Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, where bloggers talk about highly anticipated titles.

This week I wanted to talk about a book that I want. I mean WANT. Like IF I DON'T READ THIS SOON I MIGHT DIE. Not to be overly dramatic of course.


"Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite."

Title: Hold Still
Author: Nina LaCour
Format: Paperback
Release Date: October 15th, 2009
Publisher: Dutton
Source: RAK
Pages In This Edition: 230
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

On the Cover:

Beyond the Cover:

Summary (from Goodreads):

"dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can't.

Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend's suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn't die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid's descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid - and Caitlin herself."

Review:

For me this is a hard book to put words to my feelings. They way this story is told is prefect in so many ways, it's hard to describe. Just the way she talks about Ingrid is heartbreakingly realistic.

It's hard to ignore this book. You put it down but you can't get the story out of your head. Even when you are doing other "more important things", all you want to do is sit down and finish this book, so you can know how the story ends. And the way the story ends will not disappoint you.

And that's probably what I liked most about this novel. The ending. It's just so satisfying in a way that books that usually deal with this kind of subject matter fail at. That's why I read this kind of book; I'm just looking for great ending like the one in Hold Still.

In addition to the great ending, LaCour manages to give a great plot in conjunction with amazing characters. (Even the supporting characters manage to develop and change throughout the book.)

So if you love a good heartfelt read, I would recommend you give this one a try!

What would Sunday be without an In My Mailbox? (Hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren of course. :) )
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme where bloggers talk about the books they've bought, borrowed, or received for review.

This week for me was pretty good! I won a Black Friday giveaway!

These are the books I got: (Ebooks):
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
2. The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
3. Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
4. Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon



That's all for me! What did you get in your mailbox? Just leave a comment letting me know or a link to your IMM and I'll be sure to check it out. :)

--Alexis

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a very happy Thanksgiving! I hope you even got to read a little bit too. I know one thing I'm thankful for this year: everyone who reads this blog! :)

--Alexis

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over @ Breaking the Spine where bloggers talk about highly anticipated titles! I haven't done one in a long while but I decided I would start again. :)


"Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18B. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it."

It's IMM time again folks! In My Mailbox is a weekly meme where book bloggers talk about the books that they have bought, borrowed, or received for review in a week. As always, IMM is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.

This past week was huge for me. And I mean HUGE.

So instead of posting a picture for each book that I got, I decided that taking a group picture would be more efficient.... :D






1. The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
2. Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber
3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
4.Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold
5. Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
6. Switched by Amanda Hocking (ARC)
7. Hmmm... Switched by Amanda Hocking (ARC)
8 . A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber

Not Pictured (Ebooks):
1. Crossed by Allie Condie
2. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
3. Wither by Lauren DeStefano

That's all for me this week! What did you get in your mailbox? Just leave a comment letting me know or a link to your IMM and I'll be sure to check it out. :)

--Alexis

It's IMM time again! :) In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where bloggers talk about the books that they've bought, borrowed, or received for review.

This week for me was full of library stuff! (I <3 the library. Sometimes I wonder what I would even do without it.)

Here's what I got:

AudioBooks:



And that's all for me this week! What did you get in your mailbox? Just tell me in the comments or leave a link to your IMM and I'll be sure to check it out. Also, do you like audiobooks? I happen to be a fan, but I know some people don't care for them. I'm just curious. :)

--Alexis

Title: Burned
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 28th, 2006
Publisher: Margaret McElderry
Source: Amazon.com
Pages In This Edition: 532
Rating: 3/5 Stars

On the Cover:


Beyond the Cover:

Summary from Goodreads:

"Raised in a religious -- yet abusive -- family, Pattyn Von Stratten starts asking questions -- about God, a woman's role, sex, love. She experiences the first stirrings of passion, but when her father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control. Pattyn is sent to live with an aunt in the wilds of Nevada to find salvation and redemption. What she finds instead is love and acceptance -- until she realizes that her old demons will not let her go."


Review:


I don't really know what to say about this one. I guess I could start out by saying I LOVE ELLEN HOPKINS. I think she is an awesome person and I love most of her other books. (Identical is my favorite.) But this one didn't really do much for me.


Her verse is awesome as always. The words seem to flow off the page and the way the shapes and rhythms add to the story-line didn't disappoint. The characters didn't really disappoint either, though I thought sometimes that Pattyn missed obvious conclusions to her problems, I guess her upbringing made up for some of that. Plus she really was a like-able character that had me rooting for her.


The main issue I had with this one was  the ending; the beginning and the in between were  pretty good. Maybe not as fast paced as I would have liked, but full of romance and suspense enough to keep me reading. The ending...was lacking. I don't want to say much because I don't want to give it away, but I just can't believe how....I guess the word I could use here is abrupt. And just sucky. :/ I'm sorry to say it kind of ruined the book for me. The middle was good enough to make up for the end somewhat, but not completely. 


So I would say if you like verse you may want to give it a try (maybe you'll like the ending more), but if you really want a good verse novel, I would read Identical or Impulse any day.


--Alexis

It's time for another In My Mailbox, a weekly meme where bloggers showcase the books that they've bought, borrowed, or received for review. As always, IMM is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.

For me this week, I won one book. But I'm very excited about this book (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!).

And this book I won is.......

THE IRON KNIGHT BY JULIE KAGAWA!


That's all for me this week! What did you get in your mailbox? Tell me in the comments or leave a link to your IMM and I'll be sure to check it out. :)

--Alexis

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 27th, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: RAK (Aparajita @ Le' Grande Codex)
Pages In This Edition: 452
Rating: 4/5 Stars (More like a 4.5...)

On the Cover:

Beyond the cover:

Summary from Goodreads:


Review:

I had HUGE expectations going into this one. HUGE. I've seen so many amazing things about this book around blogs, and the buzz for the last three months leading up to the release date was just insane. Everyone wanted their hands on this one. So when Aparajita @ Le' Grande Codex was kind enough to send me the book, I was so excited I might have burst. Really. It was a close one.


I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed. Now I'm not going to flip out and say that this was my favorite book of all time, or even of this year. But The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is definitely worth your time and attention.


The plot is great! You never know what's happening until it's happening. The main question surrounding Mara has you going back and forth; you think you know what you're seeing, you think you know what's going on, but then the truth is revealed you realize that even if you had figured out some of it, all of it is just beyond your reach.

The main reason I enjoyed the book though is because of the male protagonist: Noah Shaw. He is one of the best male characters I've read in a long time. Though he is amazingly charming and handsome and dream-worthy, he also has some depth. (I've noticed that most of the male protagonists in YA lately have been lacking in any other trait besides being gorgeous.) So I was happy to see that Noah had his own opinions, his own story, and especially, his own backbone! The British accent didn't exactly have be turning away either....

The only thing I had a problem with in this book was Mara herself. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like she has problems making some simple conclusions. Sure the plot had some twists had even had me guessing, but there were some things that seemed easy to figure out that Mara couldn't see. I might be being too picky here.

Overall, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a great read with heart-pounding action, and a guy that I certainly wished I had in my back-pocket. ;)

--Alexis

This month I was happy to be included in an amazing program full of awesome people called RAK (Random Acts of Kindess) hosted by Book Soulmates. This is where bloggers and readers get together to share books and to just be awesome.

For this month I didn't have an opportunity to give at all (my family is going to a tough time because my mother doesn't have a job at the moment.) So I'm very happy to give a shout out to all the people that decided they wanted to send me a truly amazing act of kindness.

The first RAK I received was an ebook of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. (AMAZING BY THE WAY. REVIEW COMING SOON!) Aparajita @ Le' Grande Codex sent it. Thanks so much!

Then I received an ARC copy of Bitter End by Jennifer Brown from Rachel McWilliams. I was so excited to receive this. Thanks Rachel!


Finially Lilly Reader sent me a copies of Hold Still by Nina LaCour, and Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols! Thanks to you too Lilly. :)

I want to thank everyone who helped make this October one of the best birthday months of my life. I hope  I'll soon have the money to send other people some RAK's too!

--Alexis