Thirty Day Book Challenge: Day 22

Day 22: A book that makes you cry

I have never cried like I cried reading Firefly Lane (ironic that I used this as the book that makes me happy too…). This is definitely one of my favorite books, and introduced me to Kristin Hannah who is now one of my favorite authors.

I read this a few years ago and cried then, but when my best friend’s mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and I (mistakenly) decided to read it again, I cried harder than ever before. The last parts of the book hit so close to home it was almost unbearable, it was like the future playing out before me in written form.

I will continue to read it again and again because I love it so very, very much but it will forever remind me of those months and how life can take turns for the worst. It shows that you can get through anything if you have your best friend beside you.

Big shocker: it’s a Nicholas Sparks book! But seriously though, the Last Song had me bawling like a baby. Ronnie’s parents get a divorce and she’s forced to stay in North Carolina (what?! A Nicholas Sparks books set in one of the Carolinas?) with her dad for the summer. She finds love, learns to love her dad, etc. The ending is incredibly emotional and depressing, hence the tears.

I was apprehensive to read this book at first, primarily because Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana would be playing Ronnie in the movie. Once you get the casting in your head, you picture the characters as those people. I quickly forgot that, and devoured the book in a weekend. I’m not usually a crier with books, but I definitely had tears trailing down my face with this one.

Under My Skin by Shawntelle Madison

Everyone wants to either be a member of the Guild or work for them. Little does the populace know that the Guild hides sinister secrets…

Tate Sullivan is a sixteen-year-old girl from an impoverished town. All young adults are required to take a test through the Guild to see if they’re fit to become Water Bearers, essentially servants to the rich members of the guild. Those are are chosen to become Water Bearers never see their family again, but their stipends are sent to give their families a better life.

Tate’s results throw her into the extremely dangerous world of the Guild, where nothing is as portrayed on television.

Um, holy damn. This is hands down the best dystopian science fiction novel I have read all year, if not in the past several years. I liked this better than the Hunger Games and Divergent. It’s completely different than either of them, in fact, it’s completely different than anything I’ve ever read. I finished it within 24-hours because I couldn’t put it down.

There was no instalove. There was nothing extraordinarily special about the MC. The world-building was strong. The science fiction theories and methods of the government were extremely interesting.

General Dagon, the Guild member who buys Tate, is essentially injected into her mind to take over her body. Tate is a teenager who is in an terrible situation. She has no superpowers, just the sheer power of her will to live. I loved how normal she was—I could actually relate to her.

Again, there is a tiny bit of romance…but just a tiny bit. No instalove, nauseating declarations of love…in fact, at one point, Tate straight up tells her love interest that she has to deal with the Guild before considering running away with him.

I’m eagerly anticipating the second book, and rated this one a 5/5 on Goodreads. Under My Skin will be released on December 9th, 2014.

I received a free copy of this ARC ePub from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thirty Day Book Challenge: Day 21

Day 21: The first novel you remember reading

I’m pretty positive that this was not the first novel I read, but I do remember loving the Junie B. Jones series in my young reader days. I remember getting up to #13 or so before moving on to more sophisticated series, such as the Magic Tree House, the Unicorns of Balinor, and the American Girls series. Junie B. Jones was a series that focused on a dramatic six-year-old who had to deal with things like a stinky school bus, cafeterias, Meanie Jim, and Handsome Warren. To homeschooled little old me, this was a fascinating peek into a world I wouldn’t see until my sophomore year of high school. Again, notice a theme? The whole living vicariously through fictional characters in public school thing? Yeah, when I actually got to school, it was a real wake up call.

I’m so glad this came up! I’ve had this book on my mind a lot lately and I really want to find it and read it again.I remember it clearly, how excited I was when finished, how it felt to realize there was an entirely different world within the pages of books.

Laura’s Luck by Marilyn Sachs was a book that I finished when I was in the first grade and it started a HUGE addiction – after that I read everything I could get my hands on. It’s about the adventures of a girl named Laura while she’s away at summer camp. It shocks me how many details I remember about this when it’s been so long since I’ve read it. I remember the description of her ankle spraining while the campers are on a hike, the annoyance of the mosquitoes and the smell of the craft cabin. So crazy to me. I always wanted to go to summer camp, but never actually got to. I think I read this book pretty regularly until middle school and it obviously had a huge influence on me.

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

So, I started and finished Magic Study in one night. That alone says SO much about how I feel about the book. There aren’t many books that I get so into that I finish them in one sitting, and I really wasn’t planning on doing it with this book but I fell so very much in love with the story, once again. Magic Study was an amazing follow up to Poison Study and yet again, I’m so thankful for Lauren telling me about this series.

In book two, Yelena has traveled to Sitia with Irys to meet the family she was kidnapped from so many years ago. I must say that her family and the Zaltana Clan… they’re all very eccentric. No other way to describe them. I love how much love they have for Yelena after all the years she was apart from them, and how welcoming her parents are.

After meeting the family she’s forgotten over the years, Yelena heads to the Academy so that Irys can teach her how to manage her magic. She of course encounters trouble along the way, and once she gets there it just keeps coming.

The only thing I didn’t like about it was that Valek wasn’t around for most of the book. It made me SO happy to finally see him when he did show up but it just wasn’t enough. I am a huge Valek fan and it was disappointing to not have him there for Yelena. The whole storyline started to get a little overdone with how much she was put through (beaten up, magicians trying to access her mind, etc.), but I really didn’t mind. Everything kept very true to the Study Series and to Yelena’s character – trouble seems to follow her everywhere but she does her best to help combat it.

I rated it 5/5 on Goodreads even though there were a couple of things I didn’t like, mostly because I love the world the series takes place in and the writing is brilliant. Maria V. Snyder is a genius in my book.

Thirty Day Book Challenge: Day 20

Day Twenty: Favorite romance book

So, I’m not a huge romance fan. I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve read in my entire life, actually. But! That doesn’t mean that every once in awhile I don’t get sucked in.

The Note by Teresa Mummert did just that, drew me in like a black hole. I wasn’t even really looking for it, I just scrolled through my nook library and chose it by random, and I’m so glad I did!

It’s about a woman named Jenn who is ready to give up on life and throw away her dreams, when a chance run in with a soldier home on leave changes everything. It’s all about how every single thing that happens in life, happens for a reason.

I love this book, it was exactly what I needed when I read it and I will definitely be reading it again.

I absolutely love Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. In fact, I should have used it as my favorite book-turned-movie. After all, I did lop off eight inches of hair immediately after watching it. That is beside the point.

The book follows the typical Nicholas Sparks formula—back east, one is rich/advantaged, the other is poor/disadvantaged, someone’s significant other has died, etc.

It’s about Katie, who escapes an abusive marriage by running away to a little North Carolina town. She changes her appearance, gets her own place, finds her own way, and meets Alex, a widowed store owner. According to Goodreads, she learns that “love is the only true safe haven”.

Coral & Bone by Tiffany Daune

I’m not going to lie—I decided that I wanted to read Coral & Bone for two reasons: mermaids and the super cool cover art. Yes, I know you should never judge a book by its cover. But that doesn’t stop me, does it?

This book far exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised with the story, plot, worldbuilding, and characters. I am an avid fantasy lover, but I’ve never actually read a book about mermaids. Let me tell you: the whole book is not centered around mermaids. It’s much, much more than that.

From the start, I was intrigued. Fifteen-year-old Halen is very mysterious (it later turns out that she’s really just clueless) and is experiencing frequent blackouts and strange phenomena. She lost her dad when was young, she has a jerk cousin, and a weird godfather. I was sucked into the storyline almost immediately.

There was an exciting blend of paranormal creatures, from mermaids to shapeshifters to sirens. There are three different worlds in the book—Etlis, Earth, and Elosia. Daune does a fabulous job of building these worlds and describing the scenery in a way that makes it easy to picture.

The romance aspect is there, but not in a nauseating way. I often get upset when MCs are fourteen or fifteen and all they care about are boys, but this is not the case with Coral & Bone. Nope, Halen understands that she has an important task at hand (IE, saving worlds from an evil siren) and she actually focuses on it.

I gave Coral & Bone 4/5 stars. The first half of the book is is simultaneously slow but rushed, but the second half completely nails it (albeit also rushed). This book seriously could have been broken into two, but I think it works. Overall, it’s a fun, easy paranormal YA read.

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review by Net Galley.

Thirty Day Book Challenge: Day 19

Day Nineteen: Favorite book turned into a movie

Though the movie wasn’t really based on the book, as the book is laid out in a self-help format, I loved He’s Just Not That Into You. The book was like my field guide in college—if a boy didn’t text or call me, I assumed He Wasn’t That Into Me. If a guy was busy, I assumed He Wasn’t That Into Me. This book taught me not to put up with BS and to move on—because I am beautiful, awesome, etc. Granted, the book wasn’t that awesome. Once I stop analyzing boys so much and just let it flow, I could actually figure out if someone was into me, because people are humans and they give signs.

But I love the movie. I love how they took the Rules from the book and inserted them into several different characters and relationships. If a guy is into you, he will call. If a guy is into you, he won’t cheat on you. If a guy is into you, he’ll do everything within his power to marry you and move mountains to be with you. And the list goes on. Shallow material, but I love it.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is my FAVORITE Harry Potter book and my favorite movie. I feel like it was so well done!! Obviously there are changes, that comes with any book-turned-movie, but it was just so… brilliant.

I watch the movies over and over, but this is the only book of the series that I’ve ever read more than once. All of the scenes are so amazing, the way that Patronuses were done, the entire setting of Hogsmeade was perfect. I just love it. It was also the introduction of one of my favorite characters, Sirius Black, so of course that helps!

Top Ten Tuesday: 11/18

Top Ten Sequels We Can’t Wait To Get

1. I am so incredibly excited for Shadow Study to come out—it’s essentially a sequel to the Study series.

2. The third book in the Elemental Trilogy is due to come out sometime in 2015. I read the first two extremely fast (because they were awesome!) so I’m pretty excited to see what happens to Iolanthe and Titus.

3. The Hidden Huntress of the Malediction Trilogy is also due to come out in 2015. I absolutely loved the first book, Stolen Songbird, and the second book won’t disappoint.

4. I read Just Ella back in the day, but clearly ran out of patience when it came to waiting for the sequels (plus, Goodreads didn’t exist). I need to get them!

5. Alright, because I’m grasping at straws here (and clearly on a Cinderella kick), I’m cheating. It’s not technically a series, but I wish Ella Enchanted had had a sequel!

6. I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone last year but never read any of the follow up novels in the series, so I’m really anxious to get my hands on the next book, Days of Blood and Starlight. I will have to reread Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but I’m totally okay with that!

7. Like Lauren, I’m SO EXCITED for Shadow Study to come out! I finished Magic Study (review later this week) in one night and am so addicted to these books.

8. First Frost comes out in January (which is SO soon!) and it’s kind of a sequel to Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (one of my favorite authors!) – the Waverly sisters are back and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

9. Serpent’s Kiss by Melissa de la Cruz is the follow up to her book Witches of East End which I LOVED (did NOT love the short-lived TV series on Lifetime though) and I really want to read it, followed by Winds of Salem.

10. A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness (if Lauren’s on a Cinderella kick, I’m on a witch kick), the sequel to it is Shadow of Night and it sounds incredible, just like the first.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke & the Bookish. Check out more Top Ten features on their site.

Thirty Day Book Challenge: Day 18

Day Eighteen: A book that disappointed you

I started the Breathe series (twosome?) by Sarah Crossan back in April and devoured the first book, so I immediately started the second, Resist, thinking it would be just as good. I was so wrong.

The second book seemed rushed and all over the place, like Crossan was grasping at straws deciding how to end the story. I think that she should have made it at least a trilogy so that it could have ended better and avoided ruining the story. I was geared up to start recommending the books to everyone, but didn’t say a peep after finishing Resist.

I was very disappointed by the One & Only by Emily Giffin. I absolutely love Giffin’s books, so naturally, I was excited for this one to come out. Without reading the summary, I picked it up and jumped in…and was sorely disappointed in the football saturated world of football-obsessed ladychild Shea Rigsby. It didn’t stop there—it was a page turner, but not for good reasons. Shea barely changed by the end of the book, and her slightly incestuous relationship freaked me out. Giffin, I love your other six books…but your seventh was a flop. Hopefully the eighth is better!

Chose The Wrong Guy, Gave Him The Wrong Finger by Beth Harbison

Oh, boy. I hate giving bad reviews, but this is going to have to be one of them.

I picked this up at Target because it was 20% off and I thought the name was clever. I skimmed the back cover and it seemed like a typical chick lit story, so I picked it up.

If you love chick lit, you may like this. Personally, I like a dose of reality and common sense in my chick lit, so I didn’t. I finished it because I paid more than my typical $5.99 bargain book price and my frugal self made me finish it.

Chose The Wrong Guy, Gave Him The Wrong Finger is about Quinn, a thirty-something year old bridal shop owner. When she was twenty-one, she was about to walk down the aisle with her high school sweetheart, Burke, only to have Frank, the best man (and Burke’s brother) burst into the bridal suite to tell her that Burke had cheated on her multiple times and she should consider not marrying him. She doesn’t. She runs off to Vegas with the best man and sleeps with him—once. The story flashes forward ten years.

The writing was decent, which was really the only thing tethering me to the novel. I enjoyed Harbison’s writing style, though there were some bits that I could have done without (IE, the MC speaking to the reader…”You probably think I’m silly, but…”).

Quinn’s character was an attempt at being multi-dimensional, quirky, and self-assured, but came out whiny and petty. She hates the happy brides who come into her shop, calling them manipulative or fake. She provides commentary on how skinny and perfect their bodies are, and tries to mention how much she eats—only to tear herself down for it. It’s very strange.

I was annoyed by her gay friend, Glenn. He was extremely flat as a character, and served one purpose: to be the person she cried to and who challenged her to live her damn life. Not once was she there for him, not once did he have the chance to open up to her. So she’s also a shitty friend.

I was also annoyed at how long it took her to get over these men. Ten years? Ten years. For ten years she wallowed in pity, didn’t date, didn’t move on, didn’t live, didn’t travel, didn’t do anything. No, she literally didn’t start living until some dude (who will remain unnamed so I don’t ruin the story for you) came to town and proposed out of the blue. Seriously. That’s the ending. Her life is miserable and dreary until Prince Charming rides in and proposes.

In a nutshell, it was an obnoxious piece of chick lit. I might try another one of Harbison’s books, but this one wasn’t for me. I rated it 2/5 on Goodreads.