I loved so dearly. At first, it was a bit difficult to get into in my opinion. Oliver is a lovely writer, but I just felt like not a lot happened at the beginning. Once I reached halfway point and the plot picked up, so did my reading speed!

Oliver really packs a punch with this novel. There is something extremely intense about love not being a part of the world, not even love between parents and their children. The main characters of Lena and Alex are extremely well crafted as they are completely balanced; they have their good and bad sides. The plot is ambitious, but not overly so it's something that everyone can relate to and get into. I suggest that you use your patience with this book because you will not regret it!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Weekend

So how was everyone's weekend? Mine was boring: reading and saw two movies, along with working a little bit. What did you guys do?

Saturday, May 21, 2011

In my Mailbox (well, technically Kindle)

After receiving my final grades with a 3.325 GPA, I've decided to treat myself and buy some new books! First up is:

Title: Perfect You
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Pages: 282 Pages
Summary: Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible.
And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest.
Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen -- but only if she lets them.... --Amazon
Buy here
My Thoughts: I hear plenty of good things about Elizabeth Scott, but still haven't gotten around to buying anything of hers. Now that I have time and the money, I'm thinking this might be my summer of Elizabeth Scott! 

Title: Stolen
Author: Lucy Christopher
Pages: 304 Pages
Summary: Drugged and kidnapped from her parents at the Bangkok airport, English teen Gemma wakes to find herself in the weirdly beautiful but desolate Australian outback. Her only company is her captor, a handsome young Australian named Ty, who is obsessed with her. Indeed, he tells her that he has been watching her since she was a child and now plans to keep her with him forever. Told in the form of a letter Gemma is writing to Ty, Christopher’s first novel is a complex psychological study that is also a tribute to the hypnotic beauty of the outback, which Ty passionately loves and feels has been “stolen” by those who would exploit it for gain. Though Gemma at first hates both her kidnapper and the landscape, she gradually begins to warm toward both. Some readers may feel the novel is weighted down by too much symbolism (if the outback is Edenic, watch out for a serpent!) and find Ty to be too sympathetic a character, but at the same time these potential drawbacks offer ample opportunity for thought and discussion. -- Amazon
Buy here!
My Thoughts: I've been dying to get this book for sometime now. I have this weird fascination with kidnapped victims and people who has suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, so when I heard of this book and saw that it was a runner up in the 2011 Printz Award, I knew I had to pick it up!

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Pages: 256 pages
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter's adolescence has been one long nonevent - no challenge, no girls, no mischief, and no real friends. Seeking what Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps," he leaves Florida for a boarding school in Birmingham, AL. His roommate, Chip, is a dirt-poor genius scholarship student with a Napoleon complex who lives to one-up the school's rich preppies. Chip's best friend is Alaska Young, with whom Miles and every other male in her orbit falls instantly in love. She is literate, articulate, and beautiful, and she exhibits a reckless combination of adventurous and self-destructive behavior. She and Chip teach Miles to drink, smoke, and plot elaborate pranks. Alaska's story unfolds in all-night bull sessions, and the depth of her unhappiness becomes obvious. Green's dialogue is crisp, especially between Miles and Chip. His descriptions and Miles's inner monologues can be philosophically dense, but are well within the comprehension of sensitive teen readers. The chapters of the novel are headed by a number of days "before" and "after" what readers surmise is Alaska's suicide. These placeholders sustain the mood of possibility and foreboding, and the story moves methodically to its ambiguous climax. The language and sexual situations are aptly and realistically drawn, but sophisticated in nature. Miles's narration is alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor, and his obvious struggle to tell the story truthfully adds to his believability. Like Phineas in John Knowles's A Separate Peace(S & S, 1960), Green draws Alaska so lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic light, that readers mourn her loss along with her friends. -- Amazon
Buy here
My Thoughts: John Green is probably one of the best YA authors out there and I'm shocked I didn't pick up Looking For Alaska before. They need to start adapting his books for movies ASAP!

Friday, May 20, 2011

What Do I Use to Read?

There is something to be said about real books: their smell is intoxicating, the feeling of the weight in your hands, and feeling the pages beneath your fingertips. However, if you're a hardcore reader like me, it's difficult to carry around multiple books with you, especially when your bag is already heavy with textbooks!

Two years ago, my father offered to buy me a Kindle for Christmas and I reluctantly agreed, but it was a great decision! Now, I have over 200 books on my Kindle, all within the reach of my hand! I know that there are a lot of people that refuse to give up hardcover books, and that's cool, but you can mix digital and hardcover.

E-readers are definitely something to look into!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Paranornal YA
Pages: 400
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (June 1, 2010)
Source: My Kindle
Summary: Grace, 17, loves the peace and tranquility of the woods behind her home. It is here during the cold winter months that she gets to see her wolf—the one with the yellow eyes. Grace is sure that he saved her from an attack by other wolves when she was nine. Over the ensuing years he has returned each season, watching her with those haunting eyes as if longing for something to happen. When a teen is killed by wolves, a hunting party decides to retaliate. Grace races through the woods and discovers a wounded boy shivering on her back porch. One look at his yellow eyes and she knows that this is her wolf in human form. Fate has finally brought Sam and Grace together, and as their love grows and intensifies, so does the reality of what awaits them. It is only a matter of time before the winter cold changes him back into a wolf, and this time he might stay that way forever. Told from alternating points of view, the narrative takes a classic Romeo & Juliet plot and transforms it into a paranormal romance that is beautiful and moving. Readers will easily identify with the strong, dynamic characters. The mythology surrounding the wolf pack is clever and so well written that it seems perfectly normal for the creatures to exist in today's world. A must-have that will give Bella and Edward a run for their money. --- Amazon (link to buy)

Stars: 5 STARS

Review: I am by now means a werewolf fan, but this book sucked me in right in the beginning. The novel follows a 17-year-old girl named Grace, who after surviving a wolf attack as a young girl, sees "her wolf" every winter; this is the wolf that saved her. As it turns out, "the wolf" is in fact a boy her age named Sam, who pines for Grace. During the warm months, Sam is human and the cold makes him turn back into a wolf. However, Sam's months as a human are dwindling as you can only change so many times before you become a wolf forever.

Sam and Grace meet and fall in love, with Grace finding out Sam's secrets just as her town prepares to kill the remaining wolves in the town because they supposedly killed a popular student.

Shiver is indeed a well-written book, with strong descriptions and a great love story. It is the first book in the Mercy Falls Wolves Series (the final book Forever comes out in July!) and I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a love story with a bit of paranormal mixed in.