It's Monday! What are you reading? (14 March 2011)

It's Monday! What are you reading is hosted by Book Journey! For more information, go on over and see what it's all about.

Last week I read:

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (didn't like it, didn't finish it)

Siren by Tricia Rayburn
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Currently reading:

I Know it's Over by C. K. Kelley Martin

Pure. Unplanned. Perfect. Those were Nick's summer plans before Sasha stepped into the picture. With the collateral damage from his parents' divorce still settling and Dani (his girl of the moment) up for nearly anything, complications are the last thing he needs.

All that changes, though, when Nick runs into Sasha at the beach in July. Suddenly he's neck-deep in a relationship and surprised to find he doesn't mind in the least. But Nick's world shifts again when Sasha breaks up with him. Then, weeks later, while Nick's still reeling from the breakup, she turns up at his doorstep and tell him she's pregnant, and with his emotions and hopes crashing in around him, Nick finds himself struggling once more to understand the girl he can't stop caring for, the girl who insists that it's still over.

Also reading this week:

Birth Marked by Caragh M. O'Brien
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

I hope you guys have a great week and happy Monday! Stay awesome :)

In My Mailbox (8)

In my mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. For more information, hop on over to her website and check it out!

Here is what I got in my mailbox this week!

P.S. My roommate just got back from a counseling trip to Rwanda and she brought back this cute little elephant. Even though it's not for me, I thought I would include it in the picture :)

From the library:

I Know it's Over by C. K. Kelly Martin

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Bought:

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

R.A.K.

Siren by Tricia Rayburn (Nook Book)

Thank you so much Ivy for the book on my Nook. Random Acts of Kindness is pretty awesome! I hope you guys had a great mailbox week!

Review-Going too Far

Title: Going too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
Published: 17 March 2009
Pages: 245

Rating: 5/5

Description from back of the book:

All Meg has ever wanted to was get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules, to serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge-and over...

My thoughts:

I've had this book for over a year before I finally finished it. When I first bought it, I read the first chapter and decided to put it down for something else. Just last week I pulled it off the shelf again and decided I was going to read it from cover to cover even if it took me an entire day. And that's exactly what I did and boy am I glad! It is one of the best books I have read it a while. It literally blew me away!!

John and Meg are so perfect for each other. From their very first meeting you can just feel their chemistry and the fact that they are hiding something extremely important from each other. I love that the amount of characters were very limited and she writes about only the essentials. Almost every page is just John and Meg talking and getting to know each other. I know about 50 pages into the book that I would not be able to sleep until I finished it.

Both John and Meg turn out to be these incredibly complex characters that have depth beyond imagination. I don't want to give away any spoilers but I would not have guessed Meg's past if you asked me when I started reading it. So this book is definitely a keeper. Buy it, put it on your shelf and read it like once a year!

Review-Almost to Die For

Title: Almost to Die For
Author: Tate Hallaway
Published: 03 August 2010
Pages: 241
Rating: 4/5

Description from back of book:

On her sixteenth birthday, Anastasija Parker's present winds up being the shock of a lifetime. When her mom referred to her absentee dad as a deadbeat, it was actually half true-he's a vampire. And a king, no less. A king who wants his daughter to assume her rightful position at his side. But, thanks to Ana's mother, the blood of a witch also runs through her veins.

Too bad vampires and witches are mortal enemies.

With her parents gearing up for an all-out brawl over her destiny, Ana's about ready to scream. But things get even crazier when a male witch and a brooding bad-boy vampire start vying for her affections. Then the barely leashed tension between the vampire and the witches starts to boil over, and Ana has to figure out once and for all whether she wants to become heir to her dad's throne. And deciding your eternal destiny is a pretty big deal for a girl who just wants to get through high school.

My thoughts:

I very much enjoyed this unique tale of a girl who is half vampire and half witch. Hallaway creates a very indecisive atmosphere which keeps you guessing at which half of herself she will eventually choose....or will she? Ana's character definitely temps fate and just when you think that she is about to choose one side over the other, she changes her mind!

There were only a few things that I did not like about this book. Hallaway writes the witches as constantly describing the vampires as demon like beings and being from hell so whenever one would talk I could't help but imagine their voices as very deep and unnatural like possessed robots. I also did not like Ana's whole initiation scene. I had a hard time following what was going on and I found my self reading the section over again to gain a better understanding.

Overall, I really liked this book and the unique paranormal approach that Hallaway uses. I will most likely read the next books in the series.

Book Blogger Hop (1)

The book blogger hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word. It's an opportunity to network, make new friends, support each other and share in our love of books. This weekly weekend event is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books. For more rules and a chance to participate, hop on over and grab her button!

This weekend's question is:

If you had $80 to spend in a bookstore right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?

My answer:

Jellicoe Road by Melinda Marchetta
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Soulless by Gail Carriger

That was a pretty tough question because there are so many books that I want right now. I hope I didn't go over $80. Which books would you choose. Post them at the blog hop so that I can read them too! Happy Friday!!

Review- Blood Promise

***Warning: May contain SPOILERS!!!***

Title: Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4)

Author: Richelle Mead

Published: 25 August 2009

Pages: 503 (hardcover)

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis provided by Goodreads.com:

How far will Rose go to keep her promise?

The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's Academy was the deadliest ever in the school's history, claiming the lives of moroi students, teachers and guardians alike. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them...including Dimitri.

He'd rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa-the one she has sworn to protect no matter what-and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves the most?

My thoughts:

This is one of the best vampire series out there: forget the House of Night, Blue Bloods and even Twilight. This is where it's at!!! Richelle Mead has such a way with words and is amazing at just plain story telling. She makes you hate them, then love them, then hate them and love them all over again. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but when I finished the third book, Shadow Kissed, I was so upset I wanted to rip up the book and throw it into traffic and let the cars run over the pages. I was so mad. I love this series so much that I was upset about it for days and I knew I could not start Blood Promise until I calmed myself down. With a little encouragement from my mom (who has read the entire series) I picked up the fourth book and I sure am glad I did.

This book is AMAZING!!!!! It's like I was holding my breath the whole time I was reading it. I stayed up nights reading and reading (it's pretty long) because I just had to know what happened in the end. And the thing is, Mead is such a good writer that you can see Rose's pain and anguish just pouring off the pages. I wanted to cry for her in almost every chapter! She even made me want to punch Dimitri in the face because even I wanted Rose to turn Strogoi so that they could be together forever. But then I came to my senses and when she staked him it practically ripped my heart out. I also really liked the whole spin Mean put on the series with her father.

At least the end of Blood Promise did not leave me so upset as did Shadow Kissed. The little amount of hope that it left had me jumping up and down, running around the house just after I finished the last page haha.

Questions I hoped will be answered by the end of the series:
1. Will Dimitri be healed back to his normal self?
2. Why are there so many spirit users?
3. Can Rose and Lissa figure out a way to keep their madness under control?
4. Is Rose going to have to choose between Dimitri and Adrian?

5. Is Rose ever going to graduate?

My recommendations, reader friends? Read this series. It will not let you down!

Review- Claire de Lune

Title: Claire de Lune

Author: Christine Johnson

Published: 18 May 2010
Pages: 336 (Hardcover)

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis provided by Goodreads.com:

Torn between two destinies?

Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success and gorgeous Matthew keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she's the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: she's a werewolf.

As Claire is initiated into the female pack of werewolves, she must deal not only with her changing identity but also with the rogue werewolf who is putting everyone she knows in danger. Claire's new life threatens her blossoming romance with Matthew, whose father is leading the werewolf hunt. Now burdened with a dark secret and pushing the boundaries of forbidden love, Claire is struggling to feel comfortable in either skin. With her lupine loyalties at odds with her human heart, she will make a choice that will change her forever.

My thoughts:

I remember first hearing about this book over a year ago before taking my hiatus from blogging. I was so super excited about this book coming out I'm pretty sure I even dedicated a Waiting on Wednesday to it as well. So I go to the library to see what I can find and viola, there is Claire de Lune, just sitting there in the new release section and no one else seems to be seeing what I'm seeing. My first thought was, "how is it that I can just pick this book up and check it out without signing up for a waiting list or something!!!" Maybe that is a little extreme but it was definitely at the top of my stack of library books.

As much as I love books, I hate giving so-so/bad reviews. This book just did not live up to to my expectations. After reading this book, I felt like a little kid and someone had just popped by balloon. The story could have used more action and I felt myself bored with all her internal dialogue and struggle going on.

It was very easy to read and I had no problem getting through it, I would have just really enjoyed that extra element that would have made it impossible to put it down. Since I would definitely not read it again, I probably won't read the next books in the series.