Matched- Ally Condie

Let me start by saying I have not read The Giver by Lois Lowry {I PROMISE YOU I WILL READ IT, SO DO NOT JUDGE ME JUST YET OK!?} That being said, I hear that this book is sort of a rip off of Lowry's The Giver. I wouldn't know, but what I do know is that I did enjoy this book. It is a dystopia, which I LOVE! There is something about a YA dystopia that just lures me in. I LOVED The Hunger Games 

This is the synopsis on Goodreads.com:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Loved:

• dystopiaaaaa!
• a society where people are matched at the age of 17
• the officials and their gestapo tendencies
• do they fall in love because they were matched, or because they were meant to be?
• book 1 of a planned 3!
• supposed future movie deal... I can just see my students LOVING this
• impending war

Loathed:

• how supposedly Condie's ideas are ripped off of The Giver
• ANOTHER dang love triangle

Really liked it, but it definitely isn't worth 5 hearts. It isn't a ground breaking idea, there are a lot of common literary elements, but it is enjoyable to read. If you can help it, read it don't buy the audio. The audio wasn't terrible, but I think it's better read with your eyes, not listening to the girl and her strange voices!

Up next for me... Matched by Ally Condie! :) Third book out in 2013.



Am I sensing a trend... some sought out sequels in 2013!?!?!

Looking for Alaska- John Green

I bought this book right after finishing The Fault in our Stars also by John Green. I don't know if I was expecting something as great as what I had just finished, but this just didn't do it for me. I think that maybe boys in high school would enjoy this book more than me. I wish I had more to say, but it just didn't leave much for me. Other than the fact that I, like John Green and Miles Halter, now am interested in famous last words.

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

Loved:

• the idea of a Great Perhaps
• the different famous last words throughout the book
• wondering what Miles was counting down to at the beginning of each chapter

Loathed:

• boarding school that has such bad campus living
• irrational pranking
• so much smoking
• sex talked about in a meaningless manner
• storyline went slowly for me

It just wasn't for me. I think maybe some people would really love this book, but there was a lot that just didn't sit well with me. I wouldn't read this again or recommend it.

The Fault in our Stars- John Green

Now that I have finished wiping up my tears, I can finally gather my thoughts enough to say that this was a beautifully, intelligentlly, and emotionally riveting tale of cancer-ridden , star-crossed love. 

Sometimes I get into a slump when reading books. It's easy to continue on the same path of genres until you're mind essentially becomes mush. I did this recently, with the self-inflicted onslaught of new adult romance novels I've been reading. Not saying they weren't interesting, lovely tales, just saying I was in a slump. That is how I came across Fault in our Stars.

You'll notice that this book is written by a... dun dun dun... man! 

I actually would have never noticed while reading the book, because he did such a great job sounding like a cancer infested teenage girl. It is a sad story, but it is refreshing to hear about pain and death the way they really are. Painful. Sad. Not. Fun. The Fault in our Stars made me laugh out loud and cry out loud, and even made me reread parts that were too intelligent for my brain, but nonetheless all of these aspects made me love reading this book so much.

This is the synopsis that I found on Good Reads

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind

Loved:

• the truth in pain and suffering... no sugar coating
• how disease breeds friendship 
• the honesty in conversation
• insightful words to quote by
• star-crossed lovers
• the fact that I laughed and cried out loud
• hope that even living for a little while, is worth living

Loathed:

• how true endings just end, but I guess I get it from reading this book {you shall too...read it}

GREAT BOOK! It is a little most costly than most ebooks, but I guess with great insight you must giveth a little more mula!

View all my reviews on Good Reads {my new empire for books!}

The Vincent Boys- Abbi Glines

This was the second book I read by Abbi Glines. I started out with Breathe and didn't really feel like reading about Marcus falling in love in the second book, Because of Low{Seabreeze series}. Naturally, this led me to browse Abbi Glines' books on Amazon. I came to the conclusion that The Vincent Boys looked promising. 

This book made me feel like the crazy teenager I once was. It reminded me of how much fun being young, reckless, and in love can be. This is one of those love triangles that doesn't annoy you because you will be rooting for the bad boy who may be able to steal her heart.

Here is the synopsis from Abbi Glines' blog:

Being the good girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Ashton Gray has grown weary of playing the part to please her parents, and to be worthy of the town’s prince charming, Sawyer Vincent. Maybe That’s why she’s found herself spending time with Sawyer’s cousin, Beau, while he’s away for the summer camping with his family. Beau is nothing like her perfect boyfriend. He’s the sexiest guy she’s ever seen, dangerous in ways she’s only day dreamed about, and the one guy she should stay away from. 

     Beau never envied Sawyer his loving parents, his big nice home, or his position as quarterback. He loves him like a brother. Which is why he's tried everything in his power to keep his distance from Sawyer’s girlfriend. Even if he has loved her since the age of five, Ashton is Sawyer’s girl, so therefore she’s off limits. But when Sawyer leaves for the summer, Ashton, the one girl Beau would move Heaven and Earth for, decides she wants to get into trouble. Stabbing the one person who’s always accepted him and stood by him in the back, is the cost of finally holding Ashton Gray in his arms. Is she worth losing his cousin over?.... Hell Yeah.

Loved:

• rekindled friendship
• love triangle that is worth reading
• a bad boy in love
• swoon worthy boys {fans herself}
• family being tested
• first in series!

Loathed:

• I didn't know beforehand that the romance was a little more new adult than young adult
• there wasn't much moral on waiting to have sex

I read this book in lighting speed. The best part, was knowing that there was a second book to devour as soon as I finished. I definitely recommend this book for those who would like a light read with some hotttttt romance. 

Make sure to check out The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines

Insurgent- Veronica Roth

This post is LONG overdue, but deserves to be written nonetheless. I want all of you to go out and buy both Diverent and Insurgent ASAP. Finish both books then sit around and wait for book three to come out, whenever it comes out... Veronica Roth's blog doesn't pin an exact date but, we do know it's going to come out eventually!

I bought Insurgent immediately after reading Divergent and I recommend you do the same. It is the second in this already planned YA Dystopian trilogy. As you know, I LOVEEEEE dystopias {The Hunger Games and The Selection :) } because they place me in a world I could have never imagined living in. I love the struggles that come with the society, but am fascinated with the role the main characters usually take in creating a better world for themselves and their future. 

Insurgent picks up right where Divergent ends. It is similar to Mocking Jay in The Hunger Games trilogy with the main similarity being the war waged against the man. I love reading about Tris and Four and I can honestly say I am dying for the third book to come out!

Here is Veronica Roth's synopsis of Insurgent:

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

It's been a while since I finished this book so, I am going to forgo the love and loathe section. I will, however, still rate it because I do remember just how much I liked it. Liked. It. So. Much. Definitely a must read, after you finish The Hunger Games and wonder what to do with your life. ;)

Edit: You may like to read my review on Insurgent also by Veronica Roth.

Eddie & Gavin wishlist {Slammed series}

I cannot stop thinking about the characters in Slammed and Point of Retreat. Will and Lake truly got me feeling all mushy and gushy over love. I mean I just want to lock myself up in my office and write slam poetry about my husband and wish that he would reciprocate the action!

But what I'd really love to see, is Colleen Hoover tell us the story of Eddie and Gavin from the beginning! I want to hear about Eddie's past and how her and Gavin came to be so perfect for each other. Then maybe a second book that tells us what happens during and after the events in Point of Retreat from their POV.

***Don't read on if you don't want spoilers from Slammed or Point of Retreat***

Eddie is a spunky girl who has learned to face the cards she's been dealt. She is the product of a drug addict mother who, after trying to sell her at age 9, loses her daughter to the system. Not that she cared. Eddie is raised by many different families and has many different siblings throughout her time in foster care. Luckily she ends up with Joel at the age of 14, and the poor guy has no clue how to raise, but falls in love for her like any great father love his daughter. Who wouldn't want more than just the snippets in Slammed, to learn about Eddie's trials and tribulations???

Eddie and Gavin are one of the most genuinely in love couples I've read about. They love each other endlessly. Gavin, an 18 year old during Slammed, is spunky enough to write slam poetry to Eddie and recite it in class sans embarrassment. In Point of Retreat they reach a bump {hehe} in their relationship when they find out Eddie is pregnant. They struggle with the realization of being parents at such a young age, especially since they see their friends experience first hand. Gavin has a hard time telling Eddie how he feels about the situation, and doesn't do a great job of helping her through her emotions of being pregnant. Towards the end of the book Eddie is in a car accident and that is when Gavin realizes he loves Eddie and their future baby girl more than anything. At the end of Point of Retreat, Lake and Will let Eddie and Gavin take Lake's mother's house for the next couple of months.

So my thoughts...

Book 1: Learn about Eddie and Gavin, their past, and how their love story unfolds. Maybe end with their pregnancy.

Book 2: How Eddie and Gavin deal with being 19 and pregnant with friends who raise their siblings there to give advice

I'll have to email Colleen and see if maybe just maybe she'll consider this as a book option!?

6 books in 3 days

Thanks to Abbi Glines I was officially up for about 72 hours non-stop reading. Abbi definitely creates page turners, and evokes compulsive midnight purchases in the avid reader. 

I loved feeling young and in love while reading The Vincent Boys series and Breathe. All of her books were just such quick and interesting reads. 

Here are all of Abbi's books published to date {as well as all the books I read in 3 days!}:

• Breathe
• Because of Low
• The Vincent Boys
• The Vincent Brothers
• Existence
• Predestined

I'll go over each and every one of these books in the near future. They are all too recommendable for me to clump into one post.

For now visit Abbi Gline's blog and get acquantied with this indie, young adult author!

ecards that hit home

Enjoy...

Point of Retreat- Colleen Hoover

I just now... like an hour ago... finished this book. It is the second installment of Slammed by Colleen Hoover. Point of Retreat picks up a year after Slammed ends. 

Point of Retreat was, I have to say, even better than Slammed. I actually cried, laughed, and slammed out loud! It was incredible. I love that I feel like the characters are all part of my own extended family. I even feel the need to use key phrases like "butterfly you" or "carving pumpkins." Those of you that have read one or both of these books, will understand what I mean. 

Colleen definitely outdid herself with this book and I really hope she gives us more snippets of Layken and Will on her blog. 

This is the Amazon.com synopsis for Point of Retreat:

Layken and Will's relationship persevered through hardships, heartache and a cruel twist of fate, further solidifying the fact that they belong together.  What they don't expect is that the things that brought them together may ultimately be the very things that tear them apart. 

 Layken is left questioning the very foundation on which their relationship was built.  Will is left questioning how to prove his love for a girl who can't seem to stop "carving pumpkins."Once they find answers, the couple faces an even greater challenge.  One that could change not only their lives, but the lives of everyone who depend on them.

Loved:

• Will and Lake!!! <33333333
• watching the boys grow up from the last book
• Kiersten and Sherry's characters
• sucks and sweets (worst and best part of each day)
• the poetry before each chapter
• Julia, Lake's mother's, grasp on life even after death
• the tragedy that makes a good story
• slams
• the inside jokes that make you feel like a part of the story

Loathed {disliked}:

• the lack of trust and communication that occurs
• that there wasn't as much slam poetry as in Slammed

Jason Mraz's I Won't Give Up is the perfect song to accompany this book. Colleen posted it on her blog, and as soon as I finished Point of Retreat I was compelled to listen to it. It completely and utterly encompasses what this book is about. 

Listen to it on loop while you eat up Point of Retreat!

Go and buy it!!! $3.99 Will. Not. Break. Your. Bank.

Slammed- Colleen Hoover

I most recently finished this series and have to say it was enthralling as well as refreshing. When one is like moi, with the sick habit of consuming books like drugs, it is easy to notice redundancies within genres.

I finished this series after reading eight other Young Adult {YA} and New Adult fictions. Slammed came up as a recommendation through Amazon. I immediately scrolled down to look at reviews, to gauge if I should spend another couple of bucks on a book. Tammara Webber {who wrote the Between the Lines series as well as her latest title, Easy} had a featured review that made my mind for me:

If you're in a reading slump, and you want to try something genuinely unique, unlike anything else out there - here's your book. It sneaks up on you, starting out with one girl (Layken) missing one parent (check). Add quirky little brother (check) and an unwanted move cross country, because of a parental job transfer (check). She arrives at her new destination, and immediately meets cute, charming guy (Will - double check). 

What you don't realize is that this is the end of what you expected...I honestly don't want to tell you any more. Just go read it already. And when you hit that point at about 20% or so that makes you go, "OMFG!" - that's your departure point, right there. Strap in and put your tray in the upright position. Oh, and prepare to buy the sequel (which is out now - lucky you!), because you're gonna want it. As. Soon. As. You. Finish. Reading. 

With Tammara's words I quickly did a 1-click purchase on Amazon for a whopping $2.99 and dug in!

According to Colleen's blog here is what Slammed is about:

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope. 

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after a heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the force that keeps them apart.

Loved:

• great romance with great heartache
• responsible young adults
• resilient mother
• slam poetry!
• swoon worthy hottie
• there is a follow up book {Point of Retreat}
• pride in intelligence
• indie feel

Loathed {disliked}:

• Avett Brothers lyrics... I don't know why they distracted me!
• NOTHING else!

Loved. Loved. Loved this book. It was deep and thoughtful and made me want to write my own slam poetry. I'll follow up with Point of Retreat!

Go buy now: Slammed by Colleen Hoover ebook

Summer have brought thee reading

Since summer began I have completely and utterly given myself to the written word. I can't even count how many books I've read in the past two weeks because I'd have to say it may be over... twenty! {guess we'll see when I make the full-on list in a second}

Obviously this {reading} is my passion, but with great passion comes great procrastination, and no I'm not talking about the growing laundry problem in my household. I speak of the entries on all the books I've read, or really the absence of those aforementioned entries. 

Here is a list of what I have read so far, kind of in chronological order {please don't judge me by my ridiculous amount of contemporary romance books, I get going if there is a series! I'll mark those with a * so that if that's not your cup of tea you don't waste your time} :

• Crazy On You- Rachel Gibson*
• Rescue Me- Rachel Gibson*
• I'm in No Mood For Love- Rachel Gibson*
• Simply Irresistible- Rachel Gibson*
• Maid for Love- Marie Force*
• Fool for Love- Marie Force*
• Ready for Love- Marie Force*
• Falling in Love- Marie Force*
• Season for Love- Marie Force*
• Snow White and the Huntsman- Lily Blake
• The Vow- Kim and Krickitt Carpenter
• Breathe- Abbi Glines
• Because of Low- Abbi Glines
• The Vincent Boys- Abbi Glines
• The Vincent Brothers (book #2 The Vincent Boys series)- Abbi Glines
• Existence- Abbi Glines
• Predestined (book #2 Existence series)- Abbi Glines
• Easy- Tammara Webber
• Callum & Haper- Fisher Amelie
• Thomas & January (book #2 Sleepless series)- Fisher Amelie
• Slammed- Colleen Hoover
• Point of Retreat (book #2 Slammed series)- Colleen Hoover

I plan on writing about most of these. I can quickly say I love Rachel Gibson books, they are contemporary romance novels and are truly fun to read. I enjoyed the Marie Force books but they were too... erotic scandalous... for me {this coming from someone who read all three 50 Shades of Grey books, however I did not run around with a physical copy in my hands for all to see!}. After those first few *** stories, my list moves on to a couple of books that are motion pictures. And finally we get to the great, and I mean GREAT, Young Adult fiction selection I have stumbled upon. That is where I will spend the bulk of my time writing about story lines and wonderfully authors. 

But I insist you get your toes wet by heading over to these sites:

Abbi Glines

Tammara Webber

Fisher Amelie

Colleen Hoover

YA Indie Carnival

For now I will attempt to refrain from browsing on Amazon for what books I may enjoy, and maybe, just maybe go to sleep at a decent. hour. finally.

Divergent- Veronica Roth

I head about Divergent by Veronica Roth through some of my students. It is waitlisted at the public library, and I have a feeling it's going to be the next big thing. It is a dystopian young adult fiction {are you sensing a pattern?} with a female protagonist.

Here is the synopsis from Veronica Roth's Blog:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Loved:

• The class system by apptitude known as factions
• Names of different "factions"
• Story line kept me turning pages
• Romance that isn't a love triangle
• The essence of there being a bigger picture
• The fact that the book was engaging intellectually and superficially
• TRILOGY!

Loathed {disliked}:

• Violence for such young age groups
• The lack of understanding factions before they were to choose one

Overall I am obsessed with this book. I barely disliked any part of it. It kept me reading and wanting to know what was going to happen next. It reminds me a lot of The Hunger Games since it is dystopian and about the youths in a different USA than today.  The second book is called Insurgent, and I 'll have to admit I already finished it, loved it, & cannot wait to write about it! The third book is planned to come out next year, and I am dying to read it.This book is highly recommended! GO AND READ IT!

On a different note, here is next school year's booklist for my reading club. We decided to read "classics" this time around.What should I do for my free read???

·         To Kill a Mockingbird

·         The Great Gatsby

·         Catcher in the Rye

·         Of Mice and Men or The Pearl

·         And Then There Were None

·         Free read of your choice

Speaking of The Great Gatsby, the movie comes out in December! It is directed by the man who gave us Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet {The one with Clare Danes and Leonardo DeCaprio}

I'll leave you with this:

!!!!!