Wednesday, August 27, 2014

FEATURE: Waiting on Wednesday~ Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini (#40)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Morning Swooners :-)

This week my "can't-wait-to-read" pre-publication selections are:

Expected release date: September 2, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble




Summary from Goodreads:

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly, lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian…Lily’s other self in this alternate universe.


What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can’t hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Why I'm waiting:

I'm such a magic junkie. I just love all books with a little magic involved and this definitely sounds like it's right up my alley!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

FEATURE: Waiting on Wednesday~ Compulsion by Martina Boone (#39)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Morning Swooners :-)

This week my "can't-wait-to-read" pre-publication selections are:

Expected release date: October 28, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Compulsion


Summary from Goodreads:

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shit-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunts South Carolina plantation instead—a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.


Stuck with the ghosts of a generation-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see. Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

Why I'm waiting:

This sounds like a good mix of magic, history and love. Plus, did I say magic already!?!? because yea, MAGIC!! Curses and ghosts and all sorts of fun things going on with this one!

Monday, August 18, 2014

REVIEW: Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid~ BEA 2014

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Publication Date: July 29, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl names LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone most.

There’s HUDSON, a small town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway  who seizes every Tuesday-and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.


Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leave them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila’s own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth—sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you’re looking for is to get lost along the way.


Let's Get Lost is a contemporary novel about four strangers that meet one girl in the most random circumstances. Each sharing their own story with the girl that changed their lives.

Leila is the main character in this novel with five short stories detailing each encounter. Hudson, Bree, Sonia, and Elliott don't know each other and they definitely don't know what they are getting themselves into when they meet Leila, but they take a chance on her and trust her without really knowing her. In away, she does the same to them. I love how these random encounters turn into so much more. We don't know this in the beginning, but Leila needs these relationships just as much as they need her. She's looking for something throughout her journey and somewhere along the way she finds what she needed without really knowing it. They save her in the same way that she saves them. During Leila's chapters you get to really know her and what you learn is slightly shocking and sad, but seeing her persevere and continue on is beautiful and refreshing.

It's such a feel good story. The author really gets into his characters minds and creates relationships that seem genuine and heartfelt. If you're in the mood for a feel good story, you MUST read this!


Friday, August 15, 2014

REVIEW: Landline by Rainbow Rowell~ BEA 2014

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: ARC received from Publisher at Book Expo America 2014
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply—but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She's a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her—Neal is always a little upset with Georgie—but she doesn’t expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she's finally done it. If she's ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she's been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts…

Is that what she's supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

I have to say that Landline was totally different than what I expected it to be. It has a bit of a paranormal vibe going for it which threw me off a little in the beginning but I absolutely loved it! Then there is the awesomeness that is Georgie McCool. I mean seriously, Georgie McCool? How epic is that name!? But the real ringer is the story line. Rainbow Rowell is so creatively talented in her writing. She manages to always give a realistic vibe to her characters and plot which makes the reader really feel for the character. Plus, it really was just about the cutest thing ever.

Georgie McCool (it's growing on you, right?) and her husband, Neal, are having marital problems. When she tells Neal that she won't be going to his family home for Christmas because she has to work, things take a turn for the worst.  Rainbow does such a wonderful job at showcasing their relationship. The dating to the marriage and all the in between things that have led to their current unhappiness. Georgie learned a valuable lesson by the end of the book and I loved seeing her grow as a character throughout the story. I Also loved seeing Neal during their dating period and how absolutely swoony he was. But of course, seeing the future unfold and seeing how certain things came to be makes this book that much better.

"Fitting together is something you work at. It's something you make happen-because you love each other."

This quote perfectly resonates with life. Definitely makes me want to read it all over again! Hope you find as much joy in it as I did :)


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

FEATURE: Waiting on Wednesday~ Loop (Loop #1) by Karen Akins (#38)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Morning Swooners :-)

This week my "can't-wait-to-read" pre-publication selections are:

Expected release date: October 21, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble




Summary from Goodreads:

At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up.

After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shit, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he's in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her.

Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues-a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium-that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self.


But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.

Why I'm waiting:

Something about this book really speaks to me. Maybe it's the time traveling, or the kidnapping, or the possible love story....Can't decide but either way I can't wait for this book!

Friday, August 8, 2014

GUEST REVIEW: The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen

The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen
Publication Date: June 1, 2011
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Source: Book Purchased by Reviewer
Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Reviewer: Doris Cedeño aka La Chiquita

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

There’s a fine line between love and hate.

For five years, Sally and Clive have been lost in a passionate affair. Now he has dumped her to devote himself to his wife and family, and Sally is left in freefall.

It starts with a casual stroll past his house, and popping into the brasserie where his son works. Then Sally starts following Clive’s wife and daughter on Facebook. But that’s alright, isn’t it? These are perfectly normal things to do. Aren’t they?


Not since “Fatal Attraction” has the fallout from an illicit affair been exposed in such a sharp, darkly funny, and disturbing way: “The Mistress’s Revenge” is a truly exciting fiction debut. After all, who doesn’t know an otherwise sane woman who has gone a little crazy when her heart was broken?


Buckle in this one will take you some place ugly and scary and you will freely fall into all its depressed darkness. Tamar Cohen really explores the depth of the woman scorned but this time only from the woman’s diluted point of view. How would you feel if the man you have been allowing to flood your mind with happiness for the past five years suddenly grows a back bone and tells you, rather recklessly, that it all  needs to stop could turkey? Does “loose it” and “kill him” run through your mind? Well, you are not alone.
The story itself is unique as it does not follow your standard of structure in novels. Chapter separations or sections split up by dates. By doing this it allows us the ability to swim in the misery with her. Slowing remembering your own past breakups and the versions of you that were before the you that is. As readers we are addressed as her ex-lover Clive Gooding.  Needless to say Sally Islip, our main character and the narrator, is not ready to let go just yet.
You know, I can forgive the fact I begged you to warn me in advance if you were dumping me and you still let me turn up at that restaurant on York Way Friday with a jaunty impatience and un-washed hair and only my second-best jeans. I can forgive the way you told me it was over before I’d even taken off my coat and then somehow expected we’d find a way of filling the next three tortuous hours, me with my arm still halfway in my sleeve. I can forgive that awful, excruciating, pain-ridden lunch while the waitress hovered uncertainly around the uneaten food, a smile stretching her face as if it might snap, and I tried not to meet anyone’s eye. I can even forgive you asking for a receipt (even good-byes it seems are tax deductible). But what I can’t forgive is the way you scurried off so gratefully when we got outside and I told you to go. You were halfway down York Way, your laptop bag bouncing insistently against your back, before I realized you really were going to leave me there crying in the rain. Pg14  
We have all been there haven’t we? Whether it was years ago or just last week, the evil feeling of being less than or losing something you felt a comfort with is devastating. Depending on the level of the investment even maddening, so is it so farfetched that Sally refuses to let go?
Throughout the story Sally enters little side notes meant to pacify the judgment of Clive. The journal entries feel more like letters to him rather than reflections of what she has gone through. This gives a bit of voyeuristic pleasure to the book. You get to brew in the danger of a heart break from the safe distance of the pages. And yet you can’t help have those “No, please don’t” feelings and that “oh no” regret after she does exactly what you want to warn her of.
She is far from innocent though. I don’t want you to think this novel is purely the brooding of a woman left to glue herself back together after being shattered into needle point pieces. This is so not the case. Sally Islip is a force to be reckoned with. Her love for the life she could, or in her words, should have pole volts her into situations that she innocently feels are harmless, though to us, are true bold stabs at the life Clive so desperately wants to keep safe.
Another aspect that we don’t see in our own misery during a breakup is the effect our emotions have on those we love. We are told of a family that once was normal and though timid in temperature was pure and whole. We see Sally push her husband Daniel, children Jaime and Tilly away to the point she blames her daughter’s distaste with her on her daughter’s entering that ever so loved stage of being a teenager.
“Why is your neck like that?” she wanted to know.
“Like what?”
“You know, like the top of the curtains.”
Ah, pleated. My daughter wants to know why the skin on my neck is pleated.
I look at myself in the mirror and see what she sees –a too-thing fourty-three-year-old whose skin no longer fits wearing a top that drapes over me like one of those frilly round cloths on what my grandmother used to call “occasional table.” Pg.69

This roller coaster ride of emotion is worth reading. If not to watch the train wreck of our dear Sillee Sallee, but to watch the vindication that her beloved Clive gets when his own world is turned upside down. Sally makes sure that all those promises, romantic whispers, and long nights of being the other woman are paid in full by Clive and then some. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

FEATURE: Waiting on Wednesday~ The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan (#37)


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Morning Swooners :-)

This week my "can't-wait-to-read" pre-publication selections are:

Expected release date: October 7, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



Summary from Goodreads:

Though the Greek and Roman crew members of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the Earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have  risen-all of them-and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood-the blood of Olympus-in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it “might” be able to stop a war between the two camps.


The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiples personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Why I'm waiting:

This is one of my absolute favorite series and I literally get itchy waiting on these books...they are my drug! 

Friday, August 1, 2014

Blogaversary Wrap-up 2014


Morning Swooners! Happy Friday!!

So I just wanted to follow-up on yesterday's festivities. Thank you all so much for participating in the giveaways and sharing the posts. It means a lot to have such great friends in the blogosphere!

Just in case you missed the fun, or just want easy access to them since there were a few, here are the four links to the giveaways i'm currently hosting:

Giveaway #1: Signed copy of Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Giveaway #2: Signed copy of Legend by Marie Lu

Giveaway #3: Signed copy of Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Giveaway #4: ARC of Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Again, thank you all for the support you've shown me this past year. Looks like Lexi Swoons is here to stay! <3