2014 January Releases

A new year, a new month, and new books!

Here is a quick list of books that I am looking forward to reading that are being released in January. I will post the links to the books' goodreads so you can read the synopsis of them and see if you want to read them too.

The list is only five books long, but they all sound really interesting and I can't wait to read them.

1. Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16067180-being-sloane-jacobs
2. Evertrue by Brodi Ashton (book three of the series)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13626692-evertrue?from_search=true
3. A Mad, Wicked, Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079501-a-mad-wicked-folly
4. Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13645645-uninvited
5. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839984-cruel-beauty

United States of YA

Hello Everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a list of books from my local library. The list was made by Epicreads and it had a book that took place in every state in the Untied States. In the spirit of New Years and revolutions, I made it a goal to read all of the books this year and to write reviews on them. I'm going to be posting them on here so you all can go along with me. It's like a mini trip around the states!

I do have a few rules though:

1. If the book is about demons or witches, I will NOT read it. It isn't something I want to get into and as a Bible believing Christian, I'd rather not read them.

2. Some of the books in the states (like Louisiana) are sequels and not the first books of the series. If I haven't read the series at all, I'm going to read the first book of the series instead of just jumping into the second, third or fourth.

3. I plan to replace the books that go against my faith with books that still take place in the state. For instance, Georgia's is a series about witches. I choose not to read that book, so I'm going to replace the book with a different one that still takes place in Georgia.

That's all my rules. You guys can choose to either go along with me, make your own, or not make any at all! It's all up to YOU.

I hope you all join me for the trip across the United States of YA!

Epicreads list: http://www.epicreads.com/blog/the-united-states-of-ya/

2013 Reading List

As all of you know, it is New Year's Eve and to some of us bookworms (or maybe just me) it means that it's time to update/finish my reading list and to make a new one. Every year I make a list of the books I read in that year and have a set goal. The most books I've read in a year was 105, but this year my goal was 50. I ended up reading 78 and here are the books I read:

1.       Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols
2.       The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
3.       Rebel Summer by Linda Palmer
4.       The Girl in the Converse Shoes by Yaritza Garcia
5.       Crush by Lacey Weatherford
6.       In Love with my Best Friend by Yaritiza Garcia
7.       Safe Landing by Tess Oliver
8.       How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
9.       Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
10.   Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
11.   Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout
12.   Double Crossed by Ally Carter
13.   Taking Chances by Molly McAdams
14.   Neverfall by Brodi Ashton
15.   Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
16.   Legacy Lost by Anna Banks
17.   The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt
18.   The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury
19.   Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
20.   Everbound by Brodi Ashton
21.   Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
22.   Middle Ground by Katie Kacvinsky
23.   Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder
24.   Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
25.   Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
26.   52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica  Brody
27.   Sometimes it Happens by Lauren Barnholdt
28.   The Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan
29.   The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan
30.   The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
31.   Hana by Lauren Oliver
32.   The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols
33.   The Duck Commander Family by Willie and Korie Robertson
34.   Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
35.   Annabel by Lauren Oliver
36.   Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally
37.   Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
38.   Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson
39.   Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick
40.   The Mediator: Shadowland by Meg Cabot
41.   The Mediator: Ninth Key by Meg Cabot
42.   Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry
43.   Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
44.   The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
45.   Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman
46.   Revived by Cat Patrick
47.   That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J Howard
48.   Inside Girl: Lucky Break by J. Minter
49.   Aces Up by Lauren Henderson
50.   The Selection by Kiera Cass
51.   The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
52.   The Goddess Hunt by Aimee Carter
53.   Smitten by Lacey Weatherford
54.   Cruel Summer by Alyson Noel
55.   Major Crush by Jennifer Echols
56.   The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols
57.   Invitation Only by Kate Brian
58.   Untouchable by Kate Brian
59.   Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter
60.   Confessions by Kate Brian
61.   Inner Circle by Kate Brian
62.   The Goddess Queen by Aimee Carter
63.   The Lovestruck Goddess by Aimee Carter
64.   Goddess of the Underworld by Aimee Carter
65.   This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
66.   Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
67.   Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
68.   Si-cology 101 by Si Robertson
69.   Annexed by Sharon Dogar
70.   Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
71.   Margot by Jillian Cantor
72.   Miss Kay’s Duck Commander Kitchen by Kay Robertson and Chrys Howard
73.   When Lightning Strikes by Meg Cabot
74.   United We Spy by Ally Carter
75.   A Gallagher Wedding by Ally Carter
76.   Code Name Cassandra by Meg Cabot
77.   Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
78.   Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

(Books in bold are my absolute favorite books I've read this year.)

I already have books lined up for my 2014 reading list and can't wait to get started on it. My goal this year is to beat 78, so I'm going to make my goal 79. I hope all of you have reached your goals in reading books, and if you haven't made any goals I hope you make some and reach them over the year.

Happy New Year!

Hana by Lauren Oliver

Back-Story: I am a huge fan of Delirium and I borrowed Hana from my sister’s nook and started and finished it within the hour I got it.

Review: The novella is okay. I didn’t like it all that much. I liked Hana in Delirium, but in the novella I didn’t really like Hana all that much. In Delirium Hana is a free spirit and seems like the rebel type that wants Lena to join in the rebellion with her, but in Hana it seems like Hana is just as scared as Lena and she’s been putting up a front. The novella is really short and it seems like the whole point of it is to figure out what the secret is. I had figured out what the secret was before reading Hana and when I read Hana I was expecting a jaw dropping moment and didn’t get it which left me a little disappointed.

Looks: The cover is okay. I don’t really know what the flowers have to do with the novella. I wish it had a picture of Hana, or at least part of a face that shows her hair and mouth and such instead.
Content: It’s really short (which I expected since it is a novella) but it seemed shorter than the other novella’s I’ve read.
Likes: It was nice to see things thought Hana’s eyes and see how she really was.

Dislikes: I wish there was a little bit more depth to Hana’s character and I’m kind of disappointed that I like the Delirium Hana better than that Hana Hana. I was hoping to get the free spirit Hana and was disappointed with what I got.

Overall: Overall it’s an okay novella. I will probably buy it since I have the rest of the books, but you don’t have to read it at all to keep up with the Delirium novels. If you want to know the secret you can probably just Google it and it would be just like reading the novella and it’ll save you some money too.(

Sometimes it Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

Back-Story: I read The Thing About the Truth and I like Lauren Barnholdt’s writing and this is her only other book that my library has, so I rented it.

Review: I liked this book a lot. It was nicely paced and a good story line with great characters. It goes back and forth between the first day of senior year and the summer before it. The story is mainly between Hannah and her best friend Ava and Ava’s boyfriend Noah with Sebastian and Lacy as the co characters. On the last day of school Hannah gets her heart broken and while Ava is gone away to work at a summer camp, Noah helps her get over the heartbreak, but spending the summer together Noah and Hannah start to have feelings for each other.
Looks: I like the cover. It helps the feel of the book and it sums up how Hannah is.

Content: Cussing and there’s an incident but it isn’t graphic at all and it’s just an exchange in passing.

Likes: The main characters were good and I liked them a lot. I also liked Lauren’s writing and how she switched from the summer to the first day of school in the chapters.

Dislikes: Lacy and Sebastian were the only things I didn’t like. Lacy was super annoying with her anxiety and Sebastian was annoying because he wouldn’t leave Hannah alone.

Overall: I would totally recommend this book and it’s worth reading again.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Back-Story: I read Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour when it first came out and although I wasn’t blown away with it I liked it enough to read another of Morgan Matson’s works.

Review: The book is okay. It starts off really slow and overall it isn’t that interesting. It goes back and forth between what’s going on now to what happened five summers ago. Taylor’s dad is dying of cancer and the family decides to come to their summer house in the mountains for some family time. It’s been five summers since Taylor has seen her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend. It’s an emotional book about how Taylor has to deal with her father dying and reacquainting herself with her childhood friends. The book is kind of like a mixture of A Walk to Remember and The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.

Looks: I like the cover a lot. It’s what drew me to read the book.
Content: There isn’t anything really bad in it, but the inevitable ending is sad and will make you want to cry.

Likes: I mostly liked the characters a lot. The only one I had a problem with was Gelsey because she's just really annoying, but the book was easy to read even though it dragged in the beginning. It did pick up a little bit towards the middle and end.

Dislikes: Wasn’t really that entertaining and it was missing the umph I was looking for.

Overall: If you like Morgan Matson’s writing then I recommend it, but if you want to be blown away and fall in love then I wouldn’t say this is the book for you.

Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder

WARNING: THERE ARE A FEW SPOILERS

Back-Story: While I was looking at books to order at my library I found this and ordered it.

Review: The book starts off with Rae in the hospital and obviously something major has happened to her. We then learn that her stepdad is abusive and her mom doesn’t really do anything about it. The book goes into how every time a guy pursues Rae she gets scared and runs away. Nathan is a new guy that just came into town and her friends encourage her to go out with him. She does and the relationship is moving too fast for her so she breaks up with him, but Nathan can’t have that. He basically stalks her by showing up where she is, calling her non-stop, and texting her all the time. He gets jealous when she hangs out with another guy and he whines all the time. Rae is struggling with her home life and the new Nathan drama just makes it worse. Rae’s stepdad keeps coming to her for her paycheck so he can pay off his debt and the whole scenario is what makes her end up in the hospital.

Looks: I hate the cover. This is the first cover that I have ever hated. In the book there is a scene where Rae and Nathan kiss in the rain and I’m assuming that it’s Nathan on the cover since the two are kissing and it’s raining, but it confuses me because ultimately Rae doesn’t end up with Nathan. Also, I think the angle of the girl’s face is a really bad angle and just makes it look weird.

Content: A few cuss words and creepy Nathan scenes.

Likes: The overall idea was nice. I started it and finished it the day I got it so it’s an easy read.

Dislikes: The description of the book talks about Rae’s stepdad being abusive. In actuality he slaps her twice and obviously, if he hits her it’s abuse but when I read the description I was expecting punches being thrown all the time, so this wasn’t really what I was expecting. Nathan is really annoying. I almost wanted to skip the pages he was in because he was such a baby.

Overall: It was enjoyable enough. It was interesting to see how things played out. I liked Rae’s character but the book lacked the romance I wanted. The book wasn’t necessarily bad it just didn’t meet my expectations. It isn’t a heart stopping book that makes you so sad that it’s over when you get to the last page, but it’s enjoyable enough to read at least once.