Waiting on Wednesday (4) : Struck

Title: Struck

Author: Jennifer Bosworth

Pages: 373 (Hardcover)

Release Date: May 8th 2012

Description (Goodreads)

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her. 


Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities, populated by millions of homeless. Downtown is a wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the attendees drawn to the destruction by a magnetic force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power in the wake of the disaster, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing prophecies. They know she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the worse storm that is yet to come. 


Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but he’s hiding a more sinister truth. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must unleash the full horror of her strength to save them all.

Review - Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 372 (Hardcover)
Rating: 5 !!!

Description: Goodreads

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Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

My Review:

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I'd heard about this book for quite a while, hearing always good things about this book. Now that I think about it, I don' think that I've ever really heard one truly bad thing about this book. When I'd first started seeing these things I decided that I might as well go see what what the book was about at least, and to be honest the summary of the book really wasn't all that interesting. And then a friend of mine got the book in the past week or so and for the next couple days I heard "St Clair! I love St. Clair! He's so amazing!" After hearing her go on and on about the main male character I thought "ahhh what the hell?" and borrowed the book from her and started to read it. 

I started this book over Thanksgiving break, so I didn't get to read a whole lot, only about fifty pages over the weekend, and then on Monday I brought it to school with me...and I devoured it. Like seriously I never imagined when I started it that I'd like it, but this seriously turned out to be the best romance book that I've read all year! There are somany things that I could ramble on and on about for this book, but before I do and you end up getting bored of reading just know one thing.. 

YOU NEED TO READ THIS <3 

The number one thing about this book is the characters; one hundred percent of the way. Anna and St. Clair are absolutely precious and watching that relationship go through it's ups and downs was making goose bumps rise on my skin. Their feelings for each other literally flew off the pages, and I think one thing that made the book even more fun was it's setting in Paris. St. Clair though is one of those male characters that you can so easily get a literally crush on. his personality is so perfect and just heart warming, he rally was just one of those characters that make you hope and wish that one day you'll be able to have somebody like that. I finally understood why my friend talked about him so much. 

Another thing I loved was how well written the book was. I LOVED reading it through Anna's point of view. She was such a fun character and I could relate to her in so many different ways. Stephanie Perkins really perfected this novel and I truly am happy to be able to add it to my 'will never forget' pile (: 
A billion thumbs up for Anna and the French Kiss !! <3 

Feature & Follow Friday (1)

As always, its time for another Follow Friday. This wonderful meme is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee. Each friday two blogs are featured in an effort to expand one's blog. Go and check out both of these sites to learn more!

Question: It's Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for - blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

If anything, the one person who I am most thankful when it comes to having started blogging (which wasn't very long ago) would be my best friend Kelsey. She used to be a very avid blogger and a successful one at that. She is no longer blogging anymore but she has given me some really good hints and ideas when it comes to decorating my blog and the types of posts that I do. She's been a great champ too in listening to my problems with certain things on here (especially HTML) so I appreciate that she's able to put up with me like she does. (: thank yous o much Kelsey!

Along with Kelsey I have been able to meet a person or two over blogging so far. My social skills aren't the sharpest so I tend to not e-mail or message people at random, but I have gotten the chance to get in contact with a few very nice people that I talk to on occasion now. So I thank any of you who I've managed and gotten a chance to talk to. 

Books I've read in 2011 that I'm thankful for :) :

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles 

All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Pages: 420 (Hardcover)
Rating: 5 !!!

Description: Goodreads

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Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. 

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. 

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. 

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My Review:

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There is no way my review is going to be able to give this book the justice that it deserves. It has literally exceeded my ability to write about it in all ways. So how about I make it clear right here and right now that you need to read this book; this really is one of the best books of the year by a long shot!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone and is a beautifully written book about a truly forbidden love, of a completely different world, and an entirely new look on the beliefs of magic and its ability. In it Laini Taylor has really brought forth a masterpiece of all concepts that left me sitting here, stunned grasping to try and find the right words for this review. 

This book has recently been getting quite a bit of hype, something that I now understand why. But the thing was that I wasn't entirely sure I understood the book when I'd first read about it. I'd picked up the fact that it was paranormal and had some sort of romance to it, but it wasn't until I'd picked it up and read it for a while that I finally started to see and understand it better. The book has amazing stories, in it, filled with great support and outstanding point of view in my opinion. Third person really worked out well for this book; and in a sense it reminded me of a type of ancient story that you would hear about. The plot was very strong and to me didn't seem weak at all, and really once the book hit its climax it never went back down. It just got more and more intense with the stories and the flashbacks and....and....akd;gfaij;dkj! I'm just so utterly happy and thankful for this book!

The characters now were also very strong to me. Karou and Akiva were just wonderful. Karou with her strong and wild yet mysterious personality felt fulfilling through every single page. I love learning about her past and personality a lot. Akiva...oh boy...ahaha, of course when you picture an Angel you think of perfect, and that's exactly what I did with Akiva. I literally just fell in love with his dark and scary character (always having loved bad boys ;D ) so I easily found myself falling for him, and then even harder when it got into his past. I think that anybody who reads this would have a hard time not loving these two. Besides these two main characters there were also quite a few other's that were a big part of the story and were easy to like. Besides the bad guys in the book who you're quite pron do head butts with, I loved everybody in the book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone was one hundred percent fulfilling. Having to wait for the second book to come out is going to be absolutely grueling!!

Waiting on Wednesday (3) : Graffiti Moon

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Title: Graffiti Moon

Author: Cath Crowley

Pages: 272 (Hardcover)

Release Date: February 14th 2012

Description (Goodreads)

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.

Why do I want to read this book? ::

I found this book on Goodreads a good month ago, and as soon as I'd read the synopsis for it had decided that it was a book worth reading for me and put it onto my to read pile. Of course after going through many other books in the recent times, I forgot about it, only to come across it yet again tonight. Once again was caught on the synopsis, knowing that surely this would be a book to just sit down and have a nice read. It also pretty short, so it can be tackled in a days time easily. Hope to get my hands on this one soon ;D

Top Ten Tuesdays: (1)

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Broke and Bookish

This Week: Top ten authors you would invite for your Thanksgiving Feast 

1. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) 

2. Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry)

3. Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall & Delirium)

4. Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

5. Sarah Dessen (This Lullaby & many more masterpieces )

6. Ellen Hopkins (Identical & Impulse)

7. Dean Koontz (Odd Thomas & Velocity)

8. Stephanie Kuehnert (Ballads of Suburbia)

9. Stephen King (Under the Dome & The Shining)

10. Ann Packer (The Dive From Clausen's Pier) 

Review - The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Pages: 374 (Paperback)

Rating: 5 !!!

Description: Goodreads

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In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love. 

My Review:

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How on earth could I possibly put all of my thoughts for this book into one simple review?? hmmm .. (: 

First off, I'll just state that this book is AMAZING! Anybody who hasn't read it should surely go read it as soon as possible! Of course I'd heard of this book many times before, my friend nagging me now for the longest time to read the book, but of course my lack of motivation getting in the way. Really the one thing that got me to read it was because of the trailer for the movie. And truthfully, once I started this book...I couldn't put it down. 

Every single character in this book I fell in love with. Katniss is just an amazing main character, and I loved loved loved reading about her. Her personality was great, and her will to just fight through out the entire book for her life was beautiful to read about. Peeta, though very different from Katniss, also brought out strong feelings from me. How he felt about the Capital, and his struggle as well. Collins really does just execute flawless characters, in how they would act in a world like the one set in The Hunger Games. 

The writing in this book to me was perfect. I feel that sometimes authors don't do too well of a job with first person, sometimes rambling about stuff, or not really getting information in very well. But Collins I think did a great job while focusing the point of view through Katniss. Always making sure to add things in as well as explain things to make the book much more enjoyable. 

The whole setting to the book was very unique in my eyes. How District 12 was so utterly different from the Capital and how in the Capital everything is just so...strange. How people are dressed, how they walk, the technology they have. It was all very fascinating to read about, and definitely a strong plus to the book. 

All in all, the Hunger Games was worth the read %100 of the way. It'll really just be one of those books for me that I can read multiple times. 5 stars for Suzanne Collins!

Review - Perfect Chemistry

Title: Perfect Chemistry
Author: Simone Elkeles 
Publisher: Walker Books
Pages: 360 (Paperback)
Rating: 5 !!!

Description: Goodreads

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When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

My Review:

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Ever since reading 'Leaving Paradise' by Simone Elkeles I've been in love with her writing. There's something about her writing that instantly got me hooked so I knew right away that I wasn't going to be disappointed. Perfect Chemistry is one of those books that have literally managed to make me swoon and squeal. The story is a perfect forbidden story of two young kids who have hopelessly fallen in love without even trying. 

The number one best thing to me about this book were the characters. Every character that came across the pages had me by my heart strings. Whether it was Brittany, desperately trying to make sense of the life she's living, or Alex, the pure breed bad boy who will do anything in order to protect the mother he loves and two brother's he so desperately wants to make a better path of life for. Both character were amazing to read with, and at many points during the book I'd catch myself smiling like a mad fool, so giddy when I got those special scenes. The characters were laid out flawlessly in my eyes, and they made the book ten times better than what it already was. 

The plot had my heart beat speeding up from the beginning. The Taboo of their relationship, the danger, the forbidden taste; it's so refreshing to be able to experience that through a book, and Simone does a marvelous job. While the book did have some foreseeable things happen in it (something that usually bothers me) I actually found myself not caring because I felt that it went perfectly with the story. 

All in all, this book satisfied me one hundred percent. I guarantee that I will get my hands on the next two book sin the series as son as possible so that I can finish it, because there is no way I want to miss out on the magic that Elkeles is bringing through her stories of the Fuentes brothers. Two thumbs up, no doubt!

Waiting on Wednesday (2) : Drowning Instinct

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Title :  Drowning Instinct

Author:  Ilsa J. Bick

Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

Release Date: January 28th 2012

Description (Goodreads)

There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.) 

Jenna Lord's first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire. 

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.) 

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain...magnetism. 

And there are stories where it's hard to be sure who's a prince and who's a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.) 

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

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:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teasers:
Pg: 211 Alex's POV
The Holding cell smells like piss and smoke. Or maybe the guys who are unlucky enough to be locked this cage with me are the ones who smell like piss and smoke.


Pg: 159: Brittany's POV
Alex Fuentes is a hard guy. Experienced. the mere touch of hands isn't going to make his stomach flutter.

Review - Forgotten

Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288 (Hardcover)
Rating: 3

Description: Goodreads

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Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future. 

Part psychological drama, part romance, and part mystery, this thought-provoking novel will inspire readers to consider the what-if's in their own lives and recognize the power they have to control their destinies.

My Review:

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Forgotten can easily be described as a one sitting book. If I’d been given the time on the day that I started this book, I would have easily been able to finish this book in one day. forgotten has a very interesting and fresh idea and plot to it. The fact that London wakes up every single morning not remembering a thing from most of her past or the day before but instead can see flashforwards is a very interesting and amazing idea. We've all heard of books with characters that lose their memory, but this book is taking that idea to all new heights, and that is one reason why I liked this book. I loved reading when London was having flashforwards, hearing about how her classmates and friends were going to end up in the future. 

Patrick's characters were also a plus to me in this book. I warmed up to London very easily while reading this book, constantly feeling like London was in many ways like me; relating to a lot of things in her character. Luke was also an easy person to like. His and London's relationship was just so pure hearted and sweet, making some of their scenes fun to read. For some reason though I started to feel myself getting annoyed with Luke near the end of the book. It was only a couple of chapters but for some reason I feel like his character changed. By the last couple chapters he was back to normal, but it was still a small section that had me glaring at the pages. 

While the plot line for this book was a very interesting one and one that had my glued to the book, I still had a lot of down falls with this book. One of the things that annoyed me the most was that for a large portion in the beginning it felt like the book was going in random directions. Though I knew what the main idea was, I found myself trudging through the beginning wondering countless times when things were going to pick up. When things did start to pick up, I did get back into the grove of reading it but of course other things came up that sort of bothered me once again. The other big thing that really bothered me was last section of the book. To me it seemed like too much was pushed into the end of the book. There were so many BIG things happening, and what made it worse was that some of the events came off to me as corny. 

It wasn't the best book I've ever read but Cat Patrick still did a good job with her debut novel. Even though the plot and characters weren't enough to make up for the two big flaws I had with it, I still enjoyed reading it and don't regret it, even if it isn't a book I would recommend without a second thought. 

Review - The Truth About Forever

Title: The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Puffer Books - Penguin Publishing
Pages: 374 (paperback)
Rating: 5.0 !!!

Description: Goodreads

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Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it.

My Review:

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I picked up this book, pretty much knowing that I was going to enjoy it tremendously. Sarah Dessen really is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I’d already heard more than a handful of great things about this book. Like nearly every other book that I’ve read of Dessen’s, I fell in love with her main character. Macy, in so many ways made me feel close to her. She was just one of those characters that you felt like you yourself needed to be there for her. Every time I put the book down to go do other things, I felt like I should be there, going along with the story with her. And that’s exactly how Dessen makes me feel every single time that I read one of her books; her characters literally coming to life.

The Truth About Forever was different than some of the other books to me. Though most books can have slow spots, I felt like this one had a few too many. Now, this of course wasn’t the worst thing, since in the end everything came out perfectly and flowed together. There was also just too many positive things about this book that made the slow moments seem unnoticeable. While some scenes seemed as though they were dragging, I did find certain scenes to wiz by, ending quicker than I wanted (Though in a good way!). From the very first time that we were truly introduced to Wes and saw what kind of person that he was, I just got this type of fluttering in my heart, wanting scenes with Macy and other people to end so that I could get another taste of Wes. He really was the pure image of the guy that every girl wants to have at some point in her life. Dessen most definitely gets two thumbs up in her well-formed and extremely realistic characters.

Wes can easily be seen as this amazing guy from the very beginning. He had a great back story, and his situation, which was similar to Macy’s, would make anyone want to just jump into the book to comfort him. Macy and he very obviously have a type of bond unlike any other characters in this book which is why I enjoyed scenes between the two of them more than any other. Macy was also a character I love (as I stated in the above). What I mostly enjoyed was the realness, and the rawness of how Macy handled the grief behind her father’s death. I feel like in books that deal with major deaths like that, characters aren’t given the right kind of reaction, but this…this was absolutely flawless.

Reading this book has really reminded me of how much I missed the normal romance pureness of Dessen’s books. How each page that’s turned makes you feel that ‘yes, there are such things as fairytales!’ Every time I read one of Dessen’s books I think that way, instantly in a powerfully optimistic state where I’m smiling for a couple hours (maybe even a whole day) after finishing the book. So for this review…I really have nothing bad to say. I enjoyed this book from its very first page to it’s very last; period. (: