Month: December 2014

Holiday Review: Snowed In

Posted December 19, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Let me start out by saying that this is a very cute winter read. I’m not sure why I chose it for my “holiday reads” this season because realistically I could have read this in January and enjoyed it too. The holidays weren’t even mentioned, which was fine! It did a good job of putting me in the mood for snow. (Good thing, too, because the morning I finished this book I woke up to snow coming down.) This book made me feel pretty nostalgic. I used to go to the library all the time after school, before I could drive, and read old-school paperbacks from the young adult section. You know the kind – they’re small, have pretty big font that takes up the entire page, and were more than likely broken on the spine. This book (and Love on the Lifts, which is coming up here soon) just have that old feel to them. And I loved that! Unfortunately I had this one figured out about a quarter of the way through. I’m not entirely surprised because it felt like it would be quite predictable, but it was definitely one where I didn’t mind the predictability. It was really cute, had some nice characters, and an overall great general concept. I think that’s what I liked most about it – the setting and how that fed into the overall plot of the book. Ashleigh and her mother move from Texas to a small island up north, where they decide […]

Review: A Midsummer’s Nightmare

Posted December 18, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

The Story I feel…weird. This is probably an odd start for a book review that I rated four and a half stars. I am trying really hard not to feel somewhat weird about the ending of this book. Sorry to kick this off with major spoilers, but that is truly the only thing I had reservations about. I wish it weren’t the case. ANYWAYS, onto the other stuff! Essentially this story is about Whitley, a party girl who wakes up in the same bed as her one night stand, and later finds out he’s her soon-to-be stepbrother. As the family tries to navigate a summer together, some major relationship-building and breaking happens. This story was much more than just a romance, or a friendship story, or a family-based novel. It was an amazing mix of everything I love in books. The characters were flawed and relatable. The feelings were raw and relatable. The entire book was just so damn relatable. The Characters Main character: Oh man I LOVED Whitley. She was sassy and generally did not care about the haters. She loved tequila, which is what makes her even better . Even at the parts of the book where she was being melodramatic, she was the first person to admit that she was acting that way. Being a flawed character but KNOWING that you are is something I find interesting to read about. I hate the people that think the world is out to get them and refuse to admit that […]

Random Bookish Thoughts: Comparisons

Posted December 18, 2014 / Discussions, Other Memes, Weekly Memes / 18 Comments

BOOK AND AUTHOR COMPARISONS. I tweeted about this the other day and had a nice little conversation with Brittany and Ashlea about this topic. How many times have you read the synopsis or front cover of a book and seen something like: The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor & Park! The new Hunger Games! More than anything, publishers in 2014 are very quick to reference anything by John Green or Rainbow Rowell because they’re the most popular or well-known YA authors at this moment. Years ago, they would slap a Twilight comparison on anything because people loved that shit. I do understand why they do it. I’m more than happy to hear that more people are reading and more books are being sold. If publishers think a little name-dropping will do the trick, then that’s cool! What bothers me is when it’s not appropriate, doesn’t make sense, or is just done solely for the name-drop. Just because a book is about a similar topic to another book, doesn’t mean they’ll have the same feel. They won’t have the same writing style or flow to them. That’s what makes me pick up a book! If you tell me a book is similar to TFIOS, more than likely it’s because it’s about kids with cancer… not because it has a similar feel or writing style to John Green’s work. I like recommendations and author blurbs. If an author is blurbed on a book cover, I will likely take that into consideration. I’ve never seen an […]

200 Word Review: The Death Cure

Posted December 17, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book made me want to pull my hair out most of the time, and yet I somehow finished it. I can’t tell you how tempted I was to just Google how this book ends and be done with it all. The trilogy certainly got progressively worse for me. I LOVED the first book, didn’t like the second book as much, and pretty much loathed this last one. Here’s a summary of this book series (basically book 2 and 3): Walking and/or running around, trying to figure shit out Separating from friends Trying to find friends Separating from friends again Trying to find friends again Making a lot of dumb decisions and being stubborn Some fighting and/or killing I just got so sick of the same shit happening allllll the time. The ending honestly didn’t bother me that much but at the same time I wish there was a little more to it. The whole book felt like a cop-out. Did he plan the series in advance or make it up as he went along? I really don’t know.

Bout of Books 12 Sign-Up

Posted December 16, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

I joined in Bout of Books earlier this year for #11 in August. I came close to my goal of reading 7 books – I read 6! I am of course signing up for Bout of Books 12, which is taking place in January. The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team My general goals for Bout of Books 12 I say general because I’m not sure what books I’ll end up reading between now and January 5th. I’m trying to give myself the opportunity to read whatever I’m in the mood for between now and the end of the year, now that my holiday reading is coming to an end. There’s usually a linky and separate post for goals, so that’s why I’m okay with changing my mind between now and then 🙂 My goal is to read 7 books! Finish the Private series by Kate Brian (The Book of Spells Prequel, Ominous #13, Vengeance […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #20: Best of 2014 (GIVEAWAY)

Posted December 16, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 18 Comments

Top 10 (Um, 23) Books I Read in 2014 + Giveaway! Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make LISTS of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. I am going to be posting my response to Jamie’s end of the year survey at the end of the month (because I am weird about things like this and NEED to post my end of year things at the actual VERY end of the year), but this will be a nice TTT preview of my favorite books I read this year! I actually had TEN five-star reads this year (well, because I started blogging in July it’s really only half the year.. but it really is my total READING year!) But because I like making things difficult for myself, I’ll give you my top ten five star reads and then some favorites in different categories. Because 4-4.5 star books deserve a lottt of love, too! This is actually my top 23 reads this year. Yikes. There’s something wrong with me. But, you win in this one – because at the bottom of this post, there’s a giveaway for you to win an e-book of your choice of a book from this list! Reviews Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver The Husband’s Secret by Liane […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin: Mid-December 2014

Posted December 15, 2014 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin is a bi-monthly feature where I look back on everything I did and everything I plan to do next. Instead of participating in some of the popular weekly memes, I combine it all into two bulletins per month: one at the mid-month mark and one on the final day of the month. You can learn more and see past Bookmark Lit bulletins here!This month has been fun so far. I only have one family member left to buy Christmas gifts for and he’s going to be easy to shop for. Otherwise I’m completely done! I told my stepmom that I was going to buy my little sister a Kindle for Christmas when they were $49 for Black Friday, but I ended up waiting too long. The price went back up to $79 and I was completely bummed. Luckily, I decided to hold off a little longer, and I went back on Amazon today… Kindles back on sale for $59! I quickly didn’t wait around any longer and bought it. I love that there’s a payment plan option now, so I’m able to finance it out for free over the next few months. It made things a lot easier. This past weekend, I went to Providence for an ugly sweater party with my friends, and then came back for (another) Mary Kay party. It was my second one in the past three weeks. I like the products though, so I can’t complain too much! I’ll tell you […]

Holiday Review: Mistletoe

Posted December 15, 2014 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

This compilation has been on my TBR for a loooong time. The authors in this one are some that I read back in middle school/early high school and haven’t really heard from since. Regardless, I was excited to embark on these stories. I wish I could say that I was impressed, but I definitely wasn’t. Most of the stories were juvenile and superficial. They definitely were not “delectable tales of love and lust” or “juicy” or “steamy.” They were all really bland and I’m sad. I certainly rounded up in my rating because I tried not to let the one story’s DNF affect the other ratings. Working in a Winter Wonderland by Aimee Friedman I feel like I’m being generous with this rating, but I guess the story was pretty entertaining throughout. The main character, Maxine, is a Jewish girl who gets a Christmas-related job in a department store. Seems like a kind of weird way to start a Christmas anthology, no? A girl who doesn’t even celebrate Christmas? The main thing that bugged me about this story was how transparent it was. I predicted what was going to happen completely. That’s okay with me sometimes, but I didn’t get a lot from the characters or really even learn anything from the story. It felt rushed (even more so than short stories normally do). The love interest throughout the story, Heath, really rubbed me the wrong way. A lot of the story was wasted on him when he was a […]

Sunday Post #3

Posted December 14, 2014 / Sunday Post, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where you share news about your blog on a weekly basis. It can include what you’ve been reading, what you’ve posted, what’s coming up next, and any books you added to your shelves! Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne Don’t Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter Challenge sign-ups for 2015 (full list here) Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award Reveal: Secret Santa and Book Exchange Book tropes I love, hate, and have mixed feelings on Five on Friday Holiday Review: Let It Snow Review: Vicious Review: A Christmas to Remember Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins et. al Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter Bookmark Lit Bulletin (Mid-December update) Top Ten Tuesday – BEST books I read in 2014 Five on Friday Holiday Review: Mistletoe Review: The Death Cure Holiday Review: Snowed In

Holiday Review: A Christmas to Remember

Posted December 12, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

I have a feeling my review for this book is going to be a jumbled mess of feels because that’s essentially what A Christmas to Remember gave me. There was one major thing that REALLY bugged me throughout the book, but the end result / everything else throughout the book was just so damn PERFECT that I have to give this a great rating and recommendation. Let me get out of the way quickly what bugged me about the book. The main character, Carrie, was an anxious mess. This was FINE. I’ve just never experienced a book where the MC is so incredibly self-conscious, anxious, nervous, and unsure of herself. People out there certainly have these thoughts, so it was definitely a different but realistic perspective for me. I also sensed that there would be some major character growth throughout the story as a result. She’s spent her whole life as a nanny, which she loves, but she’s put her social/romantic life on hold as a result. She spends the vast majority of the book weighing the pros and cons of EVERYTHING, changing her mind a million times, and contradicting herself a lot. She would say how she needed to stop nannying to move on with her life, then one chapter later she would say that she loved it too much to stop, and then she’d be back on planning to quit. There was constant back-and-forth in her head. It got annoying, but I think it just went along with […]