July Reading Update

In July, I read a total of 10 books. 6 of these books count for the "Real" Book Challenge bringing my total for that challenge to 48 books. I also listened to 4 Audio books during the month. My total count for books read this year is 56.

"Real" Books:

Audio Books:

Falling Into Place Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Falling Into Place

AUTHOR: Amy Zhang

PUBLISHER: Greenwillow Books

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/9/2014

PAGES: 304

MY RATING:

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

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected narrator, the heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to love someone? To be a friend? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang's haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Very early on, I could tell that this was going to be one of those books that was going to break my heart. It definitely delivered. It was so heart wrenching and raw and I was sucked in to the whole thing. As the story goes on, you delve deeper and deeper into Liz's feelings and emotions. It just kept getting sadder and sadder. I felt so bad for Liz and I wanted to help her. 

I love the timeline of the story. It doesn't follow a set path and jumps around in the past and the present, but it wasn't hard to follow at all.

CHARACTERS: I have a love hate with a lot of the characters in this book. There are so many characters that I just don't like in the beginning. As the story goes on, we learn more about them and start to have more of an understanding of them. Some of them grow on me a little bit and others I end up hating just as much as I did in the beginning. 

COVER: 3/5. The cover is okay. It completely relates to the story and I like the way they did the title.

Grim Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Grim

EDITOR: Christine Johnson

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 2/25/2014

PAGES: 476

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sisnister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I was really disappointed by this book. There are some big name authors in here, a lot of whom I haven't read yet, but I feel like I was let down. There were a few stories that I could tell for sure what fairy tales they had come from, but for most of them I had no idea. I'm not sure if that's because they were way different from their originals or if there are a ton of fairy tales out there that I'm unaware of. I was expecting a lot more horror and terrifying aspects in this book. Some of the stories were great when it came to scaring me, but most of them were dull and not dark at all. Some of my favorites were The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo, The Brother's Piggett by Julie Kagawa and Unteathered  by Sonia Gensler. 

COVER: This is such a beautiful book. I love the colors, the texture and the built in bookmark.

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

Take Me On Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Take Me On

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 5/27/2014

PAGES: 544

MY RATING:

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from. Yet he won't last five seconds in the ring without her help.

West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping her--fighting for her--is a shot at redemption. Especially since it's his fault his family is falling apart. He can't change the past, but maybe he can change Haley's future.

Haley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they'll face their darkest fears and discover love is worth fighting for.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Another instant hit from Katie. I don't think this woman could write a bad book if she tried. I will read anything by her. I was in love with this book before I was even halfway through it. Katie's writing just pulls you in and makes you keep flipping the pages. I will admit that I didn't like this one as much as her other books, but it was still extremely good. 

CHARACTERS: I think my reason for not liking this book as much as the others is because of the main characters, Haley and West. For some reason, I just didn't connect with them as well as I would have liked to. It might have been because the story line revolved around boxing, and I have zero interest in that, but I did really love the relationship that West and Haley shared. 

COVER: I'm not a fan of any of the covers for the Pushing The Limits books, but I do like that there is something printed directly onto the book underneath the dust jacket.

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

Panic Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Panic

AUTHOR: Lauren Oliver

PUBLISHER: Harper Collins

PUBLICATION DATE: 3/4/2014

PAGES: 416

MY RATING: 

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of her first love for each of them--and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I liked the sweet note from Lauren at the beginning of the book. I'm not sure if this is in all copies since I read from an ARC, but it was nice of her to include it.

There has been a lot of hype over this book, but I just don't get it. The book was fine, but it wasn't near one of my favorites. I'm not sure what everyone was raving about. That being said, I did like the concept and I enjoyed reading it.

CHARACTERS: There were a lot of names being thrown around right from the start, so I was having some trouble figuring out who everyone was and keeping everyone straight. It got a little easier, but I did still have some difficulty throughout the book. I had some trouble connecting with the characters. I wanted to care more about them, but I just couldn't. I was more interested in the Panic games themselves than the relationships between the characters. 

COVER: I like the cover. I like the simplicity of it. I'm a fan of dark covers with a pop of something on them and this has that.

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

June Reading Update

In June, all of the books I read counted towards my 2014 "Real" Book Challenge. I managed to read 4 books in June bringing my total books read for the challenge to 42 books, and 43 books for my total year to date.