Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, where you talk about whatever book you are IMPATIENTLY WAITING for!

This week I am waiting for...
Heir to the SkyAs heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits—by her duties as a member of the royal family; by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman; and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known—a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft.

When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks, and other terrifying beasts. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.
Release Date: April 26th 2016


Why am I waiting?
This book had me at "heir to a kingdom of floating continent"
What book are you waiting for this week?

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

REVIEW: My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak



My Life with the Walter Boys (My Life with the Walter Boys #1)My Life with the Walter Boys centers on the prim, proper, and always perfect Jackie Howard. When her world is turned upside down by tragedy, Jackie must learn to cut loose and be part of a family again.

Jackie does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy! The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades-the perfect daughter. And then...

Surprise #1: Jackie's family dies in a freak car accident.

Surprise #2: Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters-her new guardians.

Surprise #3: The Walters have twelve sons. (Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)

Now Jackie must trade in her Type A personality and New York City apartment for a Colorado ranch and all the wild Walter boys who come with it. Jackie is surrounded by the enemy-loud, dirty, annoying boys who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She's not stuck-up or boring-no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents' memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?






MY THOUGHTS
This book just recently came to my attention. I'm going to a book convention soon and Ali Novak is on the list of authors attending. I haven't read any of her books, so I decided to pick this one up. I thought it sounded interesting and I enjoyed reading this book.

After Jackie's family dies in a car accident, Jackie is sent away to Colorado. There she will live with the Walters. The thing is, the Walters have twelve sons. Jackie has spent her life in New York, as a rich girl, in an all-girl's boarding school. She's not used to the chaos of the Walters family in Colorado and she doesn't know how to become a part of a new family, when she's still grieving hers.

This book begins sadly, but this book still seems like a feel-good read. My favorite thing about this book is the family relationships. The Walter family feels like an authentic family. I loved how chaotic they were and how close they still were and they just felt like a real family. Honestly, family is a major part of this book. Jackie has to move in with this family without really knowing any of them, except the mother. She's still grieving her family and now she has to deal with another family that's the opposite of hers. And, of course, not everyone is accepting of her at first and she slowly has to become a part of this family.

Jackie as a character is okay. She's not a bad character, but I can't say that she was amazing. You can definitely see her personality show, especially in the beginning. It was mentioned a few times that she was rich, but for some reason I didn't get that vibe. I guess I didn't feel like she acted like she had money, not that that's a bad thing. What I did like about Jackie was how she grew into the Walter family. It was a slow, and hard transition, but I loved seeing her interact and become part of the family. Yeah, I'll say it again, I loved the family aspect in this book.

And, of course, there's romance. I expected the romance. With twelve boys, she's got to develop feelings for at least one of them. But the romance was the main thing I disliked in this book. The boys weren't bad, but all of the drama! I hate drama in books, it always makes me frustrated, so I wasn't a fan of the drama, or how things were dragged out. Also, there's a bit of a love triangle.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did like this book. This is a nice feel-good read and I really did love the Walter family. This book will be having a sequel and despite my issue with the romance, I will be reading it!

I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it.

Top Ten Tuesday: My 5 Stars Reads So Far This Year!

Hosted each week by The Broke and the Bookish, it's a meme for listing the top ten for everything bookish.

This week's top ten is for the ten most recent 5 star reads. Since I've read a little less than ten 5 star reads so far this year, I figured I would just stick to that (rather than digging back into 2015). 

   
What 5 star reads have you read so far this year?

Sunday, March 27, 2016

New Releases in YA! (March 28th-31st)

Every week I list all (or almost all) of the YA books (and the occasional MG) that are coming out within that week!
Here's what you get to look forward to this week:
P.S. Click on the book's cover for the Goodreads page!






What books, if any, do you plan to buy?

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, where you talk about whatever book you are IMPATIENTLY WAITING for!

This week I am waiting for...
Girl Against the UniverseMaguire is bad luck.

No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.

It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.

From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck. 
Release Date: May 17th 2016


Why am I waiting?
This one just seems like a fun read :)
What book are you waiting for this week?

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

REVIEW: Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

Bookishly Ever After

In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary.

But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?






MY THOUGHTS
When I first heard about this book, of course I wanted to read it. It's a contemporary romance for the POV of a booknerd! I thought this book was adorable, though, sadly, it felt like your average contemporary. Just with a few more booknerdiness added.

Phoebe lives for books, and she's perfectly fine with it. But her best friends thinks that Phoebe needs a boyfriend and when it's pointed out to her that her friend Dev might like her, that's all she can think about. Using her books as reference, she tries to win Dev's heart.

I thought this book was pretty cute. I overall enjoyed the book and I was flipping the pages in hope that the two would get together. Of course there were a lot of bookish things in the book! The idea of Phoebe using books as dating advice is interesting and I liked the other bookish things as well (such as the bookish event Phoebe went to). The book also has excerpts from Phoebe's favorite books, which was interesting as well. The pacing in the book, though, was a bit slow. I felt like this book concurred a long period of time within the book and it took awhile for things to speed up. It didn't really pick up until the end, and I actually liked many parts in the last few portions of the book.

I liked Phoebe. She was sweet, shy, and relatable. I had a few issues with her as a character at times though because she felt like an impossible booknerd. She was able to remember complete paragraphs from books! And I'm not referring to the excerpts featured in the book, I mean there are times where she would start thinking about a kissing scene in her favorite book and then relate it word-for-word to us. Seriously. I love to read and I can barely even remember the names of the main characters, let alone entire paragraphs! As for other characters, they were nice too. Though her best friend upset me at times. She was always bugging Phoebe to pick up her book and date guys. I myself would hate it if someone did that to me, even if they're my best friend, because I don't want to date, I'm fine being single. I know that she has the best intentions, but I didn't like how she was forcing this onto Phoebe.

As for romance, it was cute. I liked Dev. I enjoyed how Dev and Phoebe started out as friends. I think the best relationships are when there is friendship involved. Dev wasn't your typical love interest, mainly since he was a normal guy. He wasn't the hottest thing that lived, with sparking eyes and a long line of ex-girlfriends. He was normal and I liked that about him. He was also really sweet to Phoebe and understanding of her booknerdiness.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, this book wasn't as awesome as I expected. This is kind of your typical YA contemporary, just with more booknerdiness. It was cute, with a great love interest, but still a bit predictable at times and just your average contemporary. This might be part of a series, and I'm curious if there will be another book following a different couple. If that does happen, I will be interested.

I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like They Don't Get Enough Love

Hosted each week by The Broke and the Bookish, it's a meme for listing the top ten for everything bookish.

Ello! So, today's topic "Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven't Talked About Enough/In A While", but I'm doing a little bit of twist with books I don't feel like get enough love. I admit that I read a lot of hyped books and just books that many other bloggers talk about. But this post is for the books I just love but either have been forgotten on other blogs in favor of newer books or worse, I never see other bloggers talk about them. So, give these books some love!

1. The Black Mage Series
First Year (The Black Mage, #1)Apprentice  (The Black Mage, #2)Candidate (The Black Mage, #3)
I ship it so hard. Seriously, this is such a fantastic series.

2. Torn Away
Torn Away
I feel like this book got some love when it first came out (2 years ago), but I haven't seen it pop up in the blog world since. I adored this book! It was powerful, heart-wrenching, and this book shouldn't disappear.

3. Claire Legrand
Winterspell (Winterspell, #1)The Cavendish Home for Boys and GirlsThe Year of Shadows
I love Claire Legrand's books, but I never really hear that much about them! Winterspell was reviewed a few times when it first came out, but I never really see the others. The others are MG, so that might be why, but they also seem to have a low amount of ratings on Goodreads. The Year of Shadows has been out for over 2 years, yet there's only 150 reviews of it on Goodreads.


4. The Catastrophic History of You and Me
The Catastrophic History of You and Me
This book came out before I knew about book blogging or even Goodreads, so I have no idea if it was popular on blogs when it first came out, but this book seems to have been forgotten. I myself sometimes forget that this amazing book exists, it's been so long since I've read it. BUT THIS IS AN AMAZING BOOK! I adored everything about this book and, gosh, now I really want to reread it.

5. Broken Skies
Broken Skies (Broken Skies, #1)Fractured Suns (Broken Skies, #2)
A great sci-fi/dystopian that I just never really see on that many blogs

6. Earth & Sky series
Earth & Sky (Earth & Sky, #1)The Clouded Sky (Earth & Sky, #2)A Sky Unbroken (Earth & Sky, #3)
I was looking on Goodreads and there are only 500 ratings for Earth & Sky on Goodreads. That just makes me sad! This is such a great sci-fi series and I thought it was more popular, but I guess not?

7. Poison
Poison
When this book came out, yeah, it was talked about. Mostly people were excited over the pet pig. But then the reviews just stopped and it seems that everyone forgot about this gem. But this book is just the cutest fantasy book I've ever read. Most fantasy books have doom and gloom, but this one just makes you feel happy.

8. The Holders
The Holders (Holders, #1)
Yeah, I never see this one around on blogs, despite the fact that it's amazing! Which reminds me, I need to get to reading the sequel...

9. How to Say Goodbye in Robot
How to Say Goodbye in Robot
I never see this one on blogs. Though this did come out more than 6 years ago, and blogs tend to feature new books more. Still, it's been out for a few years and there are only 7,000 ratings on Goodreads. Sounds like a big number, but there are books that have been out for less then a year and have already accumulated that many ratings. This is such a great book though! It really needs more love!

10. The Dark Light
The Dark Light
A lot of people probably see the horrible cover and walk away, expecting a cheesy paranormal. The tagline in the synopsis even mentions a love triangle! But it's not cheesy and there's not even a love triangle (whoever write that synopsis apparently didn't read the book!). This book definitely surprised me, and it has more fantasy elements than paranormal! Sadly, many people have not looked past the cover. Again, I never hear about it, but it's been out for almost 4 years and there's only 200 reviews up on Goodreads.

Anyway, are there any book you think deserve some love?

Monday, March 21, 2016

REVIEW: Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs



Future Shock (Future Shock, #1)Elena Martinez has hidden her eidetic memory all her life--or so she thinks. When powerful tech giant Aether Corporation selects her for a top-secret project, she can't say no. All she has to do is participate in a trip to the future to bring back data, and she'll be set for life.

Elena joins a team of four other teens with special skills, including Adam, a science prodigy with his own reason for being there. But when the time travelers arrive in the future, something goes wrong and they break the only rule they were given: do not look into their own fates.

Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future from unfolding. With time running out and deadly secrets uncovered, Elena must use her eidetic memory, street smarts, and a growing trust in Adam to save her new friends and herself.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.







MY THOUGHTS
I admit that I have a soft spot for books with time travel. Sure, they're a bit confusing at times, but they are so fascinating. This one wasn't, thankfully, as confusing as previous time travel books I've read and I enjoyed reading it!

Elena Martinez has bounced from foster home to foster home and as she is approaching the age of 18, she'll be kicked out and left on her own. When she's offered an opportunity by a powerful tech company, she can't resist. Not when it means that she can actually have a future. Turns out that she'll get to actually see the future. She, along with a few other teens, will travel to the future, record their findings on the tech there, and return. Sounds easy. Except something goes wrong when they travel to the future. Except the teens can't help but look into what they're own futures are, and what they find out will horrify them.

I had absolutely no clue what this book was about when I picked it up. I make it a rule not to read the synopsis of a book right before reading the book, in case of spoilers. I thought there would be time travel involved, due to the title, but I didn't know for sure. So I was really excited when that bomb dropped! I love time travel in books, especially when folks travel into the future! This book was no different! I thought the time travel was interesting and it was done well. It wasn't a confusing mess like some time travel books. There were some times when I had to tilt my head, but time travel is a strange thing, there's always going to be a little confusion.

The book has strong sci-fi elements, but there's also a lot of mystery. I don't want to say the hows and the whys, as they're spoilers, but there's a lot of mystery elements in this book. It kept me on the edge and it kept me guessing, all throughout the book.

As for characters, I can't say I love any of the characters, but I did like them. Elena is a great MC, but she didn't really strike a chord. She kind of seemed like your average YA MC, except Mexican and with tattoos.  I liked all of the supporting characters. I mainly liked how different the teens were and how they interacting with each other.

As for romance, it didn't wow me, but it also didn't distract from the major plot, so that's good. You could tell right away who the love interest was going to be, though that's the case with most YA, and it just felt it an added romance. *shrug*



IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Again, I love time travel books, so this one was right up my alley. I loved the sci-fi elements and the mystery. There were some things, like characters and romance, that I was just okay with, but overall I think this is a great sci-fi standalone!

I hereby give this book
4 Stars!
Meaning: It was amazing!

Sunday, March 20, 2016

New Releases in YA! (March 21st-27th)

Every week I list all (or almost all) of the YA books (and the occasional MG) that are coming out within that week!
Here's what you get to look forward to this week:
P.S. Click on the book's cover for the Goodreads page!





What books, if any, do you plan to buy?