Golden by Jessi Kirby Review

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.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Review

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.

How To Save A Life by Sara Zarr Review

Jill MacSweeney just wishes everything could go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she’s been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends—everyone who wants to support her. And when her mom decides to adopt a baby, it feels like she’s somehow trying to replace a lost family member with a new one.

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch Review

There are some things you can’t leave behind… A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency.

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma Review

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next?

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Review

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for.

Boundless (Unearthly #3) by Cynthia Hand Review

The past few years have held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner could ever have anticipated. Yet from the dizzying highs of first love, to the agonizing low of losing someone close to her, the one thing she can no longer deny is that she was never meant to live a normal life.

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) By Marissa Meyer Review

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Sins & Needles (The Artist's Trilogy #1) by Karina Halle Review

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen.

Flawed by Kate Avelynn Review

Sarah O’Brien is alive because of the pact she and her brother made twelve years ago — James will protect her from their violent father if she promises to never leave him. For years, she’s watched James destroy his life to save hers. If all he asks for in return is her affection, she’ll give it freely.

Just One Day by Gayle Forman Review

A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark.

Easy by Tammara Webber Review

Rescued by a stranger. Haunted by a secret. Sometimes, love isn’t easy… He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King Review

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma Review

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be contained or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass Review

What if you could dream your way into a different life? What if you could choose to live that life forever? Sloane and Maggie have never met. Sloane is a straight-A student with a big and loving family. Maggie lives a glamorously independent life as an up-and-coming actress in New York.

Entice (The Violet Eden Chapters #2) by Jessica Shirvington Review

Violet Eden is Grigori - part angel, part human. Her destiny is to protect humans from the vengeance of exiled angels. Knowing who to trust is key but, when Grigori reinforcements arrive, it becomes clear everyone is hiding something. Even Lincoln.

Crewel by Jennifer Albin Review

Incapable. Awkward. Artless. That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail. Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want.

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton Review

How can you talk about something you can’t remember? Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still...), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends.

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin Review

It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series.

Ashfall Review

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a teenage boy left alone for the weekend while his parents visit relatives. When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts unexpectedly, Alex is determined to reach his parents.

Breed by Chase Novak Review

Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives-fabulous jobs, a luxurious town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a passionate marriage. What they don't have is a child, and as they try one infertility treatment after the next, yearning turns into obsession.

This Is Not A Test Review

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.

Thirteen Reasons Why Review

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Stacking the Shelves (56)


It's that time of the week again! This week I got some sweet ARC's, a prize came in the mail and I also did a little book shopping!  Here are my new goodies:


I got The Beautiful and the Cursed after winning it in a giveaway on Xpresso Reads and I got Spark from St. Martins Press.  I don't have the first book in that series but I guess I am going to have to grab it so I can start on the series.


On Tuesday after putting the brats to bed I snuck off to Chapters and got some contemporary reads that I think look really good! They both sound pretty gritty and right up my alley.

eBook haul (click cover for Goodreads):

A big thank you to Giselle, Randomhouse Canada, Flux Books, Disney Book Group and St. Martin's Press this week!

In case you missed it, Giselle and I have decided to open up our popular Cover Madness Giveaway so that everyone can get in on the fun.  This is always the biggest event for my blog so be sure to click the button below to visit the page and get your name on that linky!

Alluring Reads

Friday, May 24, 2013

Charm & Strange Review

TITLE Charm & Strange
AUTHOR Stephanie Kuehn
PUBLICATION June 11th 2013 by St. Martin's Griffin
READ May 15, 2013
SOURCE St. Martins Pree via Netgalley for review

When you’ve been kept caged in the dark, it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees. It’s impossible to see anything, really. Not without bars . . .

Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.

He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.

He’s part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.

Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.

Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths—that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.
So, yeah. What the heck did I just read? I have absolutely no idea how to go about reviewing CHARM & STRANGE, it is most definitely strange I just can’t decide if it held any charm. The one thing that is sticking out in my mind right now is that I feel just as confused upon finishing the novel as I felt at the 50% mark of the novel and I’m sure that’s not a good thing. Since I don’t know how to put my thoughts in review form for this one I am just going to talk about what I liked and didn’t like about it.

What I didn’t like: I didn’t like any of the characters in this novel. Everyone that we met incredibly was unlikeable and at no point showed any form of redemption. The main character Drew/Win was someone that I was never able to get a hold of. He seemed like he was a total outcast in his school but then when people were talking to him or about him he had all the signs of being a popular (if feared) athlete in his boarding school. I understand that he was quick to anger and troubled but I would have liked to get more of an idea of what his social status was. No one in his family treated him well at all, well except for his sister Siobhan but we only see her once and it was super weird. There is lots of mention of his mother but we never actually get to experience anything with her she is merely mentioned in passing here and there. There is so much that I want to talk about here but every time I think about how to talk about Win’s family I am taken into spoiler territory and we just can’t have that.

What I really didn’t like with this one is that I have so many questions upon finishing. I feel like everything was wrapped up so quickly and much too neatly and so many strings were just left flailing in the wind. I get why Win was the way that he was, I do, but there were so many little details that were mentioned about his immediate and extended family that were never mentioned again. I was excited at the end when he got to where he was going because I really thought there would be dialogue there that would bring everything together, but there wasn’t. I was left with far too many loose ends for me to look at this as a satisfying read. Had everything tied together more this would have easily been a 5 star read for me but as it stands I just don’t think it held the merit for that.

Did I enjoy reading the novel? Yes, I did. It was an enthralling, fast read that I could not put it down. I loved the ominous tone of it that was maintained expertly throughout but I don’t feel like it went anywhere. The whole book I was waiting for a plot to show up and it somewhat did in the end but there was just too much that happened that just doesn’t fit. I thought that if I sat down and thought about it more and talked to some friends who had read it things would start lining up but it’s just getting me more befuddled so I am going to stop thinking about it. This was a very strange beast indeed, it’s one that I want everyone around me to read because I want to hear everyone’s viewpoint on it. I really wish I felt a bit more conclusive about it and my rating could reflect the fun I had reading it but there are just too many loose threads for me.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Boy Nobody Tour Stop

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

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.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Book Girls - I Wish I Could Have Loved You


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!