Thursday, November 13, 2014

ARC Review: Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publishing Date: October 14th, 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 368 pgs
ISBN: 9780062293695
Source: borrowed from fellow blogger for an honest review



Summary from Goodreads:

When Julia Buchanan enrolls at St. Anne's at the beginning of junior year, Charlotte Ryder already knows all about the former senator's daughter. Most people do.. or they think they do. Charlotte certainly never expects she'll be Julia's friend. But almost immediately, she is drawn into the larger than-life-new girl's world- a world of midnight rendezvous, dazzling parties, palatial vacation home, and fizzy champagne cocktails. And then Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia's handsome older brother, Sebastian.
But behind her self-assured smiles and toasts the future, Charlotte soon realizes that Julia is still suffering from a tragedy. A tragedy that the Buchanan family has kept hidden... until now. 

My Review:

I was excited to be a part of the blog tour for this book and when fellow Ottawa blogger, Kathy lent me this book I was really happy to read it. It's got a very summer time feel to it with a story about best friends. I really liked watching the relationship between Julia and Charlotte grow and enfold. They start off as stranger and quickly become entangled in each other's lives. Well, I would say that Charlotte becomes more enfolded in Julia's life than the other way around. It seems very easy for Charlotte to become integrated into the Buchanan family. She wants to throw herself into the relationship and the family welcomes her in with open arms. I would say that this is not just a story about BFFs and more of a story about one girl falling in love with an entire family. 
I have to admit that I can very much relate to this. High school Meaghan got very involved with her BFF's family. I was at her house every weekend without fail and was even invited to her father's second wedding. Unfortunately over the years, we have lost touch but sometimes I don't just miss her but miss her family. I wonder where they are and what they're up to. Facebook helps the creeper in me keep me connected. I think that when you are close with someone you become close with the people they are close to. I think this is something that YA is missing sometimes and I was really impressed with the story that Philpot was able to weave together. It wasn't just a story about best friends but a story about all kinds of relationships. 
I also really liked reading about the familial connections in the book. The whole Buchanan family had a place in the story. The parents were what you would imagine a senator and a wife to be like but they also surprised me sometimes. Their tenderness towards their children was sweet but their overprotectiveness was also frustrating at times. I just wanted to let them know that they weren't doing any one any favours by hovering around the periphery all the time. The siblings were well-rounded and I can see why Charlotte was fond of each of them. 
I enjoyed the story line with a bit of mystery involved. I kind of figured it out but I was never 100% sure if that's what was going on. I think that you are supposed to have it sort of figured out because it helps to understand the character development in the book. 
If I'm honest I think that some people may not respond well to the ending of this book. I personally thought it was well done and well written. I know that many people don't enjoy the epilogue and the ending has this feeling about it. Sometimes I think the epilogue wraps up some questions you may be having and leaves you feeling more settled about the finale. 
Overall I quite liked this book. Philpot writes her characters well and to me that to be able to do this isn't always the easiest thing. If you have great characters they will drive the plot. I would definitely suggest reading this book- perhaps on a beach. 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

ARC Review: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Publisher: Quirk Books
Publishing Date: September 23rd, 2014
Genre: Horror, Adult
Pages: 243 pgs
ISBN: 9781594745263
Source: Received from the publisher for an honest review (Thank you Eric!)



Summary from Goodreads:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking. To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they'll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination. A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstor comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk's labyrinthine showroom. 

My Review:

Ok, where do I start with this review? Firstly, let me begin by saying that my family is IKEA-centric. My aunt was a big honcho there and my sister is currently a manager there so we always joke around with them about so many things. Well, as soon as I got this book from Quirk Books I had to send a picture to my sister. The book is unique in the sense that it is shaped like a catalogue, looks like a catalogue on the cover and flaps and it also has very fun design elements throughout the book. 
It is essentially a horror story set in an IKEA-esque type furniture store. Every night when the workers come to open the store there are things broken or in the wrong place. In order to figure out what is going on the floor manager enlists a couple workers to stay overnight to find out what is going on. As the night goes on it becomes clear that something supernatural is going on. 
I have to say that I was pretty excited to read this book. I enjoyed it while I was reading it and found it intriguing. It was creepy and I really wanted to find out more about what was going on. 
As I continued reading I kept thinking that this would make a great movie. I would love to see how they'd pull it all together. I am a bit of a scary movie enthusiast. I find movies scare me way more than reading. When reading, it takes me a lot of really freak me out. This was the case with this book. I liked it and it was entertaining but it didn't super scare me. 
I also finished the book wishing they had explained more. It felt like I had too many questions left at the end of this book. I can why the book ended the way it did but it seemed like there were too many loose ends. I'd be interested to see if there is going to be another book. 
Overall, I liked it and it was a good story for October. If you like creepy things then this is for you. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Blog Tour: Q & A with author Chelsey Philpot (Even in Paradise)



Today I am lucky enough to participate in the Even in Paradise blog tour. This is a novel by Chelsey Philpot which I enjoyed very much. (Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for my review.)

To start here is a summary of the novel from Goodreads.

Charlotte certainly never expects she'll be Julia's friend. But almost immediately, she is drawn into the larger-than-life new girl's world- a world of midnight rendezvous, dazzling parties, palatial vacation homes, and fizzy champagne cocktails. And then Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia's handsome older brother, Sebastian. But behind her self-assured smiles and toasts to the future, Charlotte soon realizes that Julia is still suffering from a tragedy. A tragedy that the Buchanan family has kept hidden... until now. 
When Julia Buchanan enrolls at St. Anne's at the beginning of junior year, Charlotte Ryder already knows all about the former senator's daughter. Most people do... or they think they do. 

During this blog tour you will see reviews, interviews, guest posts and top ten lists. Fortunately I got to interview the author. Chelsey has a very kind heart and helped me out a jam when my naughty puppy knocked my friend's signed ARC into the bathtub. Did I mention it was signed? I was super impressed. Anyhow if you'd like to know a little more than that here is her bio:

Chelsey Philpot grew up on a farm in New Hampshire and now works as an editor and journalist. She's written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Slate, and numerous other publications. Like her main character, Charlotte, Chelsey attended boarding school in New England. You can visit her online at www.chelseyphilpot.com or on Twitter @ChelseyPhilpot

Now, without further ado, here is my interview with this wonderfully kind writer of incredible things.

1. What inspired you to write this story?
The long answer to this question is a series of rambling thoughts that I may never fuse into a cohesive whole. The short answer is this: EIP was inspired by Great Gatsby, Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, and the realization that it’s possible to fall in love with an entire family.



2. Which character do you relate to most?
I would have to say that I relate most to Julia and Charlie both. Like Julia, I can be impulsive (I recently went skydiving on a Tuesday morning just because I’d never been), but like Charlie I am a listener, an observer, a solver of problems. Charlie could look at what most people would call a mess of junk and imagine how it could be turned into art. I look at a mess of thoughts, fragments, images, and ideas and imagine how they could become a story.

3. What are some of your favourite books/authors?
Growing up, I adored Roald Dahl to the point of obsession. Today, I admire and am inspired by too many authors to mention. However, I can say that Ralph Waldo Emerson has been a constant love.
In high school, I carried a hardcover collection of his essay on a backpacking trip through Maine’s 100 Hundred Mile Wilderness, and in college I wrote my senior thesis on how Emerson’s philosophy has been appropriated and falsely interpreted by self-help books. I worked as a waitress the summer before my senior year, and I’d bring a self-help title in to research during slow shifts. I’m pretty sure my coworkers were worried that I was secretly unhinged because I had a new book every few days.


4. When you're not writing what do you love doing?
I have always had a hard time being still (quite the predicament for someone whose career requires her to be at a desk much of the time), so when I’m not writing I need to be moving. I walk everywhere. Swim from May to October. I love mucking about on my parents’ farm, visiting the latest collection of animals. I hike. I travel. And I go out dancing whenever I can. I figure, that if I’m very good in this life, maybe I’ll come back as a ballerina in the next one.

5. What is your bookish pet peeve?
Censorship. I was lucky to grow up reading what I wanted to read. If a book was too mature for me, well then most of the content went over my head. That I had the option to read freely and widely is why I am who I am today. Books help us develop imaginations.

I love these answers! A HUGE thank you to Chelsey for answering them. I really appreciate it.

Even in Paradise was out last week on the 14th of October. Go out and pick up a copy today.
You can also buy a signed copy through River Run Bookstore.

Also, don't forget to check out the rest of the blogs on the tour:

October 13th: Kathy - A Glass Of Wine - Interview
October 14th: Siobhan - Conversations Of A Reading Addict - Review
October 15th: Emilie - Emilie’s Book World - Guest Post
October 16th: Ambur - Burning Impossibly Bright - Review
October 17th: Lily -  Lily’s Book Blog - Interview/Character Interview
October 20th: Shilpa - SukasaReads - Review
October 21st: Sabrina - Hiver et Café - Top 5 or 10
October 22nd: Meaghan -  Feeling A Little Bookish - Interview/Character Interview
October 23rd: Ciara - Lost At Midnight Reviews -  Review
October 24th: Jess - Read My Breath Away - Review

Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday: Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:

Publisher: The Dial Press
Publishing Date: October 21st, 2014
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Women's Fiction
Pages: 400 pgs
ISBN: 9780812993868


Summary from Goodreads:
Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) has stars in her eyes. She and her daughter, Minnie, have joined husband Luke in LA—city of herbal smoothies, multimillion-dollar yoga retreats, and the lure of celebrity. Luke is there to help manage the career of famous actress Sage Seymour—and Becky is convinced she is destined to be Sage’s personal stylist, and go from there to every A-list celebrity in Hollywood! But things become complicated when Becky joins the team of Sage’s archrival. How will charming and supportive Luke deal with this conflict? Is it possible that what Becky wants most will end up hurting those she loves most? Shopaholic fans old and new will devour Sophie Kinsella’s newest adventure!

I'm happy to see a new Shopaholic book. While I like her stand alone novels better, there's just something hilariously refreshing about Becky Bloomwood-Brandon.

Happy Reading! 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publishing Date: October 21st, 2014
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Pages: 416 pgs
ISBN: 9780545424967

Summary from Goodreads:
The third installment in the mesmerizing series from the irrepressible, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

This is my favourite YA series to date. Stiefvater is a genius and if you haven't started this series yet please do! This is the third in the series. 

Happy Reading! 
 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: October 14th, 2014
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Pages: 416 pgs
ISBN: 9780345544926

Summary from Goodreads:
Throughout her blockbuster career, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult has seamlessly blended nuanced characters, riveting plots, and rich prose, brilliantly creating stories that “not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us” (The Boston Globe). Now, in her highly anticipated new book, she has delivered her most affecting novel yet—and one unlike anything she’s written before.

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers.
Jodi Picoult is an auto-buy for me. I know some people don't like her writing style but I have no complaints. 

Happy Reading! 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

My October TBR- a little late

Well I decided to try my hand at an October TBR and it's a vlog to boot. Let me know what you think!

Happy Reading.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

ARC Review: Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publishing Date: September 30th, 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 368 pgs
ISBN: 9781481407090
Source: Received for an honest review from the publisher



Summary from Goodreads:
In this lyrical, heartwrenching story about a forbidden first love, a teen seeks the courage to care for another girl despite her small town’s bigotry and her father’s violent threats.

Growing up in conservative small-town New Mexico, fifteen-year-old Mara was never given the choice to be different. Her parents—an abusive, close-minded father and a detached alcoholic mother—raised Mara to be like all the other girls in Barnaby: God-fearing, churchgoing, and straight. Mara wants nothing to do with any of it. She feels most at home with her best friend and older brother, Iggy, but Iggy hasn’t been the same since their father beat him and put him in the hospital with a concussion.

As Mara’s mother feeds her denial with bourbon and Iggy struggles with his own demons, Mara finds an escape with her classmate Xylia. A San Francisco transplant, Xylia is everything Mara dreams of being: free-spirited, open, wild. The closer Mara and Xylia become, the more Mara feels for her—even though their growing relationship is very much forbidden in Barnaby. Just as Mara begins to live a life she’s only imagined, the girls’ secret is threatened with exposure and Mara’s world is thrown into chaos.

Mara knows she can't live without Xylia, but can she live with an entire town who believes she is an abomination worse than the gravest sin?

My Review: 

I remember being excited to read this book. I haven't written my review for quite some time because I'm conflicted about it. The premise of this story is a girl who lives with an alcoholic abusive father. He has seriously hurt her brother to the point where he has an acquired brain injury. During all this the protagonist is dealing with the fact that she is attracted to women.
This storyline was guaranteed to be a win for me. As depressing as it may be, I really like reading abuse stories and I also love LGBT stories. Well I have to say that the book was a win for me for most of the story. I felt so much for Mara and her brother and I hated the parents for so many reasons. I felt outraged by the way the mother cowered to her husband, allowing abuse to take place. I wanted to smack the father upside the head for the way he treated his children. I wished I could have taken Mara and her brother in and take care of them.
I liked reading about Mara exploring her sexuality and really trying to come into her own in an oppressive setting. Her struggle is real and many people have to face it, unfortunately.
All of these positives were slightly ruined by the ending. I don't want to spoil anything so if you don't want to know then don't read this part....



*** SPOILER ****

.... but the end of was so depressing! Nothing was cleared up and I just felt a sense of doom over the whole thing. I would much prefer a struggle that leads to something positive. I know that the world is not all rainbows and unicorns but I'd like to think that hope should have been alive a bit.
Blah! End rant.


*** END SPOILER ***

So as you can see I am torn in how I feel about it. I liked most of the book so does the part that I didn't like cancel out the good? Have you ever read a book like that? If so, which ones? I'm curious. I don't even want to say whether or not I'd recommend it; I'm too on the fence about the whole thing.
Try at your own risk is what I guess I'd say.  

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publishing Date: October 7th, 2014
Genre: YA, Contemporary, GLBT theme
Pages: 304 pgs
ISBN: 9781616202842


Summary from Goodreads:
High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia's confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own.
I still have If You Could Be Mine on my TBR shelf but I plan to rectify that ASAP. This book sounds awesome. Can't wait! 

Happy Reading! 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Burying Water by K. A. Tucker

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:


Publisher: Atria
Publishing Date: October 7th, 2014
Genre: New Adult/Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 368 pgs
ISBN: 9781476774183

Summary from Goodreads:
The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?

Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.

A book about memory loss and it's by K.A. Tucker? Yes, please! Can't wait for this one. 

Happy Reading! 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:

Publisher: Random House
Publishing Date: September 30th, 2014
Genre: Adult, Non-Fiction, Memoir
Pages: 288 pgs
ISBN: 9780812994995


Summary from Goodreads:
"There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told," writes Lena Dunham, and it certainly takes guts to share the stories that make up her first book, Not That Kind of Girl. These are stories about getting your butt touched by your boss, about friendship and dieting (kind of) and having two existential crises before the age of 20. Stories about travel, both successful and less so, and about having the kind of sex where you feel like keeping your sneakers on in case you have to run away during the act. Stories about proving yourself to a room of 50-year-old men in Hollywood and showing up to "an outlandishly high-fashion event with the crustiest red nose you ever saw." Fearless, smart, and as heartbreakingly honest as ever, Not That Kind of Girl establishes Lena Dunham as more than a hugely talented director, actress and producer-it announces her as a fresh and vibrant new literary voice.
I really like the show Girls and I love that Lena Dunham is just herself. She is not afraid to be quirky and doesn't conform to what is expected of her. I am really looking forward to her new book. 

Happy Reading! 

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:  


Publisher: Harper Collins
Publishing Date:  September 30th, 2014
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Pages: 336 pgs
ISBN: 9781443435901


Summary from Goodreads:
Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. If you were swept away by Graeme Simsion’s international smash hit The Rosie Project, you will love The Rosie Effect.

The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge.

Rosie is pregnant.

Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice: he’s left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie.

As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia back together, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him most.

Get ready for The Rosie Effect, the new hilarious and heart-wrenching romantic comedy of the year.
I think The Rosie Project is one of my favourite books of all time. When I heard there was a second book I knew I had to have it. I honestly can't wait for this one! 

Happy Reading! 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: These ones are underrated

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's edition is: 
Top Ten Books That are Underrated.

I've decided to do 5 adult novels and 5 YA novels that I love and that I don't think get enough buzz.

Here they are:



 Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin- This is an adult novel about someone who is intersex and a major crisis situation happens that forces the protagonist to really question his identity.

Textual Healing by Eric Smith- This book was sent to me by the author, who works at Quirk Books. This story is just funny and endearing and I really enjoyed reading it.


 Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill- I feel like Hill's Horns and even NOS4A2 are pretty well known but this book gave me the heebie jeebies. That doesn't happen often.

Arranged by Catherine McKenzie- This one is about a woman who decides to try her hand at an arranged marriage when things in the dating scene just quite aren't working out. Super great read. In fact, I love all of McKenzie's novels.

 \
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid- This is a recent read for me. I hadn't heard of it before but found it browsing around my bookstore. I read through this one really quickly and I felt like I could relate to the main character in this story.

Under by Skin by Charles de Lint- My friend and I went to de Lint's book launch for this one here in Ottawa. I wasn't expecting much considering how horrible the cover is but I have to say I was really impressed with the writing. Fun YA read about shapeshifters.


 The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth- This is a novel about a young girl who is learning to come into her own as a lesbian. She lives with a very strict family and when they find out about her sexual orientation they send her to a camp to help "reform" her. I keep pushing this book on everyone I know.

The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares- Everyone knows The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series but this stand alone is not one that I hear a lot about. This is just one of those books that makes you cry (in a good way). Very good!


My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick- This book came out a couple of summers ago and it got a bit of hype but I don't know many people that read it. It's a very cute YA contemporary and I really liked the story.

Born at Midnight by C. C. Hunter- This is a series about a girl who goes to a summer camp and realizes not everyone is who they seem. Essentially a paranormal YA camp book. It doesn't get enough credit.

Hope you enjoyed my list and I can't wait to see yours.

Happy Reading!



Thursday, September 4, 2014

ARC Review: Eyes on You by Kate White

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publishing Date: June 24th, 2014
Genre: Adult Mystery
Pages: 320 pgs
ISBN: 9780061576638
Source: received from publisher for an honest review

and a half

Summary from Goodreads:

From New York Times bestselling author Kate White comes a riveting psychological suspense in which a media star must battle a malevolent enemy who may be disturbingly close to her.

After losing her on-air job two years ago, television host Robin Trainer has fought her way back and now she’s hotter than ever. With her new show climbing in the ratings and her first book a bestseller, she’s being dubbed a media double threat.

But suddenly, things begin to go wrong. Small incidents at first: a nasty note left in her purse; her photo shredded. But the obnoxious quickly becomes threatening when the foundation the makeup artist uses burns Robin’s face. It wasn’t an accident—someone had deliberately doctored with the product.

An adversary with a dark agenda wants to hurt Robin, and the clues point to someone she works with every day. While she frantically tries to put the pieces together and unmask this hidden foe, it becomes terrifyingly clear that the person responsible isn’t going to stop until Robin loses everything that matters to her . . . including her life.

My Review: 

I was asked to review this back in June and I am just getting to it now. I was excited to read this book because I've always wanted to read something by Kate White. I have her novel Hush but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. This novel is about a television personality slash author named Robin with is just coming back into the limelight after a slight scandal. Her book is fast becoming a hit and she is impressing the audience of her newstalk TV show. Well, not everyone is impressed with Robin's fast track to success and they are starting to show their discontent by trying to sabotage her. The mystery culprit begins with some small scale scare tactics and then it escalates and Robin is actually physically hurt. Robin and her trusted friends spend most of the novel trying to figure out who is behind all these occurances.
Well, I don't know if it was my high expectations, or the mood I was in when I read this book but I have to say that while I really wanted to like this book I was more or less meh about it. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. It's been about a week since I've finished this mystery but I already forget some of it. To me this means it wasn't that memorable. I was a little bit disappointing for me. I did enjoy the story while I read it but it did awe me.
I have to admit to figuring out who the wicked saboteur was pretty much from the 3rd chapter. There were times when I questioned it and thought of others but I had it pretty much locked in. In some ways I like figuring it out early because when you read the book you can look for all the subtle clues the author puts in. In other ways, I really like a good mind fuck. I like when the author makes my mouth gape in wtfery and when I never see it coming. In this case, it was fun seeing all the little signs but at the same time it also made the book slightly less interesting.
As a whole this is a decent read if you like adult mysteries but it isn't one that will blow your mind. This is no Gone Girl.  

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Waiting on Wednesday: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it is a weekly feature where bloggers share what they are excited to read next.  Here is my pick this week:  

Publisher: Quirk Books
Publishing Date: September 23rd, 2014
Genre: Adult, Horror
Pages: 240 pgs
ISBN: 9781594745263

Summary from Goodreads:
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Columbus, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Brooka glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofa beds clearly, someone or something is up to no good.

To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-till-dawn shift—and they encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature of work in the new twenty-firstcentury economy.

A traditional haunted house story in a contemporary setting (and full of current fears), Horrorstör comes conveniently packaged in the form of a retail catalog, complete with illustrations of ready-to-assemble furniture and other, more sinister accessories. We promise you’ve never seen anything quite like it!

I mean, look at the cover. It just screams Ikea catalogue and I can't help but want to pick it up. 
Happy Reading!