Wating On Wednesday (8) Kiss Crush Collide

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Anyone can play along just tell us which book you are waiting to read.

Leah has the life most high school girls would kill for—popularity, glowing grades, a rich, athletic boyfriend. So why does she feel like she can’t breathe? And why can’t she stop thinking about the boy from the country club? The one who isn’t her boyfriend, the one that her mother would never, ever approve of, the one that her perfect older sisters would never, ever look at twice. The one who is always looking back at her. Irresistible attraction, smoldering glances, the bad boy and the good girl—Kiss Crush Collide has everything that a steamy forbidden romance should, and then some.

With graceful and honest writing and an electric love story, this is a book about growing into your own skin. For fans of Perfect Chemistry, Sarah Dessen, and John Green.

Release Date: December 2011
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
goodreads!

Can't wait for this one, it says it is for fans of Perfect Chemistry so this should good!

Teaser Tuesday (1)

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Just like that it was over, the brief and idyllic moment in which I'd come so close to letting down my guard. I stiffened before I could even respond, wishing he hadn't just said that.

Not in that way. 

I shoved away from him, untangling myself from his arms.

-page 146 (ARC version)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: September 2011
Series or Standalone: series
ISBN:1442421762
Format: Hardcover, 464 pages
Source: ARC
Cover thoughts: I love it; it's dark and pretty

Rating: A
First line: The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head.

Description (from goodreads):

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

It would be strange to wake up in a hospital bed and not know how you got there. It would be scary and frustrating. Even worse not remembering what killed your friends and not knowing why you were unharmed. It made me want to find out the mystery of what happened that night and keep reading the book until I did.

The book was really suspenseful. Mara was able to put the pieces together in flashbacks. It could get a little confusing at first because she would be doing something in the present then a have a flash back from the past, it made it a little hard to distinguish which was from the past and the present. But you will pick up really quickly. It is a really important part of the book and one I enjoyed once I got used to it.

Mara's love interest in the book was so cute. Well first off he has a British accent, I have always had a thing for British accents, I don't know why, I think they sound cool. And he is cute in a way that isn't perfect, but in a messy normal way. He is also kind of mysterious, and you just know that he is keeping secrets, and then you want to know what he isn't saying.

It was kind of frustrating when Mara and Noah seemed like they needed to have a conversation about everything that was going on, but they kept putting it off. I wanted to know NOW what was going on, but it was another aspect of why I kept reading.

I am so glad this book lived up to the hype. I loved the way the book was written and the mystery behind it all. In the end I was left wanting more, it was a fantastic read!

Get more info/pre-order:
Goodreads ||| Amazon ||| IndieBound ||| Book Depository |||| Barnes & Noble
The author on the web:Blog ||| Website ||| Twitter

Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck

Publisher: Penguin
Date: October 2010
Series or Standalone: standalone
ISBN: 0803734549
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Source: For Review
Cover thoughts: I love the purple on the cover, it's pretty.

Rating: C
First line: You wait forever to get to high school.

When Kerry is noticed by the three most popular girls at school she thinks her life is finally starting. She is sitting at the right table and is in on all the jokes. And she would do anything to keep it that way. But how far would she go? And when being part of the group starts to feel worse than anything else, what will she do about it?

Kerry is one of those girls that would do anything to have the popular friends. It didn't matter that they wanted her to do their dirty work and weren't very nice to her anyway. But Kerry was happy with them. I would never let my "friends" treat me that way, even if it meant being popular.

And her "friends" were cruel and arrogant, they looked down upon almost everyone, they were fake. They were spoiled little brats that expected every thing, but didn't give anything in return. They talked badly about others and did horrible things to people just to make them feel bad.

This book had a quality I did like--the unexpected. I seriously did not see the story going in the direction it did, the story was much more interesting because of it. It also made me want to keep reading. It also made me guess what was going to happen next, and I was completely wrong. At parts I was even questioning Kerry's sanity, like what she was doing and seeing and why wasn't she questioning everything that is going on. This was probably my favorite part of the book.

Overall Three Quarters Dead was a fast and surprising read!

Get more info:
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Waiting on Wednesday (7): Of Poseidon

It's Wednesday!! That means it's time for another Waiting on Wednesday. Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Anyone can play along just tell us which book you are waiting to read.

Of Poseidon

Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish.

What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings.

By Anna Banks

Expected pub date: May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

First of all---that cover is sort of awesome. That's what drew me in. I like these books (usually) about special powers and star-crossed lovers with a paranormal edge. There's instant conflict. I'm going into it hopeful. Plus, that cover!!

What are you waiting on??

The Radleys Blog Tour

I'm pretty excited to be part of the blog tour for The Radleys by Matt Haig!! Isn't that a great cover?? Fun and creepy at the same time.

Meet the Radleys 

Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret.

From one of Britain’s finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain – and lose – when we deny our appetites. 

I'm only one stop on the tour. Each Friday, the people at S&S will select one person who commented on all participating blogs for that week to win a prize. The winner will be announced each Monday on Helen and Rowan’s twitter accounts @Helen_Radley and @rowanradley in the next Monday’s blogger’s post.

The prize will be a copy of THE RADLEYS in both hardcover and paperback signed by author Matt Haig and some blood-red hot chocolate. 

You can follow all the tour stops by checking out this page!!

I tried to finish the book before the tour so I could post a review, but with school deadlines I didn't get it finished. I am about 100 pages in and it's a really great story. The main characters are fun, the story has this edge that I really like and the writing is really good. I'll definitely post a review as soon as I can breath again. 

In the meantime, check out all the ways you can connect with the The Radleys. You can read an excerpt of the book here. (The first chapter ending is awesomesauce!!)  And this quiz: ARE YOU A RADLEY? I'm only 33%, but maybe you are more than me! Take the quiz and let me know.

Check out this book and find out...who are The Radleys?

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Date:  October 25, 2011
Series or Standalone:  Fourth in series
ISBN: 978-0373210367
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
Source: Netgalley

 Rating: C   
First line: "Oy, ice-boy! You sure you know where you're going?"

Description (from goodreads): Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul. (More)

Oh, The Iron Knight. Oh, Ash who I love so, so, so, so very much. Oh, how I was kind of disappointed.  Oh, reader who is probably thinking of all the ways you are about to kill me for this rating. 

This is the one time I will say I wish a book had never been written. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ash. This series is one of my favorites.

But for me, The Iron Queen was SO fantastic. It was the *perfect* book. And then I heard there was going to be another one. I was pretty darn excited--as was the rest of the world. But I have to be honest and say I was a little let down by this one. I'm not entirely sure if this is a case where my tastes have changed during the waiting because I've grown as a reader and so I'm not as easily satisfied OR if it's really the fault of the book. I will tell you all the reasons and then you can form your opinion.

Also, I have lost sleep over this review because I didn't want to write it. But as I'm trying to put my thoughts together, I know I have to say this to have an honest review. So. Here we go. I will try really, really, really hard not to spoil things.

It took me 60 (maybe more) pages to believe that it was Ash telling the story. It wasn't what I expected him to sound like. Then there was a point when I accepted it was him, and the voice didn't bother me as much. But then, there were other things that did. One example, he saw a lot of random things that I didn't understand. (Ie. the hairs on someone else's neck stand on end. How did he see that? How?)

Then there is the return of a character who I a) totally knew would come back b) was not happy that this character was back and c) completely predicted the reason the character was back. It was a trick that left me really dissatisfied because the character was supposed to create tension, and didn't really do that.

Everything happened really quickly. Our characters are on a quest here to do something really epic--give Ash mortality so he can be with Megan--and it's built up in the book as impossible. No one ever survived the quest. But then, as Ash, Puck and company go along, they complete it so quickly. Every chapter was Ash and company defeating a new challenge. I know that it was happening so it would all be done in one book, but I wanted SO much more than I got. I would have rather had less things happen and them take longer, than to have so much crammed into one book. There was so much happening I still don't know the point of some of those things they did--and definitely can't remember them all.

The ending was a really, really, really big let down. I'm not going to say anything as to what happens, but the POV switches in the last chapter and I still can only think of how much that was the one moment I wanted to see from Ash's perspective and didn't get to. So sad. So sad. That's probably the biggest thing that made me like it less. The other things I could've gotten over, but not that.

Not everything was bad.

The best parts of this book were Grim (as always) and, surprisingly for me, Puck. Puck and Ash had such great banter and comroderie that I can't even begin to express how much I loved it. It was so perfect. Seriously. Perfection. For me, maybe because Ash doesn't work as well as a narrator, Puck made the book. Shocking, I know since I'm team Ash.

All in all, I think everyone who loved the series will read the book. Most people will really love it. If you were like me and totally fell hard for The Iron Queen then you may want to think and wait and let some of this review marinate with you. Check out some other opinions. I may be the only who feels this way. It was a hard adjustment for me.

What else should I say.....? I am a cat.  

 Get more info/pre-order:
Goodreads ||| Amazon ||| IndieBound ||| Book Depository |||| Barnes & Noble  
The author on the web:
Blog ||| Twitter ||| Website