Waiting On Wednesday | The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

 

My Pick

 

The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost

 

Expected Publication Date: August 26, 2014 by Harlequin

 

 

In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate.

Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.

Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…

What are you waiting on?

 

 

Book Review | Alienated by Melissa Landers

Series: Alienated, # 1

Format: ARC

Source: Traded

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication Date: February 4, 2014

Goodreads

 Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

 My Thoughts

 

I must admit that the cover of this book is what initially caught my attention, and once I drew my eyes away from the gorgeousness that is the cover and read the summary, I immediately knew that I had to have it.  I haven't read many alien books before, but from what I've read, I found them to be extremely interesting so I had a feeling that I would enjoy this book.  And as usual, I was right.

Two years ago, aliens made there selves known to the human race and they came bearing something that humans couldn't say no to.  A cure for cancer.  After this revelation it became clear that the L'eihr was far more advanced than Earth and a negotiation began.

Part of the negotiations is to see if L'eihr people and humans can get along so 'The Way' (basically L'eihr government) sends 3 exchange students to Earth.  Cara Sweeney is chosen to host one of the students, but she doesn't someone like Aelyx.  Aelyx has his own agenda for coming to Earth but will he be able to finish out his plan once he starts getting close to Cara?  You'll have to read it to find out.

Cara was a very easy character to like.  She's smart, determined and she isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes is right, even when she has no one to back her up and did I mention that she is a blogger?  Bonus points for that!  Aelyx was really interesting, I could see how much he was changing as the story went on and as he grew closer to Cara and the Sweeney family.  I really didn't care too much for Cara's best friend, Tori and there were times when I wanted to punch her in the face.

Overall, Alienated is a great start to a new series.  While at times the story was a little slow, by the end I was invested in Cara and Aelyx's story and I'm excited to see what happens next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Showdown (8) Article 5 Series VS. Partials Series

 

Today I thought I would do a little Dystopian Series Showdown.

 

The Contenders are the Article 5 Series by Kristen Simmons and the Partials Series by Dan Wells!

 

VS.

 



 

Let the showdown begin!

 

 

Which covers is your favorite?
	Article 5 Series
	Partials Series
pollcode.com free polls

 

Early Book Review | My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal

Format: e-ARC

       Source: Publisher via Netgalley

                                                             Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

                                                              Publication Date: June 10, 2014

                                                                         My Rating: 4

 

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made--good and bad--that led to her last kiss.

Bethany Neal's suspenseful debut novel is about the power of first love and the haunting lies that threaten to tear it apart.



                                                                     My Thoughts

My Last Kiss is one of those books that I requested purely based on the cover alone, I didn't read the summary so I had no idea what this book was about when I started reading it but I have to say that the story is every bit as wonderful as that cover and I'm so glad that I decided to go out on a whim for this book.

To the rest of her classmates it seems that Cassidy Haines has it all; the perfect boyfriend, the perfect friends but that's what Cassidy wants them to see. She doesn't want anyone to know that her parents are fighting more and more and she sure doesn't want anyone that she's been lying to her boyfriend, Ethan.

Cassidy was a very easy character for me to like even though I didn't agree with some of the decisions that she had made, it was clear that she was truly sorry and she wanted to make everything right. I also really liked Ethan, he was such a sweetheart and I can see why Cassidy loved him so much. Another favorite was Aimee, she is the epitome of what a best friend should be, she believed in Cassidy when it seemed like everyone else was thinking the worst and she set out to prove them wrong.

I loved the fact that this book was told in the present with only flashbacks of the past, I feel like that added more suspense to the overall plot. My only real fault with this book was the fact that Cassidy's family played a role in the first half of the book and then seemed to disappear in the second half.

Overall, My Last Kiss is a very captivating and intriguing read, the mystery aspect is played out so well that it will keep you guessing about what really happened the night Cassidy died until the very end. Neal's debut is stunning and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of her books in the future.



Waiting on Wednesday | Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

 

My Pick

 

Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo

 

Expected Publication Date: August 26, 2014 by Random House for Young Readers

 

Home is where the bodies are buried.

Darkly humorous and heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Jennifer Longo’s YA debut about a girl stuck living in a cemetery will change the way you look at life, death, and love.

Leigh sells graves for her family-owned cemetery because her father is too lazy to look farther than the dinner table when searching for employees. Working the literal graveyard shift, she meets two kinds of customers:

Pre-Need: They know what’s up. They bought their graves a long time ago, before they needed them.

At Need: They are in shock, mourning a loved one’s unexpected death. Leigh avoids sponging their agony by focusing on things like guessing the headstone choice (mostly granite).

Sarcastic and smart, Leigh should be able to stand up to her family and quit. But her world’s been turned upside down by the sudden loss of her best friend and the appearance of Dario, the slightly-too-old-for-her grave digger. Surrounded by death, can Leigh move on, if moving on means it’s time to get a life?

What are you waiting on?



Sunday Showdown (7) Jodi Lynn Anderson

 

Today's Sunday Showdown is all about Jodi Lynn Anderson!  Which cover is your favorite?

 

 

 

 

Let the showdown begin!

 

 

Which cover is your favorite?
	Peaches
	Tiger Lily
	The Vanishing Season
pollcode.com free polls

 

 



 

Waiting on Wednesday | Hexed by Michelle Krys

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

 

My Pick

 

Hexed by Michelle Krys

 

Expected Publication Date: June 10, 2014 by Delacorte Press

 

 

If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?

Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.

Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

 

 

 

What are you waiting on?

 

Sunday Showdown (6) | Jessi Kirby

 

Today I'm putting Jessi Kirby's covers against one another!  Vote for your favorite below!

 

 

 

Let the showdown begin!

 

 

 

 

Which cover is your favorite?
	Golden
	In Honor
	Moonglass
pollcode.com free polls

 

Waiting on Wednesday | They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that allows us to showcase upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

 

My Pick

 

They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire

 

Expected Publication Date: October 14, 2014

 

 

 

 

Pretty Little Liars meets Final Destination in this YA psychological thriller that will have readers' hearts racing right till the very end!

Every year, the lives of ten girls at Vienna High are transformed.

All because of the list.

Kenzie Summerall can't imagine how she's been voted onto a list of the hottest girls in school, but when she lands at number five, her average life becomes dazzling. Doors open to the best parties, new friends surround her, the cutest jock in school is after her.

This is the power of the list. If you're on it, your life changes.

If you're on it this year? Your life ends.

 

 

 

What are you waiting on?

 

 

 

 



ARC Book Review | The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

Format: e-ARC

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: May 20, 2014

Goodreads

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is used to getting what she wants, and when her boyfriend Jason breaks up with her for no reason, what she wants is to win him back before the start of their senior year. Lainey and her friend Bianca check the interwebz for tips and tricks, but the online dating advice is all pretty lame.

Then the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. Didn't someone once say that love is a battlefield? Jason isn't going to stand a chance once Lainey and Bee go all Zhou Dynasty on him...

Old school strategy and subterfuge meet modern-day dramarama in the story of a girl who sets out to win at all costs and ends up discovering what's really worth fighting for.

My Thoughts

Lainey Mitchell has the perfect life, she’s a star soccer player, has the perfect boyfriend and great friends. She has her whole senior year mapped out, until her perfect boyfriend, Jason, breaks up with her at her job, in front of everyone. But instead of breaking down, Lainey and her best friend Bianca hatch a plan to win Jason back before school starts back so that Lainey can have the senior year that she’s envisioned.

After scouring the internet for ideas on how to win back your ex doesn’t prove useful, Bianca comes up with something a little different. She gets the idea to use a book on their summer reading list, The Art of War as a guide, after all love is a battlefield, right?

The first thing on Lainey’s list is to find a guy to pretend date in order to make Jason jealous. Enter Micah, Micah works as a cook at her dad’s coffee shop and since his girlfriend just broke up with him recently, Lainey feels that they can benefit each other. They make a deal to fake date in order to make their exes jealous but once they get to know each other, will they be able to say goodbye if their plan works?

I thought Lainey was a really great character and she was super easy to relate to. I really feel like she grows quite a bit in the course of this book, at the beginning she came off as a tad bit shallow and it irked me that she only saw herself as ‘Jason’s Girlfriend’. I get that she had been with him for 2 ½ years and it’s hard to let that go, I mean, I’ve been to the point to where I didn’t want to give up on someone and have tried to win them back before, but unfortunately we usually come to realize that everything happens for a reason and what’s in the past is usually left in the past. Or at least that was my experience. But it killed me that she didn’t see that Jason was a selfish asshat and that she could do so much better.

However, I really liked Micah, he was funny, sweet and I loved that he was different and he wasn’t afraid to be who he was. He was the totally opposite of douchebag Jason. Yeah, he has the whole bad boy appearance going on with the tattoos and eyebrow piercing but underneath he was a really great person. Jason on the other hand, has the whole good guy jock appearance but once we learned a little more about him, I didn’t think he was that great of a person. 

I adored the relationship between Lainey and Bianca and I think it’s one of the best BFF friendships that I have come across in a YA book. I do wish we got more Bianca time though, it seemed like she kind of faded out a little bit toward the middle of the book. But, Lainey’s other friend, Kendall, I absolutely loathed her. She’s the type of person who thinks that she is god’s gift to humanity and that she can do and say anything she wants, no matter who it hurts in the process. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to punch her in the face.

Overall, The Art of Lainey is a fun and entertaining read and the pacing makes it a quick read. While there were a few times that I did want to shake Lainey and get her to see what kind of person Jason actually was and that she could do so much better, I really enjoyed her journey and I feel like she grew so much as a person by the end of this book.

 

 

 



Sunday Showdown (5)

 

Today's showdown is all about Nina LaCour!  Which one of her covers is your favorite? 

 

Vote below!

Let the showdown begin!

 

 



Which cover is your favorite?
	Hold Still
	The Disenchantments
	Everything Leads to You
pollcode.com free polls



Book Review | How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by Sarah Strohmeyer

Format: Kindle Edition

Source: Purchased

Publisher: Balzer & Bray

Publication Date: April 23, 2013

Goodreads | Amazon

From Sarah Strohmeyer, author of Smart Girls Get What They Want, comes this romantic comedy about one girl's summer job from hell. Think The Devil Wears Prada set in Disney World.

When cousins Zoe and Jess land summer internships at the Fairyland Kingdom theme park, they are sure they've hit the jackpot. With perks like hot Abercrombie-like Prince Charmings and a chance to win the coveted $25,000 Dream & Do grant, what more could a girl want? 
 

Once Zoe arrives, however, she's assigned to serve "The Queen"-Fairyland's boss from hell. From spoon-feeding her evil lapdog caviar, to fetching midnight sleeping tonics, Zoe fears she might not have what it takes to survive the summer, much less win the money.

Soon backstabbing interns, a runaway Cinderella, and cutthroat competition make Zoe's job more like a nightmare than a fairy tale. What will happen when Zoe is forced to choose between serving The Queen and saving the prince of her dreams?

 

My Thoughts

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. So, when I saw that the Kindle edition was on sale, I immediately bought it and started reading it.

 

This book starts off with Zoe and her cousin, Jess being accepted to be interns at Fairyland Park and being an intern at this theme park can be very rewarding. Every year Fairyland gives out a Dream and Do grant to an intern who shows the most Wow! Spirit

Since the grant is mostly won by Princes and Princess, Jess has her heart set on being a princess. But Zoe is just hoping that the management didn’t make a mistake and that she was actually invited to be an intern.

Once Zoe and Jess get to the park they are giving their assignments. While Jess gets to play the part of Little Red Riding Hood, Zoe is stuck being the lady-in-waiting to the insufferable wicked witch Queen. Zoe learns pretty fast that being a lady-in-waiting is the same thing as a servant and that the Queen isn’t a very easy person to please.

At first there is a tiny bit of a love triangle, but that triangle fades out pretty quickly. While I wish I could say that I had my pick from the start, I didn’t. We really didn’t get to know either guy that good in the beginning. And it’s only after one guy shows his true colors that we get to know the other one and see just how sweet and caring he actually is.

"Be careful, Zoe. The heart is a clever trickster that delights in playing the brain for a fool."

I really liked Zoe as a main character. She was very loyal and compassionate. You could tell how much she cared about her cousin Jess. Especially, in the end. Jess was also a wonderful character. Like Zoe she was very loyal and she seemed like such a caring person.
 

I also really liked that everything wasn’t as it seems at Fairyland. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes and you don’t find out what they are until the very end. I don’t want to give anything away, so I will just say that I wasn’t expecting any of it.

Overall, How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True was a very fun, light read. If you’re in the mood for an entertaining, quick read, then this is the book for you.