Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that showcases our most wanted upcoming releases.



"The Catastrophic History of You & Me" by Jess Rothenberg

Release Date: January 17th, 2012

BRIE'S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

* From Goodreads

This one sounds so unique! I can't wait to get my hands on it :0)

Top Ten Tuesday

I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Every Tuesday they post their top ten lists on different bookish topics.

This weeks Top Ten is dedicated to the sequels we are dying to read :0)

Top Ten Sequels I am Dying to Read!

1. Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins, because Demonglass was made of complete Awesome, and that ending! (I am so fangirly for this series, this book needs to be out right now!)

2. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, the first book was sooo good, but the real truth is that I just want to spend more time with Tucker :0)

3. A Million Suns by Beth Revis, Across the Universe was the most fun I've ever had trapped on a space ship!

4. The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead, the ending of Bloodlines has me totally pining for this one. I love me some Richelle Mead.

5. A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton, the first in the series was one of my favorite books of 2011.

6. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, again the ending, what is with all of these amazing books with crazy cliffhanger endings. Torture!

7. Perception by Kim Harrington, I really enjoyed the mystery of the first one and am looking forward to reading more about these characters.

8. The Vision by Jen Nadol, it feels like it's been forever since I read the first one, but I really liked it and can't wait to find out what happens next.

9. Awake at Dawn by C.C. Hunter, I don't what it is about this series, but the first book just had me hooked. I loved the MC and the world the characters were living in.

10. The Rivals by Daisy Whitney, the first one kicked butt and I can't wait to see what the Mockingbirds get up to next!

There are plenty that have already been released that I am totally dying to read, but I'm sooo behind!

"Perfect Chemistry" by Simone Elkeles

Release Date: December 2008
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.  In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

This book had been on my radar for a while, and I have been hearing so many great things about this series recently, so I finally managed to get my hands on a copy and dive right in. This was good stuff. So good. It starts out as your typical story, boy from the wrong side of the tracks and snobby rich girl, they get thrown together in school and can't stand each other. Of course they aren't your typical bad boy and rich girl and we get to come along while they figure each other out. I don't know much about gang life and honestly I think it would scare the crap out of me to be so close to it, but this book definitely makes you wonder about what's really going on inside of some of those gang members. Don't judge a book by it's cover is the perfect analogy for the characters in this book. And I'm not just talking about our main characters. Alex and Brittany's worlds are filled with people who end up surprising you. I really liked the fact that even though all of these kids started out as stereotypes, the author was able to show that not all teenagers are superficial and cruel. You can find a friend anywhere as long as you are willing to get to know a person. Can I just say that the couple of scenes, involving Gary Frankel at the school, had me laughing so hard. That was hilarious.

I don't know what it is about a bad boy, but Alex Fuentes had me from the start. He was so different from the way people assumed he was, but he worked so hard at being tough so no one would ever know it. I felt for him, because he was always trying to do best by his family, even though it didn't seem like they always appreciated it. Brittany's life made me really sad. She was popular, pretty and rich, but her life at home was so lonely. She perfected perfection so well that most of her friends didn't even really know her. I really liked that we were shown how devoted she was to her sister, so she never truly felt like the perfect, snobby, rich girl she tried so hard to pretend to be. And the tension between these two, WOW! That was some hot stuff. I'm sure the whole forbidden thing made it feel even hotter, but damn Ms. Elkeles can write some palpable sexual tension. *Pant,pant* Moving on...

I really liked the fact that this didn't have an easy, happy ending. Some serious stuff went down in this book and it was a rough journey to the end. When things are hard and the good stuff has to be earned it makes the story seem that much more real. I'm so excited that this is a series and I can read more of the Fuentes brothers. I waited so long to pick up this first one and now I don't want to put them down until I've read all three. Great story, romantic, sexy and realistic. Definitely recommended!

Labor Day Giveaway!

In honor of this three day holiday weekend, in which I'm sure many of you have been reading tons of books and blogs, I've decided to have a little contest.

Up for grabs, for one lucky winner, one copy each of:

"Bloodlines" by Richelle Mead

&

"Love Story" by Jennifer Echols

*To enter fill out the form here
*You must be a follower of the blog, to enter

*The contest deadline is September 20th, 2011

*One entry per person

*Contest is open to the U.S.

*You must be 13 years or older

Good Luck Everybody :0)

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It's a weekly showcase of the contents of our mailboxes!

For Review:

"Crave" by Melissa Darnell

"Swear" by Nina Malkin

Bought:

"Dead Beautiful" by Yvonne Woon

"Swoon" by Nina Malkin

The Vampire Diaries: Complete Second Season (not a book, but still...SQUEE!!)



Borrowed:

"Perfect Chemistry" Simone Elkeles

What did you get in your mailbox this week?!? :0)

"Between" by Jessica Warman

Release Date: August 2nd, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Walker Publishing Company
Age Group: Young Adult

Elizabeth Valchar --- pretty, popular and rich --- wakes up the morning after her 18th birthday on the yacht where she’d been celebrating with her closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, she finds her own drowned body is hitting the side of the boat. Liz is dead. She has no memory of what happened to her, and can only observe in horror the fallout of her death.

She’s also soon joined by Alex Berg, a quiet boy from her high school who was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The two keep each other company, floating in and out of memories and trying to piece together the details of what happened to each of them.

In her regular life, Liz was a runner. It wasn’t abnormal for her to run 8-10 miles per day. But as memories from closer to her death begin to surface, Liz finds that she’d been running much more than normal, and that she’d all but stopped eating. Liz’s mother, who died when Liz was nine, had battled with anorexia as well, and those around her worried that Liz was following in her mother’s footsteps. But something more sinister was consuming Liz from the inside out...

I'm not always up for mysteries. I like them, but they aren't usually my first choice. What drew me to this one, was that the main character was a "ghost" trying to figure out the mystery of her own death. The very beginning of the book starts out with her not even realizing she is dead, but once she realizes she is joined by a former classmate who died the year prior and they start trying to piece together exactly what happened to Liz. I can't say specifically that I liked or disliked Liz, because the afterlife Liz grew on me, but Liz from her living years was absolutely terrible. There is some growth in the afterlife Liz, because as she is looking back at her life via her memories and Alex's, she realizes how awful she had been to people and definitely acknowledges the wrongness of her behavior. I liked that the author was able to give the character new depth even though she was technically dead. I can't really say too much about Alex, because we never truly get to know him. We see bits and pieces of his memory, but this wasn't his story, so we only scratch the surface on his character. I felt the most for Liz's dad and her boyfriend Richie. The two of them went through the most after she died, her father definitely more so, but it was interesting to see the ways they handled themselves after. Richie, the notorious school drug dealer, gave up the bad and took up running. Her father, the workaholic, gave up work and took to drinking and smoking. I always find the way grief is written for different characters to be fascinating, because it is one thing that is truly individual.

My favorite part about the story was they "memory hopping". I liked that we learned about Liz's life along with her, by going in and out of different memories. We got to see bits and pieces of her past played against her world going on without her. I also thought it was really cool that her and Alex could share memories with each other if they wanted to. The mystery, surrounding Liz's death, didn't start to become obvious to me until close to the end of the book. I couldn't decide with any conviction what I thought had happened. Some of the other twists in the book were a little easier to spot, but even they kept me guessing for at least half the book. I thought the story was very well written and everything was wrapped up nicely. It gives hope for those left standing.

Oh, and the cover is soooo Pretty :0)