Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Title: Since You've Been Gone
Author: Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: May 06, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um...

My Thoughts: 

As I have said in previous reviews of Morgan Matson’s books, I am a huge fan of Morgan Matson. She writes the perfect summertime books that always get me in the right summertime mood. So, of course, to kick off this summer I had to read Morgan Matson’s latest summertime feel good book, Since You've Been Gone!

I love books, especially contemporary, when the main character completely comes out of her shell by the end. She goes on a journey and does things she would never have imagined doing before and realizes what she has been missing all along. And Since You’ve Been Gone is just that book! Emily’s best friend Sloane up and leaves without a note or a phone call as to her whereabouts. Until Emily finds a postcard in her mailbox with a list of things for Emily to complete during the summer. Emily is convinced this list will reveal where Sloane has moved to. But, of course, the list is compiled of things that Emily would never do. As she makes her way through the list, she makes some friends along the way and realizes she doesn’t need Sloane by her side to be happy.

As much as I loved the story and all the characters, Emily was a bit annoying in the beginning. She moped around the house because she was sad, she didn’t tell anyone about Sloane and she literally struggled to put a sentence together when conversing with a stranger. But once the story really started to delve into her life and got into how her parents acted, it turned out pretty good.

One of the reasons why I enjoy Morgan Matson’s books is because they usually make me cry but that was not the case with Since You’ve Been Gone. Nothing that was super emotionally devastating happened so it was just a nice feel good book. I’m definitely looking forward to more Morgan Matson in the future!

Waiting on Wednesday (122)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Exquisite Captive
Author: Heather Demitrios
Series: Dark Caravan Cycle #1
Hitting the Shelves: October 07, 2014

Forced to obey her master.
Compelled to help her enemy.
Determined to free herself.

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light.

Why I want this: This sounds like it's going to be an epic fantasy and it's one of the books I'm most excited to come out! I'm really hoping they're giving away ARCs of it at ALA! This is a world I want to be a part of RIGHT NOW! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR

Even though I don't do Top Ten Tuesday every week, I do enjoy participating in it every once in a while.  And I especially love to do it when the topic is books that I want to read soon! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

This summer I'm hoping to power through a lot of e-ARCs that I have and some series that I have gotten behind on.  And a few new releases thrown in.  But this could all possibly chance because I'm going to ALA and it starts in like 11 days! 

1. Blakbird by Anna Carey-I loved Anna Carey's Eve series so I'm definitely excited to see what she does in this new duo-logy that she's writing!

2. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: I've heard only good things about this book and that the best way to go into it is not knowing much at all about the story.  So I have it from the library and I'm ready to jump right in!

3. The Dolls by Kiki Sullivan: I'm all about mean girl books and this one has been on my radar for a little while now! So of course I was super excited when I got it for automatic download from Harper!

4. Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker: This book just sounds absolutely creepy and even though it sounds like a book I would read in the fall, I am super excited to find out what's going on. 

5-6. Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo: I went to the launch party for Ruin & Rising last night so I definitely need to read Siege & Storm so that I can finish this trilogy this summer. 

7. Dreams of God and Monsters by Laini Taylor: Another trilogy that I need to finish and I'm really interested in how the whole thing ends.

8. The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings: I have been patiently, patiently waiting for this book to come out every since I first heard about it about a year ago! My library system still doesn't have it so I just might have to go buy it!

9-10. Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: Yeah, this is long overdue and I'm going to barrel through these this summer so they're not taunting my from my shelves! I'm just glad that I still haven't been spoiled for Clockwork Princess!

Have you read these? What do you plan on reading this summer? Let me know in the comments! 

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

Title: Half Bad
Author: Sally Green
Series: Half Life Trilogy #1
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: March 04, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Easy.

My Thoughts: 

Half Bad is already one of the most interesting books I've read this year! I loved almost everything about it. The story itself was very good and very well executed, it has a male POV and the world building was quite excellent. It also has that very rare quality of introducing a character that I hate right off the bat but I somehow end up liking them.

I want to talk about the story of Half Bad first because it’s actually pretty good. Nathan is born of a white witch (mother) and a black witch (father) and it’s basically a story of nature versus nurture. Nathan grows up under the constant watchful eye of the counsel of white witches because they’re convinces that no matter how he is raised that he is going to turn out to be a black witch on his 17th birthday (when children become full witches). I loved that most of the story was about Nathan growing up and seeing the way he was treated just because of the way that he was born. Are the white witches turning him into a black witch by treating him differently and ostracizing him? And another thing, are the black witches only bad and trying to kill white witches because the counsel of white send hunters to kill black witches? These are all very fascinating plot and talking points going on within Half Bad.

Another reason why I loved Half Bad is because the whole book is from a male POV. I strongly believe that the YA genre is too saturated with the female perspective which after a while can make a lot of YA books feel the same. So anytime a YA book comes out that is told from a male POV I’m usually first in line to read it!

I also loved the characters in Half Bad. If you’re going into this book, just know that almost everyone hates Nathan! So the characters are very extreme. Most of his family members love him and don’t care that he’s half black and half white but most of the white witch community hates him. And then there was the woman who guarded Nathan whom I hated right off the bad but then she really grew on me!

Even though Half Bad could be slow at times, there was a lot of really great action. After just the first book, I’m really rooting for Nathan to become the witch that he is destined to be. And I really hope he kills a few particular white witches. I really recommend Half Bad to those who really enjoy witchy, magical type books!

Comic Book Review Round-Up #1

This year I have been reading a lot of comic books and graphic novels.  I've been wanting to share them with you but sometimes it's difficult to write a whole review on just one issue or one volume so I thought I would start a series where I write mini-reviews of some of the graphic novels I've been reading lately!

1. Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson: This is something new that I just picked up and I absolutely love it! It’s about a bunch of girls who all live in the same cabin at a summer camp and they get into the craziest adventures! There is a whole lot of action, supernatural creatures, a crazy paranoid camp counselor, a BAMF camp director and some sweet awesome girl love! Lumberjanes is just one of my new favorite things right now! The first three issues are now out so if you can find them I highly recommend you snatch them up!

2. Saga by Brian Vaughan: If you have not heard of Saga by now I’m pretty sure you must be living under a rock. I've heard about Saga here and there for the past year or so but I just recently started reading it and I’m kicking myself for waiting so long! I have never loved a graphic novel series as much as I love Saga. Even though forbidden love is a tale as old as time, the sci-fi world that it is set in is so original and very fascinating! There are so many different kinds of creatures living all over this universe and I feel like there is going to be so much more to discover!

3. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff: I read this earlier this year and it is still one of my favorite graphic novels that I've read. It is such a cute adventure. Delilah Dirk has been arrested in the beginning because she was trying to acquire something valuable and in the process becomes friends with one of the lieutenants of the guards and craziness ensues. Delilah is this totally adventurous girl who will take any risk to find with she is looking for. The lieutenant is very realistic and isn’t into taking a lot of chances but together they make a good team. And I think they might make a cute couple somewhere down the line.

Waiting on Wednesday (121)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: The Dolls
Author: Kiki Sullivan
Hitting the Shelves: September 02, 2014

Eveny Cheval just moved back to Louisiana after spending her childhood in New York with her aunt Bea. Eveny hasn't seen her hometown since her mother’s suicide fourteen years ago, and her memories couldn't have prepared her for what she encounters. Because pristine, perfectly manicured Carrefour has a dark side full of intrigue, betrayal, and lies—and Eveny quickly finds herself at the center of it all.

Enter Peregrine Marceau, Chloe St. Pierre, and their group of rich, sexy friends known as the Dolls. From sipping champagne at lunch to hooking up with the hottest boys, Peregrine and Chloe have everything—including an explanation for what’s going on in Carrefour. And Eveny doesn't trust them one bit.

But after murder strikes and Eveny discovers that everything she believes about herself, her family, and her life is a lie, she must turn to the Dolls for answers. Something’s wrong in paradise, and it’s up to Eveny, Chloe, and Peregrine to save Carrefour and make it right.

Why I want this: I have an e-ARC of this book and I'm so excited to read it! I'm such a sucker for mean girl books and this one definitely looks fun with all the intrigue and murder going on! 

May 2014 Book Haul!

Hey there! Welcome to this week's Stacking the Shelves! This awesome meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and we get to show each other the books we acquired this week whether bought, from the library or for review!

Bought:

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Broken Heart, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

Saga, Vol. 2 by Brian Vaughan

Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian Vaughan

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles by Brian Vaughan

Library: 

Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Won:

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

What Does the Bookworm Say?: Blogger Burnout

Hi! Welcome to this week's What Does the Bookworm Say! This week we'll be discussing blogger burnout and how we deal with it when we're experiencing it. Don't forget to check out this topic of discussion at Nite Lite Book Reviews (and her beautiful new blog design), The Windy Pages and The Reader's Antidote. 

So the questions is whether or not I experience blogger burnout and the answer to that is yes. No wait....that's a BIG YES! 

When I first started my blog I absolutely loved it and I was so into reading and blogging all the time! I went strong with it for about two years! I started experiencing my first bout of blogging burnout after my grandma passed away.  I just felt like I couldn't do any of my normal things, especially reading and blogging! So usually when I feel like I have a bout of blogging burnout coming on I usually just let it come and try not to completely neglect my blog.  But the most important thing that I usually realize that I love blogging and reading so much more than not doing it which is why I keep coming back to it! I just end up missing it so much that I just have to do it!! And even though on day sometime in the far, far future I probably won't be a blogger but I will always be a reader! 

I wish I had more of a system to overcome blogging burnout but I really don't.  I usually just let it run it's course and then get back to it when I feel like writing a post. 

What about you guys? Have you ever experienced blogger burnout? Do you have a topic you would like us to discuss? Let me know in the comments!!

Review: Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell

Title: Dear Killer
Author: Katherine Ewell
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: April 01, 2014
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.

Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.

But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.

Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.

My thoughts: 

Dear Killer is definitely one of the most interesting books I've ever read. It’s so much more than a girl who kills and even though I somewhat predicted the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to the end.

Kit, the main character, is a teenage girl and she kills people. She doesn't do it because she hates people or because she has a fetish or anything, she just kills because people ask her to. There is an anonymous drop box where people leave letters explaining why they want her to kill this specific person and usually a couple thousand dollars or so. If the letter is compelling enough, she decides to kill that person. But after she is done, she leaves the letter on the body for the police to find.

Kit was trained from a very young age to kill by her mother who was also a killer. But the difference is that her mother had a very deep need to kill, much like an addiction. Kit doesn't need to kill but she enjoys it very much. And she’s very good at what she does. She’s known in the media as the Perfect Killer because, obviously, she has not yet been caught.

The thing with Kit is that she literally has no remorse for the people she kills. She sees herself as a hired hand and since she is not the one making the decision that these people have to die, she doesn't feel guilty. She’s just the one doing the killing, just the executioner. Not the judge. I also enjoyed being in the scene when Kit killed someone. It shows how highly trained she is and that she is very intelligent. The fact that she is a teenager and goes to school is just to keep up appearance because deep down she is a killer.

Clearly people love or hate this book. I thought it was very interesting and I enjoyed being inside Kit’s head. It was definitely a memorable read for me.

Waiting on Wednesday (120)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: Falls the Shadow
Author: Stefanie Gaither
Hitting the Shelves: September 16, 2014

When Cate Benson was twelve, her sister died.

Two hours after the funeral, they picked up Violet’s replacement, and it was like nothing had ever happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to grant their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth. So this new Violet has the same smile. The same laugh. That same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all the same memories as the girl she replaced.

She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.

Or at least, that’s what the paparazzi and crazy anti-cloning protesters want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that, though. She’s used to standing up for her sister too, and she’s determined to prove her innocence now—at whatever the cost. But the deeper she digs for the truth, the further Cate's carefully-constructed life begins to unravel, unveiling a world filled with copies and lies, where nothing and no one—not even her sister— is completely what they seem.

In a pulse pounding debut, Stefanie Gaither takes readers on a nail-biting ride through a future that looks frighteningly similar to our own time and asks: how far are you willing to go to keep your family together?

Review: The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

Title: The Museum of Intangible Things
Author: Wendy Wunder
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: April 10, 2014
Source: Library
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Loyalty. Envy. Obligation. Dreams. Disappointment. Fear. Negligence. Coping. Elation. Lust. Nature. Freedom. Heartbreak. Insouciance. Audacity. Gluttony. Belief. God. Karma. Knowing what you want (there is probably a French word for it). Saying Yes. Destiny. Truth. Devotion. Forgiveness. Life. Happiness (ever after).

Hannah and Zoe haven’t had much in their lives, but they’ve always had each other. So when Zoe tells Hannah she needs to get out of their down-and-out New Jersey town, they pile into Hannah’s beat-up old Le Mans and head west, putting everything—their deadbeat parents, their disappointing love lives, their inevitable enrollment at community college—behind them.

As they chase storms and make new friends, Zoe tells Hannah she wants more for her. She wants her to live bigger, dream grander, aim higher. And so Zoe begins teaching Hannah all about life’s intangible things, concepts sadly missing from her existence—things like audacity, insouciance,karma, and even happiness.

An unforgettable read from the acclaimed author of The Probability of Miracles, The Museum of Intangible Things sparkles with the humor and heartbreak of true friendship and first love.

My thoughts: 

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder is one of my favorite books that makes me cry the big crocodile tears. When I heard she was writing another young adult novel, I knew I had to read it and I checked it out from the library as soon as it was released.

It seems to me that there have been a lot of young adult books released recently that is all about a girl who comes out of her shell and her best friend that helped her do it. The Museum of Intangible Things is about two best friends, Hannah and Zoe, who embark on a journey that changes both of their lives. Hannah is the quiet one and Zoe is the wild child.  But Zoe is also dealing with a mental illness.  She's bipolar and Hannah as worked out a system to keep her highs and lows under control and in perspective.  Their the best of friends and Zoe wants to do everything she can to help Hannah come out of her shell.  

Throughout most of the second half of the book I had a inkling of how it was going to end.  And of course, Wendy Wonder writes sad novels so I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.  I still felt a range of emotions because there were good, happy things happening and there were also a lot of sad things.  But definitely a really good book!