4.30.2013

WoW [27]


Waiting on Wednesday [WoW] is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s WoW feature is:
The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe
Expected Publication: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Gallery Books

Summary via Goodreads...
Three sisters reunite on Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina after years of separation in this heartwarming first novel in a new trilogy from a beloved author. Eighty-year-old Marietta Muir is a dowager of Charleston society who has retired to her historic summer home on Sullivan’s Island. At the onset of summer, Marietta, “Mamaw,” seeks to gather her three granddaughters—Carson, Eudora, and Harper—with the intent to reunite them after years apart. Monroe explores the depths and complexities of sisterhood, friendship and the power of forgiveness.

Why I Can’t Wait....
I love a good beach read and this one seems like a great one, plus I love a trilogy.

That’s what I’m waiting for…please share yours.

4.25.2013

Review: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah


Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Published: February 5, 2008
Format: Bought Hardcover
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Rating: 5/5 stars
Challenges: TBR Pile Challenge

Summary via Goodreads
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.

My Thoughts
Where do I begin? Wow! This book took my breath away. I haven’t read a book that touched me so completely in a very long time. What makes me mad is that I hadn’t read it sooner. It’s been sitting on my shelf for a few months now and I only read it after I received the ARC for the follow up to this book. I’ve always wanted to read Kristin Hannah books and why I wanted so long I’ll never know. She is a great and amazing writer who can write a story like no one’s business.

This book will take you on a ride through the decades and the ups and downs of two best friends. Tully was yin to Kate’s yang. Each one filling in a piece of the puzzle in each other’s lives. They met when each one was looking for something that was missing within themselves. Kate was looking for a friend who could bring out the best in her. While Tully, was simply looking for love and a sense of family. It’s a story of a wonderful friendship that will have you laughing and will as easily bring you to tears. I’m not the mushiest type of person but you will, I warn you, need a box of tissues towards the end of the book. Just thinking about it now makes me want to tear up. It is a long book by it doesn’t feel that way. You will get so caught up in this story that time will fly by. It will make you look at your own life and makes you realize what’s important and what’s not.

Now I can’t wait to read the sequel. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for these characters who I’ve invested a love and an interested for. If you’re looking for an honest to god great read please pick this one up. It's the ultimate book of friendship, love and understanding. You won’t regret it.

4.24.2013

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden by Jessi Kirby
Expected Publication: May 14, 2013
Publication: Simon & Schuster BYR
Format: ARC E-Copy provided by Edelweiss
Rating: 5/5

Summary via Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.
Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

My Thoughts
Fate. It’s a wonderful thing. There are those who believe it in and those who don’t. I’m proud to say I whole heartedly believe in it. I think that is why I love and adore this book so. It’s just a wonderfully written book about true love, fate and destiny.

I believe all things happen for a reason and this storyline definitely deals with that. I enjoy how Parker’s journey of self-discovery mirrors that of Julianna’s. How while searching and finding out the truth behind Julianna’s life through her journal she starts to believe in herself more than ever before. I also enjoy the how Parker, Kat and Trevor play off each other.

This is my first time experiencing the work of Jessi Kirby. Simply put I think she’s AMAZING! She has a way with words that blows me away. Needless to say I will go back and be reading all her past works.

In the end this is one story that will make you believe. Maybe love and destiny isn’t something to be taken lightly, that it’s more powerful that one could possibly think. Some things in life are just simply meant to be and no matter how one can try and stop it, some things just can’t be stopped or explained. Do yourself a favor and pick this up, it’s simply a beautiful read.

4.23.2013

WoW [26]


Waiting on Wednesday [WoW] is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s WoW feature is:
Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Ritual of Love and Karaoke by Rob Sheffield
Expected Publication: August 6, 2013
Publisher: It Books

Summary via Edelweiss...
The bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape and Talking to Girls about Duran Duran returns with his newest, funniest, most moving book about the intersection of love, music and memories in our lives. An emotional journey of hilarity and heartbreak with a karaoke soundtrack, in the spirit of Rob Sheffield's bestselling Love Is a Mix Tape.

Turn Around Bright Eyes picks up Sheffield's story right after Love Is a Mix Tape. He is a young widower devastated by grief, trying to build a new life in a new town after his wife's death. As a writer for Rolling Stone, he naturally takes solace in music. But that's when he discovers the sublime ridiculousness of karaoke, and despite the fact that he can't carry a tune, he begins to find his voice. His karaoke obsession takes him to some strange places, whether that means singing a Frank Sinatra song in a senior-citizen community in Florida, attempting a Merle Haggard classic at a cowboy saloon in the Mojave desert, or clearing the room at an after-hours dive in Chinatown. But he finds the music leads him to the most surprising place of all--a new life and a new love.

Turn Around Bright Eyes is a story about finding the courage to start over, move on, and rock the mike. It's about falling in love and navigating your way through adult romance. It's about how you can learn the weirdest things about yourself just by butchering a Hall & Oates song at 2 A.M. under fluorescent lights in a room full of strangers. It's about how songs get tangled up in our deepest emotions, evoking memories of the past while inspiring hope for the future. But most of all, it's a book about all the strange ways music brings people together.

Why I Can’t Wait....
So I’ve been checking like every day waiting and waiting to see if it was available on Edelweiss. Then last week it was there and I was pre-approved…YES!!!!!!!!!! I nearly died! I love Rob Sheffield. He is an amazing writer and if you haven’t read Love is a Mix Tape or Talking to Girls about Duran Duran you are missing out people. Maybe it’s the music nerd in me but I love the way he intertwines music in everything he writes. His books are both heart touching and funny at the same time. I’m pretty sure…no I know I will LOVE this book just as much as the others. I can’t wait to read it and share my thoughts with you.

That’s what I’m waiting for…please share yours.

4.22.2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Thought I Would Like More/Less Than I Did


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.
This week topic…
Books I Liked More/Less
*BOOKS I LIKED MORE...
Divergent  - Veronica Roth
The Hunger Games series  - Suzanne Collins
Shadowlands - Kate Brian
Uses for Boys – Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Girls Like Us – Sheila Weller
The Age of Miracles- Karen Thompson Walker

*BOOKS I LIKED LESS...
September Girls – Bennett Madison
The S-Word – Chelsea Pitcher
How I Came to Sparkle Again – Kaya McLaren
That’s my Top Ten…what’s yours?

4.18.2013

Feature & Follow Friday


Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.
Gain new followers and make new friends! Or just check out the weekly questions and see what others respond.

Q: If you could hang out with any author (living) who would it be and what would you want to do?

A: There are so many! If I had to choose one…Rainbow Rowell.

She’s a great author. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Eleanor & Park plus she just seems like a cool person.

What are your answers for this week's FF? Leave a comment and I'll drop by and follow back!

Review: The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher

The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher
Expected Publication: May 7, 2013
Format: ARC E-Copy via Edelweiss
Publisher: Gallery
Rating: 2/5

Summary via Goodreads
First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker. But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie's looping scrawl.

Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Debut author Chelsea Pitcher daringly depicts the harsh reality of modern high schools, where one bad decision can ruin a reputation, and one cruel word can ruin a life. Angie’s quest for the truth behind Lizzie’s suicide is addictive and thrilling, and her razor-sharp wit and fierce sleuthing skills makes her impossible not to root for—even when it becomes clear that both avenging Lizzie and avoiding self-destruction might not be possible.

My Thoughts
I went into this really psyched about reading this book. I was intrigued with the whole bully angle and was hoping for a really good story involving that. Well needless to say I was kind of disappointed. Maybe it was me but I felt this more “Mean Girls” than I was wanting it to be.
I like the background story of Lizzie and finding out the truth about what really happened. However I just couldn’t connect with the rest of characters. Her so called “best” friend wasn’t someone I would even consider worthy of the title. Her other classmates just didn’t seem real to me.

Don’t get me wrong I didn’t hate the book, I liked that it brought the topic of bullying front and center. I think I just went into thinking it was something else. I tend to do that lately.

4.16.2013

WoW [25]


Waiting on Wednesday [WoW] is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s WoW feature is:

Find Me by Romily Bernard
Expected Publication: September 24, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary via Goodreads...
"Find Me." These are the words written on Tessa Waye's diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa's just been found...dead.

Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target. Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick.

Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick's deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step? Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.

But she's going to find this killer no matter what. Because it just got personal.

Why I Can’t Wait....
I love the whole mystery-hacker world thing that seems to going on. The twists and turns that come in this game of hide and seek looks very intruging. I recently got an advanced copy so I can’t wait to start reading it, and seeing how it all plays out.

That’s what I’m waiting for…please share yours.

4.15.2013

Top Ten Tuesday: "Rewind" Favorite Childhood Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.
This week is a “free” topic week so…I chose…

Favorite Childhood Reads
My love for reading started at an early age. I have my mom to thank for that. I can remember going to library for hours at a time and thinking it was the coolest thing EVER! So when I picked this topic I could’ve gone in  a lot of different directions. However I decided to pay homage to the one author who defined my tween years. The one and only…..

JUDY BLUME!!!

So here are my favorite top 10 JB reads…
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Freckle Juice
Super Fudge
Deenie
Blubber
Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great
The Pain and the Great One
Tiger Eyes
*The Summer Sisters

Ok so The Summer Sisters isn’t one of her early works. However it is one of her books that I love the most. Its adult fiction but it’s just everything to me. If you haven’t read it…please do. It’s really GREAT!

That’s my Top Ten…what’s yours?

4.14.2013

IMM [19]

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is all about sharing what goodies you received during the week. This haul is a few weeks worth of stuff, been really busy lately.

Actual mailbox:
Palisades Park by Alan Brennert [Finished copy]
And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry [Finished copy]
Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine [ARC]
Swag- Signed bookmarkers by Lindsey Leavitt

No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis
Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

 Not pictured:
Fly Away by Kristin Hannah [ARC] not pictured since my mom “borrowed” it before I could read it. LOL!

For Review

The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe
Expected Publication: June 25, 2013
Gallery Books

The Truth about You and Me by Amanda Grace
Expected Publication: September 8, 2013
Flux




Find Me by Romily Bernard
Expected Publication: September 24, 2013
HarperTeen
The Rest of Us: A Novel by Jessica Lott
Expected Publication: July 2, 2013
Simon & Schuster
Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson
Expected Publication: November 19, 2013
William Morrow & Co
The After Girls by Leah Konen
Expected Publication: April 18, 2013
Merit Press


Bought [Kindle]

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks


Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
Huge thanks to:
St. Martin's Press, FSG, Random House, Merit Press, Flux, William Morrow & Co, HarperTeen, Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster, Lindsey Leavitt, NetGalley and Edelweiss!
That’s my haul. Link me to yours.

4.09.2013

WoW [24]

Fire with Fire [Burn for Burn #2] by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Expected Publication: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Summary via Goodreads…
Jar Island teens Lillia, Kat, and Mary's ongoing revenge plot against Reeve has unexpected consequences.
Why I Can’t Wait…
Ok so technically I haven’t read the first one, but I will before this is released. Besides its Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian so of course I’m going to read it. Plain and simple.

Please share what you’re waiting on.

4.08.2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Faves I Read Before I Blogged

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.
This week’s topic : 10 Books I read before I blogged

Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Clapton by Eric Clapton
Child of God by Lolita Files
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Roxanna Slade by Reynolds Price
We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Memoirs of a Geisha by Authur Golden
That’s my Top Ten…what’s yours?

4.04.2013

Feature & Follow Friday


Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.
Gain new followers and make new friends! Or just check out the weekly questions and see what others respond.

This week’s Question:

Have you ever read a book that you thought you would hate? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?

--Honestly I didn’t think I would like The Hunger Games. I was never into dystopian reads before so I didn’t really bother to want to read it. Then when the movie was announced and I was reading and seeing all the hype I thought I would give it a try. Man I was hooked!!! I bought and read all three books in a week. Now I’m more open to different genres and books because of this.

What are your answers for this week's FF? Leave a comment and I'll drop by and follow back!

Review: Angel by Mary E. Kingsley


Angel by Mary E. Kingsley
Published: November 14, 2011
Format: Free Kindle book
Publisher: Little Falls Press
Rating: 4/5

 Summary via Goodreads
Thirteen year old Angel Bishop is fed up with all the unanswered questions about her life, like why did her daddy run off when she was just a baby? And why has her Aunt Patsy, the only family member she feels she can talk to, been locked up in a place for crazy people all these years? It seems to Angel like her family fell apart right after she was born, which makes her wonder what her coming along had to do with it.

Growing up with her mother, Ruth, who is often distant and preoccupied, and her Bible-thumping grandmother, Naomi, Angel is certain there’s more to the story than she’s been told. When her father, Calvin, telephones out of the blue one evening and says he’s coming home for Thanksgiving, Angel thinks her dream of having a normal family is finally going to come true. Instead, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous scenario, threatened by secrets far beyond her understanding.

Set in a small Appalachian town in the early 1970’s, Angel is the compelling story of an innocent girl as the unwitting link between the two generations of her family’s dark and unresolved past.

My Thoughts
This was one of the very first books I ever downloaded into my Kindle. I must have had this in there for like two years before I ever read it. This is the story of Angel and her crazy and odd family. Her family has been M.I.A. since she was a baby, with no one ever saying why.

What plays out is a series of buried secrets that most want to keep that way. But Angel is determined to find out the truth, even if it knocks her and the rest of her family to its core.

It’s a wonderful yet gritty story of girl trying to find out who she really is, and why things are the way they are. I loved that it’s set in the Appalachian setting something I find so interesting.

A story of family, secrets and at the end revealing that the truth really does in fact set you free. Mary E. Kingsley is a wonderful writer whose characters are interesting and with a storyline that will keep you engaged.

4.02.2013

WoW [23]

Leap of Faith by Jamie Blair
Expected Publication: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Summary via Goodreads
Now that Leah Kurtz has a place to call home, there’s no way she can tell the truth.
That her name is Faith, not Leah.
That she’s seventeen, not nineteen.
That the baby isn’t hers—she kidnapped her.

She had to kidnap Addy though. She couldn’t let her newborn sister grow up like she did, with parties where the drugs flow all night and an empty refrigerator in the kitchen holding nothing but pickle juice and ketchup packets inside.

She can’t risk losing Chris—the only guy she’s ever given herself to completely—by telling him she’s been lying. He’s the most generous person she’s ever known, and he’s already suffered the tragic deaths of his mom and infant sister.

But being on the run with a newborn catches up with her when a cop starts asking questions, and Chris’s aunt finds a newspaper article about Faith and a missing baby. Faith knows it’s time to run again—from Chris and the only place that’s ever felt like home.

 Why I Can’t Wait…
This just seems like such a heartbreaking yet touching read, something that could definitely speak to my heart. I’m dying to find out what happens and see how the love story plays out.

Review: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight


Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Published: April 2, 2013
Format: ARC E-Copy via Edelweiss
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 5/5

Summary via Goodreads
Stressed single mother and law partner Kate is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call to say that her teenaged daughter Amelia has been suspended from her exclusive Brooklyn prep school for cheating on an exam. Torn between her head and her heart, she eventually arrives at St Grace's over an hour late, to be greeted by sirens wailing and ambulance lights blazing. Her daughter has jumped off the roof of the school, apparently in shame of being caught. A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself: it was just the two of them and Amelia would never leave her alone like this. And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world, into her journals, her email account and into the mind of a troubled young girl.

Then Kate receives an anonymous text saying simply: AMELIA DIDN'T JUMP. Is someone playing with her or has she been right all along?

My Thoughts
A-MAZ-ING!!!

That’s all I can say about Reconstructing Amelia. It’s fast pace, twisting and turning at every angle. It’s a book that will have you guessing and trust me just when you think you know something…BOOM… you’re wrong.

It’s takes you into the world of upper class New York prep schools, secret societies and bullying. I love how we get a true sense of how Amelia’s life was through her emails and texts even after she’s gone.

I felt for Kate her mom as she is determined to find out exactly how Amelia died. Never believing what was told to her, she wouldn’t settle for anything less than the truth. Even if that meant relieving her past and her own troubling mistakes. But one thing is for sure is Kate’s undying love for her daughter and her willingness to bring Amelia’s death to justice.

It’s a story of love, justice, and just plain cruel some people can be. With so many suspects you can’t help but want to finish it in one sitting.

Simply put… in my opinion… do yourself a favor and GET THIS NOW!! You won’t regret it.