Sunday, August 31, 2014

There is No Light in Darkness

Claire Contreras 

Publisher: Createspace
Publication Date: January 18, 2013
Pages: 256
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Source: Purchased from ebay

A past hidden in darkness. Her present cloaked in secrets. The future holds the only truth that cannot be escaped.

After the mysterious and violent death of her parents, Blake Brennan finds comfort with an unconventional family. As the dramatic loss of her parents continues to haunt her—and hinders her from reciprocating love that others give freely—Blake embarks on a harrowing journey in search for the truth.

Living in a constant state of fear and need for control, vivid nightmares reveal details that lead to perilous situations. The past begins to collide with the present, and Blake must decide if the truth is worth losing the ones she loves.

Can love conquer all as her past comes to light? Or will Blake realize that there is no light in darkness?

Book contains: Explicit language & sexual content.

The premise of this book is strong and exciting and I really wanted to like it, but something about it just fell flat.

August Recap


Books Read: 17
Books Reviewed: 6


Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (Not Pictured)
A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
There is No Light in Darkness by Claire Contreras
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
Slammed by Colleen Hoover
1984 by George Orwell
Hedda Gabbler by Henrik Ibsen
Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire

Ebooks

The Appeal of Evil by Pembroke Sinclair
Day 21 by Kass Morgan
This is Falling by Ginger Scott




I had a nice, week long vacation this month so I got tons of free time to read! I was introduced to Colleen Hoover's books and absolutely loved them! I also tried out some other new adult books, The Sea of Tranquility and There is No Light in Darkness. Jamie McGuire came out with another Maddox Brothers book, so how could I pass that up? I finally finished up my school summer reading with Cry, the Beloved Country, Hedda Gabbler and 1984. I got the opportunity to read three great ebooks thanks to the publishers! And finally, I binge read the first two books of the Throne of Glass series, and I'm currently tearing through the third. I bought the first one the day it came out over two year ago and for some reason I never touched it. I highly regret that now!

Reviewed:
The Appeal of Evil by Pembroke Sinclair
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
This is Falling by Ginger Scott
Between by Jessica Warman
Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

What did you guys read and review in August? Stop back tomorrow for a giveaway of one of the books I read this month!




Saturday, August 30, 2014

Stacking the Shelves (2)

Purchased/Won


Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (Thank you BAM for accidentally putting it out early!)
The Anatomy of Dreams by Chloe Krug Benjamin (Thank you Midwestern Gothic for the giveaway!)


Library


Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

For Review


Althea & Oliver by Christina Moracho (Thank you Viking Children's!)
The Appeal of Evil by Pembroke Sinclair (Review HERE)
Dangerous Reflections by Shay West
(Thank you Booktrope!)

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday (3)

Hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee

Happy Feature and Follow Friday everyone!





Question of the Week: Tell us about a book character you’d trade places with.


Sloan Jacobs. (There's two of them in this book, but let's go with both?) They're amazing ice skaters/hockey players, they take a trip to Canada and they date hockey players. Sometimes I still think this book was written out of my dreams, so I'd gladly switch places with either of them any day.







Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to leave your link below and I'll follow you too!

The Appeal of Evil

Pembroke Sinclair

Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Publication Date: January 13, 2014
Pages: 275
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
Source: ebook from Publisher

Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the “bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?

The Appeal of Evil is not for the faint of heart. From the very first page, it's a whirlwind that will suck you in until the final sentence. This is one of the fastest paced books I've ever read, and while I would have liked a few slower parts, I couldn't put this one down.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Top Ten Books I Really Want To Read But Don't Own Yet



Fighting Redemption by Kate McCarthy - I love military romances and it's been a while since I've read a
good one. I've been wanting to get my hands on this one for a while now but I can never seem to find it!

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken - I've always heard good things about this book and Alexandra Bracken's going to be at a book festival I go to every year. I just always seem to forget to pick up this book.

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan - This reminds me of a reverse of My Life Next Door, so I'd love to get my hands on it!

If Jack's In Love by Stephen Wette - This book sounds amazing, but I can never seem to find it anywhere.

Shadows Cast by Stars by Catherine Knutsson - Futuristic plague where people are killed for their blood? Why can't I find this book?

On the Fence by Kasie West - This books feels like it would have just the right balance of swooning and seriousness, and eventually, I'll find out if I'm right!

Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - Need I say more?

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour - I'm a huge Nina LaCour fan, but all my other books by her are paperbacks and it kind of makes me want to wait for the paperback of this to come out.

Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot - I'm a sucker for Hollywood boys in books, and this one is reminiscent of This is What Happy Looks Like. If only I could find it in a store.



What books are you looking for?

Monday, August 25, 2014

Bout of Books: Wrap Up



WRAP UP

Books Read: 4 (original goal of 5)
Pages: 1,153

Books: 
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (320 pages)
This is Falling by Ginger Scott (281 pages) [review]
Unbreak by Heart by Melissa Walker (232 pages) [review]
Day 21 by Kass Morgan (320 pages)


What did you guys read?

Unbreak My Heart

Melissa Walker

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Pages: 232
Genre: Contemporary Chicklit
Source: Purchased from J&R Outlet

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life.

Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now.

Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? 

Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.

This book sounded really good, but it just fell a little flat. It was a nice, quick read, but it was also really average.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Stacking the Shelves (1)


I didn't get a chance to purchase any books this week, but I did get a few books for review from Netgalley!


This is Falling by Ginger Scott (Thank you Ginger Scott!) Review HERE
MELT by Selene Castrovilla (Thank you Last Syllable Books!)
Contessa by Lori L. Otto (Thank you Vook!)
Day 21 (The 100 #2) by Kass Morgan (Thank you Little Brown Books!)
Portraits of Celina by Sue Whiting (Thank you Switch Press!)

What did you guys stack your shelves with this week?

Bout of Books 11: Day 5 Update

I don't have time to do the challenge today, so this'll just be a quick update post!

UPDATE

Books Read: 2.5
Pages: 601

I didn't get a chance to finish Flat Out Love and Letters to Skye before they were due back at the library, so I'm going to disregard them from my first update. However, I did get to finish Cry, the Beloved Country (320 pages) and This is Falling (281 pages). I just started Day 21 (The 100 #2), so hopefully I'll have that finished by Sunday!

Friday, August 22, 2014

This is Falling

Ginger Scott

Publisher: Ginger Scott
Publication Date: August 29, 2014
Pages: 281
Genre: New Adult Romance
Source: ARC from Ginger Scott 

First, I had to remember how to breathe. Then, I had to learn how to survive. Two years, three months and sixteen days had passed since I was the Rowe Stanton from before, since tragedy stole my youth and my heart went along with it. 

When I left for college, I put a thousand miles between my future and my past. I’d made a choice—I was going to cross back to the other side, to live with the living. I just didn’t know how. 


And then I met Nate Preeter. 


 An All-American baseball player, Nate wasn’t supposed to notice a ghost-of-a-girl like me. But he did. He shouldn’t want to know my name. But he did. And when he learned my secret and saw the scars it left behind, he was supposed to run. But he didn’t. 


My heart was dead, and I was never supposed to belong to anyone. But Nate Preeter had me feeling, and he made me want to be his. He showed me everything I was missing. 


And then he showed me how to fall.

This is Falling was not what I expected at all, but it a really good way. 

Feature and Follow Friday (2)

Hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee
Happy Feature and Follow Friday everyone!



Question of the Week: What book/series do you think would make a better TV show than a movie?


For some reason, Legend strikes me as a series that would work well as a television show. So much happens in the books and I feel like it would be rushed in a movie. I think the POV change would translate better in a TV show than a movie as well. (Side note: it was actually supposed to be a movie at one point, but I haven't heard much about it in a few years.)





Thursday, August 21, 2014

Between


Jessica Warman


Publisher: Walker & Company
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
Pages: 454
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Source: Borrowed from library



Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.


This book will not bore you. Not a single moment of it. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that a lot of it is flashbacks to important points in her life. Either way, every page brings you closer to the jaw dropping ending. I loved that it's an ending you can piece together yourself with subtle hints starting from the very beginning.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Being Friends With Boys


Terra Elan McVoy

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult/Chicklit
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble




Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more. 

When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.


The blurb is so completely off from what this book is about its actually kind of funny. It's what the first third of the book is about. Then there's more to it. I liked all of the stuff not mentioned though. It was a light and fluffy book with funny scenes, but there was still enough seriousness for it to be a good book. Good books always have a perfect balance of humor and sincerity and this book has it.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Bout of Books 11 Day 2


It's almost the end of day two! Today's challenges are the OTP Challenge and the Book Spine Poetry Challenge!


UPDATE

 I've been slacking a little bit, but I got about halfway through Flat Out Love and halfway through Letters to Skye.
Books: .9 (two halves but not a whole?)
Pages: 295


OTP Challenge

Belly Conklin and Conrad Fisher from The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

I've shipped more pairings than a cargo ship, but it always comes back to Belly and Conrad. The Summer series is what got me into reading YA and it remains one of my favorites even years later.

I loved Belly and Conrad's story because it was heart wrenching without making you sob, because sometimes you just need a good summer read. 

The Summer Series has one of the worst love triangles because the two boys are brothers. Jeremiah was always there for her as a best friend, but someone she and Conrad just seemed made for each other.

(*Spoilers ahead for those who have not the second and third books*)

From the boys' mom dying to Belly actually being engaged to Jere at one point, Belly and Conrad prove their love for each other over and over again. My favorite moments between them is the time they spend together at the beach house during the winter because its so different than in the summer time, but its still just as perfect!

Book Spine Poetry

The idea is to make a poem out of the titles of books. It doesn't have to rhyme or make sense but you get one free extra word to use per book used. So without further ado...


By the time you read this I'll be dead.
Maybe some day
you'll
Unbreak my heart.
But now
My name is memory.
P.S. I love you
I always loved you.

Extra words (4/6 used): you'll (you/will), but, and now

How are you guys doing on the read-a-thon? Better than me I hope! Leave a comment with a link to your update below and I'll check your post!

Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling Me That I MUST Read






Delirium by Lauren Oliver- I've been a fan of Lauren Oliver since I read Before I Fall in seventh grade. However, I haven't gotten the chance to read the Delirium series yet. My best friend just finished it and has been begging me to so she can have someone to cry about it with. Should I be scared?

Beastly by Alex Flinn - Is it people telling me or is it Alex Pettyfer telling me?

Across the Universe by Beth Revis - A friend who doesn't normally read recommended this to me, so it must be good.

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead - My friends got me hooked on Vampire Academy this year and they've convinced me that I can't stop there. I picked Bloodlines up in a used book store this past weekend so maybe I'll finally give it a shot. You can't go wrong with Adrian.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - I loved Cinder, but I've been putting off reading Scarlet for months now. I should probably catch up considering Cress is out now too!

Easy by Tammara Webber - Someone on tumbr told me I had to read this to me based loving Jamie McGuire and Colleen Hoover. Now that's a recommendation I can't turn down.

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover - The Hopeless series are the only Colleen Hoover books I haven't read yet and I've been told I absolutely must read them. But it's going to be hard to live up to Maybe Someday and Ugly Love! (Plus, I read somewhere that the main character reads The Sea of Tranquility and I can't pass that up!)

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson - I've heard nothing but great things about this book, yet every time I sit down to read it I just can't get into it. I'll finish it one of these days!

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira - Is there anyone who doesn't love this book?

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - Yes I've seen the movie a hundred times, but isn't the book always better?

I'd love to hear if anyone has anymore book that I must read!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon



The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Goal: 5 Books

Books to Read:

  • Flat Out Love by Jessica Park
  • Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
  • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
  • Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
  • Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens
I'll post updates Tuesday, Friday and Sunday! 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday (1)

Happy Feature and Follow Friday everyone!

 This isn't my first time trying to start a book blog, but it is the only time in the past few years. I tried once when I was in eighth grade and I didn't get very far (surprise right!?) But now as a senior in high school I'm going to try again. I look forward to meeting all of you!

The question this week was to come up with a question for next week:

What is your opinion of age ratings on books? And what's the general age you think a child is ready to read young adult books as opposed to middle grade?

Happy reading!
Erica

The Sea of Tranquility

The Sea of Tranquility

Katja Millay

Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: November 13, 2012
Pages: 434
Genre: Contemporary New Adult
Source: Borrowed from the Library


I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

As my favorite book and the namesake of this blog, it only makes sense that The Sea of Tranquility is the first book I review.