Back from hiatus! In On My Wishlist I spotlight books that I'm really looking forward to. I know there's a meme Waiting on Wednesday and there even are others, but I'm going to rebel and do it how I want it (hehe). I'll feature the synopsis as posted on Goodreads and put a linkie to the Goodreads page of the book. This week: Evertrue by Brodi Ashton.
Evertrue by Brodi Ashton
Expected publication date: January 21st, 2014
Synopsis
Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.
Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?
It's only a few weeks of waiting until the final instalment in the Everneath series hits shelves and I'm so curious to see how it all ends. Brodi has a gorgeous writing style that sucks you right in and I cannot wait to see what's next for Nikki, Jack and Cole. I'm always a bit hesitant to read the final book in a series, but I'm just too excited for this one to wait much longer :) The wait is almost over, yay!
Back from hiatus! In On My Wishlist I spotlight books that I'm really looking forward to. I know there's a meme Waiting on Wednesday and there even are others, but I'm going to rebel and do it how I want it (hehe). I'll feature the synopsis as posted on Goodreads and put a linkie to the Goodreads page of the book. This week: On the Fence by Kasie West.
On the Fence by Kasie West
Expected publication date: July 1st, 2014
Synopsis
She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…
Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.
ANOTHER KASIE WEST BOOK! Well, I'm certainly not complaining. Whee! I loved Pivot Point and the way it was written and I cannot wait to read more of her work. These Fence Chats sound absolutely adorable and I cannot wait to fall in love with Braden and On the Fence as a whole :).
The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston Published: May 14th, 2013 (Disney Hyperion) Pages: 312 Source: for review Series:The Rules for Disappearing, #1 Buy the book:Bookdepository Rating: ★★☆☆☆
She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.
Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.
But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.
Okay. So I really liked the idea of a story based around a character and their family in the Witness Protection Program, and I was pretty excited to get started on this one. Unfortunately, that ended up being the only thing I liked about this book.
Meg is our main character in this book and she mainly focuses on Ethan. However, every other character in this books feels so distant, so unfocused, that they were hard to tell apart. They didn't stand out from one another and I really found it hard to distinguish them. Once I realised that problem, it got on my nerves. And as I was unable to ignore it, I got more and more annoyed while I read on.
The storyline is so incredibly predictable that I had it figured out within a few chapters, but then I had to read another 250 pages to see that I was right. I *hate* it when that happens, but if the characters are awesome or if they have great chemistry, that sometimes makes up for it. In this case, not so much. For me, it had no redeeming qualities and the only reason I finished this book in the end was because I wanted to know if I was right about how the plot would unfold (I was). There were no surprises, no twists, nothing. The 'big reveal' was predictable and fell flat.
To be honest, I don't think this was a bad book. It's just the fact that it was unable to hold my attention, or to surprise me, or even come alive off the pages for the tiniest bit that annoyed me to no end. Quite frankly, I didn't give a shit about all of these characters. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. There are way better books out there that are more worthy of your time, if you ask me.
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill Published: August 1st, 2013 (Bloomsbury Childrens) Pages: 362 Source: bought Series:All Our Yesterdays, #1 Buy the book:Bookdepository Rating: ★★★★★
Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet.
Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture - being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future.
Whoa. What just happened? Holy shit.
I would happily let that be my entire review, because I'm honestly a bit lost for words. Every once in a while, if I'm lucky, I find a book that knocks my socks off. One that blows me away, that sends me on a rollercoaster of feels, one that breaks my heart in all the right ways. All Our Yesterdays is one of those books.
Terrill writes the book in a way that is enormously cinematic. I felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book, it was that vivid. It was so easy to visualise that I often found myself lost in my own thoughts about everything I just read and I had to shake my head a bit to be able to continue reading. It was so easy to see what was happening, what the situation was, how everything played out. I don't often have this feeling when I'm reading a book, it's quite a rare thing, but this book managed to give me everything.
I thought it was a very interesting way of incorporating time travel and I absolutely loved how it was executed. I'm not particularly drawn by time travel books, even though I usually find them fascinating when I read the synopsis, because I usually get confused quite easily. However, this was just so wonderfully done that I'm about to go on a time travel readathon because I just want more. Thankfully, All Our Yesterdays leaves enough of the story unanswered at the end that there will be a sequel. A sequel! To this goodness! I'm not sure how I will cope. If I can cope at all. Whee!
The characters really came to live on the pages and I loved that. They were so vivid, it was like I was there. They had their own little quirks, their own little habits and their own ways of talking. I didn't need to read who was talking, I could tell by the way their talking was written just who it was. I always love when authors are able to make characters so distinct from the pages, considering you can't hear or see them, though you visualise them in your mind. I loved Finn especially, but I have to say I even loved James so that's major props to Terrill!
I can go on and on about how much I loved this book. Because I loved it a whole lot. I just don't think you'd be interested in a review that is 100 pages long so I'm just going to say that I loved it and I think that you would love it, too. No matter your preference in genre, I think this book is a great pick for just about anyone. Pick it up, seriously. Embrace the goodness.
Back from hiatus! In On My Wishlist I spotlight books that I'm really looking forward to. I know there's a meme Waiting on Wednesday and there even are others, but I'm going to rebel and do it how I want it (hehe). I'll feature the synopsis as posted on Goodreads and put a linkie to the Goodreads page of the book. This week: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins.
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Expected publication date: May 13th, 2014
Synopsis
From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.
Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.
Wheeeee it's finally almost there! It's still another 6 months until the release of Isla and the Happily Ever After and I'm beyond excited. I love Stephanie's writing style and I cannot wait to be swept away again. I still absolutely detest the new covers, and even more so the fact that I will have a third book with a completely different look on my shelf, but I guess I need to get over that.. But wheeeeeee more Anna and Etienne!
In 2011 I hosted Get Read-y for the first time and I absolutely loved it. Last year, due to moving and everything that came along with it, I didn't have the time to host Get Read-y again. But guess what? I'm back! And Get Read-y is back with a vengeance.
Introduction
So what is this Get Read-y thing? Basically, it's a challenge to motivate you to read as many books as possible so you are ready for the awesomeness of 2014. Simple, right?
You pick what books you read -- whether it's a pile of review books you just don't get to because of a lack of time or maybe you want to re-read the first books in a series before the sequel comes out next year. You name it! I'm here to motivate you to keep going, and hopefully at the end of December, we'll have a TBR pile that is a little smaller than it was when the month started.
When & where
The challenge runs from December 1st until December 31st, right up til the minute you celebrate the arrival of 2014. So basically the entire month of December is our playfield. I'm aware that December is a really busy month with all those holidays, but I'm positive we can squeeze in some reading time somewhere, right?
All challenges run here on the blog, Loving Books. You can chat along with us on Twitter using the hashtag #getready2014. You can update on your challenge on your own blog/twitter/facebook or just leave a comment on the weekly check-ins.
Challenges
The main goal is that you read books you want to have read before the New Year. To help you complete that goal, there will be two weekend-long readathons to hopefully speed things up. You can already mark your calendar:
December 7th - 8th -- 48 hour readathon
December 28th - 29th -- 48 hour readathon
If there's any need for an emergency readathon to get to your goal(s), let me know and I'll see if I can host another (small) one!
Besides that, I'll be doing some mini-challenges during the month as well. I'll be posting weekly check-ins beside those, so I'm really there to support you all the way!
The administration
Signing up for Get Read-y can be done by filling in the linky at the bottom of this post. It asks for a link -- if you don't have a blog, just use your Goodreads, Tumblr, Facebook or Twitter account, whichever you'll use to track your progress. Please use that as well to post your sign-up posts: I'd love to see what your goals are!
Feel free to share this post -- the more, the merrier!
If you have a blog, you can add a button to show you're joining in. Please save this to your computer instead of hotlinking :)
Questions?
If you have any questions, please ask me! I hope you'll join me in cleaning out the TBR a little -- 2014 looks like it'll bring us a ton of awesome books. I hope to see you in December!
