Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Find Me Review


TITLE: Find Me
AUTHOR: Romily Bernard
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 9/24/2013
PAGES: 320
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: "Find Me." Those are the only words on the Post-it inside Tessa Waye's diary. But Tessa's already been found...dead.

Tempted at first to ignore the plea, Wick goes into computer hacker mode when her sister, Lily, is marked as the next target.

Then Griff, supercute trailer-park boy next door (and fellow hacker), shows up, intent on helping Wick. They're fighting against Wick's jailbird dad, the detective hunting him, and a killer taunting Wick at every step.

Giving up is not an option when the threat hits so close to home.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really enjoyed this story, but I wanted more from it. I wanted to know more about Wick and Lily's dad and their relationship with him. I felt like this book was more of a rough draft for a book that could be more detailed and with more "meat" to the story. The idea was great and everything was well executed I just wanted more. The ending (last few chapters) of the book were really intense and suspenseful and I loved them.

CHARACTERS: I really like Wick as the main character. She was relateable in the fact that she had to do everything she could in order to protect her younger sister, Lily. Griff was a good character as well, but I feel like there could have been more of him in the story. I would have liked a little more character development on him especially, but on all of the characters as well.

COVER: The cover is very cool and creepy. I love how the girl's face is made up of the words "FIND ME". The words themselves have relevance to the story as does the fact that they look sort of like code that a hacker would have to sift through.

**I received an ARC copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Eat, Brains, Love Review


TITLE: Eat, Brains, Love
AUTHOR: Jeff Hart
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/1/2013
PAGES: 352
MY RATING:


BACK COVER BLURB: The Good News: Jake's dream girl, Amanda Blake, finally knows his name. The Bad News: It's because they both contracted a mysterious zombie virus, ate half the senior class, and are on the run from a teen psychic who the government sent to track them down.

As Jake and Amanda deal with the existential guilt of eating their best friends, Cass struggles with a growing psychic dilemma of her own--one that will lead the three of them on an epic journey across the country and make them question what it means to be truly alive. Or undead.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a really entertaining book. It was extremely humorous and fun, but also gory at times. I see this as a "fluff" read between more intense books. I'm not saying this wasn't a good book, because I did enjoy it a lot, it just wasn't a book with a deep meaning. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a fun read to have a good time with.

CHARACTERS: I liked most of the characters in this book. Jake and Amanda were fun to watch interact with each other. Alastaire is a great villain. 

COVER: For some reason the cover grosses me out a little, but I'm not sure why. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, this is a zombie book and it can get pretty gory.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Crash Into You Review


TITLE: Crash Into you (Pushing the Limits #3)
AUTHOR: Katie McGarry
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 11/26/2013
PAGES: 474
MY RATING:


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life--that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker--a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks--no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: When I received this book, I dropped everything else I was in the middle of reading to start on it. I've read the first two books in the Pushing the Limits series and loved them so much! I had extremely high hopes for this one, and I was not disappointed. I was entertained throughout this entire book. 

I've been waiting so long to find a book to make me cry, and this one finally did it. There's just so many emotions in this book and I love that I experienced so many feels while reading.

The second half of this book was fast paced and just amazing, and the ending was wrapped up nicely.

I also learned that there's going to be another book coming out and I am so excited! 

CHARACTERS: I really liked Rachel. She was so sweet and innocent and I could completely relate to her. My favorite character is Abby. I would have liked to see more of her in the book as I really enjoyed her character.

COVER: The cover is pretty cheesy. I'm not a huge fan of covers with people on them and I feel like this cover makes the book like it will be just another cookie cutter romance book, which is not true at all. I do like all of the red and I like the letters of the title.

**I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

2014 "Real" Book Challenge

Real Book Challenge on Swoony Boys Podcast and Fiction Fare

I just found out about this challenge and it looks like lots of fun! This will be the only challenge I am participating in this year, so I hope to be able to reach my goal!

1-10 - Real Book Newbie 
11-20 - Real Book Enthusiast 
21-30 - Real Book Snob 
31-40 - Real Book Aficionado 
41-50 - Real Book Hoarder 
50+ - Real Book Queen/King 

I am going to be aiming for 51 books to be in the Real Book Queen category. I feel like that's rather ambitious for me as I only read about 38 books last year, but I'm making great progress this year and have read 5 books already.

Click here to sign up if you're interested!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

How To Love Review


TITLE: How To Love
AUTHOR: Katie Cotugno
PUBLISHER: Balzer + Bray
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/1/2013
PAGES: 400
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists...until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated--and pregnant--Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena's gotten used to life without Sawyer, and she's finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Saywer turns up again. Reena doesn't want anything to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said Sawyer's being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a sweet story, but it still had a lot of depth and deals with a few intense topics. I really loved the alternating perspectives of before the pregnancy and after the pregnancy. Sometimes I get confused with alternating timelines, but this was really easy to follow and place myself within each time. The ending was predictable, but it was good and I enjoyed it.

CHARACTERS: Reena is such a great character. I feel like the character development with her was really well done. I can understand everything she is feeling and I am torn right along with her when it comes to her relationships with the other people in the book.

COVER: The cover is cute. Nice and plain. I like the embossing of the words.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Memoirs of a Teenage Amesiac Review


TITLE: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
AUTHOR: Gabrielle Zevin
PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
PUBLICATION DATE: 8/21/2007
PAGES: 271
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss.

She wouldn't have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn't have hit her head on the steps.

She would have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia.

She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place.

She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her "Chief." She'd get all his inside jokes, and maybe he wouldn't be so frustrated with her for forgetting things she can't possibly remember.

She'd know about her mom's new family.

She'd know about her dad's fiancee.

She wouldn't have to spend her junior year relearning all the French she supposedly knew already.

She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn't have wanted to kiss him back.

But Naomi picked heads.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I enjoyed this book a lot. I'm a sucker for books where people have memory  problems, so this was right up my alley. The ending was nice and sweet. I love all of the extras in the back - mix tape songs, author questions, discussion questions; it really makes you think more about the book once you've finished reading it. 

CHARACTERS: I feel like all of the characters were really well done. They are all personalities that I can see as being real people in everyday life. 

COVER: It's okay. It didn't really make me want to read the story anymore, but I do like the different textures.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Review


TITLE: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
AUTHOR: April Geneieve Tucholke
PUBLISHER: Dial Books
PUBLICATION DATE: 8/15/2013
PAGES: 360
MY RATING:


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: River rents the guesthouse behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's how River likes it.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was a little confused while reading this. While I was reading the story, I understood what was going on, but I wasn't sure where the plot was going. I guess the end of the book kind of cleared this up a little, but I feel like there could have been a lot more of a plot. The book got super intense near the end and left it in a great place for a sequel. 

I loved the writing and the setting. Tucholke painted some wonderful images in my head while I was reading.

I would not suggest this book for people who get frightened easily, because this is pretty creepy and twisted in some parts.

CHARACTERS: Violet was an okay character. Nothing spectacular, but she wasn't awful either. Violet's neighbor Sunshine felt a little pointless to the story. I didn't really care about her, even when things were happening to her. And River was just creepy throughout the whole book.

COVER: Gorgeous! It definitely sets the feel for the creepiness of the book. The font on the cover is awesome as well.

**I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.