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Feature & Follow Friday (#18)

7/26/2013


The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read.


This week's Question:

What do you do with your books after you’re done reading them?

Much to my husband's dismay I keep them.  I have boatloads of books that are all over the house.  I will say I have been better about getting rid of my books by trying to swap them out on things like Paperback Swap, but I still haven't figured out what to do about the ARCs.  I've been thinking about a category on my Trade/Giveaway list that has "Read Once" heading, but I haven't gotten that far yet.  Plus some of my ARCs are signed, and personalized.  I have no clue what to do with those other than to just toss them?  These are ARCs where I own the finished copy in some format, be it print or an ebook.  Whatever I decide, I desperately need to find a home for books that I have read, that I will probably never read again.


"Waiting On" Wednesday (#22) Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

7/24/2013

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:
Side Effects May Vary by
Expected publication: March 18th 2014 by HarperCollins/ Balzer + Bray



From Goodreads: 
What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most?

Julie Murphy’s SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.


Why I'm Waiting:
This sounds so different from other books I've read.  Yes I have read a lot of "cancer books", or books about death, but this looks like a totally unique take on all of that.  The main character is horrible to some people thinking she never has to deal with the consequences, and then she does.  I can't wait to see how it's all resolved and if she is a character I can get behind. 

Lazy Days of Summer Spontaneous Hop! Win 3 Books!

7/23/2013



 I am so happy there is another hop! My giveaway list just keeps growing, so for this hop I am giving away up to 3(!) books on my giveaway trade list.  Because I'm mailing these out myself, U.S. only please.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaser and Top Ten Tuesday (#18) 07/23/13


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 




From pg.47 of an ARC*

"Just when I'm sure that if I take a saliva sample from Skye's mouth it will come back with Henry's DNA, I say, "Okay, enough."

*This is and ARC copy.  Page number and quotes may not be the same in the finished copy.


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
 
Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make You NOT pick up a book

Eeks, this is HARD.  I pretty much will give anything a shot.  I love my contemporaries, but if you look at what I read, it's got everything on it.  I most important factor going into what I read, would be how others have viewed it.  Rarely am I the first to review or rate a book.  It's happened, but it's rare.  I read what looks good to me, and then what everyone is saying is awesome.  But here are things that I would be reluctant to read a book:

 1. Males as the main character.

This is of course not always the case, but I am much slower to pick up a book where the main character is male.  Maybe that makes me horrible, but I just tend not to like these books as much.
 2. Short Stories

I do not like anthologies of short stories.  Way too often they just leave me hanging.  I like a full book to get into the characters and their stories.  With short stories, I'm usually disappointing.
 3. Sci-Fi/Space

I have read some awesome Sci-Fi books, but they are usually not my favorites. I'm usually really reluctant to pick one up.
 4. Low Rated Books

I look at the overall rating of a book before I ever pick it up.  If a lot of people don't like it, I doubt I will be the only one who will.  If it has less than a 3.5 rating on good-reads, I will have to REALLY want to read it before I ever pick it up. My time is too valuable to waste on bad books.
5. Religious books

I am not very religious, and I usually don't like books that harp on God or other such religious things.  I have read exactly one decent book that was considered "religious".  It's just not worth my time to read these types of books because I won't like then and won't rate them fairly.
 6. Two-Strike books

This refers to authors.  I will give each author two maybe three books for me to enjoy the books or their writing.  After that, I'm not going to read any more of their books.  It's not fair to me, or to them.  These could be perfectly lovely books, but I just didn't like the book or the writing. 
7. Too Young

I usually like books where the MC is between 16-18.  Younger than that can be very iffy for me.  I usually don't like it, so I'll avoid those books.



 8. Zombies

I have learned that Zombies are just not my favorite thing.  Unless a book is getting fantastic buzz, I will not be quick to pick up a zombie book.
9. Fairies

Like Zombies, I am not very quick to pick up a book about fairies.  I find them kind of annoying.




10. Fantasy

Once again, fantasy books are just not something I will pick up first.  I enjoy many dystopian books, which can be considered fantasy, but as a whole, flat out fantasy novels are just not my thing.







It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 07/22/13

7/22/2013


This weekly recap is hosted by Shelia of One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and the kidlit version is hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts. Each week we recap what we’ve read and look at what’s coming up this week.

I broke away a bit from my typical YA read this week with some Adult and NA.  I will be on track with my YA this week.

 

Finished Reading:

Escape Theory (Keaton School #1) by
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by
Faking It (Losing It #2) by

 

Currently Reading:

My Life After Now by

 

What I'm Reading Next:

The Distance Between Us by




"Waiting On" Wednesday (#21) The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman

7/17/2013

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:
The Glass Casket by
Expected publication: February 11th 2014 by Delacorte Press


From Goodreads:
Death hasn’t visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders’ bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.

Rowan’s village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan’s door once again.

Only this time, its appetite is insatiable.


Why I'm Waiting:
This looks awesome.  I love the title, I love the cover.  I can't wait to hear more about this book.  Random House has really been hitting it out of the park lately with their books.

Teaser and Top Ten Tuesday (#17) 07/16/13

7/16/2013


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 



OCD Love Story by

From pg. 1

So when the power goes out, I don’t do much of anything except try to avoid the horny high school guys trying to feel up girls in the dark.  I go to dances at Smith-Latin Boys’ Academy two, maybe three times a year, but nothing like this has ever happened before.


What a great 2nd paragraph!  I can't wait to read more.  Read it for free this week at PulseIt.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
 
Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

This is actually kind of a hard topic for me.  Many of my favorite authors are already hugely popular, so even though I think they deserve all the recognition they get, everyone pretty much knows about them.  Even if they haven't read any of their books, any fan of YA knows who Meg Cabot, John Green, and Sarah Dessen are.  Even Ally Carter seems to have a HUGE following.  These authors have plenty of recognition.  So I had to think of some of my favorite books.  I had to take out anyone who I've only read one book by, even if I loved it.  I also excluded anyone who I've read their entire series, and I may have loved it, but I don't know if I'll like their work outside of the series.

So I present to you, my list of authors who's books I like/love and I look forward to reading and deserve more recognition.

1. Rachel Hawkins
She is probably right on the edge of being as recognized as she should be, but she is just not quite at the Ally Carter level.  If you haven't read any of her books, I really suggest you fix that right away.  Also, follow on twitter.  She is a riot.

2. Elizabeth Scott
She just writes great contemporary books.  Enough that I've bought almost all of them.  I haven't read them, but I'm willing to buy what she writes.  I need to have an Elizabeth Scott marathon at some point.




 
3. E. Lockhart
O.K. I cheated on this one a bit.  I haven't read anything outside the Ruby Oliver series.  But I have her other books, and I've heard amazing things about them.  I fully intent to read her new book due out next year?!


 4.  Jennifer Echols
I have a lot of contemporary on my list because I love contemporary.  I think more of it needs to be written.  There is also a lot of bad contemporary out there.  Jennifer Echols is never bad.  I have everything she has ever written. She is one of my favorites.
 5. Jennifer E. Smith
I mentioned it when I wrote my review for This is What Happy Looks Like.  She is the most Sarah Dessenish author I have come across.  I just love everything she has written.  Her books are so well written and have so many levels, I can't wait to read anything she puts out.  
 6. Kieran Scott/Kate Brian
I like most everything she writes under both names, and I've read pretty much everything she has put out.  In general she just writes fun, cute contemporary reads.  Some have more depth than others, but they are all good.  I can't wait to read what she puts out next.
 7. Kimberly Derting
I loved the Body Finder series, and she is keeping up the awesome with her Pledge series.  I'm sad there are no more body finder books in the works, but I look forward to all her future projects.
 8. Leila Sales
I really enjoyed her first two books, and I have the ARC of her newest book that comes out in Sept.  More people need to read her very cute contemporaries.
9.  Morgan Matson
Another contemporary author who I think more people need to read.  Her books just stay with you forever. 

10. Cyn Balog
Always different, always unique Cyn Balog's books are different from anything else I have read.  Plus they have stayed with me for a long time.  I've only read a few of her books, I need to read more.