The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz

Title: The Witches of East End
Series: Beauchamp Family Series Book #1
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Published: 2011 by Hyperion
272 Pages
I Got It: http://www.bn.com
I Read It: August 5 - August 7, 2014
I Rated It: 4/5 Stars


Joanna Beauchamp and her two daughters, Freya and Ingrid, live in a quaint coastal town in New York. The three women seem to lead average lives yet they actually harbor a long-standing secret: they are powerful witches who have been banned from using their magic. Over the course of the book events happen that slowly encourage all three women to break the rules and begin using their magic again to unlock a centuries-old secret. 
I really liked this book. I found it to be very reminiscent of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman which is one of my favorite books of all time. It was a fun, fast-paced and compelling read. Over the past few weeks I had been sliding my way into a reading slump. I was not enjoying anything that I was reading and I was not excited to start anything new. I realized that I was craving something in the paranormal/fantasy genre and this book hit the spot.
I liked all of the characters in the book. I especially enjoyed the three Beauchamp women and I really related to Ingrid. I felt like all of the characters were fully fleshed out and i am excited to see how they will continue to develop over the next few books. 
This book series has been turned into a TV show on Lifetime. I started watching the television show which is actually pretty different from the book, at least it is different from this first book, but the show is still good in its own right. 
I liked the beginning a lot more than I liked the ending. It took a weird spin towards the end that I didn't enjoy. There were too many references to events in the previous lives of the women that didn't get fully explained or resolved which was confusing and annoying. This was especially true in the last 1/3 of the book. 
I am excited to read the rest of the series and to start De La Cruz's Blue Bloods series as well. 
I would recommend this book to fans of witch stories, fans of paranormal books and to both young adult and adult readers. 
4/5 stars

Gone Girl by Gilllian Flynn

Title: Gone Girl
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Suspense/Thriller/Mystery
Author: Gillian Flynn
Published: 2012 By Broadway Books
Awards: Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Suspense/Thriller; GoodReads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller
Pages: 422
I Got It: Borrowed from a family member
I Read It: July 20 - July 24, 2014
I Rated It: 2.5 Stars

I cannot join the hugely huge group of people who loved this book. I did not love this book. I didn't even like this book (mostly). What I did like about this book was Gillian Flynn's writing style and that is the only thing that allowed me to give this book a 2.5 rating. I cannot for the life of me figure out why there is so much hype surrounding this book! I wish that I could say that people are loving it because of Flynn's way of writing, but I highly doubt that is the reason this book stayed on the NYT Bestsellers List for so long. I am excited to see the movie and how it will be adapted to the screen, especially since a large majority of the book is entries from Amy's diary. 

Amy is a spoiled rich girl whose parents made a fortune from writing a series of children's books based on Amy- the Amazing Amy Series. Being raised completely opposite is Amy's husband Nick who is now having to care for his ailing parents (Alzheimer's (dad) and Cancer (mom)). After the couple both loose their jobs they make the decision to leave NYC and move back to Nick's small hometown in Missouri to help care for his parents. 

This book is a macabre, psychological suspense thriller that majorly messed with my mind. I found myself feeling disgusted the entire time I read. Gone Girl gave me a sense of urgency as I read it. Though I did not enjoy it overall, I did feel a compulsion to continue reading, and at a quick pace. I had to know what was going on? What will happen next? Why is this happening? I had a very difficult time relating to any of the characters in the book. Adding to that, I also had major trouble cheering for any of the characters. I found myself not caring one way or another what happened to them. The alternating POV chapters between Nick and Amy allows readers to see just how equally disturbing the two individuals truly are. I especially hated the ending, though to avoid spoilers, I won't reveal anything about it other than the fact that I simply abhorred it. 
Let me reiterate here: Flynn's writing is excellent. Her writing never ebbs its way into cliche or overblown territory like a lot of mystery novels seem to do. Flynn has an amazing gift for blooming her characters into fully rounded, three-dimensional people and the writing flowed very well. Though I really disliked the subject matter of book, I do want to read another of her books since the writing was so exquisite. 
I would recommend Gone Girl to adult fans of suspense, thrillers, and mind games.

Summer 2014 Reading List

Hey Again, Reader! As semi-promised in my Summer Reading Plans and Goals video here is my list of the 100 books I will be using random.org to choose from in the next few months. When I finish off a book I will mark it out and if I have a review of it, I will live a linky-do for that as well.
Happy Reading and HAPPY SUMMER!
XOXO
Victoria

1. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
3. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
4. Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor

6. Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
7. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
8. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
9. Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
10. Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

11. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
12. Joyland by Stephen King
13. The Interstings by Meg Wolitzer
14. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
15. Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

16. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
17. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
18. Saga by Brian K. Vaughn
19. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
20. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

21. Starters by Lissa Price
22. Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
23. Animal Farm by George Orwell
24. Anything by Sarah Dessen
25. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

26. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
27. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
28. The Casual Vacancy/The Cuckoo's Calling by J. K. Rowling/ Robert Galbraith
29. Scarlet by Melissa Meyer
30. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

31. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
32. The Duff by Kody Keplinger
33. Winger by Andrew Smith
34. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
35. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

36. Panic by Lauren Oliver
37. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
38. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
39. Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James
40. It's Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

41. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
42. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
43. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
44. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
45. Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

46. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
47. The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz
48. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
49. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
50. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

51. To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
52. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
53. Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
54. Death of the Black Haired Girl by Robert Stone
55. Orfeo by Richard Powers

56. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
57. Casebook by Mona Simpson
58. Here and Now by Ann Brashares
59. Revoloutions by Felix Filman
60. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

61. No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale
62. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
63. Hild by Nicola Griffith
64. Dangerous Women by George R. R. Martin
65. On Such A Full See by Chang-Rae Lee

66. The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble
67. The Kept by James Scott
68. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi
69. Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
70. Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

71. The Lover by Marguerite Duras
72. Paper Towns by John Green
73. Y The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn
74. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
75. The Vacationers by Emma Straub

76. Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons
77. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
78. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
79. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonegut
80. The Circle by David Eggers

81. Longbourn by Jo Baker
82. People In Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
83. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
84. One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
85. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

86. Midnight Crossroad by Charlainne Harris
87. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
88. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Klin
89. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
90. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

91. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
92. 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
93. The Martian by Andy Weir
94. Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout
95. Constable and Toop by G. P. Jones

96. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
97. Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriager
98. Soulless by Gail Carriger
99. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
100. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Movin' on Up!

I am pleased and excited to announce that this blog is now a vlog on YouTube! My channel name is yeahireadit and you can click on the link to go to the channel or you can preview my winter wonderland book tag video below. Please head on over to YouTube and subscribe and check out everything that you're used to seeing here in video format instead! 

Happy 2014- see you at YouTube!

Review: The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

The Summer I Found You is the story about a teenage girl trying to cope with her new diagnosis of type one diabetes and a teenage male veteran who is learning how to embrace his new life after losing an arm, who come together by using each other as an escape, only to discover through love and struggle that your life is what you make of it. (Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: The Summer I Found You
Author: Jolene Perry
Publication Date: 2014
Publisher: Albert Whitman Teen
Number of Pages: 
Where I Got It: NetGalley
Dates I Read It: November 12- November 16, 2013
Number of Stars: 3/5
Read For: Review purposes


 
*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

   I love a book that alternates points of view and this book is told in alternating points of view from the two main characters. I really enjoy when books have chapters that switch POV's- I feel like it makes the story move faster and I also feel like I can put more faith in the story since both narrators have a larger chance of being honest and believable. I did fell a lot more sympathy for Aiden/Aidan though- he seemed to be a much more developed and rounded character. I hate to say it, but I also felt worse for him since he had lost an arm. I feel like I know so many people who have diabetes, but I don't know anyone who has lost an arm! Being an older reader of YA, I also feel like I had a harder time relating to Kate. Normally, I can relate really well to my YA heroines, but Kate was difficult for me to connect to. I kept looking at her actions and decisions from the responsible, mature adult POV and silently "tsk-tsk-ing" her for being irresponsible. Kate did feel like a real teenager though and this book felt very realistic and true to real life.
     I liked this story. This was a light but somewhat forgettable read. There was no real action and it can kind of drag for some readers, especially those readers who enjoy fast-paced, action-packed reads. I was very excited for this book because I loved the cover! It immediately jumped out at me and made me excited to read the book. Don't be fooled like I was because the cover really has nothing at all to do with the book. Also, the story is supposed to be about the summer, but it actually takes place during the school year. I was disappointed in this plot point as I love a summer love story.
     As I was reading it, there were times when I wondered to myself if this really was a YA book as it felt more like an adult fiction book. I would recommend this one to older teens, maybe 16-19 or to any teens who may be recently diagnosed with diabetes (or maybe even one who, for whatever reason, have lost a limb).

3/5 stars

TTT: Books For A Reluctant Boy Reader Who Likes Action And Adventure

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Image from Ramblings of a Reader

Today's TTT are books that I would recommend to a reluctant boy reader who likes action and adventure-y type books. These books are all ones that I have recommended to G to read. Some he did and some are still on that TBR of his.

 

All images from GoodReads

Sunday Post #2

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @

Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~

It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week,
showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming
up for the week on our blog.

Last week on the blog

Tuesday: I skipped over Tuesday's TTT (books who you wish you could re-design the covers for). I didn't have that many. Usually if the cover is so off-putting to me, I hate to say it, but I usually won't end up reading the book. I am so bad about judging books by their covers.
Friday: #FridayReads- The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry. I finished it yesterday and I hope to get the review up sometime this week.
Saturday: Review of Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Upcoming on the blog:

I finished up The Summer I Found You this weekend like I had hoped to do and I now hope to get the review up soon.
TTT- Top Ten Books I Would Recommend to an X Person (Could be any "type" of person.) I haven't decided on what kind of person to recommend books to yet.
#FridayReads 11/22- I'm currently reading Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins but it is going really fast so I will probably finish it this week. I got Attachments and Eleanor and Park at Yallfest last weekend so I hope to start one of those next. We'll see where I'm at on Friday.

New arrivals

Like I said I got a few new books at Yallfest last weekend. I haven't acquired any others since then but I did get some good ones at the festival:
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Weekly Happenings

Not much happened last week. I didn't have work on Monday (thank you, Veterans!) so Sunday night G and I went to eat and see Thor 2 which was amazing. Other than that it was mostly working and reading and eating and sleeping. I did start decorating the house for Christmas, but just small little knickknacks and nothing too huge (no tree, yet). I'm pretty stoked for Friday though as G and I are going to see Catching Fire at the I-Max and I couldn't be more excited. I'm currently in the process of trying to make a Mockingjay shirt to wear, but I am so not crafty and my first try was a huge, embarrassing failure. I'll post pictures as soon as I am able to get it done.. if I'm able to get it done...

Have a great week!

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. (-Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: Insurgent (Divergent trilogy book #2)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publication Date: 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Number of Pages: 525
Where I Got It: Nook by Barnes and Noble
Dates I Read It: November 6-November 12, 2013
Number of Stars: 4/5
Read It For: Just for fun!


     I really liked Insurgent, despite being confused out of my mind for the majority of the book. I was so confused at the start of this book that I had to view Roth's blog post: But I Read Divergent A Year Ago! which was super helpful in reminding me how Divergent ended since it had actually been more than a year since I had read it. Once I read her blog post I had to start the book over and re-read the first 40 pages, this time with a little less confusion.

(two pages from my reading journal open to the Insurgent entry)

     The characters were still really awesome and we got to see a continuation of character development with our main cast in this book. I really liked the majority of the characters and I thought that they all fit into their roles perfectly. I was pretty pissed off at Tris at several points in the book, and especially at several of the choices that she made and a lot of her reasoning behind her actions and decisions. She is Dauntless after all, though, so I suppose I can't stay too mad at her for too long. I liked how we got to see the humanity of Tris in this book. She is a Dauntless girl in the middle of a factions war, and yet she still spends a great deal of the book feeling guilty about killing someone who was threatening her life. I appreciate Four for the role that he plays. He does a great job as the male lead. I do hope that we get some more from him in Allegiant. I want to know more about him, his back story and his inner thoughts and motivations. Even though I loved the main characters, one of the most annoying things about this book for me was the secondary characters. Roth included an enormous cast of characters in this book and I found it incredibly difficult to keep track of all of them. I wasn't sure who was good and who was evil and who I was supposed to root for and who I was supposed to thumb my nose at and who was born into what faction and who switched to what faction and why. Too much!
     The pacing of the book was excellent. This is a long book (525 pages) but it passed very quickly and I was genuinely surprised when it ended; I had thought I had at least 100 pages to go! I did read this book on my Nook so perhaps that helped quite a bit with my not realizing how long it was. Despite the actual length of the book, it flew by and I think that this was mainly due to all of the action that took place. It seemed that every time I sat down with the book there was a battle scene resulting in an emotionally heavy outcome. These books are dystopian done well and Roth continues the excellency of the world building. There did seem to be some redundancy of action to me which only added to my confusion at times. I feel like perhaps those extra scenes could have been left out. It was still a fabulous book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I would recommend.
     I viewed the second teaser trailer for the Divergent movie on YouTube last night while G was in the computer room and he watched it over my shoulder and he seemed really intrigued. I think it might have
gotten him thinking about reading the books before I drag him to the movie. The trailers look great so far and I highly approve of the casting for this movie. I can't wait for March!
     Oh, and I decided I'm pretty sure I would be in Amity, even though they do dress like Ronald McDonald.

4 out of 5 stars

#FridayReads 11/15/13

     I've been reading The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry (who has got some wicked cool style! I have been stalking her on her blog, GoodReads and Twitt-ah this week) the past three days. I've got an ARC of it from NetGalley on my Nook. So far I'm enjoying it; it's a nice distraction for a few minutes a day (which is all I've had time for this week. Ugh.)
      Kate is a high school senior who was just dumped by her boyfriend and diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. Aiden is the cousin of Kate's best friend. Aiden has just returned from Afghanistan where he has lost an arm. He is now living over Kate's parent's garage, missing his arm, and suffering from a major case of survivor's and I'm not dying to jump back in and find out what's going to happen- I'm pretty certain that I already know what's going to happen. I'm hoping to finish it up this weekend and then get to one of the books I bought at Yallfest last weekend (which, by the way was a huge blast (and I got a favorite from Rainbow Rowell, a favorite from Margaret Stohl, a retweet from Michael Johnston and a reply from Marie Lu!))!
guilt. I'm at the point in the book now where Kate and Aiden are starting to hangout more and more and you can tell that they are on the cusp of falling in love. Ahh- young love! It's a cute, light, fluffy read. It's taking me a while to read it because this week has been a long and crazy one
     On a different note, I did finish Insurgent this week and boy did I enjoy that one! I gave that one a solid four stars over on GoodReads. Add me as a GR friend and keep up with what all I'm reading throughout the week!

                          Happy Friday, Readers-have a fabulous weekend. And don't forget to tell me- what are YOU reading this weekend?

#FridayReads 11/8/2013

Yallfest is finally here! After work this afternoon, G and I will be driving down to Charleston for the weekend and I can't wait! I'm taking my Nook with me to read. I downloaded Insurgent Wednesday night so I will be reading that one this weekend. I probably won't be getting a whole lot of reading done since my schedule is packed! I've picked out all of the panels I'm going to try to hit:

All the Fantasy with Libba Bray, Cinda Chima, Melissa de la Cruz, Mike Johnston, Lisa McMann, Veronica Rossi and moderated by Leigh Bardugo

After the End with Alexandra Bracken, Ally Condie, Marie Lu, Carrie Ryan, Lauren Oliver, Margaret Stohl and moderated by Mike Johnston

The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masked Ball with Leigh Bardugo, Lev Grossman, Mike Johnston, Marie Lu, Myra McEntire, Brendan Reichs, David McInnis Gill and moderated by Victoria Schwab

Brave New Crush Coffee Talk with Stephanie Perkins and Rainbow Rowell

Grand Ole YA'opry with Michel Hodkin, David McInnis Gill, CJ Lyons, Myra McEntire, Stephanie Perkins, Carrie Ryan, Victoria Schwab and JE Thompson and moderated b y Brendan Reichs

A Lengendary Match Coffee Talk with Ally Condie and Marie Lu

Did I mention how excited I am!?

Happy Friday everyone! What are you reading this weekend?

Review: Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend by Allison Rushby

Nessa Joanne Mullholland, aka Marilyn Monroe's No. 1 teenage fan, is used to moving house. This time, however, she's relocating in movie-star style--crossing the Atlantic on board the Majestic, headed for Paris from NYC. And it really would be in movie-star style if it wasn't for the fact that she's bringing her cringe-fest professor dad along for the ride (Dad's specialization: human mating rituals--need Nessa say more?). Oh yeah, and sharing a cabin that's five decks below sea level and next to the engine room. Still, at least Holly Isles is on board. Yes, really, that Holly Isles--star of stage and screen. Suddenly, things are looking up. Looking a little Marilyn, in fact, because events are strangely mirroring Nessa's favorite movie of all time, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (-Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend (Book #1 in the Living Blond Trilogy)
Author: Allison Rushby
Publication Date: 2013
Publisher: Allison Rushby
Number of Pages: 107
Where I Got It: NetGalley
Dates I Read It: November 2 - 5, 2013
Why  I Read It: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Number of Stars: 1/5

NOTE: This is an edited review. I had a different review, one that I didn't feel good about. I felt like I was too harsh and cruel and that is not what I started this blog for. I want to be honest, but I don't want to do it in any way that can be construed as mean. After I wrote the review I felt bad about it and it kept nagging at me for days and I had considered changing it. I even talked it over with some people I trust. Today I  read this article and that made it final for me- I was changing it and I was going to make it more positive. I hadn't called the author any names, nor did I personally attack her in the review, it was just mean and ugly and not my style and something that Taylor Swift would sing about. I was not going lie and say that I loved the book (I didn't) but I don't have to point out every single negative thing about it, picking at all of the seams until no one in the universe wanted to read it, and completely ignore the positive either. Rushby is a great author and has great potential and deserves a chance and does not deserve a hateful review. From now on my reviews will continue to be honest, but they will also be kind. I apologize to anyone I may have offended with my first draft of the review. 

     Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend is the first book in an e-series revolving around thirteen year old Nessa Mullholland. The book is incredibly short (the nook version I read was only 107 pages) which would make it a good match for reluctant young girl readers. In fact, I read on Rushby's blog that she aimed this book at younger teens.
     The story started out fun and I was really enjoying the main character. It was beginning to shape up like a nice, cute story changing the pace of the recent dystopian and fantasy books I had been reading. I even LOL'ed at one point in the first chapter! The story was not for me, though. I do believe that Rushby could possibly write some books that would hook me in the future. This story has a lot of potential to reach younger girls and pull them into reading; I would recommend it to some of my middle-school girls who are just getting into fashion and who may be reluctant to read a lengthy and intimidating-in-size book.
     Like I said, this is only book one in a trilogy, but I don't think that I will read the other two. It was just not my style.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

For this week's TTT I only came up with seven sequels that I can't wait to read. Usually if I find a series that I adore, I read them all in a quick row, marathoning the series to the end. However, in the past few years I have been really bad about picking up the first book in a series, and then neglecting to finish the saga. I really hope to start getting deeper into a lot of sequels soon. Here are the seven that immediately come to mind:

7. The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness. Book 2 in the Chaos Walking Series.
I finished book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go, this month. Even though I didn't enjoy it at first, the ending really took me by surprise and made me want to read The Ask and the Answer.


6. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles.
I read Beautiful Creatures in March of this year in preparation for the movie (which I really hated). Though I did not absolutely 100% love the book, I am excited to see what happens next.


5. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. Book 2 in the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy.
I read Shiver back in February which was the perfect time of year for a snowy, cold setting in a book. I liked the first book alright. Since it is only a trilogy, I do hope to sometime soon finish the next two books- maybe this winter?


4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Book 2 in the Mortal Instruments Series.
I read City of Bones in May of this year and I enjoyed it. I hope to finish this series and then get started on the Infernal Devices Series.


3. Prodigy by Marie Lu. Book 2 in the Legend Trilogy.
I read Legend in June of this year. I remember reading the entire second half of the book on G's parents couch one afternoon while he and his dad worked on the car outside. I liked this book quite a bit and I am really excited for the next two books. The last book of the trilogy just came out (or is just about to come out this week) and it is pretty highly anticipated in the YA book blogosphere so I need to hop on this bandwagon and get it done quickly!


2. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. Book 2 in the Game of Thrones Series.
I LOVE GAME OF THRONES!

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Book 2 in the Divergent Trilogy.
I am so excited to finish this trilogy I can't stand it! This is the only book on this list that I didn't read book 1 of in the year 2013! I read it in March of 2012 so I really need to get going and finish this series up!

What sequels are you excited for? Have you read any of the ones on my list? Which ones do I need to read ASAP?

Happy Tuesday, readers! Yallfest is only 4 days away!!!

Sunday Post

So I discovered this Meme through Sandy at Somewhere Only We Know and I am super excited about it. Sunday is my main day for blogging since I am usually so busy during the week. I always type up my TTT on Sundays and then set them to post on Tuesday (that's why my TTT usually post at ridiculous early hours!) The Sunday Post is "a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead."
So here is my first Sunday Post and I think I picked a super week to start it! Enjoy!

This past week (October 28 - November 3)
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday- To get you into the Halloween spirit I presented my list of the top ten Scariest Book Covers!
Thursday: Happy Halloween! My Halloween was great. This is my favorite holiday of the year and it didn't disappoint this year at all. We only had three trick-or-treaters, but that is three more than we have had in the last two years! I made mummy hot-dogs, G came home early to celebrate with me and we watched the classic Hocus Pocus and It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I had so much Halloween going on that I didn't have any time for reading. I was zapped of energy on Friday though, since I stayed up past my normal bedtime to celebrate!
Saturday: I woke up eager to do some book shopping (since I got paid on Thursday) and I headed down to The Last Word, a used bookstore in Charlotte. While here I picked up two Hole CD's (talk about a throwback Saturday! #ILoveThe90's!), A Super Mario game for my DS, Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins and Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.
I then headed to my local Target to pick up some supplies and I was lucky enough to find more of the HeroClix foil pack pieces (it's a nerdy superhero role playing game I play) in the dollar bin! (The foil packs are normally $3.50 so this is always a huge find when I spot them in the $1 section!) So I bought all ten that they had! I wanted to see what they had available in their book section, but they have now moved the YA books to a tiny little corner and the pickin's were slim, to say the least. I'm very disappointed, Target! Saturday night I finally finished The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black and I was able to start Diamonds are a Teens Best Friend, which I got from NetGalley,by Allison Rushby. So far, it's cute fluff and I'm not that into it. It's only 107 pages though, and I am half-way through it, so I hope to be done tonight.
Sunday: My review of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

Next Week (November 4-10)
I hope to finish Diamonds Are A Teen's Best Friend and get that reviewed. I need to start some other books that I have been sent either by the author (Valley of Dust- sent to me OVER A YEAR AGO to review) or books that I got from Net Galley (The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry and Secret Lies by Amy Dunne). I also want to start one of the books that I got Saturday at The Last Word and I STILL have not started Insurgent! Gah!!
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday: Sequels I am super excited for. (I only have seven so far)
Friday: After school G and I are driving to Charleston for Yallfest and I couldn't be more excited!!

Review: The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

     Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown gates, you can never leave. 

     One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.  (Synopsis from GoodReads)

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Publication Date: 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Number of Pages: 419
Where I Got It: Barnes & Noble, Huntersville, NC
Dates I Read It: October 26-November 2, 2013
Why I Read It: Pure Pleasure/Halloween
Number of Stars: 2.5/5

     I was really excited for this book. Some of my favorite reviewers gave it a standing ovation, the cover is eye-catching and beautiful, I am a sucker for vampire books and I have always wanted to read something by Holly Black so I thought that this would be the perfect place for me to start reading her books. Unfortunately, I found my first Holly Black book to be a great disappointment. I really liked the idea of the story and the plot sounded really interesting and I was excited for a new take on vampires but the story as a whole fell flat for me. 

     The writing style was the first thing that I found that I did not like about this story. The style as a whole was just...really...odd. It felt unbalanced for the entire book and I found myself confused over several scenes and especially confused over how the transformation from a human to a cold person to a vampire really worked. The first chapter started off great, and it really pulled me in. After that first chapter though, the story went nowhere fast. Despite the plot sounding like it was going to be an action-packed thrill ride, there was really very little real action in the whole story. I felt like I spent the whole time I was reading the book waiting for the action to start. The last 100 pages were a chore for me to get through. It took me a lot longer to read this book than I originally anticipated. I just did not feel excited to jump back into the story at all and I got to a point last night where I wasn't sure that I would be able to complete the book. 

     For me to really enjoy a book, I have to care about the characters. In this book I did not care about one. single. character. In fact, I hated them all. They all seemed really one dimensional. Not only did I not care if they lived or died, but I actually was hoping for one or two of the "good guys" to bite it, just to give a little oomph to the story! There was a sudden love element to the book that, to me, seemed to come out of nowhere and I totally didn't buy it. The relationship felt forced, almost as if Black had to add it to the story once the book was over. Oops, I forgot that teenagers have to have a love story in every single book that they read, let me quick add a crappy one that no one believes. 

     I have heard that yes, there will be a sequel and I have also heard that no, it is a stand-alone book. I can see where there would be room for a sequel, but if there is, I honestly don't think that I will read it. I would like to read something else by Holly Black though since I do hear great things about her. She will be at Yallfest (NEXT WEEKEND!!!!) so I am going to take my copy and hope to get it signed. I also hope to pick up some of her other works while there and I have high hopes that those books will be a better fit for me. 

#FridayReads 11/1/13

This past week has been so busy and so crazy I did not get a whole lot of reading done. Monday we had a workday at school and despite having good intentions I got absolutely NOTHING done at school and came home and zoned out in front of the tube instead. Tuesday a friend of mine had to be out of her apartment that afternoon so after work a few of us met at her place, packed her up, and got her moved into her new house. Wednesday I came home and crashed for a while then made dinner then ate dinner then crashed again. Thursday was Halloween! G left school/work early to com cerebrate with me so we ate mummy hot dogs and cupcakes and candy and watched Hocus Pocus and handed out candy. Today I was beat from Halloween and so I came home, crashed, got Chick-Fil-A, watched a little TV and started this blog post. Despite all of the activity of my week, I'm slowly working my way through The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. So far (I'm on page 220) I'm liking it only okay. There is something about the writing style that isn't gripping me and the story is only so-so so far. I am hoping that it will pick up the pace soon. I'm hoping to finish that one up this weekend and then finally get on to Insurgent so that I can stop being the only person in American that hasn't read Allegiant yet. How's this for cray-cray: I was conferencing with a parent at my school the other day and towards the end of the meeting she apologized and said that she was in a rush because she wanted to go buy and start reading Allegiant before her kids got home from soccer practice! I'm hoping to finish up ..Coldtown and review that this weekend and then get started on finishing the Divergent trilogy!
Happy Friday! What are you reading this weekend?

8 days 'til Yallfest!

Top Ten Tuesday: Scary Book Covers

Top Ten Scary Book Covers! Happy Halloween (in two days)!!