The Sunday Salon- May 13, 2011

The Sunday Salon

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!  I feel like a mom sometimes with my furbaby--she sure is spoiled!  She's an inside dog--litter box trained in all--so she hardly ever goes outside.  But today we met up with another couple who has 2 puppies and we took them on a walk at a small town that is really dog-friendly.  We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe and just walked around.  Bella loved it!  She did so well--she didn't bark at other dogs and was friendly with everyone.  But now she is so tired!  She's not used to all that walking and has been napping the rest of the day!

I finished and reviewed the following books in the past week:

Belles by Jen Calonita

So Close to You by Rachel Carter










I fulfilled items in the following challenges in the past week:2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 39, 40
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 34, 35
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 36, 37
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-7
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 11

I am currently reading Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins and up next is Welcome Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell.

Book Review- So Close To You

Early this morning, I finished reading So Close to You by Rachel Carter for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the experiments that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who’ve disappeared over the years. When she stumbles into a vessel that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, Lydia realizes that all the stories she’s ever heard about the Montauk Project are true—and that she’s in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

Alongside Wes, a darkly mysterious boy whom she is wary to trust, Lydia begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the project. But the truths behind these secrets force her to question all her choices. And if Lydia chooses wrong, she might not save her family but destroy them... and herself.

This is another one of those books that is completely out of the realm that I normally read.  I had no clue this was a book about time travel (I thought it was paranormal for some reason...obviously I didn't read the summary that closely).  If I had, then I never would have read it.  But I'm so glad that I did!

Lydia was okay for me.  I do think that its weird that she was so okay with the whole travel thing right off the bat--I would think that she would have been pretty freaked out. And I didn't like her relationship with Wes.  She fell in love with him so quickly and there was nothing really redeeming about him.  That being said, I LOVED Mary.  Such a bubbly, warm girl!  It sounds weird, but if she were a real person, I would totally be friends with her in real life.

The whole premise of the story was pretty interesting.  The whole time machine was intriguing as was the way the recruiting worked (although horrifying!)  There were some pretty good twists and turns.  And the one at the very end, the last sentence, makes me want to be able to pick up the second book in the trilogy now!

I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.

So Close to You will be released on July 10, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 40
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 35
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 11
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 37

 *FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Belles

I just finished reading Belles by Jen Calonita for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she’s ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn’t go so well. Her cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn’t thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, in addition to dealing with all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates’ Southern charm, a secret is unfolding that will change both girls’ lives forever.

Okay, so I have to admit that the first thing that drew me into the book was the title.  I am a huge Beauty and the Beast fan.  So right away I wanted to read the summary.  And while it turned out that the story had nothing to do with that Belle, it did have a take on the classic Cinderella-rags-to-riches story.  So I jumped at the chance to read it!

And I really enjoyed it!  Izzie comes from a completely different lifestyle than I'm used to (athough I'm far away from the Emerald Cove lifestyle too) and I loved reading about how her two worlds merged.  There were the bad girls you loved to hate--mostly Savannah.  And then the cousin who started off evil but tried to be good--Mira.  And Brayden--loved him!  Loved that he was from the Emerald Cove world yet was completely down to earth and real

This was just a light, fun book that had me completely into it and looking forward to the next book in the series, Winter White!

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 39
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 34
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 36
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-7

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

In My Mailbox- May 7, 2012

In My Mailbox: Here's what came in my mailbox this week (well, really for 2 weeks since my computer was broken)

MONDAY

Sisterhood Everlasting- Ann Brashares--Bookmooch









FRIDAY

Tiger Lily- Jodi Lynn Anderson--review for an Around the World ARC Tour

MONDAY

Fated (Soul Seekers #1)- Alyson Noel--for blog tour

WEDNESDAY

So Close to You- Rachel Carter--review for an Around the World ARC Tour

THURSDAY

Sweet Evil- Wendy Higgins--review for an Around the World ARC Tour

FRIDAY

Belles- Jen Calonita--review for an Around the World ARC Tour

SATURDAY

Green-Eyed Demon (Sabina Kane #3)- Jaye Wells--PaperbackSwap

Witches of East End (The Beauchamp Family #1)- Melissa de la Cruz--PaperbackSwap

The Sunday Salon- May 6, 2012

The Sunday Salon

So the week before last I got a bunch of viruses.  I tried to remove them myself but then all of a sudden I couldn't even boot up the computer.  I took it to our IT lady at work and she said that my hard drive was dead and while I could buy a new hard drive, she recommended getting a new computer since if the hard drive was dead, other things could be on their way out too.  She said that it was nothing I did that cause the hard drive to die, but I still think its something I did when I was trying to get rid of the viruses.  So I had to  buy a brand new computer.  I was without a computer for a week and a half...it was torture!  So this is for the past 2 weeks.

I finished and reviewed the following books in the past 2 weeks:
7 Clues to Winning You by Kristin Walker

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson










I fulfilled items in the following challenges in the past 2 weeks:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 36, 37, 38
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 31, 32, 33
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 33, 34, 35
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-5, 2012-6
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 7, 8, 9
2012 Sophomore Reading Challenge: 4

I am currently reading Belles by Jen Calonita and up next is So Close to You by Rachel Carter.

Book Review- Tiger Lily

I finished Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson for an Around the World ARC Tour on Thursday.

From Goodreads:

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn't grow up.

I am Disney girl and so any story that is being retold that has anything to do with Disney is something that I jump on.  So when I read that Tiger Lily was the retelling of Peter Pan but from Tiger Lily's perspective, I jumped on board!

Unfortunately, it's not what I expected.  The whole book seemed to have an underlying sadness to it.  Even the love story was sad.  I was expecting there to be this great love story that we never got to hear about in the Disney version.  And while there was a love story, I don't really think it was all that great.

Tiger Lily never really drew me in--I never really liked her.  I wanted her to have some redeeming qualities, but she didn't really to me.  Peter Pan was okay.  But I really liked reading about the Lost Boys.  I think we got to know them much better in this book than we do in the movie.  Some of them were so cute!

And while I knew what the ending was going to be, it made me sad (theme for the whole book).  Maybe I'd like a book told from Wendy's point of view better. Oh well, I'm still glad that I read it!

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

Tiger Lily will be released on July 3, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 38
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 33
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 35
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 9

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- Such a Rush

I finished reading Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols for an Around the World ARC Tour last Sunday night.

From Goodreads:

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.

High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.

But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business — until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers — and the consequences could be deadly.

I really liked the main topic of this story--flying.  My dad had a pilot's license when I was very little.  In fact, one of my first memories is climbing from the back seat of a Cessna my dad was fliying into the front seat because I was getting air sick.  And I've always loved flying--its my favorite way to travel (although ask me after my 15 hour plane trip to Asia this summer and I might have changed my mind).  So reading all about the airplanes and flying fascinated me.

But I didn't like any of the characters--at all.  Maybe its just because I couldn't identify with them, but I don't think so.  Yes, Leah came from a hard life and background but she did not have to portray herself like a "whore" (this word was thrown around so many times in the book) even if she wasn't one.  If you want to be taken seriously, then you have to act like it and not dress they way that you don't want to perceived as.  That's just the way it is.  Not that that gave the students any right to be cruel to her.  Bullying is not acceptable at all.  And Leah claimed that Molly was her best friend but she seemed so self-centered and used Leah.  It made me sad that Leah knew it but didn't care since she wanted a friend so badly.  As for the boys, Alec was okay.  Nothing bad, nothing great about him.  But Grayson--why would Leah have a crush on someone who insulted her and treated her so poorly??  I don't care what he went through--that didn't give him the right to say the things he did to Leah.  Alec went through it too and he never became cruel.  It just infuriated me that Leah could get so mad at how he treated her but then forgave him 5 seconds later.

So I was really undecided about my overall feelings for this book.  Love for the topic and dislike for the characters.  I guess you should read it to make your own decision.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

Such a Rush will be released on July 10, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 37
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 32
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 34
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-6
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 8

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Book Review- 7 Clues to Winning You

I finished reading 7 Clues to Winning You by Kristin Walker for an Around the World ARC Tour the Thursday before last (my hard drive died so just now updating reviews).

From Goodreads:

When a humiliating picture of Blythe goes viral, she's instantly the target of ridicule at her new school. To salvage her reputation, Blythe teams up with Luke to win the Senior Scramble scavenger hunt. But Luke is an unlikely ally and potentially can't be trusted.

 Perhaps it's his Shakespearean witticisms that reel Blythe in despite her better judgment . . . or maybe she just craves the thrill of the game. But as the hunt progresses, their relationship heats up. Soon their madcap mischief spirals out of control. Blythe is faced with arrest and expulsion, among other catastrophes - until Luke shows her what the Scramble (and love) is really about.

This was a fun book.  I really liked Blythe.  She had a good heart.  I loved that she volunteered because she enjoyed it and worked hard to get into a good college.  And I loved her fashion sense.  That being said, I loved reading her journey into semi-bad-girlness (Yes, I made that word up).  She seemed to become a very real teenager.

And I liked Luke too (although how he is described doesn't match the guy on the cover to me).  I thought for sure that he was a jerk at first but I was glad to be proven wrong.

I loved the idea of the school scavenger hunt--how fun!  And the special scavenger hunt at the end-- I want one of those! (with the very end altered slightly).

Overall, a fun, light read that is easy to get engaged in.

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 36
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 31
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 33
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-5
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 7
2012 Sophomore Reading Challenge: 4

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.

Fated Promotion!

All of you excited about Fated by Alyson Noel, I have some promotion news for you!  If you pre-order Fated in any format and submit your receipt, you will receive a pair of soul seeker inspired earrings for free!  Read more about the rules HERE

2012 Mammoth Book Challenge- May Update

2012 Mammoth Book Challenge

Here are the challenge details:
1. This challenge will run from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
2. You can join the challenge at any time. All books read in 2012 count for the challenge, regardless of when you sign up.
3. This challenge can cross-over to your other reading challenges.
4. You do not need a blog to participate! If you are not a blogger, you can post your reviews at Goodreads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing and link them up here.
5. All formats of books are acceptable: Bound copies, e-books, and audiobooks as long as they meet the guidelines of Point #6 below!
6. IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT E-BOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS: If you are using an e-book or audiobook for the challenge, the bound format equivalent must be a minimum of 450 pages. Only unabridged audiobooks will count!
7. Both adult and children's literature are allowed: As long as it meets the minimum page count of 450 pages.
8. About LARGE-PRINT BOOKS: Same rules apply as noted in Point #6. As long as the regular-bound format equivalent is a minimum of 450 pages, this format will count.
9. No anthologies, short story collections, or poetry: Just novels.
10. There are four levels for the challenge:
a. Level 1: Read 2 mammoth-sized books.
b. Level 2: Read 4 mammoth-sized books.
c. Level 3: Read 6 mammoth-sized books.
d. Level 4: Read 8 or more mammoth-sized books.
11. When you write your sign-up post, you must choose your level. You can go up, but you cannot go down!
12. There will be link-ups for your reviews on a quarterly basis, which will be posted on THIS page.
13. There will be a link for your wrap-up post at the end of the year.
14. Create a sign-up post and link back to this post. Sign up with Mister Linky below! Be sure to use the direct url to your sign-up post and not the url to your blog.

*Bumping this up to a level 2

1.  Wings of the Wicked (Angelfire #2) by Courtney Allison Moulton
2.  Illuminate by Aimee Agresti
3.  The Savage Grace by Bree Despain