I Hate Spinnerbait!

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

I challenge you to read this book.  Ok, so only if you have read the book would you understand my sentence about taking a challenge.  I enjoy Dessen’s books so much.  Each character is absolutely wonderful.  She makes each story that I’ve read stand out and is wonderfully different yet has strains of the same within each of her books.

This Lullaby is about a girl named Remy who has one summer before she goes off and starts her new and very own life now that she has graduated high school.  She has big plans, to be single and have fun with her friends and live it up, while trying to be a better person.  But of course, the boy of our book fantasy dreams walks in and messes all of it up.  The only problem is that Remy likes it and she loves hanging out with Dexter, she just doesn’t understand where all of these new found feelings are coming from since it’s not like Remy to get attached and she also doesn’t date boys in bands.

I like the Beetles theme that kept popping up.  First with the drummer’s nick name in the first 8 or so chapters was Ringo in Remy’s mind and then when Remy’s mom was finishing her novel she played the Beetle’s loud and proud.     

This is not my favorite Dessen novel thus far.  It was sweet and I did like the theme of the Lullaby throughout the novel.  Remy’s character was a little different from other Dessen characters.  She had this hard façade and she always called herself a hard cold B. Actually out of all the novels I’ve read of hers, she uses a lot more language and gives the persona of an easy or slutty character. 

I only gave this book 3 stars on Good Reads because I didn’t enjoy the ending to the book.  I like to read at least a chapter of the love interests to be together and see them together.  We got 2 sentences of, “I’ll see you after we have all these gigs.” 

It’s a story of bad girl meets good guy and when the bad girl stays true to character she ruins it all.  This book is not a waste of time but Dessen has better books out there, enjoy them all!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Disasters Welcome Here!

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Who has two thumbs and loves the same book from a different character’s point of view?  This girl!  I love when I fall in love with characters and then I get to see them from a whole different angle.  I’m having a hard time starting another book since I finished this book (it’s been less than 24 hours), but my heart belongs to Pigeon and of course Travis.  I also loved the best friends, America and Shepley, what wonderful friends.  I loved how scared Shep was that he was going to lose America because of his crazy cousin Travis and that he was so in love with her and he wouldn’t let anything come between them, even Travis’ happiness. 

I love Travis, isn’t he wonderful?  Who’s Team Travis?  I guess there are no reason for teams since there is no love triangle, but there should be teams and we should have cheers for Travis because he is so cool.  Bad boy exterior, soft loving heart, he makes all reading girls swoon!  No one should like him as a character, but Abby brings out the good guy in Travis so it’s easy to like him and all readers fall for him.

So, the question we are all asking is, what was different between Beautiful and Walking (Disaster)?  Great question, here are a few of my opinions, first of all I loved seeing inside Travis’ head, there weren’t any surprises, but I loved that he spent more time with his family than we knew about.  So sweet.  It was also sweet to see how much he loved Abby Abernathy and that he truly never gave up on their love.  While in Abby’s Point of View we just knew that he was up to his old habits during their time apart, that he was drowning his sorrows (which happened to be true) and sleeping with every woman that walked by (which did not happen, but was believable). 

Since these books are literally the exact same books (Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster) I’m not going into any more detail.  Just download them as soon as humanly possible and read them.  You will not be disappointed, you will actually be mad at me for not recommending them to you sooner! 

One disclaimer, this is not Young Adult Literature, instead it is from the New Adult Genre and is not recommended by me for anyone younger than 17 years old.  Keep Reading my Friends! 

I've only known one Phoenix, his name was Fawkes.

From Ashes by Molly McAdams

From Ashes is a love triangle between Cassidy, the girl with the horrible past, Tyler, the boy that helped her through the horrors and his good looking, mysterious cousin Gage.  A story of love at first sight had some bumps along the road for Cassidy and Gage.  Will love prevail or will Cassi’s troubled past keep her from love forever?

What I did not like, this book started out a crazy great story, but it had huge plot holes, bad communication between characters increased those plot wholes.  There were several instances that were not realistic.  That I couldn’t believe two people in love would just believe or take someone’s word without making sure from the other person.  Tyler made some stupid mistakes and lied to both Cassi and Gage. But the lies were so dumb and with all of the time that Cassi and Gage were spending together you would think that Cassi would have asked why he hated her living with the guys so much, etc.  There were some unnecessary characters and story lines that did nothing for taking the story forward or developing the characters.  This of course is my opinion, so take it or leave it.  I absolutely hated the story with Conner Green and though it was dumb and not necessary.  Even with these dislikes, I really liked the book.  I gave From Ashes 3 out of 5 stars on Good Reads. While I'm at it, follow me on Good Reads!    

What I did like, was the story.  It was fun and the love story was good.  I enjoyed Gage’s character and enjoyed the story when it was from his point of view.  I also like the phoenix and the “from ashes” idea from the story.  I liked that her mom changed in the end and that there was a good part of her before she died.  I loved Gage’s big family and especially his mama.  I loved the house he built and how forward thinking he was at such a young age.  If you have not known someone like that it’s hard to imagine, but I have known people that have always known what they wanted to do where they wanted to live and they have achieved these goals.  So this is easy for me to comprehend.  Have you ever known anyone like this?  Both of my brothers are in a way like this, they have both known that they wanted stay in the city they were born in and on the most part have known what they wanted to do for a living and pretty much have known the course of their lives or have made their own dreams come true. 

I would recommend this book to my 17 and older audience, but to anyone younger than that, there are plenty of other books on my blog for you to read.  This is not a young adult book, but rather from the New Adult genre and is not suitable for teenagers.  There are some graphic scenes and some things that are talked about that would not be ok for younger audiences.

I want to read another book From Molly McAdams, I enjoyed her characters and look forward to more from her.  Thanks for stopping by and Keep Reading my Friends!

So Glad this Book Wasn't Called "Lucky Thirteen"

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

5 beautiful intense disasterful stars!

In one school year more happened to Abby and Travis than any other couple in the history of time.  I enjoy reading books that change people.  In the story Abby meets Travis the man on campus and everyone loves to hate him.  Women flock to him and he takes home any girl he wants whenever he wants.  No phone numbers no commitments, just sex and then on to the next woman.  Abby is not enamored by his good looks and easy attitude, she’s disgusted by his conceded attitude and can’t help but role her eyes at everything he says and does.  She has a past that she’s not about to share with anyone at her new school and only her best friend America knows what she is running from.  Abby knows from the very beginning that she and Travis would be no good together; she knows that her good luck will run out and he will hate her in the end.  This is a beautiful story of love and redemption. 

I loved Travis.  He is chaos walking and I can’t believe how crazy and wild he is.  His confidence is palpable and his love for Abby or his cute nickname for her Pigeon.  I loved everything about the book.  I loved that there was no chapter 13 and I loved digging up Abby’s past with each new turn of the electronic page.  She is such a girl!  She changes her mind and mixes thing up and does the dumbest things and makes the stupidest decisions.  But that is exactly why she is so much fun to read.

I love that McGuire sees the craziness of the sequence of events and has the characters talk about it so we all know that she knows how crazy it is.  

Read this book immediately!  It is romantic and fun and sad and wonderful.  Keep Reading my Friends!      

Can you Ride a Bike?

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

This is my first Dessen book to read.  I listened to one other and enjoyed it a lot so I put away in the back of my mind to keep my eye out for others.  Well low and behold I found them all at 2^nd and Charles and so I picked up Along for the Ride. 

Dessen has a great way of introducing characters that are easy to read and easier to like.  Auden was a strange bird, I’m not going to lie (why would I?  It’s my blog).  Weirdness aside I cheered her on the entire book.  I wanted her to be happy and was upset when she was upset.  Her mom was very strange as well and I could see why she wasn’t easy to get along with.  Eli was a great male character and I was happy that he had so many secrets for us to find out during the course of the book.  I thought it was funny that she made out with his brother the first night she arrived at the beach, but as we got to know her, we realized that was not her personality at all.

What I didn’t like.  Her dad.  He was written well, but a selfish pig.  I’m glad he had a little salvation at the end.  I would have told him off the first time I saw him ignoring his family.  Boom.

I have ordered a few more of her books off of Paperbackswap.com and look forward to reading them.  They are fun, easy reads that don’t take a lot of time, but are highly entertaining and are especially great when you don’t want to start a series.  Dessen has a way of developing intriguing characters that are easy to read.

Thanks for stopping by!  Keep reading my friends!

Finders Keepers

Keeping Her (Losing It 1.5) by Cora Carmack

After Losing it, we leave Bliss Edwards and Garrick Taylor in happy couple-dom… well, I guess bliss… But of course it can’t stay there, with their recent engagement, it’s time to go to England to meet the future in-laws and Bliss is worried sick about the trip.  Even with Garrick’s constant “distractions” she can’t shake the feeling that the love of her life’s mum is going to hate her.  When the trip starts off with a bang… or maybe I should say crash, all of Bliss’ nightmares come true with a broken vase and a sick gut.  Will Bliss be able to win her future Mother-in-law’s love or is she doomed to live a world away from an evil tyrant.

I loved Garrick and Bliss in Losing It.  It was an enchanting story with (let’s face it) a hot cover to match some pretty hot content.  I didn’t know how much I was going to like Faking It, but it was even better, so I was a little apprehensive to start this Novella knowing that I enjoyed the characters in Faking It so much better than Losing It.    

I liked this novella, it was short and sweet and now I’m looking forward Carmack’s third book, Finding It.  I have high hopes that it will be really good and I’ve already purchased it, but you know my reading schedule always have something lined up. 

If you are into the Losing it Series, then read this novella, it doesn’t stand alone, but it’s a great continuation to Bliss and Garrick’s story. 

Either way, keep reading my friends!!!

Easy to Fall in Love

Easy by Tammara Webber

With recent heart break, Jacqueline Wallace goes to a Halloween party with her roommate and is attacked only to be saved by a stranger.  Then, she see’s that he’s actually everywhere, they even have a class together.  What starts out as a horrible night turns into a life changing moment.

Tammara Webber wrote a fantastic book.  The characters are compelling, the story is great, and I couldn’t put this book down.  There was a lot going on in the story, I felt bad for Jacqueline for everything that took place in this book.  She was a strong character, I would have fallen apart at every turn, but Jacqueline never gave up even when it would have been easier to do so.  Sometimes her roommate Erin had to kick her in the pants to get her going, but what are friends for?

Webber wrote a book with some great character development.  I loved Erin, she was a great character.  She was a great friend to Jacqueline and helped her through a horrible time.  I also loved Landon.  I enjoyed the back and forth emails and how they got to know each other without ever meeting.  I enjoyed how he and Jacqueline got along so well and were able to connect.  I got to where I anticipated his next email just as much as she did.    

I’m glad that Lucas didn’t give Jacqueline too hard of a time about google-ing about his mom.  I think everyone google’s now these days.  I was worried that Lucas would take that information a little out of hand, but it ended up fine.

The love story in this book was great.  I wasn’t surprised in the least by anything that happened, even though I should have been.  I still loved it and was glad that I read it.  This is a beach read, it reads quickly and easily.  I enjoyed it very much.

Thanks for dropping by!  Keep Reading my Friends!    

Finding What Daniel Didn't Know he Lost

Finding Cinderella (Hopeless 2.5) by Colleen Hoover

I absolutely love the Hopeless series.  To me there aren’t many characters with as much depth as Sky and Holder.  I loved their past, present, and the thought of their future.  So when Colleen announced that she was giving her fans Finding Cinderella a Novella for free I was shocked and amazed.  Something that would have made her some good money she gave as a gift, so she didn’t just save me a few bucks (what’s the going rate on an excellent Novella? $1.99, $2.99?) but she gave up thousands of dollars for her fan’s and I appreciate her sacrifice and I feel the love.  I feel bad for even asking her, but Colleen, I would love some more story from Daniel’s perspective.  He is a great character and with his spunky attitude and fun sides it was good to see his serious sides as well. 

Colleen can turn a story on you quicker than you can believe.  When I think a story is going one way, she flips it (and me) upside down and I can hardly believe that so much has changed within a few pages or sometimes within a paragraph.

Daniel is an excellent character, he does some of the craziest things in Losing Hope and like I said before I enjoyed hearing from his perspective.  I loved that he couldn’t come up with a nickname for Six.  That was a great thought process. 

I can’t really go into what I liked about the short story because spoilers are the worst!!!  So you will just have to download the 105 page novella and read it ASAP… you have no excuse, it’s free!  Keep Reading my Friends!

South Side Story

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Brittany Ellis is not only from the North side of town, she is THE northsider!  She is not only on the pom pom squad, she’s the captain, and she doesn’t only date a football player, she is dating the quarterback and they are the golden couple and have been for years.  It’s Brittany’s senior year and she is going to have the best year of her life, until she meets Alex. 

Alejandro “Alex” Fuentes is from the South, he is also a gang member in the Latino Blood.  He considers himself a good guy because he only picks up the money, he never deals drugs.  When Brittany and Alex become unlikely chemistry partners, they not only have to learn to work together, they have to learn how to understand each other.  While they both seem oddly drawn to each other, a fateful night puts them together in a non-school event and they learn a lot more about each other.  Will they be able to overcome the racial and social differences to find love?

This is the quintessential young adult story of West Side Story or even going further back, Romeo and Juliet.  Star crossed lovers that cannot be accepted in either lives.  It’s pretty same ole same ole, but it was a fun story. 

I did not like the Spanish in the book.  I think there are more creative ways to show that Alex’s family and friends speak Spanish.  The interspersed random Spanish was not the best way. 

At the end of the book I was kind of hoping it went the Romeo and Juliet way and at least one of them would die, at least I would have had some type of emotion about the book, but at the end I finished and felt nothing.  I wasn’t happy or glad it was over, just finished.

Do I recommend this book?  Probably not.  It has some pretty intense subject matter for some high schoolers (call me naive) like drugs, sex, and language.  Then there was a lot of content that made it too immature for an adult audience.  Anyway, not the best but not the worst. 

Keep Reading my friends!

Lying just to Lie: Pretty Little Liars

Wicked: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

Spoilers for The first books: The four ex-best friends thought that all of their troubles were over since they found out who A was and Ian was in jail for murdering their best friend Ali.  But there are at least 6 more books left in  the series, so I guess trouble will follow these girls wherever they go.

In Wicked, there was a consistent theme that went back before any of these girls were friends, before Ali picked them to be in her special group, the day that Ali announced that she was going to get a piece of the Time Capsule Flag.  This distant memory came back to the minds of all four of the girls, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer.  They each had a distinct perspective on what took place that day, but all four of them remember Ian Thomas saying that he was going to kill Ali for her piece of the flag. 

If you forced me to rate this book, I would probably give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.  It was ok.  I’ve read three of these books in the last couple of weeks and I’m tired.  I don’t think they were meant to read one after the other.  Shepard is constantly reminding us of things that just took place which feel like they just happened.  I bet 25% of the book was her telling us what happened in the last book.  I know that it’s nice to have a reminder just in case it’s been a while since you read the last book, but it got on my nerves with this series. 

I have the next three books on my shelf so I know I will get that far, but these books will have to be free or dang cheap for me to continue after that.  I have a lot of reading to do and very little time to do it in.  Keep Reading my Friends!

Yay for Good Guys in Good Books!

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Identity Crisis.  McLean doesn’t know who to be in her new town with her dad.  Her parents divorced two years ago and have been having custody battles and things have not been going well between McLean and her mom since she left McLean’s dad for another man.  McLean’s dad, Gus Sweet is a restaurant consultant and he goes where his boss moves him, to the dying restaurants of the company his boss owns.  McLean knows by the food how long they are going to be in a new location.  Since she’s been in 4 new towns in the last two years, she’s got pretty good at packing up her life and starting over.  The starting over has been starting with a different persona as well.  From the Cheerleader to the Drama Queen, from changing her name to Lizbet to Beth, in her new town she doesn’t know who she will be, until she realizes that sometimes a move can become permanent in your heart.  Of course it doesn’t hurt to get to know the boy next door Dave, maybe he can help her find her true identity.

I have never read a Sarah Desson book before.  I still haven’t “read” her books, I listened to this one on my commute to work.  I loved it.  I can’t wait to actually read one now.  Her characters are perfect.  They each have a unique quirk to them and personality.  I loved McLean, she was a great POV character and her confusion and fear and confidence were excellent.  I loved Dave.  He was such a great hero, literally the boy next door and so much fun to read about.  Anytime he was in the picture I knew it was going to be a great interaction.  He pulled out the real McLean from just being a great guy. 

I highly recommend this book.  If you don’t have time to read it, I suggest listening to it, at the very least.  I have no idea if the grammar was good of if there were mistakes, you can’t quite catch things like that when you are stuck in traffic, but like I said before, the characters were amazing and fun and I didn’t want to the book to end. 

I hope to read a Desson book very soon!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Hope is Not Lost... I'm having issues coming up with witty titles, give me a break!

Losing Hope (Hopeless #2) by Colleen Hoover

In Hopeless all secrets are revealed and lived through by our heroin Sky Davis.  As she starts public school for the first time with an unearned reputation and her best friend leaves her and enters Holder. Holder is a mysterious boy with the bad past with a tattoo of Hopeless on his arm, who immediately freaks Sky out from the very beginning.  When the audience moves on to Losing Hope, we feel like we are going into this book and we know all Sky and Holder’s secrets.  We will not learn anything new, just the same story from a different point of view.  That would be incorrect.  Losing Hope is so much more than Holder’s POV, we see why he makes every decision, why he reacts the way he does and even the hurtful things that we know are coming are just as hard to bear because it is coming from a different direction and our hearts hurt all over again.

Wow!  Just Wow.  I loved Hopeless and I loved the characters, I loved Hoover’s writing style, everything.  I didn’t know that Hopeless could be topped, but I think I liked it that much more from Holder’s point of view.  I like the breaks in the story between letters to his twin sister.  I loved learning about her death even though it was heart breaking. 

I loved Daniel, what a funny guy.  He did outlandish things that I laughed out loud about.  I loved that he made up nicknames for his friends and frienemies as well. There were a few scenes that stuck out with Daniel.  The cafeteria was my absolute favorite, I was laughing out loud when he pointed specific people out and told them the rumors they had started.  I was also happy to see Holder and Breckin’s friendship.  Breckin was also a character that made me laugh.       

If you read Hopeless, which I hope you did, then this is the next book for you.  There are some surprises in the book that were not in Hopeless so, download today!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Killer Looks? Killer Instinct? Friend Killer?

Killer: A Pretty Little Liar Novel by Sara Shepard

These books are starting to become a broken record.  The girls do seem a little bit less responsive to New A’s threats.  The girls are leaning more on each now than in times past.  They are actually talking again which is good.  The difference between the show and the books is huge to me especially in their relationships with each other. 

I did not like this book.  It seemed a little same ole, same ole.  I couldn’t get how each book was so repetitive, but how I didn’t like it until now.  I actually was going to give this book 1 star on good reads until the very last paragraph… now I want to see what happens in the next book.  I’m crazy confused and I’m ready to know what the heck is going on.  I usually take a break in between these books, and the breaks keep getting longer and longer.  If I didn’t own the next 2 I would probably forget about them all together, but alas I do own them.  Luckily they are easy to get rid of.  I finish one and send it out on paperbackswap.com the very next day. 

Just an example of how slow this book was for me.  I read 7 books while reading this one book.  Pretty bad.  But needless to say, I will continue this series.  I have to know what happens.  Books are like a drug to me.  Keep Reading my Friends!

The Sisterhood Grows

3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows by Ann Brashares

I remember seeing this book all over the blogosphere several years ago and it has been on my to-read list for a very long time, but it just seemed to be one of those books that I never got around to.  I still have not read it, but I listened to it on one of my solitary trips from Alabama to Texarkana and I enjoyed it very much. 

Three Willows is an offshoot of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (another book that is currently on my shelf yet to be read).  It talks of 3 best friends, Polly, Jo and Ama, who have slowly drawn apart as they have grown to middle school age.  When they were very young, they planted three willow trees and as the years have gone on, the trees have grown while their friendships have grown stale.  We travel with each girl during a summer of change and each girl experiences something new and different, each have struggles, but in the end they all make it out older and wiser for their struggles.

I wish I could remember more, it has been a very long time since I listened to this and since it doesn’t look like the series will continue, I’ll just have to say that this was a cute read meant for a very young audience.  I would say girls anywhere between the ages of 10-14 would enjoy this book.   

I do need to read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, until then… Keep Reading My Friends!

Fallen In Love

Fallen in Love (Fallen, 3.5) by Lauren Kate

I’m not sure why authors have all of a sudden thought it a great idea to make novellas.  I’m not sure if it’s a new concept or a recently revisited old one, but I’m not a fan.  I’ve read 3 now (Bree Tanner – Twilight, Hana- Delirium, and now Fallen in Love).  Luckily I did not spend reading time on this book, but I listened to it on my way between Texas and Alabama.  I am not a fan of this series.  I didn’t like the first book (should have stayed with my gut feeling on that one) liked the second book pretty well, third book was a little better and I hated the last book.  So, why did I listen to this short story in between book 3 and 4?  Probably because I’m a gluten for punishment, but mainly because I can’t let a story not be 100% completed, it’s a compulsion. 

This small book is a collection of stories from some of the characters of the Fallen series.  A couple of the stories were ok, but several of them stunk.  Anyway, I would not recommend this book or the series.  Sorry for any hurt feelings.

Keep Reading my Friends!

Look at that Cover, Now Move Along

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

This is a book that got me.  It got me because I judged this book on the cover and title.  I thought it was going to be excellent.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but not excellent. 

Hadley Sullivan misses her flight from JFK in New York to London for her dad’s wedding by 4 minutes.  She then meets Oliver.  He’s a hot British college age guy who happens to be sitting in her row.  As the plane takes Hadley and Oliver across the world, the night goes by in a flash.  When they arrive at the London airport, they get separated by airport madness and with no information exchanged, Hadley goes to her dad’s wedding a little heartbroken and definitely can’t keep her mind off of Oliver.  With crazy time coincidences and changes in plan, will Oliver and Hadley meet again?

For being such a short book, this book was kind of long and at times a little boring.  Hadley would have these crazy flashbacks or memories and they were sort of confusing and would actually take away from the story.  I have seen these done well where they bring life into the story, but these memories or thoughts usually just took away. 

I also felt no connection with the characters, nor did I care what happened to the characters.  It was a sweet story, but not really worth my time.  Do I wish I hadn’t read this book? Naw… Do I recommend it?  Naw… But I do hope you find something to read that lifts your spirits, breaks your heart, and keeps you reading!  Keep Reading my Friends!

The Kiss of Death

The Kiss (Witch and Wizard #4) by James Patterson

Horrible.  This book was horrible.  Why was it written?  I am not sure.  The story ended with The Gift the third book in this series.  When I started this series, I read them with a dear friend.  We both enjoyed them for what they were, a young adult series by James Patterson, but I will no longer be reading these books, I do not care what happens, all the characters could die and I wouldn’t be upset.  Actually if they would have died on the first page of this book, I would have thought, “that’s weird,” and moved right along to the next book on my to-read list.  Don’t get upset with me, these aren’t real people.  People die in books a lot, get over it.

Anyway, I have already wasted too much time on this book.  Read something else now, Keep Reading my Friends!

Mom, Dad, this is... what's your name again?

Faking It by Cora Carmack

Cade Winsten is getting his masters in Philadelphia, after graduating college and moving from Texas, but you can’t move away from everything when heartbreak follows you.  The love of his life Bliss Edwards also moved to Philly with her new boyfriend Garrick Taylor.  For more information about this said heartbreak and relationship please see Losing It by Cora Carmack. 

Cade is struggling.  He’s in school, but he’s having a hard time living with his broken heart.  Even meeting up with Bliss and Garrick for coffee causes heartache.  Fate just happened to be thinking about Cade and in walks Max.  This dual narrated book shows both Max and Cade’s perspective on an impromptu relationship that comes from faking a relationship.

I loved this book.  I just thought I loved Bliss and Garrick.  I really loved Max and Cade.  I loved how they saw themselves and each other.  I loved how different their internal voices sounded and I really enjoyed going back and forth and hearing the same interactions from the different perspectives.  I usually am more of a one Point of View book reader, but this was not distracting and it gave enlightenment on why situations were taking place.  I enjoyed it very much. 

Carmack has a great way of writing love scenes as well.  The audience felt every kiss and touch and missed it when they weren’t there too (as I stated before in my Losing It blog). 

I can’t wait until we see what’s in store for Kelsey in Finding It.

Keep Reading my Friends!

Maximum Ride Comes to an End

Nevermore by James Patterson (Maximum Ride #8)

2013 has been the year of finishing series.  Many series that I have read for years have ended this year, or I have finally caught up.  This is the last book of the Maximum Ride series.  I am unsure why I have continued this series.  The characters are not well written, there are complete and utterly unrepentant undertones of environmentalism.  Not that that is a bad thing, but why not just have bird kids save the world because it’s entertaining and not just because you want to put a political statement out there?  

This last book begins with Fang still being gone and Max and Dylan are growing closer.  Angel is gone, like she exploded in France in the last book and the flock are just not talking about it.  The flock is going to school and living a non-violent life.  Meanwhile, Fang’s gang is trying to learn more about the 99% apocalyptic movement that is going to wipe out the whole human race except the 1% of humans with super mutant abilities.  It’s going to be the flocks goal to not only stay safe from Ary (Max’s mutant dead half brother) and his gang of wolf hybrids, but also save the world from the environmental woes that will surely be coming before this series ends.

Now that I have lost my reading audience with my recap of what the book is about, here are my thoughts.  Read this book if you have been reading the series.  If you haven’t started, don’t.  These books are for a young audience, like under 14.  These are not young adult books, but preteen books.  I am so glad that I borrowed each of these books from the library and only read/listened to them if there was not much going on.  My list of books to read is ever increasing and I need to stop adding to the list and take care of some books that are already on there, I’ll be more careful with the books I pick in the future.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Keep Reading my friends!

Going, Going, Gone.

Losing It by Cora Carmack

It.  The most non- descriptive word I’ve ever seen in a title that can mean so much.  Losing it.  Was Bliss Edwards losing something as trivial as her wallet, or as horrible as her mind?  Nope, we’re talking about the elusive IT, sex.  Bliss is an almost college graduate who is ready to lose her V-Card, or is she?  When she mistakenly tells her best girl-friend Kelsey that she was a virgin, “it” takes her life in a crazy tailspin.  She goes to a bar with the actual intent to have a one night stand and meets our British hunk Garrick Taylor.  With quite an interesting meeting and first night together, she hopes to never see Garrick again.  Well it would have been an extremely short book if that was true, but no more spoilers here, you’ll have to read it to see what happens.

This book is a New York Times best seller, but what I’ve seen on good reads has mixed reviews.  Most books, either the collective audience loves it with 4 or 5 stars or they are the dramatic opposite and they hate the book with 1or 2 stars.  With this book I saw a lot of 3’s.  Not sure what that has to do with anything except here I will tell you that I gave it four stars.  I liked the story.  I loved Bliss.  She was fun and she was an interesting character with many different levels.  Of course who wouldn’t love an English Hero like Garrick.  I was picturing Julian Morris (Wren from Pretty Little Liars), so cute!  Of course I tried to make him have an English accent in my head, but it just didn’t work out, guess we’ll have to push for a movie so we can hear Garrick in all his English glory.

There were so many scenes that I loved.  The spin the bottle make out party, was awesome because I have known many theater majors and this is something they would do and love it.  I also loved the sick bed chapters, seemed like a great way to move from their angst period.  I loved how much passion was written in these pages.  Carmack did a great job making me feel every kiss, every touch, and every moment that didn’t have those physical interactions.

Only complaints, would be that the story line was a little same ole same ole, luckily it was written well and therefore I didn’t mind the plot.  I also think the down or sad times could have been more angst felt, for example, when Garrick and Bliss aren’t talking it just felt like oh well, another day in the life of Bliss, but it could have been excruciating.  But if that’s all, you know that I liked the book.

I can’t wait to read Faking It.  Poor Cade, can’t wait to see what Carmack has in store for poor Cade.

Let me know what you think!  Have you read this book or anything from this author?  Keep Reading my Friends!

This Girl

This Girl by Colleen Hoover (Slammed #3)

The question that I started this book was, “Can I love Layken and Will anymore?” After I finished? Yes, yes I can.  This is a great change of pace and this book is from Will’s point of view and he is telling Layken (and the audience) what he was feeling and his thoughts on what was taking place during the first few months of the relationship that was building between them. 

I loved the way that Hoover set this book up.  We get to see the Cooper’s on their honeymoon and experience that with them, but also it is set where Layken is asking questions and Will is telling her what was going on that she didn’t know about.  There were happy times and there were sad times, but it was great experiencing Will’s side to know what was happening. 

In my blog on the second book of this series I posed a question.  Is this an epic love story?  I still have to say no, but it is a love story that will stay with me for years to come.  Hoover has sewn a thread of love and the thoughts of fate and allowed me to escape this week with these three books unlike any other series I have ever read.  Who changes POV characters in the middle of a series?  Colleen Hoover, that’s who!  It was a brilliant story, it made me laugh and cry, sit on the edge of my seat and make me never want to put my iPad down ever again. 

Since I read Hopeless first, it’s hard for me not to compare Holder and Will.  I won’t do it, but Will’s side of the story has made me want to rob a book store to get Losing Hope before it comes out in a few days.  I’ve already purchased it, let me read it early!!!

I don’t have a lot to say, just read this book/series as soon as possible!  And Colleen Hoover, keep writing books!  You have a God given gift and I cannot wait to see what else you have for us, your fans!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Retreating Has Never Sounded So Good!

Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (Slammed #2)

Can I call this an epic love story?  Probably not.  But I really want to.  I love this book, these characters, the plot, the twists and turns that Hoover takes us on.  Epic?  Maybe not, but definitely a story worth writing down and we thank you Colleen for giving us this gift.  Listen to me, I haven’t even finished the series and I’m already declaring it not epic, it could totally become epic in the last book of the Slammed series.

Point of Retreat is the moment in Will and Layken’s alone time when they know that they must retreat before things go too far.  I loved this.  I loved that they kept their word to Julia when it could have been so easy to break after she was gone.  I love that they respected their boundaries and retreated when things were going too far. 

New characters were introduced and who doesn’t love a know it all 11 year old that is wise beyond her years and cusses like a sailor, ok, maybe not that last part, but Kiersten was a great addition to the gang.  Her mother Sherry also gave some great words of wisdom to Will as things were looking dark for him and Layken.  Not new to the story, but I still love Kel and Caulder, they are such great kids and fun and I just love them.  They make me laugh and I appreciate how they took a stand for Kiersten.

While we’re on Will, let’s give Mrs. Hoover a round of applause for changing the book’s POV character and not missing a beat.  I actually loved Layken more through Will’s eyes than when I was in her head.  And isn’t Will one of the best male characters ever?!?!  I mean really, he is great and responsible and emotional  and amazing! 

Of course no book is any good if there isn’t something horrible that happens.  When this something horrible does happen I was so upset I actually almost prayed for one of the characters.  I think I was a little sleep deprived and a lot crazy for praying for made up people, but that’s how real of a picture Hoover creates with her words.  Her words have put a spell on me and I’m not looking forward to ending the story.  Nothing will be as good… except maybe Loosing Hope.  I can’t wait for Holder’s point of view. 

Readers, go quickly to your Nook or Kindle and buy these books, do not hesitate, you should actually be doing this right now.  You will not be sorry, you will thank me.  And speaking of Thanking… I should take this moment to thank my book friend JillBud for introducing me to Colleen Hoover.  You pick amazing books Jill, and I thank you!  Keep Reading my Friends!  

So you keep your ocean, I'll take the lake

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

After Layken Cohen’s father passes away from a sudden heart attack, her family in financial struggles moves from Texas to Michigan.  Since it’s the beginning of her senior year this is anything but a happy moment for her.  Her mother Julia and her little brother Kel, try to piece their life together and in walks Will Cooper.  The hansom across the street neighbor walks into Layken’s life and the magic sparks immediately between Will and Layken.  They have an amazing first date and then their circumstances gets in the way.  Every time them turn around there is another obstacle in the way of them being together.  With so much against them, how can they be together? 

Colleen Hoover has done it again…I know she wrote this book first, but I read Hopeless first, so again… she has done it again.  I can’t believe how much I love these characters.  Every single character was believable and easy to love.  Layken and Will are amazing together and when they are kept apart, I felt like my heart was ripped in two even if they were only across the street from each other.  I loved the magic that took place between them from the very beginning.  As she’s acting crazy like a zombie, playing with Kel her little brother, I just loved that meeting Will and Caulder and I couldn’t wait until they saw each other again. 

“That’s not a good idea.” Every time he said this to Lake, it made my heart happy.  It’s one of those book sayings that will live in the on in the lives of the fans forever.  It’s the “Okay?” “Okay.” Of The Fault in Our Stars or the many phrases that have been tattooed on body parts from Twilight.    

I loved Layken, but she disappointed me with her immaturity at times, it was more like I expected more of her and didn’t expect her to be retreat from life at difficult situations.  I think I felt like this because she thought more of herself than this and that’s why I came to this conclusion. 

But of course, Will is the reason to read this book.  He is amazing.  He changes the story, heck, what am I saying, he is the story. I love him through Layken’s eyes and then something happens (no spoilers, I wouldn’t do that) and his true character comes out and what we don’t know about him makes us love him even more!

Colleen Hoover  is amazing.  I laughed, I cried, and I fell in love with the characters with the turn of each page! Hoover has a way with plots and story lines like no other writer I have ever read.  I was constantly surprised and consistently in awe of her words-smith-ability.

Buy this book people, quickly!  Keep Reading my Friends!

A shout out to the Secret Garden

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

As I finished this book by Kate Morton, I am literally speechless.  I am having a hard time putting my thoughts into words as my mind has been on an expedition to complete this fantastic book.  Morton takes her reading audience on a journey that can be equated to the Maze that is so many times talked about in The Forgotten Garden. 

The journey that I took to start and complete this book was nothing short of fate.  My sister in law Anne suggested this book to me what seems like a very long time ago.  She was reading it for her book club and I believe that it was her first pick.  I remember how much she loved it and I mentally placed it on my to-read list.  Then not too long after that a friend of a friend sent me about 7 books that I put on my shelf with hopes of reading them in the future.  Then my friend Renae who had read a book by Morton before wanted to read this book together, not knowing that I already own it, Renae purchased it on her Kindle.  Many months go by, the stack of free books forgotten, moved and unpacked.  Then Sam Taylor picks The Forgotten Garden as the May book club book.  Even though I am no longer a member, I still try to stay up to date on what’s being read.  So I finally picked it up.  It took me over a month to read, with some TV to distract me and I listened to 2 books in the middle, but finally I got the reading bug and completed over 250 pages in 24 hours (which is a lot for me).  With all of that coming at me, it was fate that got me to read this book and I will treasure it as a great read that I will refer back to for years to come.  I have already given it as a suggested read and I can’t wait for someone to read it and for this story to stay alive in other readers.

The story starts off very confusing.  With several different characters and different time lines, but the way Morton sews the themes and plots together is nothing less than magical.  It is authors like Morton that make me lament that I will never be as great as her and several others that I have read.  Some books inspire me to write because they are easy reads and I think, “Dang, I can do that and better.” Then there are stories that break my heart because I know that I will never be able to spin a story with so much heartache and love and mystery that it warms and breaks the reader’s hearts at the same time.  This is one of those stories. 

I cannot go into the plot without spoilers, I dare not ruin one aspect of this story, therefore you will have to do without.  I will just leave you with one thought. 

I loved Eliza.  Her entire story was incredibly interesting.  Every time I type something about her story it is riddled with spoilers, so when you read the book, just know that I loved Eliza.  My heart is always joined with authors or readers.  Anyone who can spend their time enjoying a good book, or writing stories for fun is a favorite character for me.

I will leave you with a quote from the book, Keep Reading my Friends!

**Cassandra couldn’t help herself.  She curled up on her side in the center of the camp bed.  It was the perfect place for reading, cool and quiet and secret.  Cassandra always hid when she read, though she never quite knew why.  It was as if she couldn’t shake the guilty suspicion that she was being lazy, that surrendering herself so completely to something so enjoyable must surely be wrong.**

Dead Forever

Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse, #13) by Charlaine Harris

Well, that’s the end of that series.  I hate that I am not upset, after reading this series for years, I mean, years.  You would think that I would be lamenting, but I’m just sort of shrugging my shoulders and looking at my shelf wondering what to read next.  I have felt more for characters in a standalone book with no sequels than I do for almost all of the characters in these books. 

I guess what I don’t understand and am the most upset about is the fact that these books started so strong.  I read the first five books in 7 days.  I ate them up, I read the first 10 books in no time, and then I stopped.  Read books for a couple of years, I received book 11 from paperback swap and it sat on my shelf.  Just in the last couple of weeks, I picked it up and finished the series.  At the beginning I loved the romance between Sookie and Bill, then he broke her heart, so I officially wrote him off as did Harris.  Then the show came out and I decided that Eric was more my style, well lucky me, he became Sookie’s number one in the books and I loved that.  Then there were some distractions in there, a weretiger, a werewolf, some others of different natures, but Eric was the leading attraction of me staying with this series and then book 11 was read.  Poor Eric.  I don’t know if the fictional character of Eric would ever want to be called “Poor Eric,” but I could feel Harris changing Sookie’s heart and longings.  And “Poor Eric” was being left out in the cold.

Ok, here are my thoughts on Dead Ever After, spoilers ahead. Beware!

Plot holes.  Like major holes.  It was hard to decide when specific situations happened because it seemed like the next day, but then Harris would make it sound like it was a week ago.  The main bad guy was “a devil” but he just disappeared, we didn’t meet him or hear from him again after the preface. Weird. 

I hated that Sookie ends up with Sam.  Why did Harris want that from the beginning?  Why did Eric have to go to Oklahoma? Ugh, it was utterly ridiculous! Actually I shouldn’t say I hated the ending.  It was predictable.  As I finished Deadlocked I realized quickly how it was going to end.  Sookie’s enemies were back and they wanted to kill her, but not in an action packed way, in a normal Sookie bashing way. 

I feel like this blog stinks, so I’ll just end it here by saying goodbye to Sookie and the Bon Temp gang.  I am so glad I still have the television show and that it is taking a totally different route than the books, I hope with some creativity Sookie won’t turn into her grandmother and her and Eric will be together soon!

Would I suggest this book?  Sure, if you’ve been reading all these books, finish the series.  Would I suggest the series?  Yes, just get them from the Library.  Keep Reading my Friends!

Dead and Over It.

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris

This poor series.  I remember reading the first 5 or 6 books in a week.  It was thrilling learning about this new world of shifters and weres and vampires.  I loved the characters and growing with them, now it’s just bla.  Deadlocked was not the worst book I’ve ever read, but there is nothing that really happens.  Without giving spoilers I will just say that I’m upset about how things are going with Eric… oh wait, Eric who?  There were no love scenes, there was no romance, just Sookie’s inner monologue about how confused she was about Eric and their relationship.  I miss Eric.  He used to make me laugh and make me happy, but now he just enters and leaves a scene with no existence.

Deadlocked seems to be just a day in the life of Sookie, where we see her go to work, and come home and get invited to hang out with her vampire husband and then she goes to bed and does it all over again, or she just yells at Eric and goes to bed. 

I did appreciate the twist in the end.  Not the very end, but who done it (grammatical error intended).  We knew from the beginning that Jannalyn was a horrible Werewolf that was evil, but we didn’t know the why’s.  So, that was a good twist, I did not see that coming. 

I can feel the series coming to an end.  I didn’t realize that the next book is the last.  I’m kind of glad.  I need for this series to end, the last two books have been dreadful and I can only hope that the last book is excellent.  I fear that it will just be Quinn, Sam, Alcide, Eric, and Bill fighting for Sookie’s affections.  I have a thought of who she will end up with in the end.  I promise to tell the truth if I’m right or wrong with my guess. 

Again, I would only read this book if you love the series, and if you want to complete the series.  I’m ready to see what happens in the end.  What about you?  Keep Reading my friends!