Book Haul #23

I haven't done a book haul in quite a while, so I thought I would post one of the books I've received recently (within the last 3 months or so).

Book Outlet:

Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Destiny by Colleen Houck
Entice by Carrie Jones

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand

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

Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph

Undercover by Beth Kephart

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Bewitching by Alex Flinn

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Echo by Alyson Noel

Mystic by Alyson Noel

Night by Elie Wiesel

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Half Price Books:

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier

Wuthering Bites by Sarah Gray

Blood Loss by Alex Barclay

The Giver by Lois Lowry

For Review:

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Half Bad by Sally Green
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Let me know if you've read any of these and share your hauls with me below!

The River Review

Goodreads

TITLE: The River

AUTHOR: Mary Jane Beaufrand

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

PUBLICATION DATE: 2/10/2010
PAGES: 224

MY RATING: 

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Veronica Severance feels cut off from the world. Forced to move from the city to rural Oregon with her parents, she is haunted by loneliness and the chilling sounds of the Santiam, the river that runs through her backyard.

Through the fog of isolation, Ronnie finds herself becoming close with Karen, a young girl whom she babysits. But when she discovers Karen's body on the banks of the Santiam, Ronnie feels compelled to uncover the truth.

As she becomes increasingly obsessed with solving the mystery of Karen's death, Ronnie is lead deeper and deeper into the dark secret hidden within its midst.

The River is a darkly atmospheric story of murder, isolation, obsession, and deadly secrets that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I have to say that the beginning and the ending of this book were great. The description of Ronnie (the main character) finding the body was pretty graphic and definitely grossed me out. There was a lot of imagery happening. And the last part of the book was really intense and action packed. The in-between wasn't so great. Now, don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, I just feel like it could have been better. I feel like Ronnie made quite a few dumb choices that could have easily been avoided, especially since she seemed like a smart girl.

CHARACTERS: This book needed a lot more character development, but what I read about the characters I did like, I just wish we had some more. I really liked Tomas. He's that rugged on the outside, mushy on the inside type of person.

COVER: I'm not a huge fan of the cover. It just doesn't grab my attention.

Bookish Mad Libs #2 - Cinderella

I participate in a website called "Swap-Bot". Basically, you can sign up to swap things with other people - letters, stickers, handmade items, anything you can think of, you can swap. There are also groups on swap-bot that you can join with themes. These groups have officers in them who host swaps based on the theme of the group. 

One of the groups I am in, is called Carpe Librum and is all about books and bookish things. A swapper by the name of smadronia (one of the founder of Carpe Librum) came up with the idea to host a swap for a book themed mad-libs. I love the idea and I wanted to create a book-related mad libs meme. So if you want to play along, feel free to pick out your words and then make a post on your blog, or in the comments if you prefer, with what you came up with.

This week's theme is Cinderella.
Here is the list of words.

1. Adjective
2. Adjective
3. Adjective
4. Part of Body
5. Noun
6. Adjective
7. Noun
8. Noun
9. Noun
10. Noun
11. Plural Noun
12. Person in Room (Male)
13. Plural Noun
14. Part of Body
15. Adverb

Here is the Mad-lib. Replace each number with your word for that number:

There once was a/an _____1______ young girl named Cinderella who lived with her _____2_____ stepmother and two _____3_____ stepsisters. She waited on them hand and _____4_____, but they treated her like a/n ____5_____.

Cinderella heard about a ball the prince was throwing, but she didn't have a/an _____6_____ gown to wear. Then, out of the clear, blue _____7_____, her fairy _____8_____-mother appeared and waved her magic _____9_____. Cinderella's ragged clothes turned into a beautiful _____10_____, and her worn work shoes became a pair of glass _____11_____.

Cinderella went to the ball and danced with Prince _____12_____, who fell madly in love with her. But at the stroke of midnight she had to flee, losing one of her glass _____13_____. The prince traveled throughout the kingdom, trying the slipper on the _____14_____ of every young girl, but, of course, it fit only one - Cinderella! The two were soon married and lived _____15_____ ever after.

Here's what I came up with:

There once was a playful young girl named Cinderella who lived with her timid stepmother and two colorful stepsisters. She waited on them hand and ear, but they treated her like a flower.

Cinderella heard about a ball the prince was throwing, but she didn't have a sneaky gown to wear. Then, out of the clear, blue cloud, her fairy window-mother appeared and waved her magic typewriter. Cinderella's ragged clothes turned into a beautiful jump rope, and her worn work shoes became a pair of glass tomatoes.

Cinderella went to the ball and danced with Prince Will, who fell madly in love with her. But at the stroke of midnight she had to flee, losing one of her glass blankets. The prince traveled throughout the kingdom, trying the slipper on the leg of every young girl, but, of course, it fit only one -- Cinderella! The two were soon married and lived tenderly ever after.

Add your link to the list!

The Geography of You and Me Review (may be spoilery)

Goodreads

TITLE: The Geography of You and Me

AUTHOR: Jennifer E. Smith

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown

PUBLICATION DATE: 4/15/2014

PAGES: 352

MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and twelfth floors, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend one night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan.

But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father. Their relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, e-mails, and a reunion in the city where they first met.

In this carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. Sometimes, it can be a person.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book let me down quite a bit. I had such high hopes for it. I really loved the first few chapters, and then it just went downhill. 

I loved the interaction between Lucy and Owen and I would have loved to have more of it. This could have been an amazing story about a long distance relationship where the two characters kept in touch and wrote each other detailed letters and post cards (and it would have been really neat to actually read the letters and postcards throughout the story), but the book just didn't deliver any of that. There was very little interaction between Owen and Lucy during most of the book. They were living two totally separate lives (which would have been fine if we had seen more interaction with letter, etc) and there isn't really a story going on here. It almost seemed like this should have been two separate books. 

It did come together a little more towards the end of the book, but I just didn't really enjoy it.

CHARACTERS: Both main characters (Lucy and Owen) were good characters. I could relate to each of them and I understood what they were feeling about their lives. I think they would have been great to read about if this story had been different.

COVER: The cover is adorable and I love it. I love the font, the skyline in the background and all of the stars.

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

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

AUTHOR: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

PUBLISHER: Alfred A. Knopf

PUBLICATION DATE: 10/26/2010

PAGES: 260

MY RATING: 

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: I've left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don't, put the book back on the shelf, please.

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: When I started reading this book, I didn't know anything at all about the plot, I just knew that everyone who read it, loved it. And now I can see why. This was such a sweet story and I really enjoyed reading it. There was a lot of humor in this book (particularly the Santa scene, which I was actually laughing out loud picturing it). The ending of this book was super cute as well.

I do love that this is a standalone, as I'm tired of all the series that are out, but I'd love to see maybe a small novella about Dash and Lily's future together.

CHARACTERS: I loved both Dash and Lily. They were both such fun character to read about. I really liked the alternating perspectives too, it helped me get into each of their heads.

COVER: The cover is amazing. I love all of the covers, and the pretty snow and everything about it.

Being Sloane Jacobs Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Being Sloane Jacobs

AUTHOR: Lauren Morrill

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/7/2014

PAGES: 352

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure skater who choked during junior nationals and isn't sure she's ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she'd give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player who's been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she's playing the worst she's ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she's the lucky one. But it didn't occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie--and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It's not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you're someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book was just okay for me. I didn't believe it as much as I wish I did. Both girls took to the other sport really quickly. I feel like it would take a lot more work from both of them to be able to achieve the skills they were performing. The two characters having the same name was kind of confusing for me. I kept forgetting which one I was reading about and had to check the chapter titles quite a few times.

The very end of the book was really cute and made me laugh.

The story was alright. It was fun to read and I enjoyed it.

CHARACTERS: I liked both Sloanes. It was easy to relate to both of them.

COVER: The cover is cute. I like how the edges are faded and kind of vintage looking. And the text of the title is super cute.

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

Book Mad Libs #1 - Vampire Academy

I participate in a website called "Swap-Bot". Basically, you can sign up to swap things with other people - letters, stickers, handmade items, anything you can think of, you can swap. There are also groups on swap-bot that you can join with themes. These groups have officers in them who host swaps based on the theme of the group. 

One of the groups I am in, is called Carpe Librum and is all about books and bookish things. A swapper by the name of smadronia (one of the founder of Carpe Librum) came up with the idea to host a swap for a book themed mad-libs. I love the idea and I wanted to create a book-related mad libs meme. So if you want to play along, feel free to pick out your words and then make a post on your blog, or in the comments if you prefer, with what you came up with.

This week's theme is Vampire Academy.
Here is the list of words.

1. Adjective
2. Verb
3. Noun
4. Adjective
5. Part of Body (plural)
6. Noun
7. Verb ending in ING
8. Adjective
9. Part of Body
10. A Place
11. Person in Room (Male)
12. Adjective
13. Verb ending in ING
14. Verb

Here is the Mad-lib. Replace each number with your word for that number:

My name is Rose Hathaway, and I attend a/an _____1______school called St. Vladimir's, where I'm learning how to _____2_____ vampires. I'm going to be a/an _____3_____, a personal bodyguard trained to protect _____4_____ vampires called Moroi from the Strigoi, who are immortal killing machines. I won't know who I'm guarding until after I graduate, but I'm keeping my _____5_____ crossed that it will be my best _____6_____, Vasalisa Dragomir. 

Lissa's the last _____7_____ member of the Dragomir royal family, and we share a/an _____8_____ psychic connection. I'm the best person to watch her_____9_____. Only problem is, we ran away to (the) _____10_____ together, and we got caught and sent back to St. _____11_____'s in disgrace. I'll be _____12_____ if they even allow me to continue _____13_____ school! Plus, I'm pretty sure my mom's going to _____14_____ me!

Here's what I came up with:

My name is Rose Hathaway, and I attend a bubbly school called St. Vladimir's, where I'm learning how to teach vampires. I'm going to be a pineapple, a personal bodyguard trained to protect purple vampires called Moroi from the Strigoi, who are immortal killing machines. I won't know who I'm guarding until after I graduate, but I'm keeping my nostrils crossed that it will be my best table, Vasalisa Dragomir.

Lissa's the last reading member of the Dragomir royal family, and we share a spectacular psychic connection. I'm the best person to watch her toe. Only problem is, we ran away to Bath and Body Works together, and we got caught and sent back to St. Will's in disgrace. I'll be preppy if they even allow me to continue snoring school! Plus, I'm pretty sure my mom's going to dance me!

"Real" Book Challenge - January Update

I'm having a blast with this challenge so far. Here's what I've read in January, with links to the ones that I have reviewed.

1. Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

2. How To Love by Kate Cotugno

3. Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart

4. Find My by Romily Bernard
5. Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill
6. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
7. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
8. The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand