Review: Dissonance

Posted October 13, 2014 / Book Reviews / 15 Comments

Have you ever read the description of a book that felt like the most YOU book of all time? Like the author literally jumped into your brain and wrote it just for you? Yeah, Dissonance is one of those books for me. I’m sorry if this review is just me fangirling like a wild woman, but I’m just too excited. When I first saw this book pop up, right before my blogging days got started, my jaw dropped at the plot summary. This concept of creating new universes based on every decision you make was something I thought about ALL of the time. Anyone remember that episode of the old Disney show So Weird? The girl makes a decision to pick orange juice instead of grapefruit juice, which splits into two different universes.. In one she ends up late to school, gets detention, and falls into a bad crowd. The other world has her day going normally. The two versions of herself somehow squeeze into one world and she has to work to get the other one out. Yeah, well, ever since that episode I’ve been obsessed with that concept. Talk about taking “everything happens for a reason” literally! WELL I DIGRESS A LOT but this book was perfect for me. I talked about it for MONTHS, built it up in my head to be the best book I would read this year, and guess what? It delivered. As far as the actual story goes, we learn about Del and […]

Musing Mondays #11

Posted October 13, 2014 / Musing Mondays, Weekly Memes / 7 Comments

Describe one of your reading (and blogging) habits. I think I’ve discussed hype and how it affects my reading on here before. (Maybe?) Lately I’ve been thinking about how certain books, especially those that are recently published, get so much hype from bloggers around our section of the internet. I know that most bloggers get review copies and/or follow new releases closely, so I’ve come to expect this. It has me thinking about review variety around the blogosphere. What books to people want us to review? I want people to find my reviews valuable and interesting, but I also want to read what I LIKE to read. I will definitely honor any reviews for books from publishers, but more than likely they’re books that I think look interesting or I requested. Do people dislike reviews of older books? Do you only want to see reviews for new releases? Frankly I’ve been a little bored when checking out my feeds. I see the same reviews for the same few books every week. I’m happy us bloggers are here to promote new releases to the world, but I also like reading about books I may have otherwise missed. I like reading some books that have been on my shelf for a while. Are those posts less interesting? No offense for anyone out there reviewing new releases, because I do it too, but I’m just MUSING about what kind of reviews people care about. Musing Mondays is a meme at Should Be Reading, where […]

Five on Fridays #3

Posted October 10, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 7 Comments

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc.I’ve gotten painfully behind on my TV shows. When we moved, we lost whatever was unwatched on the DVR because we switched companies. We decided to save some money and get a cheaper package for TV at our new place because a) we wanted to be more productive instead of just putting the TV on whenever we’re in the living room and b) we could use our subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. So far it’s working okay…we just hate not having a DVR. I wrote a list of the shows we watch and when they’re on, but it doesn’t really help. Not to mention the fact that there are a lot of shows I watch without Chris. I can’t keep track of it all!! On top of THAT I don’t have any time for shows! I used to watch an episode or two in the morning but now I use that time for reading. I’ll probably expand on this topic in a later post…I’m not exactly happy at my current job. Or even with my career choice. I wanted to be an English teacher ALL through childhood until high school, but once I took a Marketing class I changed my mind. I thought it was something that came easily to me that I would be able to make […]

Review: Big Little Lies

Posted October 10, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I generally don’t read adult books because I relate better to young adult books. (By the way, you can expect a discussion post on this exact topic within the next few weeks!) This book was certainly a perfect example of that. The main characters in this book are all parents of kids in kindergarten, who were dealing with domestic abuse, ex-spouses, being a single parent, and schoolyard politics. It was difficult for me to completely relate to the characters but I did find it pretty interesting. Frankly books with such a grim outlook on adulthood are not normally fun for me. At least with young adult books dealing with heavier topics I can be happy I’m through with that point in my life. I’m not married yet, I don’t have kids, and I certainly don’t want to think about the potential of divorce or domestic abuse in my life! REGARDLESS, this book was overall an enjoyable read for me. The story follows Madeline, Jane, and Celeste as they deal with all of the aforementioned issues. The book is written in chapters from each of their perspectives with little police interviews intermixed (more on the writing style later). The book begins with the understanding that a parent dies at the school’s upcoming trivia night, and then backtracks through the months leading up to the trivia night. The story itself was surprisingly funny, considering it dealt with some pretty heavy issues. I loved each of the characters, flaws and all. Liane Moriarty’s […]

How Do You Buy Books?

Posted October 9, 2014 / Discussions, Features / 20 Comments

I guess the emphasis should be how do YOU buy books? I can assure you I know how to buy books and I’m not asking for your help. I’m curious, how do you go about buying books? How do you decide what books to buy and the format they’ll be in? As you know, I read and listen to books in a variety of formats. I think most readers, in general, read books in multiple formats too. Everyone knows that for the most part Kindle books tend to be cheaper than physical copies, and audiobooks tend to be the most expensive of all without a subscription to a service. There are a lot of things to consider when buying a new book and choosing the format you’ll “read” it in. I know I can be cheap and just buy the Kindle version, but maybe I’m missing out on gorgeous fonts and covers and the feel of a real book that needs to be seen in person. I could go with the audiobook but maybe I’ll regret using my credit on it and the story isn’t a good fit for listening. I like to switch it up as much as possible so I can have variety in what kinds of books I read/hear and when. I like to alternate between Kindle and real books, while always having an audiobook for the times of day when I normally can’t read. How do I decide what book to read in which format?? Why is […]

Review: Ask Again Later

Posted October 8, 2014 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Okay this book was really funny. A bit of the humor was a little too predictable or childish for my tastes, but I really enjoyed that aspect overall. (Obviously this book was set in high school, so I can’t be too surprised). This book is about Heart, who of course has no interest in finding love. That aspect was cheesy to me but I let it slide. She is invited to prom by two very different guys under very different circumstances. Instead of just doing the logical thing and saying no to both, so she can go to prom with her big group of friends like she planned, she flips a coin. Heads: she goes to prom with her brother’s friend, Troy, who is most likely going to get drunk and obsess over his ex-girlfriend. Tails: she goes with Ryan, the theater boy with a secret. I LOVE this premise; I will read any book with the alternate timelines like this one. This book was so cute and light that I finished it in about 3 sittings over the course of 2 days. I liked the characters a lot (more below), but felt like overall they could have been fleshed out a bit more. All of her friends in the No Drama Prom-a crew weren’t given much explanation and I constantly had no idea who was who. It wasn’t that big of a deal, because giving them much more personality probably would have detracted from the actual story, but I got enough […]

WWW Wednesdays #12

Posted October 8, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 4 Comments

I am FINALLY, happily reading Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke. I’m glad to say that so far I’m about 50% in and it is certainly meeting/exceeding my expectations. The concept of multiple universes being created for every decision we make is absolutely fascinating to me. I’ve thought about this since I was a kid and can’t believe someone created a book about it. Her writing style is perfect and I’m so engrossed in what’s happening. I’m hoping to have this one done by the weekend. I don’t have a current audiobook since I just finished Big Little Lies (below) this morning. I finished Trial By Fire by Josephine Angelini FINALLY (review). It was a great book and I wish it didn’t take me so long to read. I’m anxiously awaiting the sequel to this book because it left in a little cliffhanger. Not a shocking cliffhanger, but one that makes you NEED to see what happens next. A lot of the book focused more on world-building and setting the stage for the following books, but that really worked for me. Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas (review posting later today) was a really funny, light read that was exactly what I needed. I sat down and finished it within a few sittings over the course of two days. The characters were great and I LOVE dual decision books like this one. It definitely made it onto my favorites list! This morning I finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, which I was expecting […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #10: Character-Driven

Posted October 7, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels

Blog Tour Review: Damsel Distressed

Posted October 6, 2014 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Enhance the experience with the companion soundtrack, Imogen Unlocked, by the author’s band, Wedding Day Rain. Tracklist: Heavy No Goodbye Something About Sinking Don’t Wake Me Up Let Me Go My Strength Unseen Always Speak Too Late The End is Just the Beginning Breathe Easy Edge of the Fall CD Info: Damsel Distressed is the story of Imogen, a girl who’s survived the years after her mother’s death by focusing squarely on her best friend, Grant, musical theatre, and lots of cheese. The book is full of humor and heart, and also contains a few surprises. Full page sketches are scattered throughout the novel, and each one contains a QR code that corresponds to a song from the book’s soundtrack. Imogen Unlocked is a 12-song album of original music written by the author and her husband Daron as their indie-pop band, Wedding Day Rain. Together, the book Damsel Distressed and the soundtrack Imogen Unlocked work together to tell the story of a girl who might just make her own Happily Ever After, if she can just hold herself together. This book was a lot darker than I thought it would be, but it really worked! Wow. It’s actually hard to put my thoughts together. The book is about Imogen, who lost her mother years ago and is still coping with his father’s new marriage and evil stepsister…and seriously, the stepsister is EVIL. This book is supposed to be a play on Cinderella, except focuses on the “stepsister’s side.” Honestly, I […]

Musing Mondays #10

Posted October 6, 2014 / Musing Mondays, Weekly Memes / 14 Comments

Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? I’m okay with authors writing with pseudonyms. If you want to distance yourself from your other work, from a certain genre, or just be DIFFERENT for some reason – that works for me. I GET IT. What I don’t get is WHY do authors with pseudonyms make it painfully clear that it’s really them writing?? What is the point in writing under a fake name if you’re just going to put RIGHT on the book that you’re – surprise! – really a different person who already has a successful writing career. I don’t think writers should necessarily have to keep it a complete secret when they’re writing under another name, I just don’t get the point in broadcasting that you’re actually, you know, YOURSELF on a book where you clearly don’t want to be. Maybe it’s the publishing companies that do this crap, but maybe it’s the authors. I just don’t see the point in coming up with another name, writing under it, publishing the book with it, and then having someone plunk a sticker on top of the cover that says who you really are. Or worse – puts your real name right on the cover, published and everything. Examples J.K Rowling wanted to get out of her uber-popularity for a second and write under the name Robert Galbraith. This is one author where I can definitely understand the desire […]