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Friday, May 23, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday 1

The Feature and Follow blog hop is hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read.

Question of the Week: Have you ever convinced someone to read a book, a series, or a whole genre? What book(s) and who was it? Did they like it?



I recommend books to my sister and fellow blog author, Liv all the time. When ever I find a book that I love the first thing I do is recommend it to her. I got her to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green; she really liked it and it got her interested in the whole nerdfighter/ vlogbrothers community. We are both super excited for the movie to come out next month. I also recommended the Hunger Games Divergent series to my whole family after reading the first book while at school. Even my mom enjoyed it and now trusts the suggestions I give her for books to read.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Get Even

This link up is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine and is where bloggers talk about upcoming book releases they are excited for.

Get Even
Gretchen McNeil
Release Date: September 16th 2014
Good Reads

Summary:

Follows the secretive exploits of four high school juniors - Kitty, Olivia, Margot and Bree - at an exclusive Catholic prep school.

To all outward appearances, the girls barely know each other. At best, they don't move in the same social circles; at worst, they're overtly hostile.

Margot Mejia – academically ranked number two in her class, Margot is a focused overachiever bound for the Ivy League.

Kitty Wei – captain of the California state and national champion varsity girls' volleyball team, she's been recruited by a dozen colleges and has dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal.

Olivia Hayes – popular star of the drama program, she's been voted "most eligible bachelorette" two years running in the high school yearbook and has an almost lethal combination of beauty and charm.

Bree Deringer – outcast, misfit and the kind of girl you don't want to meet in a dark alley, the stop sign red-haired punk is a constant thorn in the side of teachers and school administrators alike.

Different goals, different friends, different lives, but the girls share a secret no one would ever guess. They are members of Don't Get Mad, a society specializing in seeking revenge for fellow students who have been silently victimized by their peers. Each girl has her own reason for joining the group, her own set of demons to assuage by evening the score for someone else. And though school administration is desperate to find out who is behind the DGM "events", the girls have managed to keep their secret well hidden.

That is until one of their targets – a douchebag senior who took advantage of a drunk underclassman during a house party, videotaped it on his phone, and posted it on YouTube – turns up dead, and DGM is implicated in the murder.

Now the girls don't know who to trust, and as their tenuous alliance begins to crumble, the secrets they've hidden for so long might be their ultimate undoing.

Thoughts:

This book sounds a little like Pretty Little Liars, in the best possible way. I can't wait to see if the book lives up to the suspense created in the summary. The author's tweets about the book are also amazing and keep me in anticipation of its release.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Book Review: The Here and Now

The Here and Now
Ann Brashares
Format: E-book from Netgalley
Good Reads

Summary:

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.

Review:

Going in to this book I had high expectations for this book because I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling pants series. They were and still are some of my favorite books (and movies). It also has a dystopian/ sci-fi feel to it which I generally love. That being said this book did not disappoint. 

One of my favorite parts of the book was the unique take on the recent dystopian-ish trend by creating a scary future that is riddled with illness but then setting the story in the present day. This was great because ten there was a clear connection between present conditions and the future. Rather than something happening in the not to distant future that causes most of the differences in the world. 

I also loved reading how Prenna's character develops and interacts with the current world. A big part of that was her relationship with Ethan. From the very beginning of the book you know that their relationship will play a crucial part in the book. I enjoyed their story because it wasn't just about Prenna falling for a guy but also about her interactions with the present world outside of her future refugee bubble. As Prenna begins to question the rules concerning Ethan, she also questions the the other rules and if the others have the futures best interest at heart.

Overall, I loved this story and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed other books by Ann Brashares or other popular futuristic YA novels like Uglies, Divergent, and Hunger Games.


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Waiting on Wedensday: Breathe, Anne, Breathe

This link up is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. Every Wednesday bloggers highlight a book that they are eagerly anticipating the release of.

Breathe, Annie, Breathe
Miranda Kenneally
Release Date: July 15th 2014
Good reads

Summary:

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line.

Thoughts:

I loved all the books by Miranda Kenneally that I have already read and this one sound awesome as well. I love that this one is about running. It also sounds like a great plot as Annie deals with her grief and the loss of Kyle and the introduction of Jeremiah's character. If this book is anything like Miranda Kenneally's other books I'm sure it will be amazing.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Book Review: A Life in Stitches

A Life in Stitches: Knitting My Way through Love, Loss, and Laughter
Rachael Herron
Format: Book
Good Reads

Summary:

In these 20 heartfelt essays, Rachael Herron celebrated romance novelist by day, 911 dispatcher by night, and founder of the hugely popular blog Yarnagogo.com shows how when life unravels there s always a way to knit it back together again, many times into something even better. Honest, funny, and full of warmth, Herron s tales, each inspired by something she knit or something knit for her, will speak to anyone who has ever picked up a pair of needles. From her very first sweater (a hilarious disaster, to say the least) to the yellow afghan that caused a breakup (and, ultimately, a breakthrough), every piece has a moving story behind it. This beautifully crafted and candid collection is perfect for the knitter who loves to read and the reader who loves to knit.

Review:

I read this book in about a day in a half when my wrist was hurting. It was the perfect antidote for my inability to knit for a while. I guess reading about another knitter's experience was a good substitute for knitting. I loved that most of the essays take place in Oakland, CA. I live and grew up in the area and my local yarn shop is the same as in the book. It was really interesting to see the local community though the eyes of someone else and relate to the stories. Some of my favorite of the essays were the ones where Rachel Herron talks about the online community of knitters, specifically those who read her blog. I definitely could relate to the closeness and realness of online friends even those you haven't met. One of my favorite thing about the book was that each essay was distinct and complete and perfect little snippet that could be read my it's self or in the book. I would recommend this book to any fellow knitters especially those who like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books.