Current Giveaway:


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday (#4):


Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Hooked
Author: Catherine Greeman
Expected publication: August 9th 2011 
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA, Contemp

"Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else. 
Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.
This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be."-GoodReads.

I love the sound of this one. I've always loved reading about pregnancy, child birth, and babies. Doesn't matter if it is fiction or non-fiction. I love it. So this is right up my alley and I can't wait for it!
What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

In My Mailbox (#10)

Beyond Function: January 2010

In My Mailbox is a bookish meme created by the wonderful Kristi over at The Story Siren for bloggers to feature books we got over the past week, either bought, borrowed, or received in the mail. Make sure to go check out her main post.

(this was actually filmed thursday morning. i forgot to mention that.)


For Review:

For Review From NetGalley:

Bought:

Given:

I knew I was going to forget something! Since I was all into my Kindle this week I found out about this really cool website called BookLending.com. It is really cool because it lets you borrow and lend Kindle books. Go check it out. 

And! I also borrowed the Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen audio book from Military One Source's online library. If you are military make sure to check out their website. Tons of audio and ebooks. But you have to be military and have an account with the site.

Hopefully my next IMM won't be so unorganized...jeez.
Now I need to finish packing and cleaning.
See y'all in a couple weeks! :)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Giveaway Extended!

Tomorrow morning at about 2 am my husband and I will be hitting the road to visit our families in Texas for two weeks....I thought we didn't leave until Saturday....(this should come as no surprise since I keep thinking today is Wednesday, when it is in fact, Thursday).
So since I will be on the road most of the day tomorrow and I'm not sure I will have internet (which I need in order to draw a winner) I am extending the giveaway for "The Reaping" by M. Leighton until next Wednesday! So you now have until April 27th to enter!
Go to THIS POST, check out the new cover, then scroll to the bottom to enter. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Stay by Deb Caletti

"Clara’s relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it’s almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is—and what he’s willing to do to make her stay.


Now Clara has left the city—and Christian—behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won’t let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough...."-GoodReads.

Hardcover, 320 pages
Published April 5th 2011 by Simon Pulse
Source: Simon&Schuster Galley Grab




Clara found out the hard way what happens when you let someone take hold of you emotionally and use that power against you in the worst way possible.
She meets Christian at a school basketball game and decides to just go for it, to act a little wild. Everything starts off great. Christian makes Clara feel beautiful, special, and sexy. He claims she has put a spell on him and he will do everything in his power to make sure she never leaves him. Little does she know how serious he really is when he says that.

While reading this book I kept thinking about a guy used to see and how he reminds me of Christian in almost every way. He was an emotional terrorist. I literally would go "Oh wow. J used to do that" or "Yeah, been there done that." It was like deja vu. Lucky for me I got out before I was in too deep. Clara was not so lucky. She let Christian dig so deep into her soul that she had to runaway and practically go into hiding to get away from him.

Her dad was pretty neat too. He is very involved in Clara's life and tries to help her in any way he can. But (since there is always a but), he gives his opinion about Christian, that Clara needs to leave him and Clara claims her dad's opinion yet she has to "train him" when to keep him mouth closed about Christian. And he does it! When she doesn't want to hear that Christian is an emotional abuser he actually stops talking to her about it. He pretends it's not happening...that was not okay with me.

I adored the little sea side town they went to. The more I read about it the more I wanted to move there myself. Finn made the town even more appealing. He was sweet, fun, adventurous, and just the right amount of protective. And he could sail you off into the sunset. I'd say that's a pretty good guy to have around.
Even though Christian had many creepy and controlling moments, I was intrigued by him. I would actually have liked to know more about him, about his life, what really made him snap and act like he did.

The 'Jesus Christ's' got to be a bit too much though. It seemed like barely a page could go by without someone saying it, and because it was said so much it didn't feel realistic. I'm married to a guy in the Army, so I am around soldiers all the time. Soldiers have foul mouths but even they don't say 'Christ' that much.
I've also never read a book with footnotes before...unless you count text books...so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about them and buy the middle of the book I decided I did not like them. I didn't really understand why what was in the footnotes couldn't be part of the paragraph they belonged in. Though I did read them all when I came to one because they pertained to the story, at times I got pulled out of the story because I had to stop, look down, read it, then go back up to where I was.

Though the footnotes were annoying at times, this story is very much worth looking past them. I think it will definitely hit home with many many girls as I am sure they have either a) been friends with someone in a bad relationship like this one or b) have been in one themselves. Either way, this story is so relatible. It still has me thinking about it even a week after I have finished.

If you are working on a "Summer Reading List" or maybe looking for some books to take with you on a beach vacation, add this one to your list. Or even if you are just in the mood for a good contemporary book, pick this one up. It is most certainly worth a read.  

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Mega Mammoth Paranormal Giveaway @ All Things Urban Fantasy!

The ladies at All Things Urban Fantasy have done a little bit of Spring cleaning and have a few books to giveaway.
64 books to be exact.
Yeah, that many. For real. They will be picking 8 winners to choose 8 books on April 23rd.
It's spread the word so get to tweeting, blogging, putt their graphic on your blog, anything you can do to get the word out, then go leave a comment with your links. Easy right?
Get to it!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

 "When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. 

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common. "-GoodReads.


Hardcover, 336 pages
Expected publication: April 26th 2011 by Balzer + Bray
Source: HarperCollins via NetGalley.

I really almost don't know where to start with this review, there is just so much that I have to say about this book. I had been so excited for this one for a really long time and when it became available on NetGalley I freaked. When I got approved to read it, I freaked again. I started reading that the slang was hard to understand but I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying. Then some reviewers started talking about how much the book made fun of religion and made religious people out to be crazies. Well, I get pretty tired of that in books so I was really really close to just passing Bumped up. 
But, in the end, I read it (obviously, since I am writing this review) and am so glad that I did.

In Melody and Harmony's world getting paid to "bump" is the popular thing. Girls are encouraged to start "pregging" at a young age so that they can have as many babies as they can before their baby making parts shut down for good. 
While Melody has been raised with the thought process that bumping and selling the babies is what she is supposed to be doing, Harmony has been raised to believe that she needs to get married as young as possible to start having kids "the right way".

This book was definitely about extremes, and once I really got into the story it really started making me think. How far away from this type of world are we? 
Teen pregnancy is still on the rise, and it makes me wonder if people will continue to try and discourage it, or go the way Bumped did and start trying to make a profit off of it. Scary thought, aye?
Since it has such major extremes it was harder to relate to the characters, but on a couple levels I did connect to Melody and Harmony. In the way that religion is important to me (like Harmony) and in the way that mine and my husband's families are just waiting for the day we tell them we are having a baby, but until then they like making it clear that they are waiting and not very patiently (like many people in Melody's life).

In this book you really get to see Otherside and all it's little oddities, so I am hoping in the second book we get to see more of Goodside.
The slang is a bit abrasive at first, but I caught on pretty quickly. Even though this book is about teens "bumping" (having sex) there isn't a lot of actual sex, it's mostly just talked about in that worlds slang. But the slang can be sexual, colorful, and very blunt. So, you are now warned.

The one thing I didn't get was how they were able to tell mere hours after the girls has bumped that she were pregnant. I know that right now it's at least two weeks after you have been impregnated that you can maybe get a positive on a test. I guess maybe an advance in pee stick technology?

Even though Bumped was addressing a very serious issue there were some laugh out loud moments, which I felt worked because Bumped's world does make light of the situation. 
And just to clarify, this book is not anti-religion/pro-sex or anti-sex/pro-religion. It really is about being allowed to make your own decisions. Both of these girls world are making them do things they aren't sure they want to do, but have been raised to think that is what they are supposed to do.
I really enjoyed this book, but I enjoyed the message even more.

And Megan McCafferty, how dare you end the book like that! Absolute torture! I cannot wait for the next one and will be waiting incredibly impatiently until I find out what happens to these girls.

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

"It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.



When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause."- GoodReads.

Hardcover, 293 pages
Published March 7th 2011 by Harcourt Children's Books
Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley. 


This was a stunning novel. From the cover to the last page I was hooked. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read and I this one is now on my favorites list.
Saundra Mitchell has amazing story telling skills.  The writing was beautiful and so very appropriate for the time period.


I thought, because of the description, that it was going to be a lot more paranormal, but the paranormal stuff didn't start actually happening into a little ways into the book. There were little things here and there at first, but mostly it was introducing you to the time period and how proper young ladies and gentlemen of that time period were supposed to act, which I loved.
I absolutely adore that time period. Especially the balls and the dresses. How amazing those must have been.


The characters were all wonderful too. Even the mean or annoying ones were great because they were time period perfect.
And the romance was so sweet. Nathaniel was such a mysterious and intriguing character. I loved when he was present. Such a scene stealer. Though I loved his character, I loved Tom as well. He was so sweet and gentlemanly, especially when it came to Zora.


And the ending! Oh during the last few chapters I could not breath. I was on the edge of my seat and kept saying "Oh my gosh, that did not really happen!" to myself.
Even though there is a second Vespertine book, I'm pretty sure that it's not going to be about Amelia. She might make an appearance in it but from the description it sounds like it is going to be about another character from this book. If you haven't read this one I wouldn't suggest reading the description of the second though. You don't want any spoilers.
I am very excited and cannot wait for The Springsweet. 
If you love, or even just like, historical fiction, romance, and a little bit of paranormal thrown in, read this book.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Quick Readathon Wrap up.

I know this is hours late, but life was busy this weekend. I wish that I could have been more active in commenting and mini challenges and all that. I did at least finish a book and start another. Not great, but better than nothing.
In October I will be much more involved as my husband will be deployed then so having 24 hours to myself to just read will be no problem.

Hope everyone had a super fantastic 24 hours and got tons of reading done!
And thank you cheerleaders for stopping by and leaving all of those positive comments :D

If you didn't get to participate in the readathon this time, have no fear. As I mentioned before there is another one in October. Keep on eye on the website for sign ups for the next one!
Learn all about the readathon HERE!

Have a great rest of your Sunday :D

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Readathon Update.

Oh man, I have been way more busy today than I thought I was going to be. So out of the 15 hours the readathon has been going on I've only read about 2 hours. Gah!
But I am almost done with my first book and am hoping to read a lot tonight.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Goodmorning, Readathoners!!

 I am a little late with my opening Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon post since they just started hour 4 I believe, so that leaves me with 20 hours to read. I don't think I will be able to read for 20 whole hours as I have plans today. But I am going to read as much as I can and hopefully be able to do some post throughout the day.
If you are participating leave a link so I can keep up with how awesome you are doing!

1)Where are you reading from today?
Colorado Springs.

2)Three random facts about me…

I am left handed.
I am addicted to cereal.
And am equally if not more addicted to "The Office".

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

Right now I am just planning on finishing "Bumped" by Megan McCafferty. I don't know if I want to continue with my NetGalley books after that or read some from my shelf that I have been putting off.

4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

Just a lot :)

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?

I'm not really a veteran. I've only done this once before. So just have fun :) 
And let me know if you have any awesome tips :D

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Reaping- New Cover! & Giveaway!

Just about a month ago I got to read and review an awesome book called 
I loved this book! You can read my review for it HERE.
This past weekend I got a very cool email from Michelle telling me that
The Reaping got a makeover!

And it is my honor to share the new cover with you!
*drum roll*

Here it is!


How awesome is that?!
I have some serious cover love for this one. It is so creepy and fits perfectly with the story.
Those eyes really freak me out. Don't look at them for to long or they might steal your soul or something.

And I think a giveaway is in order to celebrate the new and amazing cover.
So from now until April 21st you can enter to have a chance to win a copy of "The Reaping"!
Don't forget, this is an ebook, so make sure you have a way to read it before you enter.

Just click HERE to enter!

Here is the synopsis:
"Every hell has its devil. And Carson is about to become intimately acquainted with hers. 

Seventeen-year-old wallflower Carson Porter has always dreamed of being something special, but what she gets isn’t what she signed up for.

Yeah, a girl’s supposed to change as she gets older, but this is ridiculous! Shiny skin, greener eyes and a run-in with the flesh-eating dead are just a few of the changes Carson has to adjust to, not to mention the arrival of very hot and very dangerous Derek Hrolf. If all that wasn’t enough to turn her once hum-drum life into something unrecognizable, a twin sister that haunts her from the shadows and a wheeling, dealing collector of souls will definitely do the trick. The question is: what will her life become? And what will she become?"- GoodReads.


Get to entering! You don't want to miss out on this one!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Mercy by Joshua Grover-David Patterson



"When Georgina Fulci’s plane crashes into the Atlantic, her troubles have just begun.

Desperate to get home to her family, Georgina and a handful of survivors must find a way to escape an uncharted island… while fighting off hordes of the living dead." - GoodReads.


Published: March 24th 2011, Ebook
By: Joshua Grover-David Patterson
Source: Requested Review



Zombie stories are among some of my favorites, so the second that I read the word zombie in the request email for this story my interest was automatically piqued. 
Mercy is told in journal form and is the story of wife and mother Georgina who is on her way back to the US to go home to her family,  when her plane crashes and strands her and only a handful of other people on an island. Out of the hundreds of passengers on the plane, only 7 survive, 2 of them barely hanging on in some kind of coma.  When one of the unconscious ones dies, everyone is sad because they thought they were getting better. But then when the person who was supposed to be dead stands back up and starts trying to chomp on them, they figure out they have a really big problem.
They thought their biggest problems were going to be finding food and clean water and making shelter to sleep in. Fighting against the walking dead never even crossed their minds.
Now they are all wondering if there is anything for them to go back to? Or have the zombies attacked everywhere?

My favorite thing about this story is that it brought back the slow and steady walkers. Every zombie movie or story now is about how fast they are and you cannot out run them. 
This one isn't about how fast can they go, it's about how many there ends up being, and they are quiet so they can really sneak up on you. I really enjoyed that aspect.

I also enjoyed that it was told in journal form, though sometimes it got very wordy. Georgina kept saying she had limited paper and ink, but then she would start going into something that happened and it took a long time to tell. So for me, some of the stories could have been a little shorter. At times they didn't feel like they went with what was happening, so it pulled me out of the "zombie apocalypse" feel of the story.
Other than being a bit long at a few parts it was a pretty good zombie story.

If you would like to check this one out it is available for Kindle and Nook for only $2.99.
And if you want to check out any of Joshua's web pages you can find him on Twitter, Facebook, or his blog.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...




Paperback, 361 pages
Published March 1st 2011 by Sourcebooks Fire (first published February 8th 2011)
Source: Bought

Warning: By reading this book you will have the sudden urge to drink lots of Starbucks, 
start wearing long strands of pearls, and dye your hair pink.


I had been pining for this book for what felt like forever. And then everyone started
reading it and gushing over it, authors were making crazy videos to show how much
they loved it, pink haired avatars were everywhere on Twitter. There was some serious
Liar Society love going around.
I was seriously green with envy of anyone who got to read it before I did. When my copy
finally arrived in the mail , when it was finally in my hands, I got really nervous. All I could
think about was what if it wasn't as amazing as I thought it was going to be?
All of my worries and doubts went away within the first few pages.


Kate was a badass, but still so realistic. The downs in her life made her extremely easy to 
relate to. She was damaged from losing her best friends, one to death and the other just 
didn't want to be her friend anymore. Kate wasn't perfect or fearless by a long shot, but she
trusted her instincts and kept pursuing the clues she kept getting about Grace actually being
murdered.Even when her parents sent her to see a shrink because they thought she was just 
obsessed with what happened to Grace, she kept going. The girl had gumption.


I really did not like the parents though. I know they were working and busy, but anytime their
daughter just needed to talk or needed them to believe her they thought it was a better idea
to send her to a therapist. They never once just talked to her. Their daughter went through 
something really tragic and they were more worried about her hair being pink then what
she was going through. That bugged me a bit.


The love story was sweet, but not the main focus, which made for a much more 
enjoyable read. The story telling and dialogue was incredibly witty and snarky which 
kept me hooked through the whole thing. I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed 
this book, but I think it would be better if you got yourself a copy and saw for yourself. 
I have some serious love for this book and cannot wait to see what awesomeness
Lisa and Laura have up their sleeves for their next book.