Thursday, February 28, 2013

Delightful Discoveries #5





Delightful Discoveries are books that I have discovered during the week... old, new, just released... from blogs, goodreads, friends, or bookstores. 

So this week I found these goodies...


DeviantDeviant by Helen FitzGerald

  

        
Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.





Hopeless (Hopeless, #1)
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

  

        
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.




Eleanor and Park


Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell


        

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 16.
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, this 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.





Fairy Godmother's IncFairy Godmother Inc. by Jennifer Wardell

  
        

Kate, an experienced Fairy Godmother, who’s enough of a romantic to frustrate her rigidly rulebound boss, has just received a specialty assignment from one of the company’s board of directors. Cinderella—Rellie for short—was placed with an appropriately wicked stepfamily years before, and now needs the dress, ball, and handsome prince to complete her happilyever-after. The fact that Rellie isn’t sure this is her dream come true—balls are fun, but princes tend to be less interesting than fluffy bunnies—isn’t something management considers a problem.

Complicating things a bit is Jon, the youngest son of the royal family, who meets Kate, and is smitten, but isn’t quite ready yet to reveal his true identity. After all, it’s his older brother Rupert who’s supposed to marry Rellie, which means pretending to be a lowly civil servant will give him the chance to spend more time with Kate. (As long as he can get the ball arranged, and stop Rupert from getting himself into trouble over his "selfactualization” business, he should have the perfect opportunity to explain everything and get started on making a little magic with the Fairy Godmother of his dreams.) 

But, of course, things never ever happen as planned.




Don't Expect Magic (Magic, #1)Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough

  


        

Delaney Collins doesn't believe in fairy tales. And why should she? Her mom is dead, her best friend is across the country, and she's stuck in California with "Dr. Hank," her famous life-coach father—a man she barely knows. Happily ever after? Yeah, right.

Then Dr. Hank tells her an outrageous secret: he's a fairy godmother—an f.g.—and he can prove it. And by the way? The f.g. gene is hereditary. Meaning there's a good chance that New Jersey tough girl Delaney is someone's fairy godmother. 

But what happens when a fairy godmother needs a wish of her own?






Some good ones... there are so many out there! what have you discovered this week?

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday #47 and W.W.W. Wednesday #37




Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



45 Pounds (More or Less)
45 Pounds (More or Less) by K.A. Barson
July 11th 2011


          

She is 16.

And a size 17.
Her perfect mother is a size 6.
Her Aunt Jackie is getting married in 10 weeks, and wants Ann to be her bridesmaid.
So Ann makes up her mind: Time to lose 45 pounds (more or less) in 2 1/2 months.

Welcome to the world of informercial diet plans, wedding dance lessons, embarrassing run-ins with the cutest guy Ann’s ever seen—-and some surprises about her NOT-so-perfect mother. 

And there’s one more thing. It’s all about feeling comfortable in your own skin-—no matter how you add it up!



Dangerous GirlsDangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
July 16th 2013



Paradise quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that’s ripped from the headlines and a twist that defies the imagination.

It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.

But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.

Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone ever imagined..




W...W...W.. Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.... I wold love to hear What you are currently reading, what did you just finish and what are you reading next...

What Are You Currently Reading: 


Also Known AsThe Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy, #1)Timespell


What Did You Recently Finish Reading?



Night School (Blood Coven Vampire, #5)Every DayLevel 2 (The Memory Chronicles, #1)


What Do You Think You Will Read Next?

The Last Dragonslayer (The Last Dragonslayer, #1)Glistening HavenThe Perks of Being a Wallflower

Giveaway Hop: Leap Into Books





Giveaway is for hardcover edition of 


How To Rock Braces and GlassesHow To Rock Braces and Glasses by Meg Haston



My Review: Here 

        

In the story, an eighth-grade Queen Bee, after finding herself dropped into Loserland, realizes that it’s time to reap the bad karma she’s sown.
Gorgeous, uber-harsh, and uber-stylish, Kacey Simon is the undisputed social dictator of Marquette Middle School. That is, until an eye infection and a visit to the dentist leave her with coke-bottle glasses, a mouth full of metal, and... a littttthsp! Dissed and dismissed by her popular friends, Kacey is forced to hang out with a boy who wears skinny jeans and jams in his own band. But as she adjusts to life as a loser, she's surprised to find that Skinny Jeans is kind of hot and his band is pretty cool. Suddenly, hitting rock-bottom feels oddly uplifting. Could rocking braces and glasses be the best thing to ever happen to her?

In this hilarious reversal of the cool crowd versus the nerd herd, a popular girl finds herself in Loserville and realizes it's about time she paid back all the bad karma she built up as Queen Bee.




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Review: This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers




This is Not a TestTitle:  This Is Not A Test
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Publishing Date:  June 19th 2012
Pages: 323
Genre:  YA Apocalyptic
Series: Stand Alone
Source:  Paperback

  

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually wantto live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?




I was very excited for this book. I love a great zombie book and this one sounded like my kind of read.. the cover is so very creepy too. It took me a while to get to it and then it took me a while to get through it. I liked the book, I think it lacked in the zombie area but it added in some great realistic issues. Two things I would have never thought to read… a realistic fiction/zombie apocalypse book. Seriously, check it out and see for yourself. A good read but I was a bit disappointed, I just expected different.




The zombie apocalypse is hear and Sloane is stuck in a school with 5 other kids. Trying to survive the story of Sloane’s life before the apocalypse comes out. Sloane isn’t sure if she wants to survive or die. She is depressed and this seems like a perfect way out but she can’t do it, she can’t give up because of the 5 other kids stuck with her. She can’t risk their lives so she lives… day after day in the school fighting for the desire to stay alive.



I liked the premise of the story. I love a good zombie story. I really enjoyed the characters that were thrown together in the school. It was a great blend of zombie goodness and eclectic personalities. I also liked the story behind the main character, Sloane. What I didn’t really like was the two stories thrown together. I enjoyed the story but it just didn’t seem to fit right. If I had been aware from the beginning that this was more of a realistic fiction with a few zombies thrown in for the fun of it… I would have gone into the book expecting so, but I wasn’t. I was in the mood for and expecting a zombie throw down book.

The one other thing that really gave me a hard time when it came to getting through this book was the tone of the book and the voice of Sloane. I get it that she came from a very abused family, I get it that her sister left her to fend for herself, I get it that Sloan has no self esteem or self confidence. I do get all this, but I kind of didn’t get why all this was the only thing on her mind when there were zombies surrounding her. I guess I understood why she was whiny but really hated that she was whiny about issues that are now gone and didn’t focus on the issues at hand. This said the tone was very dark and depressing which in turn made it really hard for me to get through.

So with all that out there, the rest of the book was very good. The writing was amazing. Even though I didn’t like the tone, it was because of the writing I didn’t like the tone. The writing was awesome and left me feeling dark, depressed, and everything else that Sloane was feeling. If this had been purely a realistic fiction book it would have rocked. The author did an amazing job getting across what she wanted to get across. I felt it all. Not only did she do amazing on the tone but also on the setting. With this fact, if this book would have been purely a zombie apocalypse book, it would have rocked as well. The pacing of the book was a little slow but not so slow that I didn’t want to keep reading or so slow I skimmed. It was a great pace for what the book was. I wanted to know more, I wanted for sure to know what was going to happen in the end. The character building was also great. This book is definitely a character driven book, and although I didn’t much care for Sloane, I did understand her and connected to her…even if not on the level I would have liked. The other characters were great too. All completely different, all bringing something useful to the party and also all with some pretty huge flaws. What I really loved about the characters in this book…. I either loved them or hated them. No one left me with a eh.. didn’t really care… feeling.

The Main character, Sloane, I have addressed… she was whiny and a bit to down for me. The characters I did like… Grace… I loved Grace. She was by far my favorite character. Loyal, brave, and sweet. Her brother, Trace, on the other hand… hated. A real jerk, always put the blame elsewhere. Harrison… was the youngest and just whined and cried all the time. He was 15 years old and a real baby.. really get over it. Nope, didn’t like him. Rhys.. I loved. He was cool, calm, and a true survivor…. Kind of like a modern day James Dean.. at least that is how I pictured him. Cary was a real butthead for most of the book, but I still liked him. He had some issues. He was about the only take charge character.



The zombie apocalypse is hear and Sloane is stuck in a school with 5 other kids. Trying to survive the story of Sloane’s life before the apocalypse comes out. Sloane isn’t sure if she wants to survive or die. She is depressed and this seems like a perfect way out but she can’t do it, she can’t give up because of the 5 other kids stuck with her. She can’t risk their lives so she lives… day after day in the school fighting for the desire to stay alive.





Teaser Tuesday #45 and Top Ten Tuesday #35


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Bloggers choose two
sentences out of our current read to peak others' curiosity.




The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy, #1) The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

  

Teaser:

She was one fo those mythic creatures who sat on your chest while you were alsleep and gave you bad dreams., the knd where you woke up struggleing to breather. Some stories said that Nightmares were demons (not true) .



Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.




Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at
The Broke and the Bookish that features a great bookish top ten every week.


Oh I like this week. Easy Peasy. Many of the YA Authors I really like have only written one series but if they wrote another... I would auto buy. Here is my list.

 
Imagination Designs